by Toby Neal
“I had to speak with you,” Armita said. “But you must not tell her I came.”
“Tell who? I’m still in shock to see you after all these years,” Sophie said.
“You must not tell Pim Wat that I spoke with you. Or I will get much, much trouble.” Armita grasped Sophie’s hands; hers felt small and soft as a child’s. Her eyes welled as she scanned Sophie’s face searchingly. “Your scar. It’s not as bad as I worried it would be. You are still so beautiful.”
Sophie was unsure what to ask first—she had so many questions. “Why did you come here in the middle of the night? And climb up to my room?” She gestured to the deck. “It’s three stories to the ground. I didn’t think anyone could approach that way.”
“You must not tell Pim Wat I came,” Armita repeated. Her mouth quivered. “Please.”
“All right, I won’t. Did Mother fire you or something, after the kidnapping?” Sophie squeezed Armita’s hands reassuringly, disturbed that the woman was so agitated and fearful. “She told me that you left—that you quit working for us because you didn’t want a job where you were put in danger.” Now Sophie’s chin wobbled as she remembered how devastated she’d been—Armita had been her mother in everything but name from her earliest memories. The nanny’s abrupt disappearance, on top of Sophie’s trauma from the kidnapping, had always haunted her. “Where did you go?”
“I was not fired. I am Pim Wat’s personal servant; I have been all of these years. She would not let me see you after I had failed in my duty to protect you.” She let go of Sophie’s hands and turned away, her slender shoulders slumping. “I am so ashamed.”
“What? Two armed men broke in and took me! They hit you on the head!” Sophie exclaimed. Anger lit in her breast as she remembered sleepless nights in her little bed, crying for Armita—and the poor woman had been blamed, and kept away! “I can’t believe this. Mother would not be so cruel.”
Armita’s eyes were hard as black diamonds as she gazed at Sophie. “You do not know your mother the way I do. She says she is cruel to make me strong. She said that you too must be strong.”
“I was seven years old! I’d been kidnapped and kept in a closet for ten days!” Sophie shook her head. “But you did not answer my question. Why did you come to my apartment the way you did? Why now, after all these years?”
“I came when she wouldn’t miss me. I came a way that would not be seen by those watching you. I came now because I had to warn you.”
“Who is watching me? And warn me of what?”
Armita stood. “There are many watching you, and one of them wants you dead. But your mother—she wants you to serve her. She wants to own you, like she owns me. And she is planning something. She usually tells me everything, but she has not told me this, and it worries me.” She drew a breath and sighed it out, her fingertips touching Sophie’s arm lightly. “Do not go to Thailand, to the stronghold of the Yām Khûmkạn. You may not be able to leave if you do.”
“I won’t,” Sophie said fiercely. “I’m pregnant, Armita. I must protect my baby.” She hadn’t meant to tell the woman, but the words had just popped out. She still trusted Armita.
Armita’s face seemed to light with a glow of joy as she smiled. “Oh, Sophie Malee! How wonderful!” She leaned forward to embrace Sophie, her small hands fluttering around Sophie’s face and hair like butterflies. “In my fondest dreams, we were reunited. And I cared for your children as if they were my own.” Her eyes were wet. “I am so happy! I thought you could not have children, after Assan Ang.”
It was jarring that she seemed to know everything about Sophie, but oddly reassuring too.
“I thought I could not have children either. This has been a surprise, and will be a big adjustment, but I’m happy about it. And I would love you to be my child’s nanny. Leave my mother. Come live with me. I know I will need help; I can’t do this alone.”
Armita stepped back. Her smile was deeply sad. “If only that were possible. And now, we both have a secret to keep from Pim Wat. I must go.”
“Please don’t! Stay with me until the morning, and go out the front way,” Sophie pleaded. She patted the bed. “There is plenty of room, and I will sleep better with you here, I know it.”
Armita shook her head. Tears gleamed on her high cheekbones in the light from the lamp. “I am so glad to have seen you, and I will be watching out for you as best I can. Remember my warning.” The petite woman slid open the door, climbed over the balcony railing, and disappeared.
