AFTER AN EXHAUSTED MASUYO FELLasleep in the jet’s bedroom, Nash held a meeting with Temple and Thura in the main cabin.
Temple said, “Look, when you first told me your plan was to return the mother to the daughter, I thought you were out of your mind. But then I realized I didn’t want to be looking over my shoulder the rest of my life. So, it seems to me that even though she probably wanted us as scapegoats, the fact that we got her mother out? She’ll owe us. Now, I know the lady kills people and I wouldn’t trust her as far as I can throw her. And believe me, I’d throw her into a fucking dumpster fire in a heartbeat, but she obviously loves her mother, so that’s got to be in our favor. Right?”
Nash nodded. “Let’s hope. But now we have to get our stories straight for when we get back. And we have to have an explanation for why Thura is still with us.”
“Do youhavean explanation?” asked Temple anxiously.
“I think so. A good one.”
“It needs to be better than good, Dillon. Her bullshit meter ranks right up there with a basset hound’s nose.”
They spent the next several hours working through all the details. Nash allowed extra time with Thura to go over what to say and not say.
“If you get in trouble with a question, just blame it on the language barrier, okay?”
“This woman is. . .?” said Thura nervously.
“Yeah, she is,” replied Nash, who knew exactly what the man meant.
They all caught a couple hours’ sleep before the plane began its descent into Hong Kong.
The jet taxied to a stop at a private facility on the periphery of the main airport. They deplaned and were shuttled over to the main terminal to go through passport control. There a man approached and provided Thura with the papers he needed to enter the country legally.
Once they cleared customs and walked out into the arrivals section, Nash saw a man holding up a sign in Mandarin. When Temple had told him Masuyo’s actual name was Dai Lu, a curious Nash had looked it up in Mandarin. Thus he could recognize the characters on the sign. For obvious reasons, Steers had not had her people use the name Masuyo.
Nash led the others over to the man and introduced Masuyo as Dai Lu. They were escorted out of the airport and into what looked to be the same Mercedes van that had picked up Nash and Temple when they had initially arrived in Hong Kong.
They followed the same route, taking the tunnel under the harbor and finally pulling into the underground garage of Steers’s building. They rode the elevator up to the penthouse suite and when the doors opened, Steers was standing there.
Nash announced matter-of-factly, “Here’s your mother, Ms. Steers, safe and sound.”
“Mission accomplished,” added Temple in a grander fashion.
Steers ignored this, looked at her mother, and bowed so deeply her long hair touched the floor. She straightened, took her mother’s hand, and gently led her into the apartment.
Masuyo said something in Mandarin and Steers answered her in that language.
Masuyo turned and looked at Nash, Temple, and Thura. While Steers thumbed a message on her phone, her mother bowed her head slightly and said to them, “Thank you, gentlemen.”
A female attendant quickly appeared in response to Steers’s text, and Masuyo was escorted away.
Steers watched her go and then turned to them. “Come,” she said, and led them into the next room.
They sat in chairs across from her. Nash noted that Steers’s guards had appeared from the shadows and encircled them.
Steers opened by saying, “I was told that you did not get on the plane to Bhamo. Why was this?”
Drawing on his plan Nash said, “We were ambushed. Twice. First, we were almost killed in the mountains and had to run for it, which threw off our timing. Then one of the people you hired, Amrita, tried to kill us in Myitkyina, but Thura here saved our lives.”
She glanced at Thura, who seemed to shrink under her gaze. She looked back at Nash. “Why would she try to kill you?”
“I believe she was paid off by the same people who tried to kill us in the mountains. There must have been a leak somewhere,” he added, staring at her resolutely. His implication was clear: The leak must have come from her side.
“Go on,” she said, her look unreadable.
“We left Myitkyina early and took a ferry to get to Bhamo because we figured we’d be sitting ducks if we flew on that plane. We tracked down the men you hired and saw the woman who was to take your mother’s place.”
Steers interjected, “I did not tell you about that element, so how did you know that was part of the plan?”
