Ava stood by the window, staring down at the two Chinese men. They were smoking, their backs pressed against the wrought-iron fence that fronted the Gardens. The one called Ko was talking to his partner, a small smile on his face. They looked relaxed and comfortable, but Ava noticed that their eyes never wandered from the hotel entrance.
She grabbed her phone and put the piece of paper with Li’s number on it into her pocket. She debated putting her jacket on and decided it was warm enough for just her tee. Besides, I shouldn’t be outside that long, she thought. She took the elevator to the lobby and walked out the front door, stopping when she got to the entrance so that she was framed by it and clearly visible.
Ko was talking to his partner, but he glanced across the street and saw her. His eyes locked on to Ava and, without turning, he elbowed his partner. Ava raised a hand to acknowledge them, just as the sightline between the hotel and the opposite sidewalk was blocked by several large trucks waiting for the light to change.
Ava waited for the traffic to shift, reluctant to get closer until she could see them again. It was a long light, and it seemed like several minutes before the trucks moved on and her sightline was clear. When she looked across the street, Ko and his partner were gone.
She scanned the length of the sidewalk in front of the Gardens and saw no one she recognized. There was nothing to her left but the intersection and traffic moving along High Street. She looked to her right. The sidewalk ran for about fifty metres to the next light, and standing alone beside it was Ko. There was no other person between him and her.
Ava started to walk towards him, the phone in her hand hanging loosely by her side. She kept her eyes fixed on him. Ko was as focused on her, his expression, even from a distance, intense and determined.
Halfway towards him, she passed a narrow alley on her right. A sign screwed into the wall read delivery entrance. She was almost beyond the alley when she sensed movement.
She instinctively pulled back to her left and caught the glimmer of steel. The man with the mohawk had removed his coat and wrapped it around his wrist, covering everything but the knife blade. He lunged, aiming at her side. Her backwards motion had shifted her body out of its path; the blade swept past, catching the underside of her left arm. Her cellphone fell to the ground. Ava’s right hand shot down to grab his arm at the wrist, immobilizing it.
He stepped back into the alley, trying to wrest his arm free, pulling her in with him. “You have to call Li!” she yelled, still hanging on.
Ko appeared at the alley entrance, only four or five paces away. He reached into his raincoat pocket and pulled out a knife handle, pressed it, and a nine-inch stiletto blade hissed into view.
Ava was trying to keep an eye on Ko while still holding on to his partner’s wrist. The man was lashing out at her with his free hand, so she twisted the wrist with as much force as she could. The snap was audible. He screeched, dropping the blade, and she felt the fight go out of him. She shoved him at Ko, who was now only three paces away. She kneeled to pick up the stiletto he had dropped, her eyes never leaving them.
The two men exchanged some words. Then Ko reached under his raincoat, took out another knife, and gave it to his partner. She watched in disbelief as the man with the mohawk clutched it in his good hand. The men separated and moved to either side of her, still keeping some distance. Ava moved backwards towards a wall so she could keep both of them in front of her.
“The contract is cancelled! You have to call Li!” she yelled again.
The man with the mohawk took up a position on her left. She could see the pain on his face, the arm she had broken dangling uselessly at his side. Ko was taking small steps to the right and then the left, inching forward all the time. The knife hung loosely by his side. She could feel him measuring the distance between them. She was doing the same, while keeping an eye on his partner.
Ko crept closer, his eyes fixed on Ava, the knife now poised to strike. She focused on his feet, knowing they would tell her where to move when he began his attack.
“Talk to me, Ko,” she said.
He stopped, a glint of recognition in his eyes. He doesn’t understand, she thought — she’d been speaking Cantonese. “Ko, you need to phone Li,” she said in Mandarin. “The contract has been cancelled. Li is waiting for your call.”
Ko held his ground, the knife pressed against his thigh, but she could see the first sign of understanding in his eyes. “There’s no need to do this now,” she said. “And if you take one more step in my direction I’m going to defend myself.” She raised the knife she held. “I know how to use this. I’ll cut your heart out if I have to.”
“The contract is cancelled?” he said.
“Yes. Li has been trying to reach you.”
“Our phones don’t work here,” he said
“Li said they were off.” Ava gestured towards the alley entrance. “Call him on mine. It’s on the sidewalk back there.”
He hesitated.
“Call him,” Ava said. She took the piece of paper from her pocket. “I have his number. Do you need it?”
“No.”
“Then do it,” she said.
Ko backed up carefully to the alley entrance, found the phone, and slid it across the pavement with his foot. He bent over to pick it up, his eyes still on Ava. “Come here,” he said to his partner.
The man with the mohawk sidled back to Ko, who guided him to a place against the wall about six metres from Ava. The two men spoke briefly, then Ko opened Ava’s phone and punched in the numbers.
Ava noticed a middle-aged couple standing at the entrance to the alley, looks of shock and fear on their faces. “This was a family squabble,” Ava said. “It’s over now. There’s no need to be concerned. There’s no need to involve yourselves or anyone else in this. It’s over.”
“But you’re bleeding,” the woman said.
Ava looked down at the gash on her arm. It was about ten centimetres long but not very deep. Still, blood was running down her arm and hand, and a few drops had trickled onto the pavement. “It looks worse than it is,” she said, wiping at the wound with the bottom of her T-shirt.
“We should call someone,” the woman said.
“No, please. I’m okay.”
They hesitated, then the man took the woman by the arm. “You people shouldn’t bring your ways to this country,” he said as they turned to walk away.
Ava shook her head and looked back at Ko and his partner. Ko was talking on the phone, nodding his head. He listened for another minute before closing the phone, and then he whispered in his partner’s ear.
“Li says I’m to tell you it was just business,” Ko said.
“I understand.”
“It was just business.”
“I know — just business.”
Ko held out Ava’s phone. “Here.”
“No, slide it to me,” she said.
He shrugged, then tossed it at her feet.
Ko’s partner, leaning against the wall, groaned.
“You’d better look after him,” she said.
Ko spat on the ground and reached for his partner’s good arm. “I would have taken you,” he said. “Next time.”