Page 59 of The Picasso Heist
“Not who you are but what you aren’t.”
“Chinese.”
“It’s not personal,” says Shen. “Rest assured, your name has not once been mentioned.”
“Still, what you’re saying is that the idea of someone who isn’t Chinese owning these vases from the Qing dynasty—it’s, what, sacrilegious?”
“I would simply call it an issue of cultural differences.”
“That’s funny,” says Bergamo, “because what I would call it is utter bullshit.”
I’m about to unload on Bergamo, and Shen knows it. He calmly raises his palm, assuring me it’s okay.
“I understand your frustration, Mr. Bergamo,” says Shen, “which is why I have a proposal for you. Would you like to hear it?”
“That depends. Does it end with my getting the two vases?”
“Yes. But it will require one thing.”
“What’s that?”
Shen finishes the last of his cognac and smiles.“Xinrèn,”he says.
CHAPTER52
BERGAMO FOLDS HISarms tightly as we wait in the alley for his car to be brought around. He’s looking straight ahead, trying his damnedest to ignore my stare. He can’t do it.
“What?”he finally asks.
“I’m just making sure you understand,” I say.
“Of course I understand. I told you I understood.”
“No, you told Shen.”
“That’s right, and you heard me,” he says.
“I need to hear it again,” I tell him. “Shen brought you down into that basement of his to show you exactly what he meant. If you’re to get those vases, they’re for your eyes only. It can’t ever get back to his people that someone other than their own now has them.”
“It won’t,” says Bergamo.
His Porsche arrives; he tips the guy twenty bucks and proceeds to walk around to the front passenger seat.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“What do you mean? You kicked my driver out of the car.”
“That was just to get here.”
“Good,” he says. “Now get me back to him.”
“Diva,” I mumble under my breath.
“I heard that.”
I settle in behind the wheel and pull out of the alley. We go a few blocks before we hit a red light. I look in the rearview mirror, then do a double take.
“What is it?” asks Bergamo.
