Donovans 02 - Jade Island

have to talk about,” Kyle said, turning on the engine. “Mercer can keep the Feds at bay for a while, but in order to mount any defense worth mentioning, she’ll need a lot of information from you.”
    Numbly Lianne nodded.
    Kyle started to ask a question, took another look at her, and decided to wait. She was quivering like a wild animal in chains. She probably felt like one. He certainly had in Kaliningrad, when a question arose about his passport and he was seized without warning and thrown in jail before Jake could straighten out the mess. To someone raised with the unquestioned belief that a good citizen’s freedom was as reliable as oxygen in the air, being grabbed off the street, handcuffed, put in a locked room, and treated like dogshit was as shocking as rape.
    With an effort, Kyle loosened shoulder muscles that were bunched for a fight. As he left the parking lot, he automatically glanced in the rearview mirror.
    A tan Ford Taurus pulled into traffic right behind him. The agent’s maneuver was about as subtle as turning on red lights and a siren. Obviously fifty grand and signed assurances about the rest of the bail hadn’t been enough to comfort the good guys. They planned to keep an eye on Ms. Lianne Blakely.
    And they were letting her know it.
    “That does it,” Kyle said through his teeth. “Time to talk, sweetheart. What the hell is going on?”
    Lianne turned and gave Kyle a confused look. “I told you, Wen Zhi Tang thinks I’m a thief.”
    “Not good enough.” Kyle goosed the accelerator and shot through a yellow-going-red light. Might as well make the tail work for his salary, benefits, and early pension. “You were accused of stealing—what, a million bucks’ worth of jade?”
    Lianne’s eyes squeezed shut, like her lungs, her throat, her hands, everything. She desperately wanted a bath, a cup of coffee, and the clock to turn back to a time when Wen had trusted her, when she had believed that someday she would be accepted by the Tangs as a member of the family.
    “Yes,” she managed. “A million dollars.”
    “Even if you sold all the jade at face value—not frigging likely, because hot goods are always heavily discounted—your bail is still way out of line.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Bail is supposed to reflect the severity of the crime and the likelihood of flight. The theft was hefty, but not violent. You aren’t likely to flee for the simple reason that you have nowhere to go that you wouldn’t be extradited. Contrary to popular belief, a million bucks cash won’t buy freedom in a Third World country. Ten million, maybe. The price goes up every month.”
    Lianne opened her eyes and looked at the dazzling, late-afternoon sky. It had turned into the kind of yellow-and-blue spring day people prayed for and rarely got. “They took my passport,” was all she said.
    “And gave you a tail.”
    For a moment she didn’t understand. Then she glanced in the side-view mirror. An American car with a suit behind the wheel was locked on Kyle’s bumper like a tow job.
    “Not very subtle,” she said.
    “Yeah. It’s enough to make a tax-paying citizen wonder what the hell the Feds are really after.”
    Lianne’s expression told him that she didn’t understand.
    “Look,” Kyle said impatiently, “I know of murderers, child molesters, rapists, and drug traffickers who aren’tconsidered important or dangerous enough to warrant a full-time tail. So I’ll ask you again: what are the real stakes in this game?”
    “A million dollars in jade isn’t enough?” she asked in disbelief.
    “No.”
    “Then what is?”
    “Christ,” he muttered. “Lianne, I can’t help you unless you trust me. What in hell is really going on?”
    “ I don’t know! ” She took a broken breath and shook her head as though to clear it. “This morning I woke up smiling and you made love to me like I was a goddess. An hour later I’m in handcuffs and treated like a criminal. Happy thirtieth birthday.”
    “Today is your birthday?”
    “Yeah. Bake me a cake with a file in it.” Lianne started to laugh, didn’t trust herself to be able to stop, and shivered violently instead. She wished her mother wasn’t on the other side of the world with her lover. “God.” She shivered again. “The things you learn when you’re arrested.”
    “Like?”
    “How alone you are. I never thought I’d turn thirty with no one to care if I’m in jail and the key is lost. No husband, no children, no