by Peter Glenn
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, come on. Are you that afraid of upsetting some random person?”
Taio opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He glanced at the door, then the hallway again, then down at the ground. “I simply do not want to seem… improper.”
“Improper?” I almost burst out laughing. “Taio, your son is missing, and this may be the only person on the planet who can tell us where he is, and you’re worried about seeming improper?” I shook my head. “You’re unbelievable sometimes, you know that?”
Taio balked. “I’m sure this type of skulking behavior comes easy for you, Damian, but some of us are not accustomed to such… things.”
“What things?” It was my turn to scoff at him. “What’s that supposed to even mean? Another dig at your less than perfect younger brother, is it?”
I wagged my finger at him and readied another string of insults, but in the same instant, I heard the distinct sound of metal clicking on metal as the person behind the apartment door unlocked it.
“Shush!” I admonished my brother. “Our little guest has risen to the bait.”
Taio was red in the face and looked about ready to burst, but he simply nodded and said nothing. I gave him a trite smile, then smoothed my expression and turned to face the door. I was going to get one shot at this, and if I didn’t do it right, we’d be back to square one with no leads.
And that would mean even more time spent with my brother, which at the moment, was the last thing I wanted to do.
The door swung open just a little and a head peeked into the crack. I couldn’t see much, save for the fact that the man had jet-black hair and small, brown eyes. Still, even from that little glimpse, I had the feeling that this was no ordinary individual. I wasn’t sure what it was about him that got my senses firing into high gear, but something did.
“Yes?” the man had a slightly gravelly tone, like he’d been roused from a nap or something. Which, I supposed, was entirely likely.
“Simon Adler?” I asked. I worked to keep my expression neutral as I spoke. Didn’t want to give anything away just yet.
“The one and only,” Simon answered. He gave me a half smile as his eyes darted from me to my brother standing next to me. “What can I do for you gentlemen?”
Well, that was promising. At least he hadn’t shut the door right in our faces.
“Hi Mr. Adler, my name is Damian Xiang and this is my brother Taio. We understand that you are a colleague of one Bao Xiang. Is that correct?”
Taio shot me a scowl, but I ignored him and flashed Simon a wide grin. Taio probably thought my approach to be crass or unseemly, but I’d always found that getting right to the point with strangers was the way to go. If you started with a lie, you’d have to back out of it eventually, which hurt your credibility. Whereas if you started with the truth, even if they slammed the door in your face, well, there were still less legal ways to go about getting information…
A tiny flash of recognition passed through Simon’s eyes at the mention of Bao’s name. It was only there for a second, but it was there.
Simon’s expression soured. “What’s this all about?”
“We believe Bao may be in trouble,” I said before Taio could interrupt me. He looked even redder now, if that were even possible. “Can we come in for a moment?”
“In trouble?” Simon’s frown deepened. “Like legal trouble?”
I could sense Simon backing away from the door, about ready to shut it. I shot him my warmest smile to try and disarm him. “Nothing like that, no. We’re not cops or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about. Just worried family members.”
Simon let out a small sigh and his frown faded into something more neutral. “Look, I’m not sure who you are or why you’re here, but Bao’s my friend and–”
“Just five minutes of your time,” I interrupted. “Please?”
Simon rolled his eyes and let out another sigh, then nodded. “Okay. But only five minutes. I’m kinda busy tonight.”
I nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Adler. It means the world to us.” I glanced over at Taio, and he nodded as well.
Simon undid the sliding bolt on the door and opened it more fully. He stood sideways, beckoning us onward. “Come on in.”
I did as I was bade, stepping inside his humble apartment. There were stacks of papers on every table and counter, and a laptop sitting near a rather large couch. I didn’t see any sign of a TV, so I wondered what he did for fun. If he even had any. I’d heard that some Delta Fox employees worked at all hours, even from home. Judging from the stacks of papers everywhere and Simon’s pasty complexion, he was one of those types of workers.
Speaking of, I took a closer look at the man himself. His hair was well kempt and close cropped. Nary a strand appeared to be out of place, which struck me as odd for an IT guy. They were usually a bit on the messy side. His attire was nothing of note, however. He wore a green t-shirt with the Delta Fox logo on it and a pair of blue jeans with a small hole over one knee. Other than the fact that they were free of stains, they were pretty basic.
At least he cared about his appearance, even if he was a workaholic. That was an admirable trait.
“Won’t you sit down?” Simon said, pointing toward his couch. It was made of plain, brown fabric and didn’t look like anything special. My overall tension level went down. Simon himself was a character, but nothing in his apartment looked out of place.
“Thank you,” I replied.
I moved over and took a seat, trying my best to catch a glimpse of his laptop screen along the way without looking like that was what I was doing. Alas, it was locked. The screensaver was a nice view of Milan, though. At least I thought it was Milan. I hadn’t been to Europe in a while.
Taio shook his head and kept standing rather near the door. I thought the guy would bolt if I gave him the option. He looked completely uncomfortable and out of his element. Which made me grin.
“So, how can I help you gentlemen?” Simon said a moment later. He remained standing as well.
