Hidden Impact

by Piper J. Drake

  Probably true. Li supplemented his translating engagements with temp work as a low-level administrative assistant. He had access to a lot of random information—the kind that wouldn’t be valuable unless it was pieced together by someone with a broader perspective—but not a lot of power to do anything with it.

  Gabe leaned harder on the back of Li’s seat. “Helped make a young woman disappear is what you did. What happened to her? Sold? You know what they do to pretty girls? You been making it into a new line of business? How many other people are you making disappear?”

  “Nothing like that, no no no.” Li broke and started babbling. Being implicated in human slave trade was too big a deal for an information broker like him. The slave trade business sucked a man in and didn’t let him back out alive. “She’s some sort of genius. She won’t be hurt. Not at all. They took her to do science for some big company. Cutting-edge stuff.”

  “Do science? That what they call it nowadays? And what if she won’t do the research they want? What if she doesn’t produce the results they’re looking for? You think about that? She’ll end up sold to make up the investment any way she can.” Because Gabe was thinking about it.

  “No, no.” Li actually squirmed in his seat. “The company is legit into research. They take the latest and greatest and apply it to military tech.”

  “You’re drinking the Kool-Aid, my friend.” Gabe figured he’d twisted the knife long enough. “Who arranged for this girl’s disappearance?”

  “I got no names. You know how I work, mostly emails and avatars. No real identities. People can be anyone on the internet.” Li dragged in a ragged breath, struggling to keep his voice down. “Only a couple people come find me in person.”

  A choice few.

  “Porter van Lumanee.” Gabe let the name drop like a rock.

  Li’s hands shook. “There’s a name. Dunno if it’s real. But he’s someone attached to your missing girl. He’s a chair on the programming committees for a few scientific conferences. He keeps an eye out for talent, scientists of interest to his sponsor. Other than that, he stays out of the messy activity. Probably doesn’t know more than me.”

  Gabe would pay the man a visit just to be sure.

  “Guy had some bad dumplings or something last trip,” Li continued. Best thing about informants, if you scared them enough they vomited their guts until you let them go. Kind of like sea cucumbers. “He’s back in the States but hospitalized for food poisoning. Could be a while before he’s up to returning to work.”

  Maybe Gabe wouldn’t be following that lead after all. Sounded like van Lumanee had outlived his usefulness. Maybe became too visible since he’d turned up on the police report as last to see An-mei. He’d have Marc check into the hospital records before any of them made the trip.

  “So. There’s a name you knew after all.” Gabe uttered a disappointed grunt. “I’m beginning to believe I can’t rely on your information anymore.”

  “Look, Diaz. I don’t want to cross you. I don’t.” Li dropped his forehead to his hand and muttered a few curses in Chinese. Funny, Maylin sounded a lot cuter when she cursed.

  “You might think whoever asked you to do these things is the scarier person,” Gabe crooned. “But you don’t want to be in a position to make either of us prove it.”

  “Look at it this way, man, it’s like a goddamned high school reunion. I don’t want to be in the middle of a battle of the exes.”

  Gabe sat back. Well, damn. “She’s nearby?”

  “Pops up out of nowhere. As bad as you.” Li was almost crying.

  “All right.” Gabe didn’t want the man dead, after all. “You keep on riding and you keep on doing what she tells you to do.”

  Li nodded.

  “But if you give me a heads-up on what you’ve been asked, I’d consider it a favor, between friends.” Gabe stood as the bus rolled to a stop. Didn’t matter where this was, so long as it wasn’t Li’s stop. And best if Gabe got off as soon as possible.

  A favor was a lot to give the man, but he was the best lead they had to An-mei.

  Gabe scanned the area as he left the bus. No watchers in the few shadows afforded by buildings and trees midafternoon.

  Pulling out his smartphone, he dialed up Marc.

  “Lykke,” Marc answered after three rings.

