Sam raised his brows.
“Okay, I’m protesting too much.”
“Yes, you are. I believe you’re feeling a little like a fifth wheel.”
“Maybe. Luke’s life goes on, and I always seem to have to catch up. Look, I’m grateful that you came to pick me up, Sam, but I’d—”
“You’re wondering why Hu Chang didn’t come instead.”
“No, Hu Chang always does what he wishes.” But she would have liked him to have wished to see her as much as she wanted to see him. It seemed like a long time since she had been with Hu Chang. “I never expect anything of him.”
“Very wise. How well you understand me, Catherine.”
She stopped, her gaze flying to the man walking across the parking lot toward her. “Hu Chang.” She felt a surge of joy and took an involuntary step toward him. Then she halted and said offhandedly, “Not really, you can still surprise me.” She watched him come toward her, every step lithe and graceful. He was wearing black as usual, black trousers, black tunic that somehow was faultlessly elegant. His shoulder-length dark hair shone in the lights of the parking lot. He was only a few inches above middle height but appeared taller. When she was fourteen, she had thought he was an old man, but that was because his night-dark eyes seemed to hold all the secrets of the world. She didn’t know how old he was; his high-cheekboned face seemed totally ageless. He had told her once he was part Russian, part Mongolian, and he looked neither except for those black eyes. All she knew was that she had seen him do amazing physical acts, and his endurance was incredible. She knew he had lived long enough to travel the world and learn a great deal. She knew he had delved into dozens of philosophies and accepted bits and pieces of them. She knew that he let her into his life more than he did any other human being.
Yet she did not ever know what he would do next.
“Why did you even bother to come? I didn’t need anyone to pick me up. And who’s taking care of Luke if both of you are hovering over me?”
“Your son can take better care of himself than many men three times his age,” Hu Chang said. “And you’re being rude to Sam, who is just obeying my orders.”
“I’m not being rude to Sam. He has his orders. He wouldn’t have left Luke by himself if he’d known that he’d not be with you. I’m being rude to you.”
“I’m glad you made that clear,” he murmured. “But let’s permit Sam to leave you now that I’m here. He doesn’t have to listen to you abusing me. I’m sure it embarrasses him.”
“Actually, it’s entertaining,” Sam said with a grin. “And enlightening. But I take it you want me to go watch over Luke while she does it?”
“That would be less humiliating for me.” He inclined his head. “If you would be so kind.”
“No problem.” He turned to Catherine and handed her the handle of her roller bag. “I’ll see you later.”
Catherine watched him stroll away from them across the parking lot. “Why did you send him to pick me up?”
“My car is over there. The gray Mercedes. I would carry your bags, but you’re obviously feeling fiercely independent and a little resentful. You may carry them yourself.”
“Thank you,” she said as she fell into step with him. “Why did you send Sam?”
“Because you’ve had a bad time for the last few weeks, and I wanted you to see a friendly face when you got off the plane.”
“So you took Sam away from guarding my son and sent him to furnish the friendly face? Why would you do that?”
“Because I was busy and couldn’t do it myself. Of course, my expression is seldom described as friendly, but you wouldn’t care about that.” He opened the passenger door of the Mercedes for her. “You’re much too discriminating.”
“No, I wouldn’t have cared. But you seldom feel it necessary to pick me up. Why this time?”
He smiled, his gaze meeting her own. “Perhaps because I wanted to see you. Is that too difficult to believe?”
She felt a melting deep inside her as she looked at him. She had wanted to see him, too. All the years of friendship, all the bonds that nothing could break. This city was not home, but being with Hu Chang came close. “No, I believe that’s true. But perhaps it’s not the entire truth. Did you send Sam because he was ex-CIA, and you thought I needed protection? Or did you have a problem with Luke that you wanted to solve before I saw him?” She got into the passenger seat. “Get in the car and tell me the rest of it.”
He smiled with genuine amusement. “I have missed you, Catherine.” He came around the car and got into the driver’s seat. “You’re an unending delight.” He started the car. “But you shouldn’t demand that Sam watch over Luke night and day. It’s not healthy for Luke.”
“Too bad. It’s healthy for me not to have to worry about him. I lost him once when a scumball targeted him instead of me. It’s not going to happen again.”
