Deceptive Treasures: Slye Temp Book 5 (28 page)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

“Take a drink of this.”  Tanner handed Jin a cup of ginger ale he hoped would settle her stomach and put some color back in her cheeks after the flight from Los Angeles to Ogallala, Nebraska
. He was still nursing a cup of coffee and felt bad about finishing off a hefty breakfast when Jin could hardly keep the cold drink down.

“Thank you.” Jin sipped the drink, but her eyes were straying to the clock shaped like a chicken
. “I am wasting time.”

“It’s not ten yet, so we’re still on schedule. Take a minute and get your stomach settled before we head out.” At least the diner they’d found nearby was quiet. Jin needed that after getting off the Bombardier Learjet Sabrina had sent
.

A sweet ride for anyone not terrified of flying
.

Dingo put his glass of Coke down
. “He’s right. A few minutes won’t make that much diff—”

The clip clop of approaching boot heels on tile floor stole Dingo’s attention
. His expression rolled into a shocked look a second before a woman said, “Why are you surprised?”

Dingo stared up, dumbfounded and finally blurted out, “What are you doing here, Val?”

“You said you were in a hurry to find some bad people.”  A nice pair of legs covered in black tights stepped into view.

Tanner followed those legs up to a cranberry red knit dress with a black belt and gray scarf swiped around her neck
. No coat, so the clothes made sense. It was cool outside right now, but the high temperature was expected to be in the upper fifties today. She carried herself like a woman who didn’t let something like the weather get in her way. Crazy blonde hair curled in a messy style that worked only on a hot woman.  

All that came with a firecracker attitude. She asked Dingo, “Are you going to introduce me and maybe move over or just treat me like you did—”

Dingo cut her off by scooting deeper in the booth as he made introductions. “Val, this is Tanner and Jin. You two, this is Val. She’s the one who located the doctors in Chinatown.”  

“And the list of airports with Gulfstream IVs in this area,” Val added, planting herself next to Dingo. “Now you just have to find one like the weather agencies use that’s outfitted for flying into storms.”

Tanner watched Dingo, who looked like a man in need of a quick exit strategy.

Val dipped her head to look at Jin
. “Poor thing. Are you sick?”

Dingo answered, “She doesn’t like flying and we just landed.”

Val jumped in with a suggestion. “You should take flying lessons once this is over.” She waved a hand that encompassed all of them and what Tanner took to mean their mission as
this
.

Jin stared at her as if a three-headed dragon had landed at the table and was giving her tips on how to use utensils
.

Did that slow Val down
? Not even.

She was an animated person who waved her hands when she spoke. “Really
. Flying lessons are a good way to combat your fear of flying. Take control.”

Jin shuddered and put her cup on the table.

Tanner waited for Dingo to inform Val that now would not be a good time to push any of Jin’s buttons and unleash instant whoop-ass.

When that didn’t happen, Tanner sent Dingo’s friend a warning glare
. “Not helping right now, Val.”

“You don’t know that
. Right, Dingo?”

Dingo mumbled something unintelligible,
then took the food the waiter handed him. While Val explained that she’d already eaten but would take a hot tea, Dingo filled his mouth, avoiding taking a side or answering Val.

That was interesting
. Nothing ever bothered Dingo, but this woman clearly did.

And now Tanner knew what the woman Dingo had tapped for information in Los Angeles looked like. She’d also quickly narrowed down a list of airports where Gulfstream IVs leased hangar space after Jin had told them that was the aircraft discussed for seeding operations.

Tanner let Dingo eat in peace, just glad when Jin attempted her soup.

Val finished off her hot tea and stood up, announcing she needed to visit the ladies’ room and offered, “Come with me, Jin
. You’ll feel better if you move around.”

“Dingo didn’t tell me you were a doctor, too,” Tanner quipped.

Val smiled at him. “I might like you in spite of the company you keep.”  She quickly told Jin, “And I mean the
male
company, not you.”

Jin smiled as she stood
. “I like you
for
the company you keep.”

That brought a sharp smile to Val’s face.

Hearing the strength in Jin’s voice again, Tanner stopped worrying that a stiff wind would knock her over. He’d struggled not to reach out for her or hover. That’s all he’d need in front of Dingo, and now Val.

The two women walked away with Val chatting up a storm about how California was the only place to live in this country, a surfer’s paradise.

Tanner tossed his napkin down and stuck his elbows on the table. “What were you thinking bringing her?”

Dingo pushed his dishes aside
. “Does it look like I
brought
her?” 

“No, but she can’t stay.”

“Sending her away at this point is more effort than I’m up for.”

That had the ring of some seriously screwed up history, but Tanner wasn’t one to judge. “So what’re you going to do with her?”

“Me?”

Lifting his hands in a WTF move, Tanner said, “She didn’t come all the way here to see
me
and I have my own hands full.”

Dingo slumped back and stared at the stained acoustical ceiling for a moment, then leveled an I’m-in-a-corner-here
look at Tanner. “She won’t breathe a word of anything we do. But I may not be welcome in Atlanta once Sabrina finds out about this and that I kept yet another thing from her.”

“We’re doing that to protect Sabrina,” Tanner reminded Dingo, but he didn’t like holding out on her either. That wasn’t the way Slye Temp operated
.

But this team protected their own, including Sabrina whether she wanted it or not
.

“Listen, Tanner
. We shouldn’t have either one of these women here, but now that Val has shown up she can find something missing faster than you can sneeze. If what Jin told you was true about the Orion Hunters getting to her anywhere, then she’s safer with you. For now.”

