Breaking the Limits: Rafe & Nicole Book 2

by C. C. Gibbs

  Rafe exhaled softly. ‘Any ideas on Zou’s destination? Other than Brisbane?’

  ‘When our crews backtracked, they interviewed a doorman in a high-rise down the block who saw a helicopter take off from the roof of his building ten, fifteen minutes after we lost Zou. There had to have been some underground tunnels he accessed ’cause Zou never exited the building. We had eyes on every exit. We’re in the process of pulling building blueprints now. Not that it matters at this point, but—’ Andy grimaced. ‘Sorry about that.’

  ‘If the tunnels were private, they might not appear on the prints. I’m guessing they won’t. We’ll just move on. Are we monitoring radar? Flight plans?’

  ‘We’re on it,’ Carlos said.

  Rafe surveyed the assembled group. ‘Check in with your contacts. Explain what happened. What we’re looking for. Zou couldn’t have gotten very far yet. A helicopter’s too slow for any long-range flight and I expect he’s getting out of the country. So scour the docks, see if a private yacht sailed recently; he wouldn’t attempt the major airports – although maybe the small ones should be considered. It’s not out of the question to drive to any of the South East Asian countries. That means the search area is going to continue to expand. Meanwhile, we haven’t a clue what Zou’s using for a disguise or passport.’ Rafe smiled tightly. ‘That’s it. Thanks, everyone. I’m going to call Webster and give him the bad news.’

  Walking with Carlos to his desk, Rafe pointed at a leather club chair. ‘Do you mind? I’m beginning to fade.’

  ‘Be my guest. You haven’t slept much.’

  ‘No one has. Have you heard from Webster lately? He was going to check out some galleries with Gina.’

  Carlos shook his head, sat at his desk and leaned back in his chair. ‘Come to think of it, Lola received a text. Something about buying a painting.’

  Neither man mentioned the fuck-up. Regret was useless; both had learned that the hard way.

  ‘What time is it in Brisbane?’ Rafe glanced at his watch. ‘Webster should be up.’ He punched in a number on his cell and didn’t have long to wait. ‘Sounds like you’re out on the street.’ Rafe’s eyebrows went up. ‘Nice of you to fetch and carry. Anyway, I’m calling with shit news. Zou’s broken out. Anything useful there?’

  ‘Maybe. Our gallery search turned up a small show of Bao Yu’s paintings. She’s using a different name but I recognized her work from the photos in her dossier. We bought a painting and she’s going to redo a small section to match my office colours.’

  ‘Your office colours?’

  ‘Yeah, I have an office building I’m redecorating, which makes me a potential big spender. The gallery owner was impressed. He convinced Bao Yu to compromise her principles and do a little touch-up on the painting for me. Sounds like she’s been showing in his gallery for about six months. Also, sounds like she needs the money.’

  Rafe whistled softly. ‘You don’t say.’

  ‘I do. Now to find out why. Gina and I – we’re married by the way – chatted up the gallery owner while he was running one of your no-name company credit cards and getting excited about selling more paintings. Apparently Bao Yu came to Brisbane this time with her daughter and her boyfriend. Yeah, you heard that right. That’s what the guy said.’

  ‘So she might not be waiting for Zou.’

  ‘Might not.’

  ‘Does Zou know that? Do his enemies?’

  ‘Good questions. We might have some answers soon. By the way, Gina’s a brilliant actress. I wouldn’t have gotten the information without her. Gina showed the gallery owner photos of our daughter, told him how much we missed her. Little Selena’s at boarding school, by the way. My mother insists and it breaks Gina’s heart. She gave a desolate little sigh and said that Bao Yu was really fortunate to have her daughter with her.’

  Rafe snorted. ‘Gina and children? There’s a picture.’

  ‘Don’t tell the gallery owner. The man’s eyes teared up.’

  ‘Fuck me. Perfect. Where are you meeting Bao Yu?’

  ‘At the gallery.’

  ‘If she comes with her daughter, mission accomplished,’ Rafe murmured.

  ‘If she doesn’t, or if her boyfriend’s along, we’ll have to follow them home.’

  ‘Any thoughts on whether Zou arrives in Brisbane?’

  ‘Too soon to tell,’ Webster replied. ‘The surprise boyfriend changes the dynamic.’

  ‘Along with the possibility that Bao Yu needs money.’

