Kiana Cruise

by Jody Studdard

  Kiana nodded. She knew the Sparks, since she had played against them several times over the years. They were a team from Laguna Beach and they were usually pretty good.

  “What else does my dad talk about when you’re together?”

  “He always goes on and on about your trips. He loves taking you places and showing you new things. I still can’t believe he had you rock climbing at six. That’s crazy.”

  “That’s nothing. I had my first SCUBA lesson when I was five. And I went skydiving when I was six.”

  Christine nodded. “There was one trip he told me about where I got a good laugh. It was a couple of years back when the two of you went to Aspen. He was really perplexed because he said you beat him during a downhill race and apparently you beat him pretty easily. He was convinced you cheated somehow but he couldn’t figure out how. I teased him and told him he was just getting old. As you can imagine he didn’t like that too much.”

  They both laughed. Kiana thought it was especially funny since in reality he had been right, she had cheated.

  “He talks about you all the time,” Christine continued. “When we were on planes heading on assignments, during breaks at headquarters, and sometimes even when we were on dates. I hate to admit it but it actually made me a little jealous at times, especially at first. But I got used to it. And ultimately it’s a good thing. After all, a dad should be proud of his daughter, right?”

  Kiana nodded.

  “But I will admit,” Christine continued, “there was one time when I wasn’t too happy with him. He told me a story about a boy you were seeing named Steven.”

  Kiana’s heart stopped. “Oh my god. You know about Steven?”

  “He told me all about it. And at first he was pretty proud of himself. But don’t worry. I tore him a new one for you. His behavior was completely unacceptable.”

  The incident Christine was referring to had happened several years before when Kiana had been in the seventh grade. She had met a cute boy at school named Steven Harrington and they had started seeing one another. For some reason, however (it probably had something to do with the fact Steven had a tattoo even though he was only in the seventh grade), Michael didn’t like him at all. Eventually, one day when Steven was over at their house, Michael got annoyed at him (even more than usual) and said, “Boy, I’ve got a bullet with your name on it.” It freaked Steven out so badly he immediately left and from that point forward he wasn’t even comfortable being in the same room as Kiana. Kiana had been so mad she hadn’t spoken to Michael for a week, and when she finally did she made him apologize and buy her a really expensive sweater as compensation for the ‘pain and suffering’ he had inflicted on her.

  “He was totally out of line,” Kiana said.

  “No doubt about it,” Christine said. “But he’s never done anything like that again, right?”

  Kiana shook her head. “He’s always a beast around boys, but no, there haven’t been any incidents like that again. Thank goodness.”

  “If there are you tell me and I’ll take care of it.”

  Kiana sat there in silence for a few seconds, somewhat in shock, contemplating what Christine had just said. She didn’t want to admit it, and she still wanted to chase Christine off as fast as she could, but at the same time she did see some obvious advantages of keeping her around.

  “Speaking of boys,” Christine said, “do you have your eye on any right now?”

  Kiana was a little skeptical of saying anything for fear Christine would tell Michael, but at the same time she wasn’t overly worried since Christine seemed pretty straightforward and honest.

  “There is this one boy. His name is Jacen and he’s really cute. He plays shortstop on Jackson’s baseball team.”

  “I love baseball players. They have the cutest butts. Even better than football players.”

  It was all Kiana could do to keep from laughing. She hadn’t expected Christine to say something like that at all. She had expected her to be formal and business-like. But she was actually quite funny. And she was right.

  “Baseball players do have cute butts. Especially Jacen.”

  “Why don’t you invite him over? I’ll make dinner. It’ll give your dad and me a good chance to meet him and get to know him.”

  “I’d like to but I really like him and I don’t want my dad to scare him away. And Jacen is the quiet, gentle type, so I think he might frighten easily, especially around someone like my dad who can be pretty intimidating at times.”

  “Don’t worry about your dad. I can handle him. I’ll keep him in line.”

  “How?”

  A mischievous smile formed on Christine’s lips. “I have my ways.”

  Kiana didn’t really know what she meant by that but she didn’t really care. As long as she kept Michael in line that was good enough for her. She didn’t care if she bribed him, threatened him, or both. And the idea was definitely enticing. She would love to invite Jacen over. It would be a great way to get to know him better. And she was convinced Michael would like him if he would just give him a chance.

  “Keep me posted,” Christine said. “I’ll make all the arrangements and you and Jacen will just need to show up. And I like cooking so you won’t be disappointed with my food. I guarantee it.”

  From that point forward they continued talking, for several hours straight, mostly about trivial and unimportant things, but finally Christine said something that really caught Kiana’s attention.

  “I knew your mom.”

  “What? How?”

  “We were partners on several assignments, including one in Istanbul that went completely sideways. There was a gunfight and I would have been killed for sure but your mom came to my aid. She took out three hostiles by herself with no cover whatsoever. Don’t ask me how. From that point on, and for obvious reasons, we were really good friends. She was a remarkable woman. She was a lot like you, she was good at everything: hand-to-hand combat, skiing, swimming, climbing. And she spoke six different languages. That’s probably why you can learn languages so quickly. You probably got that trait from her, among other things. I was completely devastated when I learned of her death. But then again I guess we all were.”

  They were silent for a minute.

  “There was one thing, however,” Christine continued, “that was a bit of a sore spot between us.”

  Now Kiana was really interested. “What?”

  “Your dad.”

  “My dad? What do you mean?”

  “I’ve always had feelings for him. From the minute I met him. But then again, I bet that’s pretty common since he’s so good looking. I remember back in the day, before he married your mom, everyone was after him. And he was quite a playa. For a while he was seeing this agent in Tokyo named Asa Suzuki, then he started seeing a woman he met while on an assignment in Brazil (you know men, they love those Brazilian women), then he started seeing an agent from England named Holley Livingston. And there were probably a few more women I never knew about. It wouldn’t surprise me at all.”

  Kiana was astonished. She had never pictured Michael as a playa. Granted, he was attractive (as her own friends had made so abundantly clear a while back at school), but still, over the years he had never seemed to have any interest in anyone other than her mother. Even after her death, there had been no dating at all, at least that she knew of.

  “All of that changed as soon as he met your mother,” Christine said. “And it didn’t really surprise me. They were magic when they were together. Of course I was jealous since I wanted to be with him but I had to admit they were a perfect couple in every way. They had so much in common and such incredible chemistry. I knew they were going to get married the first time I saw them together. You should have seen the two of them do the tango. It was quite a sight. So I had no choice but to accept it, wish them the best, and move on with my life. I was a bridesmaid at their wedding and I was also present at your birth.”

  “You were there when I was born?”


  Christine nodded. “It was hilarious. You had to see your dad. He was completely different than normal. I’ve seen him in gunfights that went totally out of control but he always stayed calm and collected the whole time. But that day in the hospital, as your mother was in labor, he was a complete wreck. He was sweating profusely, and nervous, and absolutely paranoid something was going to wrong during the delivery. At one point I thought he was going to have a panic attack right there on the spot so I contemplated shooting him with a tranquilizer to calm him down a little. I didn’t, but trust me it would have done us all a big favor.”

  Kiana smiled. “He’s always been pretty protective of me. I guess it began even before I was born.”

  Christine nodded. “You can say that again.”

  From there, they continued to talk, pretty much non-stop for the rest of the flight, and they didn’t stop until the pilot’s voice came over the PA system and announced he was making final preparations for their arrival in Chiang Mai. As the flight finally came to an end and they rounded up their carry-ons and departed the plane, Kiana had made a surprising decision. She still wasn’t too keen on the idea of sharing Michael with another woman, and it still made her a little uncomfortable to do so, but Christine seemed like a really nice person so Kiana was going to give her a chance.

  Chapter 29

  Kiana and Christine were met at the airport in Chiang Mai by their contact, Lewis Armstrong. Armstrong was a short, thin man with no hair and he seemed both nervous and excited at the same time. He could barely hold still as he talked.

  “Thank goodness you’re here. We need to move immediately.”

  “Has something happened?” Christine asked.

  Armstrong nodded. “While you were on the plane I was able to locate Johnson. At least I’m pretty certain I did.”

  “Where is he?”

  “He’s being held by a man named Thaksin Ratanarak. He’s the man Johnson and I have been tailing for a while and we were always convinced he was the leader of the smuggling operation we’ve been trying to break up. He has a small estate on the outskirts of town and I believe Johnson is there.”

  “How do you know?”

  “One of my sources told me.”

  “Is the source reliable?”

  “Very.”

  Armstrong led them to a small, red car in the airport’s parking lot, then started to drive them across town. Kiana was immediately impressed by what she saw. Chiang Mai was an ancient city, over seven hundred years old, that had once been surrounded by a large brick wall and a moat. The moat, which was about fifty feet wide and filled with thick, brown water, was still there, but most of the wall had crumbled and eroded over time, so only portions of it remained. There were Buddhist temples, called wats, everywhere, many of them quite ornate, in shades of red and gold, and the entire city was absolutely bustling with activity. The roads were dense with traffic and were filled with small red trucks with canopies called songthaews. They were Chiang Mai’s version of taxis and people (mostly tourists) rode around town in their canopies. There were also tuktuks, rickshaws, and what seemed like a million scooters (small motorcycles). Scooters appeared to be one of the most popular forms of transportation in Chiang Mai and people rode them everywhere. At each stoplight hundreds of them congregated, waiting for the light to finally turn green. Kiana and Christine laughed as they passed one scooter that had four people on it at the same time, which looked ridiculous since the vehicle was only meant to hold two people at the most.

  It took them about thirty minutes but they finally made it to Thaksin’s estate, which was in a residential area somewhere on the outskirts of town, but in an area that was still densely populated. Thaksin’s estate wasn’t overly fancy and it was really just a series of old buildings surrounded by a tall, stone wall.

  “Come with me,” Armstrong said. He parked the car at the far end of the road, out of view of the estate, then led them into a nearby building, up a staircase and into a room on the building’s uppermost floor. From there, he went to a window on the far side of the room, and from the window they had a perfect view down into Thaksin’s estate.

  “Johnson and I have been using this room for a while now. As you can see, it’s perfect for surveillance.”

  Christine and Kiana nodded. From here, they could see just about everything that was going on inside Thaksin’s estate. Not inside the buildings themselves, but at least inside the main wall.

  “Originally,” Armstrong said, “I was convinced they weren’t holding Johnson here. And I was right. But this morning a truck showed up and he was in it. They took him into the main building near the rear of the estate.”

  “Was he okay?” Christine asked.

  “He was bound and gagged but other than that he was fine.”

  “Have you been able to figure out how many people we’re dealing with over there?”

  “Normally there are at least twenty guards on duty at a time, sometimes more. But Thaksin left this morning and he took at least half of them with him.”

  “Where did he go?”

  “No idea.”

  Christine spent the next couple of minutes looking closely at the estate, clearly sizing it up and trying to decide what to do next. Finally, she turned to Kiana.

  “I’m not supposed to expose you to any unnecessary danger and your dad and Beckman will shoot me if anything happens to you. But if you’re willing, I know how we can rescue Johnson.”

  “How?”

  Christine pointed to a building across the street that was an old, rundown apartment of some type. It was directly to the east of Thaksin’s estate and the only thing separating the two was a small, narrow alley. “I want you, Armstrong, to make your way to the roof of that building and start a fire. I don’t care what you use, but make certain it creates a lot of smoke. The more the better. That will flush the majority of Thaksin’s guards out into the open, if we’re lucky outside the wall and into the street. I then want you, Kiana, to take a couple of them out, then flee down the street back toward the center of town. Entice as many of them to follow you as possible.”

  Kiana’s eyes got big. “On foot?”

  Christine shook her head. “Use a scooter. I’ve ridden them before and they’re pretty fast for their size. In addition, they’re easy to ride. Head back toward the middle of town where you can blend in with traffic and lose any pursuers. In the meantime, I’ll sneak around the back of the estate, scale the wall, and free Johnson. Which should be pretty easy if you can get enough of the guards to follow you.”

  “I’m not certain I like this plan too much. I’m the bait?”

  “Either that or I’ll be the bait and you can climb the wall and free Johnson. But I don’t think that’s a good idea because at least one or two of the guards are going to stay behind for certain and they’ll have to be neutralized.”

  Kiana nodded. She didn’t like the idea of being used as bait, but at the same time, Christine had a point. The person who served as bait simply had to evade the guards, not confront them.

  Christine clearly saw the hesitation in her eyes.

  “There’s no pressure, Kiana. I know you’re new to this type of thing. If you’re not up for it just say so and I’ll think of another way. I may -”

  Kiana was nervous, there was no denying it, but at the same time she was excited. This was what she had been trained for. This was a real mission. And possibly a man’s life depended on the outcome of it. Johnson was inside that estate, and as far as Kiana knew he could be injured or they could be questioning or torturing him at that very moment. As such, time was of the essence.

  “I can do it. Just show me how to ride one of those darn things.”

  Armstrong made his way over to the far building, to start preparations for the fire he was going to build, and in the meantime Christine and Kiana stole a scooter that was parked in an adjacent alley (it was easy to steal since the owner had left the key in its ignition). Kiana felt bad about stealing someone’s scooter but
Christine assured her they would return it as soon as they finished the op. Christine then showed her how to ride it and like she had said, it was amazingly easy, since it was small, light, and had an automatic transmission. Really, all Kiana had to do was grab onto the handlebars, give it some gas, and go.

  A few minutes later, they parked it at the far end of the street, just a ways down from Thaksin’s estate, right where Kiana could get to it when needed.

  “Wait for me to get into position,” Christine said. “Once I’m in position, I’ll signal Armstrong to start the fire. Once the guards start to emerge, take out as many of them as you can, then flee. I’ll take care of everything else from there and I’ll rendezvous with you later as soon as I can.”

  “What’ll I do until I hear from you?”

  “Lay low.” And then she smiled. “And stay away from Thai boys. I hear they like American girls, especially little hotties like you.”

  Kiana smiled. She thought it was pretty funny Christine was making a joke at a time like that, when they were just about to try something that, if it went wrong, could lead to their deaths. But then again, Christine was an experienced, knowledgeable agent and had probably done this type of thing many times in the past, so maybe it was no big deal for her.

  But it was to Kiana. Her heart was absolutely pounding in her chest. She couldn’t believe what she had gotten herself into. But there was nothing she could do about it, and it was way too late to change her mind and alter the plan. Christine had already moved away, to take her position at the back of Thaksin’s estate. Soon, she would give the signal to Armstrong and things would officially be under way.

  On a few occasions in the past, Kiana had had butterflies in her stomach. Her first taekwondo match came immediately to mind. As did her first softball game. But right at that moment, as she stood there waiting for Christine’s signal, she had more than just butterflies. For a few seconds, she was so nervous she actually wondered if she was going to get sick and vomit right there on the spot.