Zack (In the Company of Snipers Book 3) (8 page)

“Got it, Boss. When do you need it?”

“As soon as you get back to your desk. Why? Are you too busy?”

Zack caught the sarcastic dig under Alex’s question.

“Oh, no. Ember and I are updating the project manager system, that’s all. We’ll work your request first like we always do.” She handed Alex a four-by-six picture. “But take a look at something else while I’m here.”

“What am I looking at?” he asked, annoyed as he peered at the photo.

“Just my latest hacker,” Mother replied smugly. “She’s got her camera link up while she’s trying to hack our system. Doesn’t even know she’s broadcasting.”

“But we’re still secure?”

“You bet. Would I let a hacker in?” She rolled her eyes. “Am I not the Mother around here? See, I’ve created a little program to sends me an alert whenever—”

“Just asking,” Alex interrupted, placing the photo face down in front of him. “Thanks. That will be all.”

She cringed. “I’ve got one more question.”

“Of course you do.” Alex turned to her. “What?”

Zack allowed a smile to tug at his lips. His boss was fast approaching the need for more caffeine. Now would be a good time for Mother to take the hint and leave.

“You’ve got a lot of boxes behind your office door.”

“Yes. They need to go to the Senate committee today.”

“All of them?” Her eyes widened in exaggerated surprise.

“That’s the intel from the ATF Op. Get Todd Chandler to run them over to the Russell Building.” Alex’s tone ratcheted tighter with every busybody question.

“Why Todd? I mean, he’s new here. Did you notice he’s got a crush on Ember?”

Zack tried real hard not to smirk.

“I think I hired Todd to work,” Alex snapped. “That okay with you?”

“Sure.” Mother stood, not noticing his less than gentle reprimand to mind her business. “He’s a cute kid. Ember likes him. Me too.”

Zack bit his lip to keep from laughing out loud.

“I’ll get the information you need.” She sashayed out of the Sit Room like the queen bee of the hive. “You want anything else, you know where I’ll be.”

Alex glared at Zack.

It was going to be one of those days.

I can do this.

Mei snapped the bogus ID badge onto her belt for another long day of disappointment. Dressed in her usual attire for undercover work–navy blue skirt, white blouse, and black heels–she hoped she looked like the scary federal agent on the badge. If she could only stop shaking.

It was another cold day. She was colder. Her daughter needed her cute, pink winter coat, the one with the fur-lined hood. Mei clenched her knuckles to her mouth, willing the sob back into her chest.
Stop it. You have work to do. LiLi depends on you. Stop it, right now.

Glancing one last time into the mirror, she hissed to her reflection, “You don’t have time to be soft. Who will find her if you don’t?”

The stark, cold face of an angry American Chinese woman stared back. She used to be pretty, but now her dark hair was pulled into a tight knot that brooked no soft tendrils or femininity. The day for pretty make-up and smiles was past. All Mei needed was to keep her head down and blend in.

Despite the bitter chill in the weather, she opted for no coat. Not until LiLi was home would she be warm again. Resolute steps took her to the elevator and out to her assigned parking stall. Everything weighed against her, even the frost on her windshield. While the engine warmed the inside of the car, she scraped the windows clean. Shivering in the arctic breeze, Mei shook the melting cold from her fingers and climbed back in. At least the heater worked.

Today, I will find her.

Shifting the car into reverse, she pressed the accelerator, slowly backing up. The driveway had been salted. Snow was in the forecast, but had yet to arrive. The steering wheel shuddered. What now? It didn’t take long to find out the rear tire was flat. That solved one problem. There was no longer any reason to worry about fuel, at least not today.

Parking the car again, Mei grabbed her computer bag, squared her shoulders into the wind, and gritted her teeth.

Today, I will take the bus.

Zack’s fingers tapped a steady beat on the table. Sitting around the Sit Room doing nothing but talking drove him crazy. The minute the op ended, he planned to ask for an assignment overseas. Exciting or not, he needed something a whole lot more physical to do than meeting with Alex or Mother

“Here’s the contact information you asked for on Tony Brown.”

Alex scanned what Mother handed him. “Put it up on the screen.”

“Thought you’d never ask.” She flashed the info to the overhead.

It showed the individuals Brown had contacted. She’d organized the info by orphanages visited, persons contacted, dates, times, and length of each conversation. All of the names were Chinese except one: Mr. Reginald Richards, attorney, Washington D.C.

