“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
Boss sighed and shook his head. “I bet we can even find a shirt for Mr. Kitty here. You see how helpful we are?”
“Mr. Kitty?” Ben said, eyebrows raised.
“I may have to borrow that one,” Cormac said, smirking.
“Don’t even think about it,” his cousin said.
I butted in. “A shirt would be great.” We could argue about name calling later, though I had to admit I was hating Ben’s reaction. Seriously?
Henry went to fetch a shirt.
“Well,” Anastasia said to Boss. “At least you’ll learn how it all turns out.”
“It’s my city, after all,” he said.
“You never did thank me for that.”
“Is that all you really want?” he said. “Well then, Anastasia dear, thank you for helping me win San Francisco.”
She rolled her eyes and scowled. “Too late.”
“Oh, Anastasia, it’s never too late. We have all the time in the world.”
Of course they did.
Chapter 13
THE SPOT BURNED into the map was back in Chinatown, not far from where we’d originally met Anastasia. If the Dragon’s Pearl had up and wandered away, it hadn’t gone far. At least, not far in linear distance. What we couldn’t tell was if the pearl was accessible, resting on a shelf in a back room at street level, or if it was hidden in one of the winding tunnels that Grace and her strange key had access to. If that was the case, I couldn’t quite trust the spot on the map.
Henry borrowed the car and driver to take us that far. We crammed in and rode in silence until we reached the corner that Grace picked for us to begin quest part two—Stockton Street this time, a block over from Grant, and the not-as-touristy section of Chinatown. The traffic lights hanging above the narrow intersection glowed red, but there were no cars in sight. Old brick and concrete facades stood around us like sentinels, watching, waiting to pounce.
Ben had acquired one of Henry’s Havana shirts, red with cream embroidery. He was fidgeting in it; it wasn’t a good look for him. I’d rather have seen him in a retro suit with suspenders, maybe a fedora. But hipster it was.
“What do you suppose he’ll do if I manage to get this one all bloody?” he said.
“Thank you?” I answered, and he grumbled.
The air had turned cold—winter cold, it felt to my Colorado bones. The damp in the air made the temperature clammy, insidious. I shivered; Ben put his arm around me, and I huddled close.
Grace and Cormac consulted the map.
“I just pointed the way,” Cormac was saying. “This is your show now.”
“If this is a trap, it’ll get us as soon as we head underground,” she said.
“Do we have a choice?” Cormac said.
Anastasia glared at them. “Just find me the pearl—I’ll worry about the trap.”
Grace shot back, “If I’m supposed to be in the lead I’m damn well going to worry about a trap.”
“Just go,” the vampire said.
We started walking. Grace had the map now and kept glancing at it, then at the buildings. She turned a corner, and another, and into an alley, where a set of stairs led down to a basement door. Here we go again.
“I have to admit, I’m missing my nine mil right about now,” Cormac muttered.