Pearl Cove (28 page)

A half beat of hesitation, then she said, Depends on who he did.

My half brother.

Archer waited. He didnt have to wait long. April wasnt stupid or fainthearted.

Yins brother Ling sells us information from time to time, when it can be used against
rival triads, she said, but he isnt ours. Neither is Yin. Red Phoenix owns both of them
body and soul. Dont trust Yin.

Even if you told me he was yours, I wouldnt trust him. Hes selling the kind of rainbow
pearls men kill to own. Lens pearls.

April thought hard and fast. What are you going to do?

Buy them. One way or another. Has Uncle decided which side of the pearl table youre on yet?

Silence.

Archer hit the power button on the phone and mentally ran his probabilities again. Knowing
that Yin wasnt a U.S. government agent improved the odds of getting out clean.

Uncle made a bad enemy.

A block away from the Dragon Moon, Archer pulled on a pair of surgical gloves, then tugged
at his jacket to keep it out of the way of the pistol at the small of his back. The front
of the jacket sagged. A spare magazine for the pistol was in one pocket. Cash was in the
other. The wad of money was bulkier than the extra ammunition and weighed a lot less.

When Archer was a few buildings down from the Dragon Moon, he punched in the number of the
cell phone he had left behind on the kitchen table. This time he turned on the scrambler.

Lianne answered on the first ring. Archer? Right here. Hows the reception?

Fine. Or four-by-four or whatever Im supposed to say.

Loud and clear works. Stay close.

Id like to be closer, she retorted.

I hear you loud and clear. Archer pocketed the phone and glanced again at his watch. Five
fifty-seven. Time to go. He tapped the throat mike to turn it on. Im moving.

One is in place, Kyle said. Ditto two, Jake said. But Im on the front. What? Archer
snarled. Kyles gut liked it that way. So does mine.

Anger whipped beneath Archers control, but control won easily. It was too late in the game
to lose it. Just keep that damn street sweeper out of sight. Youd give the beat cop a
heart attack if he saw that barrel poking out of your jacket.

Roger.

Archer headed toward the Dragon Moon with the long strides of a wolf pursuing game.

Who would call at this ungodly hour? Hannah asked as she walked into the kitchen.

Lianne started so severely that she nearly dropped the cell phone on the table. Hannah!
Youre supposed to he asleep.

My body still doesnt know which way is up, she said, yawning. Four a.m. or high noon, all
the same to me. What are you doing up? Are the twins restless?

Not wildly. Im just, um, a morning person.

Its hardly morning, Hannah said. Unless you think that four- Her words stopped abruptly.
She rubbed her eyes and looked again at the kitchen clock. Six a.m.? The clock in my room
said four.

Want some coffee? Lianne asked, changing the subject.

It didnt work.

Six oclock, Hannah said, appalled. Ruddy hell! Im supposed to be

Hes here. Ready?

Both women jumped when the cell phone spoke.

Thats Ar Hannah began.

Quiet! Lianne interrupted in a fierce, low voice. She snatched up the phone. Ready.

Yin is alone at a table about fifteen feet from the street entrance. Theres a box big
enough to hold the pearls sitting in front of him.

Thank God.

Archer decided not to mention the table of young toughs sitting between Yin and the front
door. Despite their trendy Hong Kong clothes heavy on colorful silk shirts and black
leather jackets the men might have been just day laborers sitting around drinking tea
until it was time to go to work.

And Archer might have been Tinkerbell.

Get ready to tell Yin a few things, Archer said into the cell phone. One: I have one
hundred and twenty-five thousand in cash for the pearls. Two: Im not alone. Three: If his
hands go under the table, he s a dead man. Four: If anyone elses hands go under the table,
hes a dead man. Five: He should pass the word to anyone who might get twitchy. Got that?

Yes.

Go.

When Lianne started speaking Chinese, Hannah knew where Archer was. Spinning around, she
ran to her room.

There she dressed in a frenzy, yanking on her jeans, jamming her nightgown Archers silk
shirt inside the waistband of her jeans, kicking into her sandals. Still buttoning the
jeans, she bolted for the front door. She didnt even notice the cold rain as she ran flat
out toward the Dragon Moon. Fury and fear drove her flying feet. Even she couldnt have
said which goaded her more anger at being shut out or the memory of her dream, Archer
bleeding and dying in horrible pain.

