by Sean Black
He should have said more while he’d had the chance, made his warning more specific. He should have told her she needed to be careful. To tell him if anyone approached her.
How could he, though? Even something as simple as suggesting the alarm was set had raised her suspicions.
This was an impossible job. Secrets always were. No good ever came of them.
Part II
7
Ty Johnson stood in the middle of the arrivals area at Terminal 2 of the Los Angeles International Airport, plain old LAX to the locals. This was one upside to being six feet four inches tall. People he was collecting from the airport couldn’t exactly miss him.
Just look out for the huge black dude with the bad attitude and shades.
Not that he’d needed to give a description on this occasion.
He checked the time on his phone, then the screen above his head. Lock’s plane out of JFK had landed fifteen minutes ago, which meant he should appear any moment now.
Ryan Lock was Ty’s business partner and best friend. He’d been in New York for the past few days conducting a counter-security review for a Russian oligarch. It would have involved finding the holes in the man’s existing security arrangements, showing how a hostile party could exploit them, and telling him how they could patch them up. Lock saw this as an elaborate game, one that sharpened his own, already razor-edged, close-protection skills. Ty liked the fact that these gigs paid the kind of money it had taken him a year to earn when he’d worked for Uncle Sam.
Ty had stayed in California because of some minor legal difficulties involving his part in ending an armed hostage situation at a hospital in Long Beach. A man he’d served with in the Corps had flipped out when the staff had refused to treat an injured animal he’d brought in. Ty was facing a number of charges that would likely be dropped but for now it was easier for him to stay in California.
Lock appeared, carrying an overnight bag and a laptop case. He threaded his way confidently through the throng.
As Ty headed over to intercept him, Lock suddenly changed direction, picking up his pace and veering left, heading toward the exit that would take him outside to the nearest parking structure.
Weird, thought Ty, as he briefly lost sight of his friend.
Maybe he should have texted to let him know he was picking him up. No matter. He edged his way through the throng to intercept him.
Ty stopped in his tracks as he saw Lock pick up his girlfriend, Carmen Lazaro, and spin her round before planting a kiss on her lips. She ran her hands through his hair and pulled him in for an even more passionate smooch.
“Damn,” Ty muttered.
He wasn’t big on PDAs (public displays of affection), and until right now he’d thought Lock wasn’t either. Ty started to back up, away from the happy couple. He turned and began to head in the opposite direction.
“Ty!” Lock called.
Ty pretended not to hear and kept walking.
“Ty, wait up!”
There was nothing else for it. Ty turned around, doing his best to pretend that he hadn’t already seen him.
Lock was walking toward him, hand in hand with Carmen. “You here to pick me up?” he asked.
“Yeah,” said Ty, shuffling his feet. “I didn’t realize Carmen was meeting you.”
Carmen smiled at him. “I had a free day. Well, technically, I’m working at home.”
Lock squeezed her hand. “Was that what we were going to call it? Working from home?”
She playfully punched Lock’s arm. “Behave.”
“Absolutely not,” said Lock.
Lock had it bad. He never lacked for female attention, but this was the first serious relationship he’d been in since his fiancée had died right here in Los Angeles. With the job that they did, relationships were hard to establish and even tougher to maintain. Ty was pleased for his friend, but he didn’t want a courtside seat for all the mushy stuff.
“You kids go do whatever it was you planned,” said Ty.
“Hang on a sec,” said Lock. “Did I miss anything while I was up there? The WiFi was down so I haven’t checked email or messages.”
“Yeah, but it can wait.”
“Sure it can,” said Carmen, pulling at Lock’s hand.
“What was it?”
“Some Chinese guy’s been calling. Li Yeng. Name ring any bells?”
“Can’t say it does. What did he want?”
“To speak with you. Wouldn’t say why. But he’s called like four times in the past three hours.”
“Sorry,” Lock said to Carmen, and turned to Ty. “You have a number for him?”
“Sure,” said Ty, handing Lock his cell. “It’s the last call right there.”
“I’ll be two minutes and then we can split,” Lock said to Carmen.
“It’s fine.”
Lock moved away from them to make the call, leaving Ty alone with Carmen.
“Kind of awkward,” said Carmen. “We should probably coordinate airport pickup.”
“I thought you’d be at work,” said Ty.
“Ty, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but are you jealous?”
“Jealous? What do you mean?” he said, feigning ignorance. Ty knew exactly what she was driving at.
“Well, you and Ryan are tight. Best buds. Joined at the hip almost. Then I come along, and all of a sudden you don’t get to collect him from the airport anymore.”
“You’re messing with me, right?”
She grinned. “Maybe just a little.”
Lock walked over to them. He handed Ty his phone.
“What’s the deal?” said Ty.
Carmen had already read the change in Lock’s demeanor. “Something tells me our plans for the day just took a hit.”
“I’ll make it up to you.”
“Serious?” said Ty.
Lock nodded. “Double abduction in Arcadia.”
