The Spy Who Left Me

by Gina Robinson

  Damn that Bond! Zulu was right.

  “I like bikinis better,” the evil assistant said.

  “Me, too,” Ty chimed in.

  Treflee glared at him. “Shut up!”

  Ty shrugged. “Dude, it’s Hawaii.”

  The assistant trailed his flashlight beam up and down her suggestively, doing a Tinker Bell dance on her breasts. Can a beam of light have a leer? This one did.

  Treflee fought the urge to scoot out of the spotlight and into the darkness where she’d probably get shot for trying to escape. Instead, she shooed the light away with a brush of her hand.

  “Hey! Why would any real spy choose the stupid cover I’m living? Half the time I don’t even like my cousin Carrie. I can’t stand her friends. And then I have to pick Carrie up and console her for bailing on her groom days before the wedding. Like it wasn’t her choice.” She crossed her arms, striking a “refute that” pose.

  Zulu shrugged. “We all have shitty relatives. Why not bring them along and hope they get shot?” He laughed an evil laugh. “For a small fee, I can take them out for you.”

  He was serious.

  Treflee gulped. She’d thought she was protecting Carrie and her friends by pretending she didn’t care about them. “I don’t have any cash on me. You should have caught me when I had my pocketbook.”

  Zulu laughed long and loud, but his gun stayed aimed at her heart. “I like you. You look hot in a bikini. Too bad we didn’t meet under different circumstances. I could use some eye candy for my left arm.”

  Now that sent a chill through her. Murderers thought she was hot. Ouch.

  “If you’re so innocent, why did this ‘cousin’ of yours just happen to book the plantation next to Mrs. Ho?”

  Treflee fought the urge to turn to Ty for help. Instead, she tossed her hand, waving off Zulu’s accusation as ridiculous.

  “Oh, very damning evidence, big guy. Lots of people stay at Big Auau. Are you going to accuse every one of them, too? Break into their campsites and wave your guns around?”

  “No one else is staying there and snooping around at this very important time.” Zulu shone the light directly in her eyes.

  She held a hand up to shield them. “Yeah? Well, that’s coincidence for you. You have to book these places a year in advance. You think the CIA has the foresight to plan a year ahead? Anyway, what does Mrs. Ho have to do with anything?”

  She resisted the urge to say, “Have to do with the price of tea in China.” Maybe a comedic racial reference wasn’t the best way to go, here.

  Even without her shot at levity, Zulu put his fierce face back on. “You were sneaking around Mrs. Ho’s property. Why?”

  She shrugged, remembering to stick to her cover story and wondering if Zulu knew about the lei strangler. “Taking an innocent stroll to admire the view is called sneaking now? I’ve never been near her place except that one time when I ran into her clothesline. The woman’s a menace. I think she likes hurting tourists who choose Big Auau over her place.”

  Treflee was still trying to picture the wedding-minded Mrs. Ho, with her purported booby-trapped clotheslines, as a master spy. Next to her, Ty didn’t look all that surprised. Or maybe he was just playing things cool.

  Zulu shook gently as he laughed. “Oh, very good. You lie like a trouper. Too bad for you that I know the truth. I know who strangled you. And he’s been punished.”

  She instinctively clutched her neck and felt the pearls, which made her feel even worse. “Hey, wait a minute!” Anger blindsided her. She dropped her hand and forgot the old adage about engaging brain before putting mouth in motion. “That was your guy with the lei?”

  Zulu towered over her. He sighed with exasperation. If he hadn’t been holding a gun and had an armed accomplice, she would have kicked him in the shins.

  “Are you crazy? You nearly killed me!”

  “Yet you didn’t call the cops.”

  “Right! Who wants to spend their vacation talking to cops?”

  “Innocent girlies who’ve just startled an intruder.”

  Next to her, Ty didn’t make any kind of movement or expression to indicate whether he thought she was performing up to NCS standards or not. And he didn’t come out slashing with switchblade shoes, either. He dabbed at his fat lip, which only made her feel horrible.

  “Spies trying to plant a bug on Ty to spy on us, those kind of people avoid the cops.” Zulu dropped the light from her eyes and shone it on Ty. “You should have picked someone smarter to be your innocent dupe.”

