The Trail to Buddha's Mirror - Don Winslow [61]
“And what about Li and Pendleton?”
“If I can find her before she bolts to the PRC, I’ll offer her the deal. She’ll take it.”
“What if she won’t talk to you? What if she bolts?”
Simms poured a cup of tea and savored the smell.
“Well,” he said, “I can’t let her take Pendleton to China.” He slipped the lapel of his jacket back to show the butt of his automatic pistol. “More tea?”
8
Neal shuffled down the hotel hallway in his Chinese clothing. He was played out. The debriefing had taken over two hours, and he had told Simms everything. He had told him about the bus tickets, about the art gallery, about the dinner. He had even told him about the seduction in the hot tub. Told him about everything except the shot that had almost killed him.
He wasn’t sure why he had held that back, except that he suspected Simms knew about it anyway, and he had wanted to see if the CIA man brought it up. He hadn’t.
The hallway was empty. No protective net, no Doorman. Obviously Chin was through protecting him. Good, he thought. I’ve had all the protection I can stand. He fished his room key out of his pocket and opened the door.
Ben Chin was sitting on his bed.
“You were great back there on the Peak,” Neal said. “Too bad there weren’t any old ladies for you to push around.”
“You’re alive, aren’t you?”
“The Doorman isn’t.”
Chin shrugged. “He did his job.”
“That’s right. Where were you?”
“Doing my job. I followed your friends.”
“Bullshit.”
“True. I went up into the gardens and picked up their trail.”
“Where are they?”
Chin looked down at the bedcover. “I lost them coming off the ferry.”
“Kowloon side?”
“Sure.”
Neal went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face. He was as tired as he could ever remember being. His chest ached from the old shotgun wound he’d taken the last time he’d stepped in between predator and prey, and he just wanted to fall asleep in a steaming bath. He brushed his teeth, rinsed his mouth out, and then ran hot water to shave. When he was finished he stood in the bathroom doorway and said to Ben Chin, “You’re fired. Get out.”
“You’re the one who fucked up, not me.”
“You lied to me. You brought your crew along when you promised me you wouldn’t.”
“If I hadn’t, you’d be dead.”
“So the Doorman’s dead instead.”
“It was his job to die so you could escape.” Chin’s jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed. “Would you rather be dead instead of him? Tell the truth.”
The truth. What the hell does the truth have to do with anything?
“No,” Neal said. “No. I wouldn’t.”
Chin smiled triumphantly—one of those smiles that says, That settles it, then.
“Where’s your crew now?”
“They don’t want to work with you anymore.”
Okay, Neal thought. Which means you know what happened up there. You know your boys left me for dead. Why were you waiting for me here, then? Why weren’t you surprised to see me walk in?
Okay, you can’t give Chin the chance to realize he just screwed up.
“So,” Neal said. “You couldn’t stay on their tails, huh?”
“It’s hard to do without help.”
Right, Neal thought. He peeled off the Chinese clothes and changed into the black pullover, jeans, and tennis shoes he had last worn in Mill Valley. Then he took two glasses off the bar, poured two fingers of scotch into each, and handed one to Chin. It gave him a chance to look right into Chin’s eyes.
“It’s okay,” Neal said. “I know where they are.”
Oh, yeah, Neal thought as he saw Ben’s eyes widen ever so slightly, you’re interested. But why? Because she was responsible for killing one of your boys? Job satisfaction?
“Where?” Chin asked.
“They’re at the Y.”
“How do you know?”
“Bob Pendleton may be a hell of a biochemist, but he makes a lousy fugitive. He was fiddling with a key chain when I saw him. I got a quick look at the thing. It had the YMCA symbol on it.”
“There are two in Kowloon. One right by the ferry, the other up Nathan Road.”
“The second one is in Yaumatei?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go.”
“I thought I was fired.”
“You’re rehired. I need someone who