High Stakes Gamble

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Set it up, Ham,” Aurora insisted. “I mean it. I’m sick of waiting for a break in the case. So far, that white truck seems to have fallen off the radar. Who knows, since Min Chang was willing to kill for the gang, stands to reason she knows something.” Aurora heard the begging note in her voice and doused it.

“She’ll go for you again, Aurora. That colleen hates you with a passion. Could be she’ll talk to me or Kai but I don’t trust her with you.”

Aurora faced Cory and gave him ‘the look’. “Cory, I want this.”

“Think rationally, Aurora. You’ve beaten her twice. And this time she has nothing to lose. We’ve already got her for attempted murder.”

“She’ll talk. Not to any man. But she will to me.”

“What makes you so sure?” Kai had to pose the question the other two hadn’t.

“Because she wants me. I’ve seen it in her eyes. She wants to subjugate me. It’s about status, being the best. And I’ll let her if it means getting any information about the Chang-Lee brothers and their crowd.”

Aurora saw the flare of anger in his eyes and her stomach clenched. A glow began low and built—the same spark he’d ignited earlier when he walked into the room. How she could notice him while sick with worry about her baby, she had no idea? Feelings rioted through her she had no control over. Sick with worry on one hand and yet gratitude that he stood beside her on the other. Maybe she needed to see a shrink because she felt loony-bin crazy. Okay, focus here. This had to happen.

She approached the man who could give her what she wanted. “You know I’m right, Cory. You talked to Sally.”

“Yeah, I talked to Sally. She says it herself, Aurora. Min Chang is one cold-hearted bitch. She has everyone around her cowering, and seeing as how she’ll be taken to maximum security at Ely as soon as the arraignment is set, no one wants to mess with her.”

“I do! I want to mess with her until she talks. I want it so bad I can taste it.”

“Alright!!” Ground out the way only Cory could, the word reverberated. “Just don’t do anything stupid, Rory. Go with her you two, and for heaven’s sake, look after her.”

***

As Aurora headed out the open door and down the hallway, Ham looked at Kai and then at Cory. His girl hadn’t barked at Cory for using her nickname? He shook his head, grabbed his weapon and followed. When the devil rode their Aurora; heaven only knew what they could expect. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I hope you’re all paying attention.

***

Aurora stood ready as Sally escorted a chained Min Chang into the interview room. Sally caught Aurora’s gaze, a warning glint in her knowing eyes. “There’ll be no funny business, got it? You two talk, nothing else.”

It took every bit of control Aurora had not to go for the throat of the person hooked up with the gang who’d stolen Lily. Instead she uttered words—soft and low. “Fine. We talk. So she doesn’t need to be chained like a dog, does she?”

For the first time Min raised her head to stare directly at Aurora. Cold hatred blazed from the slanted, narrowed orbs. Daringly, she held out her arms to the assisting guard who hesitated before complying after a nod from Sally.

Aurora took a second to wink at Ham and Kai. Knowing that Min would see her actions and it would piss her off, she’d purposefully acknowledged them. She’d asked them to stay behind the mirrored wall and it pleased her when they hadn’t argued.

This was her fight, one that had been fated. Aurora sat down on the edge of the table and motioned the chair to Min. Then she gave the signal for Sally and her girl to leave. Since this had been discussed rather heatedly before they’d even brought Min Chang to the room, Sally shot the inmate a warning look, let the guard precede her and then exited.

Now Aurora concentrated on the woman before her. Although she had no doubt the Chinese girl was in her mid to late twenties, she looked like a teenager. Flat-chested, she had the wiry build of a male but a face feminine and even strangely beautiful.

Haunting dark eyes full of distrust vying with temper and hate, Min’s lip curled and she spoke. Her voice completely destroyed the picture she presented of a fierce warrior. She sounded like a spoiled little girl. “What do you want?”

“Information.”

“What possible information can I have that you’d want so much you’d take the chance to be here, with me—alone?”

Aurora’s phony chuckle didn’t come close to sounding real. “Oh, you’re not so scary, Min.” Aurora leaned closer, letting Min see the rage burning her insides. “Seriously? My baby has been kidnapped and I believe a trucker working for the Chang-Lee brothers is hauling her and other captives across the California state line to a ship leaving from L.A. Only thing is, he can’t leave this area. Beside every bus station, train and airport, we’ve secured, we’re also keeping strict surveillance on every border, highway, outlying road and known trails.”

Min Chang pursed her mouth as if to hold in a smile. Instead she sneered. “So?”

“So I want to know where or by what other means they might have of getting the merchandise across the border and into California or where they might hold up in the meantime.”

“And what makes you think I’d know this?”

“Because you’re a half-sister, aren’t you? A nothing to them. Hell, less than nothing. You’re not a man; therefore they have no use for you.”

Min’s chair scraped slowly back, the sound blasting through the silence.

Aurora ignored her and kept battering. “That must have pissed you off? Although your chance came in here. Right? They contacted you to do something for them. Get to Mother Ling, kill her. You had to prove yourself, didn’t you? I might have done the same.” She hesitated then, watching Min’s anger flourish. Seconds later she plunged back in deeper. “Nah! I’d have cut off their balls if they’d treated me like they did you, forcing me to pick pockets for a living. Bah!” Shaking her head and smirking, Aurora showing her disrespect not only in her words but by her actions.

Min jumped to her feet. “What the f*ck do you know?”

Got her! “I know I’d pay them back. Right now the only way you can bring them down is in the courts by testifying against them. For all their arrogance, they deserve to be brought to justice. And they will be caught, don’t you doubt it. There’s a huge task force working to do that right now. It’s just a matter of time.” Aurora couldn’t help but see a flare of satisfaction in Min’s narrowed gaze. “Maybe, we can make a deal of sorts for your co-operation.”

Min tried to hide her interest behind her normal disdain, but didn’t succeed. “Before I give you anything, there’s one thing I need to know.”

Here it comes. Aurora had expected this would happen. Her heart beat faster, adrenalin pumping through her like a blown out water main.

“What?”

“I want to fight you, here—now. I have to know. I’m better, I know am I.”

“If I do as you want, will you promise to answer our questions?”

“You might not like the answers.”

“But I need to hear them. Okay. Deal.” Aurora stood and took off her light jacket, then she slipped out of her high-heeled boots.

Min Chang rose, moved to the side of the small room and took a fighting stance. Relaxed in her utter belief she would win, she waited with small grin of arrogance.

Aurora, moving just past the chair, checked one more rule. “No holds barred?”

Min’s face finally relaxed into a full smile. “Is there any other way?”

At the last second, she might have sensed that Aurora was about to use the chair like a bludgeon, but she could do nothing to stop it. Downed and pissed, she struggled against the hold Aurora had her in—using the rung of the furniture as an instrument of torture against Min’s neck. “You are one trusting bitch, aren’t you?” Aurora whispered the words.

As more and more of her airways were cut off, Min’s struggles slowed and eventually stopped. Aurora never broke eye contact and knew when the other had finally accepted her betters. “You going to keep your word?”

“I don’t lie.” Min spit the words from between clenched teeth. Her look alone could have broken glass.