Chapter Thirty-Three
By the time Sophie went out on the balcony and looked over the edge, Armita was gone. “She’s a ninja,” Sophie whispered. “Was that whole encounter even real?”
Sophie went back inside. The dogs milled around, sensing her agitation, and she wanted to go for a run—but nausea tickled the back of her throat at the mere thought.
Where was Jake? Why hadn’t he come and let himself in and gotten into bed with her to snuggle, if nothing else? If she had needed confirmation that something was very wrong, she now had it.
Sophie went to the sink, filled a glass with water, and stared out at the night as she sipped, mulling the situation over.
Maybe she should just go to him. Let herself into his apartment and get in bed with him. They didn’t have to talk. Their bodies had spoken best, anyway.
But did she want to be with him, when he might not want to be with her? His love for her wasn’t very strong if he couldn’t forgive her for being with Alika just one time, when she and Jake hadn’t even been a couple…if this was a “deal breaker” for him, was he the right partner for her?
But if they were having a baby together, they would have to work things out.
And if they weren’t, it was better to know now, and end the romantic aspect of their partnership. “Like ripping off a Band-Aid,” Marcella’s voice said in her mind.
“Ugh,” Sophie said aloud. “Oh, it hurts.” She wrapped her arms around herself tightly.
Sophie understood how Jake felt about Alika so much better now, understood his wound from the past and how it made it hard for him to imagine being a father to another man’s child. Maybe he wasn’t up to that challenge, but she owed it to him to reach out, for all the times he had reached out to her.
Resolved, Sophie pushed the dogs aside, locked them in her apartment, and exited onto the exterior corridor. Would she encounter Jake’s security detail outside his door?
No one was there, to her surprise. Maybe they were watching from another observation point? Sophie glanced around but saw nothing untoward.
She’d been able to get into his apartment to retrieve the dogs, so she was surprised that, when she unlocked the door, a chain and bar were on inside.
Sophie slid her phone out of her pocket and called Jake’s cell. It went to voicemail.
She would have to wake him up. How embarrassing. How vulnerable. And yet…
Sophie knocked, leaning into the crack in the door, calling gently inside. “Jake! Let me in. It’s Sophie.”
She heard quick, light footsteps and recoiled as Felicia’s face, framed by tousled blonde hair, appeared in the narrow opening of the door. Sophie grasped the doorframe, feeling faint.
“Sophie! Jake looked in on you and said you were sleeping.” Felicia whispered. She shut the door. Sophie listened to the chain and bar being disengaged. She opened the door again. “We didn’t want to wake you.”
“Are you and Jake…together?” Sophie whispered.
“Yes. No! I mean, we got done at work late. I brought some pizza over for you both, but you were in bed already, and so we watched a movie and…” The girl stammered, her cheeks pink. “I fell asleep. Jake’s in bed, and he took some meds. His leg…”
“I understand,” Sophie said woodenly. She stepped back from the door. “It’s fine. He knows where to find me if he would like to talk.”
Sophie turned and fled.
She reentered her apartment, her heart pounding, her mouth dry.
&n
bsp; Felicia and Jake!
Her mind couldn’t seem to stop playing awful pictures of the two in bed together. Whether or not Felicia was telling the truth, the fact that Jake had chosen Felicia’s company over her own was a statement.
On top of the bizarre and disturbing visit from Armita, trying to go back to sleep after this upset seemed impossible. She needed to work. Needed to dive into a bigger screen than her laptop. Computers had been her salvation; submerging in the ‘wired world’ was where she could disappear, her rioting emotions calmed by the occupation of her mind. Her computer friends would never let her down or betray her.
Sophie grabbed a light parka against the cool night air, her backpack, and her weapon. The dogs she resettled on her bed with a treat.
She’d get caught up at the office. Then, by the time Jake and Felicia rolled in to work, she’d be prepared. All business. Able to act like she didn’t care that Felicia was sleeping over, whether it was platonic or a sex marathon.
