She closed the phone, her temper vacillating between red hot and deadly cold. Jason returned a few moments later and placed her scotch on the coffee table next to her. He seated himself adjacent to her as she picked up the drink. She swallowed deeply before opening her phone to replay the last message for Jason’s benefit, sitting silently as the voice ranted. When the message ended, she closed the phone and sat back to wait for his reaction.
He took a deep breath and spoke in a clipped voice. “We were followed to the airport.”
Jason’s composure never wavered. His eyes were distant as if he were looking for something on the horizon. When he tilted his head, he focused his attention on Bai, and she drew back reflexively at the anger behind his unblinking pretense. He frowned when he saw her reaction but didn’t say anything. His fury wasn’t directed at her.
She finally asked, “Did you recognize them?”
His eyes dropped. “No. They picked us up at your place and followed us as far as the terminal. I got a look at the passenger when the car passed us in the white zone. He was Anglo.”
Bai sat quietly and sipped her drink. She couldn’t think of anyone who might want her followed. Sammy Tu, even if he knew she was looking for him, wouldn’t hire muscle to follow her. The attack on Dan at school didn’t warrant that level of response. It was kid’s stuff.
She shrugged her shoulders, at a loss. “That was the black SUV you were watching in the unloading zone?”
He nodded.
“Should I hire additional protection for Dan?”
“It’s already done. I have men assigned to her around the clock. Lee’s been made aware, as has Tommy. I’d hoped to spare you the details.”
“So, that was the conversation you were having with the driver?”
Jason nodded and looked at Bai soberly. “I didn’t want instructions going out over a cell phone. It’s not safe.”
“I owe you. Again.” The words were spoken softly.
He shook his head. “She’s my daughter, too. Anybody even thinks of touching her, and I’ll kill them.”
“I can’t wait until she’s old enough to date.”
He smiled bitterly. “I’ve already explained the situation to Dan. We’ll discuss dating when she turns thirty.”
“I seem to remember we started dating considerably younger.”
He didn’t answer. He simply raised his eyebrows and stared at her.
“Point taken,” she conceded, sipping her scotch.
“Do you want another drink?” he asked, while getting to his feet.
“Why? You still hope to get lucky?”
“You and I both know luck has nothing to do with it. I have skills,” he bragged.
“I’ll pass on the drink. I’m still thinking about the other.” Jason was cocky, but he was also right. The man had skills. She smiled, in spite of her lingering resentment. “While you’re getting another drink I’m going to check my makeup.”
Jason nodded in acknowledgment then raised his empty glass to let Bai know where he was headed. He turned his back to her and walked toward the bar. Picking up her bag, she headed in the opposite direction toward the restroom just around the corner.
She pushed open the door of the ladies room. The amenities for first-class fliers were sumptuous by airport standards—it was more of a lounge, really. There was a seating area with divans and a row of vanities stocked with miniature deodorants, hair sprays, and face creams. In the back was a separate area with showers.
She stopped to look at the products in the vanity area before strolling around the corner to look at the showers. Curiosity compelled her to draw the curtain aside.
The click of a shutting door caused Bai to cut short her inspection. The sound of a stall door opening and closing suggested she was no longer alone in the lounge. She didn’t pay the entrant any attention until she heard the clacking of a second stall’s door being shoved open. A third slapping door elicited a twinge of apprehension.
Bai retraced her steps to the partition wall separating the showers from the toilets. Turning the corner, she watched as the matronly woman, the one she’d tripped over earlier, pushed at another stall door. Bai witnessed the disappointment written across the woman’s features when she found the stall empty.
She must have sensed Bai’s presence because the woman slowly turned to face her. A smile spread across her face as she spoke in a reassuring voice. “There you are, dear. I’ve been looking for you.”
Bai stared at the woman and pointed to her own chest while thinking the woman must have been mistaken. “Me?” She cleared her throat. “Why would you be looking for me?”
