‘If he does, then it might remove the need for an alliance,’ Qing Song said smugly. He settled back in his chair.
‘Assuming that you’re the one he makes any deal with,’ Jin Zhi said with a smile.
Qing Song’s expression froze.
There was a knock on the suite door.
Hu nodded to one of the two gangsters, who went to open the door. The wolves parted in front of him, before settling back onto the floor. Their eyes showed in thin yellow slits under their half-closed eyelids.
George strolled in, with Lily one step behind him, swathed in pale furs that could conceal half a dozen pistols. Her visible eye was narrowed and dangerous. Behind them, like a royal train, came two more gunmen. The place was getting crowded.
This was a possible distraction, and Irene considered how she could use it. But she could also feel the level of danger in the room rising like a thermometer in boiling water. If guns were fired, a bullet could hit anyone. Including her. She really didn’t want a posthumous report finishing with Was shot by mistake and died.
‘Good of you to see me,’ George said. He sat down in an armchair and crossed his legs. ‘I appreciate the prompt invite up here.’
Both Jin Zhi and Qing Song were staring at Lily, their faces frozen masks of distaste. It took a moment before Qing Song turned his attention to George. ‘How may I assist you?’ he asked coldly.
‘I think it’s more a question of how I can assist you,’ George said. He reached into his jacket. ‘Mind if I smoke?’
Qing Song flicked his hand. ‘As you wish.’
George extended the ritual of lighting his cigar, clearly using this bit of incivility to assert his status. Finally he gestured with the cigar towards Irene. ‘I see you’ve got Miss Jeanette here with you. If you’d like her to be out of the room first . . .’
‘I guarantee that she will say nothing of the matter,’ Qing Song replied. The twitch of his lips was as close to a smile as Irene had ever yet seen him give. ‘I am more interested in why you are here.’
‘Well . . .’ George drew the word out luxuriously. ‘I know that you’ve been looking for something these last few weeks. Or should I say someone?’
‘Either is possible,’ Qing Song agreed.
George nodded, and puffed on his cigar. ‘You see, Mr Qing – I can call you that, right? – just because you weren’t hiring my men didn’t mean that I didn’t hear about your little manhunt. A lot of people out there are real eager to do me a favour and get on my good side. So when your man Hu came by this afternoon, I already had some idea of what you were searching for and where to start looking.’
‘And your point is?’ Qing Song asked. One of the wolves opened its mouth and ran its tongue delicately over its teeth.
‘Not long ago one of my people got a phone call,’ George said. ‘A lot of foreigners are real ignorant about how the Teamsters’ Union works here in New York. They think that just anyone can handle museum deliveries. They don’t seem to understand that it needs an expert to handle that sort of delicate stuff, and that experts don’t like amateurs getting in the way. It’s the sort of thing that leads to those amateurs having accidents.’ He waved his cigar sadly. ‘And it means that I hear about that sort of thing.’
Inwardly Irene was putting two and two together and getting a horrifying four. What had Kai and Evariste tried? And were they already prisoners? She’d taken all these risks to keep them safe . . .
Hu stepped forward and murmured in Qing Song’s ear, and Qing Song nodded. ‘So, your people know the whereabouts of the man I’m looking for. Where is he?’
‘At the moment he’s tagged,’ George said, ‘and real soon now he’ll be bagged as well. Which is why I’m here. I thought you might like to talk price.’
‘Price?’ Qing Song said. ‘I thought we already had an arrangement.’
‘Arrangements go out the window when one person has what everyone wants. It’s supply and demand.’ He pointed at Irene again. ‘Miss Jeanette there, she knows when to fold and make a deal. I’m hoping you’ll think the same way.’
‘Are you open to offers from other people as well?’ Jin Zhi asked smoothly, her tone like silk.
‘I’m prepared to listen, if you can show me the money,’ George said generously. ‘I know Mr Qing here’s good for plenty of dough, but I like to be sure that my customers can cover their purchases. Unless Mr Qing here wants to vouch for you?’
Jin Zhi’s face went still. Clearly she hadn’t expected this. She’d assumed that her word would be enough.
The expression of pure delighted spite that flashed through Qing Song’s eyes was almost too fast for Irene to catch. ‘Reluctantly, I must decline,’ he said. ‘I am not sure that the lady is a safe risk.’
‘There you have it,’ George said with a shrug. ‘So, Mr Qing, I guess it’s just you and me now.’
Jin Zhi’s eyes glittered like rubies, and patterns of scales fleetingly marked her bare arms like lace, momentarily enough that one might have imagined it was simply a trick of the light. ‘I am not accustomed to being dismissed in this way,’ she said, her voice hissing like water on molten metal.
‘I’m a businessman, sweetheart. I don’t have time for people who can’t pay their bills.’ George turned back to Qing Song. ‘Shall we talk price?’
In three steps Jin Zhi was standing in front of him. Her right hand closed around his neck and she lifted him out of his seat. The muscles in her arm stood out like polished metal as she held him there, dangling him in mid-air, his feet kicking a foot above the ground. ‘We will start with an apology,’ she murmured, ‘and then—’
‘You’ll put him down.’ Lily had stepped forward, her fur coat swinging open, and she had a pistol in each hand. She shifted the gun in her right hand to cover the room, and forced the gun in her left hand into Jin Zhi’s ribs. ‘Or we see how large a hole I can make in your spine.’
Jin Zhi’s free hand came up to catch Lily’s left wrist, forcing the gun away from her body.
The room was abruptly full of shouting men and snarling wolves.
Irene brought her heel down on the foot of the man who was restraining her, cracked her head back against his nose and wrenched her arms free. He grabbed at her, but she danced away.
She’d never be able to reach the door. But there was another way out, and she was desperate enough to try it.
The next moment she was out through the windows, and swinging herself over the edge of the balcony.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Evariste nearly dropped the book he was holding.
Kai had more control. To be honest, he had been waiting for something to go wrong – well, more wrong – so it was a relief for it actually to happen. Things could be worse, he reminded himself. They weren’t yet being beaten to their knees by scores of minions, while being collared by evil Fae overlords. The situation was still under control.