In The Company Of Snipers: Zack Part 10

The simple sight of the sugar bowl in the middle of her table brought LiLi's pouting face to mind. Like all kids, she loved sweets. Mei had to watch her or she'd spoon sugar on her waffles. Over the syrup. Maybe with chocolate chips. Mei's resolve buckled.

G.o.d, I can't do this alone anymore!

"Copy that." Agent Lennox 's voice rose strong and confident from her bedroom where he was checking for listening devices. She stared when he entered the kitchen, dumbfounded at the odd coincidence. It was as if he'd just answered her.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. "Did you say something to me?"

Did you hear me? Are you the answer to my prayers?

"Sorry. Didn't mean to be loud. Just chatting with the boss." The darkest chocolate eyes smiled back at her, warm and melted. Inviting. Comforting.

"I only have instant coffee," she said to break the connection. What was she thinking? He didn't care. Not really.

Agent Lennox pulled out a chair and sat, watching. She glanced sideways at him. He was the first man to sit at her cheap dinette set. He made it look small and fragile, sitting there with his hands on his knees like he was. Somehow, he also made it look good.

When the water heated enough, she poured two cups and sat opposite him, ignoring all those masculine traits her eyes kept pointing out, his big work boots for one. The man had huge feet, so of course his thighs were large, too. But his lashes were long and thick. Men didn't usually have eyes as deep and dark as his. Those lashes made them deeper. s.e.xier. She shook the foolishness out of her mind. I don't care if he has three eyes as long as he finds LiLi.

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Only the best coffee I've had in a long time." He uncurled his fingers. There in his left hand rested two square little things, each with a wire hanging off it.

Her jaw dropped. "You're kidding me-"

"I never kid about good coffee, ma'am." He cautioned her with a finger to his lips.

Someone's been listening to me.

She couldn't breathe. All this time, someone out there knew. They'd heard her cry, swear, and scream. They'd heard her call the police and the detectives. The hospitals. Her senator. They'd heard everything. Worse, they'd physically been inside her home. She wrapped Agent Lennox's jacket tighter, glancing at what had once been her sanctuary.

His eyes searched hers. "You wouldn't happen to have any rice, would you?"

Rice? Now? He's hungry? This late at night?

She went to her empty cupboards and returned with the granola and one bowl. "This is all I have. If you want milk with your cereal-"

He took hold of her hands and the box of cereal between them. "It will do. Thank you."

She caught the tender look in his eye. He'd seen her bare cupboards. Now he knew.

Yes, I'm living on the edge of poverty. Deal with it. I certainly have.

Instead of taking the box, he shook his head. "Another time. I'd better get going."

He downed his coffee in a gulp. At the door, he turned to her and tapped the deadbolt. "Make sure you use this."

She gulped. He'd found listening devices inside her home, and now he was leaving? Her anxiety must've shown through. Suddenly, he was back at her side. The air he brought with him was filled with the distinct odor of leather, and - power? Safety? Her heart stuttered. She looked up into fierce brown eyes that seemed to see through her carefully constructed wall. His arm curled protectively around her. For one split second, her lips parted.

"Don't leave your apartment until I pick you up in the morning. Understood?" An emotion flickered across his face. One lightning quick glance at her mouth, and he took a step back, releasing her. "I'm an early riser. Will six a.m. be too early for you?"

"I'll be ready, Agent Lennox," she whispered, her angst gone with the strength in her legs.

He nodded, opened the door without looking back and was gone.

Mei turned the deadbolt like he'd instructed. A chill s.h.i.+vered across her shoulders when she glanced at her empty apartment. Someone had been in here, and that person had left listening devices to track her every word and move. There might be a bug in her car, too. That meant they knew she had a police scanner. They knew she'd been to the hospital. They knew everything.

She sank to the floor, for the first time afraid to be in her own home. Agent Lennox's jacket sank with her. She pulled it closer, burrowing into the warmth and the odor of a man who might care. The empty rooms stared back at her. No longer friendly. No longer safe.

"I can't stay here."

TWELVE.

Where the h.e.l.l is she?

After pounding on Mei's door until he was afraid he'd wake her neighbors, Zack did the only thing he could do. He picked her lock, easy enough since the deadbolt was not engaged like he'd told her to do. d.a.m.ned ornery woman.

It didn't take long to search the two-bedroom dive. By then, he was livid. He had no idea where she'd gone or if someone had abducted her, too. He doubted that scenario, but the obvious fact remained. Whoever'd planted those bugs was no longer receiving any intel from Mei's apartment. They might've gone looking for her. Anything was possible.

