Devin’s head pounded. Confusion came first, followed by memories of the alley brawl. He had been drugged. That was the last thing he could remember. His heartbeat quickened, aggravating his headache as he considered the possibilities. Was he still in Hong Kong? Or had Fai managed to transport him to mainland China?
Though he was afraid of what he would find, he forced himself to open his eyes. Immediately he squinted against the overhead light. Relief flooded through him when he saw Ghost sitting across the room. Devin closed his eyes again, willing his heartbeat to return to normal. He was safe. How he had gotten here, he wasn’t sure, but he was alive, and he was still free.
Devin forced himself to wake fully and moaned as he pushed himself up onto his elbow. When Ghost turned to look in his direction, Devin mumbled, “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”
“I agree.” Ghost picked up a glass of water and offered it to him, along with two pills. “Here, take these. It will help with the headache.”
Devin popped the two Tylenol into his mouth and washed them down with a swallow of water. He looked around the room, recognizing that he was in the same safe house he’d used with Ghost before. “What happened? How did I get here?”
“I got to the alley right after they drugged you.”
“I thought I heard a gunshot . . .” Devin’s voice trailed off. “Did you . . . ? Are they . . . ?”
“They’re alive. At least they were when I left them,” Ghost said dryly. “What in the world were you thinking? You know better than to go to a meeting without backup. Chee didn’t even know where you were.”
“Someone left a message in my office. They had a photo of Grace and a copy of a flight plan from Sedona, Arizona, to Vail, Colorado.”
“You said before that you think she’s living in Colorado.”
Devin nodded. A jolt of pain accompanied the movement. He pressed his fingers against his temples, the gravity of the situation falling heavily over him once more. “They know where she is, and I have no way of warning her.”
“How did she look in the photo? Could you tell where she was? Or if it was even a current photo?”
“She was in a plane at the airport in Sedona. The flight plan listed Sean Tanner as the pilot. He’s a guy I know from college.”
“Any idea what she was doing with him?”
“My guess is that she went to Sedona looking for me, or at least trying to find out if anyone had heard from me.”
“The truth is they may be using Grace as bait to lure you out again.”
“And if they’re not?”
“Then you’re too late.”
Ghost’s bluntness stunned Devin and sent a stabbing pain into his gut. “You don’t think they would . . . ?”
“It’s best not to focus on what you can’t control. We’ll start a search for her again. Assuming she’s still okay, our best play is to find the leak. Once we do that, you can safely reunite with your wife.”
“What happens now?” Devin asked, a sense of helplessness overwhelming him. “Obviously I can’t go back to work now. Fai suspected I double-crossed him even before you shot at him.”
“What did they say?”
Devin replayed the conversation and Fai’s insistence that Devin go with him to Shanghai. “My guess is the powers that be made so many changes to avoid intelligence leaks that the copy of my father’s laptop appeared to have been altered.”
“I was worried something like that might happen.”
“And you let me go to work every day anyway?” Devin asked.
“Chee was convinced we could use your cover to find the leak. He thought giving you a guardian would be enough to protect you.”
“Guardian?”
“Guardian, ghost. It’s the same thing.”
“Do you work for the CIA?”
“Not exactly.”
“Who do you work for, then?” Devin asked.
“All of the guardians at one time or another had some ties with intelligence,” Ghost said. “And all of us had someone who wanted us dead.”
“Why?”
“Different reasons. Usually we knew too much.” Ghost’s expression intensified. “I would offer to have you join our ranks, but our way of ensuring no one is following you is to fake your death.”
Devin immediately shook his head. “I can’t do that. I can’t lose Grace.”
“I suspected as much,” Ghost said. “If you want your life back, we need to find the leak.”
“How is it that I was sent over here to uncover leaks for US intelligence, and now I’m a direct victim of what I was trying to prevent? What are the chances?”
“Often these types of situations are related,” Ghost said. “Someone set you up here. We need to know who, and we need to know why.”
“Where do we start?”
“We start by smuggling you out of the country.” Ghost gave him an apologetic look. “I’m afraid your return voyage isn’t going to be as comfortable as your trip over here.”
“Voyage? As in sea voyage?”
“Exactly. I hope you don’t get seasick.”
“Sounds like I’m about to find out.”
