Donovans 02 - Jade Island

Kyle’s impatience vanished when he realized it was emotion rather than a bad connection that had thinned Lianne’s voice into a stranger’s.
    “What’s wrong, sweetheart?” he asked.
    “I’ve been arrested and I don’t know what…” She cleared her throat painfully.
    Kyle didn’t like the mixture of emotions that shot through him, rage and regret and a prowling hunger he hadn’t even begun to appease, so he ignored emotion and focused on finding out what had happened. “Where are you?”
    “Seattle.”
    “What are the charges?”
    “Theft, smuggling, sale of stolen goods, and some other stuff that I don’t understand,” she said bleakly.
    “What kind of goods?” he asked, even though he had a cold certainty that he already knew.
    “Jade. They think I stole from Wen Zhi Tang. I didn’t, Kyle! I never would steal from—”
    “Do you have a lawyer?” he interrupted curtly.
    “A lawyer? Where would I get a lawyer? I don’t even know one!”
    “Take it easy. I’ll get you one. Don’t talk to anyone else until you talk to Jill Mercer. Jill Mercer. Got that? No one. Is there an officer nearby?”
    “Yes.”
    “Put him on.”
    “Her.”
    “Whatever. And Lianne?”
    “Yes?”
    Kyle wanted to tell her not to worry, it was all a mistake, he would straighten it out and she would be free; but he suspected it wasn’t a mistake, she wouldn’t be free, and he was worried as hell himself.
    “I’ll see you as soon as I can,” he said finally.
    “Sure. And thanks, Kyle. I just didn’t…have anyone else to call.”
    The last words were spoken in a voice so low that he almost didn’t hear them. And then he wished he hadn’t. The thought of her being that alone cut him in ways he didn’t want to deal with. Especially after last night, when she had given herself to him without reservation, taking him higher each time, going with him; and the shock in her eyes telling him that she had never been there before. Not like that.
    He wondered if the same shock had been in his own eyes.
    “I’m glad you called me,” Kyle said. “Remember, don’t talk to anyone until you’ve talked to Jill.”
    “I…hurry, if you can. Being held like this, handcuffed, locked in…” Her breath fractured as she swallowed the fear that was clawing at her.
    Kyle’s eyelids flinched in a pain she couldn’t see and he couldn’t admit. “Put the officer on. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
     
    “What did the lawyer say?” Archer asked Kyle.
    “Nothing good.” He looked out the window of the penthouse without really seeing the wind-burnished surface of Elliott Bay. Despite a strengthening wind, the mid-afternoon sunlight was losing its battle with time and clouds. Unless the wind won, there would be a long twilight before true dark came. “About all the Feds haven’t charged Lianne with is spitting on the sidewalk.”
    “Standard operating procedure. The more charges, the higher the bail.”
    “Half a million high. She doesn’t have the money for even a tenth of it.”
    Archer whistled. “Half a million? Not bad for someone with no priors and a clean driving record. The judge must have had a case of the ass.”
    “Or he had folks whispering dirty stories in his ear.”
    “It happens. Especially when the suspect had a part in smuggling the Jade Emperor’s burial shroud out of China.”
    “Nobody said anything about that to Lianne.”
    “Yet. But we both know that’s why the Feds are in on it. They don’t give a rat’s hairy ass about Wen’s collection of erotica.”
    “Which leads to an interesting question,” Kyle said, turning back to Archer. “The Feds were following Lianne because they thought she would lead them to the Jade Emperor, right? Once they had the burial suit, they could move in and defuse the international explosion.”
    “That’s the way I see it.”
    “But the Feds know where the jade suit is now.”
    “So do the Chinese. They’ve demanded that the U.S. return it.”
    “Sounds good to me,” Kyle said.
    “Farmer says he got it from Taiwan, not mainland China.”
    “What does Taiwan say?”
    “They’ll get back to us,” Archer said.
    “Mother.”
    “Smart money says that Taiwan will step up and say they were the seller of the suit or the victim of a thief who stole the suit.”
    “Why?”
    “It’s a great way to stick a thumb in China’s eye,” Archer said. “China is yelling at Uncle to seize the burial suit because it was stolen from China, either