Free White Devil - A Beatrix Rose Thriller: Hong Kong Stories Volume 1 (Beatrix Rose's Hong Kong Stories) by Mark Dawson Page B

syringe.
    He was naked now that the sheet had fallen away. He picked up the lamp from the floor and threw it at her, but she deflected it with a sweep of her arm.
    He backed up, into the corner, with nowhere to go.
    The woman stepped up and thumped her right fist against the fleshy part of his thigh. He felt the prick of the needle and then the sensation of something cold, working its way up his leg and into his groin. He felt woozy. His balance deserted him and he tumbled down onto the bed. He tried to roll over, to look up, but he couldn’t. All he could see were a series of circles in an ever tightening spiral. The last thing he could remember was the feeling of taking a deep breath of cold sweet air.
    #
    THERE WAS a place to park the van at the back of the brothel. Chau got out, pulled back the sliding door and collected his bag. He suspected that he would need to make more than one trip, but the large leather satchel contained the things that he knew that he would always need. He made his way across the uneven ground to the alley that ran between the buildings, opening out onto Portland Street at its other end. There were entrances to the buildings on either side, and he opened the door to the Kimberly and climbed the stairs to the top floor.
    A woman in a tight leather skirt was waiting there. The mamasan pointed down the corridor. Chau followed her directions.
    He rapped quietly on the last door.
    It opened, and Beatrix Rose let him inside.
    Donnie Qi was on the floor. He was naked save for the plastic bag that had been tied around his head.
    “Are you…?”
    “I’m fine.”
    “And…?”
    She pointed at the body. “What do you think? It’s done.”
    “And?”
    “Relax, Chau. It was easy.”
    He came inside and shut the door. He had promised Ying that he would make a good job of this. Donnie would disappear. This was a very good start.
    “He was alone?”
    “There was a girl with him.”
    “Where is she now?”
    “The mamasan took her away.”
    “Did she see what happened?”
    “No.”
    “We should be sure—”
    “No,” she interrupted. “She was asleep. Doped to the eyeballs. She won’t remember anything.”
    “I said no witnesses—”
    “No, Chau. She didn’t see anything. You’ll have to trust me. Nothing happens to her. Non-negotiable.”
    He could see that there was no point in arguing with her. And he was relieved that she was so firm. He really had no wish to hurt anyone else. “Fine.”
    Chau opened the leather satchel, took out the folded plastic sheet and spread it over the floorboards. He took out his butchery tools: a meat saw, a bone saw, and two heavy cleavers. He had bought two large rucksacks from a trader he knew back at Chungking Mansions. They were in the van. They just needed to get Donnie into the bags, and then he could be taken out of the brothel, back to the van and then disposed of. Chau had a contact at the Goodbye Dear Pets Cremation Centre in Yeun Long San Tin. For a thousand dollars, he could have the body parts incinerated at the same time as the remains of a dog or cat.
    He took out his disposable plastic coverall and started to put it on. “You can go,” he said to her.
    She took off her jacket and dropped it in the corner of the room. “We’ve got to be quick, right?”
    “I said we would be.”
    “Then I’ll stay and help. You got another of those?”
    “Yes.”
    She went into the satchel, took the suit out and unfolded it.
    “You don’t have to help me, Beatrix.”
    She put the suit on, pulling the hood over her head. She took one of the cleavers. “Ready?”

CHAPTER TWELVE
    JACKIE CHAU parked his van in front of his warehouse on Kai Hing Road, got out and looked around. Caution was habitual now. He had been careful before, but the experience of the last few weeks and the attention from Donnie Qi and his men had made him even more aware of his surroundings and the threats that could be hidden within them.
    He undid the padlock, pulled back the