In The Company Of Snipers: Zack Part 8

"I apologize." She lifted her chin to look directly at him. Intelligent dark eyes caught him off balance, like she'd reached across the short distance between them and landed a good, hard sucker punch. She blinked once, and he had to think why he was angry with her. Oh yeah. This woman's heartless. She's trouble. Besides, the hag's not good looking. Much.

Zack stood to leave. He had CIs to chat with. David could deal with her.

"I think it's important we focus on who we're really working for." David spoke very quietly. "Both of our agencies owe Chai Yenn and Zhen Ting the best work we can do. They are the important ones. Not us. We must put our differences aside and work together like the professionals we are."

d.a.m.n it, Tao. Zack stopped at the door. That was another annoying thing about David. He was a sniper. The man knew precisely how to hit his target and what ammo to use. The gentle reminder he'd just shot struck home like a live round of guilt. Mei nodded her total agreement, as if that helped. A ripple of unease poked at Zack. Everything was not as it seemed with this chick, but he sat again.

What am I not seeing?

"Ma'am, we'd be pleased to share all the information we've gathered over the past twenty-four hours, but we would also appreciate the same professional courtesy from you." David was the quintessential diplomat. "Is there anything you'd like to tell us?"

"That's why I'm here." She folded her hands in front of her and wiggled her hips, seemingly eager to please and still throwing off vibes of deceit. "My office has narrowed the search to two attorneys in the D.C. area who deal in overseas adoptions. I have a proposal to-"

Zack cut her off. "We already know about Reginald Richards."

"You do?" Her eyes registered surprise. "What, umm, else do you know?"

"He's facilitated the adoptions of hundreds of Chinese girls in the last few years," David offered.

"And he's made a boatload of cash," Zack added. "'Course, I bet you already knew that."

"Well, yes. Of course, I know that." She s.h.i.+fted in her chair. "Let's see what else you've got."

Zack caught the second tell. Agent Xing blinked rapidly, and those once calm hands were squeezed tight. No, make that wringing, as in twisting her fingers like they were rags. The game changed. She might've known about Richards, but she hadn't known about all those adoptions or the money he was bringing down. Zack pulled his chair up to the table, watching for other tells. She had his undivided attention now.

He set the trap. "He specializes in exotic children."

Bingo. Her brows raised. She didn't have a clue what he was talking about.

"Exotic? As in..." She let her words trail away, doubtless thinking she was baiting him.

He leaned forward and shrugged like he could care less. "You know. Unusual physical characteristics. Hair color. The shape of their face. Anything to make their looks unique. Physical attributes that fall outside their ethnicity."

She sucked in a quiet gasp. He had her now. Hook, line, and sinker.

"Like a Chinese American with blue eyes?" she asked quietly.

"Well, yeah," he admitted. Awareness trickled into his perfectly set trap. The earth s.h.i.+fted. Why had she come up with that specific example? None of the girls they'd located were Chinese Americans, at least as far as he knew. What wasn't she telling them? What did she know?

She licked her lower lip and glanced down, but her eyelashes fluttered. She was biting her liphard. Suddenly, she flattened both of her palms to the table.

"Let me show you what else we have on Richards." David interrupted the fis.h.i.+ng expedition. Just as he flashed the attorney's profile on the overhead, Alex stormed back into the Sit Room with Mother on his heels.

"Shut it down!" he demanded as he slapped a picture in front of their guest. "Who the h.e.l.l are you?"

Mother reached around David to turn the overhead off, then scurried out the door.

Zack stared dumbfounded. What had Alex so spun up?

"No, I...I-" Agent Xing caught her breath. She stood to leave but Alex grabbed her wrist, forcing her back to her seat.

"You're not going anywhere, Agent whoever you are. We're checking Immigration and Customs. Answer me. Who are you?" He crowded her personal s.p.a.ce with pure hostility.

"Mei Xing. I am Mei Xing. That much is true." She crumbled. "I'm not an agent for Immigration though. I'm just...I'm-"

"You'd better come up with a better story," Alex bellowed into her face. "You've been trying to hack my server. What the h.e.l.l are you looking for?"

