Dark Hope (39 page)

“He must have combined several units and gutted them to make them defensible,” Michael muttered.

Defensible against what?
I thought, but I kept the question to myself.

A dark wood door loomed ahead of us at the end of the hallway. Michael drew up short.

“Are you ready?” He peered at me intently. It was the first time he’d looked at me—I mean
really
looked at me—since I’d forced him to call the Chinese. I swayed a little, and he reached out a hand to hold me upright.

“You’re not getting unsteady on your feet, Carmichael? Last chance to back out.” He skewered me with a probing look. I shook my head and straightened up, looking him squarely in the eye.

He lowered his voice. “Anything I say in there is just for the act, okay?” He paused, waiting for me to answer. He looked strangely nervous. Spiderwebs of fear began spreading through me.

“Okay,” I breathed, willing my muscles not to freeze up. “Let’s do this.”

He turned away from me and knocked on the door.

“Come in, Mr. Carmichael. Come in.”

Michael turned the knob and the door swung open. He reached back and clamped his hand on my shoulder, causing me to gasp, before pulling me through the door behind him. I glanced around quickly. There was another muscle-bound man—presumably a bodyguard—next to the door where we’d come in. Other than that, I could see only Chen and a young woman who sat demurely on the arm of his chair.

“Search them,” Chen commanded from where he sat. Michael spread his arms and legs out wide.

“Is this any way to treat a guest?” Michael asked in mock disappointment as the goon patted him down, swiftly checking his pockets for weapons. “I expected better, Chen.”

Chen grinned. “I like you, Mr. Carmichael, but not enough to be foolhardy.” He snapped something in Chinese, and the guard turned to me. Instinctively, I shrank back against Michael.

“Be careful—she’s hurt,” Michael growled. The bodyguard nodded his acknowledgment and swiftly moved his hands over my body. There was nowhere to hide a weapon, no telltale lumps under the bandages. Chen laughed as the man stepped away and resumed his post against the wall.

“You are such a caring man, Mr. Carmichael, to be so concerned about your young niece’s welfare. Bring her here to me so that I can see the extent of her injuries.”

Michael pushed me gently from behind and I walked, a little shaken, across the room to stand in front of Chen’s chair.

He stood up and closed the distance between us in one long stride.

“Let me see you, my dear.” We’d removed the bandages from my face to give Chen a full view. He clamped his fingers about my chin and turned me this way and that, inspecting my oozing sores. “Interesting. Turn around,” he commanded, making a small circle in the air with his forefinger.

I turned around clumsily, allowing him to see the extent of the damage.

As I came back to face him, I heard him tutting. “You were very thorough, Mr. Carmichael. I cannot see you left any part of her untouched. What was it that you used? Battery acid?”

Michael cleared his throat. “My little secret.”

Mr. Chen shook his head. “A painful lesson, but one that she will never forget. It is really too bad. She was such a pretty thing.” He looked me over again appraisingly. “What will you do with her now?”

I could sense the anger rippling off of Michael and only hoped that Chen was oblivious enough to think it was directed at me.

“I will keep her here with me, until she is well. It wouldn’t do to have her fall sick and get taken to the hospital. It would raise too many questions.”

“Ah, yes, questions,” Chen nodded sagely as he settled back into his overstuffed chair. “You are wise to be careful. Still, I must say I am impressed,” he added, breaking back into the wide smile with which he had greeted them. “To hurt the thing you love, to teach it obedience, it is a very difficult thing.”

“Who said I love her?” Michael snorted. “She’s just another girl.”

His words hit me hard, like a punch to my belly. Just for the act, he’d said. But in the recesses of my feverish mind, I could hear Henri hissing.

Chen held out his hands in protest. “Oh, is she not special to you then? I am so sorry, my mistake.” He gestured to the girl at his side, who had not left her perch during the entire conversation. She slid off the chair and stood silently, waiting.

“No matter. What you did still shows you have discipline, that you are in control of your operation. That is very important to me in my selection of business partners, as you know. I thank you for bringing her to me so that I might see for myself.”

