Necropolis

eating. I will tell you everything you need to know."
    Han Shan-tung had barely eaten anything. But he laid down his chopsticks and continued to speak.
    "I have the very considerable honor to be a member of an organization called the Pah Lien.
    This translates as the White Lotus Society. You might have remarked upon a clue that I sent you at the airport. The man who met you was carrying a bunch of lilies. The lily is part of the lotus family. My society is a very old one. It was founded in the fourth century to resist the foreign invaders known as the Mongols who then ruled over China. The aim of White Lotus remained the same over the next four centuries: to help the Chinese people fight against tyranny and oppression.
    "But over the years, something very interesting happened. The White Lotus Society changed. It will be difficult for you to understand the nature of this change, so let me explain it to you by referring to a character from your own history. You will, I am sure, know Robin Hood. He stole from the rich and gave to the poor. He was a hero to the peasants in Sherwood Forest. But to the authorities, he was an outlaw, a criminal. They would have hanged him if they could.
    "In the early days, the White Lotus Society operated in much the same way. Indeed, it might interest you to know that the society had a motto:
    Ta fu — chih p'in.
    This translates as 'strike the rich and help the poor.' But here was the crucial difference: As the years passed, White Lotus found that it was enjoying and benefiting from the criminal nature of its activities.
    It was also remarkably successful in the world of organized crime. It continued to steal from the rich but, as its members became richer themselves, it found itself giving rather less to the poor. It also changed its name. It became known as the Three United Society. There was a reason for this. White Lotus believed that the world was made up of three different parts: heaven, earth, and mankind. Its members therefore had a triangle tattooed onto their body. The triangle also appeared on their flags. And in the end, they became known simply as the Triads."

    There was a long silence. Matt had heard of the Triads, the criminal gangs that were active all over Asia.
    They were drug dealers. They were involved in people-smuggling, extortion, and murder. They would torture or kill anyone who got in their way. They were as brutal as they were powerful. And this man was calmly admitting that he was one of them! He glanced at Jamie. The American boy was listening politely. He didn't seem shocked by what he had just heard. Richard, on the other hand, was staring openmouthed.
    "I can see that you are dismayed," Shan-tung remarked. "And before you ask me one of your inane questions, Mr. Cole, I will answer you. Yes. I am a criminal. More than that, I am what is known as Shan Chu, the Master of the Mountain. This means that I am the supreme leader of my own Triad. I cannot tell you how many people I have murdered to get to where I am today, but a conservative guess would be about twenty-five. I do know that I am wanted in exactly nine countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States — and I would have been arrested a long time ago if I hadn't paid the right people a great deal of money to leave me alone.
    'You are now wondering if you should be sitting at my table, eating my food. You are asking yourself why I should wish to help you in your struggle against the Old Ones. You are thinking, perhaps, that it would be more natural for me to be on their side. But you would be wrong.
    "Until very recently, I controlled all the crime in Hong Kong. I have, for example, drug laboratories in Kowloon and the New Territories. I have illegal casinos and betting shops throughout the island.
    Immigrants from China were paying five thousand dollars a time for me to help them cross the border illegally. The arrival of the Old Ones has changed everything. They have no interest in profit. They do not want to do business. They want only to destroy everything around them — and that includes the Triads. They are as much my enemy as anyone's, the only difference being that I have the means to fight back. And that is what I have been doing. There is a certain irony, don't you think? I am undoubtedly a bad man. But a greater evil has come my way, and now I am forced to do good.
    "And so I have used all my resources within Hong Kong to set up a resistance. I have buildings. I have people.