I looked over at Kang and then back at Hammond.
“What? I swear, I’m telling you the truth.”
“I believe you,” I said.
“You do? It seems so far-fetched.”
“Did you catch the news story on Geoffrey Barnes?”
“I don’t know who that is.”
“SFPD found him naked and wandering the streets near Mount Sutro. He claims to have been abducted.”
“Wait—you guys think I was abducted?”
“At the moment, we’re exploring various missing-persons cases. There could be a connection. Are you sure there’s nothing else you can remember?”
“Positive. I’ve been struggling with this ever since it happened.”
I handed Hammond my card. “If you remember anything, call.”
As Kang and I walked back to our vehicle, he broke the silence.
“I gotta hand it to you, Abby; there’s something fishy, and it seems like there might be a connection between the doctor and techie dude. Still, I don’t know what it has to do with our current assignment.”
“I don’t either, but my gut is telling me not to let this slip through the cracks.”
Chapter Nineteen
We spent no more than twenty minutes speaking to Hammond that morning, not long enough to affect our scheduled meeting at the facility. As had become customary, Yates met us in reception and led us to the recreation room, where Xiaolian waited for me.
Yates had his laboratory coat unbuttoned and it flapped behind him. It reminded me of Dr. Timothy Green, the city’s top medical examiner. He never buttoned up. I asked, “Is she ready?”
“Yes, of course. Just go inside. Agent Kang and I will be in the observation room.”
I arched a brow. “What are you talking about? We’ve been given permission to take Xiaolian off site for a couple hours. Weren’t you notified?”
Yates scratched the side of his head. “Uh, this is news to me. I—”
“I was told the right people signed off on it. Please don’t tell me we came all this way for nothing.”
“Well, you didn’t come for nothing. You still have access to Xiaolian.”
“You don’t understand. In order for me to gain her full trust, we need to make it seem like we’re working on getting her out of here.”
“But that’s not what’s happening.”
“I realize that, but she doesn’t. This is perception. Look, we’ve been given an impossible task of earning her trust while at the same time you’re keeping her locked up. You’ve seen her mood swings. One day she’s loveable and outgoing, the next day she’s cold and closed-lipped.”
Yates opened his mouth, as if to say something, but changed his mind.
“It’s a couple of hours,” I said. “We’re grabbing lunch, and that’s it. We need to make progress. Remaining here and working out with her won’t get us anywhere.”
Yates looked at Kang.
“She’s right. We can keep doing the same thing day in and day out, but the results won’t change.”
“It’s just that I haven’t received any paperwork and—”
“I’m sure your director—what’s his name, Watkins—is aware of it.”
Yates stood paralyzed, unable to say yes or no. I made the decision for him by walking into the recreation room and returning with Xiaolian holding my hand. Ten minutes later, the three of us were driving out of the facility.
“I can’t believe you got me out of there,” Xiaolian said.
She and I were sitting in the back seat of the SUV.
“Neither can we,” I said with a smile.
“What do you mean?”
“We didn’t really have permission. We sort of broke you out.”
Her eyes grew wide. “You did?”
“We did. It’s only temporary, though. We’re still working on securing your release, but for now, I think lunch is a good start.”
“So do I,” she said, grinning.
Kang and I had known we had no say in what happened to Xiaolian, but we hoped that Yates would be the kind of doctor who’s more interested in learning about his patient than follow security protocols. We’d been right. He’d folded so easily.
“Where are we going?” Xiaolian asked.
“Ever hear of a place called Great America?”
She shook her head. “What kind of food do they serve?”
“The food’s nothing special, but the rides are. Just wait. You’ll love this place.”
When we arrived at the amusement park and saw the reaction from Xiaolian, I knew we had made the right decision. Our original plan was to take her to Chuck E. Cheese’s. While that probably would have sufficed, I thought there was a small chance she might be a bit too old for a pizza joint with arcade games and an animatronic mouse as a host, even if she had never been to one before.
Once we were past the entry gates, Xiaolian’s mouth fell slack, and her eyes just about popped out of her face. “What is this place?”
“This is the place where time flies by.”
“Huh?” She looked up at me quizzically.
“Never mind. Ever ride a roller coaster?”
“No. Is it fun?”
“You’re about to find out.”
The kids and I had been to Great America a few times. Flight Deck was my favorite ride.
“Maybe we should start her off on something small,” Kang suggested.
“Nah, she’s a tough little girl. I say we start with the fastest, most intense ride the park has. You don’t want a kiddie ride, right?”
“Nope. I want the ride you’re talking about.”
I looked at Kang and shrugged. “She’s the boss today. If you need to start off on the kiddie rides and work your way up, you know where to find the two of us.”
“Don’t worry about me,” he said, keeping in step with us.
Flight Deck was the park’s most popular ride. Basically the rider sits suspended below the tracks in seats that hit speeds of 50 mph. It has a zero-gravity roll, basically a cool corkscrew, a couple of 270-degree turns that whip you around, and finally a huge, 360-degree loop, where instead of looping inside the circle, you loop on the outside. I peed my pants the first time I rode it.
