35. Chapter 35
thirty-five
T he sun had barely cleared the horizon, but Lina was dressed—back in her black jeans, but this time she wore a less-bleak maroon T-shirt. It was still new year, after all. Though she’d love to spend the next fifteen days celebrating with her family, she and Curtis needed to get on with their plan.
She was putting in the last of her items into her duffel bag when Curtis came out from the bathroom, also dressed for the day. Understanding today would be the start of their attempt to put an end to this nightmare, he was somber. Following her lead, Curtis packed up.
Lina went to him and wrapped herself around his back. “You’re okay?”
He rubbed her arms at his waist. “Yeah. Anxious, but yes, I’m okay.” He turned to face her. “You?”
“I’ll feel better once we have a solid plan.” Lina added, “And I’ll feel a whole lot better when Serafina Stiletto is behind bars or—”
“Don’t,” Curtis stopped her. “We don’t need more deaths in our lives.”
Lina sighed. “Curtis, you look at the world through a rose-tinted filter. Life doesn’t always work out the way you hope. You’ll need to accept there’s a possibility—”
“Nope,” he cut her off again. “I won’t accept any outcome that doesn’t involve you and I walking out of this worry-free.”
“You’re not being realistic.”
Curtis pulled her hips flush to his. “You’re being too pessimistic.”
“I’m being pragmatic.”
“Listen, I understand there are many ways things could go wrong, but there’s also a chance we can resolve this somehow. You wouldn’t have agreed to go back if you didn’t believe we have a chance.”
“I agreed because this isn’t a life for you.”
“For us.”
Lina looked at him, trying not to disappoint him. “My priority is you.”
“No. I’m not your burden, Lina.” Curtis shook his head. “Not anymore. I carry my own weight, and we do this together.”
“Together.” Lina smiled, agreeing. But whether or not Curtis agreed, she’d put herself on the line before she’d let him in harm’s way.
He kissed her softly on the lips. “Never forget that.”
With a nod, Lina said, “Let’s get going.”
After cleaning up the apartment, Lina and Curtis headed out to the agreed meeting place. There weren’t many businesses open during the first three days of the Lunar New Year, but Ed always knew the right places to go.
“Here they are.” Ed gestured them over to a small table brimming with yeun yeung— a mix of coffee and Hong Kong-style milk tea—and several sweet breakfast selections.
“Come. Have some breakfast,” Ed told Curtis and Lina.
Lina eyed the selection. “Those are diabetes waiting to happen, Uncle.”
A bald man sitting across from her uncle grinned as he licked his fingers. “But they’re fucking delicious.”
“Hi, Ken.” Lina dropped next to her boss. “Thanks for getting here so fast.”
“I was nearby.”
“Curtis, you haven’t met Ken, have you?” Lina asked. “He’s Marcus’ partner.”
“No.” Curtis shook hands with Ken. “Good to meet you. You didn’t come from the U.S.?”
“I was on a job in Papua New Guinea,” Ken answered vaguely.
“I didn’t know we have a client in PNG,” Lina said.
“We didn’t. They requested us for an emergency.”
Ken Yesuda headed the cybersecurity unit of B&Y, so whatever he’d been doing in PNG must’ve involved the client’s network safety. And if Ken himself had gone there, there must’ve been a major breach that could cost a company a shitload of money.
“But that’s been taken care of.” Ken nodded. He pushed a plate to Curtis. “You should try this.”
“That’s a fried Kaya French toast filled with coconut egg custard,” Ed said. “The topping is condensed milk and butter. Not the best for your heart, but you only live once.”
“Sounds good to me.” Curtis laughed and took one of the quarter cuts.
Lina ordered some soft-boiled eggs to go along with the pineapple buns Ed had already ordered. The men might want to eat like they didn’t have internal organs to worry about. She, on the other hand, needed protein.
“I’ve been following your case,” Ken said to Curtis. “Their crowdsourcing ploy was pretty clever, given your celebrity status. My guys didn’t expect that, but they caught on in time.”
“I was surprised they were so advanced,” Lina said. “I thought the Stilettos were more into real estate, construction, contraband trafficking—and their territory was limited to the tristate area.”
