by Toby Neal
“Of course.” Sophie followed Connor as he went into her work space and shut the door. He turned on a handy fan. The whir provided white noise as he stalked toward her. He removed his glasses and set them on the desk.
“There’s been activity on the WITSEC leak.”
Sophie’s brows drew together. “You got a report from the Marshals Service? They’re moving on our tipoff?”
“No. Felcher’s dead. Heart attack. Appears to be natural causes.”
Sophie covered her mouth with a hand. “That’s awfully...convenient.”
“Isn’t it?” Connor took a step closer. She didn’t feel his anger until he was standing so close they were almost touching. “You were making out with Jake on the plane.”
“Yes. He’s agreed to be my lover.” Sophie stared into Connor’s eyes, hidden by those contacts. “He makes me feel better.”
“You should be with me.” His voice was harsh. He gripped her arms. “I want you to be with me.”
“What you want is irrelevant.” She broke his grip, whipping her arms up out of his hands, stepping back. “You had your chance, Connor, and you broke my heart.”
“You said you forgave me.” He was still angry. Now she was, too.
“I did forgive you. I’m here, working with you, aren’t I? But that doesn’t mean I have feelings for you anymore.”
Connor spun away. Paced. Cursed in Mandarin. “Do you love Jake? If you love him, I’ll leave this alone.”
“I don’t know. I just know I need him right now.”
They were both breathing hard. She couldn’t help noticing their breathing had fallen into sync. He cursed again. “I hate this. I thought we were...getting somewhere, finally.”
“You did this to us, Connor. You.”
“I want to fix it. How can I fix it?” He whirled away, shoving a hand through his darkened locks.
“You can’t fix it. It is what it is.” She thought of Alika’s broken body, of his missing arm. Tears welled up. “None of us is getting what he or she wants.” She covered her mouth with a hand.
Connor stopped, looked at her. “Alika. That’s who you love.”
Sophie turned to look out the window. “He’s paid too high a price to be with me. I won’t see him again. Ever.”
“And Jake is...”
“Jake is necessary.”
“That sounds like love.”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I just know I need him.”
They looked at each other a long moment.
“All right then.” Connor squared his shoulders, rolled them back. “If you need him, then you need him. I love you enough to want you to have whatever you need, even if it’s someone else. That’s what love is, Sophie.”
“I’m sorry,” Sophie groaned. “This hurts.”
“We won’t discuss this situation again—but let me know if it changes, will you? Because I want you, and always will.” Connor’s eyes could still see her soul, even with those contacts on. “We’ll meet soon, to discuss liaising with the CIA and a plan to penetrate the Yām Khûmkạn.” He blew out a breath. “I won’t be watching you anymore. You have Jake to protect you now.”
He walked out and shut the door a little harder than necessary.
“I don’t need anyone to protect me,” Sophie muttered. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself and stared out at the view. Her broken ribs ached.
Just keep breathing. Breathe, breathe, breathe. It will get better someday.
Jake opened the door. “What was that about? Hamilton seemed pissed off.”
“It’s nothing. We’re meeting tomorrow.” Sophie didn’t turn.
Jake came up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her stiff body close, tucking her head in beside his chin. His warmth surrounded her, his strength supported her. Gradually Sophie relaxed, sinking into him with a little sigh, closing her eyes, letting go.
“Want to break in this desk properly?” His voice was a sexy rumble beside her ear.
She laughed. No one made her laugh like Jake did. And in the war against her inner darkness, laughter was a sword.
<<<>>>
Acknowledgments
Aloha dear readers!
Thanks so much for whirling through another roller coaster of a book with me! Wired Secret really wrapped up the events that were begun in Wired Justice, and opened a whole new chapter for Sophie going forward, working with Jake on the Big Island and delving deeper into the situation with the Yām Khûmkạn that will continue, along with a juicy new case, in Wired Fear #8.