The matron smiled and stretched out a hand toward Bai. “I was so rude outside, earlier. I wanted to apologize. My behavior was inexcusable.”
“You had every right to be upset,” Bai replied. “I was careless, not looking where I was going. It was my fault entirely.”
The woman’s hand, which Bai ignored, slowly dropped to the matron’s side. Bai felt uneasy. The notion of the elderly woman’s following her to apologize, though plausible, didn’t ring true. Bai’s gut was telling her that something was very wrong.
“If you’ll excuse me, I have a plane to catch,” Bai explained as she sidestepped toward the door.
The woman took two quick steps to block Bai’s path. Her smile widened as her arms spread to herd Bai back toward the vanities. “You can’t leave yet, dear. We’ve barely become acquainted.”
She advanced rapidly toward Bai with her hand stretched out as if to take Bai’s arm. Bai slapped the hand away and rabbit-punched the woman in the face with a closed fist, a reflex. The woman’s head snapped back as she stumbled before regaining her balance. Bai darted toward the door again, but the woman moved fast and jumped into the aisle to block her escape.
“They didn’t tell me you were a fighter.” The woman spoke with a clinical detachment while steely eyes betrayed her anger. She stared malevolently at Bai while she wiped blood from her lip. “They said you were an easy target, a civilian. The Major will have some explaining to do.”
“Who are ‘they’? Who’s the Major?” Bai asked. “Why are you doing this?”
The woman smirked and ducked her head. “It’s just a job, dearie. We all do what we must. It doesn’t mean we can’t be civil, does it?” Her words sounded consoling. “What’s really important is that you stop all this foolishness. I just want you to take my hand and trust me.”
The woman stretched her hand out to Bai and smiled. Her blood-stained teeth gave the woman a predatory look.
“Does that line really work for you?” Bai asked in amazement.
The matron’s grin widened as she gestured with outstretched palms. “More often than you might think.” She edged closer to Bai as she spoke. “Most people are sheep. If you treat them kindly, they’re remarkably cooperative.”
Bai stepped away from the vanities to the center of the aisle where she’d have more room to maneuver. She dropped her bag to the floor to free her other hand and started to reach for her knife. Then she stopped. The knife was at home in her closet where she’d left it, knowing she couldn’t take it through security. “Shit,” she uttered, as she raised her fists and settled into a fighter’s stance.
Bai backed away. The matron followed, heavy brogues edging forward cautiously on the tile floor. Her feral smirk remained fixed in place as she stalked Bai, like a grinning wolf.
Bai studied the woman while retreating one step at a time. She attempted to return the woman’s smile but had difficulty making her face muscles work. She quickly dampened her fear as she noted every detail of the woman’s appearance in an attempt to fully assess her assailant.
The gray hair was obviously a wig that had been knocked slightly askew by Bai’s punch. Padding had been added to the woman’s waist and hips. A gray sweater and gray skirt, worn loose, would allow freedom of movement. The heavy brogue shoes added two inches to her height and considerable weight to her feet. From the obviou
s attempt at disguise, Bai surmised the woman was both younger and faster than she’d at first thought.
The woman spoke to Bai in a lulling tone. “I wasn’t supposed to fulfill the contract until you reached Vancouver, but then they didn’t say anything about your having a professional with you.”
“You mean Jason?”
“Is that his name? I didn’t know. I’ve only been told he’s triad and dangerous. I needed to separate the two of you to remove you quietly. I couldn’t believe my good fortune when I saw you wander off to the restroom.”
“What do you want with me?” Bai asked, fearing the answer.
Her adversary simply shrugged and smiled the same enigmatic smile.
“‘Even a hare will bite when cornered,’” Bai warned.
Gliding away from the stalls, the matron reached to her waist to unsnap the buckle of her belt. A wide fabric strap with interlocking plastic clasps came free in her hand. Her fingers stripped away the decorative stitching to expose a heavy line that sparkled under the fluorescent lighting. She snapped the metal buckles before Bai’s face to reveal the garrote.
