Doctor Fung and Dan Barrister

Western Vista Hotel, Los Angeles, California, 16th February 1942

Dan Barrister tossed his mostly-unread newspaper onto the breakfast table and reached for his coffee cup. The coffee had gone cold, so he emptied it and refilled it from the urn.

He gazed out of the window of the hotel suite across the grey sea, wondering how long it would be before Japanese warplanes appeared over it. The Japanese advance across the Pacific seemed unstoppable—​Pearl Harbour, the Philippines, and now Singapore. The British had surrendered yesterday with hardly a fight. Eighty thousand men taken prisoner. More than they lost in the battle for France and the evacuation of Dunkirk. And here he was, a strong, fit young man, cooling his heels in the most expensive hotel in LA, waiting for... what? Probably to get his skull cracked by some spoilt rich kid who was trying to murder his way to an inheritance.

Well, he wasn't going to hang around any more. Not when his country was in danger. He'd join the Navy, like his father had done in the Great War. Or the USAAF. Anything that would give him a chance to fight the Japs, and the sooner the better. He tapped on the door of one of the suite's bedrooms.

"Doctor Fung?" said Dan.

"Yes?" came the old detective's voice from within.

Dan opened the door to see Doctor Fung sitting up in bed, a woollen dressing gown over his pyjamas. He was reading a small leather-bound book and nodding his head slightly as though listening to music. He lowered the book and gave Dan a kindly smile.

"There's... something I need to tell you," Dan said. "I've decided—"

At that moment, the phone on Doctor Fung's bedside table rang. "Your pardon, please. This could be very important." He answered. "Put him through, please... Speaking. Yes, I understand. Yes. Yes, of course. Dan, write down this address, please."

Dan picked up a message pad and pen from next to the phone. Doctor Fung dictated an address in Burbank. "How long will it take us to get there?" the Doctor asked.

"At this time of day, probably an hour in a cab," Dan replied.

Doctor Fung relayed this to the caller, then thanked him and hung up. He crossed to the wardrobe and started picking out clothes.

"What was that about?" Dan asked. "Another murder?"

Doctor Fung turned to Dan with a bright smile. "Oh no. Something much more interesting."