White Ginger (19 page)

“There's more to it than that. It turns out he did hold a contract on you. But it wasn't to kill you. His job was just to lure you away from the protection of
Sun Yee On
.”

His comment grabbed Bai's attention. She sat up straight to wipe the sleep from her eyes as she thought out loud. “Did you get the name of the contractor?”

He walked around to sit on the bed and face her. “That part was easy. You ever hear of the law practice of Hung and Chin?”

“Hung and Chin are my attorneys! There's no way Benny and Robert would handle a contract on me. We've known each other since we were children. The idea of their being involved in this is preposterous.”

He smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “They may not knowingly have handled the contract. And this is where it gets really interesting. It seems the contract was a blind document handled by Hung and Chin without their being privy to the contents.”

“Does that make any sense to you?” she asked.

“That's something you'll have to ask them. I'm not an attorney.”

A sardonic, lopsided smile twisted his features. He seemed amused by the turn of events.

“Do you think this is funny?” she asked.

“Maybe a little. Not like laugh-out-loud funny, but the situation does reek of irony. Think about it—your childhood friends unknowingly assisting in your demise.”

She dismissed his warped idea of humor with a flick of her hand. “I'd liked to have been there when you questioned him. Are you absolutely sure he told you the truth?”

Jason dropped the smile and spoke candidly. “Trust me; you wouldn't have wanted to be there.”

Seeing his features harden, Bai understood. It would have been impossible for her to stand by and watch someone tortured for hours on end. Then again, she'd been the one to hand Tan the knife that severed Sammy Tu's ear. She was beginning to have serious doubts about who
she
really was.

She took a deep breath and let it out before asking, “Did he have anything else to say?”

“He had plenty to say—mostly atrocious lies. At one point he swore he was an undercover DEA agent. Then he tried to convince me he was an unwilling pawn. That Shan had set you up. The only interesting information was a story about Jimmy Yan. Sammy Tu sent one of his girls to entice you into looking for Jia. It seems Jimmy had been coached to tell you Sammy Tu had left for Vancouver. The idea was to draw you away from Chinatown and
Sun Yee On
. Jimmy got caught up in his own macho bullshit and got kicked in the balls before he could deliver his lines. How's that for a classic cock-up?”

She shook her head in amazement. “The trip to Oakland should never have happened.”

“Sammy Tu went ballistic when he found out
Sun Yee On
was involved and we'd burned down his house. Now that, you've got to admit, has really good potential for humor. This whole setup was pretty much a comedy of errors. The fact we still ended up coming to Vancouver gave him the impression we'd already exposed his involvement. He thought
Sun Yee On
was gunning for him. That made him nervous enough to call on his best client, Shan, for help. It seems Sammy Tu's been providing girls to him for quite some time.”

She took a moment to sort out the interwoven relationships. She was starting to think she might need to draw a flow chart. “So Jimmy was involved in this from the beginning? Does he know his mother's dead?”

“That's another macabre story.” Jason's smile faded as he seemed to gather himself. “According to Sammy Tu, Mrs. Yan balked at Jimmy's selling his sister to gain admittance into the
Wah Ching
. Sammy Tu told Jimmy to take care of it. He lured his mother over to Oakland and went after her with his pocket knife, the preferred weapon of newbie tough guys. Sammy Tu said Jimmy chased the old lady around for about twenty minutes before she grabbed her chest and fell over dead. Sammy Tu professed regret at not killing Jimmy then and there. It seems he couldn't stop laughing long enough to pull the trigger.”

Bai put her head in her hands. Jimmy, as it turned out, was an even bigger idiot than she'd imagined.

“And you're certain he was telling the truth? It all sounds so crazy.”

“In the end, he gave us everything he had. I feel confident he told the truth. And, like all good deeds, his part in this won't go unpunished.”

“You didn't kill him, did you?”

“No. I'll leave that to someone else.”

She couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for Sammy Tu. He'd sold girls to Shan, sending them to a brutal death.

“‘Do good, reap good; do evil, reap evil,'” she said sadly.

Jason chuckled at the adage. “Let's hope not.” He brushed a bit of imaginary lint off his shoulder and smiled at her. “How's the girl?”

“They think she'll live. She's probably going to lose her spleen. I hope that's the worst of it. The doctor said she'd come by when Jia came out of surgery. That was a couple of hours ago.”

“Did they say how long she'll be hospitalized?”

“They think a couple of days, at least. Why?”

“Because our private jet is headed back to San Francisco in a little more than an hour and I'd like you to be on it.”

She couldn't understand his motive for hastening her departure. “What's the rush to get rid of me?”

“It's not me,” he said as he put his arm around her shoulders. “I like having you around. It's just that when you buried the hatchet, so to speak, with Shan, you did two things. You eliminated the leader of the faction that has been questioning my authority, and you did it in a way that embarrassed the hell out of his followers.”

“You think they might come after me?”

He hugged her affectionately. “You do seem to arouse the most passionate feelings in men.”

She ignored his jibe. “Who's going to look after Jia?”

“The girl isn't your problem. You've found her. Job well done,” he said dismissively.

She turned to glare at him, stunned by his callousness. “The hell she isn't my problem! She wouldn't be here if somebody hadn't decided to use her as bait to kill me. I'm the
souxun
. I found her. Nobody else seems to want her. Her mother's dead, her brother sold her, and her other siblings are in no position to care for her. As far as I'm concerned she's mine. You got that?”

Her anger was instantaneous and blistering.

