8

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CHINA

BEIJING, CHINA

3:54 p.m.

Nick was poring over an old biography about the Sassoon family in the Western Languages Reading Room of the National Library when his cell phone started buzzing. He put a manila folder over the open book to hold his page and went out to the corridor to take the call.

It was Peik Lin, sounding close to tears. “Oh my God, Nick! I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’m at the emergency room with Rachel. She passed out in her hotel room.”

“What? Is she okay? What happened?” Nick asked in shock.

“We don’t really know. She’s still unconscious, but her white cell count is extremely low and her blood pressure is through the roof. They have her on an IV of magnesium to stabilize her, but they think she maybe has an extreme case of food poisoning.”

“I’ll get on the next flight to Hangzhou,” Nick said decisively.

4:25 p.m.

Racing through Beijing Capital International Airport, Nick had just reached the China Airlines counter when Peik Lin called again.

“Hey, Peik Lin, I’m trying to get on the 4:55 flight.”

“I don’t want to alarm you, but the situation has gotten progressively worse. Rachel’s still unconscious, and her kidneys have shut down. The doctors are running tests, but so far they have no clue what’s happening. Frankly, I’m losing confidence and I think Rachel should be medically evacuated to Hong Kong, where she can get the best care in the region.” “I trust you. Do what you think is best. Should I charter a plane?” Nick asked.

“Don’t worry—I’ve already arranged that.”

“I don’t know what we’d do without you, Peik Lin!”

“Just get to Hong Kong.”

“I will. Listen, I’m going to call my uncle Malcolm, who is a heart surgeon in Hong Kong. He might be of help.”

6:48 p.m.

When Peik Lin’s Gulfstream V landed in Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok International Airport, there was already a medical helicopter waiting on the tarmac to airlift Rachel to the hospital. Peik Lin emerged from the aircraft to find a man in mustard yellow jeans and a cobalt blue Rubinacci blazer awaiting her.

“I’m Nick’s cousin Edison Cheng! There’s no room in the chopper for you, so come in my Bentley,” he said over the roar of the helicopter’s propellers. Peik Lin followed Eddie to his car numbly, and as they began making their way to the hospital, Eddie said, “My father is in Houston getting an award at the DeBakey Medical Foundation, but he’s already put in a call to Queen Mary Hospital—that’s our top emergency care center. I’m told the whole kidney team is waiting for her arrival.”

“I’m so glad,” Peik Lin said.

“Now, Leo Ming happens to be my best friend, so his father, Ming Kah-Ching, who I’m sure you’ve heard of, has already put in a call to the hospital’s chief executive to add even more pressure. The emergency medical ward, by the way, is in the Ming Kah-Ching wing. So Rachel will be treated like a VVIP from the moment she arrives,” Eddie boasted.

Like Rachel cares about that right now! Peik Lin thought. “As long as they treat her EFFECTIVELY, that’s all I care about.”

They drove in silence for a few minutes, and then Eddie asked, “So was that your GV, or did you charter the plane?”

“It’s my family’s,” Peik Lin answered. I bet he’s going to ask who my family is.

“Very nice. And if I might ask, what line of business is your family in?” She looks Hokkien, so I’d guess either banking or real estate.

“Construction and property development.” Now he’ll want to know which company. I’m going to make him work for it!

Eddie smiled at her cordially. Damn Singaporeans! If she was from Hong Kong or China, I would have known everything about her family the moment she stepped off the plane. “Commercial or residential?”

Okay, let’s put him out of his misery. “My family started the Near West Organization.”

Eddie’s face lit up. Ding ding ding! The Gohs are ranked number 178 on The Heron Wealth Report. “Oh, you guys built that new condo in Singapore with the sky garages, didn’t you?” he said nonchalantly.

“That was us.” Now he’s going to tell me what he does. Based on the outfit, I’m guessing either weatherman or hairdresser.

“I’m the managing director of Leichtenburg Group Asia.”

“Ah, yes.” Another banker. Yawn.

Eddie flashed Peik Lin his Cheshire cat grin. “Tell me, are you satisfied with your private wealth management team?”

