“Most people are amateurs compared to you.”
“But most people don’t have to deal with Cameron.” She frowned. “Look, don’t fight him or push him away. It will only make him more intense and determined to get his own way. Just take him and enjoy it.” She added ruefully, “And I promise you will enjoy it, Catherine.”
“Thank you for the advice,” she said reservedly.
“Which you’re not going to take.”
“I have other things to do than worry about Cameron’s sexual needs and attitudes. That’s not why we’re here, Celia. The entire world isn’t about sex.”
“No, but it rules.” She added softly, “Everything else comes and goes, but sex and passion are always there. For a moment, an hour, a decade.” She repeated, “It rules, Catherine.”
“I don’t agree.”
“You will.” She stirred the mixture. “You have your son here in the house. There’s a summerhouse on the other side of my little garden that will allow you and Cameron privacy. You’re welcome to use it. I’ll tell Cameron.”
“Don’t you dare.”
“I always dare. It makes life more interesting.” She turned to Luke as he came into the kitchen. “Ah, you’ve brought some fine specimens.” She took the garlic. “Could I talk you into eating another small omelet, Luke? Your mother won’t want to eat alone. That’s one of the things that I learned in cooking school. Everything tastes better in good company.”
He nodded and sat down at the table. “I’m hungry again.”
“Young boys are always hungry,” Celia said. “Or so I’ve been told. It will just be a few minutes…”
DAKSHA PALACE
“I’ve just heard from San Francisco.” Brasden threw down a photo. “No word on the interior security cameras yet. But this was taken by the outside camera by the garage entrance. Nagle was able to negotiate a copy on this one while the police are examining the others. It’s a shot of the car that pulled up shortly after the ambulance took off. It’s a little hazy and dark from the rain. Familiar?”
“Cameron.” Excitement was soaring through him. “The bastard looks like he’s having a hell of a good time.” He looked closer. “And the driver is Catherine Ling.”
“Right.”
“Did you get the license?”
“It didn’t show up in the videos, but it’s a rental car. We’re checking.”
“Find it. Find him. You were looking in the wrong place. He’s not here in Tibet.” His hand crushed the paper on which the photo was printed. “He followed Erin Sullivan. She must mean more to him than I thought. She was free of me. Why go after her?”
“But he’s with Catherine Ling,” Brasden pointed out. “Maybe he has business with her and not Sullivan.” He smiled. “Or not. She’s a beautiful woman. Not everyone is obsessed by your mystical city.”
“But Cameron is obsessed by Shambhala. No woman could take its place.” He glanced at Ling. “Still, it would do no harm to probe a little deeper into Ling and see if we can use her as a weapon. See to it.”
“Please,” Brasden said. “Say please, Kadmus.”
Restraint. He had been looking into Brasden’s claim that he could take over his forces at any time. There was some evidence that Brasden did have some influence with the men and he had to be careful. He did not want an uprising at this crucial moment. But he had already started to reinforce his power, and he wouldn’t have to put up with Brasden for much longer. “Please, see to it.”
“I’ll do it right away.”
“And arrange for me to get to San Francisco right away. I’m not going to trust anyone else to zero in on Cameron.” He smiled gently, imagining all the torture he was going to inflict on this asshole. “If you please, Brasden.”
CHAPTER
15
“Aren’t you two going to bed soon?” Catherine shook her head at Luke and Hu Chang sitting over the chess board before the fire in the library. “It’s almost midnight. You’ve been playing for hours.”
“I almost beat him the last game.” Luke didn’t look up from the board. “I’m close this time.”
“Not close enough.” Hu Chang smiled. “But you’re making it interesting.” He glanced at Catherine. “Run along to bed. I’ll tell you how I triumphed in the morning.”
Luke snorted. “Someday I’ll beat you. Maybe tonight.”
“A competitive spirit is good. A humble spirit is even better.”
“I don’t think so.”
Hu Chang chuckled. “Actually, neither do I.” He moved his knight. “No word from Cameron, Catherine?”
“No,” she said curtly. “Not unless he contacted you.”
Hu Chang shook his head. “I believe any communication will be with you from now on. I sensed a change today.” He waved his hand. “Now go away and do not distract me. I’m having to concentrate on this game. I did not think he’d reach this degree of expertise for another year.”
She shook her head ruefully as she left the library and closed the door. Luke had been changing, making all kinds of advancements, since the day she had arrived in Hong Kong. It was even surprising Hu Chang. He was busily adjusting and accepting. She must do the same.
God, it was hard. It was like dealing with an adult and she wasn’t ready for that yet. She needed a little time to—
“Good. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to search the house for you.” Cameron had blown into the hall like a strong wind. His eyes were glittering, and Catherine could almost feel the tornado of excitement and exhilaration that surrounded him. “Come on.” He grabbed her wrist and was pulling her toward the front door. “I have something to show you.”
“What?” They were outside, and she was having to half run to keep up. “Where are we going?”
