Page 22 of Shadow Lies
Kane lifted one shoulder. “You’re fine.”
They were alone here. There was no one else to hear. And her cussing didn’t bother him. He had been a sailor, after all.
Besides, he wasn’t in a position to absolve her sin in the eyes of God or Buddha or the abbot anyway. He was a lowly student here by the grace of the abbot.
Finally, after a few seconds more of frantic tapping on the screen, all of which seemed more complicated than making a simple phone call should have, she pressed the cell to her ear and met his gaze. “It’s ringing.”
“That’s good,” he said since her announcement felt as if it needed a response and he didn’t know what else to say.
“Charley…” Alexis began, pausing immediately after for a moment as she appeared to listen to the other woman speak. “Yes. Kane’s right here. He’s agreed to listen.”
Yes, he had. How long he would listen for though, he purposely hadn’t committed to. If this Charley person’s bullshit got too thick, he reserved the right to hang up on her.
Alexis’s gaze met his. She held the cell toward him. The implication was clear. Time for his chat.
He took the cell and glanced at the screen, tapping the icon to put it on speakerphone before he tossed it on the table between them.
“You wanted to talk. Here I am. Talk,” he said, staring at Alexis rather than looking at the phone.
“Yes, there you are, at a Shaolin monastery,” Charley said in a tone ripe with attitude and amusement.
“Surprised?” he asked, wondering when she’d get to the point.
“A bit, perhaps. At first. But not unhappy. As it turns out, your location is quite fortuitous.”
“And why is that?”
“The assignment I’d like to hire you for is, coincidentally, in China.”
He doubted there were coincidences in Charley’s world.
“And what is this assignment, exactly?” he asked, anxious to get down to business so Alexis would be happy knowing everything, then he could say no and end this charade.
“Do you know,” Charley began, “that the number one highest revenue-earning industry in China is the mining of copper ore? Over thirteen point six billion dollars this year.”
Kane felt his eyebrows creeping up. “I did not know. I’ll remember that for next time the brothers and I have trivia night.”
Alexis bit her lip, whether to brace herself for Charley’s response to his sarcasm or to stop from smiling he wasn’t sure.
Undeterred, Charley continued, “Do you know what the Xinjiang region of China is rich in?”
“Let me guess. Um. Copper?” he said, playing along with her game since he still had time left on his break.
“Indeed. In addition to oil, natural gas and gold,” Charley said in a continuation of this strange and unrequested lesson in Chinese mining operations.
“As interesting as all this is, is there a point coming sometime soon? I have practice shortly.”
“Of course. Have you heard of the China Mining Industry Group?” she asked.
“No. Should I have?”
“Perhaps. You did graduate with a degree in Asian Studies, did you not?”
“I did.” A lifetime ago. Before the Navy. Before here. “But I, uh, must have fallen asleep in class the day the professor did a deep dive into China’s Xinjiang region’s natural resources.”
Alexis continued to look worried. As if she feared Charley could come through the cell phone and enact some form of retribution on him for being a jackass.
He wasn’t worried.
