Wiser Than Serpents

by Susan May Warren

  The Chinese Minister of Justice. Only, taking him out would be überfun because while he was in Russia, he had diplomatic immunity.

  She’d often wondered if Wo might be a distant relation to Kwan. He was definitely someone in the Serpent nest—she could see the ring from here.

  And, well, since he was actually the one in charge of justice in China—and wasn’t that some sort of joke—she hadn’t a prayer of handing over that information to Chinese government officials in hopes of retribution.

  Furthermore, assassination was out of the question. Really.

  So, instead she’d planned a little sting operation. Only problem was…she had to resort to working with the Americans. Their role in the world allowed them access to international laws, and they just seemed to get the ball rolling. Maybe because the rest of the world still thought Russia shot first and asked questions later.

  But as usual, the Americans were late, which left her to run the op in the next room. At least the surveillance part.

  Back in the hotel room, Zina had now perched herself on the desk, out of view of the camera. But Yanna’s technology clearly framed Qyin-Wo in the picture. And then, in line with their intel, came another knock. This was the contact with whom Madame had agreed to meet to start channeling her trafficked women through.

  Because Zina really was a madame. A repentant, wired, she-would-do-serious-time kind of madame. The kind who knew exactly how to work with these two players.

  The kind who had family back in Khabarovsk. And Yanna, well, she might be learning how to be a Christian, but she still knew how to play by Russian rules.

  The camera caught Zina as she opened the door to player numero two.

  Qyin-Li.

  Only, maybe Yanna should adjust her screen, because Qyin-Li wasn’t Chinese. Or even Asian.

  The man had the distinct features of an American.

  In fact, she’d seen him yesterday at the Chinese-American-Russian summit on international trade.

  And bing, it all made sense. Qyin-Wo, one of the Twin Serpents, had come to Moscow to meet his counterpart.

  The other Serpent. Aka Lee Quinn.

  The Director of the American Institute in Taiwan. The American attaché to Taiwan. Father to the man who’d taken Yanna hostage.

  Zina closed the door.

  The two men embraced as if they’d known each other for a lifetime. Mafiosa bosom buddies. Yanna shook her head.

  A knock came at her door.

  “Tell the maid to go away,” Yanna said, her eyes on the screens. The less the hotel management knew about the FSB’s little party, the better.

  She heard the door open, whispers, but her focus was on the screen, on Wo and Li, and every word she was getting on her digital hard drive.

  “I should have guessed you’d be here.”

  Yanna froze. Really, everything inside her simply stilled, and she just stood there, looking at the screens.

  And then his hand pressed her shoulder, and her breath came out in an incredulous huff. She turned, and for a second, everything vanished—the room, the five techs who weren’t sure what to do when their director gasped and turned from the operation visible on her flat screen.

  Because there he was, David, dressed in a pair of pressed black dress pants, a gray dress shirt, a black tie, clean shaven, his hair blond, his face nicely healed and smiling—at her. He looked like he was going to a wedding.

  Or a funeral. Which was perfect because she was going to kill him.

  “Hi,” he said.

  Oh, she had the greatest urge to slap him. “Hi,” she said softly, her voice completely betraying her.

  “Sorry I’m late. I got hung up in traffic.”

  Traffic? Where…in Chechnya? Maybe the Middle East? He must have also picked up the ability to read her mind because he had the good sense to appear sheepish.

  “You almost missed it,” she said again, softly. Yeah, really missed it—in fact, she wasn’t sure they’d ever get back what he’d missed.

  He looked at the screen. “How are we doing?”

  “We? I’m sorry, are you part of this operation?”

