by Lisa Harris
Had the mole been excised?
As soon as he had a moment, Earl would text Jake to find out. Not right now, not when he was driving.
He glanced over at the passenger seat to find Sienna crying softly. He had no more tissues to hand to her. She had used up his entire stash of Krispy Kreme paper napkins. He prayed silently for the poor woman.
They were twenty minutes out to the Chinese restaurant. He expected Deshon Kernaghan to drop off the vehicle and his burner phone any minute now, and then return to housesit for Sienna. The Marine Corps reservist moonlighted for Hu Knows, Inc., on occasion when the need arose.
This time, Earl wished he hadn’t come to Atlanta alone. However, Helen Hu operated a lean-and-mean headquarters in Savannah, having branched out to new offices in Europe. Helen had hinted that she was closing their branch in Brussels—meaning that Hugo would be moving to the Athens office or moved home to Savannah.
As much as he liked Hugo, Earl did not think the Savannah office could handle two bosses. Ironically, at this moment, Earl could use all the help he could get from Hugo, his old friend and colleague.
Cade Sumter was too new and his ego was too big for Earl to partner with. Cade had to work alone—or go through a fiery furnace a few times—to learn to play well with others in the PI firm. Yet Helen refused to fire him.
Between Cade and Deshon, Earl would take Deshon any day. However, Deshon did not want to leave the police force and work full time for Helen Hu. They had met, and Deshon refused to give any opinion of Helen. He neither liked nor disliked her.
That meant Deshon didn’t like Helen enough to want to work for her.
And so here was Earl, working alone.
Interstate 75 going north was still filled with vehicles, although the traffic wasn’t at a standstill.
Sienna was still awake, but she didn’t say a word. Maybe she knew she shouldn’t.
As clear as day, Agent Kimball had planted a hidden camera inside his SUV. Earl didn’t like that because Kimball hadn’t asked for his permission to do so.
Then again, there was nothing to hide, was there? Earl had called Kimball to tell her where Arun’s house was in Conyers—so that she could pick up the FBI vehicle parked outside Arun’s house.
Earl took the exit for Cobb Galleria, then made another turn down a surface road toward the Chinese restaurant, where he expected Deshon to not only leave him a vehicle, but a takeout for two inside the vehicle.
It seemed presumptuous of him to know what Sienna wanted, but while he had been waiting for the gas tank to fill up back at the station, Earl had ordered what Sienna ordered the week before. Bits of information like that which Helen had provided for him came from expensive sources. Data would explain why Hu Knows was too costly for the average Joe to hire.
Earl wondered how Sienna’s uncle would be able to foot the bill if he was on fixed income. At seventy-nine years old, Tabbebo Jennings had seen plenty of life behind him. Perhaps he had dipped into his savings to pay the required deposit for Helen to send someone to Atlanta to protect his niece.
What of the balance?
Well, what was the price of a human life?
By the time they reached Chop de Chop, Sienna had dozed off. Earl eased his SUV past valet parking to the side of the restaurant building. As if on cue, a man in a baseball cap and face mask waved to him from the parking lot.
Deshon.
He walked away from Earl and a small car flashed its headlights once.
Earl drove away from the small vehicle and parked at the edge of the parking lot, right behind a tow truck. Deshon was nearby somewhere.
Earl called her name to wake her up. He gently touched her arm.
Sienna stirred. She looked exhausted.
“Let’s go,” Earl said quietly to Sienna. “Dinnertime.”
Sienna nodded, reaching for her phone that apparently had slipped from her hands and onto the floorboard while she had been sleeping.
Earl reached over the center panel and took the phone from her. He placed it gently back on the floorboard.
“What are you doing?” Sienna asked.
Earl wasn’t sure how to explain it. He needed a distraction, in case Agent Kimball was still watching them from the cameras she had installed on the dashboard, which he hoped couldn’t see the floorboard. Deshon would take care of their phones in a minute.
His fingers gently caressed Sienna’s jawline.
She closed her eyes.
However, Earl did not kiss her.
Sienna opened her eyes. “You wanted to.”
Earl sighed. “Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because… Uh…”
“Take two.” She closed her eyes again.
Startled at a side of Sienna that wasn’t in the dossier that Helen had put together, Earl froze for a second before reaching for her face again. He kissed her on her cheek and then whispered in her ear, “Leave the phone.”
Earl reached between the seats and grabbed his messenger bag with his laptop inside. He was glad he had remembered to bring the bag with him when he left the safe house near the airport, and had put it into his SUV at Arun’s house when he found that Sienna had left his vehicle unlocked.
Sienna exited the vehicle without her phone. Earl knew then that she trusted him.
Good. Maybe they would survive this misadventure yet.
“Why are you bringing your bag?” Sienna asked.
“You mean my man purse?”
“Ah. Sorry.”
Earl did not nod to Deshon, who also didn’t acknowledge him. Earl walked Sienna down the parking lot toward the restaurant before making a sudden turn toward the little car that Deshon had left for him.
Earl leaned toward Sienna’s ear. “Do you trust me?”
Sienna nodded.
