White Jade

Chapter Twenty-Five

"Nick. Nick." Ronnie's voice was urgent. "Nick! Wake up."

He opened his eyes. He had a hell of a headache. Ronnie bent over him.

"Where's Selena?"

"She's okay, she's awake, just not feeling so good. Jesus, Nick, I thought you were dead when I came in."

Suckered and drugged. He remembered the odd taste in the wine. He got to his feet and a blacksmith shop opened up inside his head.

Ronnie helped him to the couch where a white-faced Selena was sitting with her eyes closed.

"You all right?" Carter touched her arm.

"I think so. What happened?"

"We were drugged. Your friend slipped it into the wine."

"Nick, I'm sorry. I can't believe this."

He looked around. Selena's computer was gone. Nothing else seemed out of place The drugged bottle of "really good stuff" sat half empty on the coffee table..

"Not your fault, don't be sorry. How could you know she would do this?"

"Why would she drug us?"

"She took your computer. She must be an agent for Wu. Nobody else would know you were working on the book."

Selena looked stricken. "The whole book was on that computer. That means they have it, Yang's got what he wants."

"Then maybe now they'll leave us alone. Don't worry about it. We'll figure out what to do. I've got to call the Director."

"I'll do it." Ronnie placed the call. Harker wasn't going to be thrilled at the news. After a minute Ronnie hung up.

"The word's out on Chen. I gave her description and we've got security tapes we can pull from downstairs. We'll find her."

"How long were we out?"

"Not long. I checked back about half an hour after I went next door. When you didn't answer, I let myself in."

"That bitch." Selena was furious. "I thought she was my friend. She was my friend. I'd like to get my hands on her right now."

"We'll get her," Carter said. "I wonder how Wu knew we were in Washington? The last the Chinese saw of us, we were buried in that mine."

"That's something we're going to have to find out." Ronnie went to the kitchen and brought back two glasses of water.

"Drink up. Guaranteed, no drugs."

Carter woke in the middle of the night. The bedroom door was partly open. He heard muffled sobbing coming from the living room. Selena was sitting on the couch, her head in her hands. He was about to go to her when something stopped him. He knew about grief. Sometimes it needs to be a private thing.

He went back to bed, but it was a long time before he fell asleep.

He dreamed of Megan.

Megan was across the street, waiting for a bus. He waved, but she didn't seem to see him. Endless streams of cars roared by and he couldn't get across to her. He saw the bus coming and she still hadn't seen him. He called her name but no sound came out.

Then he was standing next to her. She looked at him, shook her head, a sad expression on her face.

"There's no point in waiting, Nick."

"Waiting for what?"

"For the bus. See?"

She pointed at the large, black bus bearing down on them. The destination sign said AIRPORT.

The driver was visible through the windshield. He was faceless and he had a grenade in his hand.

"Where are you going," Nick said.

"There's no point in waiting."

Then he was back in the village, feeling the rifle kick back against his shoulder, one, two, three times, watching the grenade come toward him, watching a child die.

He woke soaked in sweat, heart pounding, his mind filled with thoughts of loss.