<P>It suited him well. He didn't desire any other method of living. Dominic didn't know how to live. Meet the status quo? Fill a seat in an office? Return home each day to a wife and children? Suddenly he recalled Jess.
<P>
<P>A man sharing drinks came to him then and allowed a bottle to regurgitate further liquids into Bishop's emptied glass.
<P>
<P>Dom retrieved it. He abruptly noticed a fleeting, pulsating pain in his arm.
<P>
<P>Probably nothing.
<P>
<P>He drank. 
<P>
<P><JC>--- --- --- ---
<P>
<P>"That's terrible!" Maggie Chow blurted, blatantly feigning distress. Her acting sucked. "Paul and I were... We were close."
<P>
<P>"Yeah," Jock said. "I'm sure you can barely see through your frantic, distraught tears. But I'm here for a reason and I want to be frank about it. Tong is getting impatient. The Triads, as you surely know, are at war. This needs to end, Maggie."
<P>
<P>Miss Chow frowned. The situation was no longer so amusing for her. She knew where the conversation was about to lead. She didn't want to have to deal with it. Neither did Jock.
<P>
<P>Chow's maid, a short, plump woman who seemed as excited about her job as a chicken would be about getting its head lopped off for butchery, stood readily at the bannister. Maggie motioned for her and instructer her to fetch some aspirin. The maid vanished quickly. Jock couldn't decide whather Maggie had done that to get rid of the maid for more open conversation or whether the woman sincerely had a headache.
<P>
<P>Maggie leaned back on her expensive couch, lifting her slender legs from the colorful, wonderfully crafted, no doubt priceless carpet. She glanced tiredly at one of the surrounding floor-to-ceiling windows.