“It’s not as bad as it sounds. I should only be there for six months.”
“Six months.”
When she fell silent, Devin let a minute pass before he prompted her. “Grace?”
“Just trying to wrap my mind around all of this.” Grace considered the ramifications of his announcement. “Is there any way you can get it changed to somewhere here in the US?”
“I already tried. Six months was the shortest I could get them down to.” He rushed on before she could comment further. “The company paid my tuition for undergrad, so I have a contract with them. I have to work for them for five years.”
“Maybe I can delay my start date with Anderson Enterprises for a few months and come with you,” Grace said. “We can probably store our stuff at my grandpa’s house.”
“I wish that would work, but the company was pretty adamant that I not bring you with me. Besides, I’ll be traveling all the time. I’d feel lousy knowing you were home alone, especially knowing that you would be giving up on taking your dream job. You can’t expect Anderson to hold your position for that long.”
She pulled her hand free. “So you’re telling me we’re going to be apart for six more months.”
“I’m afraid so.” He reached for her hand again, but she stood before he could take hold.
“This is a nightmare.” She raked her fingers through her hair. “What kind of marriage is this?”
“I know this isn’t what we had planned.” Devin stood as well. “I’m sorry things worked out this way. I honestly didn’t see it coming, but it’s only for a few months.”
“That’s what you said when we got married a few months ago.”
“Grace, I love you more than anything. We’re going to make this work.”
Her eyes dark, she folded her arms and looked up at him. “How?”
The question clearly caught him off guard. “I don’t know exactly.” He walked a few steps away, then turned back to her. “We can still call every night, FaceTime, Skype, whatever.”
“But we won’t see each other for six months.”
“Like I said, I’ll be traveling a lot. Maybe we can meet somewhere every couple months. London would be about halfway if you take a job in Washington.”
“Is that where you want me to take a job?”
“I think that’s where I’ll be posted next.”
“You think?”
“Tell you what. I’ll talk to my personnel officer this week to see if they can guarantee my next posting in one of the cities Anderson Enterprises offered you. That way you can set up house and be settled in when I get back.” He put his hands on her arms to hold her in place. “Besides, we already knew we were going to be apart for the next month or so until you graduate.”
“I really hate this,” Grace said.
“I know.” He gathered her close, and reluctantly she lifted her arms to encircle his waist. “I do have about ten days I can spend with you in Phoenix before I fly out.”
“That’s one bit of good news.” She sighed. “You’re lucky I love you so much.”
His voice lowered to a whisper. “Yes, I am.”
* * *
Devin pulled into the parking garage, his hands gripping the steering wheel. How was he supposed to live like this? He had arrived in Phoenix four days earlier, and every time Grace left for a class, he rushed off to meet his new CIA handler. Chee Quon had arrived in Phoenix the day after Devin, and each day they met to go over procedures and objectives.
The information he gained each day fascinated him, but he hated deceiving Grace. He never actually lied to her, but he was becoming a master at misleading her. She assumed he stayed at home each day while she was gone, and he let her. Or on the few occasions when he knew she would beat him to her apartment, he deliberately ran an errand so he would have a reason to be gone.
She never asked if he had gone anywhere else, and he didn’t tell.
The burden of his secrets weighed on him as he made his way into the office building next door, which housed a variety of businesses, from doctors’ offices to financial planners and insurance companies, and allowed him to come and go without looking out of place. He took the stairs rather than the elevator, climbing the six flights necessary to reach his destination.
The office he entered looked vacant, and Devin suspected it would be vacant again after he and Chee left for Hong Kong, on separate flights, of course.
The furnishings inside were sparse, only a long folding table and a couple of office chairs. As he did every day, Devin flipped the lock behind him before joining Chee at the table, where he had papers spread before him.
Chee didn’t greet him. He simply slid a stack of photos toward him. As always, his words were precise and articulate, his Chinese accent noticeable. “Today we need to look over the employees at the brokerage house who we expect you to come in contact with. Fai Meng has been on our radar for almost two years, but we haven’t been able to get anyone close to him.”
“Before we start on that, there’s something else we need to discuss.” Devin straightened his shoulders and forced himself to speak his mind. “I need to tell my wife what’s really going on.”
“That’s not possible,” Chee said. “I’m sorry, but keeping your involvement with us secret is as much for your protection as for hers.”
New fears shot through him. “What do you mean it’s for her protection? Do you really think this could put her in danger?”
“Not if you stick with your cover story.” Chee leaned back in his chair and took a moment before speaking, as though translating his thoughts before putting them into words. “The challenges come when a spouse says or does something that could compromise you. Keeping her in the dark is the best protection for both of you.”
“What about when I come back to the US? Can I tell her then?”
“Most likely your request would be approved at that time.” He lifted a shopping bag from the floor and set it on the table. Reaching inside, he retrieved a gift-wrapped box about half the size of a shoe box. “I did, however, receive permission for you to give your wife this.”
