EXTRACTS: The Modesty Blaise Companion Expanded Edition © 2018 The Book Palace (425 PAGES in Full edition)

E X P A N D E D E D I T I O N T H E M O D E S T Y B L A I S E C O M P A N I STORY No 4 DRAWN BY JIM HOLDAWAY START DATE OF STORY 19th June, 1964 (Friday) END DATE OF STORY 5th December, 1964 (Saturday) Weng, a Vietnamese orphan and Modesty’s protégé, is studying at Hong Kong University. He sees a newspaper photograph of his sister, Dho Li, who he had thought dead, showing her serving in the South Vietnamese Women’s Army. As head of his family it is his duty to go to Vietnam and take her under his care. He has no money and is unwilling to ask Modesty, as she has already done so much for him. In desperation he turns to Mister Sun, the biggest drug baron in South East Asia. Sun knows of the Weng/Modesty relationship. Her loathing for the drug trade has caused Sun to lose both money and face in the past and he sees a chance for revenge. Weng is made to carry a consignment of heroin for Sun and is then held prisoner. Modesty, in London, is told of Weng’s disappearance and immediately flies to Hong Kong. Sun then contacts her and tells her of Weng’s activities and threatens to kill him unless Modesty too acts as a drug courier for him. She appears to agree and although watched, contacts an old friend in the police in Hong Kong and Willie Garvin in London. Sun give her a booby trapped case of heroin which she is ordered to deliver to Saigon. The booby trap is defused by a police expert, the heroin is substituted and the fake substance delivered. When the supposed heroin is tested the trick is discovered and Modesty is attacked. Willie arrives on cue to finish it. Weng is freed. In Hong Kong, the police attempt to arrest Sun, but he escapes. Modesty rejects Weng for carrying heroin but without knowing why he did so. Willie finds out, explains it to Modesty and Weng is forgiven. With help from their friend Tex Naylor of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, they set out to find Dho Li and learn that she is fighting in a remote jungle outpost. They go there and are told she has been captured by the North Vietnamese Army while out on patrol. Willie finds the enemy base and the South Vietnamese attack and capture it, discovering when the do so, that it is one of Sun’s drug bases. Sun and Modesty fight and she kills him but is then herself about to be killed by Dho Li, who is a traitor and a North Vietnamese spy. To save Modesty, Weng shoots his sister and kills her. They conceal Dho Li’s treachery for Weng’s sake and Modesty and Willie return to London taking Weng with them. He stays on to become Modesty’s houseboy. 209