GABE (Silicon Valley Billionaires Book 2)

by Leigh James

  “So am I—”

  “I think giving in to Zhao is encouraging tactics like this—and I don’t want to do that. We can’t let the healthcare landscape be transformed into a war zone. If she’s allowed to get away with trade secret theft, kidnapping, and murder, what’s to stop others from doing the same? People will be too afraid to compete in this market. It will deter innovation.”

  “I understand what you’re saying—”

  “The older I get, the more I understand that it’s about the greater good.” Mimi clasped her hands tightly together in her lap. “We’re better than this—you’re better than this, and you deserve more than to see your company stolen out from underneath you. People need this innovation, Lauren. Your invention is going to help millions of people. We can’t just let it go.”

  I couldn’t be angry with her, because I understood exactly how she felt. Still, I felt sick. Any compromises right now could put Hannah in even more danger.

  “Mimi…I’ve always admired your principles and your strength. But you have to understand, this is my family. I agree with everything you’re saying—I am the last person who wants to see Paragon go out like this. But it’s my sister. It’s Hannah. And no other kind of loss compares to that. Do you understand?”

  Her face softened. “Of course I do. I called Olivia and the others when I was too angry to consider the consequences. I had second thoughts as soon as I did—which is why I admitted to Allen that I was responsible. It’s also why I’m here. I’m so sorry.”

  I nodded. “I know.”

  “I believe you can bring civil charges against me for breach of my fiduciary duty to the board and to the company.” She jutted her chin. “It would probably make us both feel better if I was punished for what I did.”

  “Mimi, I’m not going to do that.” Still, my stomach churned with nerves. Everything was stacked against Hannah right now. Any more false moves on our part, and she would be doomed.

  “I hope you understand—I was trying to save what you’ve worked for. I’ve always believed that the patch would make the world a better place. I don’t want to see this happen…”

  “No one does. We’re just doing the best we can with a terrible situation.”

  Mimi nodded and stood to go. “Any news on Hannah or the security guard?”

  “Nothing good.” I bit my lip.

  “I’m sorry it’s come to this.”

  “Me too. But we’re not done yet.” I forced myself to sound slightly upbeat, to give us both some hope. “I’m not giving up.”

  Mimi nodded. “Good. The world needs you.”

  As the silence settled back over my office, I wondered if that were true…and what, if anything, I could do about it.

  GABE

  “Look at this.” Ash fired up his laptop and opened a file in Dropbox. He played a short video, showing the white SUV pulling out of the garage. The driver’s face was visible for only a split second as he turned, backing the car out of the driveway. Ash paused the video.

  “I’m feeling underwhelmed,” I said, but Levi motioned for me to shut up.

  “Just wait.” Ash opened another file, the surveillance film from Lauren’s house on the night of the attack. He stopped when it showed the invaders leaving the house with Hannah in tow. He focused in on one of the men and opened a facial-recognition program. He placed the markers over the man’s face in the surveillance feed, then he did the same thing with the driver’s face.

  The program beeped: it was a match.

  “Told you!” Ash continued to manipulate the files, looking excited. “We use the same program the NSA uses.”

  That beep wasn’t good enough for me. “Is this conclusive?”

  “No,” Levi said immediately. “But it’s enough for us to set up full surveillance on the property. We need to find a place nearby to set up shop.”

  Ash nodded. “I’ll get on it.” He pulled up the Airbnb website and immediately started scrolling through the Oakland listings.

  Levi watched the screen. “The closing is soon—we have to confirm that this is where Hannah’s being kept. Ash, is there any update on the car rental?”

  “Whoever rented it used one of those ‘special government liaison’ passports that you can get from Dominica for five hundred thousand dollars.” Ash didn’t look up from the screen. “Which just makes me feel more certain it’s them.”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Levi cautioned.

  “There’s nothing that would work on Airbnb—on to Craigslist,” Ash said, opening the other site.

  Levi scowled. “Ew.”

  “What’re you looking for?” I asked.

  “A rental property nearby, one that we can take possession of immediately. There aren’t any hotels close enough—” Ash stopped and clapped his hands together. “Bingo—here’s a lovely, boxy condominium for rent, right in the same neighborhood.”

  “Make sure you use a fake name to rent it, and pay cash.” Levi peered at the screen. “A lot of foreign investment companies own real estate around here—no one knows who the hell they actually are. I don’t want to give Li Na a heads-up that we’re moving into the neighborhood.”

  I stood to go. “I need to let Lauren know what’s going on.”

  “Of course,” Levi said. “We’ll brief her too. But tell her not to get her hopes up—not yet.”

  Ash grinned at me as I climbed out of the van. “She can get her hopes up. I know what I’m doing.”

  I heard Levi and him arguing about that, but I closed the door, shutting out the noise, anxious to get home. I couldn’t wait to tell Lauren that we finally had what appeared to be a viable lead.

  She came home from Paragon, Timmy in tow, a few hours later.

  “Babe.” I wrapped her in my arms and kissed the top of her head. “It’s so good to see you.”

  Timmy cleared his throat. “I’ll just…leave you to it.” He hustled to the guesthouse.

