Break Me (Corrupted Hearts Book 2)

by Tiffany Snow

  We’d been walking down the nearest aisle and I glanced up to see the miles of cable going into the ceiling. Air brushed my face, a constant current, and the chill in the air made the hairs stand up on my arms.

  Lu finally turned into another hallway that led to a room that was so reminiscent of the Vigilance control center, it was eerie.

  “Surprised?” Lu asked with a smile. He leaned closer. “I have extremely good sources.”

  I felt too small in the cavernous room, and I was the only female. All the workers—and there were about a dozen of them—were clad identically in white jumpsuits. Several eyes glanced my way, but no one approached at first. Then I saw a man who was dressed differently catch Lu’s eye and begin walking toward us. He wore black slacks and a white button-down shirt.

  When he reached us, he executed a smart bow at Lu and greeted him in Chinese. Lu’s reply was genial, though his bow wasn’t as crisp or as deep.

  “China, may I introduce Zhang? He’ll be hosting my next . . . demonstration.”

  “This way, please,” Zhang said. His face showed zero interest or emotion, just an automaton doing as he was told.

  We followed him into an office similar to my own, with eight screens lining one wall. I glanced at them with interest . . . and felt my stomach drop to my feet.

  Granny was on all of them. She was in her duplex, puttering around the kitchen. In the senior center, chatting with a group of friends. Watching television with her feet up and holding a bottle of her favorite beer. Laughing while holding a hand of cards. Reading one of the hundreds of Harlequins I’d sent her.

  Tears sprang to my eyes as realization set in. I swallowed hard, but my throat was dry.

  “What are you doing?” I managed to ask, my voice only just above a whisper.

  “Surely a woman of your intellect doesn’t need an answer to that question,” Lu said. He clasped his hands behind his back and managed to look both disdainful and sympathetic. “I know how very important your . . . Granny . . . is to you. Didn’t you just rush to her aid when she had a mild heart attack? I must say, I was very impressed with your devotion.”

  Oh God. I’d led Lu right to her. The blood left my head in a rush and I stumbled. Lu grabbed my arm, keeping me upright, but I jerked away as my vision cleared.

  “Don’t touch me,” I gritted out.

  “I understand the feminine temperament is fragile,” he said. “Do let me know if you need to sit down. I’m sure we can accommodate you.”

  His false sincerity was insulting, and meant to be such, I had no doubt.

  “I’m fine. What do you want with my grandmother?”

  “It’s very simple, but I’ve found simple is really the most effective. So long as you work for us, do as I say, your beloved Granny is free to live her life to the fullest. However, you refuse to do what’s requested of you, Granny will be the one to suffer.

  “Of course we’ll have to take it easy at first,” he continued. “We wouldn’t want her frail heart to give out too soon. You’ll have a front-row seat, of course. Perhaps even get to speak to her, so you can tell her exactly how you are the one responsible for putting her through pain and misery.”

  “She’s an old lady who’s never hurt a soul. Why would you do such a thing? You can hurt me, not her.” I couldn’t even begin to imagine my grandma being put through any kind of pain at the hands of this bastard.

  “Quite easily. You see, you are much more valuable to me than she is, and she is valuable to you. It’s all a matter of leverage, a concept I’m sure you’re familiar with, I have no doubt.”

  I decided to try a different tack. “You realize my disappearance isn’t going to just go unnoticed. I’m pretty damn important. They’re going to look for me and eventually they’ll tie you to me. Your bank accounts will be frozen, your assets seized, you may even lose your company.”

  He laughed—actually laughed—at me.

  “Americans are such idealists. Truly, if it wasn’t so much to my benefit, I’d feel sorry for you.” He stepped closer until he was in my space. I fought the urge to step back. “How do you think I found out about you in the first place?”

  My mind didn’t want to put that two and two together, but I had no choice. “The mole,” I said. “The mole in the NSA. They work for you.”