  ‘Zou could be heading somewhere else,’ Webster noted.

  ‘And it’s a big fucking world,’ Rafe grumbled.

  ‘His money’s disappearing, I hear. That should help.’

  ‘Maybe. There’s still the black banking sites. If he doesn’t show up in Brisbane, I’m already thinking Dubai.’

  ‘I have personal contacts there. If you need names, let me know,’ Webster offered.

  ‘Thanks. I’ll run it by Carlos, maybe Gora too. His Russian might be able to fill us in on the banking rules in those countries that don’t have any. You and Gina working together okay?’

  ‘Are you asking me something?’ Webster’s voice was softly sardonic.

  ‘Just trying to be polite. Forget it.’

  ‘I already have. I should have some news for you later today.’

  Chapter 18

  Shortly after Rafe finished his call to Webster, a helicopter landed in a field two hundred sixty kilometres south-west of Shanghai. Two top-end, off-road Range Rovers were waiting; four men in one, three in the other, the SUV’s rear compartments loaded with backpacking gear.

  Stepping down from the chopper, Zou ducked his head and sprinted to the lead car. The helicopter was already airborne when Zou climbed into the front passenger seat and, minutes later, the Range Rovers were speeding down a four-lane highway in a south/south-west direction.

  If all went according to plan, Zou would reach Bangkok in forty-five hours. Perhaps sooner if he flew out of Luang Prabang, the old colonial capital in northern Thailand. It would depend on the security at the airport, although it should be lax. The UNESCO world site was known for its natural beauties; the travellers who converged on the airport were armed with cameras not weapons.

  Zou was on his new encrypted cell phone in a matter of minutes, his voice crisp and sharp as he spoke. He was pissed for a number of reasons aside from the current conversation furrowing his brow. A number of his bank accounts had been closed, Bao Yu wasn’t answering her phone and Colonel Chen, a rival since his youth, had just been patched through by his adjunct and was now informing him that his leave had been cancelled.

  ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Zou snapped. He couldn’t say Chen was a liar although he was.

  ‘General Hu cancelled all leave.’

  ‘Fuck you!’ Zou exploded. ‘Who the hell do you think you’re talking to? If General Hu cancelled all leave, my adjunct would have informed me. Now leave me the fuck alone. I’ll be back in ten days.’ And he cut off his caller mid-word. ‘Keep to the speed limits,’ he ordered the driver. ‘We don’t want to draw any attention.’

  The driver nodded, not talking his eyes off the road.

  The all-terrain vehicles had been chosen in case they had to leave the main highways and travel rough. Zou had also taken the precaution of having a logo of a fictitious backpacking company painted on the car doors to facilitate border crossings. If they drove the entire 1,795 kilometres to Bangkok, they’d cross into Laos first, then Thailand. Eight men on a trekking holiday would be relatively innocuous. Particularly in northern Laos and Thailand where backpackers from around the world came to holiday.

  ‘I’m going to sleep now, Jin. Don’t wake me,’ Zou said.

  The driver shot him a look.

  ‘If you can’t handle it, wake me,’ Zou added, smiling faintly, sliding his seat back down, stretching out his legs and hiking-booted feet.

  ‘I thought you wanted this trip to stay under the radar.’

  ‘I do.
So don’t kill anyone while I’m sleeping,’ Zou said, drolly. Then he shut his eyes and, within seconds, fell into a restful sleep for the first time in days.

  The men in his party had been hand-picked, personally recruited years ago and were consummate professionals. Particularly his young driver whom he’d saved from a precarious life on the streets when Jin was just a boy. They all could operate with minimum orders and, most important in the fluid world of political cunning, their loyalty was beyond reproach. None had family; a necessary component to the specific activities assigned them. And, not to be discounted, Zou paid them extremely well.

  *

  Soon after Zou fell asleep, Gina and Webster entered the art gallery in Brisbane. Since they were ostensibly on holiday, they were dressed casually but expensively in slacks and jackets, Gina’s large red purse slung over her shoulder: Hermès.

  ‘We’re a little early.’ Webster took off his sunglasses, sliding them into his jacket pocket and smiled at the gallery owner, a thin, youngish man in a fashionable skin-tight suit with short pant legs that displayed his colourful socks. ‘But my wife is hoping to see the artist’s young daughter, so she’s a little anxious.’ He turned his smile on Gina. ‘Aren’t you, darling.’

