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“So so it up”

“That’s our take We’re pushing to find out who I’ so’s na here since thehis empire Noe’re pretty sure it’s triad-funded In which case, he’d be tight enough with the right people to find out if the Rothberg he’d killed for had been ripped off and sold to Henry Fong”

“Or resold to Fong,” Derek a with, this Meili could have gone to Zhang because she knew Fong would want his stolen painting back But you’re right We’ve got to follow up on this Meili lead She’s our tie to the Rothberg, and to whoave it to”

“And whoever that is is now funding Xiao and the Black Eagles”

“Right” Derek glanced up as a group of pedestrians crossed the street “I gotta go Let ency I’ll see what I can find out froiant can of wor puzzle We’ve just got to get our hands on the right pieces, and then figure out how they fit together”

Derek was right about Ben grabbing his cell phone the instant Derek left

But he rong about who Ben called

His first call was to Xiao Long He had to warn hiether, or Xiao would send that big ape Jin Huang over to break his legs Or worse—do it hiuy But Xiao called the shots And he had an icy coldness about hi It was as if the man had no soul

Ben wasn’t pushing him any more than he had to Besides, he’d find out about Derek Parker’s visit anyway; Xiao Long had eyes everywhere Better the news should come directly from him

Xiao wasn’t happy But he wasn’t surprised either In broken English, he told Ben to go on as usual, keep his mouth shut, and leave the rest to him

Ben didn’t even want to knohat that meant

His second call was to Phil He’d never wanted to make this call, but the tih to get it all out before he changed his mind

Almost all of it

“Phil, I need your help,” he began, the minute his friend answered

“You’re drunk,” Phil replied