We strapped into the first row of seating, with Xiaolian sandwiched between me and Kang. The coaster jerked, moved forward, and immediately started its steep ascent, with the loud, familiar clicking sound ringing out.
“I think I’ve changed my mind, Abby,” Xiaolian said.
“Oh dear, I’m afraid it’s too late now,” I said with a mischievous grin. “You’ll just have to suck it up.”
Xiaolian started screaming as we reached the top. I couldn’t stop laughing—not because she was screaming, but because Kang was screaming even louder than she was. The first drop whipped us down and to the left, straight into the 360-degree loop.
I glanced over at Xiaolian. Her mouth was wide open, and her eyes were closed. Kang had fainted and sat limp in his seat. I laughed even harder and peed my pants for the second time on that ride.
Immediately after finishing the ride, we hopped back into the line for a second round. Kang spent a good portion of that wait time denying that he had fainted, not once, not twice, but thrice.
We spent the rest of the day riding every ride in the park and playing the arcade games. Xiaolian won a stuffed Snoopy dog that was almost her own height, for making five basketball shots in a row. It also seemed like we ate everything the park had to offer.
The original plan was three hours—that quickly turned into six.
We exited the park at four thirty and did our best to make it back to the facility as quickly as possible. We never pressed Xiaolian for information like we’d planned; she was having too much fun being a kid, and I didn’t want to spoil it for her. There would be other days.
All in all, I felt like the outing had helped. Even during the short amount of time we had spent visiting her at the facility, Kang and I could tell we weren�
��t making progress. She was holding back. We needed to give her a reason to let go. Hopefully a day at the park would crack the foundation of her wall.
Yates met us upon our return to the facility and waited until Xiaolian was back in her room before voicing his displeasure. “You had no authority to take her.” He struggled to contain his emotions as the two of us faced him in his office.
“This field trip did more to help our relationship with her than all of the time spent in that little recreation room of yours. We’re after results here, are we not?”
Yates nodded, but the redness in his face signaled he was anything but calm.
I added, “We all have our methods. You need to trust ours. Remember, results are what count. Not some stupid protocol.”
“You should have told me your motivations,” he said in a low voice.
“So you agree, then?”
“What I’m saying is, I may not agree that this facility is all that conducive to Xiaolian opening up. Still, I have a job and a boss I need to answer to.”
“We’re sorry. In the future, we’ll work with you.”
It seemed that Yates was on our side. He spent a lot of time with her and could see that she was unhappy, probably even a little depressed. Testing a subject under those conditions wasn’t ideal. In the end, Yates was a scientist. He wanted to learn as much as he could about Xiaolian.
“So, anything to report?” he asked.
“No, but I think from now on, we’ll start seeing results. We’ll be back tomorrow.”
As Kang and I returned to our vehicle, Archer, the hoodie-dressed spook from our meeting at Camp Park, intercepted us. The guy appeared out of nowhere, slipping into the back seat of our SUV.
“Did you guys have fun?”
We looked back at him. If he was angry, he masked it well.
“Why? Did you want to join us?” Kang asked.
“Do you have any idea of the risks you took today?”
“Oh, please.” I allowed that last word to drag. “She’s a child. What are you afraid of? That she’ll tackle us and escape back to the motherland?”
“She’s not to leave the facility again unless you have permission.”
“Well, why don’t you do something to make it okay for her to leave? You and your band of merry men want answers, but you’re not giving me the tools to do my job. She’s not an animal that needs training.”
“Fine. I’ll see what I can do.”
“See about me housing her as well.”
“That’s a no-go.”
“It has proven to work in the past, but what do I know? I’m just the person with the inside track on Xiaolian.”
“Tell me about today.”
“We went to Great America. It’s an amusement park in Santa Clara. It has—”
“I’m familiar with it. What did you learn?”
“She loves roller coasters and can eat more pizza than Agent Kang here,” I said with a straight face.
“You think this is a game, Agent Kane? Do you? You think securing a potential threat is something to take lightly?”
“Listen, my methods may not align with yours, but I do get results.”
“You need to press her harder.”
“You need to back off and let me do my job.”
Archer kept his gaze locked onto mine. Here we go—the macho stare-down.
Kang was the adult who broke the stalemate. “If I may butt in here, you guys asked us to do this because we have the relationship with Xiaolian. And there’s a reason for that. It starts with treating her like she’s human. You know, the whole basic human-decency thing. Also the people working there,” Kang used his thumb to point back at the facility, “they suck at being friendly and hospitable. She’s a child. And even if you think she’s a spy—yes, we know that’s the thinking here—treating her like a grown adult, or worse, will get you nowhere.”
Archer continued to stare us down. Eventually he opened his door. “Remember what I said; she doesn’t leave until you hear from me.” He climbed out and slammed the door shut.
“If they really want me to flip her, I should be housing her. That would be the best way.”
“Is that something you really want? I mean, knowing what you know now. There is the chance that these a-holes are right.”
“I know, I know.”
