The Dragon Head of Hong Kong Read Online Free Page A

them had her tongue in Kung’s ear. Both men had silly grins splashed across their faces. Ava had no idea how tall Kung was, but he was broad across the shoulders, and burly. He had a full head of black hair that was combed back, and his face was round and fleshy under the eyes and the jaw. The shape of his face was oddly out of sorts with a rather delicate nose and thin lips. What an odd-looking man , Ava thought.
    She put the photos and the other paperwork back into the envelope and took out a pen and a Moleskine notebook from her bag. On top of the first page she wrote KUNG — LO and then detailed every fact she thought was relevant. Her plan was to find Kung and discuss the accounts payable situation in a professional, businesslike manner. If that didn’t work, she would threaten him with lawsuits. If that failed, she would call on the banks with his purchase orders and Lo’s invoices in hand and see if she could get their co-operation. Beyond that, she wasn’t sure what else she could do.
    As the plane continued to glide towards Hong Kong, Ava looked out the window and saw the first hint of morning sun. It peeked out from just beyond the horizon, the South China Sea glimmering under the light it cast. The sea was alive with ships. Ava counted more than twenty in her immediate view. Hong Kong was one of the world’s largest container ports; the traffic below was waiting to enter the harbour, steaming towards it, or already fully loaded and headed out to another destination. The plane was flying low enough now that, among the massive tankers, freighters, and container ships, Ava could pick out sampans and what looked like fishing boats. It was, she thought, all so exotic — almost romantic — and it reminded her of how different life was in this part of the world.
    There was nothing romantic about Chek Lap Kok. Within forty minutes of landing, Ava had disembarked, cleared Customs and Immigration, and collected her bag and was walking to the express train that would take her to Kowloon. The airport was built on reclaimed land on Lantau Island, to the southwest of Hong Kong. It replaced the old airport, Kai Tak, which had been situated on Kowloon Harbour.
    The first time she had landed at Kai Tak she was ten, just old enough for it to make a lasting impression. Her mother had put her in the window seat and Marian in the middle, but as the plane weaved its way through the mountains that encircled the city, they had pushed against her so they could share the view. The South China Sea was beneath them and to the west; a long strip of a runway that jutted into the harbour was in front. To the east was Kowloon, its office and apartment buildings so close to the airport that Ava felt she could reach out the window and pluck laundry from apartment balconies.
    Kai Tak was as congested as the neighbourhoods that surrounded it. The lineups at Immigration seemed endless. Baggage took forever to reach slow-moving carousels. Then there was the walk into the arrivals hall, where families and friends were crushed so close to the exit door that Ava was afraid she’d lose her mother in the melee.
    “I love this airport,” Jennie Lee had said, gripping her daughters’ hands. “The instant you step through these doors, there’s only one place in the world you can be.”
    Well, that’s not true anymore , Ava thought, as she neared the train station. Chek Lap Kok had sister airports in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and she was sure more would follow. Modernization had become a mania in Asia.
    She spotted an ATM outside the station and withdrew $5,000 Hong Kong, just less than $1,000 U.S. Then she waited ten minutes for the train that would take her over the Tsing Ma Bridge, a dual-decked structure that stretched one and a half kilometres over the Ma Wan Channel, more than sixty metres above the major shipping lane in and out of Hong Kong. The train was on the lower deck of the bridge. Above, three lanes of traffic moved in each