Cloak of Fury (Veil Knights Book 3), page 4
Somehow, during our journey, she had managed to acquire the same drink that I had. As I sat, she touched the lip of her glass to mine. “Cheers.”
We drank and then she placed her glass on the table before her. “What brings you here tonight, Rick?”
“Good conversation.”
She smiled. “You said as much.” Her eyes lingered on mine a bit longer than I felt comfortable, but I held her gaze, feeling my pulse quicken and the heat of the vodka in my belly radiate outward.
I needed to do something to regain control, so I took another sip of my drink and then nodded at her. “How does a woman like you come to know fluent Russian, in this place, of all places?”
“You seem surprised,” she said. “You think it unusual for a beautiful woman to know another language?”
“I never said you were beautiful.”
Charade licked her lips. “You didn’t have to say it.”
I smiled now. “It’s just that it’s a rare skill to be able to speak Russian so well.”
“I think you’ll find that I am absolutely brimming with rare skills, Rick.”
“Well, I certainly hope so.”
We locked eyes again and this time, she broke first. I chalked up a small victory for myself, but I didn’t think she was at all intimidated by my gaze, piercing as I know it can be. What a remarkable contrast between the suburban housewives I used to think of as formidable and her. Charade was something else entirely.
“Word is you came here to see Hsu-Chi,” she said suddenly. “Is that true?”
I took another sip. There didn’t seem to be any point denying it, so I nodded. “I am hoping to speak with her. Yes.”
“About what? If I may inquire.”
I shrugged. “I’m looking for something for a friend of mine. He’s lost something important to him and has no idea where it might be. But he suggested I start here.”
“If he is the one who lost it, then why doesn’t he come here and ask for himself?”
I smiled. “That’s a very good question. I’m not really sure. All I know is, earlier this evening, my life was pretty routine. And then this guy shows up while I was working out and asks me to do this job for him.”
“Are you ordinarily the sort of person one goes to for such a thing?”
“Depends on who you ask,” I said.
She nodded and sipped her drink. “And what is this item of such importance that you have been tasked with locating?”
My glass was running low. “I don’t want to appear rude, Charade, but I’m not sure if I should discuss this further. I was told to talk to Hsu-Chi, after all. It’s nothing personal.”
“Don’t you trust me, Rick?” Charade leaned closer. Her fingers found the back of my head, and I felt her fingernails gently scratch at my scalp. I closed my eyes and let them wander for a moment.
“Don’t you trust me?” Her words danced in my head, a warm trickle of honey that soothed my senses.
I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. “Trust.” I sighed. “I wish I could say that I give it freely, but I don’t. I’ve been burned far too many times. No offense, but I need to discuss this with Hsu-Chi. As much as I would love to sit here and talk with you and see what other sorts of rare skills you have, I’m on the job.”
Charade reeled her hand back in and finished her drink. “In that case, let’s go see her.”
“She’s here?”
Charade smiled at me. “She’s always here, Rick. Watching. Waiting. Observing. This is her club, after all.”
“She owns this place?”
Charade allowed a small frown to cross her lips. “You seem surprised by a lot of things tonight, Rick. Why is that?”
I sniffed. “Let’s just say I’ve had my faith in humanity shaken a bit lately. People who claimed to be friends turned out to not give a shit about me. People I thought I could trust betrayed me instead. It’s been a rough few weeks.”
Charade stood and held out her hand to me. “Well, I think you’ll find that things are different here at the Golden Lotus. After all, you are our guest and if we can help you in any way, we certainly will.”
I put my hand in hers and found it much warmer now than it had been earlier when she had first handed me my drink. I stood, and for a moment, our bodies touched. I swear I felt a jolt of electricity run through me, causing me to shiver. It wasn’t a bad sensation at all
“Follow me,” said Charade.
So I did.
5
Charade led us back through the dance floor. I gave myself points for resisting the urge to grab her and sway in time to some music for a spell. Charade’s body looked like it could melt into mine at will and the thought of dancing with her made my pulse quicken.
But I was on the job and her hand in mine tugged me along suggesting it would tolerate no deviation from the route. I gave in and allowed myself to be dragged along.
Off the dance floor, she turned right and headed toward one of the Baccarat tables. As she approached, she veered toward the rear of the club and as we came closer, a slim portal opened and we stepped through, leaving the main floor of the club behind us.
Charade closed the door and all noise ceased. Whoever had soundproofed this place deserved an award because I couldn’t hear one note of music from back in the club.
Charade smiled at me. “She prefers the quiet to the noise of the club.”
“I don’t blame her. That must get unbearable.”
Charade nodded at the narrow corridor stretching before us. “This way, please.”
As we walked, I became aware of a heady scent of lavender hanging in the air. The brightness also decreased and farther on, I could hear a few notes of New Age music flittering through the corridor.
“Her taste in music also runs contrary to what we left behind,” said Charade. “But that doesn’t affect the business.”
“I’ve been known to enjoy Kitaro from time-to-time myself,” I said.
“I don’t think you’ll want to discuss your musical parallels,” said Charade. “Hsu-Chi likes to dispense with small talk and keep focused on the task at hand. Which, in your case, involves finding something she supposedly knows the location of?”
