Albert crawled back on top of me. His weight was unbearable. I could barely breathe with him on my chest. Out of nowhere, he threw an elbow into my temple. Pain exploded throughout my head. I let out a scream.
Xiaolian’s kick to Albert’s face had given me hope that she had done enough to turn the tide. I was wrong. Albert had fully mounted me. Both of my arms were pinned under his knees. I was unable to defend myself.
Blood stained the areas around his nose and lips. His mouth hung open, baring his teeth. His pupils were fully dilated, making his eyes appear darker and bigger than normal. He looked like a demon, ready to feast on its prey.
He raised both arms high above his head, drew a deep breath, and let out a roar as both his fists rocketed down toward me.
I was seconds away from discovering that I was a mere mortal like everyone else. I was not untouchable. I could be hurt. I could be killed.
But that day, my life was spared.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Albert collapsed onto me like a lifeless rag doll. Dead weight. I tilted my head back and saw a man at the end of the hall. He held a handgun firmly in both hands as he approached me.
“Abby, are you okay?”
It was Archer. He knelt next to me and heaved Albert’s lifeless body off of me—he had a bloody hole in his forehead. Archer was the last person I’d ever imagine coming to my rescue.
“How did you know?” I asked.
He was busy looking me over, ensuring I wasn’t hurt. I winced when he touched the side of my ribs.
“Might just be bruising,” he said. “Your face looks like hell.” He gently touched the side of my cheek with the back of his hand. “I don’t think your cheek is broken. Ice will help with the swelling. You’ll probably need stitches on some of those fingers.”
Just then, Xiaolian moaned. Archer left me to attend to her.
“Lie down,” he said as he looked her over.
“My back hurts,” she groaned.
I flipped over so I could get a better look at Xiaolian. My entire body ached in the process. I crawled over to her. “Everything will be fine. Don’t worry.” I brushed her hair out of her eyes.
“Why did he try to hurt us?” Xiaolian asked as her eyes settled on Albert. “I thought he was our friend.”
“So did I.”
Archer stood a few steps away from us. He was speaking softly into his cell phone.
“Archer. My kids. Someone needs to get to them now.” If Albert was a threat, I had to assume Connie was as well.
“Where are they?” he asked.
I told him, and he said not to worry. “I’ll send someone to pick them up right away.”
“They need to say ‘chop suey,’” I said.
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“My kids won’t go with anyone they don’t know unless they mention the secret word. It’s ‘chop suey.’”
“Got it.”
“Where’s Po Po?
“She’s fine. I told her to stay in her bedroom and keep the door locked.”
I looked back at Xiaolian. Tears had begun to well in her eyes. I draped an arm around her and pulled her next to me. “You’re safe now.”
“I don’t feel safe,” she said.
“You are.”
“My team will be here in twenty minutes. We need to keep what happened here quiet. I’ll brief your supervisor. Until I do, no one, not even your partner, is to know about what took place here.”
“The kids, my mother-in-law…”
“Your kids will be picked up, taken for ice cream, and brought here after everything is cleaned up. Your mother-in-law will remain in her room until further notice.”
“I don’t understand. What exactly is happening here?”
“Can you walk?” he asked me.
“Yes.”
“You and Xiaolian get cleaned up, and then meet me on the first floor.”
No sooner had he said that than he placed another call on his phone and started another quiet conversation.
My head hurt too much to continue trying to pry information out of Archer. I relented and helped Xiaolian to her feet.
“Can you walk?”
“Yes, but my back feels stiff.”
“You took a bad fall. A warm shower will help.”
We slowly made our way down to the second floor and to my bedroom. Xiaolian showered first while I waited on the bed. Her movements seemed much more fluid after. I gave her some ibuprofen and had her lie down on my bed. Then it was my turn for a shower. My fingers stung like hell when the water hit them, but I still felt a whole lot better with the warmth of the water flowing over my body.
By the time we’d finished cleaning up and headed downstairs, a team of people I didn’t recognize were entering my home. They weren’t with SFPD or the Bureau. They were all dressed in plain clothes. Archer was talking quietly to two men at the bottom of the steps.
“Can I have a moment?” I asked.
He handed me a zippered plastic bag filled with ice. “Put this on your cheek. I have a medic here who can stitch your fingers.” He then placed his hand gently on the small of my back and ushered me and Xiaolian toward the kitchen.
“Your mother-in-law is fine. I told her you and Xiaolian were taking a shower and would be with her shortly.”
“How much does she know?” I asked.
“She’s a smart woman. She doesn’t know the details, but…” Archer let his last word trail.
I nodded. “Xiaolian, I want you to keep Po Po company, okay? And tell her I’ll be in shortly.”
She nodded.
Archer had the medic tend to my fingers. It took the guy thirty minutes to close and bandage the wounds.
“Let’s talk out back,” Archer said.
As I reached the back door, I stopped to look at the lock. It didn’t look like it had been forced open.