“What is it?”
“A new cell phone. Like the one we gave you, it has a blocker on the GPS signal so no one can track her without having our access code. This will allow you to speak to her without worrying that someone may try to find you through her.”
“How do I explain why I’m giving her a new phone?”
“Tell her you got it for her so you can have unlimited international calling.”
Devin nodded. “That should work.”
“Let me see your phone. I’ll show you how to reset the blocker in the event anyone ever manages to trace your signal.” Chee held out his hand and took the phone Devin offered. After a brief demonstration, he handed the phone back to him and motioned to the photos between them. “We still have a lot to cover and not much more time together.”
“I thought you were going to be seeing me regularly in Hong Kong.”
“Yes, but our interactions will be extremely limited. As I explained yesterday, my cover is working for your apartment building. Drops will be left in the safe in your apartment. When I come in to clean, I’ll pick them up and leave whatever information I need to pass on. Once we leave the United States, however, we’ll never know when it’s safe to speak openly. Whatever questions you have, this is the time to ask them.”
Resigned to keeping Grace in the dark, Devin scooted forward in his seat and prepared to get to work.
Chapter 14
Grace could feel the tears threatening, and she blinked hard against them. Why was she being so emotional? She had gone through this numerous times over the past few months. “I really hate good-byes.”
“I know. We’ve had way too many this year.” Devin stopped short of the security line and turned to face her. “Next year will be different. I promise.”
“I hope so.” She fought against the despair she felt. She wanted to enjoy these last few moment
s with Devin. “You’ll let me know as soon as you find out when you can meet me in London.”
“I will. And you let me know if you need help looking for an apartment in New York. I can at least help search online with you.”
“Call me as soon as you land.”
“It’ll be the middle of the night for you.”
“I don’t care. I want to know you made it okay.” She reached up to press her lips to his. She had expected the kiss to be brief, but Devin drew her in in a way he rarely did in public. Something was different, and everything in her dreaded the moment he would leave her arms and walk away.
The intensity in his eyes revealed Devin was struggling with this good-bye as much as she was. “I love you,” he said.
“I love you too. Be safe.”
The muscles in his jaw tightened briefly. “I will. You too.”
His chest rose when he drew a deep breath, and then, as though gathering his courage, he let it out and stepped out of her embrace. Without another word, his fingers curled around the handle of his carry-on and he stepped into the flow of other travelers heading for security.
As she always did, she watched him make his way through the line to the TSA agents. He pressed his fingers to his eyes briefly, but at the moment he normally turned back for a final wave, he hesitated for a fraction of a second. Then, as though fighting his own internal battle, his shoulders straightened and he continued forward, never looking back.
* * *
The few tears that escaped in the security line were the last Devin could permit to surface. He couldn’t do the job his country needed him to do if he let himself forget why he was going to Hong Kong, why he was sacrificing the next few months away from his wife.
As Grace had requested, he called her the moment he landed. He had intended to keep the call brief, a simple exchange of I love yous and I miss yous, but as soon as he heard her voice, he hadn’t been able to resist stretching out the conversation. An account of his travels, the latest lecture she had attended at school. They chatted the entire twenty minutes he had waited for his luggage, finally saying good-bye when he’d caught a cab to his new apartment in a high-rise a short distance from a tram station.
When he entered the lobby, he felt like he was walking into a hotel. He approached the long front desk and the man who stood behind it.
“May I help you?” the man asked in English.
Since the other man clearly had a command of English, Devin responded in the same language. “Yes, I’m Devin Shanahan. I believe I’m in apartment 4A.”
“Yes, sir.” Anticipating his arrival, the man picked up a folder and retrieved several papers from within. “I need your signature here and here.”
Devin skimmed the documents written in English, signed in the designated spots, and pushed the papers back toward the clerk.
The man took the papers and gave Devin a folder.
“The information about the building is in here, as well as a list of local businesses and the tram schedule.”
“Thank you.” Devin took a step back before saying, “I didn’t catch your name.”
“Yang. My card is in the folder. Please let me know if you need anything.”
“Thank you, Yang. It’s good to meet you.” Devin turned and headed for the elevator, the stainless-steel doors opening with a quiet hum.
When he reached his apartment, he opened the door to a small, well-organized space. The one-bedroom apartment would have been considered a studio had it not been for the sliding panel that separated the living area from the corner housing the bed. The kitchen was little more than a counter with a faucet and microwave and a half-sized refrigerator and a few cabinets containing basic kitchenware.
Streamlined and modern, the rest of the furniture consisted of a white couch facing a flat-screen television mounted to the wall and a tiny kitchen table with two small chairs. The bedroom didn’t have a dresser, but the closet contained a combination of hanging bars and shelves.
