26 |
26 |Acton/Palmer Residence St. Paul, Maryland
Lee Fang let Acton’s best friend and boss, Gregory Milton, unlock the door to the professors’ residence, then motioned for him to step back. She expected the house to be empty, but she was having the most fun she had had in weeks if not longer.
I miss this so much.
She had been a major in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, part of the Beijing Military Region Special Forces Unit, which had meant constant training and constant action. Now she was an exile, wanted by the government she once served, and all alone in this strange new land, until Kane had reached out to her with an olive branch and a kind word.
And they had fallen in love.
She smiled as she entered the humble home, a surprise since the Actons were apparently worth hundreds of millions, Laura having inherited a fortune from her Internet tycoon brother when he died. Yet this home screamed middle-class America.
“The alarm is still on. Are you sure someone broke in?”
She nodded. “They reenabled it when they left.”
Milton keyed in his code, the alarm chirping then going silent.
Sherrie White stepped deeper into the professors’ home, her weapon drawn. “They obviously didn’t want anyone to know they had been here.”
“Looks like they did a good job,” said Milton. “It doesn’t look like anything’s been touched.”
Fang quickly swept the main floor while Sherrie cleared the second. She turned to Milton. “Where’s their computer?”
Milton shook his head. “They use laptops. They take them wherever they go.”
Sherrie returned. “We’re clear. No evidence of anyone being here, but we might want to do a bug sweep, just in case.”
Fang handed her the bag containing their equipment, the experienced CIA agent quickly going to work. “Any idea why they’re in Ethiopia?”
Milton’s eyes narrowed. “How did you know where they were?”
Sherrie glanced over her shoulder as she continued her sweep for eavesdropping devices. “We’re the CIA. We know everything.”
Fang grunted. “Well, I’m not, but Dylan and Sherrie are.”
Milton chuckled. “The way you hold that gun, if you’re not CIA, then you’re just some other acronym.”
A wave of nostalgic regret washed over Fang and she turned away, pretending to search the room some more. She loved her life in America, she loved Kane, she loved the two friends she did have, Chris and Sherrie, but it was the fact she could list off her entire social circle with a digit challenged hand, that had her depressed too often. She had no family, no extended network of friends, and no prospects.
Not even a work family.
The American government provided her with a generous monthly allowance as a thank you for her sacrifice on their behalf, and it meant she didn’t need to work. But it came with restrictions, including not working in any field that might require her to make use of her unique skill set.
And anything that might bring her attention to Beijing.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Milton’s voice was gentle, concerned, and she wiped away an escaped tear she hadn’t noticed.
“Yes.” She didn’t elaborate, her single word bereft of emotion, ending the conversation.
Sherrie returned, stuffing the bug detector into the bag. “The house is clean. I think they were looking for something and left.”
Fang pointed to a pile of papers on the kitchen counter. “They ordered some equipment recently, including a diesel generator. It might have something to do with what’s going on.”
Sherrie examined the pile, photographing each page and sending it to Leroux and Kane. Her phone vibrated while she was transmitting the photos, and she smiled. “We’ve got something from a security camera across the street.” She shook her head. “People really need to change their default passwords.” She pulled up the footage and held the phone out for the others to see.
Fang leaned in, the footage showing two black men entering the house, then a jump in the timecode, and the same two men leaving.
“Well, they look out of place.”
Fang regarded Milton. “Why? Is this a white neighborhood?”
Milton’s eyes widened in horror. “No, that’s not what I meant at all!” He pointed at one of the men in the footage. “What I meant was that one’s clothing is clearly East African, and if Jim and Laura just went to Ethiopia, then that’s too much of a coincidence.”
Fang smiled, always finding it interesting how Americans were so quick to take offense to any perceived slight of a minority group, or defend themselves desperately against any misinterpretation of something completely innocent.
She noticed it all the time on the news or on social media, two things she had too much time to partake in, finding this national obsession fascinating. It was something that simply wasn’t an issue in China. Political correctness hadn’t caught on yet back home, nor did she see it ever being allowed to get out of control like it was here.
“What do you think?” asked Sherrie, zooming in on the man in question. “Too much of a coincidence?”
Fang nodded. “In New York City, maybe not, but here in St. Paul? Absolutely. This is definitely related to their trip.”
Milton’s head swiveled between the two women. “So, what now?”
Sherrie led them to the front door. “Now, you go home, report anything to us out of the ordinary, and we’ll try to contact the professors to let them know what’s happened.”
“Can you identify the men?”
“If they can be, they will be. The way that one guy is dressed suggests he’s either a recent immigrant, or here visiting, so there should be a record.”
“Umm, you mentioned things out of the ordinary.”
Sherrie stopped and turned to face the hesitant Milton. “Yes?”
“Well, umm, when Tommy hacked their phones to let me know where they were, I noticed that one of the last calls on Jim’s phone was to Italy. Rome, I think.”
Fang’s eyes narrowed. “Does he know people there?”
Milton chuckled. “Well, he knows the Pope, if that counts. But there are others.”
Sherrie reset the alarm. “Okay, we’ll follow up on it.”
They stepped outside and Milton closed the door behind them, locking it. “Do you want Tommy to get you that info?”
Sherrie smiled. “I’m sure our people can handle it.”
Milton laughed. “Of course.” He sighed. “I’m glad you’re on the job. I’ll rest a little easier.” He shook both their hands then climbed in his car and drove away.
Sherrie laughed and Fang looked at her. “What?”
“What he said about resting a little easier. Normally when people like us need to be on the job, it makes sleep more difficult.”
Fang smiled at the truth in Sherrie’s statement.
What an odd country.