I knew exactly what he meant. Xiaolian was the reason Walter Chan had shown up at my home. Of course, at the time I had no knowledge that she was a threat to my family. It was different this time.
“I’d think long and hard about it, Abby,” Kang warned. “You know I’m saying this as a friend and as someone who cares a lot about you and your family.”
I gave him a pat on the shoulder. The mom in me agreed with him one hundred percent. However, the investigator in me wanted Xiaolian in my custody.
Chapter Twenty
After dropping her kids off at school, Connie drove over to Agent Kane’s home and parked under a tree, a few houses away. She sat quietly in her car, drinking kombucha she had picked up from an organic juice bar, as she kept watch on the house.
All was quiet on Pfeiffer Street; most of the neighbors were at work. Two houses down, Connie saw a woman unload what must have been at least twelve bags of groceries. A pair of women walked by with yoga mats. A cat stalked a crow on the lawn across the street.
A little while later, Connie reached into her purse, removed her cell phone, and placed a call to her husband. He picked up on the third ring.
“Hi. How is everything?” Albert asked.
“Not much to report. I saw her drop the kids off at school today. She was dressed as if she was heading into the office right after. As for the home, it’s just the mother-in-law, from what I can tell. She came out once and stood on the porch for a minute or so before heading back in. About thirty minutes later, she left. She had one of those little pull carts with her. I’m assuming she went to do some shopping. I took the opportunity to snoop around at that point.”
“Yeah, and…?”
“It doesn’t look like they have any sort of home security system. No sign in the front yard or stickers on the window. However, there are large lamps attached to the sides of the house. I imagine they have motion sensors on them, but other than that, nothing troublesome. I peeked in a few of the windows. I’m fairly certain the mother-in-law is home by herself all day.”
“Okay, let’s escalate. You take the lead,” Albert said.
“All right. See you later tonight.”
Connie disconnected the call. Then she found Agent Kane’s number in her phone’s address book and called her.
“Agent Kane speaking.”
“Oh, hi, Abby. It’s Connie Shi calling. We met each other a few days ago.”
“Yes, of course. I remember you.”
“I hope I’m not calling at a bad time.”
“No, it’s fine. What’s up?”
“Well, I think my son and your son are attending the same dojo. Colin came home yesterday and couldn’t stop talking about how much fun he’d had. He mentioned another boy who’s helping him acclimate. He said his name is Ryan Yee, and I remember you saying your son’s name is Ryan and he also attends judo classes, but I wasn’t sure because the last name didn’t jibe.”
“It’s funny that you’re telling me this because Ryan mentioned helping a new kid at his dojo named Colin. It didn’t click when we met and you said your son’s name was Colin. As for the name… well, I’m not sure if I mentioned it to you—both of my kids are from my late husband’s first marriage.”
“You did, and that explains it.”
“Yes, it certainly does.”
“Anyway, this coincidence is too much to ignore. I want to invite you and the kids over to the house this weekend. We can grill hamburgers, and we have a pool, so the kids can swim.”
“That sounds like fun. It’s nice of you to think of us.”
“And bring your mother-in-law. I’d love to meet her.”
“I’m positive the kids will be fine with it. Just let me collect the head nods later when I get home.”
“Sounds good. Talk soon.”
Connie returned her cell phone to her purse and then started her vehicle. Everything was falling into place.
Chapter Twenty-One
For dinner that night, I picked up lasagna from Fanelli’s Deli. The night before, Lucy had mentioned how we hadn’t eaten it in a long time. We put it to a vote, and Italian night won. Even Po Po loved the pasta from there and didn’t protest. Even though she insisted on cooking every night, I try to give her a night off by taking the family out for dinner or ordering takeout. On rarer occasions, I somehow convince her to let me cook.
We chowed down on Bolognese lasagna, antipasto, Caesar salad, and crispy garlic bread. Lucy and Ryan both loved making little lasagna sandwiches by taking the ends of the loaf, hollowing it out and then stuffing the cheesy pasta inside of it. I must admit, it was pretty tasty, and why I always bought two loaves—Po Po and I both had become fond of the idea. It was way too much bread for a family of four, but we are pigs. What can I say?
Once we had managed to fill our stomachs a little bit, I brought up Connie’s invitation.
“So, what do you guys think? Hamburgers. A pool. Your friends.”
“Sounds super cool,” Ryan said. “I really like Colin.”
“Do I know someone there?” Lucy asked.
“Sure you do. You met Connie’s daughter at school, when we had your parent-teacher conference. Her name is Hailey.”
“Oh, yeah. I remember her. She’s nice. I think this is an excellent plan.”
“Po Po, what do you think? You were invited too. I think it’ll be good to get out.”
“They Chinese?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Okay, I go.”
The Shis had just settled into their seats at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas off of Fillmore and Post. Connie passed out hotdogs to each of her kids and then placed a large bucket of popcorn between the three of them. “Share this. Understood?”
The Curator: SG Trilogy Book 2 (Abby Kane FBI Thriller 8) Page 8