by Pamela Clare
“What brings you to Los Angeles then?”
“For one thing, I’m looking for something that belongs to a client, according to him.”
He liked that about her. No bullshitting around what he did and who he knew. “Sounds like a threat.”
“Possibly. Your team brought three Koreans into the country.”
He made a noncommittal grunt.
“I’ve been asked to retrieve them.”
She shocked him with that. He asked, “You want to take them back to North Korea?”
“Bloody hell, no.” She looked appalled. “I wouldn’t do that to my worst enemy.”
“Who sent you for them?”
“Supposedly the country the physicists originally wanted to defect to.”
Maybe that’s why Pang was such a jerk. He didn’t like Americans. But he hadn’t asked to stay in Seoul when they’d arrived there.
China would have taken those two. Nick didn’t bring that up. Instead he pointed out, “The Koreans are gone.”
No one was giving him updates with him looped out on drugs, but if Tanner and the team had found the physicists, Nick felt certain Tanner, Dingo and Blade would be hanging out to tell him.
His visitor said, “I’ll hunt for the physicists, but I plan to have a talk with them before they go anywhere.”
“Understood, but I need both of those physicists, too. If you find them, I have to hand them over to the State Department then if they want to apply for asylum somewhere else they can.”
She pondered on that and nodded. “I might be able to make that work, but I’m taking the woman with me when I find her.”
From what Nick had seen during the trip home, Tanner wouldn’t go along with that if he ever located Jin again.
She said, “You’re thinking too hard.”
“One of our guys has an interest in the woman’s welfare.”
“Then he should be happy for her to end up somewhere she’ll be treated as a queen instead of landing in prison here. The group behind bringing the physicists into this country is sending professionals after her. A lot of people want this woman, or they want her dead. There’s also a two million dollar bounty on her head, but I’m not interested in that. I’ve picked up intel that if she doesn’t give herself up she’ll be considered a threat and your government will bury her so deep she’ll never see daylight again.”
That was entirely possible. “You said that was one thing that brought you to LA. What else?”
She leaned down close and he forgot all about intel. He wanted to pull her into bed and wake up junior again. When she was a breath away from his lips, she said, “The Koreans are headed to Ogallala for some reason, but I don’t know why or when. If you can come up with the why and when, I’ll go find them.”
Then she kissed him, just a quick touch of their lips, but enough for junior to start doing the hallelujah dance. She smiled and stood. “I’m looking forward to collecting on that debt.”
He grinned. “Not as much as I’m looking forward to paying it.”
“You have the number I gave you?”
“Memorized.” But until now he’d doubted that it was still valid.
“Call when you have anything.” She stepped toward the door.
“Hey,” he called out softly.
She turned back. “What?”
“You know I’m Nick. What do I call you? Still Talia?”
She studied on her answer for a bit, which he understood but she wouldn’t be here if she didn’t trust him to some degree. He thought she’d decided not to tell him when she said, “I’ll tell you … next time.”
Then she was gone.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Jin sat on the hotel bed with her legs crossed, giving all she had to look calm in the face of an angry Tanner.
He was still angry about her holding back information?
Well, so was she because she now had to gain a new agreement. As much as she’d wanted to strike out at Tanner—strike out at anyone for the mess she was in—once she calmed down and thought about it she could not in good conscience blame Tanner for losing her lead to Patty.
If Jin were being honest, her fear for what the Orion Hunters would do to Tanner was now almost as strong as her need to get to Patty. Almost. She could not blame Tanner for that, either.
Her stupid heart was her problem.
A shower had helped her get her head in a better place, and now she wore the extra T-shirt he’d bought her this morning with the same warm-up pants. The pants had dirt stains at the knees, but with no hope of finding her sister that was the least of her concerns. She’d used his comb on her wet hair, and left it unbound to air-dry.
Tanner dragged the office chair away from the desk and positioned himself to face her, arms crossed and jaw rigid. “My men will be here in a few minutes. It’s time to tell me everything you know about the attack that the Orion Hunters are planning.”
Dragging a handful of hair away from her face, she clasped her hands in her lap. She would not give up no matter what. “First, I need a new agreement.”
“I don’t think our agreements are working out so well. I stuck with my part of the bargain, but we don’t have a lead left to follow so I’m at the point of handing you off.”
She ran her tongue over her dry lips to buy a moment to think.
Tanner’s gaze tightened and zeroed in on her mouth.
Just that look was enough to send a shiver across her skin and it wasn’t fear. No, this was lust.
She’d never been subject to bouts of lust before, not after the way she’d been initiated into the Orion Hunters. They wanted no virgin females floating around that someone might place a value on.
There were other rules associated with this initiation such as wearing a condom so there was no chance of pregnancy or a disease transmitted by the woman, because of course, men were above such reproach. Jin hadn’t felt appreciative about the condom when she’d suffered through having her virginity destroyed with the same thought as tossing out an old shoe, but much later she was thankful to have been spared anything transmitted from the man.
