Wired Secret

by Toby Neal

  Sophie blinked moisture from her eyes. Her heart seemed to swell, an odd sensation. “You would do that?”

  “Your happiness matters to me.” Connor held her gaze with blue-green eyes she’d thought she was in love with. Now that he was on his own turf, he’d discarded the disguise she hated and only Sheldon Hamilton’s brown hair remained. “Just say the word.”

  “Please get Ginger. She would be so happy to see Anubis. She is more social than I am. She really likes Tank, the dog Jake and I rescued on our last case.” Sophie felt her tongue tripping over an unexpected gush of words as she followed Connor up the steps onto the landing. She couldn’t wait to see her dog. “Ginger loves my dad, but Ellie said she still waits for me.”

  “Consider it done.”

  Sophie was surreptitiously dashing tears off her cheeks as Connor turned to introduce her to his manservant. “Nam, this is Mary Watson, my executive assistant. Mary, this is Nam. He helps everything run smoothly in my home here on Phi Ni.”

  Sophie bowed slightly to Nam, her hands folded. “It is a pleasure to meet you, sir,” she said in Thai.

  The man’s eyes widened in surprise, and he bowed in return. “It is always a pleasure to speak my native tongue with a servant of my master.”

  Sophie suppressed a cringe at being called Connor’s servant. “Indeed. Thank you for your hospitality.”

  Nam took their bags and shuffled off. Sophie followed Connor into a long, narrow great room overlooking the central courtyard area of the house. Floor-to-ceiling sliding glass windows fronted a cascading fountain that filled the house with the gentle sound of running water. A statue of Quan Yin poured water from an urn into a pool at her feet.

  “A beautiful work of art.” Sophie pointed to the fountain. Done in some gleaming white stone, it seemed to glow in its setting of tropical plants and ferns.

  “I am partial to goddesses.” Connor slanted her a glance. “Human and otherwise.”

  “Ha. I am no gentle Quan Yin.” This was getting too personal. Sophie walked forward and slid the door open to walk through the courtyard. Connor followed.

  He touched her arm and pointed to sliders screened by window coverings on either side of the garden area. “These are bedrooms, and my office and home gym are on the other side. Straight ahead are the kitchen, dining room, and living room areas.” He stepped in front of her and opened the door on the opposite side of the courtyard. “After you.”

  The living room overlooked a veranda that she had glimpsed from outside, with a cantilevered deck protruding over the limestone bluff upon which the house was built. One side contained a dining room table with four chairs which faced the view, and the other contained a sleek lounger facing a flat screen TV. Sophie appreciated the space aesthetically. Connor had good taste—one of the things she liked about him.

  Sophie gestured. “So, you do watch television on occasion.”

  “I am always sifting information, usually online. But I do like to watch the occasional movie.” Connor picked up a remote and hit a button. A set of metal blackout blinds rattled down over the huge windows. “In case of storms, bullets, or too much sun for my home theater.”

  Anubis pressed against Sophie’s leg, and she petted the dog absently as she smiled. “I get the feeling you haven’t had occasion to show this place off much.”

  “You are my first guest.” Connor said it so matter-of-factly that the lack of emphasis was, in itself, a statement.

  Sophie walked over to the glass sliders as he retracted the metal blind once more. She slid one door open and stepped out onto the deck, gasping at the beauty.

  Spectacular stone atolls topped with vegetation punctuated the crystal-clear bay below. The water was so clear that the white sand bottom made it glow like chalcedony. She leaned on the railing and felt a sense of flying. The blue horizon seemed to stretch so far away she could see the bend of the earth.

  “A penny for your thoughts.” Connor joined her at the railing. His shoulder brushed hers. That used to thrill her, and the memory of what they’d lost brought a wave of sadness.

  Sophie moved away. “I rather think they are worth more than a penny.”

  He smiled. “A million dollars then.”

  She frowned at him. “That is inappropriate.” She looked back out over the bay, into the infinity of a smudged blue horizon. “My thoughts are that this is almost too beautiful, and it feels very good to be home in my country. You must have known that it would.”

