"Please, stop! I'll pay you the money! Just stop, please!" The man was on his hands and knees. He was the owner of a little antique shop just off the very long and glitzy Nathan road; Hong Kong's 'Golden Mile'. Not that anyone would've been able to recognise him. His face had been beaten so badly that both his eyes were nearly swollen shut and blood was dripping from his nose, mouth and ears. His words were barely audible.
"It's too late. You were warned." said the triad leader that had recruited Michael months earlier. Michael had come to know him as Snake. The other two that were with Snake that day were Tommy and Blade. Although Michael hadn't really known them for that long, it was starting to feel like a really long time to him.

Snake, Tommy and Blade were standing over the man. They were in a narrow alleyway near the man's shop. It was late at night and it was raining. Michael had to strain to hear what they were saying, but he really didn't need to hear what was being said to know what was going on. This wasn't the first time he had seen Snake beat up a guy who refused to pay protection money.

Michael was standing at the end of the alley, near the corner of another busy road in downtown Mong Kok. He was the lookout. His job was to simply let the other guys know if anyone was coming. Don't say or do anything stupid; don't attract attention – just keep a lookout. At least the rain kept the sickening smell of garbage and urine at an almost bearable level.

He thought back to that first day he met Snake. His first 'job'. Delivering the package was really quite easy. All he had to do was drop the fat yellow envelope on the seat next to the guy sitting in the corner booth, at the back of the Ho Hung Kee restaurant in Causeway Bay. The guy looked just like a normal businessman to Michael. He didn't even look up from his newspaper when Michael casually dropped the envelope next to his lap. Michael didn't stick around. He kept walking past the man's booth and into the door that led to the men's toilets. Snake had made it very clear that this delivery was to be discreet. Absolutely no eye contact and definitely no talking – just in case there were any CCTV cameras watching. When he got into a cubicle, he counted thirty seconds in his head, and then walked out again. He headed straight for the front door, ignoring the irate waiter yelling something in Cantonese about the toilets being for paying customers only. He met Snake around the corner and was paid his one hundred dollars – plus an extra hundred for a job well done. Sweet. Easy money.

He'd been on countless other 'jobs' since then. Occasional deliveries, but mostly lookout duties; like what he was doing now. Sometimes, it was in narrow, dirty alleyways like this one. Making sure nothing bothered Snake and the other two when they were hassling someone – usually for protection money. Sometimes it was inside plush, five star hotel apartments, where all he had to do was watch tv in the lounge room and make certain none of the hotel's maids went into the bedroom. Snake reallydidn't like to be bothered while he was with a prostitute – and Hong Kong hotel maids have a bad habit of not waiting for a response when they knock on the door for housekeeping.

"Hey! Are you watching out for us, or what?" Tommy barked at Michael in Cantonese.
Michael snapped out of his daydream. He had been staring vacantly at the broken and beaten antique shop owner, who was being pummeled to within an inch of his life. Obviously not keeping a lookout as he wasn't even facing the right direction.

He moved to turn and face the other way, and then stopped. It was as if something had snapped inside him. His eyes finally registered what they were actually seeing. A terrible, icy feeling of dread covered him like a blanket. Tommy and Blade had picked the broken man up from the ground and were holding him up by his arms. The man, his battered face raised, was looking straight into Michael's eyes. For that instant, a tiny fraction of a second, Michael was seeing the man through a different set of eyes. It was as if his eyes had zoomed in on the man – and everything around him – and he could see it all clearly and in great detail. He could see the pain and anguish in the man's eyes, but there was more than that. He could tell what the man was feeling - or rather, he could feel it. For that instant, Michael and the man were connected. An image of the man's wife and daughter flashed through Michael's mind. Michael knew that at that moment, the man was thinking about them rather than his own rather dire predicament. He knew that the reason the man didn't pay the protection money was because he simply couldn't afford to. He knew of the secret promise the man made to himself on the day his daughter was born; to keep his wife and daughter safe and protected, always. And he knew that the biggest fear the man had at that moment wasn't for his own safety. Rather, all he could think about was what would happen to his wife and daughter if he died right here, tonight?

Another flash.

Michael could see deeper still; into and beyond the man's eyes – into his very essence. It was like a burning, yellow-blue flame, but it was radiating outward in all directions rather than straight up like a normal fire. It was giving off a glowing aura surrounding the man's body. Michael was mortified when he compared it with Snake's and noticed how faint the man's aura was. It was like a flickering candle compared to Snake's almost blinding yellow-red inferno. The man was dying.

As quickly as the strange moment had come, it was gone again. Michael's vision snapped back to his own and his sight was again blurred by the heavy rain. He couldn't even be certain the weird moment actually occurred. The strange, glowing auras surrounding Snake, Tommy and Blade – and the flickering shadow of the one surrounding the dying man, had disappeared. The feeling of total awareness had gone, but it was replaced with something else; an indescribable urge to put a stop to what was happening.

He finally turned and faced the other way. He looked around fervently, hoping to see someone –anyone.
Nothing. There were absolutely no people around that he could see.
"Screw it." He thought.
As he turned back, he kicked the closest garbage bin and it fell over with a clatter. That was the signal. Snake and the other two stopped what they were doing, roughly dropped the man on the wet ground, and then casually strolled towards the other end of the narrow alleyway. Michael walked briskly out of the shelter of the small cloth and bamboo awning he was standing under, and followed. He didn't even look at the man as he passed by. He pulled his hood down low over his face, jammed his hands into his pockets and hurried to catch up with Snake and the others.

He met up with them around the corner. They all hurried down a set of stairs that led into a busy food court. Snake made a beeline towards an empty table near the wall and the rest of them followed. Just before they got there, Michael tapped Tommy on the shoulder and said, "Goin' for a piss, dude. Be right back."
Snake made a slight pause when he got to the table; another man had grabbed the chair at the same time as Snake, but quickly released his grip after he realised who he was up against. Snake sat with a satisfied grin on his face. He gestured for the others to sit, then shot Tommy an enquiring look when he noticed Michael missing.
"Gone for a slash." Tommy said.
Blade sniggered, then countered, "Pointing Percy at the porcelain."
They both laughed out loud, then abruptly stopped when they noticed Snake hadn't joined in. Snake glowered at them, and then grinned.
"Draining the main vein." He said.

Michael was standing at the payphone, carefully watching Snake, Tommy and Blade – making sure they weren't looking at him. He picked up the telephone receiver and dialed 999; Hong Kong's emergency hotline number. It rang twice before it was answered.
"Wei?"
Michael's voice was low. His tone urgent. "You need to send an ambulance. Please hurry."