You don’t know how close Alika came to being killed in this book. Actually, he was killed, in my first version of the scene. That night, I was too upset to sleep. I’ve had so much difficulty figuring out who Sophie should be with! I also remembered that, five years in the future of Paradise Crime’s timeline in Bitter Feast, Lei Crime Series #12, Alika’s still alive.
So, I resurrected him, and by the time this series ends, he’s going to be a veritable saint with all the trials he’s been through: a sort of Zen Terminator. I love that guy, in spite of how he keeps getting the short end of the stick! Don’t count him out yet, he’s not done being a part of this adventure—in fact, he might still be its destination.
This book was Sophie’s “dark night of the soul,” even more than Wired Dark was. I truly didn’t see her almost suicide attempt coming—that scene sprang straight out of the black heart of her depression, and I’m frankly sorry we had to go there. In writing a character that suffers from clinical level Major Depression, I’m taking you on a journey into that disorder as Sophie learns to manage and overcome this “sickness of the spirit” in all its debilitation. The ketamine treatment Dr. Wilson gives her is a very real intervention that shows a lot of anecdotal promise and is currently being used rather widely through private clinics. Most of the treatments are given as infusions, because the dosage is more easily controlled and effects can be better titrated. But nasal sprays are also used, and I thought that would work better with the plot. If you or someone you know is suffering from treatment-resistant depression, ketamine is a possible intervention to try. Just search ‘ketamine treatment for depression’ in your area, and you might be surprised by what you find.
A quick caveat: in the opening scene, Hazel Matsue and Kamani Freitan both are armed. In a “real” situation, they would likely have surrendered their weapons upon entering the jail. In most states, only the corrections officers are allowed to carry firearms. But this is a work of fiction, after all, and sometimes the story reads better with a few embellishments.
I thought it was past time that I mention why I’m interested in Thailand (besides that it’s a beautiful paradise of a country with lovely people and a gorgeous rich culture.) For many years, my husband and I have supported dear friends who founded a Christian orphanage, Baan Santisuk (Home of Peace and Happiness) in Phang Nga, Thailand. We have never visited Thailand, but over the years have come to be interested in its food, culture, and people due to this connection. My mental health background has even come in handy a few times in advising how to support some of the more traumatized orphans. Visiting our friends Mark and Dorien at the orphanage someday is at the top of our travel bucket list! In creating Sophie, a half-Thai character who adores children, I’ve found a way to enter that world a little bit.
I’m excited to announce that audiobook recording has begun on the Paradise Crime Series with the very talented Sonja Field (who did Unsound and my romances.) Her sexy foreign-influenced British accent interpretation of Sophie’s voice is so wonderful! I can’t wait for you to have yet more ways to enjoy these books.
Every book “takes a village” to be born, and once again I’m thankful for my support team: my awesome business manager, Jamie Davis, a new “tech consultant” reader, Walt, and my faithful copyeditors, Bonnie and Don, along with Angie my wonderful Typo Hunter. Mahalo!
Thanks also to my dear fans in the Friends Who Like Toby Neal Books group; your help with my
questions and concerns, participation in polls, and your positive response to snippets from the book kept me coming back to the page with energy and passion.
If you enjoyed Wired Secret, please leave a review! They mean so much to me, and to others looking for a good read. Your opinion, even in just a few words, matters more than you know.
Until next time, I’ll be writing!
Much aloha,
Toby Neal
P.S. Read on for a sample chapter from Wired Fear, Paradise Crime #8!
Excerpt Wired Fear
Paradise Crime #8
DAY ONE
Seated on the top step of his front porch, Terence Chang surveyed the fenced yard of the Chang family’s former compound as his two brindled pit bulls wandered and sniffed around. He was proud of how neat the place looked now: he’d removed the many junked cars, the rusting freezer, and the pile of barrels his cousins had stored meth-making chemicals in.
