Stealth Sweep. Don Pendleton

a constant source of amusement to the locals.

      Though the harbor was choppy, with low swells cresting on the rocky shoreline, the waterway was full of sleek pleasure craft, old fishing trawlers, junks, wooden rafts, futuristic hovercraft and colossal cruise liners that resembled floating islands of light.

      There were also a scattering of Chinese navy gunboats, their radar constantly in motion, the deck guns and depth-charge launchers covered with tarpaulins as protection against the salty spray, and the idle curiosity of the much-prized tourists. But the armed sailors on deck were openly carrying 5.56 mm QBZ assault rifles, and stared suspiciously at everybody and everything. Even the tourists. Most of them laughed and took pictures with their cell phones, but the wiser heads turned away and went about their business. China valued tourism, but only to a point.

      Keeping to the shadows, Bolan watched the gunboats move along on patrol, blazingly bright halogen searchlights sweeping across every small craft that approached. He grunted at that. These were the new Wall of China, Communist hard-liners more resolute than stone, grim men who couldn’t be bribed, or dealt with.

      Turning away from the water, Bolan headed back into the maelstrom of chatting people. It had been a while since he had last been here, but the memories came flooding back, and he soon located the Tsai Shoe Repair Shop. The brass sign above the front door was small, almost unreadable, and the windows were in desperate need of a good washing. Yet Bolan knew that the place was one of the most profitable enterprises on the entire island.

      The public side of Tsai Shoe Repair was strictly legitimate, with eager cobblers fixing worn-out soles, replacing broken heels and polishing leather to a mirror sheen. New shoes were available for purchase, as well as a foot massage. However, unlike most shoe repair shops, the business occupied the entire five-story building, including the garage next door.

      The set-up was simple. A customer walked in for a repair, or maybe just a shine, and had a few minutes to kill with nothing to do except watch television in the waiting room or read magazines. But if he wished a beautiful young hostess would happily escort him upstairs to a wonderland of fleshly delights. The Tsia Shoe Repair was the premiere brothel of Hong Kong, and unlike so many other brothels, the customers here always left with whatever possessions they had originally arrived with.

      Walking into the garage, Bolan used the employee entrance to bypass the shoe shop and go directly into the waiting room. As expected, it was empty. The brothel made no money from a full sofa, only full beds.

      At the back of the room was an unmarked door that opened onto a short flight of stairs that led straight to the second floor. Halfway there, Bolan passed a burned-out light fixture, and smiled for the hidden video camera. The soldier reached the top step, and as he pushed open the door, a tiny woman rushed forward to grab him around the waist.

      “Colonel!” Madame Tsai said into his stomach, tightening her grasp. “My God, I never thought I’d see you again!”

      “Nice to see you, Pat,” Bolan replied, prying her loose to kiss the woman on the forehead.

      The owner, manager and madam of the brothel, Tsai Adina, was extremely small. She barely reached five feet, and cultivated an explosion of red curls to give her an extra few inches. Add spike high heels and she just managed to reach about five feet five. Bolan guessed that she weighed somewhere around ninety-nine pounds, but every ounce was in exactly the right place and proudly on display in a skintight bodysuit that revealed every curve. The front was cut low to show off her cleavage, along with some sort of tattoo on her right breast.

      Although surrounded by a cloud of jasmine perfume, Tsai used very little makeup. She wore a slim holster at her side. The madam liked to run a peaceful business, but if there was trouble with an unruly guest, she served as the bouncer and easily convinced most people to leave with the swift application of a French police baton. The handle was only seven inches long, barely visible in a closed fist. But with a snap, it extended to twenty-seven inches of coiled steel, and proved more than sufficient to convince even a meth freak that it was time to go home. As small as she was, nobody sane ever tangled with Tsai Adina twice and lived to tell the tale.

      “How are things?” Bolan asked.

      “Never better.” Tsai smiled, going on tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek.

      Although Bolan had been acquainted with the woman for years, she knew him only by his various alias’s. His name changed from time to time, but she was smart enough to never ask embarrassing questions. Keeping secrets was part of her stock-in-trade.

      “Got someplace where we can talk in private?” he asked.

      “Trouble, John?” Tsai asked in real concern. Her face was only inches away, her eyes a deep blue, almost turquoise.

      “Not for you,” he replied honestly, “and you can call me Matt Cooper.”

      She looked at him hard for a few moments, then nodded. “Follow me.” She escorted him into a second waiting room.

      This one was much more impressive than the one downstairs, and a lot more populated. There were several red leather couches full of men, and a few women, with everybody politely trying to not look at one another. The carpeting was thick to help mask any noise from the polishing machines downstairs.

      Instrumental music played softly over disguised speakers, and the oak panel walls were heavily decorated with pictures of the female staff members in various stages of undress, along with numerous shots of celebutantes in bikinis, or less, removed from magazines.

      Pushing her way through a beaded curtain, Tsai walked along a dimly lit hallway, her high heels clicking with every step. The passageway was lined with closed doors from behind which came the expected cries, moans and groans of adults indulging in the most basic of recreational activities.

      Turning left, the woman proceeded through a small room filled with the night shift. Most of the prostitutes were eating dinner or working on laptops. The rest of the women were touching up their lipstick or brushing their hair.

      Bolan followed Tsai into an elevator and she pressed a button for the fifth floor.

      With a ping the elevator opened, revealing a big sign in the hallway that stated there was a hundred dollar fine for loud talking. More doors lined this corridor, but these were different from the working rooms downstairs. These doors had locks and peepholes.

      “How many on staff these days?” Bolan asked, looking down the long corridor.

      “Thirty,” Tsai replied, pulling a key out of her cleavage and unlocking a door. “Well, twenty-nine, actually. My roommate, Lu-Ann, is out with the flu.”

      “The nine-month flu?”

      “No, just the plain flu.” Tsai laughed and she opened the door. “Sneezing and sniffling and such.”

      “Send her my best.” Stepping inside, Bolan relaxed his stance slightly when he saw the room was empty. Bookcases full of paperbacks and CD jewel cases lined the walls, and off to the side, a big-screen TV was set before a curved sofa. The screen was dark, but the DVR underneath steadily counted down as if recording something unseen. There were two beds, at opposite ends of the room, and an open door showed a small bathroom decorated with light blue tiles.

      “Welcome to the inner sanctum,” Tsai said, closing the door and locking it. “No customers allowed.”

      “Just friends?”

      “Just friends, and damn few of those.”

      “I’m honored.”

      Although quite small, the room was very clean, and clearly not designed to entertain clients. There was an easy chair by the window, and a laptop was humming. In the corner was a dresser piled high with folded laundry.

      “Okay, who’s trying to kill you?” Tsai asked, going to the liquor cabinet and starting to make drinks.

      “Best not to ask,” Bolan stated, sliding of his jacket. “None for me, thanks.”

      “No?”

      “Working.”