“I’m glad you’ve decided to give me the benefit of the doubt,” Cameron said. “Now relax and enjoy. I haven’t ridden a motorcycle for years. Have you?”

She tried to remember. “Once when I was in Moscow trying to track down Luke.” Her arms grasped him tighter. “It was no joyride.”

“No, nothing about that time contained any joy for you. But it’s over, and you have Luke.”

If Cameron didn’t lure him into his camp, she thought dryly. He seemed to have an incredible amount of magnetism where her son was concerned.

“I wouldn’t try to take him away from you,” he said quietly. “And I won’t use him as a pawn. You have my word on it.”

“Is your word any good?”

“Yes.” He added simply, “Because it’s all I have that doesn’t belong to the committee. I have to keep something for myself.”

“And yet you’re going to go against them when you kill Kadmus.”

“It’s an exception. In most cases, I’m in agreement with them.”

“Why do they want to keep the bastard alive?”

“He’s a big investor and financial force in keeping that tourist town of Shangri-La going. There are a few reasons why the committee wants all the public attention fixed on that town the Chinese swear is the location of Shangri-La.”

“Because it’s not the true location?”

He was silent. “How can a mythological place have a true location except in the imagination?”

“How indeed?” she whispered. She laid her cheek on his back. She could feel the silky smoothness and smell the leather of his jacket against her flesh. “Or perhaps they want the entire myth to have a tawdry image and be totally discounted.”

“I said there are a few reasons.”

“And some you’re not going to divulge,” she said. “That’s okay with me. When I really want to know, I’ll go searching for myself. In the meantime, it’s enough to know that you realize that your committee isn’t right all the time.” She added, “And that you’re willing to help me take Kadmus down.”

“Oh, I’m definitely willing to help you do that.” He swerved around the corner, and they were suddenly bombarded by light and tourists and music. “It will be my pleasure.” He paused. “By the way, I like the feel of you lying against me.”

She started to straighten, then stopped. She liked the feel of him, too. Why cheat herself? “How far away are we?”

“About six blocks. In three blocks, I’m going to cut left and start going down the alleys. We’ll be able to ditch the bike in the alley and climb the fire escape to get into the building.”

“What building?”

“The home of Moon, Stars, and Heavenly Wonder,” Cameron said gravely. “And, hopefully, the place where we’ll be able to bury Kadmus and Brasden.” He cut left and roared down the neon-lit street and then turned the bike into darkness.

Glowing feline eyes. Garbage cans. Foul smells. Alley. They were in the alley.

After ten minutes of weaving in and out of the maze of alleys, Cameron brought the bike to a stop. “We’re here.” He got off the bike and lifted her off the seat. “Come on. Let’s get moving.” He set her on the ground and jumped up to bring the fire-escape ladder down. “There’s an open window on the third floor. I’ll go first. I climbed the ladder before, and it’s none too steady. If you feel it going, yell, and I’ll grab for you.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll bellow loud and strong.” She watched as he climbed the steps until he reached the first-floor landing. She loved watching him move. He was all animal grace and clean definition.

He glanced down at her. “Coming?”

“Right behind you.” She was climbing the first steps as she spoke. She said maliciously, “I wanted to give you a chance to fall before I risked my valuable neck.”

“Very wise.” He had turned and was rapidly climbing. “I feel just as cautious about risking your neck and other delectable body parts. It would be punishing myself.” He had reached the third level and turned to look down at her. His eyes were gleaming with mischief as he reached out a hand to her. “Give me your hands. I’ll pull you the rest of the way up. It will be quicker.”

“Are we in that much of a hurry?” She let him grasp her hands. He pulled, then dropped her hands and grasped her waist and swung her the rest of the way up to his level. Strong, he was so strong. She remembered what Hu Chang had said about his daily workouts to keep fit for the task of being Guardian.

“No real hurry.” His hands lingered a moment on her waist before he dropped them and turned to the window. “I just wanted to touch you again.”

“This is serious business, Cameron.”

“It’s not serious until there are bullets flying. This is preliminary stuff that allows a bit of pleasure.” He opened the window and slipped over the sill. “There are three boxes piled under the window. Be careful not to send them crashing when you crawl in.”

He was gone.

She heard nothing in the darkness beyond the window.

She followed him across the sill and felt for the boxes with her feet.

Found.

She stood on the top box and dropped catlike to the floor.

“Good. No sound.” Cameron was beside her. “I just disconnected the security system. We can move through the place without worrying about motion alarms.”

“Where the hell are we?” She was peering around her, trying to pierce the darkness. “Boxes. Lots of boxes.” She stopped. “And I smell something … chemicals.”

He handed her a penlight. “Gunpowder and coated papers. Keep the beam down. But look around. I want you to memorize the area. You can never tell when you’ll need to know where you are at any given minute.”

She shined the beam of the flashlight around the room, and up to the ceiling, where she saw a gleam of light. Stars? Yes, there was a large rectangular skylight that occupied a good half of the ceiling. Night sky and stars. She lowered the beam to the room itself. There seemed to be a wall of cabinets or closets against the far wall. Other than that storage wall, the place was stacked high with various-sized boxes. Some were open, some were sealed.

She took a step nearer one of the boxes. The Chinese print on the lid jumped out at her. Moon, Stars, and Heavenly Wonder. And beside it a red-and-gold fireworks display.

Her gaze flew to Cameron’s face. “This is a fireworks factory?”

“The top two floors. The street floor is a collection of souvenir shops.” He moved toward the freight elevator. “This floor is mostly storage. Let’s go down to the second floor. I saw some offices down there.”

She followed him. “What did you have in mind for this place?”

“The trap. We’re going to let Kadmus discover that we’re using this place as a safe house. We can probably expect him to attack with a full crew. In order to lure him into a trap where we have the advantage, we’ll have to find a way to eliminate a large number of his men. You get the picture?”

“Boom. Fireworks. Explosions. Yes, I get it.” She frowned. “But I’m not sure I like it. This building is in the middle of the city. How are you going to stop the big boom from blowing up a block of prime real estate and the people inhabiting it?”

“I’ll work it out. There’s a vacant lot next door that may have potential.”

“No, don’t give me that. I have to know. I remember a fireworks factory that blew in Vietnam years ago. The death-and-injury count were terrible. I won’t accept being part of a catastrophe like that.”

“I don’t have all the details in mind yet.” He met her eyes. “But I promise you there won’t be innocents killed. It won’t be another Vietnam. Is that enough for you?”

“And what about the people who own this property?”

“The owner’s name is Kim Po. I have a man at his home right now making him a deal that will set him up for life.”

“Money, again.”

“You object?”

“I prefer bribery to violence.” She wrinkled her nose. “It’s just that the quantity of money you appear to control is a little mind-boggling. Of course, there are crime syndicates like the Mafia who are able to dig deep to get what they want, but you’re one man.” She tilted her head. “Or maybe this conglomerate is really a crime syndicate.”