Reign of Coins (18 page)

“What would it hurt for Alistair to accompany Sulyn to the hospital?” I asked Cedric. It might be foolish to let him out of my sight, but something told me he’d be okay for now. Kaslow had moved on to somewhere else. “It might make it easier on everyone getting to the bottom of what happened. Besides, Alistair has established good rapport with Cheung Yung-ching.”

“No, it’s too dangerous, and I’ve been instructed to get you both out of harm’s way,” said Cedric, eyeing the detectives as if this had been previously discussed. “I’m taking you someplace safe for now, and you both will return to the States with Michael and me tonight.”

Normally, I would’ve balked, since I presently held an entirely different take on the situation and what we should do about it. But, maybe Cedric was right…maybe I should be focused on getting my kid to safety and not put anyone else’s life in danger. Hell, I could always come back to Hong Kong by myself and finish the job later. After all, I now knew where the coin was located. If I had to use an industrial drill to bore through Wong Chuk Kok Tsui’s rock wall to reach it, then so be it.

Cedric allowed Alistair to escort Sulyn, and her two personal guards to the detective’s sedan. Then he climbed into the modest Mazda he’d rented, motioning for Alistair to take the front seat and for me to get in the back.

“This ride’s perfect for laying low,” he said, after noticing my smirk in the rearview mirror. “So, do you still have the map with you?”

We had just pulled onto the main thoroughfare heading toward Hong Kong’s immense skyline.

“I never had it to begin with…neither does Alistair.”

He glanced worriedly at me. I’m sure he would’ve liked to have that look back. “Well, then, where is it? Does Ms. Cheung have it with her?”

“Not necessarily,” I said, pausing to cast a casual glance out my window. I didn’t care for the agenda behind the questions, and I started to worry. Maybe my assumption of being safe in Cedric’s presence was premature. I steadied my breathing to keep him unaware of my increased wariness. “Since we couldn’t make heads or tails of the map’s details today, I think she might’ve left it on the ship.”

“Or, when she got frustrated with the damned thing’s ineffectiveness, she might’ve tossed it overboard at one of the islands we visited,” added Alistair. “I saw her throw something overboard.”

Nicely done, son. Alistair picked up on the same bullshit …. For the moment, I couldn’t have been more proud. In truth, Sulyn did throw something overboard at the first island. I believe it was the remainder of her wine, since she was feeling a little light headed.

Now for the fun part…I couldn’t remember if the map was left on the boat, or if she had her bag with her when she joined the detectives in their sedan. It was definitely in the bag, though. Meanwhile, the Mazda was slowing down, which indicated our driver was getting ready to turn around. Alistair’s and my value on the plane of the living had just gone into a volatile swing. Roderick’s warning about my life’s worth to the CIA’s leadership resounded loudly in my head. Was Cedric planning on taking us someplace to be disposed of, if he had confirmed that either Alistair or I had the map in our possession?

I glanced at my boy. A single stream of sweat coursed along his temple. It wasn’t from the heat, since the car’s A.C. had quickly cooled the interior. He was nervous, and perhaps sensed the same predicament I’d picked up on. From what I could see of Cedric, his face bore none of the characteristics of my kid’s present state. He was still in control…but I saw anger in his eyes.

Suddenly, he pulled a u-turn and raced back toward the pier.

“I thought we were headed ‘someplace safe’ downtown?” I said, coolly.

Yes, I wanted my tone to intimidate. I was onto him. Maybe I didn’t fully understand the scheme, but I sure as hell smelled the danger to me and especially my boy. Like a momma grizzly bear, I was prepared to take out the threat, and hoped Cedric fully considered what my immortality meant. I already knew he was armed—maybe not with the same gun I saw the other night, but with some weapon. If he were to fail to hit me, or at least miss a vital organ, he would soon be face to face with me, wearing an empty death stare while his body still sat forward in the driver seat.