“Well, I don’t know if she knows where it is,” I said. “I was only told to contact her about it.”
As we walked, the corridor sloped downward at a gentle decline. We passed a few people, but none had the fierce look of the hired guns Hsu-Chi employed at the club itself. In a lot of ways, it felt very much like I’d stepped out of the world of the Golden Lotus and into something else entirely.
I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, aside from marveling at how extensive the underground really was beneath the streets of Boston. A long time back, a buddy of mine had worked security at the Jeweler’s Exchange and one night he’d shown me part of the elaborate tunnel system that ran underneath Downtown Crossing. I remember thinking it reminded me of an episode of Scooby Doo where an entire town had been built atop another town.
Finally, the ground leveled out and Charade stopped in front of a simple wooden door. She looked back at me. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “I have to see her.”
“Very well.” Charade knocked and from somewhere inside, I heard the response.
Charade opened the door and then stepped aside so I could enter.
I think I expected to see a formal office with computers and security camera monitors set up so Hsu-Chi could watch everything that was happening in her club. But that wasn’t what greeted me.
Instead, I had to push through gauzy curtains in the dimly-lit interior. Purple seemed to be the color of choice for Hsu-Chi and as I stumbled through the maze of drapes, I suddenly found myself tripping and falling onto a lush sectional with deep cushions and a million throw pillows.
As I righted myself, I heard the delicate sound of her laughter. Then she spoke. “Welcome, Rick Fury.”
I looked up. Hsu-Chi sat on the sectional a few feet away from me. She had the appearance of a woman in her 60s, but I suspected right away she was far older than that. Her make-up was so exquisitely applied, that it defied any sort of concrete age definition. Her hair was perfectly coiffed in a bun with a trio of enamel hairpins jutting from them, each one topped with a single, huge opaque pearl.
Her eyes were bright green and they stared at me with the sort of intensity a lion might use when it eyes its prey.
“Thank you.” I tried to brush myself off and assume a normal seated posture. Hsu-Chi leaned forward and took my hand in hers.
“Let me know you.”
“What-?” But even as I tried to speak, I felt a rush of energy flood up from my hand and into my chest and from there into my head. I felt dizzy and leaned back against the sectional. I saw a flood of images, memories, and things I’d worked hard to suppress come streaming out of me like some weird film montage. In seconds, it was over, but it had been enough.
I looked at Hsu-Chi, but she had her eyes closed. Maybe she was digesting all the information she’d just pulled out of me with no apparent effort. I gave her the time until she at last opened her eyes and smiled at me.
“You’ve had quite the life, haven’t you?”
“Some would probably say that, yes.”
She nodded. “And some would no doubt hate you for experiencing so much of life while they have not.”
“Only if they knew,” I said. “And it’s probably far better that they don’t.”
Hsu-Chi laughed. “Indeed, Mr. Fury. Indeed.”
“Please call me Rick,” I said. “Mr. Fury makes me sound so old.”
“You are not old,” said Hsu-Chi. “Although your soul is very old indeed. Your body vessel, however, is still in remarkable condition. That is most likely due to the occupation you have and its requirement that you be at peak functional capacity.”
“It helps,” I said. “But I thank you for the compliment.”
Hsu-Chi inclined her head for a moment. “I see that Dante Grimm has visited you recently.”
“Earlier today,” I said. “He hired me to find something for him.”
“A leather jacket,” said Hsu-Chi. “Of the type worn by pilots during the Second World War.”
“Yes.” I looked around. There didn’t seem to be any point denying the simple facts of the assignment. I had the feeling that Hsu-Chi would know instantly if I was lying to her and dismiss me out of hand. She might even have me killed if I did something to insult her.
She shrugged. “I don’t have it.”
“Maybe you know where it is, though?”
She toyed with one of her hair pins. “Even if I did, why would I part with such information?”
“Maybe you think I’m a nice guy and you want to help me out?”
She laughed again. “You’re a charming sort, Rick. But at my age, I don’t just dispense information without cost. It takes a fair bit of money to keep my club in business. There are bribes to city officials, the police, the underworld, and then there are the costs with keeping up my appearance. At my age, it takes a lot to look this good.”
“Well, you certainly do look good,” I said.
Hsu-Chi held up her hand. “Don’t patronize me, Rick. That would spoil the fun of our conversation. And I would not like that one bit.”
“Fair enough. My apologies.” I wondered if I would ever meet a woman who could take a compliment without negating it through some counterargument or whiny denial. So far, I hadn’t.
“I know you were being sincere,” said Hsu-Chi. “But my appearance does not factor into our discussion at this moment, so let’s leave it be for now.”
“Understood.”
She leaned back on the sectional and produced two glasses from somewhere behind the couch. She handed me one. “Do you like champagne?”
“Of course.”
She leaned forward and clinked glasses with me.
“What are we celebrating?” I asked.
Her eyes bore into mine. “New partnerships, Rick. And the promise and potential they may bring to us.”