Being talked about as if I were an object, as if I wasn’t even there, was making me angry. But anger was good. Anger was something I could hold on to, something I could focus on to get me past the pain. Something to help me stand it until I could find Maria. I could tell she was here. I could sense it in the air, somehow, could feel her presence and that of her sister.

“Might I ask you another favor, Mr. Carmichael?”

“Of course.”

“It would be very useful to me if my own family could see your girl here, see what happens to young ladies who get ideas in their heads and disobey. I have so many young daughters, you see, girls whom I have gone to great lengths to secure and to provide happiness for. Yet they do not always see things the same way as you or I do, do they? If I could get your niece here to go to them tonight while we get down to business, it would be most helpful.”

I involuntarily stiffened. It didn’t seem like a good idea to get separated. On the other hand, if Maria and Jimena were here, I would be more likely to find them with the other women.

“I do not let her out of my sight just now,” Michael replied with a silky voice. “I’m sure you understand my concern for her health.”

“As you wish,” Chen conceded, a slight pout settling into his lips. He mumbled something in Chinese, and the girl eased herself back onto the arm of his chair, resuming her wait.

“Besides, I thought we were playing cards tonight. Where are the others?” Michael tried to steer the conversation away from me and the horrible punishment he’d supposedly meted out to me.

“They will be here in time. You are not in a hurry, are you, Mr. Carmichael?” Chen reached into his inside jacket pocket and withdrew a fat cigar. The girl swiftly flipped open a shiny silver lighter and lit the tip of the cigar for him as he sucked in. The end glowed to life as he awaited Michael’s answer.

“I would rather get down to business.”

“Then speak your mind. My girl will keep quiet, as I presume will yours.”

Michael pushed me aside and stood, tense, before Chen. The sharply cut suit could not disguise my father’s spreading middle, could not make up for the thinning hair on the crown of his head.
For a moment I panicked, knowing there was no way my father could ever negotiate his way with such an experienced and evil man. But then I breathed, chiding my tired brain for forgetting who was really standing before Chen. It was ridiculous to imagine Michael negotiating with anyone either, but that was how he wanted to play it, so that was what we were going to do.

“I want you to recognize my business interests in Atlanta.”

Chen tapped his cigar into the ashtray proffered by the girl. He took a deep pull of the cigar, the embers suddenly surging with brightness, before exhaling the smoke in a long breath.

“That is not so easy. We already have relationships there. It would be bad for us if we developed a reputation for being … untrustworthy.”

I saw Michael’s fingers curl into fists. So did Chen. “There’s nobody left there. I wiped them out. Surely your network confirmed what I told you.”

“Yes,” Chen sighed, stubbing out the cigar. He crossed his legs and leaned back into his seat, his eyes never leaving Michael. “It was most unfortunate that you did that. Because now I have to choose whether to exact revenge upon you for what you did to my partners, or whether to make you my new partner. It is not such an easy choice.”

“Don’t pretend you haven’t already decided,” Michael sneered. “You would never invite me here unless you already knew your mind.”

Chen beamed at them, clapping his hands appreciatively. “That is one thing I have come to appreciate about you, Mr. Carmichael. You are so perceptive. You are a student of human nature. I bet that is what makes you so good at what you do.”

Michael glowered at Chen as Chen reached up to hold the young girl’s hand.

“Pei Pei, go fetch me a drink.” The girl disentangled her fingers from Chen’s and slid wordlessly from his side, disappearing through a door in the back.

“Yes, I have made up my mind to go into business with you, Mr. Carmichael. You are a man of your word, it would seem, and I can always use more honest men in my organization. But we will have to talk terms, no? For I do not intend to have things run as loosely as the Mexicans ran them for all these years.”

Michael seemed to relax, but I was getting antsy, my body screaming its protest against standing there so long. How would negotiating a deal get Maria and Jimena back? The longer we took, the more likely it was that they would slip away. And I was certain they were here somewhere.

I could feel it.

I drew a breath, about to speak up, when Michael threw me a sharp look, warning me to stay quiet. Chen witnessed the exchange and chuckled.

“Still feisty, that one? What does she need?”

“She still needs to learn her place,” Michael said coolly. “But she is tired. Perhaps a place for her to sit and rest? And we can start our discussion of terms with a request for an act of good faith. You have several girls of mine, Mexican girls that I procured. They should never have left Atlanta. I want them back.”

