White Tiger

meet you.’
    ‘Oh, very cute,’ I said under my breath. ‘Tiger White. Excellent.’
    Louise glared at me. ‘What’s the problem, Emma?’
    ‘Yeah, Emma, what’s your problem?’ Bai Hu said. ‘Come and have lunch with your friend, just like you said you would.’
    ‘I’m strictly vegetarian right now,’ I said.
    ‘Yes, of course you are. Don’t worry, we’ll find something for you up there.’ He pulled Louise closer as they walked to the lifts. ‘How much can you generate?’
    ‘About a tennis ball, slightly more.’ I dropped my voice. ‘ Get your paws off my friend !’
    ‘What are you talking about?’ Louise said, bewildered.
    ‘Oh, didn’t you know? Young Emma here is learning martial arts from the Master himself,’ Bai Hu said with relish.
    ‘Your tail is in serious trouble,’ I growled under my breath.
    ‘No wonder you look so different,’ Louise said without shifting her eyes from Bai Hu. ‘Where are you taking me?’
    We walked out of the lift and through the open-roof area of the shopping mall to the hotel. An upmarket Japanese restaurant was situated directly next to the hotel entrance.
    ‘Here,’ Bai Hu said. A large number of people stood around the entrance to the restaurant, obviously waiting for tables. The reception desk was deserted.
    Bai Hu strode up to the desk, banged loudly on it with one hand, and shouted something extremely coarse in Cantonese that would require a great many four-letter words to translate into English.
    The people standing around the entrance stared at him.
    The receptionist stormed out from the back of the restaurant as quickly as she could in the constricting kimono, her face a mask of fury. Then she saw Bai Huand her expression changed completely to one of warm welcome. She stopped and bowed very low to him, and gestured for him to enter without saying a word. He waved us in front of him.
    He walked very close behind Louise as we went inside and she flushed through her freckles. I tried to kick him on the shins but he moved out of the way before I could hit him. He grinned at me, then pushed past me to guide Louise by the arm to a private room.
    The waitress was servile, bobbing and smiling at Bai Hu. She opened the shoji screen to the private room and indicated for us to go in. We left our shoes outside the room and walked to the table set in the centre of the tatami mats.
    Bai Hu threw his sports bag into a corner of the room, then moved to sit as close as he could to Louise. She nestled into him and gazed up into his eyes. He smiled down at her and took her hand.
    ‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ I said, but they ignored me. He lowered his face to hers and she closed her eyes.
    I raced out of the room, through the restaurant and into the telephone alcove next to the rest rooms. I pulled out my mobile phone and called home.
    ‘Chen residence.’
    ‘Quick, Leo, I need to talk to Mr Chen right now! Put me through!’
    ‘Are you in trouble, Emma?’
    ‘No, I just need to talk to Mr Chen right now !’
    ‘Yes, Emma?’
    ‘John.’ I sighed with relief. ‘You have to help me. I’m here at Sha Tin with Louise, and the White Tiger followed me. He’s in the room with her, putting major moves on her. Help!’
    ‘Wait.’ He was silent for a moment. ‘He said he was just there to play tennis with the general manager of the hotel. It was a coincidence.’
    ‘But he’s putting the moves on Louise!’ I wailed softly. ‘I don’t want to lose her!’
    ‘Hold.’ Silence again. ‘Emma, I’m sorry. If she decides to go with him it’s her decision. He says she’s actually…’ He hesitated. ‘Well, let’s just say he didn’t need to put any moves on her at all.’
    ‘But she won’t know about all the others.’
    ‘Yes, she will,’ he said. ‘He tells every single one of them exactly what they’re getting into before he takes them. They all agree to go, fully aware of the situation.’
    I stopped dead at that. ‘I do not believe this. They agree to go and be one of a hundred?’
    ‘I don’t know how he does it.’ He sounded amused. ‘He doesn’t hypnotise them, he doesn’t cloud their minds. All he does is look at them. He’s remarkable.’
    ‘How can I get her out of this?’
    ‘I have no idea.’ He sounded unconcerned. ‘Is it any of your business anyway?’
    ‘She wouldn’t have met him if I didn’t know him already.’
    ‘Yes, she would,’ he said. ‘He goes to Sha Tin all the time. He owns the hotel. They