BLOOD DRAGON by Freddie Peters (books to get back into reading .TXT) 📕

a small crack and listened again. Their floor was still silent, though perhaps not for long. Jack nodded towards the exit, treading noiselessly. Randy followed without question.

Jack opened the fire exit door and listened. There was only silence and darkness. The stairwell was visible only in the light from the open door. Once the door was shut, they would be in total darkness.

“This is what we are going to do.” Jack whispered over his shoulder. “I’m not going to use my torch, but we are going to go up in the dark, using the banister as a guide.”

“Why are we going up?” Randy asked.

“I blocked the door open on the seventh floor.”

Randy shut the door reluctantly behind them.

They have just started to climb the stairs when they see a beam of light below them and that it is moving up fast. They have almost reached the fourth floor. The door to the second floor below opens and the light disappears.

Only three floors to go. Jack accelerates the pace. Randy follows. He trips and contains a yelp. Voices can now be heard from below. The door has opened again, and steps are pounding up towards them.

“Come on.” Jack let Randy go first. He lights the torch so that they can see better and start running towards their escape route. There are now shouts and the steps below them speed up.

The beam of light that guides them is unsteady, yet enables them to climb two steps at a time.

The others are gaining ground and their own light is shining up the staircase. It is almost upon them.

The seventh floor door is now visible. Randy opens the door. Jack shoves Randy by the shoulder and pushed him through the doorway. He yanks the piece of plastic that kept the door open. As it slams shut, someone crashes against it.

It won’t be long though before they manage to force it open. Randy and Jack run for the lift, pushing past a group of men who have just come out of it.

“Where to now?” Randy is breathless, his face ashen with fear.

“Back to Central.”

They reach the ground floor. Jack doesn’t pretend to be calm. He runs through the lobby, followed by Randy. The receptionists and guests have stopped to watch the two men dash out. Jack doesn’t care.

Outside, he pushes Randy into the first cab he sees.

“Mandarin Oriental.” He says as soon as he has shut the cab’s door.

“The night ferry is quicker.” The driver is reluctant to leave Kowloon.

Jack takes a $100 note out of his rucksack.

“Double this if you reach Central in thirty minutes.”

The driver floors the accelerator. There is another $100 to be had.

* * *

Cora’s plan was on his desk. Pole was impressed. He had seen some of her performances in which the young woman defied gravity and hung in the air in a choreography both aesthetic and dangerous.

She’d come up with a way to harness ropes from the beam that stretched across the entire structure of her flat. It was clever and it should work. Pole had hoped she would take a little more time to consider her plan but she was keen and she wanted answers.

Pole went through the Wilson file again. He had kept the name of the Fire Brigade’s Senior Officer who led the team on the day the fire broke out at Cora’s flat. Perhaps she could still be of help.

“Are you serious?” Senior Officer Rachel Lord’s voice dropped a little.

“Completely serious … or rather, she is. She’s an experienced performance artist.”

“She does that sort of stuff? For a living?” Senior Officer Lord sounded almost impressed.

“That’s right … but your people do some pretty daring things too.”

“Only when we have to, though …”

“Well, she’s a very successful artist … and she produces some rather wonderful watercolours too.”

“I’d rather she stuck to the … watercolours.”

“If we don’t help her, she’s going to do it on her own anyway.”

“I can’t really give you a professional opinion, Inspector Pole. I would be …”

“I’m not expecting you to. I just want you to take a look and tell me whether there’s anything that doesn’t make sense.” Pole hesitated. “Someone like you who knows the ropes, if I can put it that way.”

“I could perhaps …” Senior Officer Lord was thinking. “I could perhaps drive by and have a talk with her. I’m finishing my shift in an hour.”

Pole thanked Senior Officer Lord and told Cora that this was his condition. Senior Officer Lord would go through the plan with her. If she thought it was safe, Cora had the go ahead.

Andy popped his head through the door just as Pole finished his call.

“An extract from a report by the Commission in charge of co-ordinating the world medical production, the International Narcotics Control Board. The local advocate fighting to liberate the production in Afghanistan is … Jared Turner Senior.” Andy had opened the document so that Pole could read the relevant passage. He traced the name with his finger and stabbed at it. “Turner Senior is really keen on this. And he had visited Afghanistan a lot before and since the report’s publication.”

Pole read the report extract. “This gives us an indication, but not confirmation. There’s still a large gap at this end connecting the Turners with a Russian gang.”

“Agreed … but Mandy and I are looking into Turner Senior more closely.”

Pole was playing with an old rubber band he had found on the floor of his office.

“What we need … is someone who will talk.”

Andy leaned back in the chair he had just sat down on.

“The only person we have at the moment is that woman/biker/nurse from Balham. Knowing the reputation these gangs have for dealing with snitches, I’m not sure anyone will want to talk to us.”

“Cora has been discreet. She hasn’t spoken to anyone else about the nurse. Not even her friends.”

“That’s what Branning said.”

Pole scratched his goatee. “We are going to tell people that Ollie has woken up and ask Cora to go along with the