9 Dragons

solved.
    “Does he speak English?”
    “Yes, I do,” the man answered for himself.
    Bosch studied him for a moment and then looked at Eleanor and saw in her face a familiar resolve. It was a look he had seen many times when they had been together. She wasn’t going to allow an argument on this. This man was part of the package or Bosch was on his own.
    Bosch knew that if circumstances dictated it, he could split off and make his way alone through the city. It was what he had anticipated doing, anyway. But for now he was willing to go with Eleanor’s plan.
    “You sure you want to do this, Eleanor? I was planning on working on my own.”
    “She’s my daughter, too. Where you go I go.”
    “Okay, then.”
    They started walking toward the glass doors that would lead them outside. Bosch let Sun Yee take the lead so he could talk privately with his ex-wife. Despite the obvious strain playing clearly on her face, she was just as beautiful as ever to him. She had her hair tied back in a no-nonsense manner. It accented the clean line and determined set of her jaw. No matter how infrequently or what the circumstances, he could never look at her without thinking about the could-have-beens. It was an overworked cliché, but Bosch had always believed that they were meant to be together. Their daughter gave them a lifelong connection, but to Bosch it was not enough.
    “So tell me what’s happening, Eleanor,” he said. “I’ve been in the air for almost fourteen hours. What’s new on this end?”
    She nodded.
    “I spent four hours at the mall yesterday. When you called and left a message from the airport, I must’ve been in security. I either didn’t have a signal or just didn’t hear the call.”
    “Don’t worry about it. What did you find out?”
    “They have surveillance video that shows her with the brother and sister. Quick and He. It’s all from a distance. They’re not identifiable on it-except for Mad. I’d be able to pick her out anywhere.”
    “Does it show the grab?”
    “There was no grab. They were hanging out together, mostly in the food court. Then Quick lit up a cigarette and somebody complained. Security moved in and kicked him out. Madeline walked out with them. Voluntarily. And they never came back in.”
    Bosch nodded. He could see it. It could all have been a plan to lure her out. Quick lit up, knowing all along that he would be ejected from the mall and that Madeline would go out with him.
    “What else?”
    “That’s it from the mall. Quick is familiar to security there but they had no ID or file on him.”
    “What time was it when they walked out?”
    “Six-fifteen.”
    Bosch did the math. That was Friday. His daughter had walked off the mall videotape almost thirty-six hours ago.
    “When’s it get dark here? What time?”
    “Usually by eight. Why?”
    “The video that was sent to me was shot in daylight. So less than two hours after she walked out of the mall with them she was in Kowloon and they made the video.”
    “I want to see the video, Harry.”
    “I’ll show you in the car. You said you got my message. Did you find out about helicopter pads in Kowloon?”
    Nodding, Eleanor said, “I called the head of client transportation at the casino. He told me that in Kowloon there are seven rooftop helicopter pads available. I have a list.”
    “Good. Did you tell him why you wanted the list?”
    “No, Harry. Give me some credit.”
    Bosch looked at her and then moved his eyes to Sun, who had now opened up a several-pace lead on them. Eleanor got the message.
    “Sun Yee’s different. He knows what’s going on. I brought him in because I can trust him. He’s been my security at the casino for three years.”
    Bosch nodded. His ex-wife was a valuable commodity to the Cleopatra Resort and Casino in Macau. They paid for her apartment and the helicopter that brought her to and from work at the private tables where she played against the casino’s wealthiest clients. Security-in the form of Sun Yee-was part of that package.
    “Yeah, well, too bad he wasn’t watching over Maddie, too.”
    Eleanor abruptly stopped and turned toward Bosch. Unaware, Sun kept going. Eleanor got in Harry’s face.
    “Look, you want to get into this right now? Because I can if you want. We can talk about Sun Yee and we can also talk about you and how your work put my daughter in this…this…”
    She never finished. Instead, she roughly grabbed Bosch by the jacket and started shaking him