He's in his late forties, I'd guess, from the length of time he's been
prominent in the world arms market.
But he looks younger.
No gray in his hair.
Probably he dyes it.
"He's vain," Abby said.
, 'I guess I didn't think about it that way.
But you're right.
For the next several hours, Abby quizzed Steve, and he did his best to
supply her with information.
Then, as they approached the city, he needed to concentrate on the
route to the airport.
Abby had arrived in India on a commercial airliner.
Steve had flown the Learjet Jason's contact had provided.
He'd already called ahead to the terminal, so making arrangements to
take off took a relatively short time.
Abby had never gone in for the jet-setting life-style of some of her
parents' friends, but this was one time when she could appreciate the
concept of flitting around the world at will.
Still, even with a fast plane, it was a seven-hour trip from New Delhi
to Hong Kong, with a stop in Bangkok for refueling.
THEY AMIVED in the early evening.
On the taxi ride from the airport, Steve leaned back wearily against
the seat.
"I know you must be beat," Abby sympathized.
"It's been a long day."
She'd been able to nap during part of the flight.
Steve had driven the car and then piloted the plane.
"I'll be okay."
"As soon as we settle into our room, you can get some sleep."
"We'll see.
Instead of pressing him, Abby looked out the window at the unfamiliar
Hong Kong landscape glowing richly in the red rays of the setting
Sun.
New Delhi was a crowded, bustling city, but it was, spread, out over
mile after mile of cheap land.
Hong'Kong was confined to a small island off the coast of mainland
China.
There was nowhere to build but up, so h_pge, modern, office and
apartment buildings crowded in, upon each other with hardly a break in
the skyline.
Abby could picture the island sinking under their weight.
Their hotel overlooked the harbor.
Steve flopped onto the bed of their spacious suite and glanced at her
apologetically.
"You're sure you don't mind if I get a little sleep?"
"I wish you would."
"What about you?"
"I'm too keyed up."
She gestured toward the thick folder they'd picked up at the desk.
"I'll look over the materials on Wu and mark anything that I think is
interesting."
'Okay.
' "Why don't you take a shower first? You'll be more comfortable."
'Yeah.
' And you haven't eaten, either, she thought as he disappeared behind
the closed door.
When he emerged from the bathroom twenty minutes later wearing a
snow-white, terry-cloth robe provided by the hotel, Abby had ordered
tea and sandwiches from room service.
"Thanks," he said, picking up a triangle from the plate on the table.
He finished it in a few bites and then ate the second.
She saw his eyes go from the cup of tea in her hand to her breasts, and
the pressure she'd been trying to ignore turned into pain.
"You've, uh, switched from milk to tea," he said, his voice husky.
"Raj and I were talking in the morning. Did he tell you it might not
be a good idea to nurse Shannon?"
"I'd already decided."
"Abby, I'm sorry. I know how much you wanted to.) I She fought the
Steve's hand covered her, and she turned her face into his shoulder.
Neither one of them went back to the meal a,.
Finally she reached for the confidential dossier on Wu.
"Are you sure you don't want me to help you go through the material?"
Steve asked.
Abby looked at the deeply etched circles under his eyes, afraid he
might insist on staying up.
"No. You'll do a better job after you've gotten some rest."
As he headed back to the bedroom, Abby settled down on the sofa to
learn everything she could about Tang Wu.
Someone in the US.
intelligence service must have been collecting information on him for
years, because Abby found an exhaustive account of his life-complete
with details that could only have come from close observation.
The written material was accompanied by a set of photographs that
chronicled the man through the years.
Tang Wu's father had been an associate of Nationalist Chinese leader
Chiang Kai-shek as far back as his exile in Szechwan during the
Japanese invasion in 1937.
The family spent World War II in Chungking, where Tang was born in
1948.
But with the Communist takeover of the country in 1949, -the Wu family
fled with other Nationalists to Taiwan.