Terence sipped his coffee. He liked it black, and fresh, made from one hundred percent Kona beans grown on his own plantation, one of his several legitimate businesses. He sipped again, letting the fragrant brew roll around on his tongue, settle on his palate. He looked down at the expensive black basketball shoes that were one of his few indulgences.
He had made many good changes. He had tried hard to go straight. He’d built up his own legit business online, and run interference for the family via computers, and until now, that had been enough.
But his cousin Byron, acting head of the family, had been gunned down recently, along with his receptionist and bodyguards. It hadn’t been long since the brutal slaying, but the Chang family empire already seemed to be coming apart at the seams.
Worst of all, Terence’s psycho cousin Akane Chang had somehow escaped jail on Oahu before he could be transferred to a maximum-security prison in the Midwest to begin serving multiple life sentences.
There were those in the family who thought Akane should take over in the vacuum left by Byron’s death, that Akane’s brutality and bloodthirstiness were signs of strength.
Terence knew better.
He sipped his coffee, trying to regain the simple pleasure it had given him only moments ago.
She had liked his coffee, too.
He refused to let her name arise in his mind—but it did anyway. Julie Weathersby. His own personal kryptonite.
Julie’s face filled his mind: wide blue eyes, happy smile, those pale freckles on her nose. The little sounds she made in his arms. The way she snuggled into him, trusting as a puppy.
He’d never been anyone’s hero before.
Terence tightened his mouth bitterly. The coffee suddenly tasted like ash.
He’d rescued Julie—picked her up on a deserted road wearing nothing but her underwear, running for her life from Akane. He’d prevented that brutal rapist batshit crazy serial killer cousin of his from tearing her apart, emotionally and physically.
What he hadn’t counted on was falling for the girl.
Letting himself hope he could have some other kind of life and share it with someone special.
But he couldn’t have her. Or that life. Because the worst thing that could happen to the Changs, and everyone around them, would be for Akane to take over the business.
Akane had friends who owed him. Side hustles no one knew anything about. And if Terence didn’t step up to take Byron’s place, there was a very good chance Akane would come out of left field, waste anyone who offered competition, and bring on a reign of blood like the Changs hadn’t been through since the thirties, when they’d warred with the Chinese triads for power and come out on top.
The phone rang on the step aside him, and his dogs looked up, pricking their ears. Terence read the ID window: Hilo PD. “Terence Chang here.”
Nowhere to hide. No point in trying.
“This is Detective Freitan from Hilo PD. Your cousin Byron Chang's crime scene has been released. Your name was on the deed of the warehouse building where he was murdered, hence the call. I suggest you contact a cleaning service that specializes in biohazard cleanup and blood removal before you go back to the premises.”
Freitan was a badass mofo of a female detective. Terence’s balls crawled for cover whenever he had the misfortune of dealing with her. “Thanks for the call, Detective. What can you tell me about efforts to capture my deranged murderer cousin?” No sense glossing over the truth.
“Not my case, Mr. Chang. His capture is an FBI matter. I’m sure someone will be in touch with you soon to find out possible locations where your dear family member might hide.” Freitan sounded hard, flippant.
Terence took another sip of coffee to wet his throat. “I appreciate any support Hilo PD can give me in capturing Akane. Believe me when I tell you, we don’t want him around here.”
“I heard you were going straight, Terence. But you sound like you’re speaking for the family on this matter.” Freitan’s tone was serious.
“I’m speaking for the family, yes,” Terence said. It was time to ‘shit or get off the pot,’ as his beloved but terrifying tutu, Healani, had always said, and it couldn’t hurt to establish his authority with the local PD early on.
“Your concern about Akane’s capture is noted,” Freitan replied. “I’ll let the FBI know that you are their official point of contact.”
“You do that.” Terence ended the call with a punch of his thumb.
He had a lot of arrangements to make, starting with getting in cleaners to remove all trace of the carnage of Byron’s murder. He needed to get the downtown warehouse space ready for a big meeting, and there was no time to waste.
