Read Online Tell Me No Lies by Elizabeth Lowell - Free Book Online
Authors: Elizabeth Lowell
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"Every one of the other experts declared it a fake."
"The Beijing Museum has some very ancient bronzes whose patinas are of similar color and perfection," Yi said, watching Stone with shrewd black eyes.
Checkmate.
Stone no more had access to Beijing's museum than he did to recent archaeological excavations in China. He could either call Yi a liar or he could accept Lindsay Danner as the FBI's chosen expert on ancient Chinese bronzes.
Stone started to speak, stopped, stubbed out his cigarette and turned smoothly to face Yi again. "Would you buy the incense burner?" asked Stone.
"Is it for sale?"
There was no hesitation. "Yes."
"Ah!" Yi turned to Catlin. "That will be your first acquisition. See that Miss Danner handles it for you. It will be an excellent return to the market for an absent collector."
"None better," Catlin said dryly. He didn't know whether the incense burner was a fake or whether the bowl was a genuine late Shang rather than an early Chou fraud. In terms of what he would have to do to earn back half of the mutilated coin, it didn't matter. Yi had won. Stone had lost.
It was time for the dragon to go fishing.
"Will you inform Miss Danner of her new client," said Yi, gesturing toward Catlin with a fragile, long-nailed hand, "or should I?"
"Client?" asked Stone.
"Yes. According to the information you have supplied to me," Yi said, "Miss Danner's activities are not limited to the Museum of the Asias. She also serves independent collectors, as does every other expert on that list."
Stone nodded.
Yi smiled coolly. "Mr. Catlin is a collector of fine Chinese bronzes. His special interest is in third century B.C. bronzes. Especially the Qin dynasty period."
Instantly Stone understood. "You want us to set up a sting."
"Please?"
"That's where the cops pretend to be crooks," explained Catlin. "They get close to the crooks like a bee on a flower. They buy stolen merchandise, talk crooked, walk crooked, eat crooked and wait until they have enough evidence to hang the real crooks. Then the cops sink in the stinger and fly away to the next rotten flower."
"Ah!" The technique was not an unfamiliar one to a man who had survived China's bitter fratricidal strife. Yi was a man with many public faces and no private ones. "A sting. Another idiom to remember. Very useful. Thank you."
Stone shifted impatiently. "It shouldn't take long to set up a team. I'll give you a call tomorrow and "
"Excuse me," interrupted Yi. "You will do nothing. The team is Catlin and Miss Danner. Your job is to protect them at the moment of the sting. Nothing more."
"And the dragon's job?" Catlin asked in Mandarin, cutting off Stone's explosion.
Stone held his temper and waited, remembering that the last time Catlin had started talking Mandarin, Yi had given in Yi met Catlin's eyes unflinchingly. Catlin had the gut feeling that whatever was said next would be the simple truth.
But when it came, it still surprised him.
"You are to protect Miss Danner," answered Yi.
"Who do I protect her from?" Catlin shot back in Mandarin. "Buyers? Sellers? Policemen? Thieves?"
"Everyone."
"Including you?"
Yi smiled sadly. "I above all, dragon. Ah! I above all."
Who do I protect Her from?
I above all, Dragon. I above all.
4
Catlin walked along the Capitol Mall, weaving in and out of tourists. The massive, elegant needle of Washington Monument rose out of the green ahead of him. Catlin didn't look at the sun-struck whiteness of the obelisk, nor at the mixture of races and nationalities seething slowly among America's monuments to itself. He had already discovered the only thing of importance the number of the men who were tailing him.
There were four. They were quick, professional and operated like a close-order drill team. It had become an open tail, the kind designed to let the mark know that someone was keeping him on a very short leash. Open or closed, it didn't matter to Catlin. He had sensed the presence of a follower two blocks
"The Beijing Museum has some very ancient bronzes whose patinas are of similar color and perfection," Yi said, watching Stone with shrewd black eyes.
Checkmate.
Stone no more had access to Beijing's museum than he did to recent archaeological excavations in China. He could either call Yi a liar or he could accept Lindsay Danner as the FBI's chosen expert on ancient Chinese bronzes.
Stone started to speak, stopped, stubbed out his cigarette and turned smoothly to face Yi again. "Would you buy the incense burner?" asked Stone.
"Is it for sale?"
There was no hesitation. "Yes."
"Ah!" Yi turned to Catlin. "That will be your first acquisition. See that Miss Danner handles it for you. It will be an excellent return to the market for an absent collector."
"None better," Catlin said dryly. He didn't know whether the incense burner was a fake or whether the bowl was a genuine late Shang rather than an early Chou fraud. In terms of what he would have to do to earn back half of the mutilated coin, it didn't matter. Yi had won. Stone had lost.
It was time for the dragon to go fishing.
"Will you inform Miss Danner of her new client," said Yi, gesturing toward Catlin with a fragile, long-nailed hand, "or should I?"
"Client?" asked Stone.
"Yes. According to the information you have supplied to me," Yi said, "Miss Danner's activities are not limited to the Museum of the Asias. She also serves independent collectors, as does every other expert on that list."
Stone nodded.
Yi smiled coolly. "Mr. Catlin is a collector of fine Chinese bronzes. His special interest is in third century B.C. bronzes. Especially the Qin dynasty period."
Instantly Stone understood. "You want us to set up a sting."
"Please?"
"That's where the cops pretend to be crooks," explained Catlin. "They get close to the crooks like a bee on a flower. They buy stolen merchandise, talk crooked, walk crooked, eat crooked and wait until they have enough evidence to hang the real crooks. Then the cops sink in the stinger and fly away to the next rotten flower."
"Ah!" The technique was not an unfamiliar one to a man who had survived China's bitter fratricidal strife. Yi was a man with many public faces and no private ones. "A sting. Another idiom to remember. Very useful. Thank you."
Stone shifted impatiently. "It shouldn't take long to set up a team. I'll give you a call tomorrow and "
"Excuse me," interrupted Yi. "You will do nothing. The team is Catlin and Miss Danner. Your job is to protect them at the moment of the sting. Nothing more."
"And the dragon's job?" Catlin asked in Mandarin, cutting off Stone's explosion.
Stone held his temper and waited, remembering that the last time Catlin had started talking Mandarin, Yi had given in Yi met Catlin's eyes unflinchingly. Catlin had the gut feeling that whatever was said next would be the simple truth.
But when it came, it still surprised him.
"You are to protect Miss Danner," answered Yi.
"Who do I protect her from?" Catlin shot back in Mandarin. "Buyers? Sellers? Policemen? Thieves?"
"Everyone."
"Including you?"
Yi smiled sadly. "I above all, dragon. Ah! I above all."
Who do I protect Her from?
I above all, Dragon. I above all.
4
Catlin walked along the Capitol Mall, weaving in and out of tourists. The massive, elegant needle of Washington Monument rose out of the green ahead of him. Catlin didn't look at the sun-struck whiteness of the obelisk, nor at the mixture of races and nationalities seething slowly among America's monuments to itself. He had already discovered the only thing of importance the number of the men who were tailing him.
There were four. They were quick, professional and operated like a close-order drill team. It had become an open tail, the kind designed to let the mark know that someone was keeping him on a very short leash. Open or closed, it didn't matter to Catlin. He had sensed the presence of a follower two blocks