"Thank you for coming, Roger. Again, you're to be con- gratulated. I will so inform the minister. Good night."

He watched Crosse walk off, tall, confident and deadly. When the iron door in the high wall had been bolted behind him by his aide, Sir Geoffrey Allison allowed the real unasked question to surface once more.

Who's Me mole in my polices AMG's paper was quite clear. The traitor's a Soviet asset, not from the PRC. Brian Kwok has been flushed out by chance. Why didn't Roger point out the obvious?

Sir Geoffrey shuddered. If Brian could be a mole anyone could. Anyone.

50 - 8:17 P.M.:.

Almost before he took his finger off the bell the door swung open. "Oh, Linc," Orlando said breathlessly, her happiness spilling over, "I'd given you up. Please come inl"

"Sorry to be late," Bartlett said, taken aback by her beauty and marvelous warmth. "The traffic's snarled to hell and the ferries jammed and I couldn't get to a phone."

"You're here so you're not late, not at all. I was just afraid thata" Then she added in a rush, "I was afraid you wouldn't come back tonight and then I'dtve been shattered. There, I've said it and all my defenses are down but I'm so happy to see you I don't care." She stood on tiptoe and kissed him a swift happy kiss, took his arm and shut the door behind them.

Her perfume was delicate and barely there but he felt it as a physical presence. The dress she wore was knee-length white chiffon that sighed as she moved, close at the wrists and neck. It showed but somehow didn't quite show her golden skin. "I'm so happy you're here," she said again and took his umbrella and put it into a rack.

"So am I."

The room was prettier by night, mostly candlelit, the tall glass doors of the terrace open to the air. They were just below the overcast and the city sprawled down the mountain to the sea, the lights misting from time to time as whiskers of the low clouds passed by. Sea level was seven hundred feet below. Kowloon was dim and the harbor dim but he knew the ships were there and he could see the huge carrier at the wharf, her great angled deck floodlit, the needle-nosed jets floodlit, her battle-gray bridge reaching for the sky the Stars and Stripes hanging damp and listless.

"Hey," he said, leaning on the terrace railing, "what a great night, Orlanda."

"Oh yes, yes it is. Come and sit down."

"I'd rather look at the view, if it's okay."

"Of course, anything you want's fine, anything. That suit's great on you, Line, and I love your tie." She said it happily, wanting to compliment him even though she did not think the tie matched too well. Never mind, she thought, he's just not color conscious like Quillan, and needs helping. I'll do what Quillan taught me to do, not criticize but go out and buy one I like and give it to him. If he likes it, marvelous, if not never mind, for what does it matter he's the one who's wearing it. Blue, blue would match Linc's eyes and go better with that shirt. "You dress very weld."

"Thanks, so do you." He was remembering what Casey had said about his tie and how furious he had been with her tonight all the way across the ferry, all the time waiting for a cab, and the old woman who had trod on his foot shoving past to usurp his cab but he had foiled her and cursed her back.

It was only now that his rage-temperature had vanished. It was Orlanda's pleasure at seeing me that did it, he told himself. It's years since Casey lit up like a Christmas tree or said anything when Ia the hell with that. I'm not going to worry about Casey tonight. "The view's fantastic and you're as pretty as a picture!"

She laughed. "Sotre you anda oh your drink, sorrya" She whirled away for the kitchen, her skirt flying. "I don't know why but you make me feel like a schoolgirl," she called out. In a moment she came back. On the tray was an earthenware pot of pate and rounds of fresh toast and a bottle of iced beer. "I hope this's right."

It was Anweiser. "How did you know my brand?"

"You told me this morning, don't you remember?" Her warmth flooded over again at his obvious pleasure. "Also that you like drinking it out of the bottle."

He took it and grinned at her. "Is that going to be in the article too?"

"No. No, I've decided not to write about you."

He saw her sudden seriousness. "Why?"

She was pouring herself a glass of white wine. "I decided I could never do you justice in an article so I won't write one. Besides, I don't think you'd like that hanging over you." Her hand went to her heart. "Cross my heart and hope to die, no article, everything private. No article, no journalism, I swear by the Madonna," she added, meaning it.

"Hey, no need to be dramatic!"

She was leaning with her back against the railing, an eighty-foot drop to the concrete below. He saw the sincerity in her face and he believed her completely. He was relieved. The article had been the only flaw, the only danger point for him that and her being a journalist. He leaned forward and kissed her lightly, deliberately lightly. "Sealed with a kiss. Thanks."

"Yes."

They watched the view for a moment.

"Is the rain over for good?"

"I hope not, Linc. We need a good series of storms to fill the reservoirs. Keeping clean's so hard and we still only get water one day in four." She smiled mischievously as a child would. "Last night during the torrent I stripped and bathed here. It was fantastic. The rain was even heavy enough to wash my hair."

The thought of her naked, here, in the night, touched him. "You'd better be careful," he said. "The railing's not that high. I wouldn't want you to slip."

"Strange, I'm frightened to death of the sea but heights don't bother me a bit. You certainly saved my life."

"C'mon! You would have made it without me."

