The Imam of Tawi-Tawi Read online

  Also in the Ava Lee Series

  The Dragon Head of Hong Kong: The Ava Lee Prequel (e-book)

  The Water Rat of Wanchai

  The Disciple of Las Vegas

  The Wild Beasts of Wuhan

  The Red Pole of Macau

  The Scottish Banker of Surabaya

  The Two Sisters of Borneo

  The King of Shanghai

  The Princeling of Nanjing

  The Couturier of Milan

  The

  Imam

  of

  Tawi-Tawi

  An Ava Lee Novel

  The triad years

  Ian Hamilton

  Copyright © 2018 Ian Hamilton

  Published in Canada in 2018 and the USA in 2018

  by House of Anansi Press Inc.

  www.houseofanansi.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Distribution of this electronic edition via the Internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal. Please do not participate in electronic piracy of copyrighted material; purchase only authorized electronic editions. We appreciate your support of the author’s rights.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, and events are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  Hamilton, Ian, 1946–, author

  The Imam of Tawi-Tawi / Ian Hamilton.

  (An Ava Lee novel: the triad years)

  Issued in print and electronic formats.

  ISBN 978-1-4870-0274-9 (softcover). — ISBN 978-1-4870-0275-6 (EPUB). —

  ISBN 978-1-4870-0276-3 (Kindle)

  I. Title. II. Series: Hamilton, Ian, 1946– . Ava Lee novel.

  PS8615.A4423I43 2018 C813’.6 C2017-901326-2

  C2017-901327-0

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2017933809

  Book design: Alysia Shewchuk

  Cover design: Alysia Shewchuk

  We acknowledge for their financial support of our publishing program

  the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund.

  For Steele Curry, with thanks for his support and incisive advice.

  ( 1 )

  Ava Lee was in bed, flat on her back, with her head propped up by three pillows. She was awake, and her eyes were fixed on a long, lean woman standing naked next to a window that looked out onto Dianchi Lake. The woman stretched her arms above her head, yawned, and turned to Ava.

  “I don’t want to leave,” Pang Fai said. “But I have to get moving.”

  “Stay.”

  “There will be more than a hundred people at the pre-shoot party tonight. I have to be there. The director is angry enough that I took the weekend off.”

  “Surely being one of the biggest movie stars in China gives you some advantages,” Ava said.

  “I think the opposite is true,” Fai said. “I’m expected to set an example for the other cast members, and this director hasn’t been shy about making me feel responsible for the ultimate success of the film.”

  “And how long will the shoot take?”

  “We begin early tomorrow morning, and then it’s at least ten weeks of work. We’ll start here and then work our way northeast to Beijing — city by city, town by town — for about twenty-seven hundred kilometres.”

  “I think it’s ridiculous to drag you and the whole crew from place to place like that.”

  “He’s a fiend for authenticity,” Fai said. “The whole idea is to have one lonely, brave woman duplicating at least part of Mao’s Long March. It’s a challenging role. I play a farmer’s wife who’s brave — or foolish — enough to protest. I’m supposed to be a symbol representing the spirit of the march, but in reality showing how Mao’s Great Leap Forward betrayed his original ideals and brought unimaginable suffering to ordinary Chinese people. Mao may have wanted to accelerate agrarian reform, but his policies dispossessed farmers, brought on catastrophic food shortages, and caused the deaths of millions.”

  Ava smiled. The women were staying at the Intercontinental Hotel on the outskirts of Kunming, in Yunnan province, which was almost three thousand kilometres to the southwest of Beijing. They had arrived from Hong Kong, where they had spent the previous two days. During their time together in Kunming, they had left the room only three times — for lunch and dinner in the Shang Tao Restaurant and for late-night drinks in the Butterfly Bar.

  They had known each other for months but had been lovers for only four days. The experience was proving to be momentous for both of them.

  Over the years, Ava had had a series of flings before meeting Maria Gonzalez, a Colombian woman living in Toronto, with whom she’d had a relationship that lasted several years. Maria had ended it just as Fai came into Ava’s life. Ava had thought she loved Maria, but now, after these few days with Fai, she was beginning to wonder if she’d ever experienced real love before.

  “I could meet up with you on the road here and there,” Ava said.

  “No, I don’t want you to,” Fai said. Being gay in China was still considered unacceptable, and public knowledge of Fai’s sexuality would destroy her career. It was a burden that Ava, Hong Kong–born but Canadian-raised, could barely comprehend but knew to be true.

  She feigned pain and pulled the duvet over her head.

  Fai rushed to the bed, pulled back the duvet, and crawled in beside her. She nuzzled Ava’s neck. “I’m going to miss you, more than I’ve ever missed anyone,” she whispered. “No one but you and me will know that the misery I portray in this role is because you’re not with me. When the film is done, I want to go away with you for weeks, or months, or for however long you can put up with me.”

