All because of this cursed UFO. Perhaps if he could find out why this had happened to him, he could cope with it.

He couldn't really blame the cops for not listening; they were on opposite sides, after all. Fei or any of the other brothers would just laugh and say he'd been using too much of his own wares. He might even think they were right if it hadn't been for Emily seeing it too.

Despondent, he paused at a news stall to buy a top-up card for the mobile he'd been using. The vision of the auburn-haired white woman from Win's Hotel popped into his head unbidden. He didn't know why. Then he realised he was looking at her now: a small photo in a paper from earlier in the week.

He snatched the newspaper up, skimming the story of an attempted hit in Bangkok. According to the paper, she was some kind of investigative journalist - and he now knew where she was staying.

The papers were often full of implausible and improbable stories, including UFOs, so perhaps this journalist would listen to him. Better still, he realised cheerily, he might even come out ahead on the deal and make some money from his story.

Feeling better, he returned to his car and headed for Win's.

The days when gangsters operated out of nightclubs or hotels were long since over. The cops had got wise to that. Now criminals like Tse Hung had offices, and went to work from nine 'til five, before returning home to prepare for a night out on the town.

Tse Hung had a public office in the Pimms Building, with a private room inside where he wasn't to be disturbed except by others of equal rank. This morning, a man was sitting waiting for him when he came out of his still more private sanctum. Tse Hung hadn't heard the door open or close, and suspected Chiu hadn't bothered to use it.

Chiu seemed Chinese at first glance, but his hair was barely light enough to call brown, and his eyes were blue, almost violet.

'Mr Chiu,' Tse Hung greeted him, no more politely than was absolutely necessary. There was something unnerving about Chiu. He seemed to look into you or through you, rather than at you. His colour always seemed a little off too. Not in the sense that he was ill or of a different ethnic group, but just not quite as it should be.

'Tse Hung. I came to report that we tracked the box to the southern side of the island.'

'Did you identify the thief?'

'No. There were two humans in the vehicle. We are uncertain which of them possessed it. We attempted to hold them for search and interrogation, but but'

'But?' Tse Hung poured himself a fine Japanese Scotch from a decanter.

He didn't offer Chiu any.

"The attempt was interrupted. We can't allow ourselves to be seen, so -'

'So you aborted the mission.'

'Yes.'

Tse Hung took a shot of whisky, keeping his thoughts to himself. Booze simultaneously blurred things and made them clear to him. 'Using your your people was obviously a mistake. Leave this one to me. There's a cop who owes me a favour.' people was obviously a mistake. Leave this one to me. There's a cop who owes me a favour.'

Chiu didn't look very happy about that, but was too polite to say anything.

That was fine by Tse Hung. When Chiu left, Tse Hung used his key to the private lift and headed up to Pendragon's lair.

These days, greeting his boss with a respectful 'Dai lo' felt ever stranger to Tse Hung. It just didn't feel right treating a white man as an elder in his brotherhood. Those were the wishes of the late Uncle Tang, so he did.

But it still felt strange every day.

'Ah,' Pendragon exclaimed. 'Tse Hung. What can I do for you this morning?'

'I had a visit from our friend Chiu. It seems he tried to take the box back last night, but failed.'

'Failed? That's not like him& He and his people are usually the very souls of efficiency in things like that.'

'Apparently they were interrupted, and he didn't want witnesses.' Tse Hung smiled, knowing this would make Chiu look bad. 'Oh, on a related note, I sweated the names of the probable thieves out of Lefty Soh, but -'

'Yes, I know,' Pendragon said sourly, pacing around his desk. 'There's nothing in either Fei or Yi Chung's apartments, and the police haven't found anything at Wing's place. In fact they returned to search it again yesterday.'

'That's right&' Tse Hung frowned. 'But if I'm only just reporting this to you now now 'What was going on here? Pendragon had secrets like everybody else, but why should he keep this information confidential and waste Tse Hung's time? 'What was going on here? Pendragon had secrets like everybody else, but why should he keep this information confidential and waste Tse Hung's time?

'How do I know?' Pendragon smiled secretively. 'I have my ways.'

'Right ' The only explanation that sprung to Tse Hung's mind was that Pendragon didn't trust him. That Pendragon had already arranged to have someone else do his job. That inevitably Tse Hung would become superfluous, and a liability quickly thereafter. ' The only explanation that sprung to Tse Hung's mind was that Pendragon didn't trust him. That Pendragon had already arranged to have someone else do his job. That inevitably Tse Hung would become superfluous, and a liability quickly thereafter.