“For every hare, there is a snare.”
Bai walked backward slowly while trying to reason with the woman. “I don’t suppose we could talk this over.” Her words didn’t seem to penetrate the woman’s awareness. “You really don’t have to do this.”
The assassin stopped to stare at Bai with a look of chagrin. “Of course, I have to do this. I don’t get paid unless you die. Besides, you hit me in the face, you yellow bitch.”
Bai refused to be cowed. “What happened to ‘let’s be friends’?” she asked.
Bai’s hip unexpectedly bumped up against the vanities, startling her. The matron rushed her.
Despite her earlier scrutiny, Bai had underestimated the bulky woman. The matron leapt into a flying spin kick that very nearly took Bai’s head off. Bai arched her back over the vanities to duck under the sensible, matronly shoes as they flew past her nose. As she tipped back, Bai’s hand brushed against a small can of aerosol hair spray. As the woman turned back to confront her, Bai snatched up the can and lunged forward to spray her attacker in the face.
The killer stifled a scream, turned, and lurched away, tears streaming from eyes that blinked spastically as she wiped at them.
Bai attempted to run past the blinded woman who jolted aside, as if by instinct, to ram her. With the woman’s shoulder jammed into her ribs like an NFL linebacker, Bai stumbled back toward the vanities. The assassin pinned her against the counter while Bai frantically fumbled for a weapon. She grabbed a long-tailed comb lying on the vanity. With adrenaline-fueled strength, she stabbed the comb down at the woman’s exposed back.
The matron must have sensed something coming. She jerked her head around and looked up at the last moment, eyes bleary with tears. The tail of the comb hit her in the eye and kept going, burying itself until Bai’s hand bounced off the woman’s forehead.
Bai froze in shock.
The matron’s body went rigid. She stood up straight and turned as her arms jerked out. Rocking on her heels, she shuddered, gurgled, and dropped like a felled tree. When her face smacked the tiles with a sickening crunch, the business end of the comb snapped off to skitter across the floor like a giant cockroach.
The woman convulsed once and then became very still. A deafening quiet filled the room.
Bai’s mouth hung open. It took her a moment to realize she wasn’t breathing. She gasped for air while her pulse thundered in her ears. She stooped to put her head between her knees, willing herself not to get sick.
As her thoughts started to sort themselves, she looked up to scan the restroom. Her body trembling, she stood up to cross the room and discovered a plastic jam lock on the door, the kind travelers carry with them for extra security in hotel rooms. The killer must have placed it there.
Bai turned back to grab the woman under the arms and drag her back to the showers, where she dumped the body unceremoniously into an empty stall. Rifling the woman’s pockets, Bai found an Irish passport, a prepaid cell phone, and nine $1,000 packets of freshly minted 100s. She stuffed the woman’s possessions inside her jacket.
She stepped out of the shower and reached back to turn on the hot water by brushing the handle with her knuckles. Blood from the gouged eye stained the floor pink as water pooled around the woman’s outstretched legs. The gray wig slipped aside to reveal blonde hair. In her hand, the matron still clutched her garrote.
Bai pulled the curtain closed using the edges of her hands. She’d seen enough.
Hastening back to the vanities, she picked up her bag and stopped long enough to grab a tissue to clean up a small amount of blood on the tiles as well as the broken end of the comb. She stuffed everything in her bag along with the can of aerosol spray she’d used to temporarily blind the matron.
Before leaving, Bai examined herself quickly in the mirror. When she was satisfied she didn’t carry any trace of the encounter, she walked over and released the jam lock and put it in her purse. A paper sign taped to the outside of the door stated the bathroom was closed for maintenance and would reopen in fifteen minutes. She left the sign in place and ran her hand over the handle of the door to smudge any prints.
She walked slowly back to where Jason waited. He saw her coming and stood up.
She leaned in to speak to him. “I think we should board the plane now.”