  “Diaz.” Gabe didn’t waste time with pleasantries. “Porter van Lumanee is in the hospital. Check to see if it’s worth it to try to have a talk with him.”

  “On it.” The sound of fingers tapping keys came across the phone. “Didn’t happen to get the name of the hospital, did you?”

  “He’s stateside, if that helps.” Gabe wasn’t worried. Marc would find the man. Besides, Gabe’s gut told him Porter van Lumanee was a dead end, possibly literally. Still, best to follow every lead. “Pull up the latest we have on Jewel’s activity too.”

  Silence. Then Marc cleared his voice. “She’s in this?”

  “Looks like.” Gabe wasn’t thrilled.

  “Van Lumanee’s a dead man, then.” Marc might grumble, but Jewel used to be one of their own. She wouldn’t leave loose strings. “I’ll see what I can get, stat.”

  “Thanks.”

  Marc wasn’t done yet. “If Jewel’s in this, will you be okay?”

  It was a fair question. Gabe and Jewel had been a thing. They’d burned hot in their time together. Damned bad idea. Most times, mercs could indulge and go their separate ways, no hard feelings. Not him and Jewel. She’d ended them by leaving the Centurions in the worst way possible. Having her back in the game wasn’t welcome news.

  In all fairness, Gabe should cede this mission to another fire team. Bias. Conflict of interest. All sorts of ways things could go wrong if his judgment was compromised. But he had a handle on this and a clear head when it came to Jewel. He was sure of it.

  “For now, yeah.” Gabe paused, then added, “We’ll play it by ear for now and I’ll step back if things get complicated.”

  “Roger that.” No questioning. They’d all learned to trust each other that way. And if there was any indication Gabe wasn’t acting in the best interest of the mission and the team, Marc would let him know. The team was tight. “Porter van Lumanee was admitted to the Centinela Hospital Medical Center on arrival at LAX with a serious case of food poisoning. He was unconscious on arrival and in critical condition under the care of a Doctor Becker. He’s been on intravenous fluids but hasn’t come to yet. Apparently it hit him in flight and there wasn’t a lot they could do for him until they landed.”

  Marc was fast.

  “Vic and I will head out to see if we can get access to him. If he wakes up.” Marc sounded dubious. “If you read between the lines, the prognosis isn’t good. Doctor mentions it’s the most serious case of straight up food poisoning he’s encountered. They’re looking for some sort of allergen or other slow-acting contributor to the issue.”

  Gabe scowled. “If the guy had a peanut allergy, wouldn’t it hit right away?”

  “Anaphylactic shock is the most dramatic, but according to Google, there’s slower ways for allergies to present themselves. If it hit on digestion, it could explain why it took longer to show up.” And Marc’s Google-fu was near Jedi level.

  If it was food poisoning due to something he actually ate. None of his team specialized in poisoning and neither did Jewel—they all preferred more directs means of confronting a person—but they’d worked with others who had. Jewel knew those names as well as Gabe did. Easy to induce the food reaction, and it looked completely natural. Travelers suffered from food poisoning all the time.

  Course, if it had been a natural reaction to something the guy ate, it was very interesting timing.

  No way for his team to know for sure right now.

  “All right. Keep me posted. We want to know what this guy has t
o do with things.”

  “Roger that.” Ending the call, Gabe decided to address next steps.

  He’d dropped Maylin off at the front of the embassy, waiting for her to enter safely. Not likely to be much danger for her there, with all of the surveillance on property. Plus Gabe assumed whoever was tracking her had their attention on her phone, back at Centurion Corporation outside Seattle. Especially with Marc simulating normal activity on the phone, logging into email and apps as well as running predictable web searches.

  But his ex was particularly good at remembering faces and recognizing family resemblance. If she was in the middle of all this, the embassy didn’t seem so safe anymore.

  Chapter Ten

  “I haven’t technically left the embassy.” And Gabe wasn’t there to hear her mumbled defense anyway. Nope. A good thing too. Maylin stood just in front of the entranceway, still on the embassy grounds, with the late afternoon breeze clearing away some of the embarrassment and frustration she’d built up over the course of the afternoon.