“That’s our man. David, you and Zack—”

Mother flashed another list overhead, interrupting Alex. The profile of Mr. Richards, an adoption lawyer who specialized in overseas adoptions, replaced the previous list. The room was silent as Alex, David, and Zack absorbed the attorney’s list of clients and his fees. Mr. Richards catered exclusively to the rich and famous. There were a few well-known celebrity types on the list, as well as diplomats from all over the world. His adoption fees ranged into the millions and all the children he’d dealt with were between the ages of newborn to eight-year-olds. All girls. Hundreds of girls.

“See this?” Mother used the laser pointer to indicate the far right column titled
EXOTIC
. “These are bi-racial children with one Chinese parent. Apparently there’s a market for girls who have different and unique looks.”

“I want this dirt bag,” Zack muttered under his breath. “All he’s doing is selling babies.”

“Do we know why Brown contacted Richards all the way from China?” David asked.

Mother shrugged. “Ember and I were talking about that. If the right people got their hands on the right baby girl, they could turn her into a model, maybe even a movie star. It’s all about marketing and appearance. A blue or green-eyed Oriental woman would make a breathtaking model. She’d be a real money-maker for some of these cosmetic companies.”

Alex growled and pushed away from the table. “Only if they were halfway decent people to begin with, and I doubt it. We’re not tackling an operation this big without federal backup, the FBI for sure. Contact them, and Immigration and Customs. Let them run with it.”

Zack glanced at David, and immediately wished he hadn’t.

Alex noticed. “What’s going on? You two have something else to say?”

“Ah, Boss, sorry,” David stuttered. “I should have mentioned sooner. ICE is already involved. We ran into Agent Mei Xing when we checked on Chai Yenn yesterday. She’s assigned to the case.”

“Good. Work with her. Let me know what you find out. Anything else?”

“Not right now,” David replied.

“One last thing.” Alex stood. “I’m putting Todd Chandler full-time on the case with you. Put him to work. In the meantime, I’ll contact Interpol and see what they know about Huang.” With that final command given, he was out the door with Mother on his heels.

David didn’t move an inch. Neither did Zack. Working with Todd was a good thing. The kid had skills, some of them computer related. He was a good fit for the rapidly expanding operation. It was the other assignment that stuck in Zack’s throat. Work with Cruella de Vil? Just thinking of another confrontation with the snarky woman gave him a chill.

“You want to call her?” He turned to David. “I mean you are senior agent and all.”

Before he had a chance to answer, Mother peered back into the room. “Excuse me, David, but you have a visitor.”

And there she was, the ICE queen herself.

Zack jumped to his feet, a product of all the politeness trained into him from childhood and the Corps more than anything else. Agent Xing actually smiled when she entered the room. Okay, so it wasn’t a very happy smile, but it did crack her face a little bit. She politely shook hands although she still kept the contact brief, limp, and insincere.

He scanned her once from head to toe. She wore no wedding band, and why he noticed bugged him. He didn’t care about the uppity woman. Hell. She wasn’t even what he considered attractive. Her cheeks were gaunt, and her hair was pulled back tight enough to pull even the hint of a smile off her face.
This chick’s wearing the same clothes as yesterday. What? Did she work all night?

“How’s the investigation going?” She placed her laptop on the table while she accepted the chair he’d offered.

“What investigation would that be?” Zack asked as he and David resumed their seats.

“Why, Agent Lennox, the investigation on Chai Yenn, of course.” She smiled again, which irked him more than when she was rude.

She wants something.

“Like I said, what investigation? The last time we met, you said you worked alone. Isn’t that what you heard, Agent Tao?”

David nodded, his index finger tapping his chin like he was thinking.

“You gentlemen must think I have a lot of nerve.” She didn’t appear fazed in the least.

“You think?” Zack pushed away from the table.

“I’m sorry. I acted badly at the hospital, but I’m here to offer the assistance and total cooperation of the entire Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.”

He caught the first tell. Federal agents used acronyms. They assumed everyone spoke their language. This woman was not who she pretended to be. He leaned back and looked closer. She’d also spoken her apology too quickly, as if they tasted bad on her tongue and she had to spit them out before she changed her mind. At least she had the good grace to lower her eyes. Long eyelashes fluttered against creamy cheeks. David might be right. She might be someone’s daughter after all. She’d almost bordered on feminine for a second there and, damn it anyway. Why’d he notice?

“I apologize.” She lifted her chin to look directly at him. Intelligent dark eyes caught him off balance, like she’d reached across the short distance between them and landed a good, hard sucker punch. She blinked once, and he had to think why he was angry with her.
Oh yeah. This woman’s heartless. She’s trouble. Besides, the hag’s not good looking. Much.

