Free The Dragon Head of Hong Kong by Ian Hamilton

situation.”
    “That won’t go over very well. He will already have called the client and told him how much money he’s getting back.”
    “What if I can get more? Will the client object?”
    Carlo shook his head. “You don’t understand how this business works. We made the deal with Kung and it’s been passed down the line. You should leave well enough alone.”
    Ava drained her coffee and walked around the table to make another. As she stood at the counter, she heard Carlo mumbling something to Andy. “Please don’t talk behind my back,” she said.
    “I was just saying I thought you should be happy about getting two hundred thousand back. Without us, you had no chance of getting anything.”
    “You don’t know that.”
    Carlo smiled. “Believe what you want.”
    “What did you say your boss’s name was?” she asked when she sat down again.
    “Chow Tung,” Andy said.
    “Then please call him for me. I’d like to speak to him.”
    Carlo and Andy exchanged nervous looks, and Ava felt a twinge of doubt. Had they actually spoken to their boss from the hotel lobby? Had he really signed off on a fifty-fifty split? Had they used her to get to Kung and were now getting ready to dump her and keep the four hundred thousand for themselves?
    “What do you want to talk to him about?” Andy said.
    “Getting more money out of Kung,” she said. And then another reason for the men’s being nervous popped into her head. “I’ll tell him I think you two did a great job. I’m not going to be critical.”
    “What’s the harm in that?” Andy asked Carlo.
    “I still don’t like it. We made a deal.”
    “We actually made two deals, and the first one was with Ava. She’s right when she says she didn’t sign off. Maybe we should give her a chance to get more out of Kung.”
    “I don’t want to be the one to call Uncle,” Carlo said.
    “I’ll do it,” said Andy.
    Carlo sighed. “Okay, but do it from the bedroom.”
    “Uncle and Chow Tung are the same man?” Ava asked as Andy left.
    “Yeah, but nearly everyone calls him Uncle.”
    “And you’ve been with him for three years?”
    “Longer than that for both of us, but three years in this business.”
    “What business were you in before?”
    “A bit of this and a bit of that.”
    “That sounds mysterious.”
    “Better to leave it that way.”
    Kung groaned and they both looked at him. Ava had almost forgotten he was there.
    “I’ll untie him in a while so he can call his guys,” Carlo said. “Then I’ll probably leave him untied. He’s no threat to us, and as long as Andy or I am here, he’s not going anywhere.”
    “Do what you want with him, but don’t let him make any phone calls until I’ve had a chance to get the information I want.”
    “Assuming Uncle goes along.”
    The bedroom door opened and Andy reappeared, holding the phone in his hand. “He wants to speak to you,” he said, motioning for her to come over.
    “Yes, Mr. Chow,” she said, taking the phone and stepping inside the bedroom.
    “Andy tells me that you are not particularly pleased with the arrangement that has been made,” a soft voice said.
    “No, sir, I’m not.”
    “He also says that you are an accountant.”
    “I am. Actually, I’m a forensic accountant.”
    “Trained in finding money that someone does not want found?”
    “Exactly.”
    “When I spoke to Andy last night, he was rather vague about your affiliations. He suggested that you are working entirely on your own.”
    “I am.”
    “That is very unusual in Hong Kong, although I do have to say it speaks well for you if a client feels he can put that much trust in a young woman, however well trained she might be.”
    “I’m not from Hong Kong.”
    “Really, I would never have guessed. Your Cantonese is perfect.”
    “Thank you. My mother would be pleased to hear that. It is the only language we speak at home.”
    “And where is home?”
    “Toronto . . . Canada.”
    “And your