  “I hoped so. And if I want to give you a million dollars to hear your thoughts, there’s not a thing you can do to stop me.”

  Sophie turned to face him fully. “That is not the right tone to take with me, Connor. I do not tolerate dominance. It has left a bitter taste in my mouth.”

  Connor turned away, resting his elbows on the railing beside her, saying nothing for a long time.

  Finally, he spoke. “I could say I was joking, and I was, but it was the wrong tone to take, as you say. I have been alone here too long. Let’s go for a swim, and you can say hello to the ocean creatures of your homeland.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Days drifted by like sand sifting through an hourglass: effortlessly, easily, and too quickly. Ginger arrived, ecstatic to see her mistress, soothing Sophie’s ragged nerves with her joyful enthusiasm. The dog would not be parted from Sophie’s side for even a moment after her arrival.

  Sophie ate beautiful, delicious food and walked for hours on the empty beaches of the island with Ginger and Anubis, picking up shells, as Connor worked in his computer cave. She slept in the sun and swam in the warm bath of the ocean. She and Connor ran at night with the dogs when the heat of the day had receded, often enjoying the gentle waves and a swim in the sea.

  Sitting on her pareu on the beach and meditating one morning, Sophie listened to the cry of the birds and the shush of the water. Ginger lay beside her on one side, Anubis on the other. She felt the breeze, scented with jasmine, caress her bare skin—the bikini Connor had provided was barely decent, a couple of scraps of fabric held together by strings. But there was no one to see or judge, and she felt almost naked in it, a comfortable state.

  She was safe here, and like a sponge that had been severely wrung out, she was refilling again with the calm, comfort, safety, and plenty that surrounded her.

  Sophie heard the swish of Connor walking through the sand, felt his presence beside her, heard his murmur to Anubis as he sank to sit beside his dog on the sand. She felt his gaze on her body, and the hum of his hunger for her.

  She heaved a mental sigh.

  Connor had been respectful of her personal space. The companionship they’d enjoyed previously as they worked and played side by side seemed to have been restored. She was ready to forgive him, just for bringing Ginger here.

  But she was no longer attracted to him.

  “I found a vapor trail.” Connor broke the soothing silence.

  A ‘vapor trail’ was Connor’s vernacular for a digital signature. Sophie opened her eyes and glanced at him. He was staring out over the turquoise water, just beginning to be ruffled by the morning breeze.

  “Attached to the WITSEC Trojan?”

  “Yes. I think I found the lead we’ve needed to track the data siphon. I’ve developed a tag that will send me information about who is accessing the Trojan. I was hoping you would check the coding before I uploaded it.”

  Sophie met his blue-green gaze. “You don’t need me to check your coding.”

  “But I want you to.”

  Sophie had lost interest in the case, in anything but feeling good in the moment. She had used Dr. Wilson’s nasal spray only a couple of times since her arrival. They had discussed the case often over meals, and she knew she needed to reengage with the world and its dirt and danger. She struggled to find motivation, to put her ennui into words. “I’m too lazy.”

  “Then I need to show you something. What I really brought you here for.”

  Sophie shut her eyes, wishing she could
stay in the fragile, ephemeral bubble of peace and beauty he’d wrapped her in. It was an illusion, bought at a high price by the Ghost. “All right.” She stood, shook out her pareu, and wrapped it around her body. “Let’s go.”

  Sophie was warm and flushed by the time she reached the top of the precipitous stairs leading to the house from the beach. Connor was scarcely out of breath, but both dogs flopped in the shade of the house, panting, as they entered the cool of the stone-flagged courtyard.

  “We’re taking my chopper. I need you to get into a flight suit,” Connor said.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Sophie had met Connor’s pilot—he only had a few staff at the house, and they often ate with them for meals. A mixed Thai and American of short stature and composed mien, Thom Tang handed Sophie her helmet as she climbed into the lightweight, bubble-fronted helicopter. “You sit up front with Thom,” Connor said. “This trip is for you.”