  Lauren poured us each a glass of wine and took a long sip. “Mimi White came to my office today. She’s the one who leaked the news of the sale to your distributors.”

  “I know. Allen Trade called me earlier.” I studied her face, which was pale and tense. “How did it go?”

  “She said she couldn’t bear to see us give in to terrorist tactics. She wanted to fight back.”

  I rubbed her arm. “She has an activist streak, huh?”

  “She’s probably right. I’m not helping with the big picture. I’m giving in to violence, which means I’m resetting the new normal to a very low place to conduct business.”

  “I’ll say it again: it’s not your fault. What’re you going to do about Mimi?”

  “She said I could bring a civil suit against her, but I declined. The only taste for revenge I have is the one I’m itching for with Li Na.” She raised her gaze to meet mine. “Is everything okay with the distributors? I can’t handle this deal blowing up right now. We’re so close.”

  “I’ve got them all in line. It’s going to be okay.”

  “Good.” She blew out a deep breath. “Thank you.”

  “I have other news. My brothers found a lead.” I silently prayed that they were right—we needed this break. I reached out and took her hand. “They found a house in Oakland. They think it might be the guards who have Hannah.”

  “How…?”

  “Ash videotaped one of the guys, and he matched it to the surveillance feed from the night they broke into your house.”

  “When you say matched—”

  “I mean he used facial-recognition software. It was a match.”

  Lauren opened her mouth, but no words came out for a moment.

  “So she…she could be in Oakland?”

  “Yes. But they’re not sure, not a hundred percent.” I wanted her to have hope, but I needed to keep her feet on the ground.

  “So, what are we going to do? Have they contacted the FBI? Are we just going in there?”

  “They need to be certain that these
are the right people, and we need to be smart about the timing, for your sister’s sake. They’re going to rent a house in the neighborhood and set up surveillance. We’re working on it. They only have a couple of days, so they’re moving quickly—I promise.”

  My phone buzzed with a text from Levi. Coming back to the house for a team meeting before we set up. “Okay. Everyone’s coming here to get ready.”

  Lauren nodded, lost in her own thoughts. “I’ll have Bethany come too—just to keep her in the loop. We need to act like everything is going forward as planned.”

  “Okay…and Lauren?”

  She looked up.

  There was no way in hell I’d let her go to Shenzhen, but every second we had together seemed precious. “I love you, babe.”

  She leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed my forehead. “I love you too.”

  While we waited for everyone to arrive, Lauren and I checked our respective emails and paced. I called Dr. Kim to check in.

  “Hey, Gabe.” He sounded out of breath.

  “Did I get you at a bad time?”

  “No,” he puffed, “I’m taking my break on the treadmill. I’m glad you called.”

  “How is Wes?”

  “Stable, but I’m still concerned. The tests show normal brain function, but this isn’t the type of thing you can ever call before the patient wakes up. I’m starting to worry about atrophy too. I need to make the call soon—I’d like to bring him out. I just hope this is the right time.”

  “Does his heart seem better?”

  “It’s tough to tell. It’s been functioning properly since the attack. There’s just a lot of things we don’t know the answer to right now.”

  “Is his brother still there?” I asked.

  “Ellis, yes—he hasn’t left Wesley’s side. I really think that helps. If you and Lauren can come back soon, please do. Wesley is tough, but he needs all the encouragement he can get.”

  “Thanks, Dr. Kim. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  “Any changes?” Lauren asked when I hung up.

  “No. He seems to be stable—the doctor said they’re thinking about waking him up.”

  “We need to get Hannah back—Wesley needs her.”

  I went and wrapped my arms around her. “I know. Hopefully, it’ll be soon.” For everyone’s sake.

  Levi, Ash, and eight of their men showed up, followed shortly thereafter by Bethany. I called Timmy and had him join us too—he should know what was going on.

  In case I asked him to lock Lauren in her room.

  “What’s going on?” Bethany asked Lauren.

  Lauren looked pale but excited as she sank down on the couch, waiting for Levi to start talking. “They might’ve found where Hannah’s being kept.”

  “Okay,” Levi started. “Ash did some great work this week, tracking down a rental vehicle we suspected was being used by Zhao’s team. Ash followed it to a residential neighborhood in Oakland, only a few miles away from Langham Place—where the exchange ‘event’ occurred. The person who rented the SUV has a very expensive passport, the kind you buy when you need to stay anonymous. That’s not all. Ash was able to film the driver’s face, and he matched it to the face of one of the guards who abducted Hannah.”

  “Matched how?” As usual, Bethany sounded skeptical.

  “With the same facial-recognition software the NSA uses.” Levi bristled. “Is that okay with you?”

  “Wow—yeah, that’s okay with me—it’s great.” Bethany smiled at him in approval. “Finally, some good news.”

  Levi didn’t smile back, but he looked less annoyed. “We were able to locate a condo for rent in the neighborhood. One of our men is dealing with the transaction now. As soon as we can take possession, probably tonight, we’ll move our surveillance equipment in and start watching the house.”

  “What’s the plan after that?” Lauren asked.

  “If we can confirm Hannah is on the premises, we’ll go in. If not…we may wait until Friday to see if they bring her out. If they do, we’ll intercept them.”

