Zack (In the Company of Snipers Book 3) (18 page)

“Umm.” Zack blinked. Thinking hurt. He’d wanted to ask something. Didn’t he?

“You’re going to be okay.” Alex rested his hand on Zack’s forehead, like he was checking him for a fever or something.

“Mei?”

“She’s okay,” Alex said, but Alex was lying. Zack could tell.

“My Mei?” he asked again. “She’s good? You sure?”

“She’s fine, but you’re sick, son. Lie down and shut up.”

Okay. Zack closed his eyes. That sounded more like Alex. He believed now.

Mei was okay.

“How you doing?”

Zack saw Alex’s face close above him. Too close. By then he’d been cleaned up, stitched up, and warmed up. The hands he’d abused his car with the day before were properly treated and encased in thicker bandages. They felt numb. And numb was a good feeling. He could breathe, something a man appreciated a lot more after he’d nearly suffocated on his own body fluids. The only problem was he’d woken up in a hospital, not his favorite place.

“Better,” he wheezed. “So...I’m gonna live...to fight another day?”

Alex patted the top of Zack’s head. Their manly relationship was always different than most. Alex was a hard man to get close to. Zack never knew how he’d done it. Just one of those things that happens when you fight side by side with a guy, save his ass once in awhile, and cover it the rest of the time. “No fighting for you for awhile. Looks like someone took a brick to that hard head of yours.”

“Didn’t see the bastard who...threw the first punch.” It was still hard to breathe, much less talk.

“What did you see?”

Zack looked up into his boss’s blue eyes. Alex always looked so serious.

“Stars, Boss. I saw...stars.”
Sheeesh. What a stupid question.

Those blue eyes smiled for a second, but his boss was going to ask him again. Alex did. “What was different at the foster home this time? Think.”

Alex’s favorite word–think. It made Zack smile. The word had saved his life.

“Yeah. Know what you meant. The blue van for one thing. Chinese driver...heavy set, five ten, dark clothes.” Zack stopped to catch his breath. “Same blue van...at the ATF stakeout.”

“Same driver?”

“No, those guys were black. This guy...definitely Chinese. Kinda chubby.”

“Where was Mei while you were getting the crap beat out of you?” Alex wasted no time going straight for the jugular.

“Inside, Boss. She...ah, went inside.”

Blue eyes bored straight into Zack’s lying eyes.
Man up, Lennox. He knows.

“It’s my fault. We were going to...buy the little baby girl. Had all the money. Had to help her. Couldn’t leave her. Not again.”

Whether he was too beat up to control himself or because his heart hurt thinking about the little girl he’d lost, but tears filled Zack’s eyes. He’d just confessed to stealing a million dollars to buy a child. Alex already knew he’d turned off his phone and earpiece. Lennox had screwed the mission. Again. He’d be fired for sure, but worst of all, he’d lost his one chance to save that baby. He’d failed the most important operation of his life.

“Did you...did you see that place? And she’s so small.” Reconciliation morphed into anger. “I couldn’t leave her,” he declared.

A glimmer of something drifted through those icy blues. Alex looked–pleased?

“I’ve got news for you. You saved every single one of those little girls.”

“What?”

Alex nodded. “It was your call to Mother that brought the whole world of law enforcement down on those foster houses. And yes, I’ve seen the place. We even got the girls they’d tried to move before we got there. Caught the blue van and the men driving it, too.”

Zack didn’t know what to say. He was delirious. That’s it. Alex was a by-product of the pain meds. He closed his eyes, hoping the next time he opened them his boss would be gone. He wasn’t.

“Do you need a drink?” Alex held the glass while Zack sucked down a huge swallow through the straw.

Okay. That did it. I’m hallucinating for sure. Alex is helping me get a drink? No way.

“We got Richards and his secretary, Ms. Bradford, too. Remember her?” Alex kept talking. “She turned state’s evidence and gave the FBI all of her documentation. Mother and Ember are helping sort through it. Oh yeah, and speaking of the one million dollars? It was in the blue van. Still marked. Still in the same bag. You didn’t steal anything.”

“And the babies? I mean, Boss, that little girl in the first foster home. I mean, where are all those little girls?”

“Some are in the hospital. Some are going home to their real parents.” Alex paused.

“Their real parents?”

“They’re not all orphans. Some of those little girls were abducted from China. They need to go home. They have families who love them.”