“Very much so.” I don’t believe this fucker! Rachel’s being rushed to the hospital in critical condition and he’s trying to land a new client!

7:45 p.m.

Peik Lin and Eddie ran up to the reception counter at the emergency medical ward. “Yes, can you tell us where Rachel Young has been taken? She would have been admitted in the past hour. She came in by air ambulance.”

“Are you relatives of the patient?” the woman at the counter asked.

“Yes, we are.”

“Let me see…” The woman began typing into her computer terminal. “What is the name again?”

“Rachel Young. Or maybe she was admitted as Rachel Chu,” Peik Lin said.

The woman scanned her computer screen. “I’m not finding anything here. You should go to the main reception hall at—”

Eddie banged on the counter in frustration. “Stop wasting our time! Do you know who I am? I’m Edison Cheng! My father is Dr. Malcolm Cheng—he used to be head of cardiology! The cafeteria is named after him! I demand to know where they’ve taken Rachel Young right now or you will be out of a job by tomorrow!”

Just then, they heard someone call out behind them, “Hey, Eddie! Over here!” They turned to see Nick poke his head out from behind a pair of swinging double doors.

“Nick! How the hell did you get here before we did?” Peik Lin said in shock as she rushed to him.

“I called in a favor,” Nick said as he hugged her tightly.

“You know Captain Kirk or something? Beijing’s an hour farther from Hong Kong!”

“I managed to catch a military transport jet. We didn’t have to deal with any airspace delays, and I swear we were flying at Mach 3.”

“Let me guess…Uncle Alfred made a call?” Eddie asked.

Nick nodded. He ushered the two of them into the waiting room of the adult intensive care unit, which was lined with comfortable leather chairs. “I was able to see Rachel for a few minutes, and then they made me leave. They’re trying to restore her renal function right now. The doctor needs to ask you some questions, Peik Lin.”

Several minutes later, the doctor entered the waiting room.

“Everyone, this is Dr. Jacobson,” Nick said.

Eddie got up from his chair and extended his hand with a flourish. “Edison Cheng—I’m Malcolm Cheng’s son.”

“I’m sorry, am I supposed to know that name?” the raven-haired doctor asked.

Eddie looked at her in astonishment. The doctor grinned, “Just kidding. Of course I know your father.”

Eddie was never more relieved in his life.

“How is she?” Nick asked, trying to remain calm.

“Her vitals have been stabilized for the time being, and we’re running a range of tests. This is a very perplexing case. We’re still not able to pinpoint what led to such rapid multi-organ failure, but obviously there is something extremely toxic in her system.” Looking at Peik Lin, she asked, “Can you tell me everything your friend ate or drank in the last twenty-four hours?”

“I can try. Let’s see, when we first arrived last night at the Four Seasons, Rachel had a Cobb salad, and then a strawberry and lychee mousse dessert. This morning we skipped breakfast, but we had a very simple lunch of Hangzhou river shrimp, sautéed young bamboo shoots, and roast duck noodle soup. There was also some chocolate-dipped ginger in our rooms that Rachel might have eaten. I didn’t eat those. Oh wait a minute—she had a massage this morning that supposedly used pieces of crushed jade and lotus seeds.”

“Hmm…let me look into that. We’ll put in a call to the resort and get a full list of anything she might have possibly ingested or been exposed to.”

“What do you think it could have been, doctor? We’ve basically eaten the same foods, and as you can see I’m totally fine,” Peik Lin said.

“Everyone’s body reacts differently. But I don’t want to jump to any conclusions until we finish running all the toxicology tests,” the doctor explained.

“What’s your prognosis?” Nick asked worriedly.

The doctor paused, hunching her shoulders. “I’m not going to kid you—things are quite critical at the moment. We may have to put in a TIPS to staunch the worsening liver failure. And if she develops encephalopathy, we will have to put her in a medically induced coma in order to give her body more of a fighting chance.”

“Medically induced coma?” Peik Lin said in a hushed tone, promptly bursting into tears. Nick held her in his arms, desperately trying not to lose it himself.

Eddie went up to the doctor. “You do everything you possibly can. Remember, Dr. Malcolm Cheng and Ming Kah-Ching will hold you personally responsible if anything happens to her.”

