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I’d been stalking her all that time with no other thought besides getting her back.

I gave her an ironic half-smile. “I was a little preoccupied.”

She shook her head. “You were pretty far gone over me, weren’t you.”

I reached across the table for her hand. “Still am.”

She smiled as I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed it.

Two hours later, we went back to the noodle shop.

When we walked through the beaded curtain, Mei-ling knocked on the door.

“We’re back,” she called out.

“Come in,” the gun merchant replied.

We walked in to find him looking more stressed than last time.

He took a heavy drag on his cigarette, then held out his hand. “Rest of money.”

“You have it?” I asked.

“Yes. Rest of money.”

I took out the remaining bills and counted out 250 on the desk.

He grabbed the cash, stuffed it in his desk, and pulled out a Styrofoam takeout container secured with rubber bands. After he removed the rubber bands, he opened the lid.

Inside was a rectangular block of light brown putty, about 11 inches long and 2 inches high and thick.

A metal box about half the size of a pack of cigarettes was duct-taped to the putty. Two wires with metal prongs protruded from the box.

C4 plastic explosive.

I’d seen some during my training with Lars, so I knew I was looking at the real thing.

“Jesus,” Mei-ling whispered behind me.

Next to the block of putty sat a hand-held metal grip with a straight section and a hinged lever jutting off at 45 degrees.

It looked like something a fitness nut might use to exercise his hand muscles –

Except for the small key inserted into the side and a green light that was currently dark.

“How do I arm it?” I asked.

“Put these in,” the man said as he pantomimed sticking the metal prongs into the block of putty. He didn’t actually insert them, though. “Putbothin or not go off. Next, turn key.”

He turned the key on the handle, and the green light came on.

“Once light on, squeeze handle – boom.”

He turned the key back to its initial setting and the light went out.

“What if I want it so that if I letgoof the handle, it detonates the C4?” I asked.

He frowned, then asked Mei-ling something in Cantonese.

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