He didn't let any of this show on his face. Instead, he nodded politely and left for his other duties.

Summoned by a phone message from reception, Sarah Jane Smith entered the lobby, looking around for this mysterious person who wanted to meet her yet wouldn't give a name.

She was sceptical of the somewhat cloak-and-dagger approach, but a little mystery always set her heart racing. Surprise was vitality. The foyer was moderately peaceful, and she didn't see any familiar faces.

A young man in flashy casual clothes rose from a seat with a big grin, and approached with an outstretched hand.'Miss Smith?'

'Yes?'

'I hope I wasn't disturbing you. I'm Hong Yi Chung. I had the receptionist call your room.'

'They told me you were quite eager to see me. What could be so urgent?'

She could guess. She was a journalist, and this guy was obviously a bit of a wide boy. He probably hoped to sell her a story. It wasn't an unusual approach.

'I have a story to tell. No charge - I just want to find someone who'll listen to it. And someone to believe me.' Sarah was intrigued, though she'd heard such lines before. 'And I wanted to show you something; ask if you had any idea about it.' He took a slim metal box from his pocket. 'What do you make of this?'

Sarah took it, feeling the strangely smooth, warm metal under her fingertips. 'Cigarette case? Some kind of jewellery case?' She tried to open it, but there were no seams or hinges.

'I don't think so.' He took the box from her and shook it silently. 'There's nothing inside. But somebody wants it back badly enough to to Well, badly enough to do whatever it is that things in flying saucers do.' Well, badly enough to do whatever it is that things in flying saucers do.'

Sarah's attention was caught in spite of herself. 'Flying saucers?' She tried not to sound too interested. Once people found out she believed in extraterrestrial life, they often spun obvious tall tales to waste her time, in the hope of getting their pictures in the paper. Occasionally, though, some of those tales were true - and those were usually the ones she didn't write up, preferring to keep them for private research or to notify UNIT.

But this man seemed genuine enough and she wanted to be approachable, rather than dismissive or insulting, to someone who might actually need someone to listen to him.

Besides, she'd seen enough alien technology in her time to recognise that there was something not right with the box. Maybe it was the material, but she instinctively recognised that it was something not made on Earth. 'Put that safely away,' she said, 'and follow me.'

Yi Chung felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. It looked like Sarah believed him. He was surprised at how much of a relief that could be. Things were looking up, and he felt a bit more like his old self. If Emily would just agree to a second date later, he was sure he'd really be back to normal.

Sarah escorted him to a lift and up to her junior suite. She had a harbour-view lounge-space two steps down from the bed area. A floor-to-ceiling window looked out over the water. There was a small bar in one corner and a closed door leading to the bathroom.

Yi Chung did a double-take when he saw what was lying on the chair nearest the window, but he didn't believe his eyes. He picked up the Kevlar vest, which was about as discreet as such a thing could be. He recognised it as the kind designed to be worn under a coat or jacket, rather than the bulkier flak jacket he sometimes saw the cops wearing. 'I didn't realise fashion stores dealt in these.'

Sarah took it from him, shoving it into a drawer. 'Until somebody draws up a code of practice for critics, I find it's sometimes handy.' She moved to the bar and started mixing fruit juices. 'Now 'Now why don't you tell me this story of yours?' why don't you tell me this story of yours?'

Yi Chung quickly summarised his visit to Wing's apartment -albeit claiming he was visiting a friend - and the flying saucer and its accompanying strange figures. It was difficult to start with, but he found he could speak more easily as he went on. Partly it was because he was talking to a pretty woman, partly it was because he was talking to someone whose expression suggested she took him seriously, and partly because it just felt better to talk about it.

"What makes you so sure the UFO you saw had anything to do with this box?'

In truth, Yi Chung wasn't sure how he knew. He felt it instinctively. He'd seen lots of precious-metal items, invariably stolen, but had never seen anything quite like this. 'It did something, before the UFO. I was trying to open it, and something clicked. It didn't open, but it was some kind of switch.'

'I didn't see any buttons on it.'

'No, the metal itself moved, changed. I don't know what happened inside, but afterwards, this UFO came, and.

'Tried to abduct you.'

'Yes.'

Sarah drained the last of her fruit punch. 'I'm not Mulder or Scully, you know. But your story sounds interesting.' She smiled, and brightened Yi Chung considerably. 'First, can you show me where you found this box?'