Dr. Jacobson gave Eddie a slightly annoyed look. “We do the best we can for all our patients, Mr. Cheng, regardless of who they are.”

“Can we please see her?” Peik Lin asked.

“I can only let you in one at a time,” the doctor replied.

“You go, Nick,” Peik Lin said, sinking back down onto the couch.

8:40 p.m.

Nick stood at the foot of Rachel’s bed, watching helplessly as a team of doctors and nurses hovered over her. Two days ago they had been in their suite at the Peninsula, where she had been excitedly packing for her spa weekend with one of her best friends. Don’t you have too much fun in Beijing now! No flirting with any sexy librarians, unless it’s Parker Posey, Rachel had teased, before giving him the sweetest goodbye kiss. Now her complexion had turned yellow and there were cables, cords, and tubes in her neck and abdomen. It was just so unreal. What happened to his beautiful wife? Why wasn’t she getting any better? He couldn’t even begin to imagine losing her. No, no, no, he had to wipe that thought out of his mind. She was so strong, so healthy. She was going to be okay. She had her whole life ahead of her. Their whole life together. Nick left the room and walked toward the waiting room. Passing a handicapped toilet, he let himself in and locked the door. He took a few deep breaths, splashed some water on his face, and looked at himself in the mirror. Then he noticed the mirror itself—a round, backlit mirror that looked like it came from some pricey design showroom. He glanced around and saw that the whole space had recently been redecorated. Tears started streaming down his face uncontrollably. If Rachel pulled through—no—when Rachel pulled through this, he was going to build her the most insanely beautiful bathroom the world had ever seen.

9:22 p.m.

Nick reentered the waiting room and found Peik Lin and Eddie huddled over Styrofoam bowls of wonton noodles. His aunt Alix and cousin Alistair were sitting in the chairs across from them. Alistair got up and gave his cousin a warm hug.

“Oh Nicky! This is so vexing! How is Rachel?” Alix asked anxiously.

“There’s not been much change,” Nick said wearily.

“Well, I know Dr. Jacobson very well. She’s the best, really, so Rachel is in very capable hands.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“And your uncle Malcolm called—the hospital has been updating him, and he’s asked his colleague who is Hong Kong’s top hepatobiliary specialist to come in and give a second opinion.”

“I can’t thank him enough.”

“He only wishes he could be here. Gum ngaam, ah, the one time you have a medical emergency in Hong Kong and Malcolm is away! We brought some siew yook and wonton meen. Are you hungry?”

“Sure. I think I should eat something.” Nick sat in a daze while his aunt proceeded to arrange assorted takeout containers of food and plastic utensils around him.

“Now, we haven’t called anyone yet, Nicky. I wasn’t sure what you wanted people to know, so I held off on calling your mother. Once she knows, the whole world will know.”

“Thanks, Auntie Alix. I can’t deal with my mum at the moment.”

“Have you spoken to Rachel’s mom?” Peik Lin asked.

Nick sighed. “I’ll call her in a little while. I just don’t see the need to alarm her until we know what’s going on.”

The door opened and in walked Eddie and Alistair’s sister, Cecilia, carrying an elaborate arrangement of white lilies.

“Looks like the gang’s all here,” Nick said, trying to force a smile.

“You know me—I couldn’t miss out on a party,” Cecilia said, giving Nick a peck on the cheek as she set the floral arrangement on the seat next to him.

“My God, look at that! Thanks so much, but you really didn’t need to bring anything.”

“Oh, I didn’t bring this. The receptionist outside told me to bring it in for you.”

“That’s strange. Who could it be from? No one knows we’re here aside from you all,” Nick wondered aloud as he slurped down some noodles.

Peik Lin started undoing the ribbons around the vase, and as the plastic wrappings came undone, a note card fell out. She opened the card and started reading it. “HOLY SHIT!” Peik Lin gasped, shoving the vase away from her reflexively. The vase of flowers landed on the floor with a crash, as water spilled everywhere.

Nick leaped out of his chair. “What happened?”

Peik Lin handed him the card, which read: