"Yes. Monday will tell."

Dunross looked at him keenly. "I'm very confident."

Bartlett smiled, tiredness and concern behind the smile. "I noticed. But I wanted to ask, are we still on for Taipei tomorrow?"

"I was going to suggest we should postpone it till next week, next weekend? Tomorrow and Monday are rather important for both of us. Is that all right?"

Bartlett nodded, hiding his relief. "Fine with me." And that solves my problem about Orlanda, he thought. "Well then, I think !'Take the car. Just send Lim back when you're through with him. You're going to the hill climb if it's on? That's at 10:00 A.M. till about noon."

"Where is it?"

"New Territories. I'll send the car for you, weather permitting. Casey too if she wants."

"Thanks."

"Don't worry about Casey tonight I'll see she gets back safely. Is she free afterwards?"

"I think so."

"Good, then I'll ask her to join us a few of us are going for a Chinese supper." Dunrossstudied him. "No problem?"

"No. Nothing that can't be handled." Bartlett grinned and walked away, girding himself for the next onslaught Armstrong. He had cornered Rosemont a few moments ago and told him about the meeting with Banastasio.

"Best leave it with us, Linc," Rosemont had said. "As far as you're concerned we're informed officially.. The consulate. I'll pass it on to whomever. Leave it all lie tell Casey, okay? If Banastasio calls either of you, stall him, call us and we'll work out a scam. Here's my card it's good twenty-four hours a day."

Bartlett was outside the front door now and he joined the others waiting impatiently for their cars.

- "Oh hi, Linc," Murtagh said, hurriedly getting out of a cab, almost knocking him over. "Sorry! Party still going on?"

"Sure it is, Dave. What's the rush?"

"Got to see the tai-pan!" Murtagh dropped his voice, his excite- ment showing. "There's a chance that head office'll go for it, if lan'll concede a little! Casey still here?"

"Sure," Bartlett said at once and all his senses focused, everything else forgotten. "What concessions?" he asked warily.

"Double the foreign exchange period and he's to deal direct with First Central, giving us first option on all future loans for five years."

"That's not much," Bartlett said, hiding his perplexity. "What's the whole deal now?"

"Can't stop, Linc, gotta get the tai-pan's okay. They're waiting but it's just as Casey and me laid it out. Hell, if we pull this off the tai-pan'll owe us favors till hell freezes!" Murtagh rushed o"

Bartlett stared after him blankly. His feet began to take him back into the house but he stopped and returned to his place in the line. There's plenty of time, he told himself. No need to ask her yet. Think it out.

Casey had told him about the Royal Belgium's connection with First Central, and Murtagh had elaborated this afternoon, adding how hard it was to get an in here with the Establishment but that was all. Bartlett had noted the Texan's nervousness and Casey's nervousness. At the time he'd put it down to the races.

But now? he asked himself suspiciously. Casey and Murtagh and the tai-panl "First Central'll go for the deal if " and "the tai-pantll owe us favors till hell freezesa" and "just as Casey and me laid it out." She's the go-between? Casey'd run rings around that joker and she's no messenger. Hell, Casey has to lead him by the nose. He's no match for her. So probably she put him up to to what? What does the tai-pan need most?

Credit, fast, in millions by Monday.

Jesw, First Central's going to back him! That's got to be it. If. If he makes concessions, and he's got to make some to get out from undera "You want the car, sir?"

"Oh. Yes, Lim, sure. Police headquarters in Wanchai. Thanks." He got into the back, his mind buzzing.

So Casey's got a private game going. It must've been in the works a day or so but she hasn't told me. Why? If I'm right and the scam succeeds, Ian's got the wherewithal to fight off Gornt, even cream him. She's gone out of her way to help him against Gornt. Without my okay. Why? And in return for what?

Drop dead moneyl Is the 50-50 a payoff my 2 mill but she shares 50-50?

Sure. That's one possibility one that I know about now. Whattre the others? Jesusl Casey independent, maybe going with the enemy? They're still both enemy, Ian and Gornt.

His excitement increased.

What to do?

The money at risk with Gornt is covered every which way. The 2 mill with Struan's is covered too, and stays. I'd never planned to jerk it that was just testing Casey. The Struan deal's good Other way. The Gornt deal's good, either way. So my plan's still good I can still jump either way, though the timing's critical.

But now there's Orlanda.

If it's Orlanda, it's the States or somewhere else but not here. It's quite clear she'd never be welcome in Hapw Valley's winner's circle. Or in the cliques and clubs. She'd never be freely invited into the great houses, except maybe by Ian. And Gornt, but that'd be to taunt, to jerk the reins, to remind her of the past like last night when that other girl came on deck. I saw Orlanda's face. Oh she covered, better than anyone could have covered except maybe Casey. She hated that the other girl had been below, in the master suite that was once hers.

Maybe Gornt didn't do that deliberately? Maybe the girl came up on her own. She went back below almost at once. Maybe she wasn't supposed to come up at all. Maybe.

Shit! There's too much going on I can't figure: like the General Stores and the Ho-Pak rescue too much agreed by a couple of guys on a Saturday a couple of whiskeys here and a phone call there. It's all dynamite if you're in the club but Jesus watch out if you're not. Here you've got to be British or Chinese to belong.

I'm just as much an outsider as Orlanda.

Still, I could be hapw here, for a time. And I could even handle it here with Orlanda, for a short time, on visits. I could handle the Pacific Rim and having Par-Con as a Noble House but for it to be accepted as the Noble House by British and Chinese, it'll still have to be Struan-Par-Con with our name in small letters, or RothwellGornt-Par-Con the same.

Casey?

With Casey, Par-Con could be a Noble House, easily. But is Casey still to be trusted? Why didn't she tell me? Is she sucked in by Hong Kong and beginning to play her own game for Number One?

