The Interior

"No," Randall shot out sharply. "That was Keith Baxter's job, and he did exactly as we wanted. Your job is to make sure the acquisition contracts are signed on Sunday. I'm not hearing that."

"What if the women who've been hurt come forward?"

Randall Craig shrugged. "I'd say that sometimes there are little blips on the radar screen, but that they never amount to anything. Put another way, we've got five factories in and around Shenzhen, and we haven't had any problems."

" China 's laws are changing."

Randall gri

"A court might think differently if it had documents to back up what the women said."

Randall's demeanor suddenly changed. "What documents are those?"

"A young woman smuggled them out. She pla

"But she didn't?"

"No. She's dead, murdered, I believe."

"Is there an investigation into her death? Is there anything that can tie her to us?" Randall asked.

"Those are two questions. The answer to the first is not officially. The answer to the second is I don't think so."

"Then we have nothing to worry about."

"What about Keith's death?"

"I understood you were the target there."

"I have reason to believe I wasn't."

Randall sighed. "Miles thought this might come up-some kind of post-traumatic stress thing. Look, I'd like to help you through this, but the fact is I'm not trained for it. Miles will be in Beijing tomorrow. Cry on his shoulder." Randall glanced at his watch. David was supposed to take the hint and leave. When he didn't, Randall asked, "What?"

"What you just said is so out of line, I hardly know what to say."

"David, you represent me and my company. Focus on that. If there's another matter I should know about…" He eyed David curiously, as if sizing him up. "Have you seen those papers you mentioned? Is there something in them that I should be concerned about? If Pearl Je

David couldn't answer all of these questions without putting Suchee in possible jeopardy. Instead he said, "I don't think anyone has plans to blackmail you. As far as what's in the papers, they show that the factory building wouldn't be safe in a fire. There aren't enough exits and…"

Randall gri

David couldn't believe what he was hearing. "The child labor and the rest of it?"

"How can I say this except bluntly? Tartan is already aware of those issues. Women getting hurt? Chemicals? Why do you think we've been in China for the past twenty years? It's because we can get away with a lot." Randall rose to signal the end of the meeting. He opened the door, then, seeing David's appalled look, said, "Don't look so shocked. China 's helped build Tartan to what it is today-a billion-dollar company. Don't lose sight of that or your potential place in it."

He clapped David on the shoulder and fairly pushed him out the door. "Forgive me, but I've got to get out to Knight. We've got a full schedule today." And he shut the door in David's face.

Furious, stu

Back in his room, he once again called down to the hotel operator and asked to be put through to Henry's suite. When no one answered,

David called Knight International. A receptionist with a lilting voice informed him that Mr. Knight wasn't at the compound nor was he expected until eleven when the festivities would begin. "What about Douglas Knight?" David asked.

"No, sir, he isn't here either. Perhaps you should try the hotel."

David called back down to the hotel operator and was transferred to Doug's room. But he wasn't in either. David went to the hotel dining room, hoping that the Knights would be having breakfast. They weren't, so he went back upstairs.

He waited a half hour, called again at the compound and the hotel for both father and son, but they were still unreachable. David began to pace, checked his watch, then sat down and punched in what felt like dozens of numbers. If it was 9:00 A.M. here, it would be 5:00 P.M. yesterday in Los Angeles. Miles Stout's secretary answered the phone and verified that Miles had left the city. "He'll be arriving in Beijing tonight your time. He'll be at the Kempinski if you need to talk to him." David thanked her and asked to be transferred to the voice-mail message center. He tapped in his pass code and waited. He had six new messages.

The first was from Miles, who repeated almost word for word what his secretary had just told David, adding, "I'll be half dead by the time I get to the hotel, but maybe we can have breakfast together. I'd like us all to be on the same page when we meet with Randall and his people." Next, David heard Rob Butler's voice asking how things were going in private practice, informing him that there'd still been no progress on the Rising Phoenix investigation, and reminding him that if David needed anything to be sure and call. "You know, Carla's always wanted to see the Great Wall," Rob said. "Maybe we'll come out for a vacation and you can show us the sights. Anyway, it'd be a great way to get in a game or two of te

Interspersed among these calls were three from A

"I really want to talk to you. You can call collect if you want."

The second message said simply, "This is A