  He climbed into the rear jump seat of the chopper first and strapped in behind Sophie and the pilot as they got settled.

  “Where are we going?” Sophie frowned, adjusting her harness.

  Thom activated the rotors, and soon the noise was too loud for conversation except through the built-in mic of the helmet. “You’ll see,” Connor said through the tinny feed.

  Condescending son of a yak! She really hated surprises.

  The flare of anger that she felt was the first strong emotion she’d experienced since they’d arrived on the island, and the unfamiliar spark made her realize the depression was better. Its deadening hold had rolled back enough to allow a greater range of feeling.

  Thom pulled back gently on the collective, and the helicopter rose off the gravel pad behind Connor’s storage barn. Sophie leaned forward to see out of the curving Plexiglas, taking in a soaring view of towering bluffs and wild jungle plunging to the calm sea. The island was a rough triangle shape that drew down to a low-elevation point where the airstrip was. Sophie held her breath, her stomach dropping, as the chopper swung out over the cliff where Connor’s house was perched.

  Once again, she appreciated the dwelling’s architecture and how he had designed it, staining the wooden sections in the tones of stone and earth so that it seemed to grow from the bluff in a way that harmonized with its surroundings.

  They dropped down a bit, flying low over the rugged islets and knobs of stone peppering translucent blue water. “You have the coordinates?” Connor asked Thom.

  “Roger that,” Thom said.

  Connor touched Sophie’s arm, getting her attention. “We’re going to the mainland so you can see the main temple of the Yām Khûmkạn.”

  “Temple?” Sophie’s pulse picked up at the mention of her mother’s clandestine organization. “The group has a central meeting place?”

  “The Yām Khûmkạn is as much a cult as anything. Recruits live at the temple for close to a year and are subjected to rigorous training in a number of disciplines.”

  “How did you find all this out?” Sophie turned to make eye contact with Connor through the barrier of her helmet.

  He merely raised his brows. “I have my ways.”

  “Indeed you do, foul breath of a crocodile.” Sophie resented his doling out of information about something so personal. There was so much he wasn’t telling her!

  “What’s that?”

  “Nothing. Just getting ready to investigate this cultural wonder.”

  “There are binoculars beside your seat,” Thom said helpfully. “We’ll be there in half an hour.”

  Sophie took out the binoculars and scanned the mainland coastline of Thailand as it rapidly approached them, taking in a village with its fishing docks and simple dwellings, rice paddies, winding dirt roads. Cars were few and far between—most people traveling were on bikes or motor scooters, and there were even a few ox-drawn carts.

  The dense green of jungle, bisected by one of the many rivers, soon obscured any signs of civilization, but Sophie continued to scan the ground with its swelling hills. This area was more rugged than the domesticated countryside near Bangkok, where she’d grown up on the Ping River.

  A large square defined by a high wall appeared suddenly. No road that Sophie could see from above led to the magnificent edifice filled with tall, pointed, ornately decorated stone buildings in the Thai style.

  They flew around the perimeter and Sophie scanned the temple with the binoculars, taking in an elaborately crenellated building. The building material was streaked with age and lichens, testifying to the age of the compound. A central courtyard before the massive main building bustled with figures dressed in black, performing martial arts exercises in neat rows. Miniature versions of the main temple were replicated as outbuildings, all enclosed within an impressive wall that held back encroaching jungle.

  Sophie leaned as close as she could to the glass so she could take in all she could see—and recoiled as she spotted a cluster of black-clad inhabitants running out of one of the buildings with guns. One of the figures was aiming a rocket launcher in their direction, the large black tube on his shoulder pointed right at them. “Get us out of here, Thom!” Connor yelled.

  The pilot veered the collective to the left just in time as the men below opened fire with machine guns. A hissing roar announced a missile whizzing by, narrowly missing them. Sophie clutched her harness as the helicopter heeled over, diving toward the cover of a nearby hill.

  The missile detonated in the air near them with a sound like the world ending.

