Free A Lotus For Miss Quon by James Hadley Chase

your grandfather," he went on.

    "There will be bicycles at the post," she said, her voice quavering.

    He stared at her: wondering why he hadn't thought of that.

    "Do you think so? I'll see."

    He hurried over to the shattered police post. At the back he found three bicycles, lying in the long grass. He wheeled two of them onto the road. "That was a brainwave of yours. They'll save us a hell of a walk. Do you feel like riding or would you like me to take you on the bar?" Moving shakily, she came over to him and took one of the machines.

    "I'm all right."

    He felt a surge of love for her run through him. He thought: Damn it! She's got guts! I'm a lucky sonofabitch to have her with me!"

    "Well, let's go," he said, and collecting his holdall from the car, he swung his leg over the cycle.

    He watched her mount her cycle, expecting her to fall off, but although she wobbled perilously for the first six or seven yards, she got the machine under control and seemed fairly steady.

    He caught up with her and together they began to pedal down the road to Thudaumot.

    "If we see any car coming," he said to her, "we get off at once and lie in the ditch."

    She didn't say anything. He could see by her strained expression, it was as much as she could do to ride the machine.

    As they rode along, he switched his mind from her to his own problems,

    He thought: I'm making a bad start. When Sam finds his car's missing, he'll charge around to my place. He said he wanted it by seven a.m. When he finds I'm not there at that hour, he'll imagine I've had an accident. He'll go to the police and tell them I borrowed the car to go to the airport, but will he tell them I was with a girl?

    He glanced at Nhan who was pedalling away, the split sheath of her tunic floating behind her.

    The chances are, he went on thinking, the police will find the car before Sam knows it's missing. They'll get onto the Embassy. Hell! This is really going to start something. The Embassy will try to find Sam. They'll jump to the conclusion it was Sam driving the car. When he does turn up, maybe he'll have to tell the police he spent the night with that Chinese girl. He'll love that! How he'll curse me!

    Then with a slight pang of regret, he realized it now didn't matter what Sam would think of him. He would probably never see Sam again if he had any luck. Then he had another thought that excited him.

    When it's known I was in the car and the car's found, he reasoned, they'll all jump to the conclusion I've been kidnapped by the Viet Minh. It's the most obvious conclusion they could jump to.

    He remembered two American tourists, some months ago, who had driven to Angkor and had never been heard of since. Their car had been found, but there had been no trace of them. The Vietnamese authorities had said they had been kidnapped by Viet Minh bandits and had regretfully told the Embassy there was nothing they could do about it.

    Jaffe suddenly felt much more cheerful. This could mean the hunt for him would be very half-hearted. Once the Vietnam police had convinced themselves he was in the hands of the Viet Minh, they weren't likely to exert themselves, looking for him. They would put on a facesaving show for the benefit of the American Embassy, but it wouldn't last long. For the first time since he had found the diamonds, he felt quite light-hearted.

C HAPTER F IVE

    Ann Fai Wah woke with a start and sat up abruptly in bed. She could hear the front door-bell ringing loudly and persistently.

    She groped for the switch of the bedside lamp and turned on the light, looking at the travelling clock under the lamp as she did so. The time was twenty minutes to five.

    Her almond-shaped eyes widened in alarm and she shook the fat sleeping form of Sam Wade, digging her long fingernails into the flesh of his arm.

    Wade cursed sleepily, then raised his head and blinked at her.
    "What's the matter? What the hell . . .?"

    Then he too heard the continuous ringing of the bell