Donovans 02 - Jade Island

ran off to the big city. She wasbarely fifteen when she had Lianne. Johnny was twenty-seven, married to a Hong Kong Chinese woman, and the father of two boys and a girl.”
    “Busy man,” Kyle said.
    “He stayed that way. Lianne has seven half siblings.”
    “Lianne’s mother stayed close with Johnny while he was busy making more Tangs?”
    “Close as skin.”
    “Was it the money?”
    “You’ll have to ask her,” Archer said. “All the file said was that Johnny kept her in good-to-great style from the day he first saw her. If she ever had another boyfriend, no one knew about it.”
    “Till death do them part, is that it?”
    “It works for some people.”
    Kyle brought his chair forward with a snap and held his mug out for more coffee. Without comment, Archer poured. Kyle sipped, shuddered, and sipped again. He only took cream with the first coffee of the day. After that, he figured he could do without lactose crutches or go back to bed for the sleep he needed to get through the day.
    “What do you know about a good-looking guy by the name of Lee Chin Tang?” Kyle asked.
    “Why?”
    “He’d like to kill me. I’d like to know why.”
    Archer looked up from the coffee he was pouring for himself. “Is he the reason you came back for my gun?”
    “No, but I was particularly glad to be wearing it after I met him.”
    “What does he look like?”
    “Thirty-five to forty, Chinese, movie-star beautiful, doesn’t speak English, and his eyes could drill holes in steel.”
    “Nobody mentioned him to me, which means he’s not one of the major players in the Tang Consortium.”
    “He’d like to be a major player in Lianne’s bed.”
    Archer’s left eyebrow rose in a swift, questioning arc. “How did she feel about it?”
    “She gave him ice burns.”
    “Told you she preferred blonds,” Archer said smugly.
    “What about the guy following us?” Kyle asked, ignoring his brother’s grin.
    “Was he blond?”
    “You tell me.”
    “Someone might have followed you out of the auction. It was hard to be certain. There was a lot of pushing and shoving to get close to or away from the jade suit.” Archer stretched and rubbed the black stubble that he hadn’t had time to shave yet. “I know for damn sure that no one followed you back into the hotel.”
    “Then why was Uncle all over you like a rash this morning?” Kyle asked after a minute. “And don’t give me a load of crap about the newspaper article.”
    Archer drank deeply, then stared at the silty remains of his coffee. “I asked her the same question. Several times. No answer worth repeating.”
    “Her? Did they ring in what’s-her-name again?”
    “Who?”
    “Jake’s old playmate.”
    “Oh. Lazarus. No, this is an agent I haven’t met. She knows you, though. Must have been at the auction. She was surprised that you were sleeping here last night. Alone.”
    “Mother,” Kyle muttered. “I could get real tired of Uncle’s cold nose poking up my ass.”
    Archer didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. If he had liked the covert business, he would still be in it.
    Kyle looked at his watch.
    “You have something on today?” Archer asked.
    “Jade instruction.”
    “Come again?”
    “Lianne is going to give me five hours and fifty-one minutes of her jade expertise.”
    “But who’s counting, right?” Archer asked dryly.
    “Wrong,” Kyle retorted. “I’m counting. So is she.”
    “Why?”
    “We cut a deal. For every hour of stuffed-elephant service I give, she gives me an hour on the fine points of jade buying and selling.”
    “Stuffed elephant,” Archer said neutrally. “That means something, I suppose.”
    “I’m big.”
    “You’re a runt.”
    “Compared to Han Wu Seng, I’m a—”
    “Seng! What does he have to do with this?” Archer demanded.
    “You know him?”
    “No, but Uncle does. He’s a major contributor to U.S. political parties. He’s also the funnel between polite Chinese society and the overseas arms of the Red Phoenix triad, which has a lock on heroin distribution from Vancouver to Hong Kong.”
    “Nice guy.”
    “Compared to some, yes.”
    Kyle’s eyes narrowed. His brother was quite serious. Kyle shook his head. “I don’t want to know.”
    “Neither did I, but sometimes you don’t get lucky. How did you meet Seng?”
    “At the auction. He’s the reason Lianne gave for wanting to get to know me. I’m big.”
    “So she needs a knight in shining armor to chase off the big bad