“The trap. I’ve found the trap.” They had stopped beside an orange-and-blue motorcycle, and he handed her a helmet and large-lensed protective glasses. “Tuck your hair under the helmet.” He was putting on his own orange-striped helmet and dark glasses. For the first time, she noticed he was still in the jeans he’d worn earlier in the day but had somewhere acquired biker boots and a black leather jacket. He got on the bike and revved up the engine. “Jump on.”
She got on the broad seat of the bike behind him, her arms around his waist. “Where’s the Mercedes?” she asked as he tore down the street. “And where did you get this motorcycle?”
“The Mercedes is discreetly dumped in a place that will lead Kadmus to step into the trap. The bike I bought from a man in a bar along with his gear.” He smiled. “It’s as close as I could come to a bona fide disguise that would allow us to move around Chinatown. The young people love their bikes. Not surprising, considering the terrible traffic.”
He was right—the helmet and glasses were a decent disguise. “It took you long enough. If you’d taken me along, I could have split up the search by—”
“And I would have been distracted,” he interrupted. “I didn’t need you. I got everything done. Now be quiet and enjoy the ride.”
And she was enjoying the ride, she realized suddenly. Why? A roaring motorcycle wasn’t the place to enjoy a conversation and yet she was having no difficulty hearing or communicating. Cameron? It didn’t feel like intrusion but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a more subtle form of manipulation. Hu Chang had said he didn’t know the extent of Cameron’s skills.
Oh, what the hell, if it was an intrusion, it was minor.
“I’m glad you’ve decided to give me the benefit of the doubt,” Cameron said. “Now relax and enjoy. I haven’t ridden a motorcycle for years. Have you?”
She tried to remember. “Once when I was in Moscow trying to track down Luke.” Her arms grasped him tighter. “It was no joyride.”
“No, nothing about that time contained any joy for you. But it’s over, and you have Luke.”
If Cameron didn’t lure him into his camp, she thought dryly. He seemed to have an incredible amount of magnetism where her son was concerned.
?
??I wouldn’t try to take him away from you,” he said quietly. “And I won’t use him as a pawn. You have my word on it.”
“Is your word any good?”
“Yes.” He added simply, “Because it’s all I have that doesn’t belong to the committee. I have to keep something for myself.”
“And yet you’re going to go against them when you kill Kadmus.”
“It’s an exception. In most cases, I’m in agreement with them.”
“Why do they want to keep the bastard alive?”
“He’s a big investor and financial force in keeping that tourist town of Shangri-La going. There are a few reasons why the committee wants all the public attention fixed on that town the Chinese swear is the location of Shangri-La.”
“Because it’s not the true location?”
He was silent. “How can a mythological place have a true location except in the imagination?”
“How indeed?” she whispered. She laid her cheek on his back. She could feel the silky smoothness and smell the leather of his jacket against her flesh. “Or perhaps they want the entire myth to have a tawdry image and be totally discounted.”
“I said there are a few reasons.”
“And some you’re not going to divulge,” she said. “That’s okay with me. When I really want to know, I’ll go searching for myself. In the meantime, it’s enough to know that you realize that your committee isn’t right all the time.” She added, “And that you’re willing to help me take Kadmus down.”
“Oh, I’m definitely willing to help you do that.” He swerved around the corner, and they were suddenly bombarded by light and tourists and music. “It will be my pleasure.” He paused. “By the way, I like the feel of you lying against me.”
She started to straighten, then stopped. She liked the feel of him, too. Why cheat herself? “How far away are we?”
“About six blocks. In three blocks, I’m going to cut left and start going down the alleys. We’ll be able to ditch the bike in the alley and climb the fire escape to get into the building.”
“What building?”
“The home of Moon, Stars, and Heavenly Wonder,” Cameron said gravely. “And, hopefully, the place where we’ll be able to bury Kadmus and Brasden.” He cut left and roared down the neon-lit street and then turned the bike into darkness.
Glowing feline eyes. Garbage cans. Foul smells. Alley. They were in the alley.
After ten minutes of weaving in and out of the maze of alleys, Cameron brought the bike to a stop. “We’re here.” He got off the bike and lifted her off the seat. “Come on. Let’s get moving.” He set her on the ground and jumped up to bring the fire-escape ladder down. “There’s an open window on the third floor. I’ll go first. I climbed the ladder before, and it’s none too steady. If you feel it going, yell, and I’ll grab for you.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll bellow loud and strong.” She watched as he climbed the steps until he reached the first-floor landing. She loved watching him move. He was all animal grace and clean definition.
He glanced down at her. “Coming?”
“Right behind you.” She was climbing the first steps as she spoke. She said maliciously, “I wanted to give you a chance to fall before I risked my valuable neck.”
“Very wise.” He had turned and was rapidly climbing. “I feel just as cautious about risking your neck and other delectable body parts. It would be punishing myself.” He had reached the third level and turned to look down at her. His eyes were gleaming with mischief as he reached out a hand to her. “Give me your hands. I’ll pull you the rest of the way up. It will be quicker.”
“Are we in that much of a hurry?” She let him grasp her hands. He pulled, then dropped her hands and grasped her waist and swung her the rest of the way up to his level. Strong, he was so strong. She remembered what Hu Chang had said about his daily workouts to keep fit for the task of being Guardian.
