Eddie Chase.

Nina opened her mouth to call out to him, then clamped it shut again, not sure what she would say. And what was he doing here anyway, after all the fuss he’d made about taking the morning off?

Her confusion increased when she realized from which door he’d just come. It was the office of Hector Amoros. Not somebody with whom Chase dealt regularly… so why had he gone to see him now?

The elevator doors closed on Chase-if he’d seen her down the corridor as they shut, he gave no sign. A chill suddenly hit her.

Had he quit? Was that why he’d gone to the man in charge of the IHA, to hand in his resignation?

The chill intensified. If it was because of her, then the IHA might not be the only place he was leaving…

Nina was about to go to Amoros’s office and ask him what had happened when she heard her name over the PA system. Evidently Popadopoulos had come to a quick decision.

She vacillated for a moment before turning and heading back to her office. One thing at a time. Get rid of Popadopoulos, and then find out what the hell Chase had just done. And hope it wasn’t too late to stop him from doing something stupid.

Not, she reflected ruefully, that she’d had much success at that lately…

The hunched historian stood waiting for her as she entered. “Dr. Wilde,” he said, somewhat reluctantly, “regarding the Hermocrates text… the Brotherhood has agreed to allow you to view it. Here in New York.”

“Thank you,” she said, though without the pleasure she’d expected.

“I have certain conditions that must be met regarding security and the handling of the pages, of course-I will e-mail the details to you by this afternoon.” His eyes narrowed behind the gold-rimmed glasses. “These conditions are not negotiable, no.”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine,” said Nina, distracted, still concerned about Chase. Popadopoulos seemed surprised by her ready agreement, geared up for a confrontation and slightly disappointed not to get one.

“Very well,” he said. “I will make the necessary arrangements to have the text flown over from Italy by tomorrow. I, of course, will be in attendance at all times while you-you alone, no one else will have access-examine the pages.”

“Yeah, that’s great.” She blinked, snapping back to full awareness of the conversation. “I mean, thank you, Mr. Popadopoulos, thank you! I look forward to it. Thank you.” She shook his hand, then almost bustled the little man out of the office before sitting down, one hand over her mouth.

What had Chase done?

She was about to reach for the phone to call Amoros when it trilled. Startled, she picked it up. “Hello?”

“Nina, hi.” It was Amoros himself. “When you’re free, can you come by my office?”

“Is it-is it about Eddie?”

“Actually, yes.” He sounded surprised. “I didn’t realize you knew. He said he hadn’t told you about it.”

“About what?” she asked, feeling panicked.

There was a pause. “Maybe you’d better come seeme…”

“You’re going where?” Nina demanded. As soon as her meeting with Amoros ended, she’d raced out of the building and jumped into a cab back to the apartment.

“Shanghai,” said Chase casually, as if flying to China on a moment’s notice was no more remarkable an event than taking the subway, while he stuffed clothes into a bag.

“Why are you going to Shanghai?”

He gave her a condescending smirk. “It’s classified. IHA business.”

Nina bristled. “The hell it’s classified! Tell me what you’re doing!”

“Sorry, love, it is classified. Amoros agrees with me-and so does the U.N.”

She stepped up to him, hands on her hips. “Is this about us?”

“It’s got nothing to do with us,” he said. “Something came up, I thought it was an IHA security issue, Amoros agreed, so I’m off to Shanghai to check it out.”

“Why you? Why not somebody else? Like somebody actually in Shanghai already?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Can’t tell me, or won’t tell me?”

Not looking at her, Chase shut the bag, then slipped his passport and other documents into the inside pocket of his leather jacket. “I’ve got to go.”

“And how long are you going to be gone?”

Chase shrugged. “Long as it takes.” He started towards the door, but Nina stood in his way.

“You seriously expect me to believe that you’re flying halfway around the world at a moment’s notice, and you won’t tell me why, and it has nothing to do with what we’re going through right now?”

“I don’t really care what you believe. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to work.” He pushed past her and left the room.

“Son of a bitch!” Nina growled, shooting a venomous look at the back of the apartment door as it closed behind him. Fists clenched, she went over to the Cuban souvenir as if about to sweep it from its perch and smash it into a million pieces, but then turned away and threw herself onto the couch, shaking with anger.

3 Shanghai

It was more than two years since Chase’s last visit to Shanghai, and he was impressed-though not surprised-by the scale of the change in the city’s skyline. New skyscrapers had sprung up wherever he looked, and the spaces between them were filled with towering construction cranes that formed gangly silhouettes against the dusk sky.

The new structures weren’t the boring boxes that dominated cities in the West. Flush with money and determined to show off the fact, the booming corporations of Shanghai were engaged in an architectural arms race, competing to have the tallest, the coolest, the most outrageously designed headquarters. Ancient Chinese temples stretched vertically to a hundred stories or more, gleaming silver spires, domes, corkscrews and even some bizarre organic shapes that defied easy description, everything blazing with neon.

The building Chase took a particular interest in as the taxi drove along an overpass on the city’s eastern side was not as tall as some, but it still made a statement with its size and design. The headquarters of Ycom-pronounced yee-com-were around thirty floors high, one side of the building a sheer cliff of black glass while the other dropped away in a smooth curve that reminded him of a skateboard ramp. The roof of the building was festooned with communications masts, all picked out in neon, with what looked like a helicopter pad at the center.

Ycom, he knew, was one of Richard Yuen Xuan’s corporations.

“So, Eddie, you still like Shanghai?” said the woman driving the cab. Her petite frame made to seem even smaller by her oversized, boyish clothes, Chao Mei appeared to be barely out of her teens. In fact, she was several years older than she looked, and her pretty, innocent face, partly hidden below the brim of a floppy turquoise beret, belied some of the less-than-legal activities Chase knew she’d been involved in through her family’s connections to the Triads.

“Yeah, it looks pretty cool. All these towers, though-the whole place is like one giant dick-waving contest.”

Mei giggled. “You still always joke about sex, Eddie. Maybe if not for this”-she patted her stomach. Not even her padded jacket could disguise the fact that she was several months pregnant- “we could have finally done it for real, hmm?”

“Yeah, bloody Lo and his powerful sperm,” said Chase, knowing she was joking. “But I’m probably going to need to get out of town fast when I’m done.” His voice dropped. “Also, I’m sort of involved with someone.”

“You are?” She looked back at him, pleased but also a little surprised. “Good for you! What’s she like? Is she beautiful?”

“Eyes on the road, Mei,” Chase reminded her, trying not to wince as the taxi drifted out of its lane towards a bus. She jerked the cab back into line, then watched him in the mirror. “And yeah, she is.”