  “Would you consider coming to Toronto? I have a condo in the centre of the city. There are lots of designer shops and every type of restaurant, including Chinese, within walking distance. And we can be ourselves without you having to worry about how people will react,” Ava said. “I also don’t think you’d have to worry about being recognized — my neighbourhood is not that Chinese.”

  “I think my ego can handle not being recognized.”

  Ava reached down and gently lifted Fai’s chin. She wasn’t wearing any makeup and her hair was slightly dishevelled, but she was the most mesmerizing woman Ava had ever been with. The slightly square chin, strong cheekbones, well-defined lips, and proud nose were in almost perfect proportion. And then there were her eyes. They were large, almost Western, and had triggered gossip about who her parents really were. But it wasn’t their size that Ava found remarkable; it was the way they pulled her in. In many ways, her eyes reminded Ava of Uncle, her former partner, her mentor, and — in every way imaginable, except for bloodline — her grandfather. She had always thought that Uncle communicated with the world through his eyes rather than with words or physical mannerisms. Now, she felt connected in the same way to Fai.

  “When do you really have to leave?” Ava said.

  “Now.” Fai sighed.

  Ava slid her hand down Fai’s body until it rested between her legs. “I can’t convince you to stay?”

  “You probably could, but if we start again, how will we stop? I don’t want to
leave here feeling guilty.”

  Ava kissed her on the forehead. Fai rolled off the bed and reached for her underwear, which lay on a chair. As Ava watched her dress, her phone rang. She picked it up and saw that the incoming number had the Philippines country code.

  “Shit, I forgot about this,” she said.

  “What is it?” Fai said.

  “I think Uncle Chang Wang from Manila is calling. I don’t know if you remember, but he phoned me in Hong Kong. I put him off then and told him to call me tonight.” Ava pressed the answer button. “This is Ava.”

  “Good evening, this is Chang. I hope this time my call isn’t inconvenient.”

  “No, I was expecting to hear from you. Is Mr. Ordonez there as well?”

  “Tommy is in Singapore on business, so it’s just me.”

  Tommy Ordonez was the richest man in the Philippines. Chang Wang was his second-in-command. Despite his name, Ordonez was Chinese. He had been born Chu Guang in Qingdao and moved to the Philippines as a young man. In an effort to blend into the different society — and to avoid periodic outbursts of xenophobia — he had changed his name. It was such a common practice in the Philippines that there was even a word for it. Chinese immigrants who adopted Filipino names were called Chinoys, a play on “Pinoy,” Filipinos’ informal term for themselves.

  “I’ve always enjoyed our conversations, with or without Tommy,” Ava said.

  “That’s a very diplomatic remark. It reminds me of something that Uncle would say.”

  He was referring to Chow Tung, Ava’s former partner. Chow and Chang were both from Wuhan, in Hubei province, and had known each other since they were boys. After leaving China, they had stayed in touch for more than fifty years and helped each other innumerable times. The last occasion had been a few years before, when the Ordonez organization hired Ava and Uncle to recover stolen money. They had successfully returned close to fifty million dollars.

  “I can’t begin to list the things I learned from Uncle,” she said.

  “I miss him,” Chang said quietly. “We used to chat most weekends. Some Sunday mornings I pick up the phone to call him and then realize he isn’t there anymore.”

  “I feel that way nearly every day.”

  “I know how close you two were. He talked about you often. He adored you.”

  “And I loved him.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Ava saw that Fai was now dressed and putting her makeup bag into the small suitcase she’d brought with her. Ava reached under the pillow and pulled out a black Giordano T-shirt that she slipped over her head. “Uncle, excuse me for just a moment. Don’t go away. I’ll be right back,” she said, sliding out of bed and placing the phone on the bedside table.

  She walked over to Fai and hugged her so tightly she could feel their hearts beating.

  “I want you to call me every day,” Fai said. “You can text and email me too, but I want to hear your voice. The best times are before eight in the morning and after six in the evening.”

  “I will,” Ava said. “This is going to be a long ten weeks.”

  “But when it’s over, I don’t have any other immediate commitments, and I’m not going to let my agent make any.”

  “I’m determined to get you to Toronto. I know you’ll love it.”

  “I’ll love anywhere as long as I’m with you.”

  “And I feel the same way. But still, you’ll enjoy the freedom we can have there.”

  Fai nodded, but Ava saw doubt in her eyes. How can you explain freedom, she wondered, to someone who’s never truly experienced it?

  “You’d better go back to your friend on the phone,” Fai said.

  “I’ll call you in the morning.”

  “Please don’t forget,” Fai said.

  Ava waited until the door closed before picking up the phone again. “Sorry, Uncle.”

  “That’s not necessary. I realize this is rather an imposition on my part.”

  “Except I don’t know what it is you’re imposing.”

  “As I said to you the other night, we have a problem here in the Philippines that we need some help with.”

  “But I don’t do debt collection work anymore. I’m partners in an investment business with May Ling Wong.”

