“Grace?” Clayton called from the hallway. “Can I help you with your bags?”
She stepped out of her room. “That would be great, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.” He moved past her to retrieve her suitcase. “I worked you hard enough this week. A woman in your condition shouldn’t be carrying anything heavy.”
Grace wondered what he would do if he knew she was carrying twins. So far she hadn’t been able to share that information with anyone besides her grandfather. The idea of telling someone else before Devin just didn’t sit right with her. She focused on Clayton once more and offered a smile. “Did you spoil your wife like this when she was pregnant?”
“Every chance I got.” He led the way to the front door. “Are you sure I can’t give you a ride to the airport?”
“Thanks, but Jun should be here any minute. She’s planning on driving straight from the airport up to the ranch.”
“That sure worked out well for everyone. I’ve only met Jun a few times, but she seems like a hard worker.”
“It will be nice to have another familiar face in Colorado,” Grace said. A car pulled up outside. “That must be her.”
Clayton opened the door for her and carried her bag to the car Jun had parked. The small SUV was the same one Grace remembered Jun driving when Grace had dated Devin in high school, and it hadn’t been new then.
“Travel safely,” Clayton said. “I’m sure we’ll talk soon.”
“Thanks for everything,” Grace said, climbing into the passenger seat. She shifted her attention to the woman beside her. “Thank you for picking me up.”
“It is I who should be thanking you.” She put the car in gear and started down the drive. “I look forward to working for you and your grandfather.”
Grace forced herself to think positively. “Devin will be so excited when he gets home and finds you there.”
“I hope so.”
On the drive to the airport, they chatted about the resort and Jun’s new responsibilities, then Grace’s pregnancy.
“When is your little one expected to arrive?” Jun asked.
“December.” Grace mentally added, I hope. Every time she thought about the many complications that could come from having twins, she had to fight back the fear and focus on the possibilities. If her babies had problems from coming too early, she would deal with them. Until then, she was determined to expect the best in the hopes that her expectations would be met. At the top of the list was the birth of two healthy babies with Devin standing by her side.
Jun pulled into the airport parking lot, and Grace climbed out of the car, her laptop bag clutched in one hand. The moment she was out of the car, she had the eerie feeling of being watched, but when she looked around, she didn’t notice anyone else nearby.
Jun moved to the trunk and retrieved Grace’s suitcase for her. “Where are you to meet your friends?”
Grace looked around again, this time at the airfield. She spotted Sean’s plane parked a short distance away, but she didn’t see anyone near it.
“That’s the plane over there.”
“Let me carry this for you.” Jun led the way to the plane, pulling the suitcase behind her as they crossed the edge of the tarmac. They reached the plane a moment before Sean emerged from the small airport building, a paper in his hand.
“Hey, Grace. Right on time, I see.”
Grace motioned to Jun. “Sean, do you know Jun?”
“I’ve seen her a few times.” Sean extended his hand. “It’s nice to meet you officially.”
“Thank you.” Jun bowed her head slightly, then turned to Grace. “If you are okay, I will start my drive.”
“Travel safely,” Grace said. “I will see you this evening. And call me or my grandfather if you run into any trouble.”
Jun lowered her head once more before retreating back to the parking lot.
“Let me get your bag stored, and we’ll be good to go.” Sean held up the paper in his hand. “Our flight plans are all set.”
Grace stood back and waited while Sean stored her suitcase and computer bag. She glanced over at the parking lot and saw Jun standing beside her car, talking to a man and a woman.
It took her a moment to register who they were: Liwei, Devin’s family cook, and Maureen, Devin’s father’s secretary. Grace had seen both of them only briefly when she had been at Devin’s house a few months ago, but Liwei had added twenty pounds through his middle since she had first met him while she was in high school, and his hair was nearly all gray. Maureen, on the other hand, hadn’t changed much, her blonde hair falling to her shoulders, her sleeveless dress falling several inches short of her knees. Grace hoped she looked as fit as Maureen when she was fifty.
“Here, let me give you a hand,” Sean said, breaking into her thoughts.
Grace looked down at her growing baby bump, all too aware of her awkward shape. She accepted Sean’s offer, putting her hand in his to steady herself as she climbed into the plane. As soon as they were both strapped into their seats, she sat back and rested her hand on her stomach. The ripple of movement beneath her palm stunned her.
She stared down at her abdomen, reality jolting through her. In four and a half more months, she was going to be a mom.
Chapter 31
Fai followed the houseboy through a modest-sized living area and into the home office. The last time Fai had visited here, he had been praised for his work in obtaining the copy of Boyd Shanahan’s hard drive. One look at the man sitting at the desk this time indicated praise wasn’t going to be the order of business today.
The houseboy announced him and then disappeared the way he had come.
“Close the door,” Qing said sternly.
Fai complied and turned to face the older man. Part of him wanted to ask why he had been summoned today, and another part of him hoped he wouldn’t find out. He remained silent.
The man across from him put both hands on his desk and stood, then picked up a paper from his desk and waved it.