That was another reason this attraction to Tanner was as unexpected as it was overpowering.
“Jin?”
“I will tell you everything I know about the attack if you promise not to discount it.”
“Why would I do that?”
“I fear you will not believe that what I have to tell you is truly dangerous for your country.”
“I’ll have to be the judge of that.”
“If I tell you, will you help me find my sister?”
He waved a hand to stop her. “We tried this your way and it didn’t work. Maybe if you’d told me everything about that doctor and what’s really going on, we would have planned it differently.”
“I accept responsibility for the doctor’s death,” she said past the lump in her throat.
Tanner unfolded his arms and sat forward, hands on his knees. He frowned, but his words were gentle. “Whoa. Those deaths today were not your fault. Not even the one you took out. That’s the result of terrorists with a goal. Work with us so no one else dies.”
“You cannot guarantee that.”
“No, I can’t.” He studied her, his gaze diving inside her to wander around and make her want things. “But I can guarantee more people will die if we don’t work together. You said yourself that one of them could be your sister.”
What was she supposed to do now?
Tanner sat patiently then finally said, “You trust me, don’t you?”
She held his gaze, searching for the answers in his eyes. He had kept her safe and brought her to the US just as he’d promised. He’d rushed toward her kidnapper who’d turned a loaded weapon on Tanner when Tanner could not shoot back because Jin was in the way.
Plus, he’d upheld his end of the agreement. She was the one to blame for not sharing all the information with him about the doctor. Her fear of trusting men had put her in this place.
He was right. She needed to tell them everything, because for all her bravado and threatening to share nothing if they locked her up, she would not allow innocent people to die.
She opened her mouth to answer him, but someone knocked at the door.
Tanner strode over and opened it for the medic called Blade and the Australian, Dingo.
Blade took the cushioned armchair in the corner by the desk and the Australian perched on the ottoman.
Once Tanner was seated again, he said to Jin, “From the beginning, tell us everything you know about this Project Jigu-X attack.”
“Nuclear, right?” Blade said.
Jin sat up straight and prepared to tell them about the project that had turned Pang into a star for the Orion Hunters. “To begin with, as I have said, there is no nuclear attack planned.”
Blade let out a loud sigh of relief. “Thank God.”
The Australian’s eyes narrowed.
Tanner sat in contemplative silence.
She continued, “Do not rush to thank anyone, because what I have to tell you is far worse than a nuclear attack.”
Now they were amused? Men.
Undaunted, she sent them each a scathing reprimand with her eyes. Once that wiped away their amusement, she said, “Pang and Har were working on Project Jigu-X, but it was not a nuclear program. That was an intentional misinformation leak. It was about seeding clouds.”
Blade sat up. “What? This is all about some harebrained plan to seed clouds for rain?”
She turned to Tanner. “See? I told you no one would believe me. Do not judge this until you know everything.”
Tanner gave her a nod of understanding. “I’m still listening.”
Dingo’s eyes judged her every word, but he said, “Go on.”
“Pang led the research team to develop a special seeding plan that would be spread by clouds and rain, not create that weather. Silver iodide is a compound used for seeding.” The nods she now got from all three men indicated they understood seeding so she moved on to the specific issue.
“Depending on how the silver iodide is used in the seeding, it can instigate different meteorological reactions. Pang perfected a chemical called Jigu-X that would bond to the silver iodide particles, but it has no loyalty. Once water touches the Jigu-X, the original powder composition unites with the water, forming a new chemical. The water causes a cannibalistic reaction. By the time one drop of water with Jigu-X hits the ground, the Jigu-X causes the drop to double several times in size. It is now equal to a teaspoon of liquid. That teaspoon of liquid will separate into thousands of tiny particles, making it easy to disperse.”
Blade said, “Now that we’ve had your chemistry lesson, what’s the bottom line?”
Impatient man. She faced Tanner to gauge his reaction first. He still listened, so she continued.
“The Jigu-X is highly toxic. One particle the size of a grain of sand can kill a dog if ingested, but it takes about three days. Washing a dog in water infected with Jigu-X causes first the fur to fall out, then the skin to begin peeling off until the chemical reaches an organ and destroys the animal. Once this is in your water tables, the damage is not reversible.”
“Holy mother of—” Tanner muttered. “This is worse than a nuclear attack.”
“How do you see that?” Blade challenged Tanner’s words, but his eyes never left Jin. She met his gaze and held hers steady. This was a smart man. He was testing her. Baiting her to see if she had her story straight.
Jin said, “Our world has recovered and rebuilt from nuclear devastation. How do you repair a damaged water source where the water is dangerous whether you drink it or wash your hands in it and there is no way to purify this water?”
The Australian scrubbed his hands over his face then ran his fingers across his hair. “Where do they plan to do this seeding?”
“That I do not know. I was only privy to their work because my labs were nearby and I was being used to send and pick up messages.”
Tanner stretched his legs and leaned back, staring at the ceiling, but he spoke to her. “Why did you say the attack could be as soon as two days? Why not now or tomorrow?”