Cedric didn’t reply. The cat and mouse contest in full gear, I knew beyond any doubt that Alistair and I were in grave danger. But, not knowing for certain if my boy understood just how quickly things could turn violent with someone we’ve known heretofore as a friend, I had to plot things calmly…and quickly.

“What if I were to tell you exactly where I hid the map?”

This was risky. If he didn’t take the bait and decided I was lying, the upper hand would be Cedric’s. He studied me carefully for a moment, but let up slightly on the gas. This was good, although I couldn’t help but grin—mainly at my kid’s white-knuckle grip on his door handle. Racing at nearly seventy on a city street can do that to you.

“You’re bluffing.”

“No, sadly I’m not,” I said, keeping my eyes fixed on his through the rearview mirror. Alistair shot me a worried look, which was exactly the card I needed to complete my hand. “But, if it’s worth it to you to know, then you need to pull over and let my son out of the car. Otherwise, you can explain to Michael, Paul, or any other asshole you’re in bed with as to how you fucked this up. No cooperation on your part, and you had better pray Viktor and Christian don’t have a party someday dancing around your Virginian family’s graves. You got that?”

The pause in his response was agonizingly long…much longer than I hoped or expected. But, just when I thought he wouldn’t swipe at my baited hook, he suddenly swerved into a shaded alley and pulled over, not far from a pair of garbage receptacles. One was overflowing with trash from a nearby restaurant, but the other was closed. Could be enough room for one or two corpses.

I had hoped Cedric would either tell my boy to immediately get out of the car and hoof it, or that Alistair would take the initiative and just flee. But, the poor kid didn’t even have his seatbelt off yet.

Since I had no idea how this would go, I decided to take matters in my own hand. The skills that have earned me nefarious employment through the centuries provided the slightest advantage over an armed and seasoned intelligence agent—even one with decades of experience and awards for being among the best at his craft.

I had already removed my seatbelt with nary a click when Cedric made his move into the alley. In the split second that followed Alistair’s hesitation and Cedric’s calculated reach for his pistol, I had already locked his neck in my grasp. It would be an easy turn of his vertebrae to snap it and end his life in an instant.

But, instead, I leveled fierce pressure against his windpipe to render him unconscious. By then he had removed the Beretta with a silencer on the end from beneath his thigh. It had been armed and ready to do his bidding from the moment he sat down in the driver seat of his Mazda rental, while using his jovial tone to encourage my kid and me to join him in the car. I almost used the gun on him right then as I considered this.

It was something I reflected on repeatedly after we dumped his sleeping ass next to the cleaner of the two dumpsters and drove off in his car. Alistair had almost pissed himself, so the first stop was a Shell station with a restroom. While he was inside, I placed a quick call to Roderick. From there, it was a race against time to reach Sulyn at the hospital.

Chapter 19

It was nearing six o’clock by the time we parked Cedric’s rental in a garage several blocks away from the Adventist Hospital. I hoped for an hour’s head start—two at most. We’d never see his car again, but I decided to keep the Beretta, tucked inside my khakis with my shirt pulled over it. Hopefully I wouldn’t need it, but the way the day was going made me think otherwise.

“Are you cool with everything we discussed?” I led the way, walking swiftly with Alistair right behind me as we navigated through slower pedestrians seemingly unaware the weekend had started. “And, you’ll remember what to watch for with the cops?”

“Got it, Pops.”

I could tell he dreaded this trip to see Cheung Yung-ching. Yesterday’s visit was completely expected, and Alistair knew it would be a pleasant experience long before our arrival. This, however, was an unannounced drop-in that not only could be ill received, but might get us arrested, killed, or both.

So many variables…so many things to go wrong. We had no idea if Sulyn was even there. We assumed the police followed through with what was told to us at the pier. However, Cedric’s sudden hostility made me reconsider everything, beginning with the fact the two ‘detectives’ might not be upstanding members of Hong Kong’s P.D. The only things weighing in their favor were the standard police computer and other equipment in the sedan that Alistair noticed when he walked Sulyn to their car, as well as the back-up patrol cars and four officers accompanying them. They looked legit, but who could say for certain?