I drank a sip. Judging by how my taste buds reacted, it had to be over one hundred years old. “Delicious.”
Hsu-Chi seemed pleased. “Indeed. If I have one true vice, it’s my love for the bubbly stuff. I spend a ridiculous amount of money on it and then I drink it down rather than save it as an investment. I’ve been scolded about that by my advisors, but what good is having it if you can’t enjoy it?”
“I agree,” I said. “I’d rather have the experience and the memory when I finally die rather than regrets.”
“Spoken like a true adventurer.” She took another sip and then sat there looking at me for some time. Finally, she smiled and spoke. “So, tell me, did Dante talk to you for a long time?”
“Not very long,” I said. “He set up some sort of test for me to complete and then hired me.”
“Test?”
“He had six men attack me at the same time.”
Hsu-Chi’s eyebrows danced at that. “Did he now? Judging from the fact that you are sitting here without any visible wounds or injuries, I would guess that you passed the test with flying colors.”
“I did all right.”
“You’re not a boastful man, Rick. I admire that.”
“I let my work speak for itself,” I said. “If people can’t see it and appreciate it, then that’s their problem, not mine.”
“True, but you must admit that it gets disappointing when others are rewarded and praised for things that you routinely do.”
“I try not to think about it. Our society celebrates mediocrity so much that people who give it their all are forgotten. We claim to love heroes, but the fact is, society does not. People who aspire to excellence are resented by those too lazy to go after their dreams, too scared to risk, and too concerned with the opinions of others to succeed.”
Hsu-Chi nodded. “You are so very right.”
“You ask me if it gets upsetting? Sure it does. I’m only human after all. But I also took a job that requires my work to stay in the shadows, perhaps never coming to light until one day after I’m long dead. If I can’t handle that, then I’m definitely in the wrong line of work.”
“Yes, your CIA would not be thrilled to know that you’re even here talking to me now, would they?”
“I’m on their shitlist anyway,” I said. “Me being here probably won’t make any difference in how they feel about me.”
“Did Dante tell you about magic?”
I shrugged. “Well, he made six corpses disappear, so that was something. And he might have mentioned a few other things.”
“And how did you handle that? This notion of magic being real?”
“To be honest, I’m still not one hundred percent convinced. I’ve spent a lifetime doing things that most people can’t even fathom. And I don’t know if magic is real or just some elaborate illusion that plays on the mind’s own weaknesses to seem authentic.”
“You’re a skeptic.”
“I guess you could say I apply a healthy dose of skepticism with everything I undertake.”
Hsu-Chi smiled once again. “If that is really true, then why are you here? Surely, a quest to find a leather bomber jacket seems a bit...elementary for someone with your particular set of skills.”
“Not sure if ‘quest’ is the right word for it, but yeah, I guess you could say that. But Dante promised me two million if I found the jacket, and since I don’t really have anything else going on right now, I figured it might be worth looking into.”
“Two million dollars is a great sum of money,” said Hsu-Chi. “What will you do with it if you find the jacket?”
“Get the hell out of Dodge,” I said. “I’ve been thinking about hanging it up and losing myself on some tropical beach where I can sleep all day and fuck all night.”
“No visions of grandeur? No plans for world domination?”
Now I laughed. “It would take a whole lot more than two million bucks to achieve world domination. And honestly, I don’t need it. I’ve spent twenty years being a pawn in a game between power players. After awhile it gets nauseating.”
“But you still do it.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I do.”
Hsu-Chi sighed. “Well, I’m heartened to hear that you don’t have any plans for conquest if you do get the jacket. That makes a difference.”
“Does it?”
“Of course,” she said. “The jacket is a very powerful magical artifact. If it fell into the wrong hands, it could be used for great evil.”
“How so?”
“I don’t fully know,” said Hsu-Chi. “The jacket has many legends about it. But so far, no one has been able to confirm or deny them.”
“So, you do know where it is.”
Hsu-Chi frowned. “Not exactly. I know of its whereabouts. But that is merely like saying I know there is a certain fish in the ocean.”
“Well, just tell me where to start then,” I said. “And I can go from there.”
Hsu-Chi nodded. “Very well, but I want one million dollars.”
6
“Excuse me?”
Hsu-Chi smiled and took a long sip of her champagne. “You heard me, Rick. I can point you in the right direction, but it’s going to cost you. I want half of what Dante Grimm is paying you to retrieve the jacket.”
“Isn’t that a little steep? Half?”
Hsu-Chi held up her glass. “As I said, I have a weakness. And next week, two bottles of a rare champagne are going up for auction. I would very much like to own them.”
“I’ll be happy to buy you the most expensive champagne you can find at the local liquor store.”
But Hsu-Chi shook her head. “You don’t understand. These bottles are from a shipwreck that occurred in the 19th century in the Baltic Sea. The glass bottles were hand-blown sometime between 1811 and 1831.”
“After all that time underwater, is it even drinkable?”
Hsu-Chi nodded. “In this case, yes. Apparently the constant temperature of forty degrees in the Baltic, plus being undisturbed one hundred and fifty feet underwater, kept them very stable. Experts have testified that the contents are drinkable.”