  Oh, boy! Ty did not like being called a dumb dupe. It took a wife to sense his anger and read how badly he wanted to punch Zulu. Or shoot him. On the surface Ty appeared calm enough for government work, but she knew he was seething.

  “Plant a bug on someone who hangs with us. Very smart plan and very dumb, too.” Zulu shook his head. “We don’t play around. You should know that. We’ve already killed one of your agents.” He shrugged. “And then we had to kill one of our own men. Shen Lin got jumpy, scared. He was a liability.”

  What is he talking about? What agent?

  “But, on the positive side, his death put everything back in balance. You should have left us alone. What is another unsolved murder of a Chinese immigrant to you?”

  She didn’t answer.

  “Now that dragon lady wants something you have.” He appeared to be trying to suppress a shudder. “I promised to get it for her.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You lost me at taking out one of my supposed agents.”

  “Cut the dumb-blonde act.” Zulu was losing patience. “I saw you myself escaping from Woo Ming’s after we took out Shen Lin.

  “We even cleared out and gave your cleanup crew plenty of space to get rid of the body. Right before the early-bird dinner special. Fewer questions that way. Less police involvement. Good for all of us, except Cook. He was angry because you interrupted his preparations for the dinner rush.

  “It wasn’t our fault your guys bungled the disposal. We could have told you the currents are unpredictable too close to shore. They should have gone deeper.”

  Yeah, that was obvious. Can you be incredibly relieved, happy, terrified, and sickened at the same time? Apparently you can, because that’s how Treflee felt at that moment.

  Ty hadn’t killed the waiter! She could’ve kissed him. Gently, in consideration for his fat lip.

  She wished Ty could give her some clue as to what she was supposed to say now. “That’s very decent of you” didn’t seem fitting somehow. In her nightmares, she still saw the fish eating Shen Lin’s face.

  She couldn’t very well tell the truth—that in both cases, she was spying on her husband, not them, and evidently not being too subtle about it. If she did, she’d give Ty away. She’d just have to bungle her way through pretending to be a top NCS agent. With any luck, they’d get cocky thinking she was a sterling example of NCS incompetency and relax their guard so the real spies could do their job.

  She shrugged and said the first thing that popped into her mind. “It’s hard to get good help these days.”

  Zulu laughed and nodded as if he agreed completely. “So true. Now, hand it over.”

  She stared him in the eye, trying to appear brave and flippant like heroines in movies. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

  “I want the device your agent passed to you at Haleakala.”

  “Agent? Haleakala? You’re imagining things again. If I were an agent, why would I go all the way to the top of a volcano to get a device? I’m sure I could think up better drop sites.”

  “Maybe because AMOS is up there and that’s where your guy works?”

  AMOS again.

  Just then, Zulu got a text and pulled out his cell phone. He read it and frowned. “Cong didn’t find it in the tent. Search her, Bang.”

  Bang dropped his flashlight, grabbed Treflee, and yanked her cover-up down before she could even scream. She clawed at him and struggled, trying to grab the gun from
the arm that held her and create a diversion for Ty.

  Taking her cue, Ty rolled to his feet and rammed into Zulu. The two men went down with an oomph into the darkness as Zulu’s flashlight went flying and splashed into the water near the mouth of the cave. It floated and bounced along in the water, pushed by the waves, and casting eerie shadows as it caught flashes of action.

  Splashed in the water? There was no water a few minutes ago. Oh, my gosh! The tide is coming in.

  Bang grabbed her around the waist and lifted her off her feet. He stuck his hands between her breasts, felt beneath her bikini top, and squeezed her nipples. She kicked and clawed and tried to pull his disgusting hands off her as he rolled her nipple between his fingers. Bang released her breasts and stuck his hand down her bikini bottom. She gagged and screamed for Ty.

  The grind of fist hitting flesh, followed by a grunt, echoed off the cave walls. Please let that be Ty who’d thrown the punch, not taken it. If she’d been better trained, heck, trained at all, maybe she’d have known how to break free from Bang and his probing, disgusting fingers.