  ‘Don’t tease me.’ Gina pouted prettily. ‘I miss our little Selena. Seeing another young girl would be lovely, that’s all.’

  ‘Would you like me to call and see if Bao Yu is bringing her daughter?’ The gallery owner was interested in pleasing the couple who might purchase several more works for their office building.

  ‘No, no, don’t bother her,’ Gina murmured. ‘But if I might have a cup of coffee while we wait, that would be super.’

  Gina spoke with a posh, upper-class British accent that Webster found admirable for a woman raised in France. The distinctive, soft diffidence, the partially swallowed words; it was perfection. He nodded as the owner glanced at him. ‘Thank you, coffee for me too. Come, dear.’ He took Gina’s hand. ‘You were admiring that Hong Kong harbour painting the other day. Let’s have another look at it while we wait.’ And he drew her away toward a large work on display across the room.

  ‘This is too easy.’ Gina spoke in her normal voice as they walked away. ‘I’m getting jumpy.’

  Webster grimaced. ‘Makes you wonder all right. Locked and loaded, babe?’

  ‘You better believe it.’ She sucked in a breath. ‘Think the lady’s gonna show?’

  ‘The gallery owner’s hoping like hell she does. Me too. Easy or not, I’d like to get this done.’ He flicked his finger at the masterful harbour view as they approached it. ‘By the way, if you want any of these paintings, I’m sure Rafe wouldn’t mind.’ Webster knew the two were friends.

  She tipped her head, left and right, squinted at the realistic depiction. ‘I might. Bao Yu’s damned good. This is magnificent.’

  ‘I like the mountain landscape.’ He pointed to his right.

  ‘Get it for your wife.’

  ‘I’m not sure she’d like it.’

  Gina glanced at Webster from under her lashes. Was that tell-tale puzzlement in his tone or nothing more than a bland statement. If he wasn’t so good-looking, she wouldn’t have given it a second thought. Nor should she now; he’d said he was happily married. ‘If you don’t want it, I might buy them both. Not with Rafe’s money, my own. I get paid well.’

  ‘We all do in this line of work.’

  Maybe he wasn’t just a computer genius after all. ‘Hacking, you mean.’ For some undefinable reason she wanted clarification.

  ‘Yes, that,’ he said.

  She’d been reading nuance too long. Visual, verbal, physical tells kept her alive. And for a fleeting moment she felt like shaking the truth out of him. Not likely with his size, but there was something nakedly false in his simple reply. She wondered if Rafe would tell her if she asked.

  *

  An hour later, Bao Yu hadn’t yet arrived. The gallery owner had tried calling the number she’d left many times without success. Gina and Webster had exchanged cryptic glances over several cups of coffee, conversed in a desultory fashion with the increasingly agitated gallery owner and were silently calculating their next move when the front door opened.

  The eyes of all three waiting people turned to the entrance.

  Bao Yu, her daughter in tow, dashed through the doorway, apologizing breathlessly in English touched with a faint Aussie twang. ‘Our rental car . . . broke down and for . . . some reason,’ she panted, moving swiftly toward the trio who’d all come to their feet, ‘my mobile phone . . . didn’t have a signal.’ Stopping a few feet from them, she drew in a breath, glanced down at her daughter who was hiding behind her skirts, gave the little girl’s head a pat and looked up again. ‘I’m so sorry. Thank you for waiting.’

  ‘Not a problem. We’ve been enjoying your other paintings on display.’ Webster’s voice was well mannered, his smile polite. Although he was just beginning to question her lack of painting supplies when her yet-to-be-confirmed boyfriend strode in carrying a large wooden box.

  ‘My husband had to pay the taxi,’ Bao Yu explained, smiling fondly at the handsome young man who had more than a hint of Manchurian size in his large frame. ‘He’s going to watch our daughter while I work on your painting.’

  ‘How nice,’ Gina said, glancing up at Webster, the words my husband, our daughter ringing in her ears. ‘Isn’t that nice, darling. I’ll get a chance to enjoy the company of a little girl again. Our daughter’s in boarding school,’ she explained.

  ‘Speaking of our daughter,’ Webster interjected, ‘I promised Mother I’d get back to her with our plans for Selena’s birthday and I forgot. If you’ll excuse me for a minute.’ He pulled his cell phone from his pocket. ‘I’ll be right back. You know what colour I need to match my office wall, darling. Help Bao Yu get started.’