* * *
Devin had never been so glad in his life to see land. His stomach pitched with the movement of the waves as a tugboat pulled the freighter into the busy port. The three-day voyage from Hong Kong to Tokyo had taken him through stormy seas, and while the rest of the crew seemed perfectly fine, Devin had spent most of his time on board avoiding food and hoping his stomach would settle.
The clouds overhead blocked out the midmorning sun, but at least the rain had stopped sometime during the night. The twenty-man crew buzzed around the deck behind him, preparing to off-load cargo and bring more on board.
“Happy to see land again?” one of the crewmen asked Devin in Mandarin.
“Very happy to see land again,” Devin confirmed.
“A few more days and you’ll get used to it.”
“Maybe,” Devin said noncommittally. Ghost had given him simple instructions when he’d dropped him off at the docks several days after rescuing him from the alleyway. Stay out of trouble on the freighter and go to the meeting place in Tokyo as soon as he put into port.
The meeting place was simply an address Devin had memorized. He doubted it would be anything like the hotel and restaurants he had frequented a few weeks before.
Devin shifted his backpack on his shoulder, not sure what to think about the fact that his belongings could all fit in one bag. As soon as the gangplank was in place, he made his way forward. After a brief conversation with the captain to thank him for his passage, Devin disembarked, stumbling when his feet met solid ground.
He heard the chuckles from the crew. Good-naturedly, he lifted a hand and waved before heading around the huge crane on the dock. Nearly an hour later, he reached the meeting spot, the fish market. He looked around, hoping his stomach wouldn’t protest the overwhelming smell.
Huge white signs hung over various booths, black ink creating Japanese characters. Boxes and hand carts impeded the walkways, people bustling all around him. Devin walked the length of the main section and was preparing to turn around when someone jostled him from behind.
“Keep walking.”
He recognized Ghost’s voice and did as he was instructed.
“Take a left here.”
Again Devin complied. He turned a corner and found himself along the back wall of the market. “Please tell me you have a plane ticket for me.”
“I’m afraid not.” Ghost shifted a duffel bag off his shoulder and held the strap out to Devin. “In here you’ll find the essentials, along with a laptop that has everything we know so far on who has had access to your file from the intelligence community.”
“Have you found Grace yet?”
“We know she’s living near Vail, Colorado. We haven’t located her residence yet, but we found a hit on her at a local doctor’s office two days ago.”
“A doctor’s office?”
“That’s all I know. The point is she appears to be fine. If Jun or anyone else who is involved wanted to hurt her, they wouldn’t have waited five days to do it.”
Devin prayed Ghost’s assumptions were correct. “What am I supposed to do now?”
“I have you booked as a passenger from here to Singapore on a cruise ship that leaves tonight.”
“I can handle a cruise.”
“It’ll give you some time to research before the next leg of your voyage.”
“And what will that entail?”
“You’ll spend three weeks in a safe house in Singapore, and then you’ll report to your new job working on a freighter.”
“Am I ever going to get back to the States?” Devin asked. “It’s already been a week.”
“It’s going to be a lot more weeks,” Ghost told him. “The freighter will go from Singapore to Vancouver and finally to Oakland, California. When you reach Oakland, you’ll find a car in a hotel parking lot near the docks. The details on the vehicle and its location are in the envelope with the key.”
Devin held up the duffel. “In here?”
“That’s right,” Ghost said. “You’ll arrive in Oakland on November 30. Once you get there, you’ll find instructions on how to proceed taped under the passenger seat, along with a new cell phone.”
Devin’s thoughts focused on the date Ghost gave him. “You just said I won’t be stateside until November?”
“We need to keep you off the radar while we try to identify who is behind your attempted abduction and hopefully plug the leak that put you in danger in the first place. Like I mentioned before, it’s possible it’s connected to the one you came here looking for.”
“And if you can’t plug the leak?”
“We’ll get to the bottom of this.” Ghost handed him an envelope. “The details for your cruise are in there, and I’ve left some currency for everywhere you’ll be stopping. I suggest you get something to eat while you have the chance.”
“Will I see you again?”
“Not if you’re lucky.” Ghost pointed to the bag. “You have a satellite phone in there. My number is programmed in, and so is Chee’s. Call me if you run into any problems or if you make any progress on your research.”
Devin extended his hand. “Thanks for all your help.”
“Just doing my job.” Ghost shook his hand and stepped back. “Stay out of trouble.”
“I’ll do my best.”