by L G Rollins
Ju hurried over to Mama and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Her mama was shaking, which made Ju’s stomach churn. “Mama, what is wrong?”
Mama seemed to jump at her touch. She turned to Ju with red eyes. Mama’s gaze didn’t stay on Ju, but instead dropped to the floor near Jasper’s feet. Ju’s gaze followed. Good heavens. There was a man, unconscious, on the floor. Equally troubling was the gun in Jasper’s hand.
Ju’s skin prickled.
Mama patted Ju’s hand where it rested on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, little flower. We need to leave London.”
Leave London? Ju shook her head, glancing over at Jasper. He’d said Mama had talked about leaving.
Ju recognized the sound of the office door opening. It was followed by the sound of several girls crying softly inside the office. Wei shu walked up to Jasper, an arrangement of old ropes and cords in her hand.
“Will these work?” she asked.
Ju only watched, too upended to speak, as Jasper took them and began tying up the man on the floor.
Wei shu turned to her. “I’m glad you’re here. Your mama has had quite the fright.” She spoke to Mama and Jasper next. “If you will excuse me, I have some girls in need of calming.” She left without any more of an explanation than that.
“Mama. Mr. Wimple.” Ju’s trepidation was giving way to frustration at feeling left in the dark. “Someone has to tell me what happened.”
The man on the floor groaned as Jasper tightened the cords around his arms, now pinned behind his back. “It is clear that Ambassador Leng still wants your mother dead,” he said.
“Ju, my flower,” Mama patted her hand again. “This may be hard to understand.”
“It’s all right, Mama. Jasper explained everything to me already.”
Ju expected Mama to be upset, or surprised, or put out at learning Jasper had told all. But, instead, Mama only shrugged a single shoulder. If that was all the reaction Ju was getting then Mama must be scared. Her gaze momentarily dropped to the man on the floor. Gratitude that Jasper had been near enough to stop the man rushed over her.
“We will leave London tonight,” Mama said, as much to her as to Jasper. “It took Leng two decades to find us this time. I’ll make sure he never finds us again.”
Ju shook her head. “We can’t just pick up and leave.”
Mama turned her way, her brow set hard.
Ju continued before her Mama could say anything. “I’ve thought about this for the past few days now. Ambassador Leng knows you’re alive. I don’t think he’s going to forget you so easily this time.”
Jasper straightened, but kept the gun trained on the man, now lying on his stomach and fully tied up. “I agree with Miss Zhi. Leng holds more power now than last time your paths crossed. With that power comes more resources with which to find you and a greater reason to make sure you don’t talk.”
Mama’s grip tightened around Ju’s hand. “I must keep my little flower safe.”
Ju squeezed her mama’s hand in return. “Running away from our friends and people who might help us will only make us more vulnerable.”
Jasper spoke up. “I’m working on finding a way to convince the government to send Ambassador Leng back to China. We only have to keep you safe until then. Your daughter’s right; the more people you have surrounding you, keeping an eye out for you, the safer you both will be.” Jasper raised a finger toward Mama. “I don’t want you to ever be alone so long as Leng is out to get you.”
Mama nodded her consent. Ju didn’t like the thought of staying where Leng could find them, but she liked the idea of running even less. If they left London, they would be friendless, on their own. Exposed.
Jasper bent low and pulled the unconscious man over his own shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he finds his way out.” He stood again, readjusting the man none too gently. “I don’t want you even coming to work alone. Is there someone you could bring?”
Mama shrugged. Her paleness was leaving, which was good. But she was beginning to sag, as though the weight of the world was pressing her down.
Ju set her jaw. “I’ll come with her.” Mama had kept her safe and protected all these years—she hadn’t even known it until now—of course she would see to it that her Mama was safe from here on out.
Jasper’s gaze met hers and Ju felt that familiar tug. Though he wasn’t smiling, and they weren’t talking lightheartedly about the placement of surnames or childhood follies, his look brought comfort with it. She could have sworn that was deep concern in his eyes, not just for two random humans whose path he had crossed, but for two people he cared about.
