Lo Prang smiled at her. “The right thing? What matters? Those are just patterns in your brain, Jade. A few tweaks, and your right thing would be mine.”

“Not in this lifetime,” Sam told him.

Lo Prang shrugged. “You’ll change your mind one day. I’ll be waiting.”

They were leaving Koh Phayam behind now. It was time to make a choice.

Only kill when you have to, Nakamura had taught her. Spare the lives you can, even of your enemies. You never know when someone might do the same for you.

“Do you swim?” Sam asked Lo Prang.

The mob boss turned to look at her again, and snorted in amusement.

“And here I was looking forward to a vacation in Burma with you, Jade,” he replied.

“You’d just slow me down.” She smiled at him, sweetly, then tossed him the keys to his wrist and ankle cuffs.

Lo Prang snatched the keys from the air, snorted again, then killed the boat’s engine and uncuffed himself.

He stood, afterwards, the cuffs in his hand, weighing them. Weighing the option of attacking her, Sam suspected. She shook her head ever so slightly, and Lo Prang smiled, dropped the cuffs, and took off his shoes and shirt.

He stood at the edge of the boat, looked into those waters and towards the shore. Then he turned to her. “I’ll see you again, Jade.”

“Not if I see you first,” Sam replied, gesturing with the gun once more.

Lo Prang smiled. Then he dove into the blue waters, and started swimming for shore.

Sam watched until he was a dozen yards away, then she steered the boat further out to sea, towards the string of small uninhabited islands on the horizon. She’d need to find a place to hide until the sun went down. Perhaps to sleep. Then, when night came, she’d be on her way, and toward her target, Apyar Kyun, three hundred miles up this militarized coast.

Chapter 53: Perspective

53

PERSPECTIVE

Sunday October 28th

Kade received Shiva’s summons the next morning, after they’d brought him breakfast. A guard locked the Nexus jammer around Kade’s throat, escorted him to the rooftop where Shiva waited, reclining on a wooden chair. The older man gestured to the chair beside him, and Kade sat.

The view was glorious, straight out to the west over an uninterrupted expanse of sea. The nearest waters were jade green, turning to deeper and deeper shades of blue further to the west. In the other direction, to the east, Kade could see the wings of the mansion encircle the courtyard visible from his window. Beyond that was rolling land, then more water. An island.

“You haven’t viewed my memories yet,” Shiva said.

“I’ve been awfully busy,” Kade replied.

Shiva chuckled at that.