Earl opened the passenger side door. He pointed to a floppy hat on the seat. “Please put the hat on. And your safety belt.”
He went around the car, tossed his messenger bag in the back seat, where he spotted a takeout bag. Then he sat down on the driver’s seat. The key was in the ignition. A baseball cap was hanging over the gearshift. He put the cap on, and then his own safety belt.
When he looked over to Sienna, she was grinning. “Got mine on, okay?”
In a compartment between the seats, Earl found a burner phone. He pocketed it.
He started the ignition as he watched Deshon wheel his SUV up the ramp of the tow truck. They couldn’t risk leaving the SUV in the parking lot, just in case Agent Kimball sent someone to tail them. Earl had told Deshon to get the SUV out of here, drive off somewhere to disable the trackers and camera, and then tow it to a garage somewhere. Earl would deal with it later.
Right now, there were many unanswered questions.
“Now we can talk.” Earl drove the car out of the Chop de Chop parking lot using a back way, away from the tow truck.
“You don’t trust Agent Kimball, do you?” Sienna asked.
“I don’t know yet.”
“She has a dashcam or secret camera or something in your SUV.”
Earl nodded. “She knew you were in Conyers before I got there and told her.”
“She didn’t come after me, though.”
“If she had, would you still have driven to Arun’s house?” Earl asked.
“No, probably not. So she’s following me around to see where I go and what I do?”
“Like I am?”
“Technically, Agent Kimball could have assigned an undercover FBI agent to be my fake boyfriend.”
“Department cutbacks. Not enough human resources,” Earl explained.
“Or I’m not high-profile enough?”
“Or maybe I can do things that FBI agents can’t do.”
“Like what?”
“No red tape for me.”
“To skirt the law?”
“Obviously not. Everything we do needs to hold up in court,” Earl said as they stopped at a red light.
“Whe
re are you taking me?” Sienna looked outside.
“You tell me.” Earl made his way onto Interstate 285 heading east.
“Why are we getting back on the perimeter?” Sienna asked.
“Tell me why you went to see Arun, and I’ll tell you where you’ll find the answer you seek.”
“The answer I seek?” Sienna chuckled. “Are we on a quest?”
“Arun Dhillon was tech support at GOOP. Is that why you went to see him?”
“Why don’t you put two and two together, Mr. Brilliant?” Sienna looked outside.
“If you don’t tell me everything, how can I help you?”
“No one can help me.”
“God can.”
“Except Him. I thought the FBI could help me, but I was almost killed at Dana’s house, and they came for me inside the house.” Sienna’s tone was one of disappointment rather than anger.
“You should have told Agent Kimball yourself.”
“You told them anyway, Earl.”
“Well, only after you made me sit outside in the bushes.”
Sienna laughed. “I did not tell you to go sit in the bushes. You made the decision yourself.”
“Well, I had to be close to the house.”
“And you made yourself useful by calling the FBI.” Sienna’s shoulders sagged. “Thank you, though. I would’ve died had you not shown up in time.”
“God protected us,” Earl said. “Now tell me. Did you have something that only Arun could do for you?”
“Like what?”
“You said you trust me.” Earl put his blinker on to change lanes as they crossed over the Chattahoochee River. “Prove it.”
Sienna drew a deep breath. “Give me a minute.”
Earl nodded. They drove on in silence—no music, no radio, just the traffic noises around them—as Earl took them up Highway 400 toward Alpharetta.
He had already guessed that Sienna needed computer help of some sort because she had gone to Arun, the IT guy. Earl could be fifty percent wrong, but he could also be fifty percent right.
Either way, they could stay with Cayson Yang until they figured out their next move. Hopefully the next step would manifest itself before six o’clock in the morning or they’d miss their flight to Savannah. If they missed their flight, they’d have to drive five hours one way.
He prayed that Sienna would open up and be transparent with him. “I’m paid to help you, not anyone else. Let me help.”
Sienna didn’t respond.
“I’ll go first,” Earl said. “There were bugs, trackers, cameras, whatnots in my SUV. They were tracking us, wherever we go. From my past experience, I know that sometimes the FBI has moles.”
“What?” Sienna sounded surprised.
“Nothing manmade is foolproof, as we know.”
“Well, yeah.”
“It’s not that I don’t trust Agent Kimball, but I can’t take the risk. Someone had infiltrated the safe house, killed the real Agent Perez.”
“Now I don’t feel too bad about bashing her head.” Sienna paused. “Maybe I do feel bad. She’s still a human being.”
“I’m sure Agent Kimball would disagree with you.”
“Speaking of her, she’s going to be mad at us if we don’t show up at the new safe house,” Sienna suggested.
“If your enemies knew where the first safe house is, who is to say they don’t already know where the next safe house is?”
“Good point.”
“I’m going to take you somewhere safe.” Earl reached for her hand. She let him hold it.
“What about our flight in the morning?” Sienna asked.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
“Won’t Agent Kimball be mad if she finds out that we didn’t make it inside the restaurant and we’ve disappeared all night?”
“It all depends on what you tell me in the next five minutes,” Earl said.
He hoped that Sienna would be forthcoming.