“Pang has to have time to replicate the formula and create enough Jigu-X for the seeding. I saw only the documentation of results.” She’d lost her dinner over the test images of ten dogs used. Pang deserved to die a painful death if only for torturing animals. “As I understand it, once he creates the chemical and bonds it to the silver iodide particles, it is packed into canisters that go into a projectile machine of some sort.”
This was the first time she’d told anyone about the seeding plan and her skin chilled as she voiced the idea of infecting a water system in a way that could never be purified.
Blade leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees, still eyeing her with doubt. “Why would the Orion Hunters destroy any of the land if their end goal is to rule the world?” Jin cocked her head at him, considering his question. “You do not understand the Orions. All are focused on learning the prophecy, but they do not act as one. There are many factions among them, as in any other world-wide group. Each faction races to be the first to reveal the prophecy and believes it can use that information to insure its choice of countries will survive an apocalypse. The Orions from North Korea who are living here in America are not necessarily concerned about this country. They are also not necessarily loyal to Orions who are from this country. Some are, but others are not. Just as the Orions who have grown up here have different loyalties. Some are determined that America will not fall when the prophecy comes to fruition. Some will have laid aside money and plans to move to the best location once the prophecy is revealed.”
The Aussie frowned. “So we could find Orions who would work against North Korean Orions?”
“Possibly, but it is difficult to first identify these groups, then to infiltrate them.”
Tanner sat up. “How does your sister fit into all this, Jin?”
She jerked at the question. How could he ask her to put a target on her sister’s back? “I will tell you if you will help me rescue her. If you are going to arrest her for doing something she has no choice in, then I will not tell you.”
“Are you sure she doesn’t know?” Blade asked.
“My younger sister and I are only ten months apart. We were born near the DMZ in South Korea, and traded to a Chinese couple when I was seven.”
“Traded for what?” the Aussie asked.
“My mother had ovarian cancer and needed treatments.”
Blade interjected, “You were sold.”
Jin shook her head hard. “It was not like that. My mother could not be cured. So she used the money to help another family, not herself.” Jin gripped her hands tighter to keep from shaking her fist at him. “You do not know what it is like to have two children who are Amerasian. We are lower than the lowest vermin in the eyes of Koreans, north or south. Korasians are mixed blood, but not mixed with an American. Korasians have rights.”
When none of the men so much as whispered, she continued, “Amerasians are not even recognized as human beings. My mother could not care for us and had been told she would not live another six months. Once she died, we would have been cast out on the street. When a Chinese couple asked about adopting us, my mother made a sacrifice so that someone would care for her children and take us away from the struggle in Korea.”
Blade’s suspicion lived in his eyes. “So…how’d you end up in North Korea?”
“My adoptive father…” She paused, wanting to rinse the bitter taste from her mouth from calling him that. “Is part of the Orion Hunter network. He had someone searching South Korea for outcast children who were considered bright by their teachers. My sister and I tested very high. We were given the best education and kept together until three years ago when they brought her here.”
“So they trained you to be sleeper cells?”
Her cheeks heated with embarrassment. Yes, she had been brought up within the
Orion Hunters, but she was not a terrorist. “Everyone raised as I was received specific training that the Orion Hunters use when needed. When you think of sleeper cells, you are talking about mindless fanatics who walk into a crowd with bombs strapped to their bodies.”
Dingo quipped, “And your Orion Hunters aren’t just as bad?”
“They are not mine and, no, they are not just as bad. Orion Hunters are far more deadly than all those terrorists combined. I would never kill for them and neither would my sister.”
“But she’s here now and part of this plan,” Blade prompted. “Makes it hard to believe she isn’t aware that she’s being used as a weapon.”
Tanner let out an exhausted sound and repeated his words from earlier. “Remember I asked if you trusted me, Jin?”
Yes and she’d like—so very much—to trust someone. She needed help and he had wide shoulders to lean on. “I want to.”
“Tell us what you know about your sister and trust me to do the right thing.”
Three intense gazes focused on her.
She might as well be a mouse staring at a pack of feral cats. These men were expected to do whatever it took to protect their country, which she could appreciate. But who would protect her sister?
Jin’s gaze settled on her answer. Tanner.
The time had come to choose a side and hope that he was on hers and Patty’s. “My sister was given the name Patty Smith before she was brought over. You will not find papers of her defection or any record of her becoming a naturalized citizen. She would have been given documentation that proves she grew up here with one American and one Korean parent who will have lived in different parts of the country to prevent anyone knowing them too well.”
When Blade’s face twisted with a surly expression, Jin said, “Surely you realize that the Orion Hunters are here as well.”
He just shook his head and leaned back in his chair, letting out a low whistle.
“What was your sister trained to do?” Dingo asked.
“She is a pilot. She will be the one to fly the airplane for the seeding.” No one commented. Jin faced Tanner to make sure he understood just how much trust she was placing in him. “Once the seeding is completed, the Hunters will kill her. I heard that discussed when I hid to listen.”