Tang had used his natural skills as a linguist to get a job with the
foreign ministry, where he made contact .
9
with government and military leaders from around the world.
While still working for the government, he began arranging arms deals,
first with surplus World War II materials.
But as the demand for more sophisticated weapons increased, he found
new sources of supply-often among U.
S.
manufacturers.
By the late seventies, when he resigned from the Nationalist Chinese
foreign ministry, he was well established in Hong Kong as one of the
world's chief arms brokers.
For three hours, Abby read steadily through the dossier, feeling less
and less optimistic the more she learned about the man's security
arrangements.
Steve was right.
Wu's estate on the outskirts of town was guarded by what amounted to a
private army.
Doggedly, she went on to the more personal material, searching for
signs that a man like Wu would respond to a heartfelt plea from a
mother who wanted her daughter back.
The more she read, however, the more she doubted that an appeal for
compassion would work.
Wu's relationship with his wife had been cold.
In fact, he seemed to harbor the traditional Chinese attitude toward
women.
He would see an infant daughter as of little value-except as a future
pawn in a marriage alliance.
When she got to the last section of the report, she wondered who had
provided the information, since the text was replete with all sorts of
personal data that would only be known to one of Wu's intimates-or a
servant.
bby found out which brand of tooth gel the man used, which cigars he
liked, his favorite foods, and the fact that he considered the diamond
ring he'd inherited from his grandfather a special good luck charm.
There was also information on his sexual proclivities.
The latter material reminded her of case studies she'd run across in
abnormal psychology books.
As she read, she unconsciously wrinkled her nose as if an unpleasant
odor were slowly seeping under the door.
A suggestion of movement from across the room made her eyes flick away
from the page.
Steve was studying her from the bedroom doorway.
She studied him back.
The hotel robe was the same, but now he looked rested.
"That's quite an expression on your face," he commented.
135
She pursed her lips.
"I'm afraid I don't like Mr. Wu very much."
"I gather."
Abby rolled her shoulders, regretting that she'd been sitting in the
same position for hours.
"Have you been working all this time?"
'Yes.
' He came over, sat down beside her and closed the folder that lay open
in her lap.
"Why don't we trade places. You sleep, and I'll catch up on the
reading."
As soon as Steve made the suggestion, Abby realized bow weary she
was.
At the same time, she was bursting to share her new insights.
"I have an idea about how to get to Wu," she ventured.
Steve picked up the folder and laid it on the coffee table.
"I-et me read the material first. Then I'll be able to comment."
Abby dragged in a deep breath and let it out slowly.
She knew he was right.
What she was going to propose would sound too outrageous' if Steve
hadn't read the dossier.
Chapter Nine
"Did you finish the dossier?"
Abby asked as they sat eating breakfast the next morning.
"Yeah."
"Then I guess we'd better talk about Tang Wu-" :,I've been speculating
on what you're going to say.
'Oh?
"You think you know when Wu is most vulnerableAnd you have some scheme
for getting close to- him."
Abby's teacup clattered against the saucer.
"He's most vulnerable when he's visiting the fancy bordellos that cater
to his sexual tastes. He's relaxed. He's had a few drinks. And he
leaves his guards outside. He's not expecting trouble."
Steve nodded.
"The place is owned by a woman who calls herself Madame Pearl. I know
her."
"You do?"
Abby leaned forward, suddenly curious.
"How well do you know her?"
,She was a client of mine a few years ago, not the other way around.
"What did you do for her?"
"Brought in cases of alcoholic beverages and fancy gourmet items that
are expensive to buy here. Pearl likes to be known for her lavish
hospitality as much as her sexual services."
"How often did you help her out?" Steve shrugged." I had a standing
Order, and I filled it whenever I flew into Hong Kong.
But, of course, I haven't seen her since I came back to Baltimore.
"You parted on good terms?", " Yes.
I guess she even owes me a couple of favors.
