Pearl Cove (29 page)

hands. Archer slid in next to her and shut the door. Go. Then he watched out the back
window while Kyle drove quickly into the rain.

Streetlights whipped by, sending pulses of light over the faces in the car. Jake spoke
into the cell phone, reassuring Lianne and Honor.

With fingers that shook, Hannah reached for Archer. He caught her wrists with one hand and
held her where she was, across the seat from him. Blood oozed slowly down the collar of
his jacket. Adrenaline was an icy fire in his veins. It fed an equally cold rage, a rage
born of fear. Hannah could have died. So quickly. So easily.

So finally. Youre bleeding, she said hoarsely. Cuts from flying tile. His voice was as
hard as the fingers gripping her wrists. I heard bullets hitting you. I felt them. Kyles
head whipped around. Archer? The word was raw with the love of brother for brother.

Drive. Im fine. With his free hand, Archer yanked open both his jacket and his dark
flannel shirt. Black Kevlar showed through like a wedge of midnight. Body armor, he said
curtly to Hannah. Jake and I are covered from neck to knees.

Well have some bruises, Jake said. He rubbed his shoulder where a dull ache kept time with
his heart. But not to the bone. A silencer really slows down the bullets.

I didnt know, she said, still shaken. You could have told me. Why? You have less sense
than a kid sucking on his thumb. You- Thats not-

werent wearing any armor, didnt have so much as a pocketknife, yet you walked into that
triad den like it was a fucking Tupperware party. What in hell were you thinking of? Do
you think they wouldn t kill a woman?

You! she said in a low, harsh voice. I was thinking of you! Her voice broke as the
nightmare bit into her again. I saw you covered in blood. And the pain in your eyes...
God, the unspeakable pain. She turned away as far as her captive wrists would let her.
Then she stared out her window while shivers went through her like bullets, jerking her.

Archer made a rough sound. Knowing he would regret it, unable to stop himself, he pulled
her close, then closer still, wrapping her in his arms. He took a deep, shuddering breath
as he drew in the rain fragrance of her hair and let go of the bitter scent of gunfire.
Its all right, Hannah. All of us made it.

She burrowed deeper into his arms and hung on, just hung on, her fingers digging into the
Kevlar that had kept her nightmare from coming true. The depth of her relief, of her
caring for a man as hard as Archer, should have terrified her.

It didnt. The pulsing horror of the Dragon Moon was still too real to allow room for any
other fear.

Lianne and Honor were waiting by the front door of the condo. They held their men for a
long, urgent kiss, and only reluctantly released them. Then they stood even closer
together than usual, needing the reassurance of physical touch.

Next time, Honor announced baldly, Im going with you.

Well burn that bridge when we get to it, Jake said. The downward slide off an adrenaline
jag was no time to argue with a woman you loved. Is Summer up?

Shes sleeping like an angel. He smiled down at his wife. Help me take a shower, honey.

Honor looked at the grim weariness in Jakes eyes and wanted to cry. Instead, she smiled at
him and put her arm around his waist. Adrenaline overload?

Yeah. He hooked an arm around her shoulders. Too much Seattle coffee will wire you every
time. Jake, Archer said. He looked away from Honor. Yeah? Thanks.

What for? Hannahs the one who knocked you out of the line of fire. Honor and Lianne both
stiffened. I should have been the one with the shotgun, Archer said simply. Bullshit.
Havent you figured it out yet?

What?

No ones Superman. Not even you.

Archers laugh was as grim and weary as Jakes eyes. He went and brushed a kiss over Honors
cheek. I knew you had a good man, sis. I just didnt know how good. Take care of him.

Honor let go of Jake long enough to give Archer a hard hug. I love you.

He ran the tip of his finger down her nose. I love you, too. Now get out of here before
Summer wakes up and spoils your shower.

Honor waited long enough to give Kyle a hard hug and get one in return. Then she and Jake
walked away, arms around each other, talking in low voices.

Watching with something close to envy, Hannah leaned wearily against the entry wall. She
wondered if the wild hum of adrenaline in her blood would let her sleep before she fell
down.

