by Toby Neal
And then he’d betrayed her.
Sophie was never going to let it go, because his behavior pointed to a deeper problem: he’d never love her as much as he loved his vigilantism as the Ghost.
“No phone. This is fine. Tell me what you’ve found out.” Their chat function was untraceable, and actually better than a phone conversation in that way.
“I’ve confirmed that there’s a leak in the Hawaii branch of Witness Protection. The Marshals keep their witness locations secret, but within a framework of known and vetted safe houses. Once a witness is out of active custody, they are supposed to maintain a low profile under their new identity and not make any contact with their old life. In the case of the Jones family whose bodies you were unfortunate enough to find, the mother had taken an unauthorized shopping trip to Oahu and broke protocol. Her activity was logged and may have been what triggered the leak.
The security breach begins with a RAT attached to the Hawaii WITSEC server. The information is then sold to the witness’s enemies by a dirty agent via Tor. I am not able to identify who the agent is: the harvesting computer is masked by multiple VPNs. But this is someone with computer skills who is doing a good job of covering their tracks within the agency, and even keeping the leak secret by hiding it behind protocol violations.”
Sophie could picture Connor’s chiseled features in the glow of a monitor somewhere, his fingers flying on the keys as he talked to her in a language they both understood. A RAT was a Remote Access Trojan, a burrowing program that could turn any computer into a spy device. VPNs were Virtual Private Networks, a way of scrambling a location by bouncing it off different servers, and Tor referred to accessing the “dark net” of untraceable sites.
Sophie responded. “I’m now working with an agent to guard my client. Client’s name is Holly Rayme. Agent’s name is Hazel Matsue. I’ve been hired by several families of the Chang victims to make sure Rayme lives long enough to testify against Akane Chang. I’ll be in a position to surveil Matsue, at least.” Sophie gazed up and to the left, considering. “I could put DAVID to work on coming up with parallels between the cases that were leaked/breached. See if there are any patterns.”
“Good idea. I can send you a file with the witnesses lost that are likely a result of the RAT.”
“That would make my work easier. Why can’t you shut down the RAT?” A good programmer could deploy countermeasures that would disable such a virus, and Sophie was surprised that Connor hadn’t done so.
“I could. But then, the operator would know someone was onto him, and would find some other way to do business. This is perfect. You and I will work together to uncover the dirty agent, then we can eliminate the RAT.”
No. Sophie wasn’t partnering with Connor on anything. “My focus is narrow. I am concerned only with protecting my client.”
“I don’t believe that, Sophie. I saw photos of the Jones family’s massacre. You must want what happened to them to be stopped.”
Sophie frowned.
Connor was right. She saw the little Jones girl’s pecked-out eyes every time she thought of the case. She typed back rapidly. “Let’s begin here and see where this goes. I have a meeting with Matsue tomorrow at noon. I will ingratiate myself.”
“Darling Sophie, you are many things, but not ingratiating. Just be yourself. And if that fails and she won’t work with you, you can just work with me.”
He was right that she wasn’t good at ingratiating herself. People either liked her or they didn’t. “I will do that anyway, given my alleged lack of socialization.” Sophie paused. “Where are you?”
“Does it matter?”
“I would like to know if you are in Hawaii.” The FBI was still after the Ghost. She hadn’t expected that he would come back to the United States anytime soon, if ever.
“I’m in Thailand. Very interesting, your country of origin. Corruption is rife. I’m very busy.”
Her heart thundered. She placed a palm over it to still its galloping.
It couldn’t be a coincidence that her estranged mother, Pim Wat, had so recently contacted her with an outrageous proposal; the stated reason for that was that Thailand’s government was under attack via technology. Was Connor involved? Would working for her mother’s clandestine organization, the Yām Khûmkạn, pit her against the Ghost?
She still needed to contact her ambassador father, Frank Smithson, and his Secret Service agent, Ellie Smith, about her mother’s spying.
