Donovans 02 - Jade Island

back of the pavilion. The guard reached under his coat, only to freeze when he saw Kyle’s gun pointing right at him.
    Han Ju burst around a corner, raced toward the front door, and skidded to a stop. He began berating the guard in Chinese.
    “Ju,” Kyle said curtly.
    The man turned toward him.
    “Pick up that phone and call the guard at the dock. Tell him you need him here to escort Seng’s guests back to their boat. Speak in English. And don’t stand between me and your pet kick boxer unless you want to get caught in the crossfire.”
    Ju didn’t argue or lie about his understanding of English. He picked up the phone carefully, told the marina guard to come to the executive pavilion, and hung up.
    “Kyle—” Lianne began.
    “In a minute,” he interrupted without taking his eyes off Ju. “Does Smiley understand English?” Kyle asked, indicating the guard.
    “No,” Ju said.
    “Lianne, tell the guard to slowly put his gun on the floor and slide it over here. If I see the barrel of his gun pointing at anything but his chest, I’ll shoot him.”
    Lianne spoke rapidly.
    Without looking away from Kyle, the guard drew his gun. Slowly. He set it on the polished marble floor, butt toward Kyle. A nudge of the guard’s foot sent the gun sliding toward Lianne. The metal gleamed like water in the gentle light of the hallway.
    “Do you know how to handle a gun?” Kyle asked her.
    “With great care.”
    “That’s a good start. Pick it up.”
    Awkwardly, still holding onto the carton of jade, Lianne picked up the gun and looked at Kyle. He flicked a glance at the gun she was holding.
    “Okay,” he said. “It’s on safety. Tuck it out of sight and head for the boat. I’ll be right behind you.”
    The sound of Lianne’s footsteps faded rapidly.
    “Ju,” Kyle said, “tell the guard to lie facedown, feet pointed toward the front door.”
    The guard was moving before Ju stopped talking.
    “Now lie on top of him,” Kyle said.
    Ju started to object, then stopped at a motion of Kyle’s gun. Muttering in Chinese, Ju lay on top of the guard.
    “The first man who looks toward the front door is going to piss me off,” Kyle said calmly. “I’ll be in the bushes by the front door, waiting for the marina guard.”
    Quietly, his boat shoes soundless on the shiny floor, Kyle went backward out the door. The motion-sensing lights along the path to the marina were still burning from Lianne’s passage. When Kyle caught up with her on the second turn in the winding path, his gun was nowhere in sight.
    The guard nearly ran them down on the third turn.
    “Thanks for coming,” Kyle said to him, “but I told Ju we knew the way. Hurry along, sweetheart. We want to catch the tide.”
    Lianne lengthened her stride. Kyle followed right on her heels. The guard looked uncertain, then stuck to his primary orders: never leave guests unescorted on the island. He walked behind Kyle and Lianne to the dock, watched as they stepped onto the Tomorrow, started the blower, and prepared to cast off.
    Just as Kyle fired up the engine, the guard’s beeper began to shrill.
    “Time to go,” Kyle said to Lianne. “Get in the cabin, but leave the door open.”
    He cast off the lines and drove the boat from the aft station instead of from the wheel in the cabin.
    By the time the guard started yelling, they were several hundred feet off the dock. Kyle switched to the forward helm station in two seconds flat. With a deep, throaty roar, the Tomorrow came up on plane and raced away. Its newlyinstalled bow lights split the darkness, searching for the floating logs that were a hazardous fact of navigation in the San Juan Islands.
    Lianne sat in the pilot seat across the narrow aisle from Kyle. She looked shut down and wired tight at the same time. If she had anything on her mind. she wasn’t talking about it.
    “Mind telling me what that was all about?” he asked.
    “Not yet. Please. I have to think. God, what a mess. Wen will be furious. The Tangs need Seng’s goodwill.”
    “So they offered a bribe? Good jade for bad?”
    Her hands clenched even more tightly in her lap. She wasn’t happy with her decision not to go through with the jade trade, but she didn’t know what else she could have done. What she did know was that she was very grateful she hadn’t gone to meet Seng by herself. Without Kyle, she was certain that she wouldn’t have gotten the Tang jades off Farmer Island.
    Not to mention the problem of Seng and his