“What did he say?”
“He said you were a goddamn mess! Now you listen to me!” he barked. “Shit like this buries you, if you let it! You’re up to your neck in shit, Jasmine. Is that how you want to go down?” He’d pitched it into a full-out roar now, just like he had when I’d walked into the house covered with mud at the tender age of six. Then I’d wanted to cry. Now I wanted to kick him in his battered old knees. Maybe he’d raised me right after all. I’d finally learned to hit that curve.
“No sir.”
“Then get off your ass and do something about it!”
“Yes sir.”
“You nailed that boss of yours yet?”
“What?”
“You obviously need to get laid, Jaz.”
“Oh my God, tell me we are not having this conversation. Albert, we are not having this conversation!” I hung up, horrified, yet laughing. The man belonged in a cage. In a zoo. On Mars.
But in his disgusting, direct way, Albert had given me the answer. Matt and I had loved each other to the end of our lives. To the dawning of our eternity. I sure hoped he was delirious with joy wherever he’d ended up. Did he feel the same about me?
REMEMBER, said Raoul, keying in my mind the one scene I never wanted to replay. But my psyche pictured us anyway, dead on the kitchen floor of a patently unsafe safe house, my body draped across Matt’s, our souls rising in our last act together. Then his soul, this amazing work of art with so many multicolored facets I could stare for days and never get bored, split. And part of it came into mine. Melded with mine. He’d left a part of himself with me. So I would know. So I could rest.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
Before I found true peace, however, I had to finish this job. And now that I knew how to do that, I needed to put the plan in motion. I dialed the home office.
“Demlock Pharmaceuticals,” answered Martha in her rough and ready voice.
“Marketing department, please.”
Three clicks and a buzz later Martha felt safe to say, “Go ahead.”
“It’s Jaz. Is Pete around?”
“Where else would he be?”
“Tap class?”
“Ha! Hang on, hon.”
Pete’s greeting was typical. “Tell me you haven’t wrecked a car.”
“How could I?” I replied bitterly. “All you sent was a moped.”
“Have you taken a look at that palace Vayl leased? It’s costing me an arm, a leg, and a couple of vital organs!”
“Well, I’d better tell Bergman to get that supercharged V8 off the floor then, huh? Do you think Palmolive gets out Pennzoil?”
Pete makes this unique sound when he’s about to have an I’ve-reached-the-bottom-of-my-wallet fit. It used to scare me, but I’ve begun to enjoy it. I know, sick.
“I’m kidding; the place is in mint condition.” Well, it would be as soon as the carpet cleaners showed. “However, the performance tent burned down last night.”
Again with the sound, a subtle blend of choking-on-rib-eye, suffering a megawedgie, and walking barefoot over broken glass. I quickly added, “The people who burned it are replacing it as we speak. Which leads to my problem.” I explained last night’s scenario, Jericho’s involvement, and how Pengfei—through Lung—had begun to cover their tracks. “They’ve already pocketed the governor of Texas. Has anybody been on you to shut us down?”
“No,” he said thoughtfully. “But I have been asked to brief the president tomorrow morning on an unrelated matter. Now I’m wondering . . .”
“Yeah, me too. Is there any way you can make yourself scarce until then? Just in case?”
“You can get this done tonight?”
I have no idea.“Absolutely.”
“Then I’m feeling queasy. Must’ve been that cream cheese on my morning bagel. I’m going home now, Jaz. Twenty-four hours. That’s all I can promise you. And you know what? Thanks for the excuse. I hate this suit I’m wearing today. It hits me right in the pits. Can’t wait to shuck this coat and—”
“Oh my God, Pete, I think I have a lead.”
“What?”
“You mentioning your suit just brought it together in my head. Samos’savhar told me he’d gotten this obnoxious purple three-piece at a men’s store called Frierman’s. Then, later, the reaver Samos hired said he’d bought some cowboy boots at the same place.”
“We’ll check it out.”
“Hang on. Let me think. Let me try to remember the conversations . . .” I took my mind back to the talks I’d had with Shunyuan Fa and Yale. “The store’s in Reno.”
“Excellent.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
Since Pete had given me his blessing to bring Jericho in as far as I thought necessary, I was set to spill the beans when I went back outside. But the old desire to protect those frail lives surrounding mine started banging cymbals in my head when I saw him talking earnestly with Cassandra.
This guy’s a dad, and not an Albert type either. Right now he’s safe. Even his department wants him off this case. So let him off.
Which was when Xia Ge showed up. Like Cassandra, she’d taken some extra time in front of the mirror this morning. She wore her sleek black hair down, which complemented her red V-neck sweater. Her black slacks looked immaculate, one of the advantages of having a kid who doesn’t regurgitate his meals on a regular basis. Baby Lai, dressed in a blue one-piecer dotted with monkeys, cruised in the stroller in front of Mom, looking so cheerful he might’ve been smashing miniature baby bottles all morning.
Cole had already risen to greet them. The light in Ge’s eyes when she smiled at him disturbed me. I didn’t think she’d ever act on her crush, but the fact that she felt it at all made me hurt for Shao.There should never be another man. Not in your fantasies . I looked at Ge.Not in your dreams .
I crouched by the stroller and spent some time talking to Lai, suggesting maybe someday he could give E.J. lessons on how to bounce without spitting up. Within a couple of minutes Ge squatted beside me. Though she smiled at the baby she spoke to me.
“Shao gone to airport to pick up his brother, Xia Wu. He asks have you spoken to police yet?”
I nodded to Jericho. “That’s him.”
Ge looked so relieved I nearly patted her shoulder. But she clearly thought we were being watched, so I played along.
“What he say?” she asked.
“Something bad has happened and powerful people are trying to cover it up,” I told her. Her hands tightened on the sides of the stroller, but otherwise her expression remained serene. “The regular police have been ordered away from here.”
I lowered my voice. “I am not regular police, but I do work for the U.S. government.” I tickled Lai under the chin, making him giggle madly. “I can’t tell you why I’m here, only that your family will be safer when my job is done. If I give you a phone number, will you remember it?”
“Yes.”
I gave her the numbers in sets for ease of recall. I said them three times and made her repeat them back three times. “Tell Wu to call when it’s safe for me to come aboard theConstance Malloy . Tell him under no circumstance is he to try anything on his own. He will fail. We have the only means known to defeat Lung.”
She hesitated for so long I finally looked at her. She was digging in the diaper bag, hiding her face from view.
“What is it?”
Tears slurred her voice. “That our countries should cooperate is so unlikely. I fear the worst. Wu will die. Shao will be struck with grief. Perhaps Lung will kill him too. Maybe his rage will turn to Lai and me.”
Since we seemed to be going through diapering motions I unstrapped Lai and lifted him from the stroller. Good grief, the kid packed a lot of weight in a little package! “I see we’ve eaten our Wheaties for breakfast,” I told him. He grinned and, as a token of goodwill, deposited a long loud stinky in his Huggies that I was only too glad to let Ge address.