Like an idiot, he'd changed her flat tire before leaving last night. In an attempt to breach the stone cold wall she'd built around her, he'd done something to help her, but it had only provided the means for her to run around town and get into more trouble. Not his brightest idea. Zack thumped his steering wheel with the heel of his palm, cussing her as he drove past her parking stall. The wreck was still there. She must have taken the bus. How could he help if she refused to listen?

The drive to the office was faster than usual because his emotions ran straight down his leg and into the accelerator. Somehow, the purr of those four-hundred and seventy-five horses worked their magic, soothing the ragged edges off the already troublesome day. Now, if only he knew where Mei was.

The seemingly simple ch.o.r.e of locating Chai Yenn's parents had quickly morphed into a human trafficking operation. On top of an apparent child abduction, it seemed to include someone spying on a woman too poor to afford food, but too pig-headed to do as she was told. He parked his pride and joy in its a.s.signed stall and opted for a run up the two flights to his office to burn off what was left of his irritation.

Alex would already be there and demanding. Great. What am I supposed to say? I lost her? I screwed another op? d.a.m.ned woman.

He pushed the fire-door open and entered ground zero. The aroma of an early pot of coffee welcomed him. Did the man never go home? Annoyed, he rounded Mother's empty desk on his way to his works.p.a.ce. At least the office busybody would miss the round of fireworks.

Two very elegant, long legs that ended in bare feet stretched into view. Mei?

"Where have you been?" he muttered quietly. What was she doing in his chair, all sprawled nice and comfy, his leather jacket wrapped around her like a blanket? Still dressed in the same clothes as yesterday, she yawned like he'd disturbed her from a sound sleep. "I was picking you up this morning. Remember? You were supposed to stay put."

She blinked wide-open eyes, still waking up. Yeah. The deer in the headlights look was a new touch, somehow soft and feminine. So was the length of silky black hair hanging off the slightly disheveled knot at the back of her very hard head.

"Take it easy. I found her downstairs," Alex said from behind him.

And then he was really mad. "You slept in the lobby?"

"No, I-" She pushed her hair off her face, straightening in his chair. "Umm, yes. I had a flat, so I took the bus."

Despite himself, it was hard not to miss how cute she looked when she pushed her b.u.t.t back and folded her legs beneath her.

"I fixed your flat," he growled, not ready to ease up on her.

"Relax. I let her in when the front door alarm sounded. She's been camped out here waiting for you," Alex intervened.

Zack shot his boss a look. It would've been nice if someone had told him.

"I couldn't stay there," she said softly.

He didn't know who to be angrier with. "So you trot down here in the middle of the night?"

"Lay off," Alex said. "No harm, no foul. You got the bugs?"

Zack reached inside the pocket to his team jacket and pulled out the two nasty listening devices, by now deep inside a noisy paper bag of noisier dried rice to prevent anyone from listening.

Alex took the bag, inserted two fingers to shuffle the rice aside, and viewed the contents. "Radio Shack specials, huh?"

"Already dusted them for prints. They're clean," Zack muttered, not sure why he was angry. Obviously, Mei was capable of taking care of herself. Why should he worry? Wait. He wasn't worried, was he? The notion didn't sit well. He glanced her way. Slumber still clouded those dreamy browns. A woman waking up was just plain s.e.xy. Why did it have to be her?

"Since you're both here." Alex nodded toward his office. "Let's decide on our next step."

"Okay." Mei pushed to her feet, sliding both arms into the too-big leather jacket. She looked like some high school cheerleader in her boyfriend's letterman jacket the way the thing dwarfed her. Zack calmed, thinking about how cold she'd been last night. Black leather looked good on her now that he had time to actually look. Long legs. Leather. Yeah. She could be d.a.m.ned good looking, in an uptight sort of way.

"I was going to take you to breakfast," he said to soften his outburst. "You should've waited for me. You've got to be hungry."

Just that fast, the jacket was off her shoulders and tossed to his chair. Mei reached to the back of her head and wound the loose strand of hair nice and tight. Hagatha was back. Good looking was gone.

"I don't need your pity," she snapped. "We have work to do."

He followed behind her and Alex, watching her smart a.s.s twitch from side to side as she seemed to lead the way. Exactly who was in charge here? It sure looked like she was. Despite her brief thaw of the night before, she was back to ice queen status. As soon as they were seated at the small conference table in Alex's office, the inquisition began.

