Chapter 15

The next morning Ben Chu looked at the paper the young boy had brought to the house boat. The young boy was the son of the bakery owner that Ben Chu had helped to get to this country. Years ago, Ben had seen something in the man and had helped him get started in business. The relationship had worked out for both Ben and the baker.

The note read:

Ben The FBI questioned me today about our relationship. They are watching both of us.

Ben went to his phone and dialed one of his friends and left instructions on what he wanted done. He then sat down to think.

He always knew that he was being watched by the law but they had never questioned any of his friends or associates. The fact that they had openly admitted that he and his organization was under surveillance meant that they were close to making a move. Ben had been making plans for this day for years.

About eleven fifteen a delivery man from one of the Chinese restaurants close to Roger's office walked up to Lie's desk and announced that he had the food that Roger had ordered. Lei told the man to set it on the desk but the man insisted that Roger had to sign for it personally. Lei went into Roger's office and told him that the food he ordered was here and that he had to sign for it and that Roger had to sign for it himself...

Roger paused a minute and then told Lei to let the man into the office. The man stood before Roger's desk with the bill in his hand. He handed the bill to Roger. The man made a motion signaling that he wanted Roger to just take the bill and sign it. Roger looked at the receipt and signed it and handed it back to the man. The man took the receipt and put it in a small envelope and folded it and handed it back to Roger. Lei was standing behind the man and didn't see what the man had done.

The man turned and left the office.

"Lei, I bought the people in the office lunch today make sure that everyone has plenty to eat. If you need drinks or anything else; have someone come in and get money from me."

Lei left the office and closed the door. Roger opened the envelope and examined the contents. The receipt was in the envelope and there was also a note. The note was from Ben.

Roger

In a couple of days you will receive six packages from FedEx. I will have them delivered to your office. Take the boxes home. Take the contents of the packages and hide the contents somewhere they will be safe. Tell no one that you have them, not even Lei. You and I will be the only ones that know of the existence of the boxes. It is very important that no one know that you have these. One day soon I will ask for the thing that I am asking you to keep for me. Until then, make sure that no one knows of this. Destroy this note after you have read it and make sure that there is nothing left of it.

Roger took the note into the small bathroom off of his office and lit the corner of the note and dropped it in the sink. He watched as the note was consumed by the flames. When the flames died out he washed the charred remains of the note down the drain. He cleaned the sink so that no one would know that anything had been burned there and sprayed air freshener to mask the burned paper smell.

Roger sat at his desk and began to think. He had promised himself that he would never do anything illegal even if Ben said that his life depended on it, but Roger was getting into Ben's illegal business more and more. Roger knew that some of the things that he had done for Ben could be, at the very least, considered conspiracy in the eyes of the law. He had to figure out how to extricate himself from the deep hole that he had allowed himself to be pulled into.

Lei knocked on the door and then walked in with a stack of papers for Roger to sign. He quickly glanced at each form and then signed it. Lei then turned and walked back to her desk, closing Roger's door behind her.

Roger sat thinking about the way his life had turned around since he had saved Ben from the assassin. He had a beautiful home, a growing business and he had Lei.

Lei had become much more comfortable around Roger and they lived together almost as husband and wife without the sex. Lei was a very beautiful woman but Roger was hesitant to make any attempt to take their relationship any further than it was. He was afraid that she would think that she had to sleep with him because she was given to him by Ben. Roger never considered Lei his property or his slave. His heart ached for her because of the hard life that she had before coming to this country.