“Right.” I looked up at him. “Like I was saying, we’ve come about your colleague Bao. He’s been missing for a few days. We hear he hasn’t called in to work or anything, and from what we can tell, it wasn’t a scheduled absence.
“His father,” I glared at Taio, “is concerned he may have gotten himself into some sort of trouble and came out here to look for him when he didn’t respond to any of his texts. Not that I can imagine a single reason why a son might neglect to answer his father’s texts.”
I raised my brow at that last bit, which made Simon chuckle. Taio only fumed all the more, but he remained silent, so I took the silent victory.
Oh, he’d have my head for all of this later, but for now, I could enjoy it.
“Gotcha,” Simon replied in a smooth tone. “Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you two, but I don’t know what Bao’s been up to as of late.”
“Nothing?” Taio burst into the conversation. “Not even a little tiny detail?” His expression had changed completely and there was a pleading look in his eyes.
Finally, he was playing the worried father bit. I wondered what did it.
Simon turned to face him and shook his head. “Sadly, no. It’s true we used to work together, but…”
“But what?” Taio pressed. “Please, any information you could provide will help.”
And get the missus off his back, I added silently. I was still positive that’s why he was here in the first place. A guy like that couldn’t possibly love another human enough to be this worried about them.
Simon rubbed his chin. “Well, I’m not supposed to tell anyone about this. I could get in trouble with the company if it leaked that I told an outsider anything.”
I rose from my seat. “I understand. Thank you for your time, sir.”
“But–!” Taio shouted as he burst into motion, his arms flailing about. “My son, he… please! Please, I won’t tell a soul what you tell us.”
I put
my hand on Taio’s shoulder to force his hands down. “It’s okay, brother,” I insisted. “We don’t want Simon to get in trouble with his company.”
Besides, I could always come back later on my own and hack my way into his personal laptop to find out. But I didn’t say that part. I was pretty sure neither Simon nor Taio would approve.
“Damian, please!” Taio urged.
The look in his eyes practically did me in. For a second, I thought his caring was genuine. But just for a second. It still wasn’t quite right.
I let out a long sigh. “Come on, Taio. We’ve taken up enough of Mr. Adler’s time already. There must be another way.”
Taio shrugged away my hand, but he returned his arms to his sides and finally nodded. “Very well.” He looked over at Simon. “Thank you for your time, good sir.”
With that, Taio headed for the door and turned the handle.
Before he could get very far, Simon called out to him. “Wait!”
Taio spun on his heels. “Yes?”
Simon bit his lip slightly. “Promise you won’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you? Like I said, I could get into a lot of trouble if anyone found out.”
Taio’s hardened face softened. He gave a curt nod. “I swear it on my life.”
Simon looked around nervously for a second and took a large gulp of air. “Very well. I’ll trust you. I’m not even sure why, but something about you makes me want to believe you.” He took in a deep breath and looked slightly down. “Bao was transferred to a classified project a week or so ago. Very high-level stuff. I don’t even know the codename of the project, it’s so high up there. Which I guess is a good sign for him. Still…”
His gaze turned upward, looking Taio right in the eyes. “The only thing I know for sure is that the project is being run out of our Australian office. He was transferred there when the work started. That might explain why he’s been so hard to get a hold of.”
Taio gave the man a warm smile and bowed slightly. “Thank you, Mr. Adler,” he said. He extended his hand and Simon shook it. “That is very… interesting information, indeed.”
Simon retracted his hand and nodded, then turned slightly away from both of us. “Yes, well, like I said, it’s not much, but it’s all the information I have. I just wish I could be of more assistance.”
I walked over to Simon and offered him my hand as well. “Thank you, Mr. Adler. You’ve done plenty. You put my mind at ease at least.”
Actually, I was even more worried now. But I didn’t need for Simon to know that.
Taio nodded again. “Mine too. Thank you.”
Crazily enough, he actually sounded serious. Was he really not the least bit suspicious about his son being carted off without warning?
Simon shook my hand. It was a warm grip that was a little too hard for my liking, and I retracted my hand quickly. “Yes, well, I must get back to work. The boss expects a lot from us lower types.”
He gave us both a half-hearted smile and ushered us toward the door.
We both left in that moment and Simon shut and bolted the door behind him, then we were alone in the hallway, much like when we’d started.
Taio was already getting out his phone and typing something into it.
“Glad that’s settled, then,” he said as he kept typing. “Huifang will be quite pleased to know our boy is safe.”
I had half a mind to smack him, if it weren’t for the fact that he’d probably deflect the blow before it even landed. Simon had been a little too eager to share Bao’s whereabouts after I’d already offered to leave him alone. If he was under that much risk of trouble for sharing Bao’s new job details, why do it? Just so a couple overbearing family members could feel safer for a few days?
No, that didn’t make sense. None of this made sense.
“Don’t you…” I started, turning to Taio.
“Don’t I what?” Taio answered in a wooden tone. He was still preoccupied with his phone.
“Think that was a little too easy? I mean, Simon didn’t have to tell us anything. I gave him a pretty clear out.”
Taio waved a hand dismissively. “Obviously, he could see the pain in my face. It must have moved him.”