“You’d worry anyway,” he said quietly. “You’re afraid he’ll walk away and never come back. You’re wrong, Catherine, he’s not going to leave you. Only a fool would abandon a jewel like you. Luke is not a fool.”
“Bullshit. He doesn’t have to be a fool. He’s a boy who was told all of his childhood by that bastard Rakovac that all the pain and misery he was going through was because of me.” She looked at him. “Are you trying to change the subject? You didn’t answer my question.”
“I’ll answer it now. Yes. And yes.”
She stiffened. “What’s happening, Hu Chang?”
“That’s another question.” He took out his phone and started to dial. “Forgive me, I have to call Sam before he gets too far.”
“Why? What’s he—”
“Sam, don’t go to my shop in the city.” Hu Chang spoke into the phone. “Luke is at the Golden Palace. I had your bags transferred there after you left to go to the airport. Yes, everything is all right. We’ll join you shortly.” He hung up and started to back out of the parking space. “You may explode now, Catherine.”
“I’m not going to explode,” she said through her teeth. “Why did you move Luke to Chen Lu’s palace? Wasn’t it safe for him in the city?”
“Probably, but Chen Lu has a security force that’s top-notch, and she’s been missing Luke since we left the island. I thought it wouldn’t hurt to have him visit her. Unless you object?”
“You tell me, should I object?” Not about the visit itself. Catherine knew that Chen Lu had a genuine affection for Luke after his stay with her sometime ago. She had been born in Dublin, Ireland, and she and her husband had acquired vast wealth and fallen in love with Hong Kong many years ago. She had taken the name Chen Lu and bought the wonderful Golden Palace on an island outside Hong Kong, where she’d lived since her husband’s death. Catherine liked her as much as Luke did, but the woman was totally devoted to Hu Chang and would do anything he asked. “The first thing you mentioned was the security on the island. What are you up to?”
“Safeguarding your son. Safeguarding my friend, Catherine.” He sighed. “Though I fear you will refuse to be safeguarded. You are most stubborn.”
“Why should you have to safeguard either one of us?” She was silent, thinking, putting together the puzzle. “And what the hell do you have to do with Erin Sullivan?”
“Ah, you’ve made the connection. I knew you would.” His lips tightened. “Just as I knew Venable would not keep you out of it if it suited him. I will have to think of a fitting way to punish him.”
“You obviously told Venable not to tell anyone you were his source. Why?”
“You were the only one I was concerned about. There was a possibility that he wouldn’t tell you unless he wanted to use you. Evidently, he wishes to use you.”
“I wasn’t interested. I told him to go to hell.”
“Excellent. Then I don’t have to discuss it with you. Should I make reservations for you and Luke on the next plane for the U.S.?”
“And will you stay here with Chen Lu?”
“For a little while perhaps.”
She was silent. “What did you tell Venable? Why did you contact him?”
“I knew he must have contacts in Tibet. I wanted information.”
“Did he give it to you?”
“With a little prodding.”
“What else?”
“I wanted him to send a CIA agent into the mountains of Tibet who had a modicum of sense and would obey orders.” He smiled. “Someone who clearly wasn’t you, Catherine.”
“And do what?”
“Just be available in case a backup was needed.”
“Your backup?”
“Have I ever required assistance?”
“Yes,” she said bluntly. “I remember one time Venable had to bring in an F-18 to stage a distraction.”
“But that was by my intention.”
She ignored that remark. “Are you going after Erin Sullivan?”
“But you’re not interested.”
“Tell me.”
“Yes.”
“Why? Do you know her?”
“I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting her.”
“Is it because she’s some kind of glorified activist or something?”
“When have I ever involved myself with activists? They usually end up dead. That definitely puts a pall on a relationship.”
“Why?” she repeated.
He shrugged. “I was asked to intercede in her situation by a man I respect.”
“Who?”
“A friend of long standing.”
Blank wall. “Then why doesn’t he go after her?”
“There are problems for him.”
“Because he’d rather you risk your life? What kind of a wimp is he?”
“Wimp?” Hu Chang tilted his head. “That is amusing. He’s probably the most dangerous man either one of us will ever meet.”
