by Peg Herring
“You kill her? Very good!” Jai told Robin when she first broke the news.
“No, I didn’t kill her.”
Jai looked at Wyman. “He did it then? Still good.”
“Nobody killed her. She just died.”
Jai thought about that. “Too bad. She needed killed.”
As they spoke, Mai looked from one face to another, obviously confused. She understood only simple commands in English. Everything else Jai explained in their native language, Bijiang.
Em put a hand on the girl’s thin shoulder. “Jai, help your sister understand that you’re safe with us. Then try to get some rest.”
Jai nodded, but she gestured at Tom and Robin. “You will tell them what I said?”
“I will.”
Jai led Mai down the hallway to the room Em had assigned them, already jabbering and gesturing. When they were out of earshot Em said, “She says they won’t go back to Vietnam.”
Robin huffed in surprise. “What does she want to do—get a job at Epcot?”
“She says they’ll stay with us and do whatever we need done.”
“Stay with us,” Robin repeated blankly. “Because we need more people to take care of?”
“No concerns with those girls,” Em said. “Jai is a smart cookie and Mai does whatever her sister says.”
“But we can’t just keep taking people in, Em,” Robin argued. “We aren’t wealthy, we aren’t legitimate, and we aren’t an amnesty hostel for illegal aliens.”
“You just took a million dollars from those slavers. Hua can make the girls papers, like he did for himself.” As a final argument she added, “There’s plenty of room in the house.”
Wyman, who’d listened silently to the conversation for some time, cleared his throat. “That’s good to know. I was thinking you might be able to use the services of a former military, former private investigator.”
***
Tom Wyman prepared to leave the rented house early the next morning, promising to join them once he closed his apartment in Cedar. Robin did her best to convince him not to make such a drastic change in his life for them, but he was cheerfully adamant.
“What am I giving up?” he argued. “As far as private investigation goes, my partner and I have serious differences of conscience, so our future together isn’t looking good. Other than that I have an apartment I never liked much and a few guys I drink beer with and tell lies to on Friday nights.”
“That’s better than ending up in prison, which is probably what will happen if you join us.”
“You underestimate yourself,” he said. “Your KNPs actually do something about the blatant criminals who hide behind the law in this country. No one knows about them except your targets, and they can’t tell without exposing their own crimes.” He raised his coffee cup in salute. “It’s pretty genius, I think.”
Robin eventually stopped arguing, though she believed Tom was overly optimistic. Since he was determined to be a part of their enterprise, she gave him the address of her storage unit and a key to the padlock. “Haul your stuff out there and put it in with mine. That way you can have it all back in a month or two if you decide your urge to join us was misguided.” When she walked him to his car, she thought of one more point that might dissuade him. “You’re going to have to give up driving this car, because it’s too identifiable. There’s a shed behind our house you can leave it in.”
“That sounds fair. I did hope I wouldn’t have to give up my baby to become an official KNP operative.”
Tom scrubbed at his chin, which needed a shave—or maybe not. Robin asked herself why she’d ever thought him scary-looking. Right now, with stubble or without, he looked pretty darned good to her.
***
They started north that afternoon, once they’d determined there was no police search for any of them. Cam and Em rode in the car, playing Mom and Sonny Boy on vacation. Robin drove the van, now identified as a floral delivery vehicle with the addition of a magnetized sign. Jai and Mai rode in the back, dressed as teenaged boys, their long hair hidden under knit hats. Though they were beginning to believe they really were free, Robin stressed to Jai the need to blend in until identities could be created for them.
The knowledge that Wyman would soon join them gave Robin a sense of security she hadn’t felt in a while. She’d come to care deeply for Cam, Em, and Hua, but Tom offered something else. Intelligent, experienced, and decisive, he’d be a strong partner. That didn’t seem to cover everything, but she was afraid to examine too closely what else he might be to her.
