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She smiled “You think this room is wired?”

“I hope so Hey, whoever is listening, I’ us some food”

His eyes closed again Interesting hoas the only man who actually e way,to prove with him, nor did he compete with her He was just himself And she liked that

“Nice hts,” she said

He shrugged “I kept thinking about Tivoli There’s a fire-breather there that I’ve seen a few ti to him one day and he told me how he uses mineral oil for all his effects Of course, he doesn’t set fire to it atop mercury”

“That to to be toxic for a while”

“What does itto know Either Pau looted the tomb, or it was already looted when he went inside Either way, the Chinese don’t want anyone going in there And lucky us, we’ve iants in a private civil war”

She knew him better than he’d like to ad “What is it?”

He opened his eyes again and she caught the twinkle “Who says there’s anything?”

“I do”

“Why’d you kiss me?”

He was stalling, and she knew it “I wanted to”

“That’s not an answer”

“Sure it is”

Why she’d kissed him was a mystery to her as well, except that she’d simply wanted to Hell, somebody had toacross that eraphic memory of yours see?”

“I wish eidetic raphic That would be a lot easier Instead, my crazy brain loves to remember every useless detail” He closed his eyes “And that’s the probleh them”

NI STOOD TOE-TO-TOE WITH KARL TANG THEY WERE ROUGHLY the sa a year or two older He realized that this was a public place, bri performed would be the subject of much banter

“You do not co made clear

“I’m here on direct order of the premier You may call his office and verify, but I assure you that he has authorized this action And he, Minister, does command you”

Tang’s clothes were as filthy as his own, both of thery

“A asked

Ni wasn’t going to fall into that trap “I don’t reveal that information, even to the first vice premier”

Tang seemed alone Everyone else in the room wore museum uniforms Ni had checked outside for the

foreigner who’d saved his life in the tomb, but had failed to spot him anywhere He’d wanted to question that man

“You and I should speak,” Tang said “Privately”

He quickly considered the pros and cons and decided the advantages outweighed any pitfalls His gaze locked on the superintendent, who ht of the video screens

He and Tang retreated inside the less space and closed the door

“You should be dead,” Tang said to him, eyes on fire with hate

“That’s twice you’ve failed to kill ht”

“I already have”

He did not like the confident tone “I could have you arrested”

“For what? You have proof of nothing And if you’re counting on Pau Wen, good luck He’s as untrustworthy as they come”

“And if we removed your trousers, ould we find?”

“That I possess courage,” Tang said

“You’re proud of what you are?”

“I’m proud of what I will do”

He knew his situation was perilous No proof existed that Tang had done anything wrong, and revealing hie and not be able to prove it would only destroy his own credibility His departood decisions He knew thatfor a catastrophic failure, and an opportunity to end the autonomy that made his probes so successful

“There’s a pilot dead in Yunnan province,” he said to Tang “Shot down by a foreigner flying one of our helicopters You authorized his flight”

“I did authorize the helicopter To stop Pau Wen fro the country But I never authorized the killing of a pilot Do you have evidence to the contrary?”

“When I find that foreigner I will”

Who could well have been the sa obviously had no idea that his supposed ally was anything but

Or did he?