  “The NSA, you say? Hmm. I’m glad that’s what you think. But to get to my point . . . no one is coming to look for you, China. You’ve been sold out. Even someone as valuable to your government as you is ultimately expendable.”

  If my lungs weren’t automatically made to inflate, receiving signals from my brain stem so that I kept breathing, the shock I felt would’ve stopped everything. I was amazed it didn’t. What Lu said couldn’t possibly be true. He was lying. He had to be. It was the oldest trick in the book. Take away my hope. Without hope, what point was there in not cooperating and making things as easy on myself as possible?

  I had to buy time. Surely that was it. Gammin would be calling in the cavalry any day.

  And they’d attack China to save me?

  The truth was plain to see, but I didn’t want to.

  “I need some time,” I said. “And giving me something I can actually eat would be nice. Starving me to death isn’t part of your plan, is it? Because I really don’t work well on an empty stomach.”

  “Of course. Some food and rest will no doubt help you see things more clearly.”

  I cast one last look at my granny, who had no idea she had been spied on or was being spied on. All because of me. Just like when Mia had been threatened. I was toxic to those I loved. How long before I was responsible for someone’s death?

  Lu didn’t take me back; he summoned two other guys to do it, one in front and one behind me. They were both just as big as the earlier guards. I had no chance of overpowering them or getting away. The place was a labyrinth and I knew I’d only seen a fraction of it.

  What I did notice was the badges they scanned to open all the locked doors. They wore them attached to their chests and they had fractal codes imprinted on the front.

  They deposited me in my room without a fuss and left, but I wasn’t about to go to sleep.

  I searched the room again, now with different goals in mind. And this time, I didn’t come up empty-handed.

  20

  “This is taking too long,” Jackson complained. “It’s been four days, and we’re nowhere near closer to finding her than we were before.”

  “We’ve narrowed it down to the South China Sea,” Clark replied. “There are hundreds of islands and man-made islands there. It takes time, even with satellites.”

  “I’ve given you over five million dollars to get information, and you’ve got it narrowed down to three and a half million square miles. Awesome job.”

  Clark bit back the sharp reply. Jackson was used to getting results fast, and if he couldn’t get results from someone else, he’d do it himself. But in this situation, he was powerless, which was why he was currently pacing Clark’s office in Vigilance.

  Clark hadn’t wanted to let him in, but there was no reason not to anymore. He was the one who’d written the algorithm that was the heart of Vigilance. He knew of the program’s existence. He might as well plant his ass in a chair and help find China, which was currently what everyone there was doing.

  “How are Granny and Mia?” Clark asked.

  “They’re enjoying an unexpected vacation to my chalet in Vail. With an abundance of security.”

  At least that was one less thing to worry about, Clark thought. Money had its uses.

  Roscoe suddenly burst into the office. “I’ve got a lead,” he blurted, breathless. The man looked like he hadn’t slept in days, which was how he usually looked, but today he had an added manic gleam in his eye that bespoke sleepless nights and a fervent obsession. “Here.” He slapped a satellite image down on Clark’s desk. Jackson was there in an instant, looking over his shoulder.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s a
man-made island near the Spratly Islands,” Roscoe said. “But rather than an airstrip, they built a port. Two days ago, a cargo ship docked there. It unloaded minimal cargo, then left.”

  “Why do you think that’s where she is?” Jackson asked.

  “Because we’ve been tracing this ship through the webs of ownership ties. It goes through a shitload of government agencies and finally ends with Wang Heu, second cousin to the president of the PRC.”

  “And?”

  “And his brother-in-law is Lu.”

  Jackpot.

  “Good work,” Clark said. “I take it you’ve got coordinates and intel for me?”

  “Already uploaded.” Roscoe shifted from one foot to another. “So . . . are you going to go get her?”

  Clark glanced up from the photo. “You bet your ass, I am.”

  Roscoe grinned, relief crossing his face. “Good luck,” he said, and left the office.

