“I am very capable of fighting any battles I choose,” Sonny said.
“But this battle between you and Li Feng has dragged two of my friends into it. I have assured them I will make those responsible pay for what they’ve done.”
Teddy’s and Sonny’s gazes were locked on each other until Dale spoke for the first time in this conversation.
“You two are making this harder and stupider than it needs to be. You don’t have to fight against each other to protect your reputations or to get revenge. Just fight your own battles and keep each other informed.”
Teddy nodded, looking at Dale. He was grateful for her calming nature. And because her skills hinted at experiences close to his own, he could trust that she was making her suggestions strategically and not just to placate him. It was the same thing he had done for others, including the president of the United States, in similar circumstances.
“She’s right,” Teddy said. “I won’t get in your way, and there doesn’t seem to be any reason for you to get in mine. But if either of us hears of anything that could help the other, we’ll share it as quickly as possible.”
“I can drink to that. And it seems I may need to send a bottle of this whiskey to you as well, Dale Gai.”
“I won’t turn down any gifts,” she said, “but I’ll just be happy with fewer men killing each other in my streets.”
38
Teddy and Dale were quiet on the walk back to Stone Barrington’s suite. The conversation with Sonny Ma had been a good one. Teddy felt on top of what was going on in Macau for the first time since he’d arrived. His last conversation with Dale, though, had not been a good one, and the discomfort hung heavy in the air between them.
“I’m sorry for not trusting you,” he said.
She ignored him and hit the button for the elevator to the penthouse level. Teddy held back from saying anything else or pushing for a response as they waited for the elevator to descend.
When they were inside the elevator, she finally said, “You’re not what I expected and that’s been hard to deal with.”
At first Teddy thought she meant his looks or his personality. He held his tongue and let her continue speaking, which proved a wise move.
“I’m the best at what I do around here, and I like that,” she said.
“Security? Right?”
“All of it — security, rescue, investigation. I feel like I’ve developed an alternative to all of the shadow operations in this city meant to harm people and prop up the rich.”
“That sounds a lot like what I do back in L.A. for the people around me.”
She didn’t say anything about that not being the job of a movie producer, but at this point, Teddy suspected she knew everything she needed to about him. He wouldn’t even be surprised if she knew his real name.
“This thing with Arrow and Li Feng was part of that, and I thought I was doing a good job. Peter and Ben needed my help and I thought I could take care of it all.”
“Then they wanted to bring me in,” Teddy said.
The door opened at their floor, but neither of them got off the elevator. After several seconds of inactivity, the door closed, and the elevator went back down.
“I thought they wanted you to help them with the festival or with their film projects since they were distracted by the attacks and the fake videos.”
“What did they tell you about me, exactly?” Teddy said.
“They called you a troubleshooter and said you had special skills that were perfect for this kind of situation. In retrospect it sounds exactly like they were bringing you in to take out the bad guys, but who would have thought nice guy movie producers knew people like that?”
“You met Stone Barrington, right?”
“Yes. He’s the one who seemed like the big-shot fixer. When he left town, I assumed you would take over the production stuff, and I would help them find the bad guys.”
“And you have. You’ve just done it with me instead of on your own.”
“I don’t normally work well with others,” she said.
“Me, either,” Teddy said.
She smiled and Teddy could feel the awkwardness in the air lift. They both reached for the button to take them back up to the penthouse at the same time.
Teddy was ready to continue the conversation and develop a plan of attack with Dale, but as they exited the elevator onto the penthouse floor, they were stopped by a cluster of police surrounding the elevator.
“You’re under arrest for the murder of Zhou Peng,” one of the uniformed officers said.
Teddy couldn’t tell if he was talking to Dale or him, but he suspected it probably was meant for them both.
Bingo was at the Golden Desert Casino looking for Billy Barnett when he heard a group of tourists talking about an attack on an American by a motorcycle gang. He figured it must be Gong’s work, and was planning to call Gong to congratulate him on a job well done when the tone of the conversation turned.
“The American nearly beat that giant to death before he escaped,” one of the tourists said.
That did not sound great, and Bingo was less inclined to reach out to Gong, who would be in a terrible mood. This whole thing was getting out of hand. Between Li Feng’s grudge attacks on Sonny Ma and these American movie people blowing up everything they touched, his city was going to be destroyed if someone didn’t stop them all soon. Arrow and Li Feng were busy with their complicated schemes, but Bingo knew the only way to save his city was to take them all out.
When the elevator stopped, he got off and took the stairs the rest of the way to avoid detection as much as possible. At the floor where Billy Barnett was staying, Bingo took two steps out of the stairwell before he saw the police officers. He briefly wondered if they were there for him, then he saw them taking Dale Gai and Billy Barnett away. Excellent. Two problems down, and he didn’t even have to do anything.
Now he just needed to take care of Li Feng before her obsession with Sonny Ma got them all killed or arrested.
39
Dale looked like she wanted to argue with the police, to fight back against the arresting officers and run. Teddy was resigned to his fate and allowed himself to be handcuffed without giving the police a reason to send him away to a camp somewhere like they’d done with Bingo’s family. Neither of them talked with each other or with the police.
Even with the tight handcuffs and the chains locking the cuffs to the floor of the van, it wasn’t the toughest situation Teddy had found himself in. But as Teddy subtly examined the locks and tested his maneuverability, Dale sat unmoving and uninterested. She didn’t seem to have any interest in even trying to escape.
“After our conversation in the elevator I would have expected this to be our moment to shine together,” Teddy said.
“And make it worse? We should have cleaned up better after killing him. I should have cleaned up better after killing him. I know better than that.”
“Are you implying that I don’t know better or that this is my fault?” Teddy asked.
“I’m not implying anything. No, I don’t think this is your fault. This whole thing has been sideways from the beginning and everything I do, everything we do, makes it worse.”
“It only seems that way because we’re skilled enough to dig deep, to show that what seemed simple at first is even more complex and corrupt than we expected. It’s the curse of our particular skill set.”
“It seems a lot like failure,” Dale said.
“Maybe that’s where working in the movie business has given me some perspective. If it weren’t for successes that seem like failures in the movie business, I wouldn’t have any success at all. You have to work hard for every scrap, and so many times the effort isn’t worth the reward. But that’s making movies. This is saving people.”