“No real hurry.” His hands lingered a moment on her waist before he dropped them and turned to the window. “I just wanted to touch you again.”
“This is serious business, Cameron.”
“It’s not serious until there are bullets flying. This is preliminary stuff that allows a bit of pleasure.” He opened the window and slipped over the sill. “There are three boxes piled under the window. Be careful not to send them crashing when you crawl in.”
He was gone.
She heard nothing in the darkness beyond the window.
She followed him across the sill and felt for the boxes with her feet.
Found.
She stood on the top box and dropped catlike to the floor.
“Good. No sound.” Cameron was beside her. “I just disconnected the security system. We can move through the place without worrying about motion alarms.”
“Where the hell are we?” She was peering around her, trying to pierce the darkness. “Boxes. Lots of boxes.” She stopped. “And I smell something … chemicals.”
He handed her a penlight. “Gunpowder and coated papers. Keep the beam down. But look around. I want you to memorize the area. You can never tell when you’ll need to know where you are at any given minute.”
She shined the beam of the flashlight around the room, and up to the ceiling, where she saw a gleam of light. Stars? Yes, there was a large rectangular skylight that occupied a good half of the ceiling. Night sky and stars. She lowered the beam to the room itself. There seemed to be a wall of cabinets or closets against the far wall. Other than that storage wall, the place was stacked high with various-sized boxes. Some were open, some were sealed.
She took a step nearer one of the boxes. The Chinese print on the lid jumped out at her. Moon, Stars, and Heavenly Wonder. And beside it a red-and-gold fireworks display.
Her gaze flew to Cameron’s face. “This is a fireworks factory?”
“The top two floors. The street floor is a collection of souvenir shops.” He moved toward the freight elevator. “This floor is mostly storage. Let’s go down to the second floor. I saw some offices down there.”
She followed him. “What did you have in mind for this place?”
“The trap. We’re going to let Kadmus discover that we’re using this place as a safe house. We can probably expect him to attack with a full crew. In order to lure him into a trap where we have the advantage, we’ll have to find a way to eliminate a large number of his men. You get the picture?”
“Boom. Fireworks. Explosions. Yes, I get it.” She frowned. “But I’m not sure I like it. This building is in the middle of the city. How are you going to stop the big boom from blowing up a block of prime real estate and the people inhabiting it?”
“I’ll work it out. There’s a vacant lot next door that may have potential.”
“No, don’t give me that. I have to know. I remember a fireworks factory that blew in Vietnam years ago. The death-and-injury count were terrible. I won’t accept being part of a catastrophe like that.”
“I don’t have all the details in mind yet.” He met her eyes. “But I promise you there won’t be innocents killed. It won’t be another Vietnam. Is that enough for you?”
“And what about the people who own this property?”
“The owner’s name is Kim Po. I have a man at his home right now making him a deal that will set him up for life.”
“Money, again.”
“You object?”
“I prefer bribery to violence.” She wrinkled her nose. “It’s just that the quantity of money you appear to control is a little mind-boggling. Of course, there are crime syndicates like the Mafia who are able to dig deep to get what they want, but you’re one man.” She tilted her head. “Or maybe this conglomerate is really a crime syndicate.”
“You don’t believe that.”
No, she didn’t. Incredibly, she was beginning to believe the concept or reality of Shambhala as the mystical, idealistic place about which Cameron and Erin had told her. “I can’t see you in the Mafia. You wouldn’t pay any attention t
o the ‘family.’ You like control too much. How are you going to bait this trap?”
“You and Hu Chang bring Erin here through the front door of the shop entrances. By that time, Nagle’s men will know they’re in Chinatown and be on the alert. They’ll probably have photos of Erin … and you.”
“You won’t be with us?”
“I’ll come in through the back fire escape. I don’t want Kadmus to think that he can gather me in with one scoop. The bait has to be a little less tempting, and you have to have something to offer.”
“I won’t let Erin be exposed to that bastard again. No risk to her, dammit.”
“There won’t be a risk. All she has to do is show up and be seen entering the factory. There’s a basement exit that leads to the restaurant next door. I’ll negotiate with the owner to have one of Blake’s men there to take Erin to safety.”
Catherine frowned. “I still don’t like it.”
“Erin will like it,” he said quietly. “She’ll want her part in getting rid of Kadmus. Don’t cheat her of that because you want to protect her.”
“Just make sure that she’ll be out of any action. When is all this supposed to happen?”
“Today is Tuesday—everything should be in place by Thursday. Sooner if Kadmus moves faster than I’m expecting.”
“Thursday. It will all be over day after tomorrow…” She got off the freight elevator on the second floor. “You’ve obviously scoped out the building already. You don’t have to tag along with me. I’ll look around on my own.”
He stepped back and gestured. “Be my guest. I’ll wait upstairs. I want to put the alarm back on, and that’s the only window I’ve taken off the motion detectors.”
“Twenty minutes.” She moved quickly into the darkness. Several cubicles that would serve as offices, an assembly line with several stools. Boxes. Lockers. A Coke machine …