Black Karma

by Thatcher Robinson

  “Are you here to critique my fashion sense?”

  “No. We need to talk.”

  “About what?”

  “About ignoring your security. Your bodyguards can’t keep track of you if you keep ditching them.”

  “I’m not ditching them.”

  He looked at her.

  “OK, maybe I did ditch them. But I’m sleuthing. That’s what I do—I sleuth.”

  “Your sleuthing worries me.” The look on his face changed. He sobered. “I’m sorry about Kelly.”

  “Why are you sorry?”

  “I’m sorry his death affected you. It couldn’t have been pretty.”

  “Death never is,” she said, then changed the subject. “I’m onto something. I need to move fast and stay mobile. I can’t be bothered with bodyguards. Leave your men in Healdsburg to keep the children safe. I’m fine on my own.”

  “I wouldn’t worry so much if Lee were with you. He seems to have a calming effect.”

  “I miss him, too, but I can do this on my own.”

  He gestured at the wallet and the pile of cards on the table. “What are you looking at?”

  “I flushed out one of the people I think ambushed Lee. He works for Hader, Incorporated.”

  “How did you get the wallet?”

  “I let one of them follow me.”

  “Did you kill him?”

  “No, but he’s going to be talking and walking funny for a while.”

  “You should have killed him. If he can identify you, you’ll be fighting an army. If that’s the case, I’m not sure even I can protect you.”

  “I’m not asking for your protection.”

  He looked frustrated. “I wish you’d be more careful.”

  She paused to look at him before continuing. “Just to let you know, I’m thinking of getting married.”

  He spoke in a soft voice. “That would be a mistake.”

  “Why?”

  “Howard is a little off. He seems normal, but there’s something wrong with him. I wish I could be more specific, but I can’t. It’s just a feeling.”

  “Your calling someone abnormal seems a little ironic. You kill people for a living.”

  “I didn’t say I was perfect. But I do have ethics.”

  She smiled sweetly. “Your ethics seem quite flexible.”

  He nodded his head. “True, but I do have them. I’m not so sure about Howard.”

  “He seems nice enough.”

  “He does, doesn’t he? I’m sure you’ll consider anything I say about him suspect. So I’ll leave it to you to find out what kind of man he really is. At the moment, I’m more worried about the Hader Corporation than Howard Kwan. Howard will make your life miserable; Hader will kill you.”

  “I’m going to assume Hader is running operations out of 645 Montgomery,” Bai said. “That’s where Lee followed the tan man. I suspect he’s either an employee or a government agent working with Hader. Either way, I need access to that building.”

  Jason looked at her and scowled. “A high-rise building isn’t easy to break into. If Hader has offices there, they’ll be secure and heavily guarded. They run around-the-clock operations and never sleep.”

  “There has to be a way in.”

  “If the tan man is coming and going from the building on Montgomery, you’d have a better chance of grabbing him off the street.”

  “He does seem comfortable walking the streets,” she said as she considered his suggestion. “When Lee followed him, he didn’t resort to riding in cabs, which may suggest he actually prefers walking. But assuming he’s a professional, he won’t walk a reliable route to or from anywhere since the first rule of evasion is to avoid patterns and schedules. So, grabbing him off the street will require a team.”

  Jason interrupted her. “I’ll snatch him for you if you’ll do me a favor.”

  His offer sounded tempting, but there was always a catch. She regarded him warily. “What do you want?”

  “If he turns out to be either a government operative or an employee of Hader, I want you to back off. I’ll make him pay for what he’s done because Lee’s my friend. That will finish it. I don’t want you to declare war on the government or on Hader. Those are battles you can’t win.”

  She stuck out her lower lip and considered his offer. That he was probably right made accepting his offer more difficult. Doing so would mean admitting she was wrong. In the final analysis, however, she really didn’t have any other options. She didn’t have the manpower or the equipment to kidnap the tan man.

  “You win,” she finally said.