Tanner had justified all this over and over in his mind already
. Dingo was just getting it straight in his.

But Tanner didn’t want to hear “for now” and be reminded that any day now he’d have to watch Jin be taken away, maybe as a prisoner
. “I know.” 

   Dingo sat up, warming to the subject. “We could bring out four agents who won’t accomplish as much as Val will in one day
. She’s that good and has an uncanny ability when she investigates. She gets paid insane sums to find the impossible for a wealthy clientele.” 

“Just as long as you can keep her safe,” Tanner pointed out.

Dingo swallowed hard and dropped his gaze to the table, hiding his thoughts for a moment, then his mouth twisted with a droll smile. “Val is trained in weapons and hand-to-hand combat. She was one of the best backups I had at one time.”

When had that been
? Tanner wasn’t asking. This whole mission was the longest running FUBAR in history.

He said, “If I thought bringing out the entire Slye Temp organization would find Jin’s sister any faster I would, but we might as well put up a billboard saying we’re looking for her if too many people come on the scene
. We scare this bunch off, we’ll lose any chance of stopping them.”

Dingo and Tanner had split up an area one hundred miles in diameter
. They’d visit every airport to ask about a female pilot. Dingo had intended to pose as an investigative reporter doing a story on Asian-American women in aeronautics, but Val might actually be a better one to play that role.

Tanner and Jin had a different tactic—pretending to search for a hangar where Tanner could park his Gulfstream IV
.

Amanda, Sabrina’s assistant
back at headquarters, was compiling driver’s license ID photos for any form of the name Patty Smith starting in the Ogallala, Nebraska area and spreading out geographically from there. Tanner had sent a scan of the photo Jin carried of her sister to Amanda
,
and given her an age span anywhere from twenty to thirty.

So far, no match had pinged
.

That would have been too easy
.

Tanner said, “This is going to be like hunting that damn needle in a haystack.”

“It wouldn’t be if we dangled something they wanted in front of them.”

Tanner hit the table with his fist. “No!”

Dingo sat back with a smug look. “It’s like that, is it?”

Jin had been used constantly for someone else’s benefit. He understood that she loved her mother and believed she’d been handed off for her own welfare, but bottom line, she’d been sold to a dangerous organization who had never even allowed her a life.

Dingo waited for an answer.

“We’re not using her.” That was all the answer Tanner would give.

The crazy Aussie’s eyes twinkled. “Just checking, mate.”

“You son of a bitch.”

Jin stepped up to the table at that second and frowned at him. “That is not a nice thing to call your friend.”

“She’s right about that, mate,” Dingo said, as Val slid into the booth next to him.

“That actually fits him,” Tanner explained to Jin, ignoring Dingo’s snicker.

Val smiled
. “You two having a bromance moment?”

Dingo and Tanner said, “
No!”

Jin caught Val’s humor and her eyes twinkled with mischief
. “What is a bromance?”

“Never mind.”  Tanner stood up, took one look at Jin and realized she knew exactly what it was. She’d wanted to tease him
. Why couldn’t they be just two people having a casual afternoon so he could tease her back about how he’d explain later in bed?

Some days he hated this life
. “We’ve wasted enough time here.”

Val jumped up
. “Oh, I think this was
very
informative.”  She whispered something in Jin’s ear.

Jin busted out laughing.

Tanner shouldn’t envy the wild blonde for that, but he did. Jin’s smiles were rare and precious. She shouldn’t waste them on Val.

Then Jin turned that vibrant smile on him and he forgot about Val and Dingo even being there
. “What?”

“I am feeling better.”

“I’m glad.”  He was not putting her back on an airplane after the hell she went through getting here.

Outside, Tanner handed Jin the keys to their Range Rover and Dingo did the same, handing Val the keys to his Escalade.

Jin climbed in on the passenger side of Tanner’s truck.

Val slid behind the wheel of Dingo’s ride and cranked the engine.

Dingo shook his head no and Val just smiled in pure defiance.

Tanner chuckled at Dingo’s grumble
. Once he had Dingo’s attention again, Tanner got down to business. “Text me once every two hours and I’ll do the same. If I don’t get a text, I’ll track you by GPS.”

“You’re the one who has to watch out for Bruce Lee wannabes
. Nobody is chasing me or Val, but I’ll text you.”

A primary reason Tanner set up this two-hour texting check point was in case someone got to Jin, because that would only happen if they came through him and he didn’t make it
.

He strode over to his vehicle and slid in, taking a moment to eye Jin
. She was nervous again. He smiled at her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Which translated to “something” in female talk. “I’ll wait until you figure out what nothing is.” 

She cocked her head at him
. “Have you always been this stubborn?”

“Pretty much.” 

She muttered something in Korean, or one of the other twelve or fifty languages she knew, then huffed. “I want to know what you will do if we find my sister.”

“When.”

Her face softened at that. “Yes. When we find her.”

“If she helps us, I’ll speak up for her with the State Department, but she has to go in with us voluntarily.”

“I will also have to turn myself in. True?”

“Yes.”  Knowing that was coming up soon was digging a hole in his gut
. “But I’ll be there with you.”

She tried to smile, but it was sad
. “I understand.”

“Talk to me, Jin
. I may not be able to snap my fingers and fix this for you, but I’m going to try very hard to keep you from ending up in the wrong place when this is over.”