The Devils Punchbowl

laid out before him. The kitchen looks like an operating theater: The cabinets

are white, the appliances steel, the countertops architectural concrete. The only raw touch in the room is the owner?s unshaven face. Sands?s sniper?s eyes rake left and right as he scans the

Examiner,

but he says nothing.

Before entering the front door of the house, I was hand-searched, scanned by two electronic wands, and had my gun and personal cell phone taken away, along with the BlackBerrys belonging to the unfortunate men sent to watch me.

?I'm told you have a message for me,? Sands says in his artificial accent, not lifting his eyes from the newspaper.

Why,

I wonder,

does he preserve the illusion of Englishness here?

?That'?s right. I sent my mother and daughter away this morning. I wanted you to know that.?

Sands sniffs, sips from the steaming cup, then looks up, his eyes devoid of everything but irritation. ?That wasn'?t part of our agreement.?

We have no agreement,

I think. ?I realize that. But you need to understand something about me. I?'ve come close to losing my daughter before, and I can?t function if I have to worry about her safety. So I took her off the board. I'm still clear about what you want. I don'?t care about the money you left with me, so you might as well take it back. But I will try to locate what Tim stole from you, and I will give it back to you if I find it.?

After a long silence Sands says, ?I find that difficult to believe, Mr. Cage.?

?Which part??

?That you?ll return my property to me.?

?You shouldn?t. I might look to you like some Dudley Do-Right with a savior complex?and maybe I used to be that way, a bit?but I'm cured of that. When I first took this job, I was full of fire. My priority was to fix the school system, because all progress flows from that. It took about a year to realize that was never going to happen. I wanted to bring industrial jobs back to this town, and I lost my best chance of that when Toyota pulled out. I got your boat instead. The truth is, I?'ve been thinking about stepping down for some time. My priority is my little girl, not this town. So, if you want to rake a little extra money out of the local yokels? pockets, it?s fine by me. I'm ready to get out, and I mean

out.

?

A lopsided smile has lightened Sands?s face. His teeth are perfectly straight and startlingly white; much too perfect for a working-class Irishman.

He wears dentures,

I realize.

Before he can reply, a door to my left opens, and I go rigid, half-expecting the eerie white dog to enter the kitchen. Instead, a brown-skinned Asian woman of startling beauty glides into the room with grace so effortless the most cultured belle would be hard put to match it. Scarcely five feet tall, she radiates a self-possession that seems to affect Sands as profoundly as it does me. When she takes the chair nearest me and gazes up at me, her eyes take my breath away. They are aquamarine, but they shine from the perfect archetype of a Chinese face. I'm put in mind of some English smuggler who spread his seed during the Opium Wars or the Boxer Rebellion and left half- caste beauties like this one behind to suffer the fate of mixed-blood children.

?We have not yet been introduced,? she says, and in those six words I hear the pure source of the English accent Sands mimics so well. The woman looks no more than twenty, but she must be older.

?I'm Penn Cage.?

She grants me the slightest of smiles. ?I?'ve seen your photograph in the newspaper. I am Jiao. I did not mean to interrupt. Please continue.?

Jiao?s unexpected appearance has jarred my sense of purpose. ?I?'ve already said what I came to say,? I say awkwardly. ?My only concern is the safety of my family.?

Sands?s lopsided grin has returned. ?And your friend? Jessup? What about him??

?Whatever Tim did to you, he was on his own. I'm sorry he?s dead, but I warned him not to do anything stupid. When you stick your nose in other people?s business, you get hurt sometimes.?

?Just so,? Jiao says gravely. ?In business and politics, casualties are a fact of life.?

I incline my head toward her.

?It?s rare for an American to understand this,? she says.

?Oh, we understand it. We just don'?t like to admit it in public.?

Sands laughs softly, but only the memory of a smile is on his lips. With almost affected care, he takes a cigarette and a gold lighter

from the deep pocket of his robe, touches a hissing jet of butane to the tobacco, and draws deeply. An acrid scent fills the room.

?Mr. Mayor,? he says, exhaling purplish blue smoke. ?Did you know that when you line people up in front of a pit to shoot them, ninety-nine out of a hundred kneel meekly and wait for the bullet??

Jiao?s eyes remain on me; Sands?s bizarre question seems not to have shocked her, or even registered at all.

Sands exhales the rest of the smoke, then leans his chair back on two legs, which creak under his weight. ?Down the line walks the executioner. The shots grow louder, the bodies fall, but still the prisoners wait their turn. It?s beyond me, really, but that?s human nature. Once in a while, though, you get a man?or a woman?who won'?t wait. Sometimes they run, or leap into the pit after someone they knew. But rarest of all is the man who turns and fights. He hasn?'t a gun or a knife or even a club, but when he hears those shots getting closer, something in him knots tight and says, ?By God, I'?ll not go down like that,? and he turns with his teeth bared and his nails raking and goes for the man come to kill him.? Sands grins. ?I?'ve cheered those bastards every time.?

Jiao watches me with grave attention.

?Is there a point to this story?? I ask.

Smoke drifts up from the tip of Sands?s cigarette, and his eyes smolder with apparent fascination. ?You know there is, mate. That'?s

you.

You?re the one in a hundred. Jessup was a fool, but you?re a bloody scrapper.?

Holding Annie?s face in my mind?s eye, I stare back with impassive eyes, as though Sands has shot far wide of the mark. ?I used to be that guy,? I say with seeming reluctance. ?And in the right circumstances?given something worth fighting for, like my family?I still would be. But this is about money. I have all the money I need. If I lose it, I can earn more. I already lost my wife to cancer, okay? I can?t replace my little girl.?

Sands?s eyes narrow, but he says nothing. Jiao turns to him as though for help in understanding some obscure mammal, but Sands suddenly slaps his knee and laughs out loud. Behind me, Quinn permits himself a chuckle. Still laughing, Sands points at me as if to say,

Listen to this guy. Isn?t he something?

?Why don'?t you let me in on the joke??

Sands is belly-laughing now, even though his laughter seems to annoy Jiao.

?I too am confused,? she says finally.

Sands wipes his eyes on the sleeve of his robe, then sets down the front legs of the chair, leans forward, and points a thick forefinger at me. ?You can?t fool me, Cage. Go on! You?ve made a career out of sticking your nose into other people?s business. You?re coming after me. Of course you are. I should have seen it last night. You never even had a choice. It?s your nature.?

?Is this true?? Jiao asks, her translucent eyes on me.

?Course it is,? says Sands. ?That'?s why he sent his kid out of town. And his sainted mother.?

?I told you why I did that.?