  Sophie opened her mouth in a silent scream as the chopper was hurtled sideways, propelled by the blast. Connor cursed, Thom prayed in Thai, and Sophie shut her eyes, drawing deep inside herself to that calm dim place.

  To think she’d fought so hard and long against so many enemies, only for it to end like this…

  The helicopter rotated end to end, a dizzying sensation. The rotors screamed with the strain. “We’re not hit,” Thom yelled. “It’s the backwash from the explosion. She just needs to get her bearings…”

  Sophie opened her eyes. Hell if she was going to let the depression take anything more from her, even one minute of suffering, if that was all that was left of life!

  The chopper continued to spiral down toward the jungle. Bile crawled up Sophie’s throat as her stomach rebelled against the gyrations. Monkeys fled the path of their descent, swinging away across the tops of the trees as the whirling juggernaut plummeted toward them.

  The spinning slowed, and just as suddenly as it had started, cavitation ceased. Thom straightened the collective and pointed it forward. The trees were so close that Sophie could see individual leaves by the time the chopper responded, lifting up and away.

  “Foul goiter on the devil’s backside! You should have anticipated that they’d be armed, Connor!” Sophie turned in her seat, only to see that Connor had removed his helmet and was retching into a gear bag.

  She looked away and swallowed, calming her own stomach with an effort as Thom arrowed the helicopter at top speed out across the jungle toward the ocean. Eventually Connor’s voice came back on the comm.

  “You’re right. The Yām Khûmkạn don’t keep much information online; I wasn’t able to hack the temple’s defenses and obtain a map or schematic, because they don’t use any known security programs. All I had been able to determine was the temple’s use and location. We should have kept a low profile instead of just buzzing them like that.”

  “And now they know someone’s watching them,” Sophie said. “Do you think we should fly right back to your island? What if they have radar or something, and can track where we’re going?”

  “I’ll land us in Phi Phi.” Thom named a larger island popular among visitors. “There are many tourists there. They should not be able to track us once we land in the busy airport. This chopper just looks like one of a thousand tour aircraft.”

  Connor was silent as they flew the extra distance and Thom radioed the airport with their flight plan. They landed in a bustling helicopte
r area, loud with engines and ripe with the smells of fuel and chatter of voices.

  Sophie could hardly wait to get out of the helicopter. She took off her helmet as the rotors slowed and waited for Connor as he and Thom conferred.

  Finally, the two got out and Thom began checking over the helicopter.

  Connor walked toward Sophie, carrying his helmet and the befouled gear bag. He still looked pale and a little green, and Sophie smiled. “I think you have been punished for this mistake already.”

  “That was too close,” Connor said. “Thom’s going to have the mechanics check over our aircraft for damage and refuel it.” He held up the bag. “And I’m disposing of this.”

  They walked to a metal-roofed private hangar that had been outfitted for passengers as a lounge. Sophie found a women’s restroom and, after checking that it was empty, used the facilities and splashed water on her face.

  Connor wasn’t the only one looking a little worse for wear after their recent experience. She shed her flight suit; there was no air conditioning in the building, and palm frond ceiling fans did little but move the humid air around. The tank top and exercise shorts she wore underneath were fine for this setting.

  The hangar was outfitted with a drinks area decorated with stools covered in bright colors. A grass skirt fronting the bar gave a tropical feel. Connor, also out of his flight gear, gestured Sophie over and handed her a tall, frothy, aqua-colored drink trimmed with a carved bamboo skewer laden with peeled rambutan. “A Blue Hawaiian. Or, as close as the bartender could get.”

  “Divine nectar of the gods!” Sophie sucked down a sweet, refreshing sip. “My favorite drink. The perfect antidote to our misadventure.”

  “I’m learning Thai, and I think I understood that. Something about the gods?” Connor clinked his beer against the rim of her drink. “I can’t apologize enough.”

  “It was almost worth it to see the Ghost get airsick,” Sophie said, a smile tugging her lips. “I never thought I’d see you ‘lose your cool,’ as Marcella would say.”