  Webster was standing outside the door a moment later, his phone to his ear, waiting for Rafe to pick up.

  ‘Did she show or didn’t she?’ Rafe asked.

  ‘She did. With a man she called her husband and their child.’

  ‘Is the man for real or from central casting?’

  ‘Good question. He could be one of Zou’s bodyguards but, if he is, he must be loveable. She looks at him all starry-eyed.’

  ‘You’re kidding. Love?’

  ‘I’d bet the bank on it. And he’s a big dude, so a public snatch and run is definitely out. We’ll follow them home.’

  ‘Can you and Gina handle it or would you like help? The pilots are standing by. Or we can contract some local help.’

  ‘Please, no strangers. We’re fine. Gina’s worth at least a couple of guys.’

  ‘And you’ve been known to take on more than your share. I still owe you for those Triad dudes who jumped us that night in Macau. But be sensible. If you need help, ask. This is about winning, not hero-shit.’

  Webster laughed. ‘I gave up heroing the first time I came to a gunfight without a gun. Don’t worry, I’m a pragmatic guy. Bao Yu weighs maybe ninety pounds, the little girl doesn’t signify as a problem. It’s just the dude who’s the unknown. But Gina and I know what we’re doing. We might have to wait until dark though, depending on conditions.’

  ‘A few hours one way or another doesn’t matter. You found them. That’s all that counts. The plane’s waiting on the tarmac whenever you’re ready. And thanks. Taking Bao Yu off the board will be useful, although whether it affects Zou’s plans is debatable now.’

  ‘No shit. I’m getting a strange vibe. I can’t imagine Zou allowing this.’

  ‘Let’s hope the mistress is just smarter than we think.’

  ‘Rather than this is a wild goose chase.’

  ‘Relax. It’s too early to angst. Worst case, we at least check off a name. A few less players on the field. That’s a plus, any way you look at it.’

  ‘True. Hear anything from Zou?’

  ‘Radio silence. But he’ll show up sooner or later. Call me when you know something. Zander
is waving at me. Gotta go.’

  Zander was beaming when Rafe walked into his small cell. ‘It must be good,’ Rafe said.

  ‘Couldn’t be better. We’re hacking the highway speed cameras in all directions out of Shanghai and what do you think we saw?’

  Rafe laughed. ‘I’m gonna fucking kiss you.’

  Zander held up his hand and grinned. ‘Back off, dude. You’re not my type.’ He waved toward the wall of monitor screens. ‘Come look though. It’s a beautiful sight. Considering the odds.’ At Rafe’s sharp glance, Zander added, ‘Speed cameras aren’t plentiful in China.’

  There it was. Clear as day. Two Range Rovers coming up out of a ditch onto the highway at the same time as a helicopter lifted into the air from the open field behind them.

  ‘Jesus, tell me this isn’t staged,’ Rafe murmured, leaning in to scrutinize the markings on the vehicle doors.

  ‘Nope, it’s real as fuck. We checked the licence numbers on the chopper, talked to the people at the high-rise helipad downtown. Same. We might be able to zero in through the car windows with a little more work. Could take a while though.’

  ‘Do it, just to be sure.’ Rafe straightened. ‘They’re heading south?’

  ‘South/south-west. Bangkok, I’m guessing.’

  ‘Once they cross the Chinese border, let me know. I want to make sure we’re there to greet Zou properly. How much time would we have once they enter Laos?’

  ‘A day, maybe more if he stops,’ Zander answered.

  ‘He could take a flight out of Jing Hong or Luang Prabang. That would cut down our time.’

  ‘Both are chancy. Especially Jing Hong. Zou has enemies up the whazoo.’

  ‘Agreed. Then they might take to the back roads if they’re worried about pursuit. Are we good there?’

  ‘Yup. We’re tracking on satellite now that we found him,’ Zander noted. ‘He’s not going anywhere we can’t follow.’ Rafe had a partnership share in two satellites; one of many profitable business ventures in his portfolio.

  ‘Anyone who’s going to Bangkok or parts East with us better make any calls they have to make. I’ll talk to Carlos, see what contacts we have on the ground in that part of the world and check in with Dao. She has informers everywhere. It’s great news though.’ Rafe gave Zander a thumbs up. ‘Made my fucking day. Zou’s back in our crosshairs.’