"Your boss took my badge." She glared at Zack like he'd done it.

He shrugged it off. "Good."

"I can't work without it." Very delicate eyebrows dropped into a severe V. Cruella di Vil? Yeah. That's who she looked like when she glared like that.

"What are you telling me for? Tell him." Zack nodded toward Alex. "You could do serious time if you got caught. Next time I'm at your apartment, I want the rest of them. Should've taken 'em last night."

She tapped her toes like she'd done in the hospital, glaring the same way, too.

Well, two can play that game, sister. He glared right back. d.a.m.n. She had pretty eyes. Pretty mean eyes.

"You been having phone trouble for awhile now, have you?" He shot a volley her way.

"Yes. Why?" she hissed.

"Because that's what cheap listening devices do to phones. You ever think of that?" Bam. Full in the face. Take that, Miss High and Mighty.

She blinked. He gulped. How did she do that to him! One minute capable, downright tough, vicious and cruel, but the next frightened and scared, which only meant she never was tough in the fist place. Argh! He couldn't keep up. Vulnerable and mean did not go hand in hand. The frightened woman ducked back behind the cover of the Wicked Witch of the West, and he let her. A witch he could deal with.

"Your boss interrupted me yesterday, Agent Lennox. I have a proposal that might break the case open. Remember?"

"And that would be?" Zack slouched back in his seat. He was done trying to help. He shot a look at Alex, who still hadn't said anything. Zack's sense of foreboding snapped to attention. His boss looked way too comfortable.

d.a.m.n. These two have been talking. Something's going on.

"I want to go undercover as a married couple."

Oh, h.e.l.l no. Zack nearly laughed out loud. Would have if Alex hadn't finally engaged, his fingers steepled together and tapping to beat the band. Caffeine and Mei were a bad combination.

"She's got a good idea, Zack. You two could infiltrate Richards' office as a married couple. Find out if he's involved with the Black Dragon Syndicate like we think he is. Might lead you straight to the children." Alex sounded like he was asking, but he wasn't.

"But we have no evidence those guys took her daughter." Zack was not going down without a fight.

"We have no evidence they didn't."

"If they've got a lawyer like Richards on their payroll, they've got money. They'd have no trouble bugging my home. Who else could it be?" Mei tossed her two cents worth into the ring.

Zack tossed it right back out. "Money does not equate to motive." He focused on his boss. "Motive. Means. Opportunity. Why would a child trafficking ring steal her daughter and bug her home?"

Alex shrugged. "Why not?"

"Sounds like a lot of trouble." Zack gritted his teeth. "That means they've got fake detectives, telephone operators who intercepted every one of Mei's calls, and someone b.a.l.l.sy enough to break and enter."

Alex leaned forward. "Think about it. Whoever's behind the abduction killed the forty-eight hour window essential to finding a missing child. They covered their tracks and diverted attention. It smacks of organized crime. She could be right."

Mei followed the conversation like a tennis match.

Zack bit his lip rather than say, 'She could be wrong'. The woman he'd finally glimpsed behind Hagatha was hanging on by a thread. Wrong or right, the fact remained. A child trafficking ring did exist. Little girls were endangered. And LiLi was somewhere out there without her mother.

"Wouldn't David be better for this operation?" Zack pushed back from the table, definitely drawing the short end of the stick again. "He is Chinese. Mei's Chinese." And I don't want to do this.

"You and Mei are closer in age." Alex cut him off at the pa.s.s. "And you'll make a more believable couple."

"Why's that?" Because she's b.i.t.c.hy, and we already fight like we're married?

"Look at the two of you." Alex smirked.

He was right. Who'd doubt when a latte-colored man and a Chinese American woman showed up to adopt an exotic child?

"Yeah, but Boss...."

The last thing Zack wanted was to spend another day with Mei. Feeling sorry for her did not equate to a twenty-four-seven partners.h.i.+p, much less an undercover sting that might take who knew how long. It could last days, weeks, and heaven forbid, months. They'd have to pretend to live together. No way.

Alex stared back at him.

Zack stifled his next good excuse. The decision had obviously already been made, maybe before he'd even rolled out of bed this morning. "Never mind. Will do."

"Good. Mother will put your undercover ident.i.ties together. You'll be wired. David and Todd will be in a nearby listening post if needed. All you have to do is keep me informed. Besides..."