NOTES: Okay, this is pretty well-riddled with hints. Here's your big clue: It takes place between a movie and its sequal.

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We were on the plane when he first brought it up. Not US, but THEM. I don't think I'll ever forget the way he put it, not because it was especially unforgettable, but because it was so very HIM.

He leaned back in his chair, comfortable in the way most Americans are, and said, "You know, I've been thinking."

I could have commented on that. I didn't.

"There's one thing that doesn't make sense," he continued. "Why the heck was that Chinese mafia guy working for the American dude?" I knew he knew the names of them, he was just trying to provoke me. Again I said nothing.

"I mean, you have to consider it. If American Dude had the money to pay him, then they wouldn't be trying to steal all that artwork and shit, right? But from what you say, that mafia guy's pretty big back where you come from, so he's not going to partner up with just anybody. So you gotta figure, he must be getting something he likes, right?"

He raised an eyebrow at me so that I was sure to get the implications of what he meant.

I shook my head wearily. "You can't be serious."

He just put his arms behind his head and stretched a bit, looking at the ceiling. "I don't know man, it could make it a really interesting plot, you know?"

I snorted. "And here I thought that it was an interesting plot anyway. You know, the foreign minister's daughter gets kidnapped? It turns out to be someone from his own country allied with someone from the place where she gets kidnapped? You don't find that the least bit interesting?"

He shook his head this time, and made vague gestures with his hands. "It's not that all that wasn't interesting. I mean hell, the whole bomb thing I was doing before this mess got tied into it as well, right? It's just that this would have made it even neater too, you know? Except we don't know, so now we have to guess."

"And this is your guess?"

He nodded, and flashed me a grin that said he was half-joking, only partially serious.

I leaned back in my seat and mulled it over anyway. Sure, maybe he was getting something he liked. On the other hand, maybe he stuck around for the same reason I did. Maybe there was just the slightest chance that he MIGHT get something he liked. Yeah right.