Arrow answered her call after the first ring. Millie smiled to herself. He could complain about her all he wanted, but he knew she still held some pull with Lance, who was the key to the whole operation succeeding.
“I know you’re going to Hong Kong early, but there’s someone here in jail in Macau who could be an asset to you if you can get him out.”
Arrow’s frustration was almost palpable, even over the phone. He had decidedly not told her about his upcoming trip. “I find it hard to believe you’ve had enough time away from questioning by your agency to spy on me,” he said.
“I’m in intelligence. It’s my job to absorb as much information as possible from as many different sources and about as many different people as I can.”
“Your time is wasted if you’re spying on your friends rather than enemies.”
“This man is a known troublemaker. He’s the one I’m spying on. I don’t trust him, and I don’t believe his presence here — at this exact time — is a coincidence.”
“You think he’s here to kill Li Feng?”
“Maybe. I’d really like to find out, but he won’t talk to me.” Millie put a tone of frustration into her voice to imply that Billy Barnett wouldn’t deal with a young woman like her. Totally untrue, but Arrow had no way of knowing that, and would interpret the situation according to his own biases.
“I’m starting to like this guy already. What’s his name?”
Millie paused as dramatically as possible before she said, “Billy Barnett.”
Arrow tried not to choke when the girl from the CIA asked him to bail Billy Barnett out of jail. His first thought was to find someone in the jail he could bribe to kill the meddlesome producer, but that would expend almost all of the political capital he’d built up in the region. He didn’t want to waste it on some lowlife producer.
But this lowlife producer had shown a knack for violent problem solving. Arrow wondered if it wouldn’t be a good idea to try to get Billy Barnett on his side. In the worst case, Barnett turned down an alliance, and Arrow could kill him and pin it on Sonny Ma. Or even better, if Billy Barnett was already known to the CIA, Arrow could get rid of Li Feng and frame Barnett. The mess with Sonny Ma had blown up out of proportion. Li Feng had become more trouble than her testimony was worth.
Arrow called his secret weapon in Hong Kong to say that he would be running late and to continue planning their next move until he arrived. Then he went to the Macau public safety building to bail Billy Barnett out of jail.
42
Arrow briefly wondered how he would be received by the Macau police. He never worried that they weren’t in his pocket or on his side, but the nature of Ziggy Peng’s work for him had occasionally put Ziggy into conflict with them. Would their investigation of his murder be used to dig up dirt on Arrow that they could use later against him, or use to increase their bribery fees? Had they arrested Billy Barnett knowing the man was of interest to Arrow?
His worries were quickly put aside when he was greeted at the door by the secretariat for security himself. Arrow had called his casino security people to find out what had happened during the arrest, and then had his interim security chief call the police station and let them know he was on his way. The chief was conciliatory and apologetic that one of Arrow’s men had been killed under their watch.
“That’s very kind of you,” Arrow said, taking a seat in the pale green office of the public safety director. “I appreciate your concern during this difficult time.”
“We were very concerned to hear that this man had been murdered in his own hotel by one of his own assistants and a movie producer from the United States.”
“As was I,” Arrow said. “I’ve been handling some very important business with some VIP guests in town and I assumed I could leave my security needs in the care of Zhou Peng.”
Arrow could see the secretariat’s face swell with curiosity when he heard the mention of VIP guests, and Arrow made a mental note to keep his activities related to the testimony even closer to his vest than normal. The last thing he needed was a curious police executive nosing around and scaring the U.S. government delegation even further.
“What kind of VIP guests?”
“We have many VIPs at the Golden Desert,” Arrow said quickly. “It’s why my business is so important to this country, and why the security of my property is paramount.”
“We will make sure that the two killers are punished to the fullest extent.”
“I appreciate your diligence in this matter,” Arrow said. “But in the case of the movie producer, his stature, along with his status as a U.S. citizen, brings some complications. I’d like to deal with him myself.”
The secretariat was losing his patience and his attention span was beginning to wander. It seemed Arrow had ruined the mood by not letting them take Billy Barnett and hang him in the public square as an example.
“We don’t usually hand over murder suspects to private citizens.”
Arrow put on his most somber face and leaned in closer to the man.
“Between you and me, man-to-man, I think we only have one murder suspect here. This woman, Dale Gai, was sneaking around Zhou Peng’s back. And I have reason to believe she was not loyal to me or my interests in this country. This movie producer was just another dumb American blinded by a woman, and I’d hate to see him suffer for that bad choice.”
“You can take the movie producer away from here now. The woman stays.”
“I understand,” Arrow said.
They finished off the conversation with pleasantries and empty promises to keep in touch with each other about their operations. then Arrow went to meet Billy Barnett for the first time.
43
Arrow Donaldson was just about the last person Teddy would have expected to be bailing him out of jail. It was a most interesting turn of events. The casino mogul was joined by the secretariat of security to transfer Teddy from the jail to Arrow’s waiting car. Teddy got in first without hesitation. He wanted to project confidence and trust, knowing a man like Arrow Donaldson would feed on any hint of fear. Arrow got in after Teddy and asked the driver for a drink.
The driver handed back a flask, which Arrow in turn offered to Teddy as they drove away. “Need a pick-me-up? Sounds like it’s been a rough day for you.”
“Jail is certainly never easy.”
“You’ve been in jail before?” Arrow asked.
Teddy could almost see the man laying the trap. If Arrow wanted to learn more about Billy Barnett, Teddy was happy to oblige. He took the drink Arrow offered, and said, “Not like this, no. We’ve done filming in jails before and I’ve done research, you know, but not like that, no. Wow.”
Teddy took another drink and flopped back in his seat. “This is a nice car,” Teddy said, looking around like he was assessing the vehicle’s amenities rather than looking for anything he could use as a weapon if this turned out to be a trap.
Arrow ignored that comment, shifting instead to the business at hand. “I’m glad I could help you out of a sticky situation.”
Teddy sat up, as if recalling his manners. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your help. I’m sure the police enjoyed having a high-profile American in custody, and may have been reluctant to let go of their prize.”
Arrow nodded. Teddy sensed he was putting out the right vibes as the reckless rich American Arrow expected him to be.
Teddy continued, “Now that unpleasantness is past, I’m looking forward to being elbow-deep in a pile of chips at the craps table.”