  He looked at her and frowned. “That’s one way of looking at it. If Hader gets wind of what I’m up to, they’ll kill me. I’ll save the victory dance for later.”

  Chapter 29

  Jason departed with a stern warning to be careful. She forced herself to get back into her car for the drive back to Healdsburg. She’d promised to be with her family for dinner. If she hurried, she could beat the commuter traffic leaving the city.

  Arriving at the house in Healdsburg, she met Bo in the motor court.

  He opened the car door for her with a frown, obviously unhappy with her activities as he said, “Everyone is in the kitchen.”

  He looked like he wanted to say more, but he gritted his teeth and held his counsel.

  “Tell Song I’m sorry when you see him,” she said as a peace offering.

  He nodded and closed the door of the car.

  As Bai entered the house, the sound of laughter guided her steps. She walked across the living room to observe her family through an open doorway. Lee walked a short distance from the kitchen to the dining room and back again while Dan hovered behind him like a hummingbird. Jia and Alicia helped Elizabeth and Coleta prepare dinner. Bodyguards stood around looking useless but content.

  When she walked into the kitchen, Jia descended on her with a hug and a smile, a welcome that made the long drive worthwhile. Dan stood back to stare at her mother with a wary expression. Alicia observed the interplay with apparent interest.

  Jia grabbed her attention. “You wouldn’t believe how much fun it is to go riding. The horses are really big. There’s a white horse named Lucky I really like. And, there’s this guy who says we can ride for free when we’re better riders. They have all these horses people bought who don’t ride them, so we can exercise them and even get paid to ride them. Is that cool or what?”

  “That is cool,” Bai replied.

  “The people at the stables are really nice,” Alicia added. “They take really good care of us. So far, we only ride in the arena, but with the bodyguards that’s probably a good idea. Nobody’s figured out how to get one of these guys on a horse.”

  Shifting uncomfortably, those same bodyguards avoided eye contact.

  Bai smiled at the girls’ dilemma. “The bodyguards are temporary. They won’t be with us for more than a week or two. It’s looking more and more like Lee’s assault was a case of mistaken identity.”

  “Is that right?” he said as he made his way gingerly into the kitchen. He looked around for a place to sit. Dan turned to run into the dining room to retrieve a chair she placed behind him.

  “Thank you,” he said as he lowered himself into the seat.

  “Can I get you anything?” Dan asked him.

  “No. I’m fine. Why don’t you rest? I’ll stay here for a while.”

  She nodded and turned to leave without looking at her mother. Bai shot an inquiring look at Elizabeth, who shook her head as a sign questions could wait until later.

  Lee captured her attention by saying, “There’s something of interest you should look at when you have time.”

  “Can it wait?”

  He nodded in response.

  Elizabeth interrupted before Bai could speak. “I’ve made appointments for you and the girls to get facials, manicures and pedicures at a local spa on Friday afternoon. I thought the outing would be a good bonding experience.”

  Bai looked at
her, perplexed. “What day is today?”

  Elizabeth stared at her in obvious dismay. “Today is Tuesday.”

  “Will you remind me on Thursday, so I don’t forget?”

  Elizabeth smiled tightly. “Don’t worry. I’ll see that you remember.”

  “Thanks,” she replied. “It sounds like fun, doesn’t it, girls?”

  Two heads bobbed, though the girls’ expressions suggested they were as clueless as Bai about the scheduled primping.

  “Is there anything else scheduled this week?” Bai asked.

  “Nothing you need to concern yourself with,” Elizabeth replied cryptically.

  Bai turned her attention to Lee. “Would you like to join me on the terrace for happy hour?”

  He replied with a wan smile. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  “Will you need assistance?”

  “I can make it to the terrace on my own if you can carry the drinks.”

  “Your usual?” she asked, meaning a dry vodka martini.

  “Yes, and make it a double.”

  She went into the great room, an expansive room off the terrace where a small bar with a mini fridge resided. She made a double martini for him and a scotch rocks for herself before taking the cold drinks to the terrace. Lee stretched out on the chaise longue where he looked every bit the country gentleman.

