The Trail to Buddha's Mirror - Don Winslow [122]
“He asked me to ‘nurture’ my relationship with Robert and persuade him to come to China.”
A goofy symmetry occurred to Neal: Li Lan’s father summoned her to talk Pendleton into going to China; Neal’s “Dad” got him to persuade Pendleton to go home.
“At first I refused. I wanted nothing more to do with politics. My life was so happy. I sent a message back begging Father to release me from this request.”
I did a little begging myself. Did you do any better at it than I did? And what card did your father play?
“Then Father sent back the message that persuaded me. My sister was alive.”
The ace of hearts.
“Sister was alive, but in prison. Robert was to be the price of her release.”
Family is fate.
“I could not then refuse. It was my duty, and the fulfillment of the vision Kuan Yin had shown me in the Buddha’s Mirror. I could not realize my true self until I confronted the face of my sister. I could not be released until she was free.
“Through Chinese agents in Hong Kong, I received more training. Training was easy for me because of my Buddhist discipline. I continued to write Robert. Then he wrote saying that he was coming to California. Would I meet him there? I told Father this news. He urged me to go. ‘Now is the time,’ he said.
“I had met Olivia Kendall in Hong Kong some time before. She liked my painting and had invited me to have a showing at her gallery. I wrote to her and accepted. I met Robert at his conference.”
“And everything was working out just fine until Mark Chin showed up.”
“We went to Olivia’s. And then you came.”
“So now they have Pendleton, and you have your sister back, and you can both go back to being Daddy’s good little girls.”
“Hong will be released when Robert begins his work here. Robert is in hiding, and we will only bring him out when it is safe.”
“When will that be?”
“When you leave.”
Ouch.
He traced the bones in her fingers and was surprised when she did the same on his other hand. “Let’s be grown-ups here for a minute,” he said. “You and I and all your buddies know that—once I’m home—there’s nothing to stop me from telling everything I know.”
She gripped his hand. “They would kill me.”
That would stop me.
“They’re bluffing.”
“‘Bluffing’?”
“Making an empty threat.”
She squeezed tighter. “I am a hostage to your honor.”
Boy, are you in trouble.
“Wouldn’t it be safer just to have me killed?”
“Yes.”
“Is that why you came to tell me your story? So I would understand? Sympathize?”
“Yes.”
He swallowed hard before asking the next question. “So you made love to me to improve the odds, is that it?”
She whispered the answer in his ear. “No. I made love with you because I wanted to make love with you.”
So there it was. The deal was pretty clear. Her life for his, his life for hers. Talk about symmetry. Talk about Buddha’s Mirror.
“I have to ask you something,” he said. “Is Pendleton a volunteer? Does he want to be here, or is he a prisoner?”
“Does this make a difference?”
“It makes all the difference. You have to understand that if Pendleton wants to go home, I have to help him. I can’t stay silent. So if that’s the case, let’s find a way to get all three of us out of here.”
“Robert is very happy. He has his work. He has me.”
Then Robert is very happy.
“That brings up another ugly question. Just what is Robert’s work?”
She looked at him oddly, an I-thought-you-knew-this-already look. “To make things grow.”
“And he’s worth all this? Just because he can make things grow?”
“You have not seen hunger.”
This is true, Neal thought. I always thought I had it tough after midnight when the Burger Joint stopped delivering and I had to walk down there.
“But you must have plenty of agricultural experts here.”
“No. So many were killed! And none with Robert’s knowledge.”
So Pendleton gets to spend the rest of his life growing rice and loving Li Lan. Okay. But what about Li Lan?
“What about you?” he asked.
“What about me?”
“Do you love him?”
“He is good. He is kind. He will do wonderful things for my country.”
“Right. Do you love him?”
She rolled over on top of him, stroking