'Absolutely 'Yi Chung replied.

A small lamp began to flash on a bank of monitors. The man watching them pressed an intercom button. 'Colonel, you'd better get in here.'

Colonel Tsang was in the room in a second or two. 'What is it?'

The man punched up a view of Wing's apartment building on one of his monitors. It was a slightly distorted image, taken from somewhere high, across the street, and showed the main entrance to the building.

'Somebody just used our late friend's key to get into the apartment block.'

'Visitors. About time.' Tsang watched with a smile as a Chinese man and western woman slipped into the apartment. 'Just like getting a fruit nicely ripe - you just give it time. Anybody we know?'

The others shook their heads. 'The woman looks familiar, but but'

'All right. Get the clearest image you can, and see if you can find a matching identification for them.'

The man played with his bank of computers for a few minutes. On the central monitor, the images zoomed in, freeze-framing the intruders at the most appropriate moments. On neighbouring monitors, the frozen faces sat on one side of the screen while a stream of ID photos blurred past on the other. In a few minutes, both flows stopped and the faces were matched to ones on file.

'We've got IDs on both the intruders. The male's a 49, named Hong Yi Chung. He's got some previous convictions: membership of a street gang, that sort of thing.'

'Triad?'

'Absolutely. No evidence, of course, but it's practically written on his face.

There's another interesting thing - that fax we got from the HK about a UFO Sighting It was this guy who made the statement. He claimed it tried to abduct him last night.' It was this guy who made the statement. He claimed it tried to abduct him last night.'

'I'll bet. The woman?'

'Oh, we've got a star here. Sarah Jane Smith, would you believe?'

Tsang knew the name, of course. Most people in UNIT did. "The journalist?

Just published that thing about the Golden Triangle lords using porn to launder their money?'

'The very same. It gets better: she used to be attached to UNIT-UK.'

'Yes And still on the reserve contact list.' Nobody ever really left UNIT, unless they were physically and mentally unable to contribute anything. And still on the reserve contact list.' Nobody ever really left UNIT, unless they were physically and mentally unable to contribute anything.

'Should we pick them up?'

'Yes. Bring them in for for a chat.' a chat.'

Chapter Eight.

The Devil You Know

Some roaches tried to look innocent in a Bart Simpson 'I didn't do it' way when Yi Chung switched on the light in Wing's apartment. Then they bolted. Yi Chung showed Sarah the small room, indicating where the remains of Wing, and the box, had been found.

Sarah could still make out a body-shaped stain on the carpet. 'It looks some kind of SHC SHC'

SHC?'.

'Spontaneous human combustion. You sometimes see stories about it in the papers - people who were burnt to ashes, yet the chairs they were sitting in were barely scorched.'

Yi Chung shuddered. 'That sounds hideous.' A chopping he could understand; at least that was fairly quick. 'What could cause it?'

'Nobody knows. Maybe it's a natural phenomenon. Or maybe it was done to him him'

'Could it come back?'

'Oh, I don't think so. But I'm not a scientist; Sarah frowned. 'Still, if that box of yours does have something to do with aliens, perhaps they have the technology to do this. Some kind of heat ray, like in The War of the Worlds The War of the Worlds'

Yi Chung looked around, fear rising in him again. He hated being afraid, and maybe that was why he was afraid so often. If only the things that were bothering him were something tangible; something he could chop or shoot.

Something he could teach a much-deserved lesson. 'Let's get out of here.'

He headed for the door, leaving Sarah to catch him up. If she wanted to stay, she could stay alone. He wasn't going to risk his skin just to tell a story. She fell into step with him as he headed for the exit. 'Can I see that box again?'

Yi Chung hesitated, but then handed it to her. 'Don't play with it. I don't want it to attract those those things, again.' things, again.'

'Believe me, I don't fancy meeting them either,' Sarah reassured him. She was still looking at the box, turning it over in her hands, when they all but walked right into a group of suited men who were waiting at the building's main door.

'That's them,' someone said, and the men lunged forward.

Yi Chung lashed out at the nearest, kicking him and pushing him away.

'Cops! Run!' he yelled. He pushed his way through the human blockade with a flurry of kicks and punches. His legs were already going into overdrive before he realised Sarah still had the box. He stopped, cursing himself himself, and turned. A man was running towards him, while Sarah and the other man had disappeared.