  As she handed him his drink, she asked, “How are you feeling?”

  “Like somebody beat me with a two-by-four. I’ve weaned myself off the drugs.”

  “Don’t push yourself. It will take time to heal.”

  “This isn’t a good time for me to be disabled. The man who shot me is still out there. You need me to watch your back.”

  “Jason has agreed to help me. Before long, we’ll have a better idea of who the tan man is and why he shot you.”

  “Then you don’t believe my being shot was a case of mistaken identity?”

  “No,” she said emphatically. “I just want to set Elizabeth and the girls at ease.” She hesitated a moment before continuing. “The tan man is a pro. There’s little chance he mistook you for someone else.”

  He looked interested. “What have you found out?”

  “You remember the café with the bad coffee?”

  “Yes. What about it?”

  “That’s where you got fingered. The place is wired. Anyone interested in the building across the street gets their picture taken. While you were watching them, they were watching you. You were right about the coffee, by the way—terrible.”

  “So you went there?”

  “Yes. That’s where I was this afternoon.”

  “Did you find out what the tan man was doing at the Montgomery address?”

  “Not exactly. A man followed me after I left the café. It turns out he works for the Hader Corporation. I suspect that’s the reason the tan man was on Montgomery Street.”

  “So . . . this man who followed you just offered you this information?”

  “I’m sure he would have, had he been able. Sadly, he was incapacitated at the time.”

  Lee nodded his head knowingly. “I hope they haven’t figured out who you are. What you did was risky. You need to be more careful.”

  “That’s just what Jason said. You may be right; however, I feel if I don’t keep chipping away at the lies, we’ll never find the truth.”

  “The people you’re looking for aren’t gentle souls. Hader runs revolutionary governments all over Africa, Central America, and the Far East. They think nothing of killing thousands of people. The death of one nosy Chinese woman wouldn’t even make a blip on their ethical radar.”

  “That’s what has me puzzled. Why would they go to all the effort of shooting you? Coming after me makes even less sense. They have nothing to gain.”

  “Maybe the tan man thought I’d made him.”

  “The only person the tan man appeared to be interested in was Daniel Chen. Chen seemed to recognize the tan man from the hotel surveillance footage, which suggests they know each other.”

  “What do we really know about Chen?” he asked.

  “He’s Chinese, and he seems to have worked with Wen. He’s elusive. Even the tan man can’t find him. I’d bet he’s a player.”

  “Exactly! A clandestine agent, but who is he playing for?”

  “That’s what we don’t know. But one thing we do know about Hader is they’re a for-profit company. If they’re looking for Chen, someone paid them to look, or he has something of value they want. They’re not a charity.”

  “Maybe when Kelly couldn’t produce Chen, the tan man went to Hader for assistance,” Lee speculated as he chewed his lower lip in thought. “I’ve been going through the files on Wen’s phone. I found a spreadsheet with names and encrypted data. Most of the information is in a code I haven’t been able to decipher, but there are some generalities that I’ve been able to infer. Since we know Jason purchased information, I was able to sort out some of the entries by columns . . .” He saw her eyes start to glaze over. “Anyway,” he continued with a look of consternation on his face. “To make a long story short, there were a couple of entries for Howard Kwan.”

  Bai shrugged. “What did you find out?”

  “It seems Howard Kwan didn’t buy information. He sold it.”

  “So what does that mean?”

  Lee shrugged in return. “I have no idea. I just thought you should know what I know.”

  She sighed. “I’m starting to feel like the blind man feeling the elephant. What we know could mean any number of things. The scenarios are endless.”

  “Closer to home, you have a bigger problem.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Dan overheard Elizabeth gushing on the phone about your marriage prospects with Howard. She’s at that awkward age where she wants to be an adult but still has the insecurities of a child. I think the thought of her world changing so radically scared her. And like you, when she gets scared, she gets angry. I’ve watched her simmer like a little teapot all day. It won’t take much to set her off.”