“If you’ll excuse me,” Jasper said. “I have some rubbish to take out.”
He moved past Ju and toward the dance school front door. Ju blinked, pulling her gaze away from him. She didn’t want time to sit about and think. After all she’d learned about Ambassador Leng these past few days, she needed more guarantee that something could be done.
“Here, Mama,” she said, leading her to the edge of the stage. “You sit down. I’ll be right back.” Wei shu was close at hand. Her mama would not be alone.
Ju hurried out the front doors. “Jasper,” she called. Only after the name left her mouth did she realize she’d misspoke. But, if it bothered him that she’d gone against propriety and used his given name, it didn’t show. Instead, he turned toward her and patiently waited for her to catch up.
She spoke her heaviest concern. “You can’t possibly promise me that Mama will be safe.”
“No,” he said. “I can’t. But I can promise you I’ll do all I can to keep you both safe.”
“What if it’s not enough? What if Leng”—her whole chest tightened as she said his name—“comes after her again?”
“He will.” Jasper’s confirmation of her fears was not spoken harshly, but in a soft, gentle tone. He reached out and took her hand. His large dark one swallowed her small white one. “But both you and she will be ready this time.”
Ju shook her head. She certainly didn’t feel ready. “I can’t believe, out of all the people in London, he found us.”
“That is my fault.” Jasper said. “He found your mother because she was near me when the Ambassador was looking into ways to force me to steal for him.”
“What did he want you to get for him?” This was the part Jasper had glossed over the other night.
“Have you heard of Doctor Hopkins?”
She nodded. “The werewolf expert?”
“The very one. She and her husband are close acquaintances of my sister, Tressa. Doctor Hopkins has a formula the Ambassador wants.”
“What formula? Why?”
“I’m not sure. Best I can tell, he heard of the formula and came to England in order to get it.”
“As Ambassador from China he would have been aware of new research taking place here in England,” Ju said.
“And after Doctor Hopkins turned down any advances from him, Leng found me. Through me, he found your mother.” Jasper readjusted the man hanging over his shoulder. “It seems he has decided that silencing your mother is a more immediate issue than stealing the formula.” He let go of her hand and pulled the gun from his belt, holding it out to her. “How’s your aim?”
Ju’s brow creased. “I’ve never fired a gun before.” She took it from him. The hard steel in her hand felt reassuring, yet somehow not as reassuring as holding his hand had been.
“Keep it anyways.” He pointed toward the unconscious man on his shoulder. “I’m going to question this man, see what I can learn. Ambassador Leng won’t piece together that this man failed for at least a day. Tomorrow we can practice together. Until then, you and your Mama head home and stay out of sight.”
Ju’s hand tightened around the gun and she nodded. “I’m not going to just sit helplessly by and wait for you to force Ambassador Leng from England. Promise me you’ll let me help you.”
“Trust me,” he said. “I know how frustrating it is to feel helples
s.”
There was that look again. The one that eased all the tension inside her and beckoned her to trust him fully; not only to trust him with her safety, or to trust him in friendship, but to trust him with her heart, too.
Jasper leaned in closer. It was only an inch or possibly less, but it felt like he was crossing miles to just make sure she knew he was there for her. “I promise, Ju, I won’t leave you in the dark and I won’t leave you unprotected.”
The side of his lip turned up in a reassuring smile. “See you tomorrow.” He turned and strode down the street. Several people stopped and stared at him and the man dangling from his shoulder, but no one stopped him. Though, a few did cross the street to avoid his path.
Ju watched until he turned a corner, then she hurried back to Mama. Did she trust Jasper? She felt like she could, but was that her own ‘hopeless trusting’ upending rational judgment? She wished she knew. Right now, with all the world collapsing around her, she wanted nothing more than to know who she could trust.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Jasper poured a full cup down the man’s face. The man sputtered, finally coming to, and swore. Jasper took a few steps back and leaned a hip against the sideboard table.
