Once he was safely back in Africa, Cobus intended to use the money to purchase a canned hunting reserve in Zimbabwe and convert it to a private game park. Perhaps, he could even entice his good friend Lawrence to come join him and run ranger operations.

A security guard in a suit unhooked the velvet rope and ushered Cobus to the VIP area without a word. Heading upstairs, Cobus prayed under his breath that no one had connected the initial wave of poisonings to him quite yet.

As Knight reviewed the footage the taxi driver had taken for him, he had been less interested in the evidence of international crimes and much more interested in the sole white face he had seen in the background. Knight knew that the Sun Yee On triad was all Chinese nationals, and putting pressure on the Chinese to arrest their own people would be an arduous task. Their Caucasian compatriot, however, likely came from a country with strong diplomatic ties to the States—one that US Fish and Wildlife could undoubtedly lean on to clean up an animal trafficker traveling under their flag. And the Chinese would have no problem deporting a vile foreigner who had come to their shores to commit crimes. Though Knight didn’t plan to make good on any of these threats, he could use them as leverage on the white man, to find out where the triad had sourced the tiger that wiped out SafariWorld’s feline population. For that reason, Knight had instructed the cab driver to follow Cobus when he left the triad warehouse at the port.

Knight got out of the taxi and loitered on the street for several minutes after Cobus went inside the Emperor Sauna. Then he decided to go inside and take a look for himself. Since Knight was not a man with a badge, his investigations often required him to develop a cover story to gain access. Coming up with a cover story for a forty-two-year-old American in an Asian brothel would not require much imagination.

Knight stepped into the neon glow of the “sauna,” where he was immediately confronted by the lineup of young women in their monochrome dresses. The bar and the tables were filled with customers, but Knight didn’t spot the mysterious Caucasian who had entered just moments ago. He then noticed the staircase in back, cordoned off with a velvet rope.

The madam approached. Her beauty caught Knight off guard. No doubt a former lady of the night herself, the forty-year-old woman’s large brown eyes and high cheekbones were assets that would not depreciate over time. The neckline of her black dress plunged deeply beneath the rows of ribs between her breasts.