Page 56 - Brokenclaw - John Gardner

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‘What will he do, then?’

‘Take my soul. Bind me to him. Make me serve him in any capacity he
decides. You remember old San-San Ho?’
‘The nice old man who used to run the fruit and vegetable store on
Stockton?’
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‘You haven’t seen him lately, have you?’
‘I don’t go . . .’
‘Into the Chinatown. No, of course you don’t. San-San Ho lost everything to
Lee. And what did Lee do? He made old San-San into a drug courier. The old

man died in agony half a year ago, sitting on an airplane bringing him back to
San Francisco; died because one of the twenty little rubber sacks of heroin
lodged in his intestines split open.’
Wanda showed no sign of grief. She knew well enough what could happen to
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people who carried drugs into the United States in this fashion. ‘So, my father,
what did you expect of me? How did you think I could help you?’
Her father looked away and gave a small shake of the head. ‘No!’ Like a
spoiled child refusing to give up some precious secret.

‘Who knows, I might still be able to help you.’
‘Never . . . No. No, Wanda, I don’t know what devil got into me. What I was
going to command of you is obscene. Obnoxious.’
But Wanda Man Song Hing had already guessed at the disgusting truth. ‘You

were going to pimp for Brokenclaw, weren’t you? You were going to offer him
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your daughter in lieu of payment.’
‘How could I even . . . ?’
‘You were desperate.’ She was very calm now. ‘Desperate times for any

man call for desperate measures. Even loathsome measures like giving your
own daughter for Brokenclaw Lee to defile.’
‘Don’t go on, Wanda. It was a madness . . .’
But the germ of an idea was already formulating in her mind. ‘When were

you going to do this terrible thing?’
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He would not meet her eyes. ‘Tonight,’ he whispered. ‘Lee wishes to see me
tonight at The Broken Dragon – where I’ve spent too much time, where I’ve
lost my soul. Midnight.’

It would be utterly degrading, she thought, but this might be the way to
Brokenclaw. ‘Have you any other things to do today, Father?’
‘No. Well, I have to look my best if I am to see him and deliver myself up to

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