  “I’m coming, too,” Jackson said.

  Clark sighed. He should’ve known lover boy wasn’t going to be left behind. A pang of something too close to jealousy twinged in the center of his chest, but he ignored it.

  “Fine. But bring your checkbook. What the Chinese lack in loyalty, they make up for in their love for the almighty dollar.”

  It took another six excruciating hours to gather more satellite photos of the island and get the equipment and people Clark needed to do what shouldn’t be done. Gammin had made that abundantly clear via teleconference when he’d been told China’s location.

  “We cannot jeopardize relations with the Chinese right now,” Gammin argued. “The trade deal is still on the table and the Treasury Department is pushing hard to be able to sanction companies engaged in theft of intellectual property. We cannot accuse them of abducting an American citizen.”

  “But that’s exactly what they did,” Clark retorted. “Your leak that we still haven’t found despite months of trying told him all about her, including how to find her. We owe it to her not to leave her hanging.”

  “She understood the risks when she took the job.”

  “Did she?” Clark asked, struggling to keep a grip on his anger. “Did she know she’d become a target for hostile foreign governments? Because I bet she just thought she was doing a service to her country, a job no one else wanted or was qualified to do.”

  Gammin said nothing.

  Clark moved closer to the screen on his office wall where Gammin was doing his best impression of a poker face.

  “Do you have any idea what could happen to her? If she doesn’t cooperate? Or if she does cooperate, but then outlives her usefulness? Have you ever seen a Chinese labor camp? Or one of their prisons? She wouldn’t last a week. This is what you’re consigning her to.”

  “The US Consulate will be able to help her—”

  “The US Consulate doesn’t know of her existence!” His anger and frustration was near to boiling over and Clark was bitterly reminded of why he’d gone freelance in the first place. Fucking politicians. They wanted you to put your life on the line for them, but when the chips were down, they’d sell you out in a second to save their own worthless skin.

  “You do not have authorization to conduct any operation on Chinese soil,” Gammin said. “Is that clear?”

  They glared at each other in an unspoken war of wills.

  “Yes. Perfectly clear,” Clark bit out.

  The transmission cut off with nothing further from Gammin. Not that it was a big loss. Spineless political hack.

  Of course, that hadn’t stopped Clark from putting together a team and plan to rescue his partner. The ramifications if he didn’t succeed wouldn’t be pretty, and probably were also grim if he did. Not that he cared—he could take care of himself. But he felt he had to be up front with Coop.

  “Listen, this is not going to be a sanctioned op,” he said to Jackson as he checked his weapons and ammunition. “The guys going with me are all ex-military and trained for this sort of thing. They still do it for a number of reasons, money being the primary one—they have to make a living somehow. Some also do it for the adrenaline, others because it’s just who they are. They’re warriors, soldiers, and that’s all they know how to be.”

  “So what are you saying?” Jackson asked, watching him strap a pistol to his ankle.

  “I’m saying, if we get caught, no one’s coming to rescue the rescuers.”

  “What about the people in charge of this place? They don’t want to get China back?”

  “Gammin says no.”

  Clark’s phone buzzed and he glanced at the screen. “Time to go, Coop. Last chance to sit this one out. I can’t promise your safe return.”

  “I didn’t ask you to.”

  Jackson felt like a fish out of water as he sat on the speeding boat among eight other men, all dressed in fatigues and armed to the teeth. All he’d been able to do was provide the money to hire the transport to get them this far. Clark’s contacts had provided the equipment and the boat. They’d given him a Kevlar vest and a set of fatigues, as well as a pistol.

  “Just don’t point it at any of us,” Clark had said. Jackson had bit back a smartass retort. He didn’t want to piss off the man who was risking his life to rescue China.

  But what he could do was get into Lu’s system and help the team find China. Hopefully.

  He checked his satellite uplink and toggled the screen. Kuan. You there?