"Perhaps, but you certainly saved my face. Without you there I would surely have disgraced myself. So thanks for my face."

"And that's more important than life out here, isn't it?"

"Sometimes, yes, yes it is. Why do you say that?"

"I was just thinking about Dunross and Quillan Gornt. Those two're having at each other, mostly over face."

"Yes. You're right, of course." She added thoughtfully, "They're both fine men, in one way, both devils in another."

"How do you mean?"

"They're both ruthless, both very very strong, very hard, adept anda and well conversed with life." As she talked she heaped one of the rounds of toast with pate and offered it to him, her nails long and perfect. "The Chinese have a saying: 'Chan ts'ao, chu ken'

when pulling weeds make sure you get rid of the roots. The roots of those two go deep in Asia, very deep, too deep. It would be hard to get rid of those roots." She sipped her wine and smiled a little smile. "And probably not a good idea, not for Hong Kong. Some more pate?"

"Please. It's wonderful. You make it?"

"Yes. It's an old English recipe."

"Why wouldn't it be good for Hong Kong?"

"Oh, perhaps because they balance each other. If one destroys the other oh I don't mean just Quillan or Dunross, I mean the hangs themselves, the companies, Struan's and Rothwell-Gornt. If one eats up the other, perhaps the remaining one would be too strong, there would certainly be no competition, then perhaps the tai-pan would become too greedy, perhaps he'd decide to dump Hong Kong." She smiled hesitantly. "Sorrya I'm talking too much. It's just an idea. Another beer?"

"Sure, in a moment, thanks, but that's an interesting thought." Yes, Bartlett was thinking, and one that hadn't occurred to me or to Casey. Are those two necessary to each other?

And Casey and I? Are we necessary to each other?

He saw her watching him and he smiled back. "Orlanda, it's no secret I'm thinking about making a deal with one of them. If you were me, which one would you go with?"

"Neither," she said at once and laughed.

"Why?"

"You're not British, not one of the 'old boys,' not a hereditary member of any of the clubs, and however much your money and power here, it's the Old Boy network that will finally decide what is to be." She took his empty bottle and went and brought another.

"You think I couldn't make a go of it?"

"Oh I didn't mean that, Linc. You asked about Struan's or Roth- well-Gornt, about going into business with one of them. If you do, they'll be the winners in the end."

"They're that smart?"

"No. But they're Asian, they belong here. Here the saying is, 'T'ien hsia wu ya i pan hei' all crows under heaven are black meaning that all the tai-pans are the same and they'll all stick together to destroy the outsider."

"So neither Ian nor Quillan would welcome a partner?"

She hesitated. "I think I'm getting out of my depth, Linc. I don't know about business things. It's just that I've never heard of an American who's come here and made it big."

"What about Biltzmann, Superfoods and their takeover of H.K. General Stores?"

"Biltzmann's a joke. Everyone hates him and hopes he'll fall on his face, even Puga Pugmire. Quillan's sure he will. No, even Cooper and Tillman didn't make it. They were Yankee traders in the first days, Linc, opium traders they were even under Dirk Struan's protection. They're even related, the Struans and the Coopers. Hag Struan married her eldest daughter, Emma, to old Jeff Cooper; Old Hook Nose was his nickname when he was in his dotage. The story is that the marriage was payment for his helping her destroy Tyler Brock. Have you heard about them, Linc? The Brocks, Sir Morgan and his father Tyler, and the Hag?"

"Peter Marlowe told us some of the stories."

"If you want to know about the real Hong Kong, you should talk to Auntie Bright Eyes that's Sarah Chen, Phillip Chen's maiden aunt! She's a great character, Linc, and sharp as a needle. She says she's eighty-eight. I think she's older. Her father was Sir Gordon Chen, Dirk Struan's illegitimate son by his mistress Kai-Sung, and her mother was the famous beauty Karen Yuan."

"Who's she?"

"Karen Yuan was Robb Struan's granddaughter. Robb was Dirk's half-brother and he had a mistress called Yau Ming Soo with whom he had. a daughter Isobel. Isobel married John Yuan, an illegitimate son of Jeff Cooper. John Yuan became a well-known pirate and opium smuggler, and Isobel died quite notorious as an enormous gambler who had lost two of her husbands' fortunes playing mahjong. So it was Isobel and John's daughter, Karen, who married Sir Gordon Chen actually she was his second wife, more like a concubine really, though it was a perfectly legal marriage. Here, even today, if you're Chinese you can legally have as many wives as you like."

"That's convenient!"

"For a man!" Orlanda smiled. "So this tiny branch of the Yuans are Cooper descendants the T'chungs and Chens are from Dirk Struan, the Sungs, Tups and Tongs from Aristotle Quance the painter here in Hong Kong it's the custom for the children to take the name of their mother, usually an insignificant girl who was sold to the pillow by her parents."

"By the parents?"

"Almost always," she told him casually. " 'T'ung ttien yu ming'

listen to heaven and follow fate. Particularly when you're starving." She shrugged. "There's no shame in that, Linc, no loss of face not in Asia."

"How come you know so much about the Struans and (loopers and mistresses and so on?"