  “Thanks for the warning. Elizabeth is on a quest to get me married. Howard is the first candidate with potential to pop up in years. I think she’s decided to pull out all the stops. The strange part is Howard seems just as adamant. I hang up on him; he calls right back.”

  “He sounds like a glutton for punishment.”

  “I wonder,” she said thoughtfully.

  “Where are you at in your relationship with him?”

  “I’m not sure. I’m going shopping with him tomorrow to buy a new wardrobe. He wants to make me socially acceptable.”

  Lee chuckled. “No small task.”

  “The problem I’m having with this makeover is I like the way I am. I don’t feel any need to change. Who’s to say what a successful woman is supposed to look like?”

  “Obviously, that would be Howard and Elizabeth. Why don’t you just go along with the program? If you absolutely hate the new you, nothing’s stopping you from returning to your old wardrobe.”

  “That’s true. The real issue from my perspective is that people seem determined to change me. What’s the matter with ‘me’ just the way I am? You like me. Jason likes me sometimes. Elizabeth used to like me.”

  “She still loves you. I think she feels your dead-end relationship with Jason is her fault. He’s her son. She raised the two of you together. She couldn’t get you into a dress when you were younger, so maybe she feels she’s failed you. Maybe this is her way of making amends.”

  “What’s between me and Jason is between me and Jason.” She’d grown tired of repeating her argument. “No one else can take responsibility for the attraction between two people. The chemistry we have is volatile and dangerous. We both know that and still can’t seem to stay away from each other. That’s our problem!”

  “What a terrible fate: to have an attraction so strong your love defies convention! I’ll save my tears for all those who’ve never suffered the way you have.”
r />   Bai looked at him sourly. “You’re obviously feeling better.”

  “The martini helps. Perhaps I should have another,” he said with a smile as he held out his glass.

  Chapter 30

  Howard’s concept of shopping was to have Bai try on countless dresses while he sat drinking champagne and passing judgment on the apparel. After two hours of playing mannequin, she’d reached the end of her patience. She stood in a sapphire-blue cocktail dress. Billowing satin gathered around her waist over a tight black sheath underskirt that constrained her gait to tiny steps. She minced around like a trained poodle.

  “What kind of masochist came up with this dress?” she asked plaintively.

  Howard stared at her appreciatively and motioned with a twirling finger for her to turn around. She stared at him and twirled one of her fingers to show him what she thought of the idea.

  “We’ll take it,” he declared to the pandering saleswoman standing next to his chair.

  “That’s nearly a dozen dresses, Howard. Let’s call it a day.”

  “We’re just getting started.”

  “I generally avoid telling someone when they’re wrong because it’s rude. I’m going to make an exception in your case, Howard. You’re wrong. We’re done shopping.”

  He frowned and pursed his lips. “You’re not being very cooperative.”

  “Two hours of strutting around in dresses that squeeze me as if I were an olive in a press is enough for one day. If you want, I’ll sit in the chair and drink champagne while you prance around on three-inch heels. I suspect we’d both enjoy the experience more.”

  He looked angry; she didn’t care. His fascination with designer clothes and branded accessories annoyed her. She wanted to tell him what she thought, but in consideration of Elizabeth, she held back. She’d promised to give him a chance. The task wasn’t proving easy.

  His pique quickly disappeared to be replaced by a rigid smile. “You’re right. I’m being selfish. Let’s take a break and have lunch. What do you feel like eating?”

  “I want comfort food. Let’s go to the Tadich Grill for a lobster casserole.”

  She selected the restaurant because she knew he’d hate it. The Tadich had been in business nearly a century and didn’t acknowledge food trends, serving traditional fare and generous portions. Table service was first-come, first-served with an emphasis on efficiency, not obsequious behavior. Waiters in white shirts and white linen aprons hustled plates full of hot food. A long, busy lunch counter set the mood for the eatery.