require from him? One thing only.’
Lao Sou stroked his beard, enjoying the moment. ‘That requires some thought.’
After all their days and nights together, Li Tao still remained impenetrable. She wouldn’t try to deceive him, not even to save him. And he would never allow anyone to speak on his behalf.
She was being asked to make a promise she couldn’t keep, to a man she didn’t trust. But Li Tao was going to die if she didn’t do something. He would die without knowing he’d fathered a child. She was falling into a chasm, air rushing past her, almost certain death below.
‘Take me to him.’ It was a good thing the Old Man couldn’t read her expression and couldn’t see her doubt. ‘Li Tao will listen to me.’
The meeting point was further along the Jin River, in a remote location between major cities. A tea house rose along the banks to serve weary travellers, but the owners had evacuated weeks earlier when the barricades formed.
Li Tao’s army held the southern bank. He approached the tea house with only two of his bodyguards. Gao had done the same. He could see the horses tethered beside the bridge that spanned the water. The enemy was camped on the far side, out of sight.
Li Tao left his men by the bridge. He took the path slowly, using the time to empty his head of all doubt. The instinct was still in him. He didn’t need to search deep to find it. The coldness was there, sleeping just beneath his skin. It had always been there.
With steady breaths, in, then out, he slowed his heartbeat. Gao would be able to smell any fear on him, but he’d show none. He only needed to get close enough to strike.
Soon all his debts would be paid. His debt to Lao Sou. His debt to Suyin. He would end as a lone assassin, the same as he had started.
The tea house was a magnificent one, rising several floors with an elaborate frame of wooden beams and columns. Li Tao entered with all senses on alert. His footsteps echoed in the wide open spaces of the tea house. The tables and chairs were all empty. No ambush awaited him.
Gao had seated himself beside the window with the best view of the river. His guards stood against the wall, one on either side of the table. Only two men. Li Tao could take two.
The ageing warlord waited with a tray of wine set before him, looking formal and cultured in a silk robe trimmed with brocade. The blade at his side was likely tarnished from disuse. The warlord had gotten heavier in his grey years, but Gao’s advanced age gained no sympathy. His look was as shrewd as ever.
‘Governor Li.’ Gao’s tone could be described as jovial. And smug. ‘I’m pleased you’ve come.’
Li Tao’s very presence would have to mean he was considering the deal. Gao was a politician who trusted that two warlords would never draw swords directly against one another. That would be unfathomable. Uncivilised. Barbaric.
With a steady heart, Li Tao approached the table head on. He hadn’t yet drawn a path in his mind. His hands remained loose by his sides. For this sort of task, it was better not to plan too far in advance. Success or failure would be decided in a grain of time. A perfect moment.
No need to risk signalling his intention too soon.
Gao watched him with single-minded intensity, his eyes like dark glass. ‘No greeting, Governor Li?’
A nod. ‘Governor Gao.’
Li Tao stopped and planted his feet firmly against the floor boards. A coil of readiness wound within him, but outwardly he remained uncommitted, his shoulders relaxed. Utter stillness before the strike. Lao Sou trained assassins who could slip in and out of locked rooms. He recruited men and woman who killed with poison and made death look still and natural. Li Tao had never been one of those stealthy operators. He dealt death swift and clean.
Gao must have tasted something in the air. ‘Won’t you be seated?’
The old warlord’s gaze veered out to the river. Li Tao knew without reason, knew it in his blood that it had to be then.
He lashed forwards like an arrow, brash and blind.
Li Tao narrowed in on a single point: Gao’s throat. The killing instinct was there in his hands and in his blood. Gao’s smooth exterior faded. He opened his mouth to utter something, whether it was a question or a cry for help, Li