"This is a small place and we all love secrets but there are no real secrets in Hong Kong. Insiders true insiders know almost everything about the others. As I said, our roots go deep here. And don't forget that the Chens, Yuans and Sungs are Eurasian. As I told you, Eurasians marry Eurasians, so we should know who we're from. We're not desired by British or Chinese as wives or husbands, only as mistresses or lovers." She sipped her wine and he was awed by the delicacy of her movements, her grace. "It's custom for Chinese families to have their genealogy written down in the village book, that's the only legality they have that gives them continuity, they've never had birth certificates." She smiled up at him. "To go back to your question. Both Ian Dunross and Quillan would welcome your money and your inside track into the U.S. market. And with either one you'd make a profit here if you were content to be a silent partner."

Thoughtfully Bartlett let his eyes stray to the view.

She waited patiently, allowing him his thoughts, staying motionless. I'm very glad Quillan was such a good teacher and such a clever man, she thought. And oh so wise. He was right again.

This morning she had called him in tears on his private line to report what had happened and, "Oh Quillan, I think I've ruined everythinga"

"What did you say and what did he say?"

She had told him exactly and he had reassured her. "I don't think you've any need to worry, Orlanda. He'll come back. If not tonight, tomorrow."

"Oh are you sure?" she had said so gratefully.

"Yes. Now dry those tears and listen." Then he had told her what to do and what to wear and above all to be a woman.

Ah how happy I am to be a woman, she thought, and remembered with sadness now the old days when they were happy together, she and Quillan, she nineteen, already his mistress for two years and no longer shy or afraid of the pillow or him or of herself how sometimes they would go on his yacht for a midnight cruise, just the two of them and he would lecture her. "You're a woman and Hong Kong yan so if you want to have a good life and pretty things, to be cherished and loved and pillowed and safe in this world be female."

"How, my darling?"

"Think only of my satisfaction and pleasure. Give me passion when I need it, quiet when I need it, privacy when I need it, and happiness and discretion all the time. Cook as a gourmet, know great wine, be discreet always, protect my face always and never nag."

"But Quillan, you make it sound all so one-sided."

"Yes. It is, of course it is. In return I do my part with equal passion. But that's what I want from you, nothing less. You wanted to be my mistress. I put it to you before we began and you agreed."

"I know I did and I love being your mistress buta but sometimes I'm worried about the future."

"Ah, my pet, you have nothing to worry about. You know our rules were set in advance. We will renew our arrangement yearly, providing you want to until you're twenty-four, and then, if you choose to leave me I will give you the flat, money enough for reasonable needs and a handsome dowry for a suitable husband. We agreed and your parents approveda"

Yes they did. Orlanda remembered how her mother and father had enthusiastically approved the liaison had even suggested it to her when she had just come back from school in America when they told her that Quillan had asked if he might approach her, saying that he had fallen in love with her. "He's a good man," her father had said, "and he's promised to provide well for you, if you agree. It's your choice, Orlanda. We think we would recommend it."

"But Father, I won't be eighteen until next month, and besides I want to go back to the States to live. I'm sure I can get a Green Card to remain there."

"Yes, you can go, child," her mother had said, "but you will be poor. We can give you nothing, no help. What job will you get? Who will support you? This way in a little while you can go with an income, with property here to support you."

"But he's so old. He'sa"

"A man doesn't wear age like a woman," both had told her. "He's strong and respected and he's been good to us for years. He's promised to cherish you and the financial arrangements are gener- ous, however long you stay with him."

"But I don't love him."

"You talk nonsense in eight directions! Without the protection of the lips the teeth grow cold!" her mother had said angrily. "This opportunity you are being offered is like the hair of the phoenix and the heart of the dragon! What do you have to do in return? Just be a woman and honor and obey a good man for a few years renewable yearly and even after that there's no end to the years if you choose and are faithful and clever. Who knows? His wife is an invalid and wasting. If you satisfy him and cherish him enough why wouldn't he marry you?"

"Marry a Eurasian? Quillan Gornt?" she had burst out.

'~Why not? You're not just Eurasian, you're Portuguese. He has British sons and daughters already, heya? Times are changing, even here in Hong Kong. If you do your best, who knows? Bear him a son, in a year or two, with his permission, and who knows? Gods are gods and if they want they can make thunder from a clear sky. Don't be stupid! Love? What is that word to you?"

Orlanda Ramos was staring down at the city now, not seeing it. How stupid and naive I was then, she thought. Naive and very stupid. But now I know better. Quillan taught me very well.

She glanced up at Linc Bartlett, moving just her eyes, not wanting to disturb him.

Yes, I'm trained very well, she told herself. I'm trained to be the best wife any man could ever have, that Bartlett will ever have. No mistakes this time. Oh no, no mistakes. Quillan will guide me. He will help remove Casey. I will be Mrs. Linc Bartlett. All gods and all devils bear witness; that is what must happena Soon he took his eyes off the city, having thought through what she had said. She was watching him, wearing a little smile that he could not read. "What is it?"

"I was thinking how lucky I was to meet you."

"Do you always compliment a man?"