"You don't kapish Chinese?"

She smiled tolerantly. "Do you kapish Polish?"

He grinned back. "No. How'd you know about my Polack background?"

She told him, "I know a lot of things about you, Mack Bolan. Or I thought I did, until this morning. Anyway... the next time I ran into Franco Laurentis — it was a couple of nights later — he came over and made it a point to apologize to me for his behavior. Which, if you know anything about that dude, you'll know is way out of character. But he was using the apology as a cover up. His real purpose was to make me think he'd been kidding about Wo Fan. About 'common interests,' I mean."

Bolan said, "Okay, I see it."

"So... anyway... when I ran into you at the Gardens last night, I... Well, I'm a working girl, you know." She gave him a rueful-smile. "Have to pay the damn bills, you know. I guess I... had you in about the same running class as Laurentis and the rest. I mean..."

"I know what you mean," Bolan assured her, sighing.

"I knew that you'd been billed as the all-American folk hero, but I figured... well, you know what I figured. I know what these public relations people can do with an image, and the press is no different. I had you figured as a glory guy. You know. Soldier-of-fortune type, making a big name and a big game for yourself by running around making big noises at the mob."

"I know what you mean," he assured her.

"Will you please let me bare myself in my own way?"

He chuckled. "Right on."

"Well then I came into this... this place." She shivered. "I saw how you... how you had to make it. I mean, the super security, the constant grinding race to just keep that one step ahead of the world. Oh hell, Mack Bolan, I felt so miserable for you, I could have just cried!"

Bolan told her, "Hey, it's not all that bad."

She said, "The hell it's not. I know better. I know it now. And I almost... I almost set you up for them. Did you know that? I came within an inch of setting you up for Franco's assassins."

"What makes you think they weren't after you?"

"Well I..."

He said, "They wouldn't have come after me that way, Mary. I never have thought that they expected to find me there. That was supposed to be an easy hit, girl. Why do you think I insisted on dragging you out of there?"

She shivered again and said, "Well — damn, damn. Sure, Laurentis started worrying about his slip to me. I'll bet you're right."

He said, "Sure I am. And then you threw it back at me. Bugged out. I figured you as good as dead. Maybe that's why I..."

"Why you what?"

"Never mind. Why did you leave, Mary?"

"Conscience, I guess. Suddenly I just couldn't stand myself."

Bolan could appreciate that.

"I mean," she went on, "I just had to get out of here. I went back to my place, hoping that Captain couldn't locate Wo Fan anywhere. Then I got to thinking about Cynthie and Panda, and it worried me sick."

"What did?"

"The fact that they had seen you at my place.

Listen, Mack. Those girls work for Wo Fan. Indirectly, but they do. And they know it. It's part of the convenient marriage I mentioned. Wo Fan and Laurentis are entertwined in several ventures in this town. And I got to thinking..."

"Yeah," he prompted her.

"If they started talking it around about seeing you there... At my place. And Laurentis knew about my connections with Wo Fan. And if Wo Fan didn't want Laurentis to know that he was trying to arrange another marriage, with you. And if..."

Bolan was laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Not funny," he said, "just entertaining. It's nice to watch a China doll's mind busily whirring out a web of intrigue. But I think you're probably right."

She jerked her head in an adamant affirmation. "Darned right I am, and those two empty kids could be in a whole lot of trouble."

"Yes, they could," Bolan mused. "I warned them to keep quiet. But they probably won't."

She agreed. "Anyway, I tried to find them. I called everywhere I thought they could have gone."

Bolan said, "She mentioned something about a houseboat. In Sausalito, I believe."

"They wouldn't have gone over there. They're shooting a picture. It's too hard for them to run back and forth when they're shooting. They crash around town all the time they're shooting."

"How'd you get mixed up with those kids, Mary?"

She sniffed. "They're not as bad as they talk it. Panda is pretty mixed up, about sex and what her's is, I mean, but... well, they're okay kids. I met them through Wo Fan, at a business bash he was hosting a few months ago. They were, uh, paid guests."

Bolan said, "I see."

"I was not."

He chuckled. "Where do you go from here, Mary?"

"Into the woodwork, I guess. How about you?"

A faint smile pulled at his lips. He said, "I've got this war."

She wrinkled her nose at him and said, "Tough. You're a tough guy, Mack Bolan. Can I tag along and load your guns for you?"

He sighed. "Hell no."

"Well... I knew better than to ask. Mack..."

"Yeah?"

"You'll have to kill Wo Fan."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. He's a nationalist, and my sympathies, of course, go with that cause. But he's running with the wolves now. And he's turned into a wolf himself. I suspect — no, I feel it in my bones. Wo Fan and Laurentis are up to something sneaky. I believe they are trying for a coup in the San Francisco underworld. An unholy alliance. Laurentis will help to keep the commies out. Wo Fan will help to put down the ruling Mafia family, and Laurentis will move in. I think that's it. I think that's what it's all about."

Bolan was thinking it over.

"Like Wo Fan suggested, it's a big conflict," she added quietly.

Bolan said, "And a complicated one. My war is a bit narrower than that."

"Well you'd better broaden it."

"You believe Wo Fan is a real threat? To me?"

She nodded. "Like I said, he's a wolf now. He'd stop at nothing. If Laurentis learns that Wo Fan has been in touch with you... and if Wo Fan decides that it would help his cause to turn you over to Laurentis... well, I'm just saying, lookout lover. That's a hard old world out there."

Bolan consulted his wristwatch. It was a few minutes past noon. He sighed and told her, "End of detente."

"End of what?"

"Do you know the place where those girls shoot their pictures?"

"Yes."

"One more thing. Where does Barney Gibson fit into all this?"

"I'm not sure," she replied slowly, thinking about it. "He's had his problems with the mob. For years. I think he's trying to pull them down."

"On his own?"

She nodded. "Way I read it. I think he doesn't trust various people in his own department."

"Could you set up a meet between Gibson and me?"

Her eyes flared. "Whatever for?"

"A secret meet, a secure one. Could you do it?"

She stared at him with wondering eyes for a long moment, then she daintily nodded her head and told him, "I guess I could."

He said, "So do it."

Quietly, she asked, "Does that mean you trust me now?"

"That's what it means," he growled.

She squeezed his hand. "Great. That's really great."

So it was great.

The R&R was ended.

It was time, once again, to come out shooting.