“Mr. Carmichael, you surprise me,” Chen said, leaning back to appraise both of us. The girl, Pei Pei, slipped in through the door and brought him a crystal tumbler full of smoky, gold liquid. He looked at the drink, swirling the ice cubes around and around as if mesmerized. “Though I cannot say which I find more astonishing: that you would grant kindness to this young woman by allowing her rest,” he said, pausing to look derisively at me, “or that you keep such tight control over your inventory that you would bother over
a small handful of girls.” He paused and took a long, appreciative drink from the tumbler.

He handed the glass absentmindedly back to the girl and barked something in Chinese to his bodyguard. The man swiftly crossed the expanse of the room and leaned over, allowing Chen to whisper in his ear. He grunted his acknowledgment and moved swiftly through the back door as well, leaving us alone.

“Women have no place in our discussions of business. So I will have Pei Pei take your girl in the back to rest. She will be safe there. You have my word.” He nodded to Pei Pei, never taking his eyes off of Michael. Pei Pei glided to me, lightly touching my elbow to guide me away. I jolted at her touch, surprised at the quiver of pain.

I
was
tired, I admitted to myself. Plus, if I went into the back, I might find Maria. I looked at Michael, waiting for a sign. He nodded once, his eyes unreadable, before he returned his attention to Chen.

As Pei Pei spirited me away, I could hear Chen’s voice floating through the air. “Now why would a gentleman of your means care about a few miserable creatures from Mexico, eh? Tell me that, Mr. Carmichael. I am all ears.”

The door closed behind us before I could hear Michael’s reply.

Pei Pei was like a ghost, walking noiselessly through the deserted maze, finding doors where there seemed none, leading me deeper into the warren of rooms that comprised Chen’s complex. The few questions I posed to her were met with noncommittal shrugs. Every once in a while I would see a group of people at the far end of the hallway, which was lined with bolted doors, or across a room, but they would scurry away while Pei Pei skillfully steered me in another direction, never allowing me to get close. When she finally guided me into a quiet study, I sank gratefully into the sofa, eager to rest. My skin—or what was left of it—was
burning up, but Michael had all my ibuprofen. I saw Pei Pei looking at me with something that seemed like pity and followed her gaze down to my arms. My wounds were seeping now, turning the bandages a sickly yellow color.

“Shhhh.” She lifted a finger to her lips. An expression of sadness, or maybe just understanding, came over her face. Then, she backed out of the room, leaving the door open a crack and leaving me alone.

It would be so easy to just fall asleep here
, I thought to myself as I let my eyes drift closed. The sofa was so comfortable.

But who knows where you’d be when you woke up
, Henri snapped.
Foolish girl. Get up and start looking for Maria. The sooner we get this over with, the faster we can get on with the business of finding the Key
.

He was right, and I knew it. The feeling that she was here was still strong. There had to be a way to find her. But the lull of sleep, the irresistible urge to sink into oblivion and escape the pain, proved too strong, and I could feel myself slipping away.

On the edge of sleep, I heard the fluttering of birds’ wings and jolted awake. There was a commotion outside the room, something that sounded like a scuffle punctuated by weeping and machinegun-fire shouting. I shoved myself off of the sofa and crept to the door to take a peek.

The bodyguard from Chen’s room was struggling to drag something—no, someone—down the hallway. Two people, to be precise. Two girls, one much smaller than the other. And they were coming this way.

I cursed under my breath when I heard a snatch of Spanish float through the air.

It was Jimena and Maria.

I ducked back behind the door. This was my chance. I looked wildly about the room for anything I could use. Pillows, knickknacks, an artful arrangement of books—nothing. Then my gaze landed on the heavy glass ashtray on the coffee table. I darted over and picked it up. It was hefty, heavier than it looked. It would have to do.

The sounds of struggle were getting closer now. It sounded like Maria and Jimena were putting up a good fight. I peeked out from behind the cracked door. They were within a few feet of me. The brawny man was twisted away from me, his arms entangled as he hauled Jimena by one arm and tried to drag Maria behind him, his hands clamped around her wrists like manacles.