“I will proceed with caution and get back to you soon. Hopefully we can identify the security breach quickly,” Sophie typed. She wasn’t about to let Connor know about her mother’s bizarre visit and proposal about joining the secret group.
“And then we’ll plug the leak. Permanently,” the Ghost typed back. “We’ll do what no one else can.”
He was appealing to her vanity, trying to paint them as a team. Sophie chose to ignore that baiting comment. “Thank you for taking the case,” Sophie typed. “I have always understood the reason why you do what you do.”
“Anything for you, Sophie.”
“Don’t. Just don’t, Connor.” All the confusion Sophie was feeling about the men in her life rose up in a rush of resentment. “You had your chance with me, and you blew it up. Literally. Take this case because it’s the right thing to do. No other reason.”
“I do what I want, for whom I want, when I want. It’s called freedom, and it’s a rare elixir few can afford. Goodbye, Sophie.”
The green cursor chat box winked out.
Chapter Six
Alika faced Sophie from across a heavily lacquered wooden table in a little breakfast café in Hilo. The ambiance of a busy restaurant swirled around them: the chatter of customers, the smell of coffee brewing, the clash of dishes in the back.
Sophie doused her Lipton tea bag in a thick china cup. Alika tried not to be obvious about staring at her, but it was hard. He was starved to see her, touch her, know everything about what she’d been through since he dropped her off for her hike just a few weeks ago.
Sophie was on the thin side of what looked best on her—every muscle tightly defined and her cheekbones hollow. The scar on her face seemed to have settled into whatever it was going to be; the vivid red line was fading, and the color change of the skin graft had become less noticeable as it healed and she got sun exposure on the new skin.
She was still too beautiful for her own good.
A little twist of disgust tightened Sophie’s full lips, the expression of a dedicated tea drinker faced with an inferior beverage. He smiled as she dipped the tea bag repeatedly. “I’m glad you could make the time to see me.”
She smiled back. “I will always make time to see you, Alika.”
That didn’t make his pulse pick up at all. “You said you had a pretty eventful case recently. And it’s continuing.”
“Correct. I had a week to do some sightseeing with my partner Jake when phase one of the case wrapped, but then I was retained again. Now I’m providing security for an endangered witness.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
Sophie shrugged. “The Witness Protection Program is carrying most of the responsibility.”
“So, what’s today like?” Alika didn’t want to push his luck. She had been distant on the phone during the last few weeks; in fact, ever since he had dropped her off on the black lava plain of Kalapana after their Kaua`i adventure, he’d felt her drifting away.
“I’m free until about noon. That’s why I could meet with you. I am having lunch with the U.S. Marshal working my case later, but if you wanted to take a run from here up to Rainbow Falls, I’ve always wanted to see it and haven’t had a chance to go.”
Their breakfast arrived, and Alika grinned at the giant spread of eggs, fried rice, Portuguese sausage and pineapple slices. He gestured with his chin to Sophie’s loaded plate. “We’re going to be moving slowly after this crazy pile of food.”
“Fine with me. I’ve been burning the candle at both ends lately
, as they say.” Sophie picked up her fork and dug in.
He sneaked another glance. She needed the calories. “You’re looking good, Sophie.”
“I am not. I haven’t been caring for myself. But I appreciate the compliment.”
“You’re just a little raggedy around the edges. I hope you’re planning to change that. Or I might have to come over here and keep an eye on you.” He spoke jokingly, but Sophie’s eyes widened with alarm.
“I am not ready to be in a relationship right now. I told Jake the same thing.”
Jake. That testosterone-driven asshole with his over-the-top Special Forces stories. The dude probably spent the whole two weeks he’d been working with Sophie trying to get her into bed.
“So you had that talk with Jake, did you?” Alika shook salt onto his eggs for something to do.
“I think Jake is in love with me. It’s very confusing.” Sophie continued to shovel in her breakfast.
Alika froze, his fork poised. Trust Sophie to say something so unvarnished and real. “Confusing? In what way?” Alika took a bite and made himself chew. He kept his eyes down so he didn’t reveal too much and spook her.