  He gave a laugh that wasn’t really a laugh. “Yeah. Who do you think gave the A-OK on the American side? Vicktor’s fun and games in America—although a political snafu for him—worked out in our favor. Your tip on Kosta Sokolov turned out to be rich in information. We were able to work on Kwan in Taiwan and Sokolov in America and guess what—both of them were working for the Serpents. We’ve been after Lee Quinn for a couple months now, but we wanted to confirm he was working with Wo, who is his half brother. In fact, the Qyins—or Kwans as they were called in America—have quite an interesting family tree. Apparently propagating heirs across the globe is a nifty way of not only creating international blood ties, but producing operatives that blend into society. And they’re not afraid to steal from each other—which was what the Kwan we met was doing to his half brother, Kosta Sokolov. Sokolov had a tidy trafficking operation importing Russian girls into the States until Kwan got wind and began to intercept them. Which is why you and Elena, ended up in Taiwan.” He looked past her, at the screen. “So, how are we doing?”

  Huh. Yanna had been privy to some of Vicktor’s fallout after his shackle-and-chain return to Russia. But all he’d gotten for his AWOL activities was three months of desk duty.

  She’d heard through Roman, however, that Vicktor had recently been entertaining ideas of leaving the FSB and settling down in some neutral country with Gracie.

  “Are we ready to go in?” David asked.

  We? There was no we here. Yanna turned, directed the question at the two techs with headphones glued to the exchange. Yanna watched on the screen as Qyin-Li stood up. Shook Wo’s hand.

  “Go.”

  The FSB pounced. Shouting and chaos and finally Yanna watched as her agents took down the Twin Serpents and their human-trafficking ring. Gotcha.

  “Surely their way is slippery,” David said softly. Yanna shot him a look. He shrugged. “Something Roman said.”

  He watched the rest in silence, saying nothing, even when the two men looked right at the camera and threatened to do unspeakable things to her, her men, and their families for ten generations.

  Yeah, right back at ya. “Send that to my office, and make a billion hard copies,” she said to the two techies still in the room.

  “Good job,” David said.

  Well, she’d been highly motivated. David put a hand on her arm. “Can I talk to you?”

  Talk to her.

  He wanted to talk. She wanted to scream. Maybe they could find a happy medium.

  But he still had magical powers in his touch, even well-groomed and speaking softly—maybe more so. She followed him down the hall, where two overstuffed chairs sat in an alcove, overlooking Red Square.

  Yanna leaned against the wall, the cold, wallpapered cement seeping into her blouse. She wore her hair up today, but a strand had leaked out, falling long beside her face. She reached up and pulled the pins out.

  David stood there, watching, and she saw him swallow and take a deep breath. “Okay, here’s the deal. I know you wrote to me, over and over, and that I’m a total jerk. But after you left Taiwan, I had to stay and interrogate Kwan, and even after that we were still working out who the real Kwan was, and I just…I just couldn’t contact you. Not without jeopardizing everything.”

  “One e-mail. Just one. Dear Yanna, I’m still alive. And we’re still friends. And maybe, Hey, I thought of you.”

  David took another long breath. She looked away, unable to face the sudden hurt in his eyes. What did he have to be hurt about?

  “I thought of you every minute. You were never…” He swallowed. “Of course I thought of you.”

  “What were you afraid of jeopardizing? I hardly think that one e-mail to me would have destroyed your investigation of—”

  “Us.”

  She blinked at him, and suddenly, he looked so…well, exactly the way he’d looked
as she had said goodbye to him in Taipei. As if he’d taken his heart and pinned it to his chest.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I didn’t want to jeopardize us.”

  She didn’t move. “Define us. And by the way, not writing is probably the one thing you could do to destroy what we…what we had.”

  He ran a hand through his short hair. “I had to take that chance. Because us means you and me. Together. Figuring out how to be loyal to our countries, and still be loyal to each other. Getting married. Living here in Moscow. Having kids, learning how to make pancakes. Together.”

  “Pancakes?”

  “Yeah, you look incredible in an apron, and, well, I really…” He looked away then, and his expression held everything she’d hoped to see. For month after silent month.

  “I miss you, Yanna. And I can’t stand one more day living on the other side of the world. And if I had to spend another night chatting with you instead of…being with you, I thought I’d scream. Yes, I want to get married. But to you. Only you.”

  She thought she had finished crying over him. Infuriatingly sweet David Curtiss. She ran a finger under her eye, but he reached out and stopped her.