Though exhausted from nearly a day of traveling, Devin hauled his suitcases into the bedroom and unpacked. Clothing folded and hung, toiletries put away in the bathroom, computer on the kitchen table, and a framed photograph of Grace on his bedside table. Circling the room, he wondered how long it would take him to feel like this was home.
A single glance at Grace’s smiling face answered the question for him. Never. How could it ever feel like home unless she was here too?
* * *
Grace nearly cried when she unlocked her new apartment and saw what was behind the door. Tears of exhaustion had already been simmering from the exertion of hauling three suitcases up four flights of stairs, but now that she was faced with her final destination, her mood took yet another downward turn.
For the past month since Devin had left for Hong Kong, she had tried to distract herself by making plans for her new home. This was not what she’d had in mind.
The sun beamed through the tiny window on the far wall, the only window in the room, dust motes dancing in the light. She had expected the three-hundred-square-foot studio to be small, but she hadn’t anticipated the brick wall to her left that looked like it might come tumbling down at any minute or the black-and-white chipped-marble flooring that appeared to be straight out of the 1920s.
A cockroach scampered across the floor and under the stove.
“What have I gotten myself into?” She wrestled her suitcases inside and closed the door behind her, then looked for the closet so she could stash her suitcases out of the way. But there wasn’t a closet.
Another cockroach crossed the kitchen floor, and Grace gritted her teeth. What was she supposed to do about her six-legged uninvited guests?
Furniture was another issue she would have to deal with. Thanks to her grandfather’s help, all of her and Devin’s furnishings were now stored in the old detached garage by his house. Devin had convinced her she wouldn’t want to pay for parking in New York City, and he obviously didn’t want to ship his car to Hong Kong, so they had both sold their vehicles before their moves.
Her grandpa had offered to ship her furniture to her as soon as she decided what she needed in her new place. Looking around, she didn’t know how any of it was going to fit. Her queen-sized bed alone would fill the room.
She looked around again, trying to find something good in the outdated kitchen appliances and the two narrow cabinets above the small counter. Looking up, she found one positive. The high ceilings would give her the chance to go vertical. She had a feeling that the moment her shipment arrived, she would be living with pillars of boxes reaching the ceiling.
One thing was sure: as soon as she and Devin were living in the same city, they were going to move into someplace nicer. Once they were able to combine their incomes, they could find something with a little more light and space.
She made her way across the room to the doll-size bathroom. A silverfish eyed her from inside the shower stall. Grace committed homicide by turning on the water and drowning the invader as she washed it down the drain.
Determined to make this space work, she crossed back to the door, set her suitcases along the wall, and dug her purse out of her backpack. Then she headed for the stairs with a mental list of the first things she needed to buy: a sleeping bag and an insect bomb. Groceries could wait until tomorrow. Tonight she was going to rid herself of the bugs and enjoy eating dinner somewhere that had Wi-Fi. It was time to do some furniture shopping on the Internet.
Chapter 15
Devin looked in the mirror and straightened his tie. On the surface, he looked like what his parents had always expected him to be: rich, successful, stylish. His closet was full of tailored suits and ridiculously expensive shoes. Silk neckties, a designer watch. All props to make him fit in with his peers working in high finance.
If he could look only as deep as his reflection, he could almost believe he really was an up-and-coming financier. His time in the office made him feel like exactly that most of the time. Then he would hear
someone talking about shifting market resources or the arrival of some government official, and he would remember why he was really here.
His CIA contact had met with him only twice so far—once in the airport men’s room when Devin had first arrived and again on the elevator in Devin’s building when Devin was heading to work. Each time, Chee had slipped him a flash drive with instructions on what information was currently a priority.
His first task had been relatively straightforward: copy the company directory and gather as much information as possible about the other employees at Revival. More recently, he had begun analyzing accounts he had access to for ties to the Chinese government.
Since his last meeting had occurred over two weeks ago, he found himself anticipating the next time their paths would cross. He tried to put that part of his job aside and live his cover story completely. All except for one thing. He looked down at his watch, and an alarm went off on his phone a moment before he picked it up.
He hit the button to FaceTime with Grace, his mood brightening as soon as her face lit up the screen. “Hey, gorgeous.”
“Aren’t you the charmer?” she asked with a smile. “How are you doing? How did the party go last night?”
“Kind of boring, actually. A bunch of people in suits talking about global markets and interest rates.”
“Sounds like my international finance class.”
“There was plenty of international and finance being discussed.” He guided the discussion away from him. “How are you doing? Are you all settled into the apartment?”
“As much as possible. I swear, it’s the size of a shoe box.”
“If it’s that bad, I can dip into my trust fund to help you get something bigger.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Your parents already think I married you for your money,” Grace reminded him. “I’m not going to give them the opportunity to think they’re right.”
“It wouldn’t be like that, and we both know it.”
“It’s only for a few months.”
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