“I came in this way,” Archer said, as he stood on the back porch. “So did Albert. I found a lock-picking kit in his shoulder bag. I’ll have a guy put a new deadbolt on that door.” He opened the screen door and exited into the yard.
I followed him to the middle of the yard, where he stood with his arms folded across his chest.
“I’m assuming you’ve been keeping tabs on me the entire time I’ve had Xiaolian in my possession,” I said.
“You’re right. It’s a good thing I was because—”
I spoke over him. “Before you start patting yourself on the back, tell me why you were watching us.”
“This has nothing to do with you. My involvement is not meant to be a reflection of your abilities. This has everything to do with that little girl.”
“Because she’s a spy.”
“I know you think we’re overreacting, but what happened today should provide you with enough evidence to start supporting our view of things.”
“Who is Albert Shi?” I asked.
“We’re still working on that. But a few days ago, I spotted him parked outside your home. He’s been listening.” Archer dug into the front pocket of his jeans and removed a bug. “I have a guy sweeping the rest of your house. I found this one in a lighting fixture above the dining-room table.”
I stared at the tiny transmitter in the palm of his hand. All I could hear over and over in my head were his last words about supporting his viewpoint. Had he been right all along about Xiaolian? Were people still after her? It was the only explanation I could think of to explain why my house had been bugged.
“So, is Albert working for the Chinese?”
“We suspect he is, in some sort of capacity. We just took his wife into custody.”
“You think she’s involved too?” I held my hand against my forehead, struggling to comprehend what Archer was telling me. “We were just at her house the other day; my kids played with her kids…”
“Until I question her, I can’t rule it out. Look, I know all of this is hard to grasp, but if what I’m thinking is right, it’s okay to feel duped. The
y’re professionals. I believe they’re sleeper agents who were recently activated. It would help explain why they weren’t on anybody’s radar until I spotted the husband camping outside your home.”
I buried my head into the palm of my hand and shook my head. “If you hadn’t shown up…”
“I did. That’s all that matters.”
“I feel like an idiot. I was completely fooled by them.”
“That’s how they operate. You mentioned earlier that your kids and their kids are friends.”
“Yes, they attend the same school. Their son Colin also works out at the same dojo as Ryan. And their daughter is applying to be a Brownie with Lucy.”
As I said those words, it completely dawned on me that it had all taken place at once: Colin becoming a new student at the dojo, Hailey and Lucy becoming friends at school, and Connie introducing herself to me. It all seemed so clear now, that their involvement with my family’s life had happened right after I’d returned home from the facility.
I looked up at Archer. “I want to apologize for dismissing your assumptions about Xiaolian being a spy or connected in some way to the Chinese government. It was unprofessional of me.”
He waved it off. “Everyone does. You don’t operate in my world, so I don’t expect you to get it right away.”
“But they’re not after me, are they?”
“They’re not. They’re after the girl. Maybe they had orders to bring her in, or maybe they had orders to make her disappear.”
“Well, they came into my life the minute I returned home, probably to see what I knew about Xiaolian.”
“That’s probably right. So long as she was in the facility, they couldn’t get to her.”
“And me taking her out gave them an opening.”
Archer didn’t respond to what I said; instead, he said he’d much rather question Connie and find out the truth than stand around and speculate.
“Is my family safe? Tell me the truth.”
Archer let out a breath. “I’m not sugar-coating it. There might be others we don’t know about, but regardless, they’re after the girl.”
“But we are a way to get to the girl.”
“Xiaolian will be returning to the facility today. That should help take the attention off your family. We can also place some people with you, just in case. That’s your call. But my feeling is we know too much already. The people who control the strings don’t want us to know any more than we already do. If they continue to come after you, they open themselves up as well.”
I kicked at the grass with the front of my shoe as I processed what Archer was saying. “You know, there is one thing that feels off.”
“What’s that?”
“When Albert was attacking me, Xiaolian kicked him in his face; she nearly took him out. If Albert is also working for the Chinese, it makes sense that he was part of a plan to extract her. And if it’s true that Xiaolian is with the Chinese, why would she attack one of her own?”
“I’m not sure, but that tells me there’s a lot more we need to learn about her.”
Chapter Fifty-Eight
After our talk in the yard, we headed back inside the house. Archer went upstairs to check on the cleanup, and I entered Po Po’s room.
“Abby, everything okay?” she quickly asked.
She was sitting on her bed, her back against the headboard, watching TV. The volume was turned low, as Xiaolian had fallen asleep next to her.
“Everything is fine,” I said in a hushed tone as I sat on the edge of the bed.
She leaned forward and moved the bag of ice away from my face. She tsked while shaking her head, though I did see some compassion in her eyes.
For a moment or so, I didn’t say anything. I didn’t know where to start. I wasn’t even sure if she knew about the dead body upstairs, but I figured Xiaolian had told her.
“We have people picking up Ryan and Lucy,” I eventually managed. “They’re safe. They’ll be home shortly. The people in the house are taking care of the problem upstairs.”
“Xiaolian say a man attack you? He dead?”
“Yes, to both questions. I believe he was after her. What did she tell you?”
