1
The echo of rumbling motorbikes bounced from the plate-glass of inner-city skyscrapers on a hot, airless night as Suzi Liu pushed the front door of her brothel shut. Her hands shook with fear from the confrontation that had lasted only a few seconds, a confrontation she’d remember for a long time.
She’d remember them: the tall one, young and dangerously handsome behind a wispy beard, and the older, shorter one who did the talking and said they were White Sharks. Suzi reached for her mobile phone, wedged into the top of her leather mini-skirt, and swiped to ignite the screen in the half-darkness of the foyer. She could do no more. Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
Her unsteady fingers refused to find the speed dial for the only man who could stop this. She wiped at her eyes and felt the sting of tears and mascara. She cursed. She was tougher than this. She hurled her phone against the wall, angry at herself, at her weakness: angry at Billy Lime.
A heavy thud on the other side front door made her jump away, her body instinctively cowering. It was a muscular beat, the cadence angry and impatient. Just like before. They’d come back: maybe to hurt the girls, to hurt her. Suzi shouted back through the door. “I told you, I don’t know where he is. I ring him. Promise. Give him message. Promise.”
A peal of three heavy knocks returned in response. Suzi Liu shut her eyes tight, repeating her mantra, “Go away; go away.”
“Excuse me, Miss . . .” An effeminate male voice: no biker spoke like that. Suzi exhaled her relief. A customer.
Amplify: A Billy Lime Thriller Description:
Music promoter Billy Lime is in trouble.
The tour of rock legends, The Pagan Virtue, is the biggest in music history. Their concerts in Australia should be a career highlight if Billy can keep the warring musicians off the drugs, out of the bars and on the stage.
When lead singer Jet Kelly is poisoned, Billy’s world starts to crumble. Motorcycle gang the White Sharks has stashed $100 million of cocaine inside the band equipment bound for Sydney, and the cops mark Billy as a killer and drug runner. How will Billy Lime keep the show on the road . . .
