The Red Pole of Macau by Ian Hamilton Read Free Book Online Page A

the fish, but her eyes were on the kitchen door, where Simon had reappeared with his father by his side. Ava watched the two men hug, and then the older man waved at the table.
    Jessie gave a quick hug to Michael and Amanda and then extended her hand to Ava. “I guess we really are leaving now.”
    “Nice to meet you,” Ava said.
    “And you. Hopefully the next time it won’t be so rushed,” she said as her husband reached the table.
    He took his wife by the hand and nodded at them. “I’ll see you in the morning,” he said.
    Michael sat down, his eyes on the retreating couple. “I guess we should be heading back soon ourselves,” he said quietly.
    “Yes,” Ava said, beginning to feel that she had wasted her time and money by flying to Hong Kong.
    The car ride back was filled with Amanda’s steady prattle. Michael drove as if every metre required his complete attention, while Ava’s thoughts drifted to their meeting in Macau.
    When they got back to the Mandarin, Michael got out of the car with Ava. “I’ll walk you in,” he said, taking a large brown envelope from the glove compartment.
    “No bother.”
    “Please.”
    Inside the lobby he reached for her hand. “I want to apologize for Simon.”
    “No need.”
    “Yes, there is need. This is not like him, not like him at all. He’s been a wonderful friend and a great business partner. This has thrown him for a loop. He blames himself for all of it and is struggling with the fact that his other best friend, David Chi, helped create the situation.”
    “I know,” she said.
    “I’m convinced Chi screwed us over.”
    Well, he understands that at least , she thought. “Probably,” she said.
    “And Simon has trouble accepting that.”
    “At the end of day, the business and you will win out.”
    “I hope so.”
    “One thing, Michael. What do Amanda and Jessie know about all this?”
    “They know about the project, of course, but not that it’s gone off the rails so badly. It’s better that way. They couldn’t handle the stress.”
    They couldn’t do much worse than you and Simon , she thought, but simply said, “Whatever.” It must have sounded dismissive, because she saw his face collapse. In that moment he looked exactly like her father the last time she had seen him. “Michael, relax. We’ll work this out.”
    “We have to.”
    “Well, if we don’t, at least that was one hell of a meal, and it was on the house,” she said.
    “You’re joking?”
    “Yes, I am.”
    His laugh was forced. “So, tomorrow?”
    “We’ll need to catch the jetfoil at eleven thirty.”
    “Then we’ll pick you up at eleven.”
    “That’s fine,” she said.
    He offered the envelope to her. “I brought along the financials of our company. I thought you might go over them before the meeting. We are viable, you know. I want you to understand that if we can get through this we have a bright enough future.”
    “That wasn’t necessary.”
    “I figured the more you know, the better.”
    “Yes, that is normally true.”
    “And, Ava, as for Simon, he’ll get past this.”
    “Michael, I don’t care about Simon,” she said. “I care about you.”
     

( 5 )
    She slept badly, a dream she couldn’t get away from waking her and then grabbing her again the moment she closed her eyes. She was with Uncle in some Chinese city that was all dust, smoke, and exhaust fumes, and they were being chased down, running for their lives. He was moving slowly, limping when he wasn’t hopping on one leg. She felt the urge to run and had to hold back, though her energy was bursting. He kept telling her to leave, that he’d make it on his own. Every time she was at that point she’d wake, get up to pee and drink a glass of water, and then crawl back into bed hoping that the dream was over, only to have it return. Same city, different location, more thugs.
    Dreams were common for her, but not dreams about Uncle. Usually it was her father who dominated her nighttime