Okay. That was news. He hadn’t thought of that possibility. He’d been focused on saving one baby girl. That’s all. He’d developed a plan where she’d be part of his life, where he’d take care of her, feed her, keep her safe and clean, and make her smile every single day. A good nanny could take care of her while he worked, but he’d be home every night. The boutique where he and Mei had stopped had a cute pink bed, perfect for his little girl. He had a plan. It would work. It just didn’t include parents.

Another little girl came to mind. “LiLi wasn’t there, was she?”

“No, but I didn’t think we’d find her in this mess, did you?”

“No, of course not.” Zack groaned. “How’s Mei? We need to find her daughter, Boss. You know that—”

“You let me worry about that, okay?”

“Yeah, but she’s been through so much, and—”

“Knock it off. My job is to locate LiLi. Your job is to listen to your doctors and take care of yourself. Can you do that without screwing it up?”

Zack shrugged. “Does she know yet?”

“I told her. Mei’s a tough little gal, Zack. Don’t underestimate her. Do you feel like sitting up for awhile?” Alex raised the hospital bed without waiting for an answer.

“Thanks, Boss.” Sitting up didn’t hurt this time, but it didn’t help either. The baby girl had slipped through his hands. LiLi was still missing. Mei would be crushed.

“Don’t look so glum. You’re alive. Mei’s alive, and you’re a hero.”

He didn’t feel like a hero.

“You need anything before I leave? A drink? Pain meds? Anything at all?”

“No thanks.” Zack fingered the call button with his clumsy, gauze-covered mitts. The joy of living through attempted murder faded with the knowledge of failing Mei. Maybe he’d ask for a pain med after all.

“How about a little company?”

“No.” Zack shook his head to protest when Alex opened the door.

There stood Mei with her arms full of a pink-checkered baby blanket. She came to Zack’s bedside and set the bundle on his lap. “I have someone who wants to meet you,” she said.

The sweetest little girl with dark almond-shaped eyes blinked up at him. She didn’t smile. She didn’t coo. Her hair glistened clean and black around a pink baby face, and she smelled refreshingly of baby powder. All his pent-up worry turned to relief when he grabbed that little gal and pressed her to his face. She resisted for a moment, but let herself be hugged.

“I’d like you to meet your little girl, Song Chang. Baby Song, this is the big strong man who rescued you and all your little friends. This is Agent...This is Zack.” Mei’s voice sounded soft and motherly, until she burst into tears. “I thought I’d lost you.”

He gathered her into his bed alongside Baby Song, overcome and damned happy. Zack couldn’t speak, just held those special ladies while Mei tried to compose herself, and Baby Song watched with serious eyes.

“You could have told me,” he muttered to Alex.

“Nah. This is better.” Alex had taken up residence on the only available chair. “You deserved a little scare after scaring the hell out of me.”

“Yeah, well.” Zack choked. They were here. His girls.

“The Tigers dropped you through a hole in the floor of an abandoned warehouse over in Anacostia. They roughed you up pretty good first. Dropped Mei on top of you. Landing on you protected her fall, but it didn’t help you much.”

“How’d you find us?”

Mei raised her hand shyly. “You told me to get help, remember?”

Zack shook his head. He couldn’t be certain of anything. “Hell of an op, Boss.”

“You’re telling me? I was in a meeting with the FBI, Interpol and the State Department when you got through to Mother.”

“I do remember that.” Zack rubbed the bruised side of his face with the back of one hand. “Someone clocked me. I think it was Jun.”

“She won’t be running any more orphanages where she’s going.”

“You got Richards, didn’t you?”

Alex could not have looked more pleased. “The police caught up with him at his place in Georgetown. He thought he could work a deal. Even made a statement to the press about how it was all a big misunderstanding, how he was innocent.”

“Innocent, my ass,” Zack growled, pulling Mei closer. She looked so pretty there in his arms. Who’d a thought?

Alex chuckled. “Funny thing. Ms. Bradford is Reginald Richards’ aunt. She took very meticulous care of her nephew’s business. FBI’s got names, addresses, even pictures of a few couples involved in the scandal. She kept track of the children who got sick or died, and how they disposed of bodies. Made our job a lot easier, but it sure surprised the hell out of Richards.”

Mei shivered, and Zack automatically kissed her forehead. Her hand on his chest felt warm and good. Baby Song watched with big wide eyes. She hadn’t made a peep yet.

“Do you remember me, little girl?” Zack asked. Of course she didn’t, but he had to ask. “What happens now, Boss?”

