Read A Lotus For Miss Quon for Free Online Page B

capital crime your friend has committed, then it could not be arranged."

    Well, that's that! Jaffe thought and he felt a restriction around his throat.

    "I'll talk to him," he said and Blackie recognizing the finality in his voice, got to his feet.

    "You can, of course, rely on me to help where I can," he said, "but naturally I must avoid any trouble."
    "That's okay," Jaffe said. "I understand."

    When Blackie had gone away, Jaffe looked at his watch. The time was half past nine. It was unlikely Nhan would arrive before ten-thirty. He suddenly realized he was hungry.

    He pushed back his chair, got to his feet and moved around the dance floor to the exit.

    Across the street, was a Chinese restaurant where he often ate. He went in, nodding to the proprietor who was flicking the beads of his calculator with that incredible swiftness that made the whole operation a complete mystery to any European mind. He paused, bobbed his head and revealed big yellow teeth in a smile.

    A Chinese girl, wearing what looked like an air hostess's uniform, led Jaffe behind screens to a single table.

    Every table in this restaurant was hidden by screens from which came the raucous sound of Chinese laughter and the clatter of numerous dishes.

    Jaffe ordered Chinese soup, sweet sour pork and fried rice. He wiped his face and hands on the hot towel offered to him by the girl who handed him the steaming towel in a pair of chromium tongs.

    While waiting for the meal to be served, Jaffe considered his problem. He was nervous of Blackie in spite of his wife's assurance. He saw now that the problem of getting out of Vietnam would be even more complicated if he tried to buy a passport.

    So what was he going to do? He felt sure that if he had enough ready cash, he would be able to get out of Vietnam. To get the necessary cash, he would have to sell some of the diamonds. But who would buy them in Saigon?

    He was still brooding over this problem when the meal Was served. He ate hungrily, washing the food down with warm Chinese wine. When he had finished, the girl gave him another hot towel and he wiped his hands, then asked for the bill.

    The girl went away, leaving his screen half open. While he waited for the bill, he saw Sam Wade and a Chinese girl come out from behind a screen and move to the head of the stairs.

    Jaffe studied the girl with Wade. She was tall, with an exceptional figure. She was wearing a scarlet Cheongsam that accentuated the curves of her figure. She was sophisticated and looked very bored and sharply aware of her physical attractions. Jaffe decided she wasn't the kind of woman who would appeal to him. She would be complicated. Comparing her to Nhan's simplicity, he was suddenly very thankful and grateful that he had been lucky enough to have found Nhan.

    He waited until the two had disappeared down the stairs, then he paid his bill and went down into the street to find Nhan.

    2

    It was just on ten-thirty o'clock when Jaffe saw Nhan coming briskly along the sidewalk, weaving her way through the jostling crowd, a slightly worried expression on her delicately-featured face. She was wearing white silk trousers and a red wine-coloured tunic sheath.

    Jaffe tapped his horn button three times, paused then tapped it again. It was their understood signal. She immediately looked in his direction and when she saw the red Dauphine her face lit up and she smiled. She started towards the car as Jaffe got out.

    It is a damn funny thing, Jaffe thought as he stood by the car waiting for her, but every time I meet her, I get a real bang out of it.

    Nhan ran up to him and looked up at him as he took her hand.

    There was that extraordinary look of adoration in her dark eyes that always startled Jaffe. It was a look he had never seen in any other woman's eyes: it said plainly: you are the centre of my universe, without you there would be no sun, no moon, no stars, no nothing. It was a look of complete and candid love.
    Although it