They’d planned to meet at a Denny’s outside St. Louis. Tom wasn’t there when they arrived. “It’s probably taking longer than he thought to get his stuff into storage,” Em said. “He’ll be here soon, or he’ll call.”
As they waited, Em came as close to apologizing as she ever did. “I was going to tell you about Tom after this caper. I didn’t like hiding things from you, but I wanted to be sure he fit with us before I brought him in.”
“He’s the one who texted the warning during the Comdon intervention.”
She nodded. “He tried to talk to you that night, but he said you weren’t ready to trust him.”
“So he’s been watching over us, like a fairy godfather.”
Em shrugged. “It seemed good that someone more physically able than me was keeping an eye on you.”
“Was he around for Niven and Uncle Bill?”
“No.” Em sipped at her coffee and winced. “Hot!”
Robin thought she was more worried about admitting her lies than she was about the coffee. “You called him after we got back.”
“The boy was like an ant in my underwear,” she said defensively. “He was all worried about you.” When Robin said nothing, she went on, “He’s getting a prosthesis, so he had to spend a week in Cleveland. He’ll soon have two hands again and be fit as a fiddle.”
“Good to know.” Robin drank the last of her orange juice, letting Em squirm a little before she admitted, “I guess I’m lucky he got back in time to rescue me.”
“Like I said, he’s very interested in what you’re up to.” She stirred more sugar into her coffee and tasted it tentatively. “Can’t imagine what that’s all about, can you?”
Robin poured dressing on her salad to avoid meeting Em’s eyes. “I hope he lets us know where he is pretty soon. We have to move on.”
Wyman never called, and after they’d waited two hours, they agreed they should continue their journey home. “When he calls, I’ll explain how to get to the house,” Em said as she eased her way into the car. “We should have known he couldn’t just pick up and leave Cedar in a few hours.”
Robin’s thoughts were darker. With time to think, Tom might have decided he’d been hasty in his decision to join with the daughter of a small-time criminal to engage in activities that were dangerous and felonious. If that was the case, she hoped Tom hadn’t also concluded he had to put an end to their KNPs.
***
When they reached home, Wyman still hadn’t called. Em at first excused him, but as the hours went on, she became angry and even apologetic. “I really thought he was telling the truth.”
Robin dialed Wyman’s number again. No answer. Checking the log, she saw it was her sixth attempt. Something was wrong.
“Should we leave while we have the chance?” Hua asked.
They had to consider it. If Wyman had lied in order to learn where their base was, the authorities might even now be closing in on them. Their best bet might be to disappear in the night and start over somewhere else.
“No.” Though Robin didn’t know what the truth was, she felt certain Tom hadn’t infiltrated their group in order to betray them. “Something happened that changed his plans. We need to find out what that was.”
She called Mink, who agreed to go to Wyman’s apartment to learn what he could. Two hours later the lawyer called to report, “His landlord’s had no notice Wyman is moving out.”
Thanking Min
k, Robin relayed to the others what he’d said. After a long pause Hua said, “Maybe he had an accident on the way to Cedar.”
“Yeah,” Cam said, “he could be in the hospital with amnesia or something.”
Em stared out the window, her expression grim. “That’s the lesser of two evil possibilities, my friends.”
The chill that settled on the group brought the twins’ fears back. Jai understood that Tom’s failure to show meant trouble. Though Mai was less aware, her eyes followed her sister’s every move, as if wondering what terrible thing loomed over them now.
Unsure what to do about Tom’s absence, Robin decided to address a problem she could actually do something about. “I’ll get a room ready for the girls.” To Jai she said, “The upstairs is a little cramped. Since we didn’t plan on having company, we stored some remodeling stuff in the vacant rooms.”
“We are grateful for what you give,” Jai assured her.
“There’s no bed, but I bought every blanket and sheet they had at The Red Shield Store when we moved in. We’ll use them to make the floor comfy until we can get you some furniture.”
