Julian Read Online Free PDF Page A

didn’t.”
    “Well, no, not formally, I agree. I regret that the circumstances called for a rather abrupt departure. At any rate, I’ve been sent by someone who desires very much to meet you.”
    “Who? What about?”
    He smiled. “You seem to have saved the life of someone my employer holds dear. I assure you, I’m no threat to you, despite this somewhat unorthodox meeting.”
    Aidan stood silently, his hands in his jacket pockets.
    “Come along, please. I’ll have you back here—or anywhere you choose—in no time.”
    The car door opened, allowing Aidan to see the man better. His black hair was combed straight back from a high forehead, his skin tight across his face. The hand resting on the car’s window frame was uncallused, the skin smooth, the nails manicured.
    “I didn’t save anyone’s life,” Aidan countered.
    “Wesley tells it differently, Mr. Boyd.”
    “That’s not my name.”
    The man’s eyebrows rose slightly. “I see. Then what should I call you?”
    “Aidan.”
    “Very well. I am Mr. Chang.”
    Aidan’s adrenaline ebbed as his alarm faded and curiosity took its place. What was this all about?
    “How did you find me?” he stalled.
    “Wesley remembered your jacket. It was quite easy to track you down. Although everyone seems to think your name is Boyd, probably because that is the name printed in block letters on the back of your hockey team coat.”
    “It’s a long story.”
    “And an interesting one, I’m sure. I’d like to hear it sometime. But at present, here is the situation: I have been tasked to find you and bring you to my employer. I have completed half of my assignment. Should I fail at the second half, that worthy gentleman will be very upset with me. So … will you come? I think I can promise that you won’t regret it.”
    Aidan recalled the stricken look on the kid’s—Wesley’s—face when he wet his jeans, his terror overshadowed by his humiliation. He had tried to bluff his way out of it by appearing tough and indifferent. Aidanhad seen the relief in his eyes when the car roared into the parking lot—the same car idling at the curb now, a few metres away.
    “Is Wesley okay?” he inquired.
    “He’s fine. And he regrets … well, I wish he could tell you himself. Please come. I mean you no harm,” the tall man added, his voice as smooth as oil.
    The smart thing to do was to refuse the request and go home. The whole situation was a little crazy. Why risk it? What was the point? On the other hand, maybe it was time for a change. Aidan approached and the man slid across the back seat. Aidan got in and pulled the door closed.
    “Outstanding,” Chang said, keying his cellphone and pressing it to his ear.
    The car’s interior smelled of leather and aftershave. Chang did not introduce the driver, who piloted the vehicle silently and smoothly, his square hands at ten and two on the steering wheel, his thick wrists at odds with the snow-white cuffs protruding from the dark blue sleeves of his suit. He drove south to the expressway, then along the lakeshore. After a while the car turned north and Aidan recognized the avenue where he had strolled along, free, after parting company with his school’s field trip. He saw the intersection with the huge Happy Garden restaurant squatting on the corner, and was surprised when the silent driver made a left at the traffic light, then pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot.
    “If you’d be so kind as to come with me,” Chang said as he got out of the car. “You may leave your bag in the car.”
    Aidan followed him through the side door of the building and down a wide corridor, its walls scraped andgouged—probably by the serving carts he saw standing idle in one of the rooms off the hall. He passed other rooms ringing with harried voices and the machine-gun clatter of knives on wooden chopping blocks.
    He followed Chang up a carpeted staircase and along another corridor. At the end of the passage Chang stopped