“Six times.” Qing’s voice vibrated with barely controlled fury. “Six times we inserted someone into the life of a high-level government contractor only to find out he didn’t have access to anything valuable.”
Fai fought the urge to squirm. “I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I.” He waved the paper again. “I was told the information copied off Boyd Shanahan’s hard drive contained data we had seen before.”
“That’s correct, sir. Our analysts verified it to be authentic.”
“The programs appear to be accurate, but the personnel have been changed in every key area.” He dropped the paper onto his desk. “Can you explain how that could happen?”
“You think Devin altered the information.”
“That’s the most logical possibility.” He picked up an envelope. “I received some new information on Mr. Shanahan’s wife. I believe it’s time he pays us a visit.”
“I thought you didn’t want to give him access to our operations here in Hong Kong.”
“We aren’t going to question him here. He is going to take a trip to Shanghai,” he said. “Set up a meeting, and keep him under surveillance until then.”
“And if he refuses to cooperate?”
“Kill him.”
* * *
The weight of Jun’s involvement didn’t hit Devin fully until he went into work the next day. A plain manila envelope lay in the center of his desk and sent a bevy of nerves rumbling through him. His breath caught when he slid the contents free and stared at the photograph. Grace’s face was clearly visible through the window of a small airplane, the red rocks of Sedona creating a familiar backdrop.
Ghost had helped him send the message to Grace in the hopes that she would understand he was all right. What Devin hadn’t considered was that she would try to contact his family in search of him.
He thought she would know that contacting her would be more important to him than communicating with his parents. Maybe s
he hadn’t fully understood his message. Or maybe she had gone to Jun because of how much Devin had trusted her throughout his youth. How could he have been so blind? And how could Jun have deceived him so completely?
All his life, she had been the one he had turned to for everything. She had chased away the bad dreams in the middle of the night, patched up his cuts and scrapes, told him stories at bedtime. Many of those stories had been of her childhood in China, but never had he felt like she was trying to undermine his culture. Rather, he had loved seeing the differences through her eyes.
Devin continued to stare at the photo, lowering himself into his seat. Grace’s hair looked a bit longer than when he’d seen her last, and her face looked fuller. He wanted to convince himself that this was an old photo, but he had no way of knowing.
He turned it over, hoping to find a date stamp, but the back was blank. It was then he noticed the additional paper in the envelope. The flight plan was dated yesterday and gave much more information than he could have anticipated. Not only did it list the destination as Vail, Colorado, but the pilot’s name and address were also listed: Sean Tanner.
Why was Grace flying from Sedona to Colorado with Sean? The two hadn’t exactly seemed close when they’d all been in Las Vegas together.
Devin tried to put himself in Grace’s shoes. She must have gone to Molly and Caleb in the hopes of finding him. Knowing Caleb, he would have enlisted help from whomever was willing. Devin didn’t know how he felt about Sean hanging around his wife.
He looked at a handwritten note at the bottom of the flight plan. The Chinese character for a local restaurant was listed, along with a date and time. Tonight. 7 pm.
Devin thought over his schedule. His meetings would go until at least five thirty or six, and the restaurant was halfway across town. He wouldn’t have time to meet with Ghost before the scheduled rendezvous, nor would he be able to slip out of the office today in order to send him a text or call without the possibility of Fai or whomever he was working for intercepting it.
Feeling trapped and uncertain, Devin looked down at the photo again. He didn’t have a choice. With or without proper backup, he had to go, and he had to make sure Grace remained unharmed.
* * *
Grace gripped the edge of her seat. Sean circled the plane over the Vail airport for the third time, and the turbulence sent her stomach pitching. She swallowed hard.
Sean’s normal friendly chatter had ceased thirty minutes before when they’d first encountered the storm front and its accompanying winds. His lack of conversation spoke volumes.
“Let’s try this again,” Sean said, although Grace wasn’t sure if he was talking to her or to himself.
Memories of her parents’ crash created another spike in her anxiety. They may have been driving a car, not flying in a plane, but she knew all too well how quickly life could come to an end.
Another jerk to the right caused Grace to close her eyes and send up another round of silent pleadings.
The plane lowered, and she could feel the turbulence lessen. Cautiously she opened one eye enough to see them drop below the cloud cover, and she managed to blink and open both eyes then.
“Check the wing on your side,” Sean instructed. “Do you see any ice?”
The idea that there would be ice on the wings in August seemed so foreign, but dutifully, Grace looked out her window. “I don’t see any.”
Sean kept his hand gripped on the throttle, his tension visibly easing slightly when the airfield came into view below. “Hold on. The landing may be bumpy.”
Grace’s fingers tightened on her seat. Another crosswind jerked at the plane, but this time Sean was able to recover quickly. A few hundred feet lower and Grace wasn’t sure he would have been able to keep them from crashing.
If something happened to her and her babies, would anyone even be able to contact Devin to tell him?
And he didn’t even know he was about to be a father.
Her regrets subsided when the plane eased down without further incident and the wheels finally connected with the black tarmac.
