Free Nine Dragons - A Beatrix Rose Thriller: Hong Kong Stories Volume 1 (Beatrix Rose's Hong Kong Stories Book 2) by Mark Dawson

A frown crinkled her brow as she searched for the right word. “Something for computer.”
    “Do you know where it is?”
    “Yes. I show you.”
    Beatrix dared not trust the lift, so they climbed the stairs. She moved as quickly as she could.
    They reached the landing. The door to Beatrix’s apartment was badly damaged. The area around the lock had been blown out by the shotgun blast, and other holes studded it from where she had fired through it. Facing it, the door to Grace’s flat was still open. It, too, was damaged from the kicking that it had received.
    Beatrix went inside first. It had been turned upside down. Drawers had been emptied out, the chairs overturned, pots and pans thrown about in the tiny kitchen. Grace scurried over to the bedroom, lifted the futon and pushed it against the wall, and knelt down. She pushed down on one of the floorboards and one end popped up. She slid her fingertips beneath it, lifted it clear and reached into the cavity beneath.
    She took out a small waterproof bag.
    “Here,” she said. “My sister put this here. I saw her. Is it important?”
    Beatrix took the bag. Inside was a thumb drive.
    “It might be.”
    Grace nodded. Beatrix put it in her pocket and led the way back outside.
    She went back into her flat, telling Grace to wait on the landing. The two dead men were sprawled across the floor, blood and brain matter congealing around their shattered heads in gory halos. The apartment was rented under a false name, and she only ever paid cash. It would be difficult to trace it back to her and she didn’t have time to dispose of the bodies. They would have to stay here.
    She gathered her bag and packed the things that she knew she would need. She removed her hardback copy of Bleak House from the shelf and opened it up. Two magazines for the Glock were nestled inside a niche that she had carved into the pages. She ejected the spent magazine and pushed in one of the fresh ones.
    She put the second magazine into her pocket, collected Grace’s bag, put the pistol back inside her waistband and took one final look around.
    Keep moving.
    You’ll never settle down.
    Not until you find Isabella.
    She went outside and led the way down the stairs to the street below.

CHAPTER NINE
    BEATRIX AND GRACE stopped at a pharmacy. Beatrix bought a bottle of disinfectant, a pair of tweezers and a packet of surgical strips. Then they stopped in the nearby McDonald’s. Beatrix bought Grace a Happy Meal, told her to stay and eat it, and then went into the bathroom. She unwound the wrap and examined the damage to her left hand. Now that the blood had stopped, it did not look as bad as she had feared. The cuts, although deep, had missed the tendons, and she had full movement. She held her hand over the sink and, gritting her teeth, emptied the disinfectant over it. She examined the flesh carefully, using the tweezers to pull out the tiny fragments of glass that had lodged there, and then sealed the cuts with the surgical strips. She opened and closed her fist and flexed her fingers. The damage was minimal. She had been lucky.
    She led the way to Sheung Wan and took a room at the Sohotel. The place catered to backpackers and those on a budget. The room was small, just over a hundred square feet, with wall-to-wall windows doing a little to make up for the lack of space. Beatrix knew the area. Possession Point, the spot where the British landed and took possession of Hong Kong in 1841, was in nearby Hollywood Road Park. The park was now a pleasant green where locals practised t’ai chi . Sheung Wan was also within walking distance of the Macau Ferry Terminal for outlying islands, and was served by an MTR station. If they needed to get out in a hurry, there would be plenty of options.
    Beatrix made sure that Grace was comfortable and then told her that she needed to step out for a moment.
    The girl’s eyes went wide with fear. “Where are you going?”
    “I’ll be five minutes away. Don’t worry,