As for Roderick, he was already in the area and would find his way onto the seventh floor, where Mr. Cheung had been moved. Apparently a dozen officers from Hong Kong’s finest were stationed throughout the floor. Roderick advised they carried assault rifles in case Kaslow returned. And, yes, Roderick confirmed it was the Russian. Or, rather, it was Kaslow moving through the floor like Arnold Schwarzenegger in
The Terminator
. It was a miracle that anyone—especially an old man dying from cancer—survived.

“I doubt they’re going to simply let us walk onto the seventh floor without any questions, presentation of identity proof, or some official documentation that supports our presence in Cheung Yung-ching’s company,” worried Alistair, right after we stepped into the elevator.

“That’s why you had better immediately tell them who you are and that you’re there to see Sulyn,” I advised, watching the lights along the top announce each floor we passed. “If she’s unavailable, then you see if Cheung Yung-ching would be willing to visit for just a moment with Dr. Alistair Barrow.”

The elevator chime announced our arrival onto the seventh floor. Before we exited the elevator, I assured him that I had the utmost faith he’d pull this off with aplomb. Truly I did have that confidence, although we could soon face a firing squad of sorts if someone connected with our CIA counterparts caught wind of what I had done to Cedric, forty minutes earlier.

Couldn’t we just head back to ‘Devil’s Fist’ and the famed rock formation ourselves, and not put ourselves at risk like this? Sure…but what would be different the second time from the first? There was something missing…a key ingredient obviously not included in the map itself. The missing element was where Mr. Cheung came in. I felt certain he could either tell us exactly what we were missing, or point us in a solid direction to find it on our own.

As we stepped off the elevator, to our left was a clear hallway, with nurses and orderlies taking care of what looked like normal tasks. To our right, however, a long table blocked all access to that side of the wing. Two police officers sat behind the table, and two others stood on either side. The standing cops carried assault rifles.

Alistair approached the policemen, and all four studied him suspiciously. I drifted a few feet behind him, and his tone carried cheerful confidence as he announced his name and request to see Ms. Cheung Sulyn. But I had grave misgivings when the two sitting officers stood and motioned for their cohorts to approach us, which they did with their weapons pointed at our chests. My heart began to race…then I heard Sulyn’s voice coming from a room roughly fifty feet away. Was it the room where her grandfather presently resided? Another four officers guarded the entrance—one on each side of the open doorway, and two standing across the hallway from them.

“Alistair?!
Oh, thank God you’ve come!!”

Sulyn ran down the hall toward the table, where the officers bearing rifles lowered their weapons. I half expected an obligatory frisk—at least upon Alistair as he moved to meet Sulyn, who wrapped her arms around him as if he were her long lost lover instead of the new friend she had known for only a few days. He glanced at me, seemingly just as surprised, but kept the presence of mind to ask for an audience with her grandfather.

“Let me ask him…he might be able to handle a short visit,” she said, and then addressed the police detail looking on. “They are friends of mine and of Cheung Yung-ching.”

The officers nodded, and the two rifle-bearers returned to their guard posts. Sulyn gently pulled away from Alistair, smiling shyly before returning to her grandfather’s latest room. Her lovely brown eyes were swollen and red from her grief, but they still carried the fire that was her determination to persevere.

After a soft conversation with someone whose hoarse whispers were barely audible, she leaned her head into the hallway and motioned for us to join her. I wanted to ask what became of the detectives that brought her to the hospital, but a tall orderly distracted me. I’d noticed him when we first arrived. Before he disappeared inside a room a few doors further down from where Cheung Yung-ching presently resided, the orderly sent a message using an ancient form of Celtic sign language. He did this quickly, beneath the cover of a clipboard he carried.

Sulyn eyed me curiously as we met her at the doorway, and I realized the wan smile on my face might’ve pointed to insensitivity, instead of the quiet admiration that inspired it.