Free Point Blank (Sisterhood Book 26) by Fern Michaels

his watch. It felt like an eternity.
    Harry spoke again. “What do you mean you aren’t safe? You sent your family back to the States yesterday. Why are you so worried? You need to tell me right now what is going on if you want my help. I don’t want any bullshit, either, Dishbang Deshi. Stop beating around the bush and tell me straight out what’s going on. Not what you think is going on, what is actually going on. Jun Ling said she knows nothing, only that Jun Yu said he was in trouble. How’s that possible, that she doesn’t know what kind of trouble her husband was in? Don’t go giving me that crap that this is America, and we do things differently here. Pillow talk is the same the world over.” Harry listened again, this time for five minutes, according to Jack’s watch. An eternity.
    “Three days, four at the most. I can’t tell you that. You’ll see me when you see me is the best I can offer you right now. I have one question, Dishbang Deshi. Why didn’t you help Jun Yu?” Harry listened, his mouth a grim, tight line in his face. Two minutes this time, Jack thought. Back among the living. That was good.
    “I want to know about my daughter. I don’t care about your sorry ass or how many excuses you come up with. Nor do I care about the two tons of silk you need to ship. You should have been there for him. You should have sensed he was in trouble, Dishbang Deshi. Didn’t you learn anything at the monastery? Now tell me again why Jun Yu couldn’t get my daughter when he snatched his son Hop and daughter Gan.” Harry’s shoulders sagged as he listened to the voice on the other end of the line. Then he shrugged and tossed the phone to Charles. “It’s dead.”
    “Talk to us, Harry,” Myra said gently.
    “Dishbang Deshi did a lot of talking, but he really doesn’t know anything. He said when Jun Yu called him he was vague and wouldn’t confide in him. He said Jun Yu told him the less he knew, the less he could be blamed for if things turned dicey. That’s how Jun Yu was. He did, however, scare Dishbang Deshi enough that he sent his family to the States. Mississippi, to be precise. He said the watchers, that’s what he called them, which translates to the triads, would be no match for the bubbas in Mississippi. He got word a short while ago that his entire family is safe and in the bosom of his wife’s family. He said he knows he himself is being watched. He’s scared. No, that’s wrong; Dishbang Deshi is petrified.”
    “But why?” Annie demanded.
    “He doesn’t know. He thinks it has something to do with gambling. The monks are a peaceful lot and not into deviousness. There’s a new Abbot at the monastery, and he’s not exactly in favor. He said he’s heard rumors over the past year, since the new Abbot took over, that there is a faction that wants to commercialize the whole province. He has no proof. He thinks Jun Yu had the proof, but he isn’t sure. Dishbang Deshi is living at his place of business now that his family is gone. He says there are a lot of people around him to protect him and also to warn him if they sense trouble. He is anxious for me to get there. He doesn’t want to end up like Jun Yu.
    “He said, the day Jun Yu went to get his son Hop and daughter Gan, he didn’t know the foreign students had been moved several days before. His son told him that men came, a lot of men, who walked with the Abbot and took all the foreigners away. And some of the older Chinese. Hop did not know where they were taken so he couldn’t advise his father. Dishbang Deshi said Jun Yu wanted to stay to try to find Lily, but the people with him said it was too dangerous and that they had to leave. I believe him. For whatever it’s worth,” Harry said sadly.
    Maggie Spritzer let loose with a very unladylike sound. “So where does all this leave us?”
    Charles looked up at the bank of clocks on the back wall that told the time all over the world. They hung directly behind Lady Justice.