“All the more reason why he—” She met Hu Chang’s gaze. This was going to go nowhere. Change direction. “What is Sullivan’s situation? Venable didn’t seem to know. Do you?”
“I have an idea where she is. So does Venable.”
And he wasn’t about to tell her. “Listen to me. I won’t ask you any more questions about Erin Sullivan. But if you think that something about her ‘situation’ is going to pose a danger to me or Luke, then I should know about it. Why did you move him to Chen Lu’s island?”
He was silent. “Merely as a precaution. There’s no danger to either of you as yet. That doesn’t mean there might not be in the future. There may be certain tentacles that reach out and try to grab. You’ll be safer on the island than any other place if you choose not to get on that plane to the U.S. Probably safer than there, too. I’ve never found the U.S. any too secure. Too many laws and ways to get around them. Lawless countries have a basic frontier mind that—”
“Tentacles?”
“Very sharp, very deadly tentacles,” he said softly. “That’s why I told Venable I didn’t want you involved. Tentacles can do terrible damage to a woman as wonderfully beautiful as you. I could not bear the thought of it. I’m glad you’re not going to let Venable draw you into this. It’s more comfortable than having to be the one to do it.” He was parking the Mercedes at the pier. “I’ve arranged to rent a speedboat to take us to the island. You’ll be with Luke in a little over thirty minutes.”
“Good.” She moistened her lips. “Don’t do this, Hu Chang. Let Venable handle it.”
“But I will do it so much better.” He smiled as he got out of the car. “And it requires a certain delicacy that only I can offer.” He opened her car door. “You know that no one has a more exquisitely subtle touch than I do.”
“Your ‘subtle’ touch would have a hell of a time fighting against those damn tentacles.”
“No, it wouldn’t. Any one of my poisons could make any battle exceptionally short-term.”
“If you had the time and proximity to administer it.” She paused. “At least, tell me that you’re not having to fight Beijing.”
“Not directly.”
“Hu Chang.”
“Perhaps not at all.” He helped her into the speedboat. “One can never tell.” He added gently but firmly, “But whatever the confrontation, you will not be present. Do you understand?”
“Perfectly,” she said curtly. “I have no intention of letting either you or Venable rope me into this. If you’re going to be fool enough to risk your neck, why should I care?”
“Because that is the nature of our relationship. Now hush and relax, and I will tell you what a splendid few weeks Luke has had under my magnificent guidance…”
* * *
Catherine could see Luke waiting on the pier as the speedboat approached the island. He was dressed in black trousers and a loose white shirt, and his dark hair was lifting in the strong breeze. He smiled and waved. She had seen him only a few weeks ago, but he looked taller, older than his eleven years. She felt a pang at the thought that she had missed those weeks.
God, he was beautiful.
God, she loved him.
She lifted her hand and returned his wave. “Did you tell him to come and meet me?” she asked Hu Chang.
“No, stop thinking that Luke has to be prodded to come to you,” Hu Chang said. “If he is here, it is because he was eager to see you. I never interfere with his free will.”
“If Chen Lu didn’t suggest it.”
He sighed and shook his head. “You’re impossible.” He drew next to the dock, and one of Chen Lu’s servants jumped forward to secure the boat. “Think what you like. You will anyway.” They both watched Luke run down the dock toward them. “But for someone who has to be forced to come and greet you, he appears to be in a great hurry to get over here.”
“Catherine?” Luke was standing before the boat, his eyes sparkling, his cheeks flushed with color. He had never called her Mother since she had rescued him from Rakovac, and that was okay with her. She would be friend or mother or anything else he wanted her to be as long as he let her stay in his life. “I’ve been waiting for you.” He reached down and took her hand and pulled her from the boat to the dock. “Hu Chang says that you might be tired and that maybe we should stay here at the Golden Palace for a little while.”
“I’m not tired.” She stood staring hungrily at him. Don’t be too obvious. Don’t make him feel uncomfortable. “But we can stay for a week or so if you like. You always liked it here.”
He grinned. “After the fire here, I got to replant a lot of Chen Lu’s garden. I kind of feel as if it’s mine. I like being at Hu Chang’s shop and lab, too. But it’s different.”
“Every place is different.” She wanted to reach out and hug him, hold him. “We just have to enjoy what we can wherever we are at any given time.”