Dragon Bones (Red Princess 3)

He looked at her now with sudden understanding. “I bet people don’t like you very much.”

“No one’s supposed to like an agent from the Ministry of Public Security.”

“Which is why you chose the job?”

That her father had been vice minister when she started was none of Michael’s business, so she said, “I’m good at what I do.”

“I can see that. What I don’t get is why you left the States.”

“Maybe I didn’t fit in there either.”

He searched her face. “I don’t think so. I think you fit in very well, and I bet you were happy too. Why did you come back?”

“My mother was ill. I felt I had a duty to her and to my father. But once I came back and saw how China was changing, I thought I should be a part of that.”

He studied her again, this time with raw interest. Again he came to his own conclusion. “You’re a beautiful woman, Hulan, but your regrets play upon your face as though your heart were open to me. I think you were afraid to stay, afraid and…. guilty.”

“I thought you were a mathematician, not a psychoanalyst,” she retorted, trying to keep the remark light but failing miserably.

Michael laughed. “Don’t you know that all the secrets of the universe are revealed through math? Or was that another blind spot in your education?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. Instead he pushed his chair away from the table and stood. “Thank you for joining me tonight, Inspector. I enjoyed it. Perhaps we can do it again tomorrow.”

“David will probably be back by then.”

“Then I look forward to the three of us getting together.”

He saw her to the end of the second courtyard, then left her to find her own way back to her room.

AN EERIE QUIET ENVELOPED HONG KONG AS THE ISLAND BRACED for the coming typhoon. Wind whipped light drizzle in undulating sheets across Connaught Road. Though it was after nine at night, the air was unbearably hot and humid. David was gooey with sweat. Most people had gone home in anticipation of the storm, so the automobile traffic had died down and only a few stragglers were still on the streets. David kept to the exterior wall of the Ritz-Carlton as he followed at a safe distance behind Bill Tang. When the lieutenant crossed Connaught to the Star Ferry Terminal, David hesitated briefly before he leaned his body into the wind and dashed across the street.

His senses were fully heightened, and adrenaline pumped through his body. Following Tang was a rash and impulsive decision—the kind of thing Hulan would do—yet even in the irrationality of the moment David’s mind was in full gear as he went back to the very beginning of his involvement in this case. Director Ho of the Cultural Relics Bureau had talked about the importance of proving the length of Chinese culture and civilization. Vice Minister Zai had spoken of the need to prevent international embarrassment. An hour ago, Dr. Ma had mentioned that there were “factions” that wanted the ruyi. Factions. To David this meant much more than an aficionado of Asian art wanting an object for his collection. He thought again of Zai and spread his net wider and broader to include large Chinese alliances with great power. Ma’s faction would be the Ministry of State Security, which had increasingly close ties to the military. If Ma were to be believed, then Hulan—possibly unwittingly—was working on behalf of another faction within the government. And now David was tailing Bill Tang, who came from a growing cult in China. The ruyi had to have some type of iconic meaning—something that, as Ma said, could influence world stability—to each of these groups and still be of interest to someone like Stuart Miller.

Bill Tang stopped before the main entrance to the Star Ferry. David ducked into the opening to the ferry’s parking lot. Was Tang thinking of taking the ferry to the Kowloon side? David wasn’t sure if the boats were still running, since most ships and ferries had already sought refuge in the typhoon shelter behind the breakwater on the other side of the harbor. He edged out so that he could see up the street. The lieutenant jerked his head around, and David slipped back into his hiding place. His heart pounded in his chest. He listened, hoping to hear Tang move, but the howling wind made that impossible. David deepened his listening and felt something—someone—else besides Tang out there. It had to be Ma, hiding in the shadows. Was Tang aware of him too?

David peeked out again and saw Tang looking back up the hill toward Victoria Peak. David followed his gaze to the Bank of China Building. Shooting up around it were other, much smaller skyscrapers, the names of their owners smearing in bright lights across the tops. To the left and behind the Bank of China tower was another building with only a symbol at the top: a series of concentric squares. David knew he’d seen it somewhere before….

Tang was on the move again. He turned right just beyond the Star Ferry building. David sprinted to that corner and looked down a flight of stairs toward the harbor. There were no lights. The air was redolent of diesel fuel, grease, oil, and creosote. Going down the walkway was not a good idea, but Hulan would have done it if she were here.

David took about ten steps down the stairs and stopped. Waves stirred up by the wind breached the seawall below him. Great wooden piers rose up to his right. He couldn’t see far into the murkiness behind them. Tang could be anywhere in the darkness. There was no use pretending that David was sneaking up on the lieutenant; clearly he was the one walking into an ambush.

“Tang,” he called out. “It’s David Stark. Come out. I want to talk.”

A wall of rain and grimy seawater splashed against David. He held his footing, then took another couple of steps closer to the harbor.

“I know who you are, so there’s no point in hiding—”

Tang emerged from the shadows onto a platform just before the seawall. “It’s better if you don’t know who I am, Mr. Stark,” he said.

David held out his hands, catching the wind in his palms. “This is no place to meet. Let’s go inside.”

“I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt any of you.”

Tang appeared willing to talk. He also seemed to want to help—or confess. David went down another two steps.

Tang went on. “I’ve done my best to warn you and your wife.”

This was exactly the kind of thing David wanted to hear. However, instinct told him to proceed cautiously.

“I thought you might have done that,” he said, wanting to build on Tang’s admission. He casually strolled the rest of the way down the stairs to the platform until he came face-to-face with Tang. “I understand you’re a businessman. Let’s use your experience to figure this thing out.”