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

Twenty-Seven
    Day Five—August 7
    Friday Afternoon
    ______________
     
    “GET OUT OF THERE NOW! He just jumped in another dinghy and he’s heading your way!” As soon as she heard the words, Prarie slammed the phone in her pocket, grabbed the only thing she had found of interest—a laptop—and ran up the stairs.
    Then she had a second thought, bounded down below and grabbed the gun.
    She was in the dinghy and had it untied in a heartbeat. It drifted while she pulled the rope for the outboard. It sputtered but wouldn’t catch. She pulled agai n, and again, f rantic.
    It choked and spit blue smoke , r efusing to start.
    Damn it!
    It was flooded.
    She twisted the gas to full throttle and pulled again. It sputtered twice and then fired. She jammed it in gear and headed east at full throttle. The bow slammed into the waves and threw cold salt spray in her face.
    She turned and checked behind her.
    What she saw she could hardly believe.
    The rock star was c losing fas t, s houting and w aving a fist.
    There was no way she’d get to shore before he reached her.
    Shit!
    What to do?
     
    UP AHEAD WAS A BRIDGE for a major road, held up by massive piers rising out of the harbour. She jammed the gun in her belt, swung around the closest one and dived over the side as soon as she got out of sight.
    The dinghy went south ; f aster now, without her weight.
    The sound of the other engine got louder.
    She ducked under the surface just before it got around the pier. When she surfaced, the rock star was in hot pursuit of the runaway —so beautiful.
    Then something bad happened.
    He carved to the lef t and doubled back.
     
    SHE STAYED UNDER THE WATER as much as she could, rising only to take a quick gulp of air.
    Minute after minute passed.
    The man didn’t leave.
    He was trolling and c ircling , w aiting for her to get so tired that she’d have to break the surface and flail her arms. It was only a matter of time before he spotted her. Then the worst possible thing happened, he came directly at her, on a collision course. She got as far under the surface as she could, frantic about the propeller. Then as he passed overhead, she pulled the gun and got ready.
    Suddenly the engine revved.
    The dinghy sped away.
    She stayed under as long as she could.
    When she rose, she saw him speeding to the other dinghy, which had lodged against the south shore. Then she saw why.
    Emmanuelle was there , s potting the laptop , grabbing it and r unning.

Chapter Twenty-Eight
    Day Five—August 7
    Friday Afternoon
    ______________
     
    THE BACK ROOM OF HEI YEWAN got used for a private affair on Wednesday, the night Nuwa Mo on ended up with a K’ung chia symbol carved in her 22-year-old stomach.
    “Used by who?” Fan Rae asked.
    Dustin, the manager, scratched a tattoo and shrugged.
    “I don’t know.”
    “Bullshit.”
    “Honest,” he said. “Everyone came and went by the back door. The two doors that we just went through, they were locked the whole time.”
    “So who knows who was here?”
    “I don’t know,” he said. “Not me, though. I don’t have anything to do with this part of the place. I only manage the front and that’s where I was.”
    They pressed for information and got none.
    He denied knowing if the room was used for pagan purposes. He also denied ever seeing Nuwa Moon or Syling Wu, either on Wednesday or on any other day.
    They escorted the man out of the room and shut the door.
    “He’s lying about not knowing Nuwa Moon,” Fan Rae said. “This is the exact kind of place she would hang out and she’s way to pretty to miss. Dustin’s a horn dog. He was even checking me out.” A pause then, “I don’t see any blood on the floor, at least to my naked eye. We’ll give forensics a call, though, and let them shine the lights. Public records will tell us who the owner is. It’ll be a corporation because everything here is. But we should be able to peel that back and squeeze the principals.”
    Teffinger