Page 84 of Night's Reckoning
“You think I should check with her first?”
“That’s not—”
“Not likely.” Tenzin might think Ben was working for her, but that wasn’t actually the case. He was working for Zhang. He’d given Zhang his word, not Tenzin. “Thanks for the suggestion, Fabi.” He patted her shoulder. “I’m just relieved there’s someone here I can trust.”
* * *
Ben waitedfor daylight to call Andrew. He went up to the operations room where much of the university team had stored their equipment and borrowed one of the desks. The university team was on the deck, welcoming additional divers from a university in Shantou, who had arrived by helicopter that morning.
Ben had decided that unless Professor Chou asked about the rapid removal of artifacts, he would offer nothing in explanation. The students had oohed and aahed over the collection of storage jars secured carefully in tanks while they had slept. He was sure some of them wondered how the mysterious night crew worked so fast, but since all jars had been documented and marked with a location, they could say nothing. The work had been done to proper specifications.
He spun in the chair as the phone rang and watched the students and new divers chattering as they prepared for the day’s work. Fabia stood at the railing with Professor Chou, probably detailing the steps she’d taken overnight. She might have been asking for more tanks from the university too. The ones on theJinshéweren’t going to be enough.
“Hello?” Andrew Leu’s voice startled Ben out of his thoughts.
“Andrew, good morning. This is Ben Vecchio.”
“I recognized your number, Mr. Vecchio. How may I help you? Is everything going smoothly on the ship?”
“Things are progressing very well, but…” How to frame this? Zhang must know that Ben and Tenzin weren’t on the best terms. Maybe he should just throw it out there. “I’m going to be completely honest, Mr. Leu.”
“That is always a good idea when it comes to Elder Zhang.”
“I understand the ramifications of this job and how important the Laylat al Hisab is. I understand why Tenzin approached Cheng to complete this job. I also know they have their own history. For that reason—and I hope Zhang understands I am working solely for him in this matter—I would like to know if Zhang is aware that Cheng is reserving some of the wreck artifacts as his own.Notthe sword, but other artifacts.”
The line was silent for a long while. “I do not know the answer to that question.”
“This may be customary or expected since Cheng is doing the work to retrieve the treasure. It may be something they have already discussed that I was not informed of. But since I am working for Zhang on this job, I wanted to speak to him about it directly.”
“I understand, Mr. Vecchio. Thank you for contacting me in this matter, and I will pass your question on to Zhang. I expect you will hear from him within twenty-four hours.”
“Thank you, Mr. Leu.”
“Call me Andrew,” the man said. “I suspect we will be speaking again.”
22
Something was wrong. Tenzin could feel it. She could sense it.
She roused herself from her daylight torpor and sat up. “Cara?”
The computer voice responded. “Yes, Tenzin.”
“What is the time?”
“It is 6:30 p.m. local time.”
The sun had been down for nearly an hour. She could hear the hum of human activity on the boat, the amnis of waking vampires, and something else.
“Cara, call Ben Vecchio.”
A few seconds passed and Tenzin heard a phone ringing.
A second later, Ben’s gravelly voice came on the line. “Tenzin, I’m slee—”
“Something is wrong on the ship.”
His voice lost all annoyance. “What is it?”