Terence went back into the house, already working his phone. The dogs trailed him in.
He wasn’t going to get the girl or the life he’d hoped for, but he would get the office that had been Byron’s, and his father’s, and his grandfather’s—and maybe, just maybe, he could eventually steer the Chang empire in a different direction.
First, he had to step up and take the reins, and even that wasn’t going to be easy.
The dancers whirled across the stage in perfect unison, the stomp and slide of bare feet on the stage emphasized by a hypnotic Hawaiian chant and the thump of an ipu gourd. Fern headdresses gave a feeling of royalty to the dancers, as did the swirling capes of long, lustrous black hair whirling around their hips. Full skirts, covered with an additional layer of ti leaf, both concealed and enhanced every crisp, defined movement as the dancers told a story through their bodies. Even security specialist Sophie Ang, unfamiliar with hula, could feel mana, supernatural power, vibrating through the performance.
As the action came to a crescendo and ended with the dancers’ arms raised high and heads bowed, Sophie’s eyes prickled at the power and pathos. Even watching on the small screen of the phone the client held was mesmerizing; she couldn’t imagine how intense it would be to witness such a spectacle up close, in person. “Thank you for showing me that. It really helps me to understand why the Merrie Monarch Festival is such an important cultural event here in Hilo,” Sophie said.
A mixed Hawaiian/Asian female who looked approximately thirty years old, the client, wore the kind of fitted floral-print muumuu that indicated a service industry job. A name tag over her left breast spelled out KIM KAUWA. Sophie whisked a price tag off one of a pair of chairs in front of her desk, new since they’d opened the Security Solutions extension office a week ago. “Please, come sit down. Can we get you something to drink?”
“No. In fact I can’t stay long.” Kim’s eyes darted nervously to the door, where Sophie’s partner Jake Dunn lounged, arms crossed on his chest.
“Jake, come in and join us. Let’s all get comfortable. Tell us how we can serve you.” Sophie liked to think she was getting better at the social niceties, though it was a mental effort to grapple with the mechanics of engaging others after so many years behind a computer.
Kim took a seat, her purse clutched close. “I looked up your business online. The website said you had a br
and-new location here on the Big Island, and I just…wondered if you might be able to help me. Us.”
“That’s what we’re here for. Helping people.” Jake extended a hand and Kim shook it briefly. Seated, he was still an intimidating sight, his muscular torso packed into a black polo-style Security Solutions logo shirt that left no doubt that he spent a good deal of his free time at the gym.
Jake made small talk with Kim while Sophie scanned the intake form the woman had filled out in the lobby with their receptionist, Felicia.
Kim was thirty-eight years old, lived in Hilo, and worked for the Hawaii Tourism Authority Board as well as Hawaiian Airlines customer service. She was a volunteer organizer for the famous annual Merrie Monarch Hula Festival that was taking place soon in Hilo. Under “Needs that bring you to us” Kim had listed, “confidential concerns regarding the Merrie Monarch Festival.”
Sophie looked up and met the woman’s dark brown eyes squarely. “Before you get into telling us about the situation that brings you here, and I gather it’s sensitive from the way you filled out the form, let me assure you that this initial consultation is completely confidential. We will not disclose anything about your work with our agency to anyone. But perhaps you should know a little bit more about what we do so that you can make an informed decision.”
Sophie described the various programs that Security Solutions offered, from the patented artificial intelligence “nanny cam” software installed at high security locations to more typical security and alarm monitoring. Bodyguarding, kidnap rescue, and private investigator services were also available wherein she, Jake, or both, served as private detectives working on behalf of the client or a lawyer.
“That’s what I need. Private investigation.” Kim knotted her fingers together over her purse. “I’m representing the Hawaii Tourism Authority in this situation. We give a big grant to the Festival every year. I’m also one of the organizers. Well, it seems some of the Festival’s money is missing.”