He flicked his hand dismissively "I am a savior for thousands."

"Ah, yes, deliver a villain and a hero emerges. I almost pity you for your mental disorder."

"I a.s.sume you're here because you want money to keep quiet?"

"I don't care for money, and if I did, you couldn't pay me enough."

"And who are you if money is not an issue? Money is important to everyone."

"I'm not going to answer that question, so don't waste my time asking again." She crossed her legs.

"Very well, then. What do you want?"

"I want you to call Zhang and have Heather released."

"That's it?"

"You seem surprised."

"She has been a call girl and struggling designer for years," he said. "I know she didn't adopt the role for my benefit."

* 276 *

"She hasn't been working undercover or conspiring against your plans. That's correct."

"Are you romantically involved with her?"

"No."

"Then I fail to understand why a simple prost.i.tute has captured your attention to the point of jeopardizing your life."

"Do I look worried?"

He smiled. "Do I?"

"You'd rather swallow your tongue than admit it, but if you're as smart as I think you are, you're inwardly praying to whatever G.o.d you believe in."

"If I had put my fate in the hands of any G.o.d, I would be dead by now."

"But money has at least put you in a wheelchair."

"So you understand what G.o.d I believe in." She got up and hovered over him, then bent to rest a hand on either side of his wheelchair. "Then pray to the mighty buck it saves you from a bullet to the head." She was running out of patience and time. Heather would probably be made to disappear like most foreign prisoners in China, and any evidence of what happened to her would be forever erased.

"You won't kill me. Not as long as you have hope I will make that call."

"No need to flatter yourself, Dario. I have more options."

"Such as?"

"Zhang. I'm sure he'll do anything to protect his position."

"You can't get close to him."

"I can have another five like me here in less than an hour. One is already stationed in room 506 waiting for my signal. We can be up Zhang's a.s.s before he ever knew what hit him."

"Then what's stopping you?"

"International affairs. But frankly, I've never been patient with political matters, nor have they stopped me before. I can follow protocol for only so long."

"Shoot her," he said suddenly, and Chase turned just in time to see Jules aim a small gun at her. He must've had it hidden on him.

* 277 *

She didn't hesitate. One clean shot between his eyes, EOO style. He fell back on the chair, eyes wide open. "Where were we?" she asked blithely. "Oh, yeah. You were proving to be quite useless, and I was growing very impatient. Time for me to visit Zhang." Chase pointed the gun between his eyes.

He placed his hand lightly on the tip of the barrel. "I'll talk to him," he said in a subdued voice.

"That's step one."

"What else do you want?" He sounded irritated.

"I want you to be there when they bring Heather back."

"Why?"

"Because...number one, I want to make sure you don't change their mind and have them kill us both on sight or prevent us from leaving this lawless h.e.l.l, and number two, you're coming with us to France."

"What?" He pulled himself forward.

"You heard me the first time. We have a common interest in France. You want a certain someone killed and I want him alive."

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't have time for evasive stupidity. You know I'm talking about Rozsa. The idiot who's been blackmailing you for money is the same idiot who took something that doesn't belong to him, and I want it back."

"How do you know about-"

"The fact that he used to sell you organs after he was done with his guinea pigs?"

Dario didn't answer.

"I know a lot about you and your enterprise. And the fact that you're your sister's puppet."

"I will not admit to any of this, if that's what you expect of me."

"You don't have to. Like I said, your line of work isn't my issue. What Rozsa took, however, is. I want you to help me find him.""What makes you think I know how to?"

"He's going to call you for the drop-off location."

* 278 *

Dario's eyes widened even more. "That wh.o.r.e..." He pounded on the armrest. "That wired wh.o.r.e fed you everything."

"Heather isn't the issue, either." She pointed the gun at him.

"So leave her the h.e.l.l out of your vocabulary." She wouldn't have anybody, let alone this freak, call Heather a wh.o.r.e. "Now, back to our topic. You're going to give me Rozsa."

"Why would I even consider that?"

"Think about it. Your sister wants him dead and she wants you to make that happen. I know you don't want to disappoint her. Now, why involve your own people and risk something going wrong, thereby exposing yourself or your company, when I'm willing to take care of Rozsa myself, free of charge?"