The man looked about him furiously. Jasper was content to let him orient himself a bit first. It would, no doubt, be deeply disconcerting to wake up in a strange dining room, arms and legs tied to a chair.
The man’s swearing grew louder. Jasper was glad there was no hired help around to hear, or perhaps more accurately, no help around to whom he would then have to explain himself to.
“Ambassador Leng sent you to kill Zhi liling,” Jasper said, after the man had had a moment to rant.
The man, beard still dripping, startled at Jasper’s voice. He twisted against his bindings, but Jasper knew how to tie a secure knot. Jasper was fully confident; the man was going nowhere.
“I know who sent you, and I know more of the why than you do,” Jasper continued, walking around until he stood directly in front of the man. “What I don’t know—what you’re going to tell me—is who is your contact and where were you supposed to meet him.”
The man shook his head, suddenly tight-lipped.
Jasper ran a hand over his jaw. He needed to know the man’s contact. Or perhaps that man’s contact. Somewhere along the line between this man and the ambassador there had to be some evidence that Jasper could use.
“Now then, let’s start simple. What’s your name?”
The man only shook his head once more.
“You’re not leaving until you tell me what I need to know.”
“Doesn’t matter,” the man spat. “I failed and now he’ll do worse things to me than you could ever do.”
Well, that was something. “Who?” Jasper leaned in closer. “Who’ll do worse things to you?”
He glanced about him, as though he expected something, or someone, to jump out at him from the corners of the room. “Like you said,” he muttered so low Jasper almost couldn’t make out the words. “That Chinese ambassador.”
“Ambassador Leng?”
The man nodded.
“You spoke with him directly?”
He let out a guffaw. “No choice. The man dragged me out of my home in the middle of the night. Threatened my Uncle he did.”
“Your uncle?” Just like he’d threatened Tressa and Brox.
“He’s lazy and fat, but he is the only family I’s got.”
It seemed threatening family was common practice for the ambassador. Jasper strode over to the sideboard and tapped his fingers against it. The ambassador was rotten to the core; that much he’d known for weeks now. But he needed proof. He needed something he could take to the Constable, or even higher up the law enforcement chain, that would make him listen.
“Did he offer to pay you?”
“Yes. My Uncle’s life, plus a little for that no-body old woman.”
Just when Jasper was starting to feel sympathy for the man, he goes and calls Mrs. Zhi ‘no-body’. Jasper wanted to punch the man for it, but now that the man was finally talking, punching him would only shut him up again.
“Did he put any of it in writing?” Jasper ground out.
The man shrugged. “Why would he? I cans’t read.”
There were more similarities between how Ambassador Leng handled this man and how he tried to handle Jasper. Leng picked on people not from wealth or status. He showed up unexpected, and in a way meant to terrify those who’s help he sought to enlist. He threatened family and promised rewards. He left no trace, written or otherwise, which could lead officials back to him.
But he did show his face, and he did make promises in person. “Would you be willing to testify against the ambassador?” Jasper asked.
“You’s mean in court?” His voice turned up, almost panicky. “Before a judge?”
Jasper nodded, his hope that the man would agree diminishing.
The man let out a long, loud breath. “Well, my’s uncle is probably dead by now anyway. And I’d sure love to see that man behind bars—or a-hanging from a rope.”
Jasper’s hope returned. This was his first piece of tangible evidence. This was something he could take to court—a man who would swear Ambassador Leng had threatened him and forced him to try and kill someone. Surely no judge would dismiss such a thing.
See, he didn’t need a plan. He had known things would come together eventually.
“Come on.” Jasper began untying the man. “There’s someone you and I need to speak to.”
***
Two hours later, Jasper was sitting in a chair across from Brox’s desk, feet propped up on a footstool.
