“Why? What’s he—”

“Sam, don’t go to my shop in the city.” Hu Chang spoke into the phone. “Luke is at the Golden Palace. I had your bags transferred there after you left to go to the airport. Yes, everything is all right. We’ll join you shortly.” He hung up and started to back out of the parking space. “You may explode now, Catherine.”

“I’m not going to explode,” she said through her teeth. “Why did you move Luke to Chen Lu’s palace? Wasn’t it safe for him in the city?”

“Probably, but Chen Lu has a security force that’s top-notch, and she’s been missing Luke since we left the island. I thought it wouldn’t hurt to have him visit her. Unless you object?”

“You tell me, should I object?” Not about the visit itself. Catherine knew that Chen Lu had a genuine affection for Luke after his stay with her sometime ago. She had been born in Dublin, Ireland, and she and her husband had acquired vast wealth and fallen in love with Hong Kong many years ago. She had taken the name Chen Lu and bought the wonderful Golden Palace on an island outside Hong Kong, where she’d lived since her husband’s death. Catherine liked her as much as Luke did, but the woman was totally devoted to Hu Chang and would do anything he asked. “The first thing you mentioned was the security on the island. What are you up to?”

“Safeguarding your son. Safeguarding my friend, Catherine.” He sighed. “Though I fear you will refuse to be safeguarded. You are most stubborn.”

“Why should you have to safeguard either one of us?” She was silent, thinking, putting together the puzzle. “And what the hell do you have to do with Erin Sullivan?”

“Ah, you’ve made the connection. I knew you would.” His lips tightened. “Just as I knew Venable would not keep you out of it if it suited him. I will have to think of a fitting way to punish him.”

“You obviously told Venable not to tell anyone you were his source. Why?”

“You were the only one I was concerned about. There was a possibility that he wouldn’t tell you unless he wanted to use you. Evidently, he wishes to use you.”

“I wasn’t interested. I told him to go to hell.”

“Excellent. Then I don’t have to discuss it with you. Should I make reservations for you and Luke on the next plane for the U.S.?”

“And will you stay here with Chen Lu?”

“For a little while perhaps.”

She was silent. “What did you tell Venable? Why did you contact him?”

“I knew he must have contacts in Tibet. I wanted information.”

“Did he give it to you?”

“With a little prodding.”

“What else?”

“I wanted him to send a CIA agent into the mountains of Tibet who had a modicum of sense and would obey orders.” He smiled. “Someone who clearly wasn’t you, Catherine.”

“And do what?”

“Just be available in case a backup was needed.”

“Your backup?”

“Have I ever required assistance?”

“Yes,” she said bluntly. “I remember one time Venable had to bring in an F-18 to stage a distraction.”

“But that was by my intention.”

She ignored that remark. “Are you going after Erin Sullivan?”

“But you’re not interested.”

“Tell me.”

“Yes.”

“Why? Do you know her?”

“I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting her.”

“Is it because she’s some kind of glorified activist or something?”

“When have I ever involved myself with activists? They usually end up dead. That definitely puts a pall on a relationship.”

“Why?” she repeated.

He shrugged. “I was asked to intercede in her situation by a man I respect.”

“Who?”

“A friend of long standing.”

Blank wall. “Then why doesn’t he go after her?”

“There are problems for him.”

“Because he’d rather you risk your life? What kind of a wimp is he?”

“Wimp?” Hu Chang tilted his head. “That is amusing. He’s probably the most dangerous man either one of us will ever meet.”

“All the more reason why he—” She met Hu Chang’s gaze. This was going to go nowhere. Change direction. “What is Sullivan’s situation? Venable didn’t seem to know. Do you?”

“I have an idea where she is. So does Venable.”

And he wasn’t about to tell her. “Listen to me. I won’t ask you any more questions about Erin Sullivan. But if you think that something about her ‘situation’ is going to pose a danger to me or Luke, then I should know about it. Why did you move him to Chen Lu’s island?”

He was silent. “Merely as a precaution. There’s no danger to either of you as yet. That doesn’t mean there might not be in the future. There may be certain tentacles that reach out and try to grab. You’ll be safer on the island than any other place if you choose not to get on that plane to the U.S. Probably safer than there, too. I’ve never found the U.S. any too secure. Too many laws and ways to get around them. Lawless countries have a basic frontier mind that—”

“Tentacles?”

“Very sharp, very deadly tentacles,” he said softly. “That’s why I told Venable I didn’t want you involved. Tentacles can do terrible damage to a woman as wonderfully beautiful as you. I could not bear the thought of it. I’m glad you’re not going to let Venable draw you into this. It’s more comfortable than having to be the one to do it.” He was parking the Mercedes at the pier. “I’ve arranged to rent a speedboat to take us to the island. You’ll be with Luke in a little over thirty minutes.”

“Good.” She moistened her lips. “Don’t do this, Hu Chang. Let Venable handle it.”

“But I will do it so much better.” He smiled as he got out of the car. “And it requires a certain delicacy that only I can offer.” He opened her car door. “You know that no one has a more exquisitely subtle touch than I do.”

“Your ‘subtle’ touch would have a hell of a time fighting against those damn tentacles.”

“No, it wouldn’t. Any one of my poisons could make any battle exceptionally short-term.”

“If you had the time and proximity to administer it.” She paused. “At least, tell me that you’re not having to fight Beijing.”

“Not directly.”

“Hu Chang.”

“Perhaps not at all.” He helped her into the speedboat. “One can never tell.” He added gently but firmly, “But whatever the confrontation, you will not be present. Do you understand?”

“Perfectly,” she said curtly. “I have no intention of letting either you or Venable rope me into this. If you’re going to be fool enough to risk your neck, why should I care?”

“Because that is the nature of our relationship. Now hush and relax, and I will tell you what a splendid few weeks Luke has had under my magnificent guidance…”

*   *   *

Catherine could see Luke waiting on the pier as the speedboat approached the island. He was dressed in black trousers and a loose white shirt, and his dark hair was lifting in the strong breeze. He smiled and waved. She had seen him only a few weeks ago, but he looked taller, older than his eleven years. She felt a pang at the thought that she had missed those weeks.

God, he was beautiful.

God, she loved him.

She lifted her hand and returned his wave. “Did you tell him to come and meet me?” she asked Hu Chang.

“No, stop thinking that Luke has to be prodded to come to you,” Hu Chang said. “If he is here, it is because he was eager to see you. I never interfere with his free will.”

“If Chen Lu didn’t suggest it.”

He sighed and shook his head. “You’re impossible.” He drew next to the dock, and one of Chen Lu’s servants jumped forward to secure the boat. “Think what you like. You will anyway.” They both watched Luke run down the dock toward them. “But for someone who has to be forced to come and greet you, he appears to be in a great hurry to get over here.”

“Catherine?” Luke was standing before the boat, his eyes sparkling, his cheeks flushed with color. He had never called her Mother since she had rescued him from Rakovac, and that was okay with her. She would be friend or mother or anything else he wanted her to be as long as he let her stay in his life. “I’ve been waiting for you.” He reached down and took her hand and pulled her from the boat to the dock. “Hu Chang says that you might be tired and that maybe we should stay here at the Golden Palace for a little while.”