“We still have fifteen minutes.”
She leaned in closer to whisper in his ear. “I killed a woman in the restroom. We really, really need to leave.”
He examined her face carefully but didn’t question her further. He put his arm around her waist to lead her out of the lounge and down to the gate where the plane waited. A gate agent halted the line of economy passengers so the two of them might board.
When they were seated, a flight attendant asked Bai if she’d like a drink. She ordered a double scotch. When it came, she tossed it back and closed her eyes. She stayed that way until she could feel the tires of the plane lift off the ground. Only then did she let tears of relief roll down her face.
Bai closed her eyes and tried to find her spiritual center. Her thoughts were in an uproar. Images of the matron’s body, a comb garishly sprouting from her eye, kept intruding. She squeezed her eyelids tight as she relived the short skirmish, all the time wondering if there wasn’t something, anything, she could have done differently to avoid the deadly exchange.
After hours of soul searching, Bai concluded it was best to avoid public restrooms.
Jason turned to her with a questioning look every time she opened her eyes. Unwilling to talk, she shook her head repeatedly to stave off his curiosity. She hadn’t yet come to terms with killing someone.
Eventually, the wheels of the plane thumped against tarmac. The jet rolled down the runway to a terminal gate. The interior cabin lights brightened. Like zombies, passengers stood to shuffle down the narrow aisle of the plane before being herded into a cold, clammy boarding tunnel redolent of machine oil.
Jason and Bai walked straight to customs with passports in hand. A uniformed agent asked for their documents, questioned whether they had anything to declare, and then mumbled, “Welcome to Vancouver,” before ushering them through sliding glass doors that led to a passenger loading zone.
A white limousine waited. The driver recognized Jason and bowed before quickly opening the rear door. Jason stood back to allow Bai to enter first then followed her into the car. She scooted across the seat to make room for him. On the other side of the aisle sat a large man. He seemed to fill the bench seat. A blue suit, stretched to its limit, did little to mask his massive musculature. His eyes studied her as the car door closed. She didn’t recognize him, and, from his puzzled expression, he didn’t know her either.
Jason reached over to give the man’s beefy hand a cursory shake but didn’t say anything. The giant pushed a button on a small device held in his lap, and a low-frequency hum filled the compartment.<
br />
The man nodded in Jason’s direction. “It’s safe to talk now.”
The sound of his voice was surprising—pitched about three octaves higher than Bai had anticipated. The tinny voice seemed out of place resonating from such a huge figure. She cracked a smile despite an attempt not to.
Jason made the introductions. “Bai Jiang, this is Shan Hong, our manager here in Vancouver.”
The man puffed out his chest, preening. Bai put her hand to her mouth to hide her amusement and nodded in acknowledgment. Shan immediately bristled at the casual greeting. His fat lips tightened before twisting up into a sneer. He showed his contempt openly. His eyes sent a silent inquiry at Jason as he handed him a leather briefcase.
Jason ignored the unasked question. He put the briefcase on his lap to open the combination lock. Inside were a signal scrambler, a brace of automatic pistols with spare clips, a pair of throwing knives, and a large manila folder. Taking the folder out of the case, he closed it and snapped the latches down.
As Jason looked over the contents of the folder, Shan’s gaze drifted back to Bai. His eyes narrowed as he took stock of her. She kept her face blank but didn’t avert her gaze. Her forthright attitude seemed to annoy him.
Shan turned his gaze to Jason. “There was a killing at SFO. The body of a woman was found in the first-class lounge. They didn’t release much information. I only mention it because of the time of the death . . . around the time of your departure.”
He was fishing for information.
Without bothering to look up from the papers before him, Jason shrugged. “It has nothing to do with us.”
Jason finished perusing the papers in his lap and then handed the folder to Bai. They were reports, Canadian police reports, on Sammy Tu. It seemed Sammy Tu was well known in Canada. His rap sheet detailed arrests for pimping, procuring, and assault and battery.
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