“Thanks for the heads-up,” Mike said, then told him to call anytime and hung up. Their names showed up on his email a few minutes later, and Mike checked them out. The CIA seemed to have no particular interest in them. They were in the main database, listed as gambling moguls in Macao, living in Beijing. They weren’t wanted for any offenses in the U.S., but it was nice of Rafe to call. What de Vaumont was doing with them, Mike couldn’t imagine. They sounded a little too down and dirty for him.

—

Mike checked with the tail who had been with Pierre the day before, and he confirmed the meeting at the airport.

“It’s on my list about him that I turned into operations this morning. I don’t know who the two Chinese guys were, but it seemed to be a friendly meeting. They had lunch at the Chinese restaurant at the airport. They ate some dumplings, talked for about half an hour, and left. I think they were on a layover between flights, and de Vaumont acted as though he knew them. They spoke Chinese the whole time,” which the agent didn’t.

Pierre de Vaumont was turning out to be a bigger mystery every day. The range of the people he consorted with appeared to be limitless, although Mike was sure there was a motive for his meetings with all of them, and something in it for him. He was like a human cash register, collecting money wherever he went. No one was too low or too high for his attention, and he seemed able to adapt to each one, whether Saudi royals or Chinese gamblers.

Mike would have been fascinated by him if he weren’t so worried about Theo Morgan.

The agent who’d tailed him the day before added that he had gone to a dinner party at the home of prominent New Yorkers after Theo’s party, and had met with the young Saudi royals again and gone to a nightclub after that. Then he had joined up with two well-known Russian billionaires at their hotel, and a group of hookers had gone up to their suite shortly after that. Pierre had gone back to his hotel, alone, at five a.m.

The question that remained for Mike was who was Pierre de Vaumont, really, and what the hell was he doing in New York?

Chapter 5

A week after their arrival in New York, Pierre had gone back to Paris after countless meetings and parties, and Theo had left for Dallas to set up the pop-up store there. They had nearly sold out their merchandise in New York, and the party and resulting press had given them a great send-off. All the fashionistas and social wannabes had arrived in droves when they saw the mention of it on Page Six, and in Women’s Wear Daily.