Dead in Hong Kong (Nick Teffinger Thriller) by R.J. Jagger

understood.
    They had a liquor license they wouldn’t want to lose.
    Answers were out there , t hey would just take time and effort.
    “We should stop in here tonight, have a drink and show Nuwa Moon’s picture around,” Teffinger said. “Do you think they play any Beach Boys songs?”
     
    SOMEONE KNOCKED on the door and then pushed it open , t entatively. Teffinger expected Dustin, but it turned out to be a woman with black glasses, attractive, almost on par with Fan Rae, wearing white shorts and an eggshell-blue tank top over a very nice non-p ierced, non-tattooed, non-g-punk body. She was taller than most, about thirty, and wore her hair short and stylish.
    She had a classy, exotic look.
    She could be a model o r a corporate executive.
    As interesting as she was, Teffinger ’s focus shifted to Fan Rae, who seemed to be in shock.
    “We need to talk,” the woman said to Fan Rae. The words were in English. A glance at him meant, “In private.”
    “Hey, no problem,” he said.
    He headed down the hall , t hen to the restroom.
    When he got back to the hallway, the women were still talking—no, not talking, whispering. He hung there, trying to figure out if they were done enough for him to go back in. He could only pick up bits and pieces of the conversation, but definitely heard the word d’Asia , s everal times in fact.
    Weird.
    He tiptoed closer.
    Then heard a clear sentence from the lips of the mystery woman, “I’m going to kill her, end of story. You can help or not, your choice. Either way she’s dead.”
    Silence.
    “When?” Fan Rae asked.
    “Soon.”
    “Call me before you do anything,” Fan Rae said.
    “Does that mean you’re going to help?”
    A pause.
    Then Fan Rae said, “I don’t know. I got to think it through.” Then she lowered her voice and said, “Don’t say anything to that guy in the other room. He came here to protect her.”
    “Who is he?”
    “A detective from the United States. I’ll fill you in later.”
     
    THE TALKING STOPPED and Teffinger backed out of the hallway. Thirty seconds later, the mystery woman walked into the main bar at a brisk pace and threw him a sideways glance before she pushed through the front door.
    Teffinger headed to the symbol room.
    “Who was that?” he asked.
    Fan Rae shook her head as if it was no biggie.
    “Just someone from work.”
    “Oh.”
    “I’m going to call forensics,” she said, referring to the hunt for bloodstains.
    Fine.
    Good idea.
    “I’m going to head out and find some coffee,” he said.
    “You are so addicted.”
    He was already in the hallway, walking fast.
    “You want some?”
    “No.”
    Outside, he looked for the mystery woman.
    She wasn’t to the left , o r the right , o r across the street.
    Damn it!
    She was nowhere.
    He headed to the right at a trot, which turned out to be a good move.
    There she was up ahead, w eaving quickly through the crowd.
    He hung back thirty paces and followed.
     
    HIS HEART WAS HEAVY.
    Fan Ran wasn’t who he thought she was.
    He was alone.
    The city felt cold.
     

Chapter Twenty-Nine
    Day Five—August 7
    Friday Afternoon
    ______________
     
    THE WOMAN ON SHORE ran with the spirit of a deer being chased by sharp yellow teeth. She escaped but Kong got a good enough look at her to tell she was the same woman who hit on him at D-Drop last night. As for the other woman, the one in the dinghy, she disappeared after rounding the pier and Kong never got a good look at her.
    Maybe she escaped.
    Maybe she drowned.
    Hopefully the latter.
    Back at Dangerous Lady, everything seemed intact except for the laptop and the gun. He didn’t care about the gun and in fact was glad it was gone. It was illegal as hell and could only bring trouble.
    Good riddance.
    The laptop was a different story.
    He needed to get it back.
    The best he could figure, the woman in the dinghy was the person blackmailing him. She must have recruited the other woman, who tried to pick him up last night, with intents of