The Prisoner's Gold

39

After a day of rest, the pressure the team had felt in Guangzhou had eased considerably.

Garcia was waiting outside the fitness center after Cobb’s early morning workout. Garcia wore blue jeans, paired with a T-shirt with an image of a TIE fighter from Star Wars on it. Cobb wore black shorts and a gray T-shirt soaked with sweat. One of the hotel’s white towels was wrapped around his neck, soaking up the perspiration that dripped from his head.

‘Been meaning to tell you, I love how you fixed Josh’s wound,’ Garcia said. ‘That was good thinking with the solar goop. Last night I trickle-charged my laptop on his leg.’

Cobb stared at him. ‘You guys are consenting adults. What you do in the privacy of your room is none of my business.’

Garcia blushed. ‘What? No, wait, you misunderstood me! I charged my computer laptop in his hole … In his leg. The hole in his leg … Oh my God, this is ridiculous.’

Cobb smiled. ‘Hector. Relax. I knew what you meant. I was kidding.’

‘Me, too! I was kidding about his hole. I swear I didn’t touch it.’

Cobb let that one slide. ‘Why are you here?’

‘The photo,’ Garcia said as he held up his tablet. ‘I still can’t believe you took a photo of the fake cops after you shot them. That took a lot of nerve.’

‘I wanted to have something on them.’

‘Well, I struck out on the first guy,’ Garcia said as he pointed at one of the dead men. ‘But the other guy was named Wu Bai. He used to be a low-level criminal.’

‘What kind of criminal?’

Garcia accessed a second photo. It was a grainy picture in a Chinese newspaper of a shooting at a restaurant. There were several bodies on the floor amidst upturned tables and chairs.

‘He grew up in Shanghai and joined a local gang called the Strengthened Dragons, or something to that effect. They mostly dabbled in petty crimes until the shooting at this restaurant over two years ago. Rumor has it that he was the main gunman, but he was never charged. After that, I can’t find anything on him until he turned up at the warehouse.’

‘Shanghai’s a thousand miles from Panyu. That’s too damn far for a local gang.’

‘I know,’ Garcia said. ‘Unfortunately, that’s all I have. Again, as I said last night after the others had left, if we involve Maggie in this, we might get places faster.’

‘I don’t want to do that,’ Cobb whispered. ‘I trust you more, and she’s got her own work to do with all those documents that we acquired from the warehouse. For now, I want you to work on this gangster lead alone. And whatever you do, don’t let Jean-Marc know about it.’

‘You still think the leak came from us?’ Garcia asked.

‘It’s likely — even if one of us didn’t realize it. For all I know, it could have been me. The only other option is they were watching us since we got to Hong Kong. If that’s the case, then they were definitely connected to the rekky in Loulan.’

Cobb thought for a moment as he wiped the sweat from his face. ‘If you can’t find anything else on Wu Bai, see what you can uncover about the people killed at the restaurant. Maybe the Dragons had a rival gang. If so, maybe we can contact them for information about Wu Bai.’

‘You want to talk to a gang?’

‘Not particularly, but I’m willing to if it points us toward the people Wu Bai was working for at the warehouse.’

Garcia nodded. ‘You got it.’

‘Also, start digging into the mining operation in Xinjiang. Find out who owns it and who the security people were that chased us. Basically, get everything you can. They might not be connected to the attack at the warehouse, but if they are, we need to know about it.’

Garcia nodded and took his tablet to breakfast.

Meanwhile, Cobb headed for the elevator to go back to his room.

Sarah emerged seemingly from nowhere and sidled next to him. ‘Nicely handled.’

‘I’m not sure what you mean,’ Cobb replied. He took a gulp from the bottle of Fiji water that he had been given in the exercise room.

‘You know exactly what I mean,’ she said as the elevator arrived.

They stepped into the empty car together.

The doors closed before Cobb spoke again.

‘You overheard the assignment I gave Hector.’

‘You said it yourself: you’re the best qualified person to lead this team — and I continually see why. I told you Hector wanted to be more involved in our plans, and you found a way to involve him deeper. Not only that, you showed him we trust him completely instead of simply telling him that his stint as a spy for Papi has been forgiven.’

‘Maybe,’ Cobb said. ‘Or maybe you’re giving me too much credit, and I just gave him an assignment to keep things going. We’re nowhere yet. We still don’t have a location for the treasure, and until Maggie tells us otherwise we’re running out of leads.’

‘We know a few things, though,’ Sarah said. ‘Polo was definitely in China. He did see the Wall. And there was a girl involved. That’s a lot more than we had a week ago. Hopefully, Maggie will be able to point us in a specific direction with the new documents.’

The elevator opened on Cobb’s floor, and they both walked out.

He wondered if she realized this wasn’t her floor.

Either way, she kept talking.

‘There’s certainly more waiting on this mission than I’m used to, but we’re making progress. Now all we have to do is figure out who’s hunting us.’

‘That would be nice.’

When they reached the door to his room, Cobb unlocked it with his plastic keycard.

She walked in first, still talking. ‘Where are we with that other matter?’

‘What other matter?’ he asked as he closed the door.

‘Have you found anything on Papi yet?’

Cobb stepped deeper into the room, past the mini-bar and the closet, and stood adjacent to the bathroom door. ‘I’ve got someone looking into things. So far all I know is that Jean-Marc met with someone in California. Our bigger concern right now is this group that tried to kill us. I’m pretty sure they’re not connected with Papi or his mysterious partner.’

Sarah turned casually, glancing out the window at the greenery of Hibiya Park, which sprawled out just below them. Farther north, she could see the Imperial Palace, the main residence of the Emperor of Japan, in the Chiyoda section of the city.

‘Do you want me to reach out to some of my contacts? Maybe a bloodhound like Seymour Duggan could get a fix on these people?’ she asked.

‘No thanks. I’ve got it covered.’ Cobb took off his soaking wet T-shirt and flung it to the bathroom floor. It landed with a noticeable splat.

Sarah turned at the sound. When she saw him shirtless — his muscles coated in sweat — she couldn’t help but stare. ‘Yeah, well … you don’t look covered to me.’

‘Sorry. The shirt needed to go.’

‘Um … why?’ she said, blushing.

Cobb suddenly remembered how uncomfortable she had been when they had needed to shed their clothes on Brighton Beach to disguise themselves as normal beachgoers during their first mission. He silently chastised himself for not waiting until she had left the room.

‘I need to take a shower,’ he said as straightforwardly as he could manage. He hoped she didn’t see his embarrassment, and that the comment would set her at ease.

‘Oh,’ she stammered. ‘Of course. I’ll, uh, I’ll go check on Maggie.’

‘Great,’ he said, sliding into the doorway of the bathroom so she could pass behind him.

Sarah left without saying another word.