Alex had a funny light in his eye as his gaze shifted from Mei to Song and back to Zack again. “The Office of Family Reunification is all over it. They’ve already made contact with several Chinese families and are bringing them Stateside to be reunited with their daughters. It’s national news. I’m proud of you.”

“How many girls were recovered?”

“Over three hundred at the last count.”

Zack leaned back into his pillow. Praise from Alex meant a lot, but the thought of all those little girls caught up in the ugly business was more than he could stomach. Baby Song chose that moment to reach her fingers to his nose, watching him closely while she cranked it one way and then the other. Mei made an unusual noise that sounded a lot like a giggle.

“Hey, you,” Zack murmured as Song continued her exploration of his face. She patted his cheek with the softest angel touch that melted some of his heartache away. “It’s very nice to meet you, Baby Song.”

“Ah, for hell sakes.” Alex stood, scrubbed a hand over his head, shaking his emotions off his face. “I’m going back to work.” He turned to Mei. “I hope you know nothing’s changed. We’re still looking for your daughter.”

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

“No, Mei. Thank you. You saved our guy’s life.” He paused, one foot out the door and one foot in. “Almost forgot. You had company at your apartment last night, Zack. The Tigers tore it apart.”

“They what? Was Jake there?” Zack startled.

“No one was there, but it’s a crime scene right now. You can’t go home until the police release it. Then it needs to be repaired.”

“What’d they do to it? How’d they—?” Zack automatically thumped his hip for his wallet, keys, and cell phone, which of course were not there. “They took my wallet. They’ve got my ID—”

“Relax. We recovered it. Mother’s holding it for you.”

“Why’d they do that?”

“According to all their BS graffiti, they want you to stop messing with their boss.”

“I’m not messing with their boss.”

Alex cocked a quizzical eyebrow. “Yeah, you are. Richards, Debargio, Espinosa, the Tigers–they’re all in this together.”

Things were starting to line up in Zack’s head. “We can link Tony Brown to Carducci. We can link the Tigers back to Debargio and Espinoza. Want to bet Carducci knows Debargio?”

“I’ll do you one better.” Alex was back inside the room. “I just finished the Senate Investigation. Remember that?”

Zack gulped. Oh, yeah. That. It’s a wonder he still had a job.

“Of all the senators on the committee, who do you think voted to sanction me and my business?”

The way Alex’s eyebrow spiked told Zack this was a tasty bit of inside info. “You tell me.”

“Does the name Stephen Lord ring any bells?”

“Whoa. The big mouth from New York?” Zack knew Senator Lord by default, and not in a good way. He was a well-educated Yale man from a family of old money. He’d grown up in privileged Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, but moved to New York after he lost the bid for governor in his home state. Known for his hard stance against the military, he’d been trounced in the election.

Alex nodded. “One guess who he plays poker with every Tuesday night.”

“Carducci?” Zack tried that on for size. “Man, we’ve sure got a lot of players in the game.”

“We do. Which means you and Miss Xing will be under lock and key until it’s finished. Todd and Ember are outside. Right now they’re contending with a pesky reporter, but they’ll escort Mei and the baby back to the safe house. You’ll stay there when you’re released. Sound good?”

“Sure.” What else could Zack say? Recuperating with Mei and Song nearby sounded like a damned good idea. He looked at her to judge her acceptance of the new plan. “You okay with that?”

She wouldn’t meet his eyes when she answered. “Of course.”

Mei was blowing his socks off, as if he’d had any on. The whole experience they’d just lived through had changed everything. Here she lay, contentedly in his arms discussing his moving in with her. Sure, they were in a hospital bed, and he was feeling fairly harmless, but still. Two days ago, she’d have lanced him with one sharp barb and tossed him out with the trash.

“I’ve got work to do,” Alex muttered. “Do what your doctor tells you for a change, Zack. Can you handle that?”

He caught the sarcasm. “I’ll try.”

“Try hard.” Alex shut the door and left.

The silence in the room stretched. Something crazy was happening. Zack couldn’t lose it, but he didn’t want to move too fast, either. Still...he needed help with Song and a woman’s help would be better. Hers would be best.

“Tell me about Song Chang.” He changed the subject. “Does she have parents? Do we, ah, I mean do I get to keep her?” If Mei noticed his poor choice of words, she didn’t let on.

“No. Song Chang doesn’t have any parents. She’s out of an orphanage like Chai Yenn. Claire was thrilled that we, umm, you are able to take her.” Mei was having as hard a time as he was keeping them separate in her mind. Good to know.