  Hours of wasted time.

  Oh, it wasn’t the cool reception when she’d first entered that bothered her. She’d been an entrepreneur for too many years to be intimidated by the formalities and the initial insistence that she make an appointment with some unspecified official who likely would be out of office anyway. She could and did handle those obstacles. The consultant badge associating her with the Centurion Corporation private military organization helped get her past the more difficult barriers when she might not otherwise have been able to as a random visitor. Subject Matter Expert had a much more valid ring to it than Desperate Client Who Almost Became Road Pizza.

  And it wasn’t the patronizing attitude either. It would be politically incorrect to claim it was cultural. But it would also be ignoring reality to claim there wasn’t a social structure at the embassy, and she came in at the low end of the pecking order as a supplicant, consultant or not. It’d been a childhood survival skill to keep her frustration under control when her parents’ Chinese friends made social events a complex dance of backhanded compliments and thinly veiled verbal barbs. Besides, if she took a step back and observed objectively, every culture had a flavor of it. It was just the way they did it. Human nature, maybe.

  It was what had happened once she’d found someone to help her. When they’d genuinely tried to run searches and couldn’t find any record of her emailed inquiries or phone messages. When they had no record of her little sister’s visa.

  When they’d asked her if she was sure her little sister had gone to China at all.

  To her shame, she’d been so incredibly frustrated and angry, tears had threatened. She had to step outside to calm herself despite Gabe’s warning to stay inside the embassy. It would damage any small respect she’d gained if they saw her cry, and stepping away at all was an acknowledgment of her lack of composure. And that, in itself, would set her back hours.

  Time wouldn’t turn back, and she needed to get back to the person trying to help her before the nice man left for the day and she’d have to start her story all over again, going through the same searches. She pulled out her temporary phone to check her messages. For one thing, Gabe might have texted her. For another, it would give her a reason for having gone outside since there was no reception inside the building. She’d be able to save face to some extent.

  “Excuse me.”

  The unaccented, American voice was so close, Maylin jumped.

  A blonde woman stood within inches, tipping her head to one side with a soft smile. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. I couldn’t help overhearing you inside.”

  Interesting. Maylin forced her brow to remain smooth, her lips to shape a return smile. The woman hadn’t been anywhere in sight as far as Maylin had noticed.

  “I’m afraid the aide had to leave for the day and the embassy will be closing soon.”

  Oh no. Ice washed through Maylin’s body and her smile froze on her face. She never should have left. Now she’d have to start all over again tomorrow.

  “Perhaps you could tell me more about your little sister?” The woman was tall, leaning too close into Maylin’s personal space. Her gaze was sharp and her smile reminded Maylin of a Cheshire cat. “I’ve worked in DC for years now and maybe I have a few connections who could be of help. Missing persons cases are difficult, otherwise, and I’m sure you’ve been running into a lot of red tape.”

  Every internal alarm went off inside Maylin’s head. The woman had too much information for absolutely no good reason.

  “Depends on your definition of help.” Gabe’s voice flowed through Maylin, washing away the tension. She wasn’t alone with this stranger who knew too many things.

  The woman stepped past Maylin in a smooth motion, the intensity of her focus completely transferred to Gabe where he stood outside the embassy gates. Without waiting for any signal, Maylin strode directly past the woman to join him. Might have been wiser to circle around the stranger, but what would she do on embassy grounds in broad daylight? Another place with less light and Maylin might have been more cautious. But for the time being, she was done losing face.

  Once Maylin reached him, Gabe’s gaze flicked over her in a lightning assessment before fastening on the woman following her. “What brings you here, Jewel?”

  Jewel halted on the sidewalk outside the gate, facing them both. She and Gabe squared off, maintaining several yards between them.