He threw up his hands, “OK, I get it. I didn't know you felt that way. Give me a minute to think. There's got to be a way to make this work.”

She watched him guardedly as he put his hand to his chin in thought. His eyes became distant before he finally turned back to her. “What do you think of this? Dan and my mother fly back to take care of Jia. Tommy's bringing the jet back today to meet with the
Fu Shan Chu
who's flying in from Hong Kong. Tommy could keep Dan and Elizabeth here for a few days with him. They'd be safer with Tommy than they would be at home, and the girls can look after Jia. I'll even volunteer a private jet to fly everyone back to San Francisco when Jia's well enough. In the meantime, you'd be free to pursue matters with Hung and Chin and follow up on the information from the cell phone and the money you took off the assassin at the airport.” He put his hand over hers. “All I ask in return is you don't do anything rash until I get back in town. By ‘rash,' I mean you and Lee don't go vigilante and try to confront whoever is behind your problems on your own.”

She gently removed his hand. “I seem to be doing a pretty good job of taking care of myself.”

“I never said you couldn't take care of yourself.” He looked genuinely concerned. “I would just prefer you didn't go off half-cocked and get yourself killed. You are the mother of my child. I would be a poor substitute should anything happen to you. Keep that in mind.”

She dismissed his remark but had to admit his offer made sense. Being with Tommy would afford Dan and Elizabeth better protection than she could provide on her own. He would be traveling with a small army of soldiers. Furthermore, she wanted to get back to Chinatown to find out what her attorneys knew about the contract they'd handled, since she'd been the intended victim.

Still, it galled her that he was right. “All right, it's a deal.”

He glanced at his cell. “You have about an hour before the plane leaves.”

Shannon Brian walked into the room. She was dressed in surgical greens. The color set off her red hair and pale skin. Jason looked up from his phone and his eyes widened.

Bai introduced them. “Shannon, this is Jason Lum, a friend.”

“I've already met Mr. Lum. I take it that knife wound healed without any problems?” As she asked, she looked at him speculatively.

“Good as new,” he replied. “I didn't realize you were the surgeon on Jia's case.”

He looked nervous. Jason never looked nervous.

“I happened to be on call in the E.R. when she came in.”

He turned to Bai. “Jia's a lucky girl. Shannon's the best surgeon in the city.”

“Really? I'm glad to hear it,” she said. She studied the interaction between Shannon and Jason. “And how is she doing?”

“Better. She's in recovery, and her vitals are strong. We've removed the spleen, patched her kidneys, set the bones in her wrist and her dislocated shoulder. She's still heavily sedated and will stay that way for several hours. Her eyes are open, but she's not coherent. You're welcome to go see her.”

“Thanks, Shannon, for everything. It seems I'll be returning to San Francisco soon. My mother and daughter will be flying in to care for Jia. Whom do I see to make arrangements?”

Jason spoke up before Shannon could answer her question. “I can take care of that. We have a hospital liaison to handle these kinds of situations. Why don't I do that while you see Jia? When you're finished, I'll give you a ride to the airport.”

“Fine,” Bai said, standing up.

“I can take you to see her,” Shannon offered. “I'm on my way back to the recovery room now.”

She followed Shannon into the hall. Jason turned in the opposite direction as the two women walked along the corridor to the elevators.

While they waited for the lift, Shannon asked, “Is Mr. Lum a relation?”

The question seemed innocent enough, but Bai could detect an underlying tension. “No, he's an ex.”

Shannon seemed uncomfortable with the answer. “That's interesting. You're no longer involved then?”

Bai avoided the question. “Would you be willing to take some unsolicited advice?”

“Probably not, but go ahead anyway.”

“Jason's beautiful, dangerous, and exciting. Hooking up with him is like flying a kite in a thunderstorm. It's just a matter of time before something bad happens.”

“That's good advice.”

“Yes, and I wish I'd taken it when it had been given to me.” She glanced aside at Shannon, who seemed amused. “But there are some things you just have to find out for yourself.”

Jia Yan's face, bruised purple and yellow, looked like spoiled fruit. Brown eyes sunken within folds of puffy, half-closed lids followed Bai's movements. The girl appeared to be semiconscious. Still, Bai had no way of telling how much, if anything, Jia understood. The urge to cry at the sight of the broken child left her fighting to control her emotions.

She leaned over to speak softly into Jia's ear. “My name is Bai Jiang. I'm the
souxun
sent to find you. I want you to know that the man who hurt you is dead. You have nothing to fear from him, or anyone else for that matter. You're under my protection. You're safe now.”

She looked down on Jia's battered face and thought of something her grandfather had shared with her. He'd said, ‘A child's life is like a piece of paper on which every person leaves a mark.' Bai wanted nothing more than to take an eraser and obliterate the last few days from Jia's page. The least she could do, she vowed, was to make those responsible for the child's suffering pay.

“In a few days,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion, “when you're well enough to travel, you'll be coming home with me. All you have to do now is mend. Don't worry about anything else. I'll take care of you.”

She wanted to wrap the girl in her arms and comfort her, but that was out of the question. Jia's left arm was in a fresh cast. The smell of curing plaster lay thick in the air. Her right arm was strapped to her side with an elastic bandage. Bai settled for touching the tips of Jia's fingers lightly. She leaned down to deliver a light kiss on the girl's forehead while trying not to shed tears in the process.

As Bai turned away, she wondered distractedly how Dan would feel having another girl in the house. Bai had no qualms about taking Jia home. She'd found the girl. As far as Bai was concerned, hers was a clear case of “finder's keeper's.” Jia belonged to her now.