she said.
He took the pen, his hand trembling slightly. Suddenly he looked at her. “That’s why you asked me if I was right- or left-handed, wasn’t it?”
“What do you mean?”
“You didn’t want to cut off the thumb on my signature hand.”
“Obviously not.”
“That was smart.”
“Just sign,” Ava said.
The signatures were shaky but passable. “Now you,” she said to Ashton.
Carlo hovered, and Ava knew he was looking for any excuse to have another go at the Englishman. Ashton sensed it too, and signed all six documents without a pause.
“Great. Now the next thing that needs to happen is for Mr. Ashton to call Lily Simmons.”
“I’m not sure — ” he began to say, and then stopped when Ava put a finger to her lips.
“You said she was in London.”
“Yes.”
“It’s around midnight there now. Will she be at home?”
“Probably.”
“Good. So now you’re going to call her and you’re going to tell her that a Ms. Ava Lee, who represents some substantial Asian business interests, is going to be in London tomorrow and wants to meet with her. You’re going to tell her that this could be very good for Smyth’s and very good for you, because the people she represents have expressed an interest in buying into The River, at a very healthy premium. She would be interested, I assume, in selling some shares at a premium?”
“Keep talking,” Ashton said.
“I land in London in the late afternoon, so I won’t be able to meet with her until around five at the earliest.”
“She works late.”
“Good. Now, you need to emphasize that I have to meet with her tomorrow. Tell her I’ll call her at the office or on her cellphone as soon as I arrive. Tell her you’ve given me those numbers. If she has a problem with tomorrow, tell her it’s all the time I have available. How does that sound?”
Ashton’s eyelids were twitching so quickly she could barely see his eyes. “Why does it matter what I think?” he yelled.
Ava didn’t like his reaction. She turned to Carlo. “Pull down his pants. Hold the gun against his balls,” she said.
When Carlo reached for his pants, Ashton threw himself back against the chair so forcefully it almost tipped over.
“Listen to me,” Ava said. “Carlo is going to hold the gun against your genitals while you’re talking to Ms. Simmons. He will fire if I say the word fire in Cantonese. And believe me, he won’t hesitate to do it. So if I were you, I would follow our script exactly. I want to meet with Lily Simmons tomorrow. Your only priority is to make that happen.”
As Carlo pulled down Ashton’s pants, Ava went into the kitchen and brought back a portable phone. She sat across from Ashton, who was now as naked as Douglas. Carlo kneeled to one side, the gun pressed against Ashton’s testicles. “What’s her number?” she asked.
The shock of cold steel against his skin made Ashton jump. He rattled off the phone number. Ava dialled, and when the phone rang, she put it on speaker and held it under Ashton’s mouth.
Simmons answered on the third ring, her voice throaty, full of sleep. “Hello?”
“Lily, this is Jeremy.”
“Hello?”
“Stop saying that, for Christ’s sake. This is Jeremy.”
“Jeremy?”
She takes pills to help her sleep, he mouthed to Ava.
“There isn’t any rush. Take your time,” Ava whispered.
“Yes, it’s me,” Ashton said.
“It’s so late. Is everything all right?” Simmons asked hesitantly.
“Yeah, it’s fine, just fine,” he said, his voice trembling just a touch. Ava hoped Simmons was too sleepy to notice.
“Then why are you calling so late?”
“I met this woman today, Ava Lee, who’s arriving in London tomorrow,” he said. “I want you to meet with her.”
Ava encouraged him with a nod. Ashton plunged ahead, sticking to the story she had laid out. His confidence seemed to grow and he began to get a little too excited. Carlo pressed the gun harder against Ashton’s testicles as Ava motioned for him to wrap up the conversation.
“I’ve given her your phone numbers. She’ll call you when she lands,” Ashton said.
“Okay, baby.”
Ava covered the mouthpiece. “How out of it is she?” she asked.
“No more than usual,” Ashton said.
“Will she remember what you said tomorrow morning?”
“She normally does.”
“That’s not reassuring.”
“Let me talk to her,” he said. Ava took her hand off the phone.
“Lily, what’s the name of the woman coming to see you tomorrow?”
“Ava Lee.”
“And when will that be?”
“Late in the afternoon.”
“And how will she contact you?”
“By phone.”
Ashton looked at Ava and shrugged.
Say goodbye, Ava mouthed.
“I have to go now. You sleep tight.”
“Thanks, baby, you too.”
Ava shut off the phone. “Well done.” She took a business card and a pen from her bag. “Give me her office, home, and mobile numbers.” Then she said, “Tell me, does she know how you got that money?”
“No,” Ashton said, handing her back the card.
“What does she think?”
“I told her that we finally became profitable.”
“To that degree?”
“The money we’ve made over the past six months isn’t much more than what we forecast when we started the business.”
“And she bought that?”
“Is that a problem?” Douglas asked.
Ava shook her head. “No, not really. She’ll know the truth soon enough.” She turned to Carlo. “Okay, bring in the guys and get them bundled away. Then feed the dogs. I want to get out of here in the next half-hour.”
“Now what?” Douglas asked as he watched Carlo and Andy leave the room.
“We’re going to be getting out of here soon. We’re bringing in your thugs. We’ll put them in separate rooms.”
“You’re going to leave us taped like this?”
“We need to have a serious discussion. Are both of you up for it?” she asked.
Douglas nodded. Ashton said, “I’m listening.”
“This part of your ordeal is over. How the rest of it plays out is entirely up to you,” she said slowly. “I’m going to give you two clear choices, and I know ahead of time which one you’re going to choose. The thing is, you need to