  “I couldn’t contact you because I asked to be transferred to Moscow, to work in security at the embassy, and if they knew that the woman I loved lived here, then I’d never be cleared.”

  “You…you’re moving here?”

  “I’m currently bunking on the sofa in my new office, since I arrived only yesterday. But yes, starting tomorrow, I’ll be looking for a flat. Somewhere in the vicinity of Moscow University.”

  Near her flat. “You’ve been doing your homework.”

  He nodded and took a step closer to her. Wow, he was a beautiful man, with incredible eyes and wide shoulders. The way he looked at her had her forgiving him over and over.

  “Yanna, I love you. And I can’t live another day without you. I’ve loved you for years, but I didn’t want to get in the way of God’s love for you, which I know now was…maybe stupid. But I believed that if I let you down, you’d think God let you down, which I know really sounds arrogant, but most of all, I thought it was more important for you to know that God loved you. And I was willing to wait for it. But what you said at Kwan’s place really hit me. Something about me helping you believe that God loves you. And that’s what I want to do. Show you how much God loves you by loving you the best I can, every day for the rest of my life. It’s not as good or perfect, and I am going to let you down, but I want to try. Really try. Please, forgive me?”

  Forgive him for breaking her heart, and then putting it back together? For seeing more for her than she saw for herself? For loving her enough to die for her?

  Well, maybe.

  She smiled up at him. “I love you, David.” She’d been waiting to say those words, honestly and without fear, for most of her life. “I really love you. And yes, I want to figure it out. I have waited my entire life to be with you, and we’ll make it work. Even if I have to go undercover.”

  “Oh, please. No.” But he smiled as he cupped her face with his hand. He wove his fingers into her hair, then ran his hand around the back of her neck. “I love your hair,” he said in a voice she could barely hear.

  “I love your smile.”

  He rubbed his nose against hers. “I promise not to leave you, ever again.”

  She lifted her face to his, and he kissed her. And this time, he didn’t pull away. In fact he put his arms around her and held her tight. And kissed her some more.

  And she knew, way down deep, where he’d taught her to believe, that David Curtiss would keep his promise.

  QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

  1. Yanna’s little sister, Elena, goes off to America to marry a man she’s only met on the Internet. Today, with people meeting on various Internet sites and groups, what do you think about Internet dating? Would you date or marry a man you met on the Internet?

  2. Yanna takes drastic measures to go after her missing sister. Not all of us have sisters, but is there anyone you would do (or have done) something drastic for, or have gone out of your way to help? How and why?

  3. David has gone undercover, and has been forced to make choices he finds horrifying for the sake of the larger picture. Have you ever been faced with a moral dilemma that blurs the line between black and white? Is that line ever blurred for you?

  4. David chooses to save Yanna, sacrificing his mission. Why does he do this, and how does it differ from the situation with Chet?

  5. Have you ever traveled overseas and visited an open market? Describe your experience, and the strangest thing you saw or ate.

  6. Gracie gets herself in trouble when she starts getting involved in her teenage friend’s life and finds herself embroiled in a human-trafficking ring. Were you aware of the human-trafficking problem in America? What do you think can be done about it?

  7. When David and Yanna meet up with Tricia and her husband, Tricia decides to help Yanna at the teahouse. Why does she do this? Have you ever done something “edgy” like this? When and why?

  8. Yanna and David have an elegant evening at the opera house. Have you ever attended an opera or other black-tie event? Tell about it.

  9. David believes that having a relationship with Yanna will keep her away from God. Do you agree with him? Why or why not?

  10. Do you think Vicktor is overprotective? Why do you think he behaves this way?

  11. Yanna uses her talents as a techie to save the day. Do you have any skills that you think would make you a great agent?

  12. What is your favorite scene in the book, and why?

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-1861-5

  WISER THAN SERPENTS

  Copyright © 2008 by Susan May Warren

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Steeple Hill Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This edition published by arrangement with Steeple Hill Books.

  ® and TM are trademarks of Steeple Hill Books, used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

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