Poised for whatever might happen, Archer waited, watching Yin while Lianne spoke in rapid
Chinese. Yin listened impassively, but he was looking around, trying to spot anyone who
might be on Archers side. No one was sitting in the dreary cafe but Red Phoenix men.

The front door to Archers right opened, setting small bells to jingling. He spotted Jake
immediately.

Shit.

Youre welcome, Jake said.

He took a position that put him between Archer and the table where five gang members drank
tea. It wasnt the seat that Jake would have preferred, for it didnt command a view of the
whole cafe. But it was the best he could do when it came to getting between Archer and the
obvious trouble waiting to happen.

Yin started explaining to the five men what was expected of them.

Without taking his eyes from the gang members, Jake worked the pump on the concealed
shotgun. The distinctive rack-rack of a double-barreled pump shotgun being readied to fire
was a lot more effective than any verbal warnings or orders to attack that Yin might be
relaying.

Five pairs of hands came out onto the tabletop. Though the nails were too long for Western
taste, they were clean and nicely buffed. Jake watched them, knowing that whatever the
triad members might have on their mind, as long as their hands were still, they couldnt do
anything but fume. At a gesture from him, the men scooted together until they sat in a
semicircle, facing him across the circular table.

Archer beckoned Yin over to a table closer to the front door.

That seat still left part of the cafe in a blind spot that neither he nor Jake could
cover, but there was nothing to be done for it.

Reluctantly Yin sat still, his hands in plain sight, the box between them. Archer sat
down, keeping Yin between him and the table of men. Close up, Yins black eye and the
bruised, oozing gash on his chin looked painful, but Archer didnt waste any sympathy on
the man. Triad life was almost as tough on its members as it was on the community of
immigrants that were the triads prey.

Watching Yin every moment, Archer picked up the cell phone and spoke into it. Tell him if
he answers my questions, Ill pay him another twenty thousand in cash, right now. If I find
out later that he lied, Ill take it out on the Red Phoenix Triad and let them worry about
evening the score with him. Then tell him to translate my message for his friends.

Hannah got up early, Lianne said. She

Later, Archer interrupted curtly. Ive got the Red Phoenix boys on the front burner right
now. Talk to Yin.

Archer didnt doubt that Liannes translation would be accurate, but it was nice to see Yins
pallor increase and his glance flick nervously toward the table of men who were pretending
to sit casually under Jake

s unflinching eyes. Carefully Yin handed the phone back to Archer and nodded several times
to indicate that he understood.

When Yin was finished speaking, so did the other men in the room. They looked at Yin
speculatively, wondering how much bad luck he could bring down on the triad that was their
livelihood, their brotherhood, and their home. One of the five men looked right at Archer
and said, Donovan.

He smiled like a wolf and nodded curtly. The Red Phoenix Triad and the Donovans had
clashed before, indirectly. Archer had won.

Knowing that Yin would feel better if he saw money on the table, Archer rapidly counted
out a stack of well-used one-hundred-dollar bills. Yins dark eyes widened and his lips
twitched as he kept his own tally. His eyes widened with simple avarice when the count
went above one hundred thousand. Not until the stack of bills totaled one hundred
twenty-five thousand dollars did Archer put the much-reduced wad of cash in his back jeans
pocket. When his hand came into view again, the nine-millimeter was in it. The safety was
off. The muzzle was pointed right at Yins heart.

Your turn, Archer said, gesturing to the cheap wooden box and then to the table in front
of him. Open the box and hand it over slow and easy.

Yin was working on the box before the translation came through the cell phone. He took off
the thick, dirty rubber band and opened the lid wide on its hinges. Then he slowly pushed
the box toward Archer.

Without taking his eyes off Yin, Archer ran his fingertips over the contents. Cool,
smooth, round, heavy. He picked one pearl at random and brought it into his line of sight.

Black rainbows gleamed.

The pearls are right, Archer said into the phone. Tell him to put the rubberbands back
around the box and give it back to me.