“Abduction or kidnapping?” said Ty.
“Too early to say. No ransom demand’s been made, but that’s not unusual at this stage.”
“You want me to call the office, see what I can find out?” Carmen asked.
“No point. The cops haven’t been told, and that’s the way the family wants it to stay. For now anyway.”
8
They cleared the worst of the traffic surrounding LAX and took the ramp onto the 105. They would switch to the 110 before getting on to the 10 freeway that would take them all the way out to Arcadia.
Ty was driving but they had elected to take Lock’s car. A pearl grey Audi RS7 was a better match for a job that demanded a low profile than Ty’s tricked-out purple 1966 Lincoln Continental, with its leopard-spot suede interior and the sound system that Lock was convinced Ty had bought from a dance club. Ty had many great qualities, but keeping a low profile was not one of them.
As Ty wove through traffic, Lock did his best to gather what intel he could on the man who wanted their help. The information available online did not suggest a man who’d find himself in the middle of a double abduction.
The unwillingness to involve law enforcement worried Lock. The first hours after a kidnap or abduction were the most crucial. Whether they were local, state or federal, law enforcement possessed expertise and resources that no one else could come close to offering.
It suggested that more was going on. Maybe something illegal or straight-up criminal. That was the usual reason for people who didn’t wish to involve the cops when a crime was committed.
Of course, there was another factor. One that Lock couldn’t ignore. Immigrants and immigrant communities often had a built-in reluctance to involve law enforcement, especially when they came from a country where institutions were either corrupt or incompetent.
Lock wasn’t sure how much either of those charges would apply in China. It was such a vast nation that he imagined there were places where the cops were on the ball and fairly straight up, and others w
here they weren’t. He’d have to explain to their new potential client that the cops here could be trusted, and did a good, often exceptional, job.
“So what you got on this guy?” Ty asked, piloting the Audi across two lanes to make the transition to the 10.
“Not a whole lot,” said Lock, scrolling down his phone.
“Twenty-nine years old. Chinese national. Moved to the States to study for his MBA. Was already working for a heavy business hitter back home who paid his fees. Now he manages the guy’s property and business interests out here on the west coast, and his kids by the look of it.”
“Man, I hope he’s doing a better job with the real estate.”
“We don’t know what’s happened to them yet. Maybe they’re out partying and he’s jumped to the wrong conclusion. There’s no ransom note and no contact from any kidnapper.”
“False alarm?” said Ty.
“It’s a possibility.”
“That might explain why he wanted us to check it out first, rather than call the cops and get them all up in his business.”
“It might,” agreed Lock. “Or he’s panicked and thinks he can deal with it himself without his boss back home finding out.”
“We have any steer on who’s missing?” asked Ty.
“One male, one female. Both family members of his boss, but he didn’t say how they’re related. They’re both over eighteen, but he was asked to keep an eye on them while they’re studying over here.”
Ty made a low whistling noise. “Boss’s family. Best not be asking for a raise anytime soon. Li told his boss yet?”
“No idea.”
“So, we have a couple of kids who may or may not be missing,” said Ty, summarizing. “May or may not have been kidnapped. No motive if they have been or idea who took them. No one wants to call the cops, and no one knows if their family’s been told. Sounds like a complete mess.”
“In other words, just our kind of gig,” said Lock.
Lock’s phone beeped. He had texted Li Yeng and asked for the names of the two missing individuals. There was no point waiting until they got there for the information. He opened the reply.
“What he say?”
“Will discuss when you get here,” said Lock, reading the text to Ty.
“Maybe this isn’t a good idea,” said Ty.
“I was just thinking the same thing. Hard to work with someone who won’t give up any information.”
Lock’s cell rang. It was Li Yeng.
“Ryan Lock.”
“Mr. Lock, I apologize. I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s just that this information is very sensitive, and I never fully trust electronic communication.”
That made some kind of sense to Lock. It was easy to forget that paranoia wasn’t really paranoia when you grew up in a country where people disappeared if they said something that someone in power deemed out of turn. He was prepared to cut the guy some slack. “Okay, well, listen, we’re about twenty minutes out. You can bring us up to speed when we meet.”
“I appreciate your understanding. I’ll see you at the house.”
The call completed, Lock turned to Ty.
“I heard,” said Ty.
“There’s something else that’s bothering me about this,” said Lock.
“Listen, about the airport, if I’d known Carmen was collecting you . . .”
“Not that. You guys will just have to fight it out for my affections. No, what I’m wondering is, why us? If this is a missing persons or a kidnap for ransom there’s a bunch of people he could have called. LA County is crawling with ex cops doing PI work.”
“Maybe it’s that cop thing again,” offered Ty. “If the guy won’t even share names over the phone, why would he involve someone who might just go straight to law enforcement?”
“And he thinks we won’t?” said Lock.
“Given our recent record . . .” said Ty. He didn’t need to finish. A few weeks ago both of them had been in cuffs, and one of the charges Ty was facing involved locking a member of the Long Beach Police Department in the trunk of his own patrol car.
