Free The Trail to Buddha's Mirror by Don Winslow

not talk about it,” Olivia said. “It makes me sad.”
    What about you, Dr. Bob? thought Neal. Does this mean you’re going home, too?
    “I have a toast to propose!” said Tom. “Fill up your cups!”
    Olivia poured out the wine.
    Tom lifted his cup and scanned the table, looking each of them in the eye, then said, “To beauty—the beauty of Lan’s art, the beauty of the crops that grow through Robert’s knowledge, and the beauty of friendship.”
    Neal drained his cup as a stupid question came to him: Had Judas liked the wine at the Last Supper?
    Neal had never liked being naked. People didn’t get naked in New York, not outdoors, anyway, and they sure as hell didn’t shuck their clothes in public in England. But it was hot-tub time, and his hosts insisted that he join them. They didn’t use bathing suits in Marin County, and he was undercover—so to speak—so he surrendered his clothing in exchange for a promised towel and robe and then slid into the deepest part of the hot tub. He was grateful for the dim blue lighting on the deck, and more grateful that it was only Pendleton who joined him at first.
    “I’m not a hot-tub kind of guy,” Neal said.
    “Neither am I.”
    “Then what are we doing here?”
    “I wanted to talk with you and know I’m not being recorded.”
    Great, Neal thought. You sure fooled them.
    “So, did the company send you?” Pendleton asked.
    Neal thought about saying something clever like “What company?” or “Huh?” but decided that the old game was up and he might as well get it over with.
    “Yeah.”
    “That’s what I thought. Lan says that you don’t know anything about Chinese painting.”
    “I just know what I like.”
    If Pendleton thought the joke was funny, he disguised it pretty well.
    “What does the company want?” he asked.
    “They want you back.”
    Jesus, this is stupid, Neal thought. Sitting here up to my chin in steaming water, half in the bag, trying to persuade another naked man to go back to work. I have to get a real job.
    “I’m not going back,” Pendleton said. His thin chest puffed out in determination.
    “What’s the problem?”
    Perspiration had slid Pendleton’s glasses down his nose, and he pushed them back up again. Then he said, “You’ve seen her.”
    Yeah, Doc. I’ve seen her all right. I wish I hadn’t.
    “Look, Doc, they allow love in North Carolina.”
    “To a Chinese woman?”
    Come on, Doc, Neal thought. Lighten up. Join us in the 1970s. What’s the big deal?
    “Sure, why not?”
    Pendleton snorted sarcastically and shook his head. “I’m going with her,” he said.
    “Yeah, well, there’s a problem with that.”
    “Yeah? What problem?” Pendleton asked.
    Neal saw that he was getting pissed off.
    “You have a contract that has a year and change left. They’ll sue you.”
    “Let them try to get to my money in Hong Kong.”
    The hot water was starting to get to Neal. The wine didn’t exactly help, either. He felt enervated, tired.
    “Doc, you don’t want to do that. Look, if it’s really love, it’ll last a year and a half. She can visit you, you can visit her…. I’ll bet AgriTech would even spring for the airfare. Finish out your time and then you’ll be free and clear.”
    It’s been about a year since I left Diane, Neal thought, and I don’t think it’s going to last. And who am I to talk about being free and clear? I haven’t been either free or clear in my whole life. If I were, I wouldn’t be sitting here.
    “You’re never free from those people,” Pendleton said bitterly. “Once they have you, they think they own you forever.”
    I know the feeling, Doc.
    “It’s a free country, Dr. Pendleton. If you don’t want to sign the next contract, don’t sign it. But the harsh fact is that you have to honor the one you have.” Or love the one you’re with, or something like that, and why did I have to drink all those toasts?
    “Honor?” Pendleton said with a chortle. “I don’t