A single tear trickled down her cheek.

"And you can knock that c.r.a.p off. Fake tears won't work. If you think for one minute-"

"I'm a mother!" she screamed back at him. "That's all. A mother. Do what you want. I don't care. I'll do whatever it takes to find her. Do you hear me?" She wiped the tears off her defiant face, meeting him head-on every inch of the way.

Now Zack was hooked. A what? A mother? Find who?

Alex lowered his voice and pulled his chair against hers. "Who are you trying to find?"

"What do you care?" She was the angry one now, their roles reversed. "Turn me in. Call the police. I should've known you guys wouldn't help, either."

"Now wait a minute-"

"Why should I? You're all the same." She shoved her chair back, preparing to stand, although he still held her wrist. "Well, let me tell you something. I don't need men!"

Once again, Alex refused to let her rise out of her chair.

Zack was impressed. This woman had actually barked back at his boss, a feat few had tried. The stare down continued, but he'd caught desperation in her voice loud and clear. The men in her life had failed her.

"I'll ask one more time," Alex said calmly. "Who are you looking for?"

She hesitated, glancing at the door.

"I haven't called anyone, Meiif that's your real name. No police are coming to get you."

She melted, her lower lip quivering as her demeanor softened. One more minute of the stare down continued before she burst into tears. "LiLi." She hiccupped. "I'm looking for my daughter."

Say what? Zack looked closer. Mei Xing was scared. That's why the tough girl act. She'd been scared at the hospital, too.

David grabbed the box of tissues from the nearby credenza and pushed it into her hand. She took several, wiped her face, and tried to compose herself.

"Come on now, don't cry," Alex soothed. "Tell me what's going on. Tell me about LiLi."

Mei hiccupped again, the tissues against her mouth and nose. He still gripped her wrist, but she didn't seem to mind. Dark eyes flicked over his face, searching. At last she dabbed her eyes and spoke. "My little girl. She was coming home from school. She's only six. One minute, she's getting off the bus. She's smiling at me. The next minute, some guy attacks me and...They stole my baby," she whispered. "In broad daylight. Right in front of me. They took LiLi."

Tears poured down her cheeks, and that didn't help. Zack's defenses went right out the window. Her story stabbed his heart. What the h.e.l.l was going on in Anacostia?

She pushed the picture of herself peering into her laptop computer screen back toward Alex. "I met your agents at the hospital, so I followed them. You guys can get into places I can't, and I...so I...." She fingered her very official looking ICE badge, and just that fast Hagatha was back. "What else could I do? I couldn't get past your stupid firewall!"

"Yeah, well, that's not going to happen." Alex chuckled softly as his hand moved from her wrist to her shoulder.

"But you don't understand. I've been looking for so long, and she's just six."

Zack glanced at David and Alex. Alex was patting her shoulder like he did this kind of thing every day. David looked genuinely concerned, but neither of them seemed as affected as Zack felt. "Boss, umm, I'll go check for any missing person reports." He had to get away. "And I'll find out about any AMBER Alerts that might have-"

"I already know." Mei glared at him through teary eyes. "They never issued one. I'm not important enough."

"Who the h.e.l.l told you that?" he asked in amazement at the bold-faced lie.

"No one. It's just that the detectives asked me a lot of questions. They said they'd issue one, but they never did. Then another man called. He wouldn't give me his name, but he said he worked with the police. He told me I had to file a missing persons report first, and-"

"Wait a minute." Alex stopped her. "A missing person report? Are you serious? They didn't treat this as an abduction?"

She buried her face in her arms and sobbed. "I've been everywherethe police, my congressman, the governor. No one will help me."

Zack turned away. Something about the woman was sucking him in, and it had to stop. She sounded desperate and sad. So much in love with her missing child.

"Someone's been telling you a h.e.l.luva lot of lies," Alex said gently.

"I know," she squeaked. "I can't trust anyone. Everyone's against me."

