HLM – Chapter 731 Sage

Wang Bo gathered some information in the village, then returned to the police station to begin interrogations.

A burly man with rings in his face looked imposing — he sat in the chair radiating scorn, saying nothing, clearly refusing to cooperate without force. But Wang Bo didn’t need to go head-to-head with him. He grinned and said, “I’m sure your girlfriend won’t be as stubborn as you. You know vandalizing government property can get you detained for at least twenty-four hours. But anyone who tells me what I want to know can leave early.”

The big man panicked and shouted, “She wouldn’t dare!”

“You missed your chance.” Wang Bo left and went to the next interrogation room. The seductive woman there had been hit with a rock earlier; her forehead was purple and swollen.

The station had a first-aid kit. Wang Bo sprayed some topical medication to promote blood circulation on her forehead, then asked, “What’s your name? What’s that guy’s name? Which outfit from the Mountain Gang are you with?”

The woman looked shapely and heavily made up; she wasn’t actually very old. Without threats, she simply told everything she knew, point by point.

Her name was Kelly Sheryl. The man was called Rock Shtock — a lower-level leader of the Mountain Gang, active in Christchurch. As for why he’d brought a crew to Sunset Town this time, Kelly didn’t know — she’d been picked up on the road and brought along.

Wang Bo checked her details. The girl was only seventeen, but she had a worldly look about her. She was young now and thought having fun was all that mattered; when she got older she’d probably regret the ways she’d indulged herself.

With the information he wanted, Wang Bo went back next door. “Rock Shtock, head of the Mountain Gang’s motorcycle crew, parents dead, bad relations with his brothers. He came to Sunset Town to trace the whereabouts of some money, right?”

The rest was his deduction: anyone who went to Maori Village to buy the building that once housed the casino could only have one purpose — they weren’t idiots trying to reopen an underground casino, were they?

Rock Shtock’s eyes widened. “She really told on us?! No — she couldn’t possibly know our purpose!”

Wang shrugged. “Your mouth’s pretty tight, buddy, but not everyone’s like you. Don’t you know? One of your men was real interested in that girl — he spilled everything.”

“For example: your boss — whether he’s a croc or a gator — thought he could walk into the town’s casino and take a pile of money, but that money vanished. You came to look for it, right?”

Hearing this, Rock Shtock cursed angrily. “Damn it, damn it! It must be that whore’s man, Radmanovich! That bastard only thinks about women, says whatever damn thing comes into his head — what a jerk! I swear, next time I see him I’ll castrate him!”

With a little feint from Wang Bo, the whole story spilled out. These idiots had probably gotten the tip from someone inside prison: the police hadn’t found the casino cash, so they guessed the boss had hidden it and would come back to find it.

Wang Bo wasn’t worried about that; they couldn’t find a hair of it. He had other concerns. “When did you get to Sunset Town? Have you stolen any cattle or sheep?”

Once their intent was revealed, Rock Shtock lost his swagger and went listless. “We left yesterday and arrived this morning. Cattle? We’re here for the money — who the hell cares about cows or sheep?”

Stealing livestock probably wasn’t their thing, but these people being in town was a safety risk; they needed to be driven out.

Wang Bo let the young girl go. “Take a taxi home. Don’t hang around with those idiots.”

She protested, “I’m waiting for Rock. We’re true love — what do you know?”

Wang Bo snorted. They’d known each other less than twenty-four hours and she’d already declared true love? Whatever — if she refused to leave, that was on her. Once Rock Shtock’s detention ended, she’d get to experience the taste of ‘true love’.

Rock Shtock was still locked up. Wang Bo opened the surveillance sandbox to watch the fleeing members. After searching, he finally located their trail along a roadside in the countryside.

He thought for a moment, then came up with a way to drive them out: accuse them of theft while they were out eating lunch or shopping at the supermarket. That would justify evicting them.

At that moment a group were sitting on the grass by the roadside, smoking. They rolled their own cigarettes; a big-bearded man had a pocketful of dry leaf he was handing around.

Wang Bo was about to close the sandbox when he noticed the bearded man carefully stow some of the leaf in a package under his armpit after handing out portions. That struck him: if it were ordinary tobacco he wouldn’t bother hiding it so carefully. These leaves were suspicious.

He zoomed in and watched more closely as someone rolled a cigarette. The gray-green flakes they used didn’t look like tobacco; they looked more like crushed tea leaves.

Wang Bo typed the leaf characteristics into his computer and a single term popped up: sage.

Wang Bo knew this plant. Back home they called a related herb dan shen; it’s a medicinal plant and can be used as a spice. But the sage these men were smoking wasn’t the same as the herb from his hometown — only a botanical relative. This one belonged to the Salvia genus and came from Mexico.

In Mexican tradition this herb is taken by smoking or chewing as a spiritual or medicinal herb; some places use it to help people quit other addictions or to treat depression. But in New Zealand this kind of sage is defined by the government as a hallucinogen, because it can produce strong psychedelic effects: visual distortions, mood swings, intense euphoria; in some people inhaling the smoke can induce hallucinations within seconds that last one to five minutes.

Wang Bo read that, according to New Zealand’s 2013 “Illicit Psychoactive Substances Guide,” this kind of sage is strictly controlled. Without special government permission, importing, manufacturing, or selling Salvia is illegal and can carry up to two years’ imprisonment and fines as high as NZ$500,000.

He was pleased. He immediately called Uncle Bing and Atulu. “Someone’s called in — those fleeing Mountain Gang types are apparently smoking weed. Come with me; we’ll drive them out!”

Marijuana was rampant in New Zealand; the Labour Party had even backed decriminalizing small-scale trade and possession, and young people there were even bolder about it than in the U.S. Still, it wasn’t legal everywhere. If people were found smoking marijuana (or other illegal substances), the police could arrest them or drive them out of town.