While Yin worked, Archer pulled money out of his back pocket. As soon as Yin pushed the
securely wrapped box back across the table, Archer pulled another thick stack of cash from
his jacket pocket.

Yins eyes widened with simple greed. Archer fanned ten hundred-dollar bills on the table.
The wad in his hand said that there was more where that came from. A lot more. Yin looked
at the money hungrily as Archer picked up the cell phone.

Ask Yin where he got the pearls, he said to Lianne.

Then he held the phone so that the other man could hear. As he listened, Yins expression
shifted, then shut down. He shook his head.

Archer added ten more bills to the fan. Two thousand dollars. Three thousand. Ten
thousand. Twenty thousand. Thirty. Fifty.

Yin began to sweat. Now, Archer said to Lianne, tell him he has a choice. He can answer my
question or Ill ask his

buddies at the next table. If they answer, they get the prize.

Sweat trickled down Yins cheeks as he listened. He swallowed and said hoarsely, Klistin
Frin.

Before Archer could sort through the heavy accent, Kyles voice was rasping in his ear.
Christ, she s going in the front door!

Archer didnt have time to ask who she was. Breath sawing, Hannah yanked open the front
door and glanced wildly around the room. When she saw Archer and Jake off to the side,
keeping a table full of thugs seated with their hands in sight she sagged in relief. The
nightmare hadnt come true.

Get out, Archer said flatly.

The five men at the table shifted, but nothing had really changed for them. Jake was still
watching them with eyes that gleamed like cut glass. Archer was still seated, his gun on
Yin. Unhappily the men settled down.

Hannah squared her shoulders and turned toward Archer. Not until I see if the pearls are
what were looking for.

Take the pearls and get out, Archer said through his teeth, throwing the box at her.

She caught it and kept walking toward him, needing to be certain that he was all right. A
flicker of movement along the wall behind his back caught her eye. Even as her brain
registered the fact that there was a gun barrel glinting through a narrow slit, she
screamed and launched herself at Archers shoulders, knocking him over and out of harms
way. Hundred-dollar bills flew up like startled birds.

Though there was no sound of a shot, plaster exploded across the room before Archer hit
the floor. Still falling, he pulled Hannah beneath him and brought his gun up, figuring
angles on where the hidden shooter might be. It certainly wasnt Yin on the trigger he had
grabbed what cash he could and bolted toward the alley door.

Tile exploded as bullets whined across the floor. Archer grunted, then grunted again as
lead thudded against Kevlar. He rolled over and over into the room, taking Hannah with
him, trying to get beyond the shooting radius of the gun slit.

Hes in the wall behind you! she screamed, her voice muffled by his chest.

Archer heard anyway. Jake! Middle of the east wall, man-high.

Before Archer finished, Jake lifted his foot to the edge of the table and slammed it into
the gathered triad members with a quick pump of his leg, scattering them like bowling
pins. The instant Archer and Hannah scrambled out of the way, Jake pointed the shotgun
toward the wall and triggered both barrels.

Buckshot-chewed wood exploded out in clumps of jackstraws, then fell in eerie silence,
because the shotgun blasts had deafened everyone, leaving a violent ringing in their ears.
Before the first bits of wood hit the floor, Jake racked two more rounds into place and
searched for another target.

Archer yanked Hannah to her feet and all but threw her at the front door. Out.

This time she didnt argue.

Quickly Archer took stock. A stunned silence followed the thunder of the shotgun, but he
couldnt count on that lasting. Nothing moved along the ruined wall but a shred of dull red
wallpaper. If the sniper had survived, he wasnt giving away his position. Off to one side,
five of the Red Phoenix Triads finest thrashed around on the floor, trying to suck in air
through diaphragms that had been paralyzed by the flying edge of a table.

You go next, Jake said, watching the wall and the struggling gang members.

Archer was already at the front door, his gun trained on the fallen men and his eyes alert
for any motion along the walls. Youre covered. Pull out.

Jake shoved the shotgun under his jacket and went through the front door like a man who
had nothing more on his mind than digesting a breakfast of dried fish and green tea. He
got into the passenger seat of the vehicle that waited, doors open. Hannah was already in
back. She clutched the box of pearls in her