  The reply was quick. Yep. Their network security perimeter is a rip-off of Cisco’s latest. And not ripped off very well. That’s the problem with these bloodsuckers. They don’t understand the shit they steal.

  Preach to the choir later. What did you find?

  An image appeared on the screen and with a toggle of a switch, Jackson sent it to the tablets each of the men in the boat was holding.

  “Building schematic,” he called out so they all could hear him.

  Did you find where China’s being held? he typed.

  Working on it.

  Patch me in. Two’s better than one. He waited for the link, then connected through Kuan.

  Done.

  Clark was busy talking to the men and drawing on the screen, which appeared simultaneously on all the other tablets. It was a bunch of military-speak, assignments, and planning. Jackson listened with half an ear as he worked. Clark had been less than forthcoming about their exit strategy, especially if they were detected. His actual words had been, “If they chase us in the middle of the South China Sea, we’re totally fucked.” So Jackson thought he’d better have a backup plan. Just in case.

  When they were two miles out, the boat slowed and stopped. Nerves attacked Jackson’s gut, but he steeled himself. Considering what China was going through, this was nothing. By now, she probably believed no help was coming.

  “This is where we part ways, Coop,” Clark said. “We need you and the hacker buddy controlling the tech. That diversion needs to happen so their quick response force is occupied. That’ll give us the opportunity to get in.”

  “Got it.”

  “And don’t forget the doors.”

  “I said I got it.”

  Clark hesitated, then added, “We’ll get her, Coop. I promise.”

  Their gazes met and held. Jackson gave a slight nod. He’d harbored suspicions that Clark wasn’t as indifferent to China as he pretended. But whether those were ties of loyalty to a colleague and partner . . . or something more . . . he didn’t know. And right now, he didn’t give a damn. Just so he cared enough to get China back.

  “We’ll radio when we’re in position.”

  Jackson watched as the men piled into two black rubber boats. They were silent, no further talking among themselves. They had enough weaponry and ammunition on them to take down a small town. In this case, he just hoped it was enough to rescue the woman he loved.

  The island was built on a natural reef in the sea, and as they drew closer, they heard an alarm sound. Clark stiffened, waiting. The waves slapped against the side of the
boat. The men watched him, waiting for the word to either continue . . . or abort.

  Lights went on at the port and there was a flurry of activity. As Coop had promised, the fake alarm drew away the security force in the opposite direction. There would still be some left, but they could be handled.

  Normally, an op like this would require weeks of planning, training, and rehearsal. They didn’t have that kind of time. Luckily, they’d worked together a lot, knew each other’s moods and body language. And their training was impeccable. But even with all of that, it might not be enough. Clark hoped luck would be on their side.

  They were abnormally silent as they disembarked and stowed the boats. The schematic Coop had given them said there was an entrance on the southwest side of the compound, though “compound” seemed inadequate to describe the size and complexity of the facility. It was a behemoth, with most of it underground.

  Clark took point, deliberately setting aside his worry for China and his trepidation about doing an op with no rehearsal. Emotions didn’t help at this point, they only hindered. Achieve the objective, neutralize any threats, retrieve the package, extract safely—all without alerting the whole facility to their presence. Piece of cake.

  Right.

  Coop and his buddy were as good as their word because the door was unlocked when they got there. From the schematic, they were entering the part of the facility most likely to have living quarters. It made sense. This far out from the mainland, it wasn’t as though the employees could commute.

  There was a bit of static in Clark’s ear, then he heard Coop’s voice. “The tech inside is state of the art, which worked in our favor. They keep track of their employees via facial recognition. There’s only one person there listed as Unknown.”

  China.

  Clark sent back one click of his mic. Message received.

  “Third sublevel, sixth corridor on the right, fourth room on the left.”

  He sent another click and Coop went silent.

  Two men peeled off to watch their exit route, leaving six. The corridor was deserted . . . and hot. At least eighty-five degrees. Fifty more feet with no interference. Clark hoped their luck held.