Grace let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She looked over at Sean, who was looking as relieved to be on the ground as she felt.
Neither of them spoke until Sean pulled into a spot on the side of the airfield and turned off the engine. “Sorry that was so rough. That storm wasn’t supposed to move in until late tonight.”
“I’m just glad to be back on solid ground.”
“That makes two of us.”
Chapter 32
Devin knew it was risky, but he didn’t have a choice. The moment his four o’clock meeting ended, he headed downstairs under the premise of meeting a client, then hailed a taxi.
He had the foresight to get dropped off at an office building a mile away, walk two blocks, and then take public transit to get the rest of the way to his apartment.
With almost no time to spare, he grabbed the phone he used to communicate with Ghost, sent a quick text message, and secured the phone once more.
Now he was on another bus, this time on the way to the meeting he had been commanded to attend. Standing in the aisle, he wiped one sweaty palm on his slacks. He supposed it didn’t bode well for him that his nerves were in overdrive so much that he could hardly maintain his grip on the handle overhead.
The full bus came to a stop, and a dozen passengers fought their way toward the exits. The moment they were clear, several more took their places.
He noticed a man who looked vaguely familiar among the new arrivals, but he couldn’t place where he had seen him before.
Two stops later, Devin exited the bus and stepped onto the crowded sidewalk. He started toward the restaurant where he was supposed to meet his contact, assuming Fai would be waiting for him inside. To his surprise, the man he had noticed on the bus stepped beside him.
He felt something poke him in the ribs. “Keep walking.”
“Who are you, and what do you want?” Devin managed to ask.
“I’m the person who has some questions for you.” He guided him toward the corner of the building.
Devin stopped short of the narrow alleyway, afraid if he moved out of sight of the pedestrian traffic he might not ever be seen again. Another nudge with what felt like a gun barrel convinced him to keep moving forward.
“What do you want?” Devin asked again.
The man didn’t answer until they were well into the alley and out of sight of anyone on the street. “Who did you communicate with when you went to your apartment this afternoon?”
“What?”
The slender man pulled his weapon free of his shirt, where it had been concealed, and pointed it at Devin. “Who did you talk to?”
Devin reminded himself to stick as closely to the truth as he could. “I had plans with a friend tonight. When I got the message to meet someone here, I went home so I could get her number and cancel.”
A familiar voice sounded from somewhere deep in the alley. “I doubt that.” Fai emerged from a hidden niche in the wall. “You don’t go out with women. You are too in love with your wife.”
Devin turned to face Fai and fought to keep his rising apprehension from sounding in his voice. “Maybe you can tell me what’s going on here.”
“We have some questions.” He continued forward, the look of calm on his face creating the opposite feeling in Devin. “I’m starting to believe you may not have been completely honest with me.”
“About what?”
“The information you retrieved from your father has quite a few flaws in it.”
“I don’t know anything about that,” Devin said. “You asked me to copy his hard drive, and I did.”
“And you asked for proof that your wife is okay, and I provided it.” Fai came to a stop three feet from Devin and held out an envelope. “Now it’s up to you to decide if she remains that way.”
Reluctantly Devin accepted the offering. He opened it to find an Australian passport wi
th his photo on it, but the name listed was Dustin Sherwood. “I don’t understand.”
“We’re taking a little trip to Shanghai. Consider it an opportunity to prove your allegiance.”
“And if I don’t go?”
“That would be unwise.” Fai motioned deeper into the alley. “Our flight leaves in two hours.”
“Hong Kong is a province of China,” Devin said. “Why do you need me to go to Shanghai?”
“Because I want to make sure you don’t have any friends tagging along while we have our chat.”
The man who had forced him into the alley moved forward, his weapon now only inches from Devin’s chest. “Let’s go.”
Fear, adrenaline, and Devin’s instinctive sense of survival urged him to react. He let the envelope fall out of his hand. The moment the man’s eyes lowered to follow it, Devin grabbed the man’s wrist with one hand and the gun with the other and twisted it out of his captor’s hand.
Devin barely had time to process that his tactic had worked before Fai’s movement drew his attention. Devin tried to step back so he could face both men at the same time, but before he could face Fai completely, Fai’s hand connected with Devin’s jaw.
Off balance, Devin stumbled back several steps, his grip tightening on the weapon. He swung it toward Fai, a blur of movement causing him to jump back. The kick Fai had aimed at his head missed by inches.
Anticipating another strike, Devin reached out with his free hand, backpedaling away from Fai and shoving the original gunman at the same time. The action caused Fai to strike his ally rather than Devin.
The stunned look on the other man’s face as he fell to the ground would have been comical had it not been for the gravity of the situation—Devin was a CIA operative in Hong Kong with two men trying to force him to go to mainland China against his will.
Fai surged forward, mimicking the move Devin had used on his accomplice just moments before. Devin countered by backing up again, only to find himself pinned against the wall.
“It appears my superiors were right,” Fai said, his voice still eerily calm. “You can’t be trusted.”
Kept Secrets Page 19