“I hear you,” said Lock.
9
Arcadia reminded Lock of its near neighbour, Pasadena. Clean, tidy, upmarket. The kind of place you’d want to raise children if you had a million to drop on a small family home.
Cruising through downtown, Lock took in all the businesses with some kind of Chinese association. Even the realtors’ signs sported Chinese names alongside the major brands such as Century 21 and Re/Max.
The town may have had a large Chinese population but this wasn’t Chinatown, an area carved out by poor immigrants. It was a town populated by people who had already made their money by the time they got here.
They headed for a neighborhood known as Upper Rancho. Here a couple of million dollars might get you the house, but it would be small and likely wouldn’t have a yard. They turned off Rancho Road onto Hacienda Drive, passing a large corner lot where the existing house had been scraped to make way for a brand new bigger home. It blew Lock’s mind that people would spend millions on a perfectly fine house so that they could scrape it back to the ground, and build something else, only larger and in a different style. Lock made good money, but he struggled to come to terms with the wastefulness of the wealthy.
“It’s just down here on the left,” he said to Ty.
He was glad they’d used his Audi rather than Ty’s pimp-mobile. The Audi, even with its eye-watering price tag, blended in here. Ty’s car would have had people calling the cops before they’d reached the end of the block.
Ty pulled up to the curb. “This it?”
Lock checked the address. “Yup.”
Ty gave a low whistle.
“Nice house, huh?” said Lock.
Ty raised his sunglasses. “The lady across the street is what I’m talking about.” He was busy checking out a young Asian woman who had just gotten out of a Mercedes Benz in short shorts and a halter top with a bag of groceries. “We should speak with her. See if she saw anything.”
Lock passed his hand in front of Ty’s face. “Ty, can you focus?”
“I’m focused like a mofo.”
“On this,” said Lock, with a nod towards the house. A man in a Brooks Brothers suit, presumably Li Yeng, was walking down the driveway toward them.
Lock got out of the car and Ty followed.
“Mr. Lock,” said Li Yeng. “Mr. Johnson. Thank you for coming so quickly.”
He made it sound like they were there to install cable or spray for termites rather than assess the site of a possible abduction. There was cool and business-like, but this was a different level.
Lock and Ty shook his hand. There was nothing clammy about it. It was as cool as his demeanor.
Lock decided to start with the basics. The kind of stuff a normal person would have given the dispatcher when they called 911. “So, who are we missing?”
“Right,” said Li. “Emily and Charlie Yan. Emily’s my boss’s daughter and Charlie is her cousin. They both moved here about a year ago to study.”
“You mind if we head up to the house?” Lock asked.
“Of course not. Go right ahead,” said Li, waving them forward. They walked through the gates. Lock couldn’t see a camera at the entrance. There was a cavity for a keypad and intercom system in one of the pillars, right at car-window height, but it hadn’t been fitted.
“This is new construction?” Lock said, as they cleared the gates and hiked up toward the house.
“Yeah. I think it was finished right before Mr. Yan purchased it for his daughter.”
“You didn’t get round to fitting a security system?” said Ty, trying and failing to keep a hint of incredulity out of his voice. Like Lock, it always took him aback that people who would drop six or seven million on a house wouldn’t drop fifty thousand on a security system to protect themselves and their investment.
“We have an alarm system that covers the house.”
“Cameras?”
Lock asked.
“Yes. Four outside, and one in the front hallway.”
“Everything was switched on?”
Li hesitated. “I’d reminded the kids about setting the alarm but I don’t know if it was on.”
“What about the cameras?” said Lock.
“I haven’t looked yet. I guess.”
That was a lie, thought Lock. It had to be. You didn’t have two people go missing from a house with cameras and not check the footage.
“How old are Emily and Charlie?”
“Emily’s nineteen and Charlie just turned twenty-one.”
“And why do you think something’s happened to them? Kids that age can lose track of time. Go out partying with their friends, forget to check in.”
“Charlie, yes, that wouldn’t surprise me, but not Emily. Both their cars are missing, and it looks like something happened inside the house. You can see for yourself.”
They were almost at the front door. It was wide open but Lock couldn’t see any damage or sign that it had been forced.
“It was like this when you got here?” Ty asked Li.
“Yes.”
“With the door open?” said Lock.
“Yes, that’s why I knew something was wrong. Even Charlie wouldn’t leave the door open with no one home. He can be reckless at times, but not like that.”
Lock made a mental note to ask what Li meant by that. Reckless could cover a wide range of behavior. But, for now, one huge question loomed over all of this.
Crossing his arms, and standing just outside the front door, Lock asked the man in front of him, “Why didn’t you call the cops? Why spend hours trying to get hold of someone like me when you potentially have two young people who are missing? You realize that this is America, right?”
None of the questions seemed to faze him. “I know. It looks bad. But I spoke to the family and they didn’t want me to contact the authorities until we knew for sure that it was a kidnapping.”