Zack never thought he'd live to see the day. His boss had pulled Mei into his arm. The sight of her crying against Alex's shoulder shook Zack. The haughty ICE agent had been reduced to a little girl. He turned away.

"Everyone isn't against you," Alex said quietly, "but someone's done a good job of hosing you. How about if we find out about the AMBER Alert business? That shouldn't take long. Then we'll find your little girl, okay?"

"Really?" Mei lifted her head. "You'd really help me? After all I've done?"

"Yes, ma'am, we will." Alex nodded to Zack and David. "You work with my two agents here, and we'll find your little girl. We'll find LiLi."

"But why?" She hiccupped through another stifled sob. "You don't know me."

Alex was quiet for a minute. "It's what we do, Mei. We do what others can't. Or won't."

"Thank you," she said timidly. "Thank you very much."

Alex turned to Zack and David. "David. Come with me. Zack, stay with Ms. Xing. See what else she knows."

ELEVEN.

"You must hate me," Mei said, her voice hushed and tired.

"No, ma'am. I don't." Zack would've agreed with the statement earlier, but after spending hours with her, he didn't know how he felt. Some of her story made sense. Some didn't. The detectives she described and named did not work for the police. He'd checked. And the mysterious man on the phone who'd told her there'd be no AMBER Alert? Another dead end. Zack had worked plenty with the police officers. There was no way they'd blatantly disregard a mother's plea for help. Heck, most of them had children. If anything, they were over-the-top rabid dogs when it came to crimes against kids.

Too many other things didn't add up. Someone was one step ahead of her all the way. Or she was lying. He would've agreed with that conclusion the day before too.

"So tell me again. Why do you think your daughter is caught up in the child trafficking ring?"

She sighed another long drawn-out sigh, like she'd done with every repeat question. "Because it's the only thing that makes sense."

"Where'd you hear about it?"

"At the Emergency Room. A police officer told Claire the whole thing smelled bad."

That surprised Zack. "You were at the ER? When?"

She blanched white, her dark lashes bleak against the pale of her skin. "After they found the second little girl in the garbage."

"You saw her?"

"Yes," she whispered. "I went to the morgue too."

"You what? How could you do that?"

"I had to make sure."

"How did you know we'd found Chai?" he asked gently. This woman was one surprise after another. He couldn't get the baby at the morgue's partially decomposed body out of his mind. How could she?

"I bought a police scanner when LiLi first went missing. I had to." She looked away. "Then I used my, umm, influence to get into wherever I needed to go."

He didn't know what to say. No wonder she was gaunt. The woman was running on empty. "How many fake IDs do you have?"

"As many as I need."

Inexplicably, his hand reached across the table. Her hand was ice. "You won't need them again. I'll help you."

She didn't answer, but there was definite fire in her eyes when she eased her hand out from under his.

Mother tapped at the door and peeked in. "Hey, Zack. Got a minute?"

"Sure. Be right there." He turned to Mei. "I'll take you home as soon as I'm finished."

She nodded tiredly. "I'm not going anywhere."

"So, how's your new girlfriend?" Mother said the second he stepped up to her desk.

"Whatcha got?" Zack ignored the catty question. She never changed. Leave it to her to pick up on the vibes he wanted to ignore. The woman had radar. Yeah. Mei's story touched him. So what?

"I asked a friend of mine to run your little b.u.t.ton through his new generation RXD spectra-a.n.a.lysis machine." She handed him the evidence bag. "He works for a private lab that handles some of the country's toughest forensic evidence. The new a.n.a.lyzer they've got can scan a sample in micro-seconds. It breaks it down to 20 millimeters of-"

"Just tell me if it's worth anything." Zack waved her technical explanation off.

"It's worth seven dollars, just for one b.u.t.ton. It's got three diamonds in it. They were covered with grime, but that's not what's important. Look at this." With a flourish, Mother set a colorful bar chart with a conglomeration of vertical lines on her counter. "The spectra-a.n.a.lysis report lists everything that came into contact with the b.u.t.ton." She pointed to one particular green line. "See this right here?"