Zack stood to leave. He had CIs to chat with. David could deal with her.

“I think it’s important we focus on who we’re really working for.” David spoke very quietly. “Both of our agencies owe Chai Yenn and Zhen Ting the best work we can do. They are the important ones. Not us. We must put our differences aside and work together like the professionals we are.”

Damn it, Tao.
Zack stopped at the door. That was another annoying thing about David. He was a sniper. The man knew precisely how to hit his target and what ammo to use. The gentle reminder he’d just shot struck home like a live round of guilt. Mei nodded her total agreement, as if that helped. A ripple of unease poked at Zack. Everything was not as it seemed with this chick, but he sat again.

What am I not seeing?

“Ma’am, we’d be pleased to share all the information we’ve gathered over the past twenty-four hours, but we would also appreciate the same professional courtesy from you.” David was the quintessential diplomat. “Is there anything you’d like to tell us?”

“That’s why I’m here.” She folded her hands in front of her and wiggled her hips, seemingly eager to please and still throwing off vibes of deceit. “My office has narrowed the search to two attorneys in the D.C. area who deal in overseas adoptions. I have a proposal to—”

Zack cut her off. “We already know about Reginald Richards.”

“You do?” Her eyes registered surprise. “What, umm, else do you know?”

“He’s facilitated the adoptions of hundreds of Chinese girls in the last few years,” David offered.

“And he’s made a boatload of cash,” Zack added. “’Course, I bet you already knew that.”

“Well, yes. Of course, I know that.” She shifted in her chair. “Let’s see what else you’ve got.”

Zack caught the second tell. Agent Xing blinked rapidly, and those once calm hands were squeezed tight. No, make that wringing, as in twisting her fingers like they were rags. The game changed. She might’ve known about Richards, but she hadn’t known about all those adoptions or the money he was bringing down. Zack pulled his chair up to the table, watching for other tells. She had his undivided attention now.

He set the trap. “He specializes in exotic children.”

Bingo. Her brows raised. She didn’t have a clue what he was talking about.

“Exotic? As in...” She let her words trail away, doubtless thinking she was baiting him.

He leaned forward and shrugged like he could care less. “You know. Unusual physical characteristics. Hair color. The shape of their face. Anything to make their looks unique. Physical attributes that fall outside their ethnicity.”

She sucked in a quiet gasp. He had her now. Hook, line, and sinker.

“Like a Chinese American with blue eyes?” she asked quietly.

“Well, yeah,” he admitted. Awareness trickled into his perfectly set trap. The earth shifted. Why had she come up with that specific example? None of the girls they’d located were Chinese Americans, at least as far as he knew. What wasn’t she telling them? What did she know?

She licked her lower lip and glanced down, but her eyelashes fluttered. She was biting her lip–hard. Suddenly, she flattened both of her palms to the table.

“Let me show you what else we have on Richards.” David interrupted the fishing expedition. Just as he flashed the attorney’s profile on the overhead, Alex stormed back into the Sit Room with Mother on his heels.

“Shut it down!” he demanded as he slapped a picture in front of their guest. “Who the hell are you?”

Mother reached around David to turn the overhead off, then scurried out the door.

Zack stared dumbfounded. What had Alex so spun up?

“No, I...I—” Agent Xing caught her breath. She stood to leave but Alex grabbed her wrist, forcing her back to her seat.

“You’re not going anywhere, Agent whoever you are. We’re checking Immigration and Customs. Answer me. Who are you?” He crowded her personal space with pure hostility.

“Mei Xing. I am Mei Xing. That much is true.” She crumbled. “I’m not an agent for Immigration though. I’m just...I’m—”

“You’d better come up with a better story,” Alex bellowed into her face. “You’ve been trying to hack my server. What the hell are you looking for?”

A single tear trickled down her cheek.

“And you can knock that crap off. Fake tears won’t work. If you think for one minute—”

“I’m a mother!” she screamed back at him. “That’s all. A mother. Do what you want. I don’t care. I’ll do whatever it takes to find her. Do you hear me?” She wiped the tears off her defiant face, meeting him head-on every inch of the way.

Now Zack was hooked.
A what? A mother? Find who?

Alex lowered his voice and pulled his chair against hers. “Who are you trying to find?”

“What do you care?” She was the angry one now, their roles reversed. “Turn me in. Call the police. I should’ve known you guys wouldn’t help, either.”

“Now wait a minute—”

“Why should I? You’re all the same.” She shoved her chair back, preparing to stand, although he still held her wrist. “Well, let me tell you something. I don’t need men!”