"So would she tell you when Wu is expected? Better yet, would she
contact him and tell him she has a new girl she knows he'll like?"
Steve looked thoughtful.
"She might. But what happens afterward? When Wu figures out she set
him up? What keeps him from going after her?"
Abby was prepared for the question.
"He's vain, remember? And the Asian concept of saving face is deeply
ingrained in his makeup. Not only that, if he wants to stay in a
business where he's selling his contacts as much as anything else, he
has to rotect his p reputation.
He won't tell anyone he walked into a trap.
And you can make it clear that if he takes any kind of revenge on
Madame Pearl, @ you'll let clients know why every one of his Steve set
down his fork.
"Okay. I'll concede those Points. But I'm not going to let bait.
That's what you have in mid you use Yourself as d, isn't it?
Abby flushed.
"You think I'm going to let you go upstairs alone in a brothel with a
man like Tang Wu?"
" You'll follow us.
You'll come in befoe anything happens.
She saw him swallow and went on quickly before he could fix the Picture
of her and Wu alone in a bedroom firmly in his mind.
"I know you,re thinking that we could use a woman who already works
there to act as lure. But it would have to be somebody newsomeone he
hadn@t seen . And more than that, it would have to be a woman who
won't give anything away by her facial expression. You can't count on
a prostitute to maintain the deception that everything is perfectly
normal. You can count on me."
"Oh, yeah, right. Normal for whom?"
"You know what I mean. I'm a trained psychologist. I don't give my
private thoughts away to my patients. And that's what he'll be like to
me. Only I'm not going to give him the kind of treatment he's
anticipating."
"You gave your thoughts away to me when you were reading about him,"
Steve shot back.
"Because I wasn't trying to guard them. I didn't realize you were
standing in the bedroom doorway looking at me."
Abby sighed.
"Steve, stop arguing with me.
You know we're going to end up doing it this way, because we don't have
any choice.
His sigh matched hers.
"Call Madame Pearl and tell her you're back in town-and that you want
to bring someone over to meet her."
"What about Amarjit's warning to keep our dealings secret?"
"I don't think the Lion of Punjab and the Tart Queen of Hong Kong move
in the same circles."
Steve laughed.
"I'll bet you've been waiting for hours to deliver that line."
'Yeah.
' He shook his head and reached for the telephone.
"You still remember Madame Pearl's number?"
Abby asked.
"No. But I have a contact in town who will know it."
"IT'S GooD To SEE You again, Steve, " Madame Pearl said as she swept
into the tastefully furnished living room of her establishment.
She was tall, thin, well-dressed and elegantlooking-probably of
Eurasian heritage, Abby decided as they eyed each other cautiously.
"Yes. And I'd like you to meet my wife."
"Ah. It's seldom that I meet a man's wife."
"We have a rather complicated problem," Steve began.
"Don't be shy about confiding in me. There's nothing I haven't heard
before, and almost nothing that we can't arrange here."
Madame Pearl smiled encouragingly as she took a seat opposite them.
Abby glanced at Steve's flushed face and saw that he wasn't sure how to
respond, so she jumped into the conversation.
"I know that you've seen and heard almost everything, but maybe there
are still some things that shock you. Would you be shocked to hear
that our baby was stolen from the'hbspital six days ago and is being
held by East Indian rebels? Or that we have less than six days left in
Which to.pay the ransom? After that, they're going to kill -'our
daughter-our only child-unless we give them what they want."
Abby saw the stunned look in Madame Pearl's eyes an went on quickly.
"The rebels aren't holding us up for money. It would be easy if they
were, because we'd pay anything they asked to get Shannon back."
Abby's voice cracked, and she had to pause for several seconds.
"What they want is a weapon Steve's former partner, Oliver Gibbs, was
supposed to deliver to them.
They couldn't threaten Oliver because he's dead.
Which also means he can't give us any advice.
So there's only one place we can turn for information-to the man who
arranged the sale, Tang Wu.