She charged the approaching waiter and tackled him, gridiron style, and they went tumbling to the ground, both of them, the crowd parting as onlookers scrambled to get out of the way. Some were quick enough, others weren’t. Two other guests hit the ground, both of them men, both of them cursing, but not nearly as much as Nick who was wading through the wreckage, trying to get to her. The waiter scrambled to his feet and rabbited his way through the crowd, his tray and whatever had been in his hand lying forgotten on the floor.
‘It was the waiter from the crab restaurant! He was aiming something at you,’ she said breathlessly as Nick helped her to her feet. Kai was beside them now, barking orders into a cell phone. ‘I thought he had a gun!’
‘You mean this?’ said Kai, picking up a small black cylinder that gleamed dully.
It was metal. It was black. It looked like the barrel of a gun. But it wasn’t a gun. She glanced at Nick to see how he was taking this latest development. Not well. ‘It certainly looked like a gun,’ she said with a cheesy smile. ‘From a distance.’
‘Actually, it is a gun of sorts,’ said Kai. ‘It dispenses darts.’
‘Ah,’ she said. ‘Good to know.’
‘Are you hurt?’ asked Nick grimly.
Her head was pounding, her arm aching. It was five minutes to twelve. ‘Hurt? Me? Of course not.’
Kai was making sure no one else was injured. Jasmine was soothing ruffled tempers. Nick was looking at her, his face set. ‘I can’t believe you crash-tackled him,’ he said at last. ‘Don’t you have any concern for your own safety whatsoever? What were you thinking?’
‘I was thinking of you!’ she said heatedly. ‘I thought he was going to shoot you! I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.’
‘Um, excuse me,’ said Jasmine tentatively, ‘but I thought we might go and find my father and then get you both home. He’s probably out on the balcony waiting for the fireworks to start.’
‘Who needs to go outside?’ muttered Hallie. ‘They’ve already started in here.’ But she followed Jasmine and Kai out to the balcony with Nick at her side and stood where Kai decided it was best to put them, backs to the wall in an alcove.
‘Another attempt?’ said John when he joined them and Kai told him of the waiter and the dart gun. ‘I had hoped we were being overly suspicious.’
‘I wish I knew who was behind it all,’ said Nick.
‘Yeah,’ said Hallie glumly. ‘Pity the waiter got away.’ Lara Croft wouldn’t have let the waiter get away. Lara Croft would have nailed the waiter and then they’d have known who was behind the attempts on Nick’s life. ‘I wasn’t really thinking straight when I tackled that waiter,’ she told Nick apologetically.
‘Finally, she sees reason,’ he murmured.
‘I should have pinned him down.’
Nick stared at her incredulously. John Tey smothered a chuckle.
‘I have our people looking for him,’ said Kai. ‘We’ll find him.’
People were crowding onto the balcony. It was almost midnight, and, as far as the Chinese were concerned, the start of a bright new year. As far as Hallie was concerned it was the end of a long day with more ups and downs in it than a triple-loop roller coaster. ‘Two more minutes,’ she said, glancing at the glowing neon clock set high on the hotel wall.
‘I shall wish for a better new year for you,’ Jasmine told Nick earnestly. ‘One without assassins.’
‘Thanks, Jasmine.’ Nick’s features softened before hardening again as his gaze rested challengingly on Hallie. ‘You could try wishing for some more sense.’
Ha! Hallie smiled sweetly. ‘My wish is that the vase I bought you turns up tomorrow.’ Then she could stuff him in it.
‘What vase?’ said Kai, his head snapping round as he pinned her with his gaze.
‘The one I bought for him at Lucky Plaza,’ she said. ‘When you and Jasmine were in the bathroom.’ Kai was looking at her in disbelief. ‘Separate bathrooms,’ she added hastily. ‘As opposed to being together in the same bathroom.’
‘You bought a vase,’ said Kai. ‘For Nick. From the corner shop near the bathrooms in Lucky Plaza.’
Hallie nodded.
‘A funeral vase.’
Hallie nodded again. ‘Yes, that’s right. The one in the window.’
‘And the salesman let you?’ said Kai.
‘Well, he took some persuading, but, yes. I arranged to have it delivered before the New Year, but it hasn’t arrived.’
Kai was turning to John, shaking his head and muttering something. John was staring at her, open-mouthed, as if frozen to the spot. Nick and Jasmine looked as baffled by their reactions as Hallie felt. ‘What?’ she said uneasily. ‘What’s wrong?’