Lucky the Hard Way

by Deborah Coonts

  In fact, I was counting on it. Another smile. Yes, the line between good and evil was very thin indeed. How easy to erase part of it and peer through.

  Romeo set the bag, one with a dragon logo on the side, on the floor. I smiled.

  I had the answer to another question.

  He and Sinjin both grabbed the glass enclosure, each taking two sides. I could see Sinjin counting, then they both lifted.

  The glass came away from the pedestal.

  “Anything?” I asked.

  Jeremy rotated through the other feeds. “No alarms. Chip is good.”

  I started to breathe again, although shallowly. “This sitting here with nothing to do is a killer.”

  Sweat beaded on Jeremy’s brow. “Done this before. Never liked it.”

  “I’m with you.”

  “Me, too,” Miss P whispered.

  I’d even led my North Star of Virtue astray. Not good. I’d counted on her to save my sorry soul.

  Sinjin lifted the watch with gloved hands, passing it off to Romeo. Romeo pulled a box out of the hatch in the pedestal, secured the watch in its silk nest, then placed the box in the bag.

  All going according to plan.

  They did two more watches. Only eight more to go.

  My phone vibrated, and I practically leapt out of my skin, elbowing Miss P in the process. “Sorry.”

  Miss P shot me a sympathetic smile as one of her hands fluttered to cover her heart.

  Expecting Chip, I was surprised to see an unfamiliar number.

  “Miss Lucky?” A breathy, female voice.

  “Yes.”

  “This is Pei. The bad man?” She stumbled over the words as if afraid to say them.

  “Yes?” My heart hammered.

  Irv Gittings—the one big unknown in all of this. I’d sort of counted on him running from the brick-wielding man in Mr. Cho’s employ about now. Apparently, that hadn’t happened.

  “The bad man, he took Teddie.”

  “What? Where?”

  “We are watching. He took him from the junket room. They are on the moving stairs to the bottom now.” I looked at the screens, at Romeo and Sinjin stealing the watches, at the money moving, at Jerry watching Chip, and me watching it all. “Fuck. On my way.”

  I handed the transmitter to Romeo to Miss P. “If he gets in trouble…”

  She looked at me with wide eyes. “Make it up. Jeremy can help you.” Turning to Jeremy, I said, “When the info on the next fifty mil comes in, send it to Stokes and light a fire under his ass to go round up the previous owners of the money.” I rattled off Mona’s phone number. “Call Mother, tell her what’s happened. She’ll convince Chip to give you the goods.” I sounded a bit more convincing than I felt.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To take care of Ol’ Irv for good.”

  I guess they both saw murder in my eyes as Miss P paled and Jeremy half rose. “I’m going with you.”

  I motioned to the screen as I stood and pushed him back down. “You can’t.”

  “Lucky.” Worry weighted Miss P’s one word.

  “My fight.”

  “Where are they now?” I barked into the phone as I tried to suffer through the slow ride to the lobby. Someone with cloying cologne exuberantly applied had recently ridden in the thing, and the cloud that lingered added nausea to my list of woes.

  “Going to the front door. He has a gun.”

  So did I. I’d pulled it from my purse and stuffed it back into the waistband of my pants—probably wouldn’t be helpful to run through the lobby with it in my hand, terrifying the locals.

  When the opening of the elevator doors was barely wide enough, I arrowed myself through sideways then took off at a run, startling many of the folks lingering in the lobby who parted like the Red Sea. I hit the front door and burst through in time to see Irv stuffing Teddie in a black sedan.

  “Stop them!”

  That froze everyone as they looked at me then swiveled around looking for what I was talking about—not that anyone understood English. Apparently, they understood anger and panic, as they scurried away from me.

  I pushed through the few remaining who were immobilized by the sight of an angry Amazon shouting in a foreign tongue.

  Too late I skidded in behind the car as it accelerated down the driveway. Irv Gittings’ face mooned me through the back window. I didn’t see Teddie, but I knew he was there, and I prayed he was all right.

  Why was it always a black sedan? Did people unwittingly buy cars that match the color of their soul? Mine was red. Okay, it really wasn’t mine, but I liked the red.