  Finally, he pulled his hand free. “She doesn’t have it!” Bang yelled to Zulu. He put his gun against her head.

  Little did he know how close he was to the device he wanted. Blow off her head and he blew up the software in her hair.

  “Give it up, Ty. I have a gun on your girlfriend’s head. Step out where I can see you before I kill her.”

  Someone pulled the flashlight from the water. The next thing she knew, the beam shone in her eyes.

  “I’m right here,” Ty said.

  Zulu loomed behind him, a dark shadow slowly rising to his feet.

  “Trying to blind me won’t work,” Bang said without a trace of concern. “I don’t need to see to kill point-blank.”

  They all knew that if Ty had come up with the gun, he’d be using it.

  “You okay, Zu?” Bang called.

  “I’m fine.” Zulu breathed heavily. “Never mind her, shoot him!”

  “No!” Treflee screamed. “No! I’ll tell you where it is. Please, please don’t kill him.” She was too afraid even to cry.

  Zulu came up behind Ty, grabbed the light, and kicked him in the back, sending him face-first into the sand. “Where is it?”

  Treflee wished she possessed a spy’s mind-set and more than the limited self-defense training Ty had given her during their marriage. She’d opened her mouth with no real plan except to save Ty.

  Where could she send Cong, Bang, and Zulu where they wouldn’t hurt an innocent bystander? Someplace far away from camp and the others.

  Zulu stared at her. “I’m waiting.”

  “Let him go first.”

  Zulu scanned the cave floor with a beam of light and retrieved his gun, which he aimed at Ty. “No.”

  “Then no deal.”

  “We outgun you.”

  “Fine, shoot me.” Treflee shrugged. “That’ll just guarantee you won’t get what you want.” Especially if they shoot me in the head.

  “Why would I shoot you? I have a hostage,” Zulu said. “How would you like to watch him die? Does a nice, slow bleed-out appeal to you? I know where to shoot him to make that happen.”

  Treflee’s mouth went dry. She tried to think like Ty. “It wouldn’t be the best show I’ve ever seen. I’m not a fan of bleeding out.”

  Zulu laughed. “You think he’ll moan and cry?”

  I think he’ll go down like a hero and it will break my heart.

  “Let’s take Ty’s death off the table. Before I tell you where that thing is, I need some reassurance you won’t simply kill us after I do.”

  Zulu’s diabolical laughter filled the cavern, echoing and blending with the ocean surf. His tone tinged with amusement, he uttered a string of curses. “Shit! I expected more out of a master spy.” He laughed again. “Why would I kill you?”

  Until he has what he wants, Treflee added silently. He’d kill her for sure then.

  She was in the proverbial no-win situation. Either she resisted and Zulu killed Ty before her eyes or she told him what he wanted to hear and then he killed them both. Any way she turned it, they came up dead. It was just a matter of now or later. Later, however, held the possibility of escape or miraculous rescue. Plus it might allow her to make a few amends with Ty. Better to die with a clear conscience.

  “Here’s the deal,” Zulu said. “You lead me to the device while Bang here guards Ty. When I have the device, I’ll order Bang to let him go.”

  Treflee shook her head. “No. No way. For all I know, Bang will kill him the minute I walk out of here.”

  Bang’s arms trembled from exertion, but he still held her midair with an iron grip.

  A wave rolled in. It splashed at Zulu’s ankles and lapped at Ty on the ground, coming up just short of where Bang held her farther into the cave. The tide was coming in quickly.

  “Let’s be honest about things,” Treflee said. “There’s no way you’re going to let me live once you have that device.”

  Zulu didn’t jump in to dispute her.

  “But you can’t kill me until you do. I’m not going to tell you a thing until I have a deal that will give me a fighting chance at surviving.” She tried to stare where she thought his eyes would be, which wasn’t easy with him shining the light in hers.

  “Here’s my proposal—I tell you where the data card is. You leave us in this cave with a hope of getting away before we drown in the incoming tide.

  “No mess, no fuss for you. If we don’t make it out, we simply wash out to sea. You have what you want. We’re all good.”

  Zulu studied her. “And if you’re sending me on a wild-goose chase?”