“She tell me everything.”
“I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry this happened. Everything will be back to normal before Ryan and Lucy come back. They don’t have to know about anything that took place here.”
Po Po nodded. I had to give credit where credit was due. The woman had cast-iron emotions, and she always understood the bigger picture. There wasn’t any more to say. I knew she disliked my job, but she also understood it was what I did. It was dangerous. She would blame me, no matter what the situation. I completely understood. I told her I’d check in on them later and left.
I didn’t know any of the people Archer had invited into my home, though each had a job and wasted no time getting started.
The atmosphere was somber, like a wake without the crying. No one spoke unless merited, not until my home was completely swept for more bugs and given the “all clear.”
Archer and I were talking when a muscular man wearing blue jeans and a black T-shirt approached us. He had an upside-down smile and pockmarked cheeks. Large headsets hung from his neck, and he carried a portable counter-surveillance detector to search for listening devices and wireless hidden cameras.
“Found three more,” he said. “One was in her bedroom, another in her office, and the last one in the entertainment room.” He held up a plastic baggie containing all three bugs.
“Cameras?” Archer asked.
The guy shook his head. “We’re all good.”
I walked over to the bay window in the front room and watched a tow truck remove Albert’s car. In its place, an unmarked van backed up. The doors opened, and a man exited, holding the doors open. A beat later, three men lugging a black body bag walked down my stairs. They loaded the body into the back of the van, climbed inside, and drove away. The whole thing took forty seconds, tops.
Archer stood next to me.
“What will happen now?” I asked him.
“Forensics will finish their job. We’ll clean up and then be out of your hair.”
“I meant with the Shis and Xiaolian.”
“The investigation will continue. Xiaolian will leave with me.” He turned to me. “I still need you to brief me on your conversations.”
I nodded.
He pointed to a white utility van across the street. The sign painted on the side read: O’Flanagan’s Drywall and Remodeling.
“Those are my guys. They’re excellent. They’ll hang out here until morning, keep a watch on the house.”
Archer handed me a small electronic chip. “Keep this on your body or near you.”
I took the bug. I had just traded a Chinese spy for the CIA. I glanced at Archer; he was still staring out the window. The man had saved my life, yet I still found it hard to like him. He came across as so cocky and standoffish. Maybe I was being too sensitive, and I needed to get over it… swallow my pride and accept that I won’t always have control of my investigations. That was probably the real reason I resented him. He didn’t have to answer to me.
“I never thanked you,” I said.
“Huh?”
“I never thanked you for… upstairs. So, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Archer, Xiaolian, and the rest of his crew left within the hour. I said a quick goodbye to her and promised that I would visit. I wasn’t sure if I would be allowed to see her again, but it felt like the right thing to say. She left with a smile.
Ryan and Lucy arrived at the house shortly after, with no clue as to what had happened. According to Archer, the kids had been given a cover story: I had planned an outing but had an accident at the last minute, so I sent a colleague instead.
Meredith was the CIA officer who babysat my children. She dressed casually in jeans and a solid navy-blue top. Her chocolate-brown
hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail, and she wore a little bit of pink lipstick. She had kept them occupied with lunch and a shopping trip to the mall.
“Hi, Abby. It’s great seeing you again,” she said, supporting the story. “Boy, you weren’t kidding when you said you had an accident.” She eyed the side of my face.
“It’s better now that I’ve put ice on it.”
“Mommy, what happened?” Lucy asked. She grabbed hold of my hand and looked at the bandages.
“I was taking a box of files and other stuff off of a tall shelf, and it slipped from my hands. My face broke the fall.” I chuckled. “A glass vase in the box broke, and I cut my fingers picking up the pieces.”
“Talk about rotten luck. If there’s nothing else, I’ve got another appointment,” Meredith said.
“Thank you for looking after them. I appreciate it, really.”
She nodded and headed out the front door. I shut and locked it.
“Did you guys have fun?” I asked them.
“I did,” Lucy sang out loud. “I’m glad I was picked up early. The Brownies aren’t cutting it with me. I gave it all the time I could.”
“I see. How was your training session, Ryan?” He still seemed a little irritated that he had to leave the dojo earlier than expected.
“Okay, I guess.”
“Just okay? Looks like you got yourself a new pair of shoes.”
He had a bag from Footlocker. “Yeah, I got some new cross-trainers, so that was cool. I just don’t understand why you planned this today. You knew I had my training session.”
“A total mix-up on my end.”
A look of confusion appeared on his face. “But you didn’t even come. You could have just cancelled it.”
“You’re right, but I thought I would be able to meet up with you two still. Look, what’s done is done.” As he aged, it was becoming harder and harder to pull the wool over Ryan’s eyes. My BS excuses were barely cutting it with him.
“I wish you had come with us,” Lucy said as she appeared from the downstairs bathroom. She had changed into a cute floral romper. “What do you think?” She twirled.
The Curator: SG Trilogy Book 2 (Abby Kane FBI Thriller 8) Page 21