  Red. The Chinese loved red—the color was everywhere. Something about fire and joy and good fortune, I couldn’t remember.

  As long as Irv Gittings didn’t have what he wanted, Teddie would live.

  And, I’d be willing to bet, what Ol’ Irv wanted was me.

  It wasn’t an ego thing, just a reality thing. I’d messed with his magic and he wanted to punish me for it. I glanced around. I had to follow them; I couldn’t let them get away. Of course, if my theory was right, they’d wait. They’d make it easy.

  Setting a trap, if I’d just take the bait.

  Okay. I’ll bite.

  An unfortunate man wheeled into the curb in front of me on a new Ducati.

  A Ducati…a red Ducati.

  I took it as a sign.

  As he stepped off, I threw a leg over, turned the key, and was gone before he even got his helmet off. Laying low over the handlebars, I followed the red taillights blinking in the distance. Slowing for a curve, the driver accelerated when I closed half the distance between us.

  Game on.

  We wound through town, climbing gently, the streets deserted, the roar of the bike echoing off the dark apartments lining the streets. Content to follow, I stayed far enough back, using corners and delivery trucks to shield myself so that, if they wanted to shoot, I’d present a bit of a challenge at least.

  The streets narrowed, the complexion changed. Restaurants and small commercial stalls lined the streets with apartments above. I slowed, the bike thrumming with energy under me. Around the next corner, I skidded to a stop. A delivery truck backed across the road in front of me. Yelling and waving, I finally got the driver’s attention and he pulled forward just enough to let me wiggle the nimble bike behind him. But I’d lost minutes—a lifetime.

  No taillights in front of me.

  I’d lost them.

  Fuck.

  And then it hit me: this could be a great ruse to pull me off what was going down at the Tigris. I didn’t know and I couldn’t think about it. Romeo, Jeremy, even Chip and Mona, had to do their part.

  I had to trust them. For once, I had to make a choice, to count on others. Romeo had saved my bacon before—he wouldn’t let me down. Not if he could help it. Jeremy, too.

  I imagined my phone vibrating with messages, but I couldn’t look at it. Winding through the narrow streets, I looked for the car. A late-model luxury sedan. Not too many in this neighborhood.

  My heart pounded and my palms were sweaty. I tried not to think about what would happen if I didn’t find them…if I didn’t find Teddie. Truly I didn’t know, but I knew Irv was capable of anything.

  Finally, after several lifetimes, I saw the car, doors open, at the foot of Senado Square, the center of Macau. The wavy tiled pattern alternating black and white was as iconic as the neo-Mediterranean buildings, leftovers from the colonial occupation.

  Now I knew where they were going, the ruins of St. Paul’s. Once the largest Catholic church in Asia, now, after several fires, all that remained was the very grand façade, lit at night as a beacon. A beacon to whom and for what, I didn’t know, but it loomed above me, calling.

  Just the sort of place Irv Gittings would pick for a showdown.

  God, I hated the melodramatic.

  Cars weren’t allowed in the square, and I decided to leave the bike. Going on foot would be a little more stealthy. Once I
killed the engine, the night and its smothering quiet tucked in around me.

  I kept to the shadows, occasionally stepping into the moonlight to get my bearings. Once, I thought heard footsteps behind me. Stopping, I waited, but they didn’t continue.

  My imagination playing tricks.

  Of course, the blood pounding in my ears didn’t help.

  When I started again, I picked up the pace.

  Finally, I reached the steps leading up to the cathedral. And I’d been right.

  Irv Gittings, standing in the light of the floods that illuminated the structure, stood at the top step, Teddie clutched to his side, a gun to his head. “I know you’re there, Lucky. Step out where I can see you.”

  Teddie flinched away as Irv pressed the gun to his temple.

  Irv pulled him in front, using Teddie as a human shield.

  My gun in my hand and ready to fire, I stayed in the shadows as I eased around to my right.

  Where was the driver? Irv and Teddie had been in the back seat, so, unless Google was making great strides with a driverless car in Asia, there had to be a third person.

  Darkness shrouded the fronts of the buildings around me. The columns and the doorways sheltered me as I tried to figure a way to even the odds a bit.