  She shrugged. “I’m not. But if I was, you’ll just have to hurry. Work fast enough and you’ll still have time to come back and try again before I drown.”

  Zulu considered a moment, then shrugged. “What the hell. Bang!”

  Zulu nodded toward a volcanic outcropping that rose out of the cave floor. “Cuff them together around that.”

  Zulu stared at Ty with a merciless look. “Face to rock so they can’t sit.” He tossed Bang a pair of cuffs.

  Bang pulled another from his pocket as Zulu held a gun to Ty. Bang worked quickly, handcuffing her right hand to Ty’s left and his right to her left as they hugged opposite sides of the rough rock.

  “This is what you call giving us a chance?” Treflee said as Bang walked away.

  “Put the key on the top of the rock,” Zulu instructed Bang. “I call this a very fair chance. Volcanic rock has plenty of foot- and handholds. Easier to climb than your basic climbing wall.

  “Climb up, get the key, free yourselves, and you’re golden.” He laughed again. “Now, where is it?”

  She gave detailed instructions about hiding it in one of the catering bins she’d seen Greg load into the van. Her only hope was the van was parked far enough away from the campsite that they wouldn’t hurt anyone else searching for it. And that it gave Ty and her enough time to get free.

  “You better be telling the truth.” Zulu waved his gun at them. “Bang!”

  Treflee jumped before she realized Zulu was talking to his assistant.

  Zulu laughed and nodded toward the cave entrance.

  They’d tied Treflee to the side of the rock deeper in the cave. Ty was cuffed with his back to the opening. Treflee leaned her head around the rock, watching them go, taking the last of the light with them.

  “Hey! How about leaving us a flashlight?” Treflee called after them.

  Zulu laughed again. “Afraid of the dark? No one said I was that fair.”

  Damn it! They’d duped her. How were she and Ty going to find footholds and the key in the dark?

  She scowled after the jerks, watching their beam of light reflect on the waves pounding deeper into the cave. Watching the two Fuk Ching wade out into the incoming surf. Zulu and Bang reached the cave entrance in knee-deep water. Their light shone on open ocean.

  She took a deep bre
ath, trying to collect her wits just as Zulu spun his beam of light around into her eyes. He raised his gun arm and squeezed the trigger.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Treflee screamed, watching as Zulu’s arm bucked with the kick. Simultaneously, Ty crumpled, pulling Treflee into a face plant with the rough rock, dragging her shoulder and arm down as the stretching fingers of the waves lapped at their feet. Treflee listened for the ricochet of gunfire. The surf drowned it out. She had no way of knowing how many shots Zulu got off or even if he continued to fire.

  “Ty!” She pulled her head away from the rock, scraping her bare stomach and legs against the rough pumice stone as she tried to rearrange and pull up his dead weight. Her arm was scratched and bleeding. Her cheek throbbed. “Ty! Don’t die on me, don’t you dare die on me.”

  Zulu and Bang disappeared. Everything went pitch-black. The only sound over the surf, barely discernible as human, was Ty’s ragged breathing.

  At least he’s alive.

  “Ty! Ty! Talk to me.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed for reassurance. With her other hand, she felt wildly for a pulse.

  Finally, he squeezed back. “Don’t tell me you didn’t expect that.”

  “What? Why would I? No one expects a Chinese execution.” Treflee was so relieved by the sound of his voice she sagged against the rock and held his hand in a death grip.

  “You knew they weren’t going to just let us walk out of here.” Ty’s voice was weak, but ironic.

  No, I hadn’t expected them to shoot Ty. She’d been so stupidly naïve, so smug thinking she’d done everything right. She held back a sob.

  “Hey, don’t beat yourself up. You did great. Better than the average civilian. Zulu didn’t leave you much of a choice.”

  Treflee lifted her head. Ty sounded sincere.

  “At least you bought us a chance. Emmett will be proud. Probably give you a medal,” he said.

  She didn’t want a medal. She wanted to get out of here. Alive.

  “They promised to give us a fair chance,” she muttered, trying to suck up some courage. “Where are you hurt?”

  Bleeding out. Zulu’s words came back to her. She shuddered, trying not to panic, realizing how much she couldn’t stand to lose Ty.