Sophie got into her Security Solutions SUV and headed for the office. The dark was her friend, as it had always been.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The bitch is back.
Akane set aside the phone that had pinged him awake with a text from his spy. He reached down for his pants. He had to move fast, before extra security or one of her boyfriends showed up.
“Where ya going, baby?” Sleepy voice from the other side of the bed. “Stay with me. We can have some more fun.”
Akane glanced over at the naked woman beside him. Makeup had run, circling her eyes, along with a purple mark from his hand. The whore had bruises around her throat, too, and she was still looking for more? He was definitely going to see her again. His groin stirred, but he shook his head. He peeled a couple of C-notes off his bankroll and dropped them on the nightstand. “Be gone before I get back. I’ll call you.”
Akane dressed rapidly, picked up his weapons, and left.
He had spies keeping an eye on all the comings and goings of his targets, and he mulled over Terence’s visit to Security Solutions the day before. What could Terence be playing at? He was probably trying to get their team to help him while setting them up at the same time.
Terence thought he was so smart—and Akane would let him think so, all the way until the end.
He’d gloated over a secret button camera he’d installed to watch Terence discover his uncle’s body. Chopping Terence’s surrogate father up like that had been disgusting and a lot of work, but Terence’s horror, the way he’d puked and cried…worth every messy minute.
“You killed my family, Terence,” Akane muttered. “You’re never going to be done suffering until I finally end your miserable life.”
Akane arrived at the office building and made a pass, driving by at the speed limit, checking out the situation. The bitch had parked her car around the corner, but a light was on in the third-floor office. He smiled. She’d never see him coming.
This was going to be fun.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Sophie cracked her knuckles as Amara, Jinjai, and Ying, her faithful computer friends, replicated through several incarnations now, whirred into life in the little computer lab Connor had set up. The streets of Hilo had been quiet and deserted on the way into the office; she hadn’t seen a soul. She’d already verified that the Security Solutions outer office door was locked and alarmed, but she could still hear Marcella’s voice in her head, scolding her for coming in alone, at night, with Akane still on the loose.
Still, she felt safe in the locked, armed, quiet office—and a loaded Glock rested on the desk beside her in case of surprises.
Sophie needed her wired world. Craved it.
A lumpy white envelope marked SOPHIE in Jake’s bold handwriting was set beside her inbox tray. Sophie ripped it open and took out a stick drive.
Must be some data she needed to analyze for one of their cases.
Shaking off the angst about Jake, she plugged in the drive and loaded her programs. She put on her headphones, piping in a Mozart concerto to get herself in the right mental space. When the computers were done activating, the first order of business was checking DAVID, her rogue data analysis program, for any evidence collected on Akane’s whereabouts.
DAVID came online. The rogue data mining software had been set to monitor keywords related to Akane Chang. She was disappointed to see that the collection cache was empty. That psychopath knew about Security Solutions’ strength with online and computer monitoring. He had been staying off the grid and out of public view, likely hidden by his allies. He must be using only cash and seldom going anywhere.
Sophie opened the contents of the stick drive and discovered a spreadsheet of names and addresses. The whole document revolved around a family tree focusing on Terry and Healani Chang and their siblings and descendants. The spreadsheet included not only the Chang family clan, complete with full names, addresses and contact information, but allies and associates. Colors and symbols in a key on the side, designated affiliations and functions within the family business.
Sophie grinned—this information was going to be invaluable in tracking Akane’s whereabouts and the Chang operation in general.
Sophie dug in, dragging and dropping names into DAVID for more data mining. By the time she was done sorting the contents of this stick drive, she’d know more about the Chang operation on the Big Island than anyone ever had.
A terrible shattering of glass as the window near her broke was Sophie’s first inkling that something was amiss. The air filled with the sharp smell of a canister of tear gas. Yellowish smoke belched from the canister as it rolled across the floor to bump into the wheels of her office chair.