Archer turned to Lianne. The sight of his petite, fierce sister-in-law brought a gentle
smile to his lips. I owe you a big one, Lianne. Thanks.

As Jake put it so succinctly bullshit. She stepped close and hugged Archer. I wish I
could have done more. I hated being here, waiting. Listening. Waiting.

On any operation, communications is the hardest job of all. I was lousy at it.

She glanced up at Archer. The black stubble on his face made him look harder than ever. I
cant imagine you sitting back and relaying messages.

Like I said, I was lousy at it. He looked at Kyle over Liannes dark hair.

Next time, Kyle said bluntly, Im wearing the Kevlar and one of you is sitting on his thumb
in the car.

There wont be a next time.

Does that mean you arent going after Lens killer anymore? Kyles voice was pleasant, but
his gold-green eyes were as hard as stone.

Hannah straightened and pushed away from the wall. Thats exactly what it means, she said,
but it wasnt Kyle she spoke to. It was Archer. She had come too close to watching him die,
watching and knowing that she had put him in the path of the bullets that killed him.
Whatever you thought you owed Len died with him. Take off that armor and go back to your
family. Be... safe.

What about you? Archer asked evenly. Ill sell my half of Pearl Cove to whoever wants it.

Even if its Ian Chang?

I dont care if its Satan himself. Its over, Archer. He almost laughed. It wasnt that easy
to get out of the game. It never was. Ill write a check for your half of Pearl Cove.

No. Her response was instant and certain. Why not?

People would believe you know the secret of making black rainbows. Youd be a target. Like
Len.

I have more friends than Len did.

Her chin came up and her mouth flattened. I want you out of this, Archer. All the way out.
I have to know that I didnt lead you to your death.

I dont lead worth a damn. Ask anyone. Ill pay you a million for Pearl Cove.

I wont sell it to you at any price.

Archers eyebrows rose. Fine. Call Ian Chang. Hell buy your half.

So he can kill you for your half? Im stupid, Archer, but eventually I learn. I dont want
you killed for a handful of bloody pearls.

According to Yin, Chang isnt the problem. What?

Just before everything went from sugar to shit, Yin told me he got the pearls from
Christian Flynn.

For a moment Hannahs ears rang as though someone had just fired a shotgun ten feet from
her head. Christian? I dont believe it.

Archer could. He had seen Flynn move, felt the calluses along the edge of his palm. Lets
have a look at the pearls.

She glanced down at the box she still clutched in her hands. For the first time she
realized that her fingers ached from their death grip on the cheap wood. She stared at the
box. At that instant she hated black pearls and everything they stood for.

Even if you put it all down the garbage disposal, nothing would change, Archer said,
reading her expression accurately.

Hannah shuddered. He was right. But if the garbage disposal would have solved the problem,
she would have shoved everything down it and smiled while steel ground incomparable black
rainbows to dust.

I need nonincandescent light and a table, she said thinly. The breakfast nooks light is
wrong.

The tight, edgy quality of her voice made Archer ache. Sell out. Get out. Youre too gentle
for the game.

The name of this game is survival. If Im too gentle for it, Ill bloody well die.

Hannah. Just that. Her name. It was all he could think of to say.

The line of her shoulders told him it didnt matter what he said. She wasnt going to budge.

Theres a suitable table in my your suite, she said, striding down the hall. I think the
light on the night table is fluorescent.

Archer knew it was. Silently he followed her, ignoring the sting from the cuts on his face
and the dull aches where bullets had slammed into Kevlar, bruising the much more fragile
flesh beneath the high-tech

fibers. It was far harder to ignore the rain-wet silk plastered to Hannahs body in a way
that told him she wore nothing beneath but skin. He wondered if it was the same beneath
her jeans: bare, beautiful skin.

The adrenaline of battle shifted into a different kind of readiness, his body humming with
heat and life. While she set up the lamp on the coffee table in the sitting room, he had
time to think about how quickly she had dressed, how much she might have left behind. He
shifted uncomfortably, wishing that Kevlar shorts stretched like regular underwear.

When she bent over to spread out the pearls, the black silk clung to her breasts,
outlining her erect nipples. A drop of water went from the ends of her dark hair to her
neck, and from there to the soft, pale hollow of her throat.

