Free Blood Passage by Michael J. McCann Page A

phone.
    Peter looked at his iPhone. The race was over and an announcer was talking about something else. He touched the earbud in his pocket but did not take it out. He needed to think things through. His search for the killer of Martin Liu had been fruitless until last November, when his cousin’s little boy had started talking about things he could not possibly know. The boy said two men had hurt him, and Peter had asked his police contact to follow up on the names for him. There had been nothing. Now, however, it appeared the police might have re-activated the investigation.
    Peter had wasted time thinking that Martin had been killed during a power struggle between Lam Chun Sang, the current leader of the local Triad society, whose title was Shan Chu , or Dragon Head, and Philip Ling, a prominent member of the society who had opposed Lam. At the time, Peter was in the process of consolidating his position as Hung Kwan , or Red Pole, the enforcer of the society, and had assembled a very tough group around him. The brotherhood was in turmoil. The previous Dragon Head, Bernard Ho, was an ambitious but not especially bright man in his middle thirties who had become very rich smuggling counterfeit designer clothing and jewelry. Ho had spent a great deal of money getting himself elected Dragon Head. Unfortunately Ho had proven to be very weak and susceptible to influence, and his term had been marred by violence and infighting as several factions struggled for control.
    The council that governed the business of the local society elected a new Dragon Head every two years. The Dragon Head functioned like a chairman of the council, overseeing the flow of business within the society, ensuring that the families of society brothers were taken care of, resolving disputes in a fair and appropriate way, even smoothing things over with law enforcement when necessary to minimize trouble for the brotherhood. The Dragon Head must not only be successful in his own right but also be someone who understood the traditional values of the society, values that included loyalty, integrity, trust and respect. Unfortunately Ho was more interested in money and popularity. His policies and decisions depended on whom he spoke to last, and often rival factions battled among themselves without realizing until it was too late that their conflict had been exacerbated by Ho’s duplicity. The uncles, the elders of the society, struggled to maintain their temper until Ho’s term stumbled to an end.
    Once Ho was gotten rid of, the uncles insisted that one of them must step in to restore order to the brotherhood. Infighting was too bitter and deep-rooted to allow someone from one side to take control of the society to the detriment of their opponents. Lam Chun Sang agreed to come forward from among the uncles as a candidate. Known as Uncle Sang, he exerted a great deal of pressure on the brotherhood to fall into line behind him and ultimately won the election. Philip Ling was one of the most vocal of the dissenters among the brotherhood and refused to withdraw his own candidacy, but his supporters soon saw the wisdom in quietly acknowledging their loyalty to Uncle Sang. After Uncle Sang won the election, Peter’s job as Red Pole was to bring the rest of the troublemakers into step. Philip posed the greatest challenge, as he continued to cause a great deal of trouble for Uncle Sang after his defeat, especially among the elders in Hong Kong. He refused to listen to reason, insisting that the election of an uncle as Dragon Head violated the traditions of the society. Ultimately it was judged necessary to eliminate him from the equation altogether.
    First Peter had one of Philip’s lieutenants killed as a warning that Philip should leave. The idea was that he should sell his business interests and his home, pack up his wife and children and whatever possessions he wanted to keep, and move away. It was a drastic step, as the brotherhood hated violence among