“Don’t you worry,” the man Jasper had knocked out earlier that day said, yet again, to Brox. “I knows how to stay hidden from the law or anyone. I can lay low.”
Brox still seemed unconvinced. “If what you say is true—”
“It is,” Jasper interrupted. If there was one thing Jasper knew for certain it was that the Ambassador had hired this man to kill Mrs. Zhi.
Brox’s features tightened slightly. “I was addressing Mr. Wixcomb.”
“No ‘Mister’,” the man said, leaning back. “Just Wixcomb. Never done nothing in my life to deserve being a ‘Mister’.” When Jasper had first brought Wixcomb to Brox’s place, he’d been quite humble. Muttered all his responses with lots of ‘sirs’ and ‘if you pleases’. But it seemed his nerves were returning as the conversation continued, as was his less-than-respectful disposition.
“It is agreed then,” Brox said, sounding more resigned than pleased, which bothered Jasper. He was thoroughly pleased with their new witness. “We will leave you word as per your instructions. You just keep yourself hidden away until then.”
“Thank you, gov’na.” Wixcomb stood without being given proper leave. He threw Brox a cock-eyed salute, tossed another one Jasper’s way, and then sauntered out the door without further farewell.
Jasper watched him go, not bothering to keep his smile down. This was a grand first step toward fighting back against the ambassador. With Wixcomb as a witness and maybe one or two other pieces of information—no doubt those would present themselves shortly as well—Jasper could end this whole escapade.
He could sleep at night without brutal interruptions. Mrs. Zhi could come and go as she pleased without looking over her shoulder. Ju could continue to dance and . . . and what? Never see him again? Huh, he’d never before considered what he’d do after Leng stopped being a threat. Jasper leaned back and rubbed a hand down his face.
He wanted to keep seeing Ju.
Wanted to know if she ever did get into Ginevra’s, if she ever got to perform on a big stage. Something in his gut shifted. He wanted Ju in his life, for always. He loved her fiery determination, her straightforward way of expressing herself.
Jasper slowly dropped his hand away from his face. Love—was that what he felt for Ju? He couldn’t deny that he was attracted to her, that he was falling quite fully
for her, even. But, love? Had he gone that far in only a few weeks’ time?
He heard Brox let out a loud sigh and turned that way.
Brox had one hand over his eyes, his head tilted far back. “Please tell me you don’t have any other riffraff waiting in the outer chamber.”
Jasper chuckled at Brox’s exhaustion. “How about a ghost?”
Brox sat back up straight with a thud. “You have a ghost you want to have testify in court?”
“I could get one if it would help.” He’d meant it more as a joke, but . . . “Would the court listen to a ghost?”
“No,” Brox said emphatically. “They most certainly would not.”
Shame that. Jasper clasped his hands across his stomach. It was good to have made some progress, small though it may be. First, they’d deal with Leng, and then he’d make sure Ju knew how much he wanted her.
“Jasper.”
Oh gads, that was not a confidence-boosting tone.
“I have to be honest with you,” Brox continued. “The courts aren’t going to listen to Mr. Wixcomb either.”
“Why ever not?” Jasper let his feet slip to the floor and he leaned forward, resting his elbows atop his legs. “He saw the ambassador. He spoke with the ambassador. What more could the court want?”
“The court will want someone they feel they can trust.”
“You said I needed proof. So I got some.”
Brox shook his head. “You’re right, I should have been more specific. You need proof that the court will care about. No one will listen to the story of a vagrant. They’ll think you paid him off.”
Jasper’s confidence of moments ago deflated, leaving behind hollow frustration. “Then I’ll get more. The ambassador can’t have only threatened me and Wixcomb. There has to be others he’s gone after.” Or others he would go after once he realized Wixcomb had disappeared on him.
“You could get a dozen such witnesses and it still wouldn’t matter.”
“How about two dozen?” Jasper asked dryly. No doubt there were many others the ambassador had threatened.