Part 58 (1/2)

Ten thousand dollars would buy anything. Everything. Pa.s.sports. Visas. Pianos. First-cla.s.s boat tickets. She could take her mother to England and flee. Oxford University, just as her mother wanted. It was all there, in Mason's hand. All she had to do was say yes. And she could take Chang An Lo to safety with her.

But would he come? Leave China?

Mason's lips pulled into a thin line. It was meant as a smile. 'Agreed?'

She opened her mouth to say yes.

'No.'

'Don't be a b.l.o.o.d.y stupid fool. This is your chance.'

'But you'd have the photographs.'

'I'd destroy them, I promise.'

'No.'

'Why?'

She opened her hands to the sky, letting the money go. 'Because you are sc.u.m. I don't trust you. As long as I hang on to those negatives, I can be certain you will never lay a finger on Polly again. Or your wife. Or my mother. Do you understand me?'

He scowled, turned away. She watched the money return to the wallet. Her throat hurt.

'Don't come near my mother anymore.'

'Go to h.e.l.l, b.i.t.c.h.'

He walked to the car, his head sunk on his chest, and lashed out at one of the tyres with a brutal kick.

'Mr Mason.'

He didn't look at her.

'Mr Mason, leave Theo Willoughby alone too.'

Mason made a harsh sound that sent a s.h.i.+ver down her spine. 'Don't you worry about him,' he retorted. 'Feng and his son between them will look after Willoughby.' His eyes crept back to hers, and the expression in them made her skin crawl. 'Just like they'll look after you.'

'What do you mean?'

'Now they know who took care of the Communist.'

'What Communist?'

'Don't play innocent. The one they're after. The one you nursed.'

Lydia felt ice spike her veins. 'That's a lie.'

'No. Polly told me.'

'Polly?'

'Oh yes. Your loyal little friend. Still want to protect her, do you? Yes, she told me and I told them. Right now they're probably at your house.' He laughed outright. 'You didn't really think I'd give a b.i.t.c.h like you ten thousand dollars, did you? You and your whoring mother can . . .'

But Lydia was already running.

She burst into her house.

'Mama,' she shouted. 'Mama.'

No reply.

The houseboy - what was his name? Deng? - she called out for him. He came running.

'Yes, Missy Leeja?'

'My mother, where is she?'

'I not know.'

She pounced on him and shook his bony shoulders. 'Is she here?'

'No, she out.'

'So early?'

'She go with Master. In car.'

'Just the two of them?'

His bright eyes were nervous of her as he held up two fingers. 'Master and Missy.'

She released him and he scuttled away, hunched like a beetle. Her tongue licked her dry lips. She'd panicked for nothing. But that didn't mean the danger wasn't there. It was. She walked into the drawing room and stared out the French windows. How the h.e.l.l do you fight back when you can't see your enemy? She leaned her forehead against the icy pane of gla.s.s and thought about that. Something broke loose inside her. Everything felt too heavy. Too big.

Her gaze was drawn to the shed, and because it was the nearest she could get to Chang An Lo right now, she opened the gla.s.s door and walked down toward it. The air was cold and crisp in her lungs and her head began to clear. She became aware of a crunching noise. A rat was gnawing at one of the wooden planks at the bottom of the shed. Her pulse picked up. What was it after?

'Scoot,' she shouted and the creature fled.