  “Gabriel.” Sensuality oozed out of every pore and her posture became fluid, feline, an invitation. “It’s been a while. Have you been taking good care of yourself?”

  Why did the question sound more like an innuendo than a courtesy? Maylin tried to ignore the twist in her stomach.

  “Why are you here?” More bite to Gabe’s question this time.

  Good. Maylin kept her own expression neutral. This was one of those times where she’d follow his lead but wouldn’t spare a moment’s guilt for slamming him with questions after they were alone. Timing and all that.

  “I’ve got a job to do, obviously.” The woman, Jewel, leaned her hand on her hip. “You being here makes things a little more complicated than expected. Of course, I’m sure we could come to an understanding of some sort.”

  “I’m not too fond of your assumption.” Gabe’s body language was aggressive and chilling at the same time. From the cold, flat look in his eyes to the thin line of his lips to the straight set of his shoulders. Anyone leaving the embassy would see a few people talking, but Maylin was caught up in the tension between them. Gabe could explode at any moment and she planned to be ready to duck if he said so.

  Jewel still stood relaxed, with an almost lazy smile playing on her very red lips. “Well, I’m guessing you’re not quite as fond of me since last we met.”

  Gabe had been shifting forward in small movements until Maylin realized she was leaning to one side to see around him. How did he do that? With the embassy gates at her immediate left and Gabe between her and this Jewel person, Maylin glanced around them, figuring this was too public a place for Jewel to try anything truly dangerous. There were people on the street. Heck, more people were walking up and down the sidewalks than when she’d arrived earlier in the day. End of the workday, probably end of classes for many of the university students too. Rush hour, university campus style.

  “Where’s her sister?” Gabe’s question wrenched Maylin’s attention back to their discussion.

  Jewel widened her eyes and batted mascara-lengthened lashes. “What makes you think I know where she is?”

  Gabe jerked his chin up and down in a short, small motion. “You didn’t say you didn’t know.”

  Maylin wanted to reach out and shake Jewel, demand the woman spit out whatever it was she knew instead of playing games. Probably not the best idea. She balled her hands into fists at her sides instead.


  “Well, you are very good at reading body language, so I do my best not to lie to your face, Gabriel.” Jewel studied her nails.

  “But you’d put a bullet in my back.” Gabe spat the statement out and Jewel’s already pale skin turned a few shades chalkier. “Problem with a bullet when it doesn’t go through and through is someone could dig that bitch out and work forensics magic.”

  Any worries about jealousy were fading with that bit of information. Dislike for the woman was slowly burning into an active hatred. Jewel knew important things about An-mei and had hurt her man. Maylin was going to wipe the arrogant look off Jewel’s face someday.

  “You sure you didn’t lose too much blood in your last mission?” Jewel’s comment came out flippant, her composure recovered quick as anything.

  Too much hung in the air between the two and Maylin soaked it in, tried to commit every detail of the confrontation to memory. She was going to be thinking hard on it later.

  “You owe me,” Gabe growled. “Where is her sister?”

  “No.” The word dropped from Jewel’s mouth like a stone. “You owe me for not taking a head shot on that contract. Anyone else would’ve taken you out permanently rather than risk having you come after them, but the primary objective was specifically to disable the team and ensure the target didn’t make it out alive. I made a field decision and you’re alive because of it. Keep that in mind.” The Cheshire cat smile returned in the long beat of silence that followed. “Besides, your little friend here would find her sister far quicker with me. And she wouldn’t have to fly to the other side of the world on a wild goose chase, either.”

  It was tempting to run toward Jewel. Scream at her. Demand. But Maylin bit her lip and stayed right where she was. In this situation, Gabe had the lead. It was important. And acting on any impulse would likely land her right in whatever Jewel had in mind. Maylin was not going to give the woman the satisfaction.

  Without making a move, Gabe somehow loomed. His big, bad and dangerous unlocked without any visible effort on his part. “Walk away, Jewel. This is a Centurion Corporation job.”