“Mr. Lee, I know animals. And I know how to keep them alive. If we partner up, we both stand to make a lot of money.”

The driver suddenly cut off his pitch. “We are at your hotel, Mr. Knight.”

Knight looked at Lee, hoping for a response. Lee continued to gaze contemplatively out the window.

Knight reached for the door handle, hoping he had gotten through to the sphinxlike entrepreneur. “I’ll be here for two more days before I head home.”

CHAPTER 28 EXTINCTION CITY

CHAPTER 28
EXTINCTION CITY

hong kong

Knight’s dream of the Mongolian steppe had been evolving lately, and this time the big mare was taking him farther than he had ever ridden. From an escarpment high above the ocean of grass, he scanned the horizon.

His humming body suddenly pulled him from his slumber. He had gone a tad too deep with the whisky last night, and now the bounce back in his central nervous system woke him at 5:00 a.m. with the shakes. Accustomed to such alcohol-induced sleep interruptions, he popped a milligram of Xanax and fell back asleep.

As Knight returned to his dream, he spotted a towering medieval city on the horizon. It was the first sign of humanity he had ever encountered in the dreamscape. He nudged the horse’s ribs with his heels and took off at a gallop toward the stone spires in the distance.

Then the goddamn pounding on the door snapped him back to his darkened room, where he lay sweating in his sheets, with a down pillow clutched over his head.

“Come back later! I’m sleeping!”

Bang. Bang. Bang. The knocking felt like an ice pick. Assholes! Couldn’t they see his door hanger telling them to fuck off?

Pissed off, Knight rolled over in his boxer shorts and T-shirt and pulled the pillow off his head, taking inventory of the dimly lit room. Light seeped around the edges of the giant blackout curtains. Oh, right—still in Hong Kong.

Knight sat upright and suddenly was keenly aware that none of his various depressants and benzos had worn off yet. “Christ,” he muttered as he wobbled to his feet.

Knight padded across the carpet and cracked open the door to see Lee standing in his suit, flanked by two associates. Lee’s muscle pushed past without a word, turned on the lights, and began rifling through Knight’s belongings.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing!”

The men ignored Knight as they inspected his things. He suspected they were seeing whether he was secretly law enforcement. Knight turned to Lee and gave him an imploring look.

“The Sky Dragon wants to meet you,” Lee revealed. “Put on your clothes and don’t bring anything else.”

Moments later, Lee and his men ushered Knight into an elevator. It felt more like being taken into custody than to a meeting.

To Knight’s surprise, Lee pressed the up button.

“Is he here in the building?” Knight asked.