“Sure, sure.” How could I word this that Taio would agree with me? “But still, don’t you think maybe we should check in on Bao in Australia or something? Just to be sure?”
Taio finally looked up from his phone and stared straight at me. There was a hint of a scowl on his lips. “Ugh. Fine, if you think it’s best.”
I could tell it was the last thing in the world he wanted to do—spend more time with me. And I felt the same. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was still off. I couldn’t take the chance that there was more to the story we weren’t being told. This was my nephew we were talking about.
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
Taio rolled his eyes and put his phone into his pocket to grant me his full attention. “Fine. We can leave tomorrow and check on him, but I’m sure we’ll find him to be well.”
I gave Taio a wry smile. “I think so, too,” I lied.
“So where is this Australian office of Delta Fox anyway?”
“Hmm?” I had to admit, that was a good question. “Hang on a second, I’ll find out.”
I took out my phone and pulled up a search bar. Delta Fox Australia. There were a bazillion results, but the only one I cared about was the one with the map on it, so I clicked on that one.
“Here we go,” I said. “Looks like it’s in a small town northeast of Perth. Near the Julimar State Forest.”
Taio frowned. “Isn’t that fae territory?”
“What now?”
That stopped me short. I’d been in the fae realm recently and had no intention of returning, but this was different from that. The fae also owned a few territories in the human world. Mostly old forests and national parks. Was Julimar one of them? I couldn’t remember.
“Yeah, those are fae lands.” Taio groaned. “We’ll need to obtain permission from the fae ambassador first if we want to visit.”
“Uh huh.” I was still hunting around on my phone.
Taio said something else, but I wasn’t really listening. It was mostly true what he said. You needed permission to enter fae lands. You couldn’t just walk right in. Of course, obtaining a license could take weeks or months, and I had a sneaking suspicion that Bao didn’t have that long.
No, we needed to get in soon. Really soon. And that meant we’d have to go the other route—travel with a fae. If you had one in your group, you could bypass the traditional laws and access the lands freely. The fae you were with would assume all responsibility for your behavior in that scenario.
Of course, I only knew of one fae we could go to for help, and I wasn’t on the best terms with her at the moment. Plus, she was on the run. Did I really want to put her at risk?
Still, I’d do it for Bao. I’d do anything for family. Besides, the kid didn’t deserve to be left high and dry.
I let out a long sigh. “Come on, Taio. There’s someone else we need to go see.”
Taio’s brow rose. “Oh? Who?”
I bit my lip. Did I really want to bring my brother along for this bit? But what choice did I have? I couldn’t leave him at home again. He’d had the audacity to clean the last time I’d left him alone. Do it again, and I might not recognize the place.
With a heavy heart, a single word crossed my lips. “LaLuna.”
7
In the end, I left my brother at my apartment for this particular trip anyway. I gave him some sort of lame excuse about how Sevin didn’t want a bunch of people in his car and since it wasn’t mine, I didn’t really have a choice other than to listen to him.
It was all a load of crap, really, but whatever. The last thing I needed was my brother hanging around while I had a rather delicate conversation with LaLuna that was long overdue. I’d managed to avoid it for a little over a day, now, but I couldn’t avoid it any longer even if i
t weren’t for Bao. Not if I still wanted any kind of relationship with her.
Which I was pretty sure I did. Okay, really sure. Did I love her? That I still didn’t know. It had been ages since I’d even thought of the word love. But I liked her a lot and enjoyed her company. So I didn’t want it to be over.
Plus, there was Grace to think about. I couldn’t just never see little Grace again. That would be too much for me right now.
A long sigh escaped my lips as I turned off the car and stared at the phone in my hands. Pulled up on it were the last words between LaLuna and I. I’d texted her not two hours prior to let her know I’d be coming by to talk.
Sorry sweetie. Family stuff. I’ll be by later today to talk with you, I’d said. I’d had Mei help me massage the words so they were a little less “me” and a little more suave.
Kay, she’d replied.
That was it. “Kay.” Nothing more. That one ominous word stared at me like a dire warning. What did she mean? Was she happy I was coming by? Upset? Indifferent? There was so much I wanted to know, but all I had was “Kay”.
Not exactly reassuring. But then, I’d left her without a single word the other night, so what could I expect in return exactly?
I put my phone in my pocket and stared up at the small door to her house. The paint had faded a little more on it over the past few months, and it didn’t look like anything special. Which was a good thing, considering LaLuna and Grace were in hiding.
The door stood there like a barrier, keeping LaLuna and I apart. And it was all my fault that the wall stood there, nigh-insurmountable in appearance. I had screwed this one up. Me. Why couldn’t I have at least said something to her the other night? Even if it hadn’t been a profession of love, I could have said something.
Why was I such a moron?
But there was nothing to be done about it now. I had to go up to that door and face her. LaLuna deserved as much. And if not her, then Bao did as well. Both were innocent bystanders in my messed-up life. Both deserved better than me, but I was the best I could give them.
I got out of the car and sauntered up to the door as a chill blast of air caught me off guard, and I shivered involuntarily.
