A minute later his phone buzzed. He thought it might be Morris calling back, but it was Steers. She needed to go somewhere and wanted him to take her. He had not spoken with her very much since they had returned. And when he had, the woman had seemed cold and distant. He wondered if it had to do with her suddenly realizing that with the sale of her empire the woman’s life was going to change, perhaps drastically.
Or is it something else?
CHAPTER
70
STEERS SAID NOTHING TO HIMas she got into the rear seat of the car.
“Where to?” asked Nash.
“Just drive,” replied Steers.
He pulled through the gates and onto the road.
“Left,” she said.
He glanced in the mirror at his boss. She had reflective sunglasses on so he could not see what she was looking at.
“How did things go with your mother?” asked Nash. “I presume you’ve talked to her by now, since several weeks have passed since our visit with Connor Lord, but you never said.”
“As expected, except for one thing.”
“What was that?”
“Dai Lu?”
To his credit, Nash managed to keep driving straight down the road. “Excuse me?”
“It is my mother’s real Chinese name, but you knew that, Dillon-san.”
When he looked in the mirror she was holding a gun pointed at the back of his head.
“Drive me to where Hiroko-san lies.”
He turned right at the next road, and a few miles later he pulled to a stop at the lonely patch of land where Hiroko was buried nearby.
They got out of the car.
Steers said, “You will removebothof your guns and place them on the front seat.”
“I can explain this.”
“You will do what I asked you to do, Mr. Hope, or whatever your real name is.”
He noted that her voice trembled, but he saw that the hand holding the gun on him was rock steady.
He took out his pistols and laid them on the seat.
“We will now go into the woods,” she said.
“Why not just shoot me here?” he said.
“We will go into the woods anddiscussthis,” she replied. “You have earned that right. Otherwise, Iwouldsimply shoot you.”
She followed him down a path toward Hiroko’s grave.
When they reached it Steers said, “This is fine. You may turn around and face me.”