“Um, Robin?” Cam said. “Can we talk to you for a minute?” Hua had stood and moved to his side, his expression serious. Cam rubbed his shirt front as if scratching an itch.
“Sure.” They went out into the hallway. Hua closed the door after them, shutting out Em’s suspicious stare. For a few seconds neither man spoke, but finally Hua took a breath and nodded as if to encourage himself. “The girls can have my place.”
Robin jumped to the wrong conclusion. “Hua, you’re not going anywhere. Those slavers—”
“He’s moving in with me.” Cam put an arm around Hua’s shoulders. “We’re an item.”
She was dumbstruck, and together they started explaining. “We’ve been talking about it for a while—”
“We don’t want you to be shocked—”
“It isn’t anybody’s business but ours—”
“But it’s okay, really.”
“I can move all the computers. Everything will be excellent.”
Finally catching up, Robin looked at them, standing with arms touching—at least as much as a six-foot plus man’s arm matched with one who barely topped five feet. She chided herself for being slow. “I’m surprised, guys, but not shocked. You’re adults, and you can sleep wherever you choose.”
Cam punched Hua on the arm so hard that he staggered a little. “I told you she’s cool.”
Hua said formally, “We will move everything tomorrow. Then the twins can have their own space.”
“No hurry,” Robin assured. “Wherever they sleep, they’re better off than they’ve been for some time.”
When the girls were closed in their temporary bedroom upstairs and Em had been apprised of the men’s secret, Robin retreated to her own room. Bad scenarios returned, playing like crime dramas with no happy ending. Was Tom under arrest somewhere? If so, she, Cam, and Em would soon join him, charged with multiple crimes. Hua, Jai, and Mai would be deported. If he wasn’t under arrest (or afflicted with amnesia), Tom’s situation was even worse. If it wasn’t the police who prevented him from joining them, then who?
The next morning Hua supplied a possible answer. “I have been looking at text messages,” he told them as he poured water over a bowl of Cheerios. Hua didn’t like milk, and he claimed water was healthier anyway.
“Whose text messages?” Em asked.
Hua shoveled another spoonful in, chewed, and swallowed. “In order to be certain our targets do not violate the terms of the agreements, I monitor their communications.” Waving his spoon he began, “It takes a little spear-phishing to get them hooked, but once you get a person to click on—”
“No hacker how-to’s,” Em ordered. “Just tell us what you found out.”
Hua obligingly reported only the pertinent information. “Your first target, Mr. Barney Abrams, contacted your most recent one, Linda Billings.”
“Abrams sent a message to Billings?”
Hua nodded. “She did not reply, due to her being dead, but it interested me that he was aware of her existence. It turns out Mr. Abrams contacted Thomas Wyman’s partner, Ms. Cynthia Tinker, a few weeks ago. Their first meeting was face-to-face, so I don’t know what was said, but judging from recent messages, Ms. Tinker followed Mr. Wyman to Florida.”
“Abrams must have gotten suspicious when Tom said he couldn’t find Cam,” Em said.
“He hired the partner to watch him,” Robin murmured. “Tom said they had philosophical differences.”
“So Tinker followed Tom, which means she might have stumbled into the mess at Billings’ beach house. I wonder what she thought of that.”
Em asked, “Hua, are you keeping track of Luther Billings and his buddies?”
“They were charged with harboring illegal aliens,” he replied, adding glumly, “They pled not guilty and were released after posting bail.”
Robin stared at him. “How do slave traders get out on bail?”
“Human trafficking is hard to prove.” Em took a bagel out of the toaster, dropped it onto a napkin, and shook her burnt fingers. “The cops often charge trafficking suspects with harboring illegals in order to gain time to gather more evidence, but that’s a charge for which bail is allowable. If they have the money, they get out.”
“What about the scared girls who were locked in that house?”
Hua had an answer. “No doubt they’ve been told bad things will happen to them in the American justice system. It will take time and counseling to get them to reveal what they know.”
