White Tiger

years.’
    His voice was full of pain. ‘So do I, dear Emma.’ He inhaled sharply and his eyes unfocused again. He smiled slightly, still concentrating. ‘I am a fool.’
    ‘We both are,’ I whispered.
    Leo’s deep voice carried clearly on the night air. ‘If you two do not come down from there right now, I will call the police.’ He stood on the roof garden, next to the spa, with his hands on his hips. ‘Even worse, I may be forced to call Ms Kwan.’
    ‘He’s just upset because if he were to try energy work it would probably kill him,’ Mr Chen said loudly, still unfocused.
    ‘You are incredibly mean to him sometimes,’ I said.
    ‘Don’t worry, Emma, he’ll get his,’ Leo said. ‘You two get down here now !’
    I didn’t feel the movement. The tiles were still warm beneath my feet. Mr Chen’s face went rigid with concentration and we floated gently back down to the balcony.
    Leo ducked inside from the roof garden and thundered through the apartment and out onto the balcony. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest and glowered.
    Mr Chen nodded reassurance and released my hands, then both of us turned to face Leo, looking sheepish.
    ‘Do that again and I really will resign,’ Leo said. ‘I don’t know why I bother looking after you when you throw your energy away like that.’
    Mr Chen sagged slightly. I felt like a child caught with her hand in the candy jar.
    ‘If Ms Kwan saw you doing that, she’d nail your shell to the wall,’ Leo said.
    I giggled at the mental image and Leo glared at me. ‘Think of Simone,’ he said.
    That sobered me. ‘She’s right, Mr Chen. You should rest.’ I nodded to Leo. ‘I’m glad one of us has some common sense.’
    ‘I wouldn’t call it common sense. Look what I put up with!’ Leo returned to his room, shaking his head.
    Mr Chen and I shared a smile.
    ‘He’s right, John. Go and rest.’
    We went through the sliding doors and Mr Chen closed them behind us.
    ‘Thanks for showing me that,’ I whispered as we parted. ‘But don’t ever do it again.’
    ‘You are more than welcome,’ he whispered back. ‘And I’ll try not to.’

CHAPTER THIRTY
    M r Chen pulled an old black T-shirt over his swim shorts and stretched out on his towel. ‘We’ve been here a week now, Emma. We’ll go back in another three days, after the weekend. There are so many things that need my attention. I can’t stay away for too long.’
    ‘I understand.’ I didn’t need to ask him whether he felt better. He glowed with good health, the scar on his abdomen had nearly disappeared, and he even appeared younger, in his early thirties.
    ‘I wanna stay here,’ Simone said without turning to look at us.
    ‘I have to go back to Hong Kong, you know that,’ Mr Chen said.
    Simone banged her little spade on the sand in disgust.
    Leo hadn’t said anything and I looked over at him. He was distracted; gazing up the beach. I turned to see what he was looking at.
    A pair of good-looking men in swim shorts practised martial arts together. They looked in their mid-thirties, tanned and muscular. They performed high roundhouse kicks on each other; probably karate or tae kwon do.
    Two gorgeous young women sat on towels nearby and watched them.
    The men stopped and walked down to the water together. One of the women followed them in. She spoke to them and they answered her. They were friendly; I could see them smiling as they spoke. Eventually they walked out of the water and back up the beach together, ignoring her. She gave up and returned to the other young woman, said something. The first woman shook her head.
    Leo and I both laughed.
    ‘Go and talk to them,’ I said softly. ‘They probably know their way around.’
    Leo turned back to watch Simone.
    ‘Go, Leo,’ Mr Chen said. ‘Tomorrow’s Saturday. Take the whole weekend. The time is yours.’
    Leo didn’t move.
    I shoved him so hard he nearly fell over. ‘Go!’ ‘That’s an order, Leo. Go and talk to them,’ Mr Chen said.
    Leo growled something unintelligible under his breath, rose and walked over to the two men. He showed them some shaolin moves, demonstrating ways to block the high kicks and take an opponent down with a minimum of effort. The men were delighted and asked him to show them more.
    Mr Chen watched Leo with a small smile. Then he turned his attention to me. ‘And you, Emma, will visit your family. I have booked a flight for you to return to Hong Kong in two weeks.’
    I opened my mouth and