Sophie tore off her headphones, grabbed the Glock, and rolled out of her chair to take cover beside her desk. Vapor belched out into the small space of the room, stinging her eyes and filling the air in billowing clouds. Sophie held her breath, shutting her eyes, trying to remember the distance to the door. She had to get it open and get out!
Sophie ripped off her shirt and covered her nose and mouth, blinking burning eyes as she crawled toward the door, the Glock in one hand and the shirt held over her face with the other.
The louvered covering over the window flew inward. Glass sprayed Sophie as the rest of the window was bashed in. Sophie shut her eyes, held her breath, and got her cloth-covered hand on the lever-style door handle. She heaved downward desperately, hearing the thud of boots landing on the floor behind her.
“Where do you think you’re going, bitch?” Akane. She’d recognize that voice anywhere, even when muffled by a gas mask.
A hand in Sophie’s hair yanked her back from the door and another yank landed her on her ass.
Sophie brought the Glock up and fired, aiming backward, shooting blind.
The report in the enclosed space deafened her, and the grip on her hair, straining her neck as her head was pulled back, didn’t loosen. She’d missed!
Sophie inadvertently inhaled. Instantly coughing, her lungs felt on fire. Her eyes stung in spite of being closed, and a blow to her head stunned her. The weapon was wrenched out of her hand.
“I should just shoot you right now, but that would be too easy. I want to finish what we started in the jungle,” Akane said. “You’ve caused me a lot of hassles, and it’s payback time.”
She could breathe later.
Now was time for an all-out effort to escape, or die trying.
Sophie drew her feet underneath her buttocks and threw herself forward to stand, ripping her hair out of Akane’s hand. She was scarcely aware of her stinging scalp as she pitched forward, crashing against the door, her hands scrabbling for the handle. This time it opened. Sophie fell through the doorway, landing to roll to her feet. Her diaphragm spasmed, demanding a breath, and she cracked her eyes open enough to aim herself in a dive, landing behind Felicia’s desk in the main reception area.
Foul vapor billowed out of the computer lab in pursuit, but Sophie pulled Felicia’s sweater d
own off of her chair and grabbed a couple of gasping breaths. Holding the fabric over her face, she groped for the alarm button they’d had installed on the bottom of the receptionist’s desk. She pressed it repeatedly.
Akane cursed and his boots thundered as he followed her out of the computer lab. She shut her eyes against the tear gas and wedged herself in under the desk, preparing to make him work to get her out.
“You must be Akane Chang.” Pim Wat’s cool, composed voice came from the main office doorway. “I’ve been looking for you.”
Pim Wat? Here? Now? Sophie couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
Sophie pulled the sweater away from her face enough to squint through streaming eyes at a small, dark figure standing silhouetted in the doorway.
“Who the hell are you?” Akane sounded outraged.
“Sophie’s mother. You’ve been a problem for her long enough.” A unique sound: bap! bap! bap!
Shots from a silenced weapon.
Even with her eyes shut, Sophie could picture where Pim Wat had shot Akane: two to the chest, one to the head. Her mother was a pro.
“He’s probably wearing a vest, Mother,” Sophie rasped between coughs. “Make sure you get him.”
“Oh, I got him. And now, let’s clear the air in this place.” Pim Wat ran forward and shut the computer lab door, trapping most of the gas inside the small room, turned on an overhead fan, and opened the windows of the other offices as Sophie kept her eyes shut and focused on breathing through the sweater.
Sophie waited until she felt her mother’s cool hand on her shoulder. “Sophie Malee. Are you injured?”
“Just some gas inhalation.” Now that the crisis was passing, Sophie could also feel her scalp burning—she’d definitely lost a patch of hair to Akane’s grip. “I pressed an alarm. The police are on their way.” She could already hear the wail of sirens in the distance.
“We’ll catch up later, then.” Pim Wat dropped the weapon, a silenced SIG, into Sophie’s lap. “You can thank me and return my weapon when the police are done with it. I was never here.”