  “Lucky? Show yourself.” He lowered his gun and pulled the trigger.

  Teddie yelled and sagged.

  My heart leapt into my throat.

  Teddie held a hand over his thigh above his knee.

  Irv had shot him! An eternity in hell roasting on a spit over an open fire was too good for him.

  “Don’t do it, Lucky. Go back. Irv’s a dead man. I am, too.” That last part he said through gritted teeth. He didn’t know about Minnie and Frank and what they knew. Irv probably did, but, in case I was wrong, I didn’t enlighten him.

  “Another one for the other knee, Lucky.”

  I had nothing. Taking a deep breath, then another, I steadied my nerves.

  Now or never, I was all in.

  I stepped out of the shadows, my hands held high, my gun showing in my palm facing outward. “I’m here. You got me. Let Teddie go.” Staying to the left, I started up the stairs toward them.

  The driver stepped out of the shadows across from me, an evil smile slashing across dead features. I recognized him from the paper, and his two shiners and broken nose that I’d inflicted. The brick guy. The man who killed Kim’s law partner.

  And things had been going so well.

  “Stop there, Lucky. Throw your gun away.”

  I weighed my options. Not many. Take a shot. Teddie and I could die. If I don’t, we die anyway. “Okay, okay.” I dipped like I was going to kneel to put my gun on the ground.

  Irv didn’t give an inch. He knew me well.

  In one motion, I raised my gun and squeezed.

  Teddie yelled.

  I pivoted and fired off two more rounds. The brick guy dropped to his knees, his hands pressed on his chest. His eyes caught mine as blood oozed between his fingers. Then he toppled over face first.

  All over in a second, although it seemed like a lifetime.

  Turning, I bolted toward the top of the stairs. Irv had staggered back. Teddie, a heavy weight in his arms, worked against him. A red stain bloomed on Irv’s right shoulder. His arm fell limp. He struggled to raise it, to point the gun. He couldn’t.

  I had a clear shot. Slowing, taking the stairs two at a time, I sighted on his chest.

  He dropped Teddie, who crabbed away from him, dragging his leg. The bullet I’d fired had gouged his upper arm, then buried itself in Irv’s chest.

  Millimeters.

  Irv raised his arm, slowly. I could see his hesitation, and I knew what he was thinking. Fast and quick? Or slow, waiting for the bullet?

  Enjoying this, I increased pressure on the trigger. “Your choice, asshole.”

  Something below and behind me yanked his gaze away.

  I didn’t turn. I was close now, so close I could smell his fear. And I wouldn’t fall for his cheap attempt at distracting me.

  Something whizzed by my ear.

  Irv’s eyes widened. His gun clattered to the stairs. His hands found the hilt of a knife that protruded from his chest.

  An ivory-handled knife.

  Irv crumpled, then rolled down the few steps between us, coming to rest at my feet. On his back, for a moment he was there, looking up at me. Then his eyes went blank and he was gone. I expected angels to sing and the Devil’s minions to swoop in and gather him up and cart him off to eternal damnation.

  None of that happened, damn it.

  I lowered my gun and took a step back, as a man stepped in next to me.

  “You beat me to it, Frank. How’d you find us?”

  “That was my Ducati you stole.” We traded smiles, and I could tell we both were thinking the same thing: Kim was watching over us.

  Teddie had pushed himself to his feet. Standing above us, favoring his right leg as blood oozed down it, he stared at us, then at Irv. “It’s over.”

  To Teddie, Irv had been his only hope, the only one left who could exonerate him. Killing Irv had just sentenced him to a life on the run.

  “It may be over, but not in the way you think. This man here,” I put a hand on Frank’s shoulder as I fought the urge to kiss him, which would’ve embarrassed us both, “he’s got a story to tell. Don’t you, Frank?”

  “Have you done what you promised Minnie?”

  “I promised her I would risk everything to do as she asked. I could not promise I would succeed.”

  “So, you don’t know?” He seemed surprised by that.

  “No. This was more important.”

  He glanced between Teddie and I, then gave me a small bow. “Indeed. I will tell your friend my story while I take him to the hospital.”