  “Does she still live in Wuhan, and are she and Changxing still married?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ve known them for many years, although I haven’t had any contact with them recently. She is very capable and I’m sure an ideal business partner.”

  “That’s been my experience,” Ava said. “She’s also a good friend.”

  “As someone who doesn’t have any family, I place enormous value on friendship. I was fortunate to have Uncle for so many years.”

  Ava didn’t doubt Chang’s sincerity, but she suspected he was stalling as he searched for a way to circumvent her less-than-enthusiastic reaction to his request for help. “And you still have Tommy.”

  “We’re not friends in the way I was with Uncle,” Chang said. “We have different tastes and personalities, and outside of the office we never socialize. Inside the business, though, we trust and support each other, and think almost as one mind. For example, when I mentioned to Tommy that I wanted to involve you in our problem, he leapt at the suggestion.”

  “Perhaps I didn’t make it clear enough. I’m not only not in the old business, I have absolutely no interest in or intention of returning to it.”

  “This has nothing to do with debt collection.”

  “Then I’m confused, because I can’t think of any other talents I have that could be of use to you and Tommy.”

  “I could spend several minutes repeating what Tommy and I have said about your abilities, but my experience with you leads me to believe you wouldn’t welcome that kind of flattery. Tommy also suggested that we offer you money, but I told him — aside from the fact that you’re a wealthy young woman — this isn’t the kind of problem you can put a price on,” Chang said. “So I guess what it comes down to is I’m asking you to help us as a personal favour — the kind that Uncle and I did for each other over the years.”

  God, he’s smooth, Ava thought. Despite her cynicism, her curiosity was aroused, and she couldn’t dismiss his request for a favour out of hand. “Uncle, you have my interest,” she finally said. “What kind of problem can’t you put a price on?”

  “On the surface — and truthfully this is Tommy’s main concern — we believe one of our most successful businesses could be at risk. And there are larger issues, Ava, that could have an impact not just on us but on many other people, in the Philippines and beyond.”

  “And what do you imagine I could possibly do to prevent whatever it is you’re alluding to?”

  “I allude, as you call it, because we lack hard information. We have suspicions but we need to confirm them. We need to determine whether we actually have a problem,” Chang said. “And if we do have one, then we need to develop a strategy to deal with it. But that all starts with having facts. We need someone we trust totally to confirm some things we’ve been told and to gather as much additional information as possible. As Tommy and I remember very well, you have an extraordinary talent for getting to the truth. The truth is what we’re after, and we think you’re the person who can find it for us.”

  “What is this potential problem?”

  Chang hesitated. She thought she heard ice clinking in a glass and wondered if he was drinking. “Ava, I would like that explanation to take place in Manila,” he said. “I know this will sound vague and maybe even conspiratorial, but I’m not comfortable explaining it to you over the phone. First, it’s very complicated and I’m not as well-informed as some other people I’d like you to talk to. Second, this isn’t something that can be explained in half an hour or even several hours. I believe you should meet and take the measure of the people who’ve rel
ated at least part of their suspicions to us.”

  “And you have no one in the Philippines you can turn to?”

  “Absolutely not. As I said, this is about trust, and the number of people who Tommy and I truly trust we can count on one hand. Of those, only one lives in Manila, and he’s the first person we want you to talk to.”

  “Uncle, I really don’t know what to say. I have other responsibilities now.”

  “Give us one day,” he said quickly. “Get on a plane tomorrow and come to Manila for one meeting. If you decide to go back to Toronto or Hong Kong or wherever after that, the issue will never be mentioned again and we’ll still be grateful for your time.”

  “I’m expected in Shanghai tomorrow for a business review that’s scheduled to last several days.”

  “Postpone it,” Chang said. “Please, Ava.”

  The word “please” startled her. It wasn’t something she could remember Chang or Tommy Ordonez ever uttering. Not only was it out of character, in her mind it was an acknowledgement that she was their equal.

  “I can’t give you an answer this minute,” she said. “I have to think about it, and I also want to talk to my partners and the people expecting me in Shanghai.”

  “Of course, do that,” he said. “But there is urgency to this matter. Waiting four days to talk to you wasn’t easy — more than once I reached for the phone. Can you possibly speak to them tonight?”

  “Yes, I can, and I’ll call you when I have.”

  “Thanks. I’ll stay up until I hear from you,” he said.

  “Uncle, you do understand that this doesn’t mean I’m leaning towards saying yes?”

  “Please, give us that one day, Ava,” Chang said. “My belief is that if you do, you’ll commit to helping us get to the bottom of this problem.”

  He’s dangling bait, she thought. She admired how skillfully he had handled his end of the conversation: he had started it by invoking their connection through Uncle. Then he’d complimented her while insisting that he thought she was above flattery. Finally, he had framed his request as a personal favour. She didn’t know why he thought he had the right to ask for one, since he and Ava were hardly friends, but he had anyway, and it had been exactly the right approach. Indeed, it was probably the only approach that had a chance of succeeding with her.