“Confusing. Because I have feelings. For both of you.” Sophie had finished half of her breakfast. She set down her fork and looked him in the eye as she picked up her mug of tea. “I care too much to lie to you, Alika. Jake and I got physically involved during our case. But he wanted more than that, and I didn’t. So that ended.”
Alika’s gut tightened so abruptly that he felt queasy. She had slept with Jake. And as much as Sophie meant to him, as he hoped that she cared for him too, they’d never been together that way. He’d never had more than a few kisses in all the years they’d spent together.
“Wow.” Alika set down his fork and picked up his coffee mug, wrapping both hands around it. The sight of his brown-skinned fingers against the white mug and the warmth of the china seeping into his flesh stabilized him. “Well. I’m not going to lie. Hearing that sucks, because I was hoping we were headed toward being together after our case on Kaua`i.”
“I’m sorry to hurt you.” Sophie’s honey-brown eyes were wide and earnest. “I am trying to be as honest and straightforward as I can. I care for you greatly. It is different from how I care for Jake. And for…” She bit her lips, stifling something she was about to say. She looked down at her fingers wrapped around her own mug. “We can be together, but only if you accept that this is where I am right now in my life. I don’t know where I will be, physically or emotionally, even next week. If you can accept that there are secrets and things I can’t tell you, and if you can accept that you are not the only man I care for…then we can be together, to the degree that leaves us.”
The pain took a moment to register, like a blow to the solar plexus when landed by a good opponent: the recipient was paralyzed for a moment, the air blasted out of him, his body sending a signal that a severe disruption had occurred that the brain couldn’t yet interpret.
Alika stood abruptly. He pulled out his wallet and threw several twenties onto the table. “You made no promises. I made no promises. We broke up. But that’s a hell of a lot of ‘ifs’ in one sentence.”
“You don’t have to answer right away.” Sophie hadn’t moved. Her eyes looked soft, pleading. “You can think about it and get back to me.”
“I need some fresh air. If I’m still outside when you finish your breakfast, we can run to the falls together.” Alika spun and walked out.
The glass door tinkled as he exited the building. He walked blindly to the end of the café and turned, striding around it into the narrow graveled alley behind the restaurant. Once out of sight of the busy street, Alika cursed, coloring the air with every foul word he’d learned in a lifetime. He kicked the big green dumpster behind the bistro a couple of times, shadow-punching the air; wishing he could punch Jake, and her ex-husband, and that boyfriend she’d had who’d died. Damn them all to hell for messing her up further.
Immediate frustration discharged; grateful he had not attracted any attention, Alika went into one of his martial arts routines.
When in doubt, work it out. One of his favorite coaching sayings.
The discipline of the choreographed movements, the challenging nature of the spins, kicks and turns grounded Alika, calmed him. He wasn’t in control of much—but he would manage himself, and that was enough.
When he had completed that round, he began another one.
Alika spotted Sophie out of the corner of his eye. She’d walked into the alley, her dog at her side. She was leaning against the corner of the diner, watching him.
She had not accepted that he was gone. She had come looking for him.
New energy flowed into Alika as he completed the tae kwon do sequence, ending it with a showy roundhouse kick and spin combo. Catching his breath, he closed his eyes and folded his hands. He bowed in her direction.
He opened his eyes.
Sophie stood straight as a slender coconut palm, hands loose at her sides but for the one grasping Ginger’s leash. Her eyes were suspiciously shiny, but all she said was, “Do you still want to take a run to Rainbow Falls?”
“I’ll take what I can get,” he said, and walked toward her.
Chapter Seven
Sophie ran beside Alika through the residential warren of streets on the inland side of Hilo, keeping her breath as even as possible, though her former coach set a blistering pace. Ginger was beginning to lag when they arrived at the Rainbow Falls parking lot, filled with rental cars and parked tourist buses. Close to Hilo, spectacular Rainbow Falls was a popular destination because it was near the town and accessible to even the most handicapped visitors.