  “I’m afraid I’m going to steal your bike again.”

  “Be my guest. I have one of the hotel limos.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  WHEN I burst through the front door of Tigris everything seemed…normal. I didn’t like it. First, I tried Ming. She didn’t answer. I didn’t want to call Jeremy—he needed his phone to talk with Jerry and Chip.

  So I did the only thing I could—I hit the elevator and headed up to my suite.

  The door was unlocked. I palmed my gun and eased it open.

  Laughter filtered out. Then the pop of a cork.

  Jeremy, Miss P, and Ming stood in a circle. Everyone had a glass out for Jeremy to pour.

  Miss P had two. “Oh, Lucky, there you are.” Jeremy filled one of her glasses and she held it out to me. “Come, let’s celebrate.”

  I set my gun on the table by the door, then accepted her glass as I joined the group. “Glad to see you guys aren’t beating the bushes looking for me. Weren’t you worried?”

  Jeremy scoffed. “Hell, no.”

  Miss P rolled her eyes. “Worried sick. Bruno, here,” she tilted her head toward her hubby, “was ready to scour the city. But Frank called, told Ming what happened.” Her grin faded. “Teddie’s okay?”

  “He was standing when I left. Frank said he’d take him to the hospital. We probably ought to check on him in a bit. I did leave Frank with a bit of a mess and some explaining to do.”

  “Should we go help?”

  Normally I’d be the one to bound off looking for a windmill to tilt. “No. His fight. His city.”

  Miss P looked relieved as she sipped the Champagne Jeremy had poured for her.

  I seconded that emotion. “Where’s Romeo?”

  “On his way,” Jeremy said, holding up the transmitter for me to see. “I told him he was missing the party. Of course, he couldn’t reply.”

  “But we know he’s okay?” I pressed.

  “Yes,” Ming said. “I was hiding where you said. I saw him. He was not far behind me, and I walked in right before you.”

  “And Sinjin?”

  “Disappeared.” Disappointment tugged the corners of her mouth into a frown.


  Despite local custom, I gave her a quick hug. “Don’t expect people to live up to your expectations.”

  She looked like she understood, but I also could tell the next time the two of them met, Sinjin was in for an ass whipping. I’d like to be in on that, but I wanted to go home—and really, I had no expectations for him to not live up to. He didn’t owe me a thing. Now for the big question—the answer to which would seal my fate. “The watches?”

  Faces fell, followed by uncomfortable glances all around.

  So not good.

  I was just starting to imagine what jail would be like when a voice sounded behind me. “The watches? Got them right here.” Romeo strode into the room, holding the bag aloft.

  I rushed over to him, spilling my wine. “The real ones?”

  Romeo had a raised bump on one temple, and his smile looked a little wobbly.

  I grabbed his arm and led him over to the couch. “Sit. Did he hit you?”

  “You told me he probably would. I was prepared for it, but he still caught me by surprise. The fakes you had Ming stash in the pedestal of the last watch—I was just able to make the switch right before. I thought maybe he was onto me. But we got all the way to the hall leading outside. That’s where he hit me. When I came to, the bag was gone, and so was he.”

  “So these are the watches you went back for?”

  “Yeah.”

  “How do you know they’re the real ones?”

  “I did like you said: I took a flower in there and then put it in the bag as we were stealing the watches.” He opened the bag and held it out to me. “Dig down under the boxes. You’ll see the flower is still there. I didn’t put it on top because I thought maybe Sinjin might be smart enough to look.”

  I reached in, pawing through the priceless watches, and pulled out a battered rose. And then it hit me, “It’s really over.”

  “You haven’t asked about the money,” Jeremy reminded me.

  “I know this sounds odd, but the money was the least important part. Stolen goods. But tell me about the money.”

  “We took half—well, your buddy Chip took half out of Irv’s account as you asked and left half there.” When I opened my mouth, he held a hand up. “Chip wired the money into that offshore account I told you about that I have for, well, cases like this. I took a screen shot and sent it to Stokes, who rather gleefully said he’d show it to Mr. Cho, who was his guest in the back of a patrol car.”