"Why should I trust you? How do I know you won't kill or expose me after you have Rozsa?"

"It's a matter of taking a good look at your odds. You either accept this offer and take a fifty-fifty chance I won't hurt you or...

you refuse to cooperate and turn that fifty percent chance of survival into zero." She looked down at her Glock. "I think the math is clear."

"You wouldn't kill me now, not before you have Rozsa, because I'm the only one who can give him to you."

"I don't have to kill you to destroy you, if you know what I mean. All I have to do is ask the feds to look into a certain furniture company."

"That still won't give you Rozsa."

"True. But it will give me a great deal of satisfaction to know you're going to spend the rest of your life wheeling your sorry a.s.s from one wall to another inside a very claustrophobic cell. I wonder how your sister will take to prison."

"No one will ever find my sister," he said confidently.

"Maybe not, maybe they will. Some people are very resilient." She winked. "Either way, I'm sure she won't be thrilled to find out you were the reason the family business was shut down." Dario didn't speak for a long time and she didn't push. She could see the worry in his eyes. He seemed more afraid of his sister than his own death.

"I'll do it," he finally said.

* 279 *

"Good. Let's start by making that phone call to Zhang. Tell him to drop her off at the airport entrance. After that, call your pilot and have him ready."

Dario looked perplexed.

"Yes, I've been following you."

"My pilot isn't available. He's in j.a.pan until tomorrow. Why do we need my private jet?"

"Because I want to make sure you don't contact anyone and that none of your friends come into contact with either me or Heather."

"Again, I don't have my pilot."

"I'll take care of that. Now, make that call to Zhang. Tell him to have her there in forty-five minutes." She sat and waited as Dario dialed Zhang's number. "Turn on the speaker." He did as she asked. "It's Dario. I'm calling about the woman your people picked up earlier. The American."

"The beautiful one," the male voice on the other end replied in heavily accented English. "Yes."

"Is she still in jail?"

"Yes. We will move her soon."

"I want you to release her."

"I can't do that."

"There's been a big misunderstanding." Tiny beads of sweat popped out on his forehead.

"But she had...cocaine."

"Listen to me," he said more forcefully. "A misunderstanding."

"But-"

"I said it was a G.o.dd.a.m.n misunderstanding. I want her at the airport entrance in forty-five minutes," he yelled.

"I'll destroy the paperwork and release her." Dario hung up. "Your wh.o.r.e will be there." Chase rose from the couch. "She may sell her body, but you've sold your soul. Who's the real wh.o.r.e? Now make another call and make sure your jet is fueled to the max."

* 280 *

Paris, France 6 a.m.

As soon as her flight touched down in Paris, Jack turned on her cell phone and found a text from Reno. Meeting in Ma.r.s.eille tomorrow. After she claimed her bag, she checked the departures board and found a flight leaving for the coastal resort in three hours with an available seat.

She bought a large coffee and settled into a seat at the gate.

She was edgy and restless, despite having gotten little sleep on the eleven-hour flight from Beijing. I'm coming, Ca.s.s. Stay strong. I'll find you.

Strangely, she had no text or missed voice mail from Landis.

She checked her watch. 6:30 a.m. Paris was six hours behind Beijing, so it was 12:30 p.m. there. Reno's message meant that Rozsa had called on schedule, so Landis should be at the airport by now. Why hadn't she given Jack her arrival info?

She sent off a text. I'm in Paris. Have you left yet?

Thirty minutes later, she received a reply. Still here.

Complications. Will update soon as possible.

Complications? What kind of complications might have come up? They had the info on where the meeting was going to be. Sure, they had at least twenty-four hours until that happened, so a minor delay in Landis's departure shouldn't pose much of a problem. But if Dario's people were close and looking for Rozsa, too, the sooner she got here the better.

It had to involve Heather. Most likely, Landis hadn't been able to get her away from Dario yet. Her terse SMS could indicate she was working on doing just that.

Jack couldn't blame her. Landis was beginning to care for Heather, and it was also her duty to see that the civilian they'd recruited made it out of there safely, especially since she'd put herself in danger.

When her cell phone rang, she expected it to be Landis. But it was Reno. "Phantom...I mean, Jack...I have a great lead. Some background noise on the latest Rozsa call is a church bell. Long * 281 *