“I don’t think you can keep the secret much longer,” Earl added. “Agent Kimball is probably talking to Arun’s wife right now. She might tell her everything she knows if she doesn’t want to be handed over to the DHS, get her spouse visa revoked, and sent back to India—her anchor baby notwithstanding.”
Sienna straightened up. “How did you know about their visas?”
“There’s a reason Hu Knows charges an arm and a leg for its services. Whatever the FBI knows, we will know sooner or later. And remember…”
“You’re on my side.” Sienna nodded.
Chapter Seven
Slowly, Sienna pulled out her necklace. She lifted the whistle for Earl to see. He was still driving, so he glanced quickly.
“Dana gave this to me shortly before she was shot,” Sienna said.
“Withholding evidence. Your charges are mounting.”
“She said it was a gift—belated birthday present.”
“Is it?”
“It was odd, but she insisted.” Sienna wondered how much to tell him.
“Since you’re carrying that around, I gather you did not tell the fake Perez about it at the debriefing,” Earl said.
“I couldn’t. Isn’t that a good thing?”
Earl shook his head. “Amazingly so.” Earl shook his head. “Tell me about that whistle.”
“This is not a whistle per se,” Sienna said. “This is a USB drive. I tried to read it back at the safe house, but it’s encrypted. The only person I know in IT is Arun. He was tech support and helped me with my printers and all.”
“So you figured a tech guy who knew how to fix printers might be able to read an encrypted USB drive that used to belong to an informant working in a multibillion-dollar company.”
“Don’t underestimate Arun.”
“Don’t underestimate your enemies.”
“My enemies?” Sienna laughed. “I don’t even know who they are or why they’re after me.”
“Or if they’re after you at all.”
“Rocco is dead and Dana is in the hospital. The three of us—together with Arun—were lunch buddies,” Sienna explained. “Arun used to have a thing for Dana, but her sights were on billionaire Mr. Ford, who took only two years to conquer.”
Earl put his blinker on and merged into the light traffic.
Sienna noticed that he was heading east. “Toto, we’re not going to Sandy Springs anymore.”
“A friend of mine also fixes printers.” Earl chuckled. “He might be able to read your USB drive.”
The dashboard clock said it was almost eleven. Time was slow and yet time was fast.
“I hate Friday nights,” Sienna blurted.
“Because of what happened tonight?”
“Rocco died on a Friday night too.” Sienna’s voice cracked. “We had just started dating. Trying to get to know each other. And then it was over.”
Earl reached for her hand again.
Sienna could not remember when they had stopped holding hands.
“The sooner we solve this—with God’s help—the sooner we’ll return to a normal Friday night, okay?” Earl stayed in the right lane.
Sienna nodded.
“What do you usually do on Friday nights?” Earl asked.
Sienna wasn’t biting. She did not like personal questions from a stranger. She had no idea how they were going to play their parts at the conference in Savannah, Georgia.
“As for me, I usually go on a date, unless I’m working,” Earl answered his own question.
“In which case, you have fake dates.”
Earl shrugged. “I’m glad I have a job.”
“I won’t have one after this.”
“I don’t mean to…” Earl sighed. “I was trying to make small talk. We have to get to know each other in a matter of hours before the conference.”
“Dinner and a movie,” Sienna said. “That’s what Rocco and I did.”
“In a theater?” Earl asked.
“We streamed at home. There’s more
privacy.”
“Your house or your boyfriend’s house?”
“Mine, usually. Then we could stay up as late as we wanted, and I didn’t have to drive home.” Sienna felt awkward speaking of Rocco in the past tense.
“Oh.”
“Are you thinking I’m selfish?” Sienna asked.
“I’m thinking you’re a Christian woman who has her boyfriend over for an after-dinner movie until late at night.”
“I told you we just dated for only a short period.”
“Oh sorry. I missed that.”
“You’re thinking too much.” Sienna laughed. “I have a roommate. Her boyfriend came over. He’s an associate pastor at my church. Everything is—was—above board.”
“That’s good.”
“Big brother approves?” Sienna asked.
“I’m not your big brother. We’re supposed to be an item.”
Sienna put her elbow on the armrest of the door. “We’re going to get dead.”
Earl laughed. “Get dead?”
“Dana. Rocco. Arun. All were going about their normal lives, and then they got into trouble.”
“Normal? I think their lives were anything but,” Earl said. “Dana pried. Rocco snooped around.”
“Like me.”
“That’s why I’m here.” Earl squeezed her hand.
“I wonder how Dana is doing. Do you think she’s out of surgery?”
“I’ll try to find out for you.”
Sienna nodded. “I feel so tired.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” Earl talked to his phone and ordered it to call someone by the name of Cayson. In seconds, a woman’s voice came through.
“Leland?” Earl said. “Where’s Cayson?”
“Dead to the world. He passed out tonight. That will happen to anyone who hasn’t slept in three days. What’s going on?” Leland asked.
“Cayson said I could stop by his office tonight.”
“Are you bringing food?”
“We ordered a takeout.” Or Deshon ordered for them. “We were going to eat as soon as we get to your office. I ordered something for Sienna here without asking her, so if she wants something else…”