The closest ‘where’ turned out to be a deli nearby, patronized by students, the less well-off and people who wanted to drink coffee rather than alcohol. The high student concentration meant that the racial mix of Irene, Evariste and Kai was less obvious than it might have been elsewhere. And the lack of alcohol probably meant fewer gangsters. They annexed a corner table with a good view of the door and sat down to plan.
Irene had been thinking. ‘Several thoughts,’ she said, ‘in no particular order. Evariste, Qing Song is in just as deep trouble as you are. Possibly even deeper.’
She turned to Kai. ‘Kai, if someone in your father’s court was found trying to force Librarians to help him, by kidnapping their dependants . . . what would happen to that person?’
‘Public disgrace and loss of office,’ Kai said without hesitation. ‘Possibly even death or banishment, depending on his or her rank. Even if we don’t have a formal alliance, that’s unsanctioned behaviour. My father and his ministers wouldn’t endorse such conduct. It’d be a declaration of hostilities in itself.’
‘Yes, but Qing Song said—’ Evariste started. Then he stopped, as if realizing how far he’d been duped. ‘You mean he’s just as incriminated as I am,’ he said slowly.
‘Exactly,’ Irene said. ‘Whatever Julian’s relationship with him or his family was, Qing Song badly overstepped the line in taking your daughter hostage. And now that he’s lost track of you, not only has he lost his big chance to get hold of the book, but there’s a witness on the loose who can make things politically dangerous for him. Possibly fatally so. The Queen of the Southern Lands isn’t going to want a subordinate who causes this sort of mess. Most of all, by acting like this, Qing Song’s endangered his family.’
‘You mean other dragons would actually care what he’s done?’ Evariste said cynically.
But Kai had sat back in his chair at her final words, as though she’d gut-punched him. ‘They’d care,’ he said quietly. ‘They’d care very much indeed. This isn’t some kind of petty gamble between two individuals. This is a challenge where both participants have been supported by their clans. If Qing Song has done what he did – unprovoked, against the servant of a neutral power – and his clan is incriminated, then all of them risk disgrace. The Queen would enforce it. He was a fool to do it.’
Irene nodded. ‘Qing Song’s overplayed his hand. He might be prepared to risk death, but he won’t risk his family. And that’s how we’re going to retrieve your daughter.’
Evariste nodded slowly – not quite convinced yet, but wanting to believe. ‘But we’re going to get spotted sooner or later, and Qing Song will track us down,’ he said. ‘I don’t know whether or not he can trace me directly. That’s why I had the wards up. But even if he can’t find me that way, then he has – or rather, Hu has – contacts with the mobs. Not the main man round here, Lucky George, but some of the smaller contractors.’
‘“Lucky” George?’ Kai asked.
‘It was Giorgio Rossi originally, but these days he’s George Ross if you know what’s good for you,’ Evariste explained. ‘He started with the Mafia and branched off on his own, and he took a lot of his Mafia associates along with him too. These days he’s very all-American. Land of the free, home of the brave. And on the not-so-legal side, importer of alcohol from across the world. Anyhow, Hu’s hired gangsters will be out watching for us. And even if you can blackmail Qing Song to make him give my daughter back, he’s not going to want to let us go. We’ll know way, way too much. Especially if he realizes we’re a threat to his family, from what you’re saying. So what are we going to do?’
Irene glanced at Kai. Her heart sank as she realized that he was looking at her as if she’d be able to sort things out. He wasn’t even trying to make a contribution. He shouldn’t just be depending on her to come up with answers. As his teacher . . . she’d failed him.
This was something she needed to correct. And at the back of her mind, an idea was beginning to come together that might fill several objectives at once.
‘Where is the book?’ she asked. ‘I’m assuming you tracked it down.’
‘It’s in the archives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art,’ Evariste said promptly, his syntax shifting as if reporting to his Library supervisor. ‘It was in a collection donated by Judge Richard Pemberton in 1899. He inherited it from his father, Colonel Matthew Pemberton, who brought it back after the invasion of China. Professor Jamison’s currently curating the collection.’
‘Good work,’ Irene said. ‘Next question: have you made sure it’s there, or is this an assumption based on research?’
‘I didn’t dare go find out,’ Evariste admitted. ‘I hid the research on it in all the rest of the documents I was pulling. And I took them when I escaped.’
A horrible thought seared through Irene’s mind. ‘You didn’t leave them in your apartment, did you? If Qing Song’s searched it by now—’
‘Yeah, that would have been bad, wouldn’t it?’ Evariste said coldly. ‘What with you knocking me out and dragging me away, and all that.’ Clearly certain things weren’t quite forgiven and forgotten yet. ‘But we’re safe so far. I burned those papers once I was safely away. I didn’t need them to remember the important facts.’
Irene relaxed. ‘That’s a relief.’
‘Was there anything else in the apartment that we should have brought?’ Kai asked. ‘I suppose I should apologize if we dragged you out of there and left your favourite books behind.’
Evariste looked as if he would have liked to list any number of things, but after a moment he shook his head. ‘Yeah, there were some books there that I’d have liked to keep. But most of them were for a Library ward. I figured it might slow Qing Song down, if he had some . . .’ He waved a hand vaguely. ‘Some sort of dragon way of trying to find me. But I guess I can live without the books. And I was almost out of dollars anyhow.’
‘He probably can’t pinpoint you directly,’ Kai said comfortingly. ‘If he was arriving in this world, then Qing Song could locate your general vicinity, but he wouldn’t be able to arrive right on top of the house where you were staying. He hasn’t taken any tokens from you? Blood, breath, whatever?’
‘Hell no,’ Evariste said. ‘He was having enough trouble getting me to cooperate without that sort of weird dragon stuff. Er, no offence.’
‘I suppose Qing Song funded your research?’ Irene asked, before Kai could take offence.
‘Right. But I didn’t want to risk drawing on the bank account he gave me, after I’d skipped out on him. If the bank got in touch with him . . .’
‘All right. The main priority here is Miranda. Is Qing Song holding her in this world or somewhere else? Or don’t you know?’