Archer swallowed hard and looked away. He fought a brief, bitter battle for self-control.
When he could no longer count his heartbeats in his crotch, he focused on the pearls
Hannah had spread across the table. Without a sorting screen, he couldnt be certain, but
they looked like they went from twelve to sixteen millimeters. There were at least two
hundred of the iridescent black gems. Perhaps as many as three hundred.

Even if there had been only one third that number, he had made a hell of a buy.

Stretching the thumb and index fingers of both hands as wide as she could, she gathered
the pearls into a group and nudged them along the table, watching how they moved. Her
hands were too small to corral all the pearls.

Here. Archer knelt across from her and helped her to form a bigger rectangle around the
pearls with his hands. Better?

The huskiness of his voice sent a flick of fire over Hannahs nerve endings. Not trusting
herself to look at him, not knowing what she would do if she saw desire in his eyes, she
said, Roll them.

Together they eased their hands across the table, herding gleaming pearls within the rough
rectangle their ringers created. She watched intently. There were no obvious culls, no
pearls that lurched or staggered. She divided out one third of the gems.

Roll those while I watch, she said.

Under Hannahs directions, Archer rolled and spun the pearls while she watched for any
less-than-spherical gems. It would have been easier with the slanting table used in
pearl-sorting rooms, but this way worked almost as well. Pearls had been sorted by hand
long before slanted tables were used.

Round, she said finally. Not a wobbler in the lot. No obvious imperfections, but Ill check
them individually. The orient is good. Excellent.

So tell me. Did I buy the Black Trinity wrapped in a cheap rubber band? She bit her lip.
She very much wanted these to be the Black Trinity, to have it over with. Finished. She
was very much afraid it wasnt. Do you want a loupe? Archer asked. Do you have one?

Instead of answering, he went in the bedroom. There he opened the belly drawer of his desk
and pulled out the handy little magnifying glass jewelers used. Cleaning it on his flannel
shirt, he went back to the living room.

Without looking away from the pearls, Hannah took the loupe. But she felt the casual touch
of his fingers all the way to her toes. There was a fine trembling in her fingers when she
opened the glass and put it to her eye.

Archer sat down to take off his wet shoes and socks. His jeans were also wet, but he didnt
trust himself to take them off and not reach for her.

For a long time there was no sound but the soft click of pearls being picked up and
returned to the

table, one after the other. When Hannah was finally finished, she looked up. He was
watching her with eyes that were patient and something more, something elemental. Hot. An
answering heat snaked through her.

Well? he asked.

No.

Youre certain?

Yes. These are the final culls, the ones that were replaced within the strands when more
perfect color matches were discovered in each new harvest.

Archer looked down at the deeply iridescent, darkly mysterious pearls. He whistled softly.
These are

culls?

Lens god was a demanding god. Perfection or hell. So were back where we started from, he
said. Not quite. What do you mean?

These pearls were kept with the Black Trinity.

Archer went still. Youre sure?

As sure as I can be without knowing Lens hiding place. But I cant think he had more than
one.

For all his special pearls?

She nodded.

How many does he have?

Rainbow pearls?

Yes.

Even after he ground up the less-than-perfect ones, there must have been at least a
thousand left, plus the Black Trinity.

A small hiding place, then. One that is within reach of a wheelchair and proof against
professional searches and natural disasters like cyclones.

I never thought of it that way, but... yes.

Thats why you called me, Hannah. To think like Len. His voice was cool and remote.

She watched his long finger gently rolling a pearl back and forth, back and forth. A stark
memory ripped through her: a gun barrel poking out of the wall, pointing at Archer and the
table where money was stacked like poker chips in a deadly game. There had been no time
for her to think, to reason, to plan. There had only been the certainty of his death and
her scream tearing her throat as she threw herself at him and knocked him aside.

Then the bullets thudding home, making him jerk against her as they lay tangled on the
floor.

Abruptly Hannah stood and combed back her damp hair with fingers that shook. She wouldnt
think of what had happened. She couldnt or she would scream again. Somehow she had to
force herself to be as calm as he was, to accept that murder was as much a part of life as
safety.