The dense thicket clawed at Cobus as he fled. He could hear the voices of the men behind him, closing in. If they were good, they would spread out and funnel him to a location where their colleagues would lie in wait and make the kill. Cobus needed to change his vector before it was too late. He veered down a hillside, hoping to slip around the front of the enemy line unnoticed.

As he ran through a thicket of sharp, spiky palm fronds, Cobus saw a shape in the darkness. His only hope was to close the distance and pounce before his attacker could get off a shot at his charging silhouette.

The attacker lifted his gun as the big South African tackled him to the ground. Cobus found a familiar face glowering up at him.

Broken Tooth tried to fend off his attacker, but his arms were pinned under more weight than he could move. Straddling the triad, Cobus grabbed a large, flattish rock and hoisted it above his head. The scream cut off abruptly as the rock came down.

Cobus felt Broken Tooth’s head implode, then felt the body go slack. The other triads must have heard their comrade’s scream as Cobus culled him from the pack, because they were already running to Cobus’s position. He needed to keep moving.

He scrambled down the hill, sliding on loose dirt and leaves and shoving branches out of his way until he fetched up at the bottom. Stepping out of the dense foliage, he emerged in a remote section of the city.

He heard the calls and the crashing of the triads coming down the hill behind him, so he raced toward the only cover he could find: a small stadium on the outskirts of the city—the Macau Canidrome.

Neon greyhounds flickered above the locked gate. Cobus jumped as high as he could and grabbed the fence. Rolling over the top, he dropped to the other side and sprinted away from the gates, past the betting booths, moving deeper into the complex.

Cobus’s shoes clacked on the pavement as he ran down a dark corridor in a back area of the Canidrome. With footsteps closing fast behind him, he paused at a locked door.

Cobus kicked in the door and entered a dark hallway. He about jumped out of his skin as a dozen sinewy greyhounds barked wildly, lunging at him from their cages. He hurried past them and out the other end of the hallway, emerging onto the dog track, which was cloaked in darkness.