Robin sighed. “What’s the penalty for harboring illegal aliens?”
“It’s fairly tough,” Em replied, “but you can bet Luther and his buddies won’t hang around to face their punishment.”
Hua nodded. “They’re already headed to another country.”
“No,” Robin said as the truth struck her. “They’ve got Tom.”
There was a moment of silence as the others considered her statement. “How would they have found him?”
“I don’t know.” She rose and started pacing. “But we almost a million dollars of their money. They’ll offer to trade Tom for it.”
Em set the bagel aside. “They won’t let him live, even if you give the money back. They’ll kill you too.”
“I know. They’ll set up some sort of trap.”
After a few seconds Cam said, “I thought Thomas Wyman was a really bad guy, but he isn’t. He’s pretty nice.”
“It is my fault he is in this precarious situation,” Hua said. “If we knew where this trapping of Robin will take place, we could arrive first and perhaps rescue Mr. Wyman.”
Robin frowned at his use of we, but Em noticed and said, “He’s right. They won’t expect you to have help.”
Cam had set his phone aside, the current game forgotten. “What are we going to do, Robin?”
“First we find out where he is,” she replied. “Then we go get him.”
While Cam checked out the car and packed items they might need, Hua and Robin studied Barney Abrams’ communications carefully. An old-fashioned type, Commissioner liked email, while Cynthia Tinker preferred texting. Since Robin was better at decoding the often cryptic text messages, Hua set it up so she could scroll through those while he re-read Abrams’ emails. Her first discovery came when she found Tom’s initials.
Fllwed TW to FL Tinker had sent three days earlier. In another message, Robin found TW fllwd girl to house. Farther down, she found cops evrwhr, and later, no sign of W-Arrested?
“She thought the police went to Billings’ house to arrest Wyman,” she told Hua. “The way the place is situated, she’d have had a hard time seeing who it was they took away.”
“Mr. Abrams sent her an email the next morning.” Hua read from his computer screen, “Check out the house once the cops leave and see what you can find out.”
“Oh, no,” Robin moaned.
“What is it?”
<
br /> “You said Luther and the other two were released on bail. What if they caught her out there?”
“That would be bad for her.”
“And for Tom. If they made her talk, they got his name and address.”
Hua shut the computer down. “We must go now. I can do the rest of this while you drive.”
Em disapproved of the trip, and she made one more attempt to prevent it as they joined Cam at the car. “How will you find Tom? You don’t even know where to start looking.”
“We’ll go to his place and work backward,” Robin said, though Em’s brows remained pinched. “I have to go, Em. He saved my life. I have to do the same for him, or at least try.”
“It’s the wildest of wild goose chases,” Em insisted. “He could show up here a half hour after you leave, and you’ll just have to turn around and come back.”
“Best case scenario, Em. I won’t mind a bit if we turn around at the Mason-Dixon Line.” Robin gave Em a brief hug, and for once she didn’t shy away. In her ear Robin said, “I know Tom might already be dead. But if Luther wants his money, he’ll keep him alive long enough to lure me in.”
“But remember—”
“I know. He wants us both dead.”
“He probably already tried to beat your location out of the poor guy.” Em spread a hand over her face, and Robin suspected she wiped away tears before she slid it down to her collarbone. “They won’t believe he doesn’t know it.”
“We have to find him before Luther decides he isn’t worth keeping around anymore.”
“I know,” she tried to smile. “I’m just sulking because there’s nothing I can do to help.” As Robin climbed into the car, Em called out, “We’ll keep the home fires burning, so don’t leave us in the dark.”
Chapter Twenty-four
For once Robin and Cam didn’t have to argue Hua out of taking his turn driving. He worked on his tablet nonstop in the back seat of the RAV4, trying to eliminate places they didn’t need to go. “Satellite shows the Billings’ house is empty,” he reported. “Not likely they’d remain there.” A few minutes later he said, “Oh-oh.”