Live to See Tomorrow (34 page)

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 to 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 …

She arrived back at the third floor seventeen minutes later. She got off the freight elevator and moved toward where Cameron was standing by the window. He was only a blur in the darkness lit from the faint light streaming through the skylight. “They’ll have to come in from the shops on the street. It’s not likely they’ll use the fire escape to break into the other floors. They’re too easy to guard.”

“Unless Kadmus is more clever than we think.”

His voice sounded … strange.

She stopped, her gaze searching the darkness to see his face. “Is something wrong?”

“No.”

He wasn’t telling the truth. The air was thick, crackling with whatever was disturbing him.

“Let’s get out of here.” He lifted her up on the top box under the window. “Go on. I’ll see you down there. I’ll take care of the alarm.”

She was already jumping the last few feet to the alley when he reached the fire escape at the second floor.

She hadn’t had a chance to look around when they first arrived and took the opportunity to do it now. Garbage cans, boxes with the Moon, Stars, and Heavenly Wonder fireworks signs and, several yards toward the street, the blue Mercedes.

“So this is where you dumped it,” she said, as Cameron jumped down beside her. “It definitely looks out of place in this alley. It should be easily spotted if anyone is searching.”

“They’ll be searching.” He got on the motorcycle. “I guarantee it.” His voice held a tension that hadn’t been there before. “Come on, let’s go.”

She frowned as she swung her leg over the bike and slid onto the seat behind him. Her arms slipped around his waist. “There
is
something wrong. What did you see up there after I left?”

“Nothing.” He started the bike and roared down the alley toward the street. “It was just a long twenty minutes waiting for you.”

“Seventeen.”

“Whatever.”

“It’s not as if I wasn’t efficient. I just needed to make sure there wasn’t anything that might trip me up when—”

“I know that.” He was silent. “I suppose I was counting on going with you. It would have kept me busy, and I wouldn’t have had time to think.”

“You mean worry? I thought you had it all planned. It’s not—”

“I mean think. Anticipate. Imagine. I leaned against that wall waiting for you with the darkness surrounding me.” He said jerkily, “Guess what I was anticipating, Catherine?”

She didn’t have to guess. Her heart was beating hard, and she felt the taut muscles of his back against her breasts. His words had come out of nowhere, but they were not really a surprise. Somewhere deep within her, she had been waiting for them.

“You’re not answering,” he said softly. “Do you want me to tell you?”

“Don’t play games.” Her voice was uneven, and she stopped to steady it. “You’ve already given me a glimpse before of how your mind works. It’s all about sex.”