  “What if she’s not there?” Lauren asked. “What if this isn’t the same people?”

  “Right now, it makes sense for us to concentrate our efforts on this location. We don’t have any other leads. If it turns out we’re wrong, we’ll deal with it at the closing.”

  “Which means what, exactly?” Bethany was back to sounding unimpressed.

  “It means if we have to, we’ll get Hannah at the law firm, and then we’ll intercept Lauren before she gets on a plane. We’ll come up with a more detailed plan for that later. Right now, we need to stay focused.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that at all, but I kept my mouth shut. For the moment.

  “Does anyone have any other questions?”

  “Can I come with you to the site?” Lauren asked hopefully.

  “Not right now,” Levi said. “You need to get Paragon ready. Zhao can’t have any idea that we’ve found a lead—we need the element of surprise.”

  I stood up. “I’d like to go with you. I need to do something. If I sit around here and wait, I’ll go crazy.”

  “That’s fine,” Levi said. “But please stay in the background, and let us do our job. If there’s something you can help with, I’ll tell you. I promise.”

  “But nothing dangerous, right?” Lauren asked him. “Please?”

  “Of course not,” Levi assured her.

  I leaned down and kissed the top of Lauren’s head. “You don’t have to worry.”

  “I need you to mean that.”

  I stroked her cheek. “Of course I do. I love you. And you have enough to worry about—I’m a big boy. I can take care of myself.”

  “Okay,” she said, but it sounded like a lie.

  Chapter 22

  Lauren

  Sunlight streamed into the room when I woke the next morning. I stretched, feeling the bed empty next to me, and then remembered—Gabe had gone to the surveillance house. I hoped Ash was right—they’d found where Hannah was being kept. Just the thought of Gabe and his brothers being close to her made me feel a little better.

  Maybe this can work. Maybe we can get her out.

  I threw on some sweats and went out to the kitchen, where I made myself a coffee and tried to collect my thoughts.

  What would I do about Paragon if we could rescue Hannah before the closing? I supposed I could refuse to sell. I could tell Li Na, once and for all, to bugger off.

  But I didn’t know if we’d get Hannah first. There was only one way to find out, and I had to wait too long for the answer. My already frayed nerves were close to snapping as I showered and dressed quickly, anxious to get back to the office and meet with Bethany. We planned to finish the documents. I felt impatient to do anything that would pass the interminable time.

  Being back at Paragon offered no relief. “Ms. Taylor,” Stephanie said, following me into the office, “do you want some help packing up?”

  I looked around my office, which I hadn’t touched. “I think I’m going to…wait.”

  Eddie was overseeing the company-wide packing, getting ready for the move to San Jose. Gabe and I hadn’t even signed a contract yet, but I wasn’t worried about it. In fact, I wasn’t even thinking about the future at all, even though I had to imminently deal with a move and starting a new company. I could only focus on the next seventy-two hours, during which I might or might not be reunited with Hannah.

  Stephanie reached out and tentatively rubbed my arm. “Is there anything I can do?”

  “No, but I appreciate it. Just continue acting normal—I appreciate you keeping things on an even keel around here. I’m not capable of it at the moment.”

  “Everybody understands,” she said. “In fact, we’re all in awe that you’re able to be so calm and to keep things moving forward. But we’re used to that—being in awe of you.”

  “I hope I can figure out something for us all to do, now that we’re…saying good-bye to the patch.” I could barely bring mysel
f to say the words out loud.

  “You will. Everything’s going to be fine once we get your sister back.”

  I nodded at her, touched by her kindness.

  After she left, I went and stood by the windows, looking out at the grounds. I put my hand on the glass, as if I could touch the view.

  And then I went back to my desk to finish winding up my company.

  Gabe texted me intermittently throughout the day. They hadn’t seen any activity at the house they were watching, but the surveillance site was set up and the men had settled in.

  There was nothing to do but wait.

  I texted Ellis Eden, who reported that Wesley was still in stable condition. They were running more tests on him today, before they decided how to proceed.

  The morning dragged. Bethany sat perfectly still, plowing through a pile of equipment-description documents. I paced some more, returning to the window occasionally, watching the sun as it made an excruciatingly slow path across the sky. We barely spoke.

  Halfway through the day, Bethany went out and grabbed lunch. She pushed a container filled with peanut noodles, stir-fried vegetables, and crispy tofu toward me. “Any news?”

  “Not yet. They have the house set up and the surveillance equipment’s assembled, so now they’re just waiting. As far as I know, they haven’t seen anyone else coming or going.” I pushed the food around in its container.

  “Please eat that—it’s from Okayama. They make the best bento box in San Jose.”

  “Thank you.” I took a bite and chewed listlessly, Bethany watching me.

  “So…what’s the plan? If Levi actually pulls this off, I mean?”

  I groaned. “I know you like to vet the people around me, but honestly, you don’t need to give Levi such a hard time.”

  Bethany shrugged, her platinum hair swishing over her shoulder. “I have a feeling he’ll rise to the occasion. I know men like Levi—they don’t appreciate being challenged. But if someone calls them out, they like to make a big show of being right.”