Sophie followed Alika as they jogged around the milling crowds to the furthest overlook area, a concrete platform between two huge mango trees. She bent over at the waist, her hands on her knees, trying to calm nausea brought on by eating a heavy breakfast and running hard shortly afterward.
“We can walk on the way back.” Alika wasn’t nearly as winded as she was, even after his vigorous routine in the alley behind the restaurant. His warm brown skin gleamed in the sleeveless shirt he wore as he leaned his elbows on the barrier, gazing at the falls. Sophie’s gaze traced the contours of his arms, banded by Polynesian tribal tattoos in triangular patterns.
Sophie turned and rested her arms on the cool metal railing. The scene gradually soothed Sophie and slowed her heart rate. Water gushed over the high rim of a cliff, cascading with a roar to fall eighty feet into a deep, round pool. Heliconia, ti leaf and various other tropical plantings rimmed the area in pleasing array. A rainbow glowed at the foaming base of the cascade.
She pointed. “I see why the falls has that name.”
Alika nodded. “Classic scene. We have some beauties like this on Kaua`i, too, but not so close to a city as this. No wonder the tourists love it.”
After the intensity of the conversation in the restaurant, just finding their way to some normal interaction felt good.
Sophie had exited the diner after finishing her breakfast to discover Alika had disappeared. She shivered a little, remembering the shock of pain she’d felt at seeing the sidewalk empty. She’d walked to the Jeep she’d leased. Inside, Ginger whined and scratched at the window. Sophie had decided she would walk the dog and try to work the tension out of her own muscles—and maybe she’d find Alika somehow. She’d leashed the Lab, and Ginger towed Sophie straight into the alley.
The sight of Alika whirling, punching and kicking through one of his martial arts routines had stopped her in her tracks.
Alika was a beautiful man inside and out. The devastating attack more than a year ago had left him in a coma with broken bones; but, after months of rehab and working with a special trainer, he had reclaimed power and grace. She could watch the way the sun gleamed on his muscles as he moved all day long. Knowing how hard he’d worked and how much he’d lost because of her ex-husband’s insane jealousy made witnessing the strength he’d r
egained even sweeter.
Challenging as this situation was to navigate, she couldn’t have lived with lying to him about her involvement with Jake, or her decision to stay unattached.
After taking in the Rainbow Falls scene for a few minutes more, and refreshing with some water, they turned and headed back toward town at a leisurely pace.
Sophie’s stomach was finally settling after the exertion of the run and the large meal. Alika’s hand swung loose beside her, and she reached out to hook a forefinger around his, not quite holding his hand, but touching and connected nonetheless. “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
“Better than being lied to, even by omission.” Alika’s warm brown eyes were steady. He was always steady. Even when he was hurting, he would never direct that hurt at her. “Tell me straight if it’s worth my time staying a few extra days on island so we can spend some time together.”
“I would love that. But I’m working. We will have to see each other when we can fit it in.” She laced her fingers with his, happy that he’d allowed the small contact.
“I’m working too—hunting for wood.” Alika described the reason he had come to the Big Island. It was difficult to locate enough of the rare native koa hardwood he wanted for the finishing touches he had planned for a series of exclusive bungalows.
Listening to his building business challenges was a refreshing contrast to the kinds of things Sophie was dealing with. She enjoyed the mellow sound of his voice, the lilt of pidgin in the background of his speech as he told her about the underground network needed to find enough of the right wood. “It’s always a guy who knows a guy who had a tree fall on his land,” Alika said. “So I end up going out to these interesting places and haggling with people for cash.”
“But you don’t harvest the wood? There’s no lumberyard that specializes in it or a place that grows it?”
“Yes, you can buy it at the lumberyard. But it’s thirty to sixty dollars a board foot, and they don’t usually have enough. Koa is protected, so the only wood available is from natural deadfalls. It’s a hardwood, so trees take twenty-five or more years to grow to a decent size. The wood’s a limited resource, and only getting scarcer.”