You'd better choose, old buddy, while you're still tai-pan.

"Yes, Phillip?"

They were in the study under the portrait of Dirk Struan, and Dunross had chosen the place deliberately. Phillip Chen sat opposite him. Very formal, very correct and very weary. "How is Alexi?"

"Still unconscious. Doc Tooley says he'll be all right if he comes out of it in a couple of hours."

"Tiptop?"

"I'm to call him at 9:00 P.M."

"Still no approval of his offer froma from the authorities?"

Dunross's eyes narrowed. "You know the arrangement he sug- gested?"

"Oh yes, tai-pan. Ia I was asked. I still find it hard to believea Brian Kwok? God help us, but yesa my opinion was asked before the suggestion was put to you."

"Why the devil didn't you tell me?" Dunross snapped.

"Rightly you no longer consider me compradore of the Noble House and favor me with your trust."

"You consider yourself trustworthy?"

"Yes. I've proved it in the past many times, so did my father and his. Even so, if I were you and sitting where you are sitting, I would not be having this meeting, I would not have you in my house and I would already have decided the ways and means of your destruction."

"Perhaps I have."

"Not you." Phillip Chen pointed at the portrait. "He would have, but not you, Ian Struan Dunross."

"Don't bet on it."

"I do."

Dunross said nothing, just waited.

"First the coin: Wait until the favor is asked. I will endeavor to find out what it is in advance. If it is too much th"

"It will be too much."

"What will he ask for?"

"Something to do with narcotics. There's a strong rumor Four Fingers, Smuggler Yuen and White Powder Lee are in partnership, smuggling heroin."

"It's under consideration. They're not actually partners yet," Phillip Chen said.

"Again, why didn't you tell me? It's your duty as compradore to keep me informed, not to write down intimate details of our secrets and then lose them to enemies."

"Again, I ask forgiveness. But now is the time to talk."

"Because you're finished?"

"Because I might be finished if once more I cannot prove my worth." The old man looked at Dunross bleakly, seeing the face of many tai-pans in the face of the man opposite him, not liking the face or that of the man above the fireplace whose eyes bored into him the foreign devil pirate who had forsaken his great-grandfather because of mixed blood, half of which was his own.

.~: Ayeeyah, he thought, curbing his anger. These barbarians and their intolerance! Five generations of tai-pans we've served and now this one threatens to change Dirk's legacy for one mistake?

"About the ask: even if it's connected with heroin or narcotics, it will concern some future performance or action. Agree to it, tai-pan, and I promise I will deal with Four Fingers long before the ask has to be granted."

"How?"

"This is China. I will deal with it in Chinese fashion. I swear it by the blood of my ancestors." Phillip Chen pointed at the portrait. "I will continue to protect the Noble House as I have sworn to do."

"What other trickeries did you have in your safe? I've beat through all the documents and balance sheets you gave Andrew. With that information in the wrong hands we're naked."

"Yes, but only in front of Bartlett and Par-Con, providing he keeps them to himself and doesn't pass them over to Gornt or another enemy here. Tai-pan, Bartlett doesn't strike me as a malicious person. Perhaps we can deal with him to get what he has back and ask him to agree to keep the information secret."

"To do that you have to barter with a secret he doesn't want let out. Do you have one?"

"Not yet. As partners to us he should protect us."

"Yes. But he's already dealing with Gornt and advanced $2 million U.S. to cover Gornt selling us short."

Phillip Chen whitened. "Eeeee, I didn't know that." He thought a moment. "So Bartlett will withdraw from us on Monday and go over to the enemy?"

"I don't know. At the moment I think he's fence sitting. I would if I were him."

PhiDip Chen shifted in his chair. "He's very fond of Orlanda, tai-pan."

"Yes, she could be a key. Gornt's got to have arranged that, or pushed her toward Bartlett."

"Are you going to tell him?"

"No, not unless there's a reason. He's over twenty-one." Dunross hardened even more. "What do you propose?"

"Are you agreeing to the new concessions First Central wants?"

"So you know about that too?"

"You must have wanted everyone to know that you're seeking support from them, tai-pan. Why else invite Murtagh to your box at the races, why else invite him here? It was easy to put two and two together, even if one hasn't copies of his telexes y"

"Have you?"

"Some of them." Phillip Chen took out a handkerchief and wiped his hands. "WiD you concede?"

"No. I told him I'd think about it he's waiting downstairs for my answer but it's got to be no. I can't guarantee to give them first option on all future loans. I can't because the Victoria has so much power here and so much of our paper and they'd squeeze us to death. In any event I can't replace them with an American bank that's already proved to be politically unreliable. They're fine as a backup and fantastic if they'll get us out of this mess but I'm not sure about them long-term. They have to prove themselves."

"They must be ready to compromise too. After all, giving us 2 million to cement the General Stores takeover's a great vote of confidence, heyat"

Dunross let that pass. "What had you in mind?"

"May I suggest you counter by making a specific offer: all Canadian, U.S., Australian and South American loans for five years that covers our expansion in those territories plus the immediate loan for two giant oil tankers to be purchased through Toda, on the lease-back scheme, and, for an associate, firm orders for a further seven."

"Christ Jesus, who's got that type of operation?" Dunross exploded.

"Vee Cee Ng."

"Photographer Ng? Impossible."

"Within twenty years Vee Cee will have a fleet bigger than Onassis."

"Impossible."

"Very probably, tai-pan."

"How do you know?"

"I've been asked to help finance and arrange a huge extension to his fleet. If we put the first seven tankers into our package with the promise of more, and I can, I can, that should satisfy First Central." Phillip Chen wiped the perspiration off his forehead. "Heyat"