The Dragon Head of Hong Kong by Ian Hamilton Read Free Book Online Page A

take a hike if he thought he had a chance to get into your pants.”
    “I guess I should take that as a compliment,” Ava said drily.
    “You see where we’re heading with this?” Andy asked.
    “It’s obvious enough, but tell me, what happens if he wants his guys to go along?”
    “Then no dinner or drinks for you and we go back to our Plan A.”
    “Waiting in the lobby?”
    “More or less.”
    “Okay, so what happens if there are no thugs?”
    “Like I said, we grab him and take him to our apartment.”
    “I would want to go with you.”
    “You don’t trust us?”
    “Not especially,” Ava said. “So what’s the apartment address?”
    “Why do you want to know?”
    “Because if I agree to do this, I want to know where I can find you in case I need to.”
    “We have a place upstairs from the Jupiter Boutique on Winter Street,” Andy said.
    “Does this mean you’re game?” Carlo asked.
    “Not yet. I also need to know what happens about the money I’m owed. I’m not going to do any of this without your commitment that I’ll get my fair share of what you can collect.”
    “What’s a fair share, in your head?” Carlo said.
    “Well, since my client is owed double what yours is, I should get a larger share. Not twice what you get, but something larger, like sixty percent.”
    “No way,” Carlo said. “Fifty-fifty is the best we could do, and I’m going to have to phone our boss to get him to agree to even that.”
    “Go ahead, I’ll wait.”
    Andy hesitated. “You know, I don’t think we really have to call him.”
    “No, I insist,” Ava said. “Let’s have everything clear right at the beginning. I don’t want to play my part and then have a problem with the split.”
    “Okay, you wait here,” he said.
    The two men huddled near the hotel entrance. Andy held his phone at a distance from his mouth and Ava assumed they had it on speaker mode. When they came back, she saw that Carlo had a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
    “I think we have a deal,” she said.
    “We do.”
    “Good. Now I think I should get myself back to Kowloon.”
    “What?” Andy said.
    “If I’m going to play the role, I’d like to put on some clothes that are more appropriate.”
    Carlo looked at his watch. “Try to be back here at six. Kung usually leaves the hotel in the early afternoon. He has an office that’s about two blocks from here. Then he comes back around six and leaves again for dinner or whatever at seven. So our best bet is for you to bump into him on the way in, at six, or on the way out, at seven.”
    “What kind of office?”
    “Just a hole in the wall.”
    “Does anyone else work there?”
    “Not that we saw, and we did bang on the door when we knew he wasn’t there. He probably uses it to make phone calls, check faxes, and the like.”
    “And store files?”
    “I have no idea.”
    “Forget about the office. Let’s concentrate on tonight,” Andy said. “You’ll need a story, you know. You can’t just throw yourself at him. He’s too smart for that.”
    “I’ll be prepared,” Ava said as she turned to leave.

( 9 )
    WHAT HAVE I gotten myself into ? Ava thought as she left the hotel. Nothing yet, until I’m sure Carlo and Andy are genuine.
    The two men weren’t very bright, Ava thought. Neither did they seem to be particularly devious. She would have found Carlo’s leering and his crude mouth offensive if it wasn’t actually kind of funny. He wasn’t the least bit attractive, but he threw himself around as if he was irresistible to women. Andy was gentler, at least on the surface, and she liked the way he showed some concern for her feelings. Still, she couldn’t help but think that she had blundered her way into the beginning of a business relationship. She wasn’t usually that impetuous, but right now she couldn’t think of any other options for getting close to Kung and to Mr. Lo’s money. She just hoped that jet lag wasn’t wreaking havoc on her