“You are not in danger if you obey my instructions,” said the woman, in perfect English.
“Then why are you pointing the pistol at me?” asked Jack. He glanced at Mr. Frank’s body and added, “Thank you, by the way. You’re a hell of a good shot.”
“Not really. You were lucky … more ways than one. A moment ago I heard you refer to the benefactor … that is who you owe your life to,” she said, moving closer before stopping out of reach.
“Not like the other people you or the benefactor have killed in this country,” Jack remarked.
The woman frowned. “He is the first person I have ever killed,” she replied, gesturing at Mr. Frank with the muzzle of her pistol. “In fact, I believe he is the first person ever killed in Canada that the benefactor has … would … approve of. And, of course, that was done to save the life of a Canadian national.”
“The first person?” queried Jack. “I am familiar with a hit-and-run murder about twenty-five years ago done by one of your Intelligence people. A murder that killed Mia Parker’s father to gain control and manipulate his wife. In fact, that same Intelligence officer was murdered in his flower shop last night. I take it the benefactor was afraid he had become a loose end?”
A siren pierced the air a few blocks away, startling the woman. “If the benefactor had approved such an operation twenty-five years ago,” she replied hastily, “do you really think the person who did the murder would remain in Canada afterward? Let alone Vancouver? I was told you are on an Intelligence Unit. Use your head.”
“Perhaps you thought he was safe until recently when —”
The siren was coming closer and the Chinese woman interrupted. “No more talk! Take Mia and leave immediately.”
“What? Have me call her outside so you can shoot her, too?”
The woman frowned, then yelled something in Chinese.
Jack saw Mia open the back door and he yelled, “Don’t come out! Run! Escape out the front!”
Mia looked apologetic, then was shoved out the door by the tall, thin Chinese man who stopped and stood in the doorway, pointing a gun at her. Jack saw that he had Mia’s gun tucked in his waistband.
“For your information,” said the woman, still pointing her pistol at Jack, “my colleague picked the lock and went back in the restaurant several minutes ago. If we had wanted to kill her, she would already be dead. No more talk. Get the hell away from here now!”
With Mia present, Jack couldn’t resist one last remark. “So you’re saying that the Chinese Intelligence officer who murdered Mia’s father twenty-five years ago did it without the approval of the benefactor?”
“What?” exclaimed Mia.
“Start running!” snarled the Chinese woman, as she stepped back inside the rear exit to join her colleague. “I am sending Wong’s bodyguards after you!” she said, as she closed the door.
“What were you saying about my dad?” cried Mia, grabbing Jack by the front of his shirt.
“Not now! Run!” yelled Jack, grabbing her by the hand.