“We’ve rarely paid this close attention to an organized crime family, but now we have. We’ve gained more intel on them,” Ken said. “From what my team could tell, they don’t have the cyber capacity a corporation might have, but they might have someone or a team with pretty impressive skills to infiltrate law enforcement networks.”
Ken glanced at Curtis before shifting his gaze back at Lina. “The team linked several incidents involving witnesses under WITSEC with undetected breaches in the U.S. Marshals’ network. But nothing concrete to connect it with the Stilettos.”
“You gotta be shitting me,” Lina muttered.
“It was smart to get off the grid,” Ken said. “As of this morning, they’re still chasing whatever decoy you let loose in Africa.”
“Good,” Lina said. “How did you get here?”
Ken smirked. “Don’t worry. They won’t know I’m here. Hell, to anyone except for present company, I’m not here.”
“How do you do that?” Curtis asked, fascinated.
“Well, Curtis, I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you.” Ken winked at him. “Which wouldn’t bode well since you’re the client, and Lina here will have my head.”
“I learned not to ask,” Ed said to Curtis. “Just trust they know what they’re doing.”
“Wise words, Ed. Like always.” Ken looked at Curtis. “So, what’s this about you wanting to go back to New York? The Stilettos aren’t secured yet. You still have a target on your back.”
“I’m done hiding,” Curtis said.
Ken eyed Lina. “You support this?”
Lina nodded. “We need to take a more proactive approach to end the problem instead of running from it.”
“And how do you propose to do this?”
“I don’t know yet. I need more information to figure out a strategy. And I can’t get that off the grid. So we’re going home. I need everything your team has on the Stilettos and what’s happening on the ground right now.
“The last time I talked to Marcus, except for some intimidation and threats from the Stilettos, the Murphys have not retaliated. The police are getting frustrated that nothing was happening as they’d expected.”
“So the police are just sitting on their hands?” Ken asked.
“There’s nothing they can do until a crime is committed. But we can’t keep waiting.”
“No. We can’t,” Curtis echoed her words, his voice determined.
Ken studied the two of them. “Well, eat up then. Wheels up in a couple of hours.”
Curtis and Lina had said their goodbyes to the family the day before, but leaving these loving people he’d just met still left a lump in his chest. Their stay in Hong Kong was brief, but it carved a permanent notch in his heart.
“We’ll see you soon,” Ed said, patting Curtis on the arm as they were about to board the plane Ken had arrived in. “Maybe for another auspicious occasion.”
“Uncle Ed,” Lina almost growled at her uncle. There was an unspoken warning in the way she said his name. Curtis wasn’t sure he understood.
“What? Who knows?” Ed shrugged innocently. “Why waste time?”
Curtis eyed Ed, trying to decipher the older man’s meaning.
“Don’t listen to him,” Lina told Curtis.
“Have I ever led you astray, Lina?” Ed challenged.
She didn’t answer but glared at him.
“I’m so lost,” Curtis said
“Don’t mind me,” Ed said. “Just figure out how to get out of this mess safely.”
“That’s the plan, Uncle.” Lina gave him a hug. “Thank you for everything.”
“You know you can always count on me, kid,” Ed said. “Hey, remember. Get out of your head sometimes, and listen to…” He patted his heart.
Lina gave him a solemn nod and turned to follow Ken. Curtis was about to do the same when Ed held him off.
“You watch her back,” Ed said evenly.
“Always.” Curtis nodded.
He and Lina boarded the plane behind Ken and waved to Ed. The plane was smaller but much more comfortable than the one they’d arrived on a few days ago. It was more like the one they’d left the U.S. in, and Curtis was grateful he wouldn’t have to twist himself into a pretzel to sleep.
“Where did you get these fancy digs, Ken?” Lina asked when they were all seated and buckled in, and the plane started taxiing.
“Remember the project in PNG?” Ken said. “I just saved them billions of dollars. They were so grateful they lent me their plane.”
“Wow. You must’ve done some miracle.”
“We do what we can. Sometimes, there’s a simple solution. Sometimes, things are a bit more complicated. It just happened this time. It was a big problem with a simple solution.”
The captain announced over the intercom they were about to take off.
“Your problem falls under complicated, Curtis,” Ken said. “As it involves emotion, a mother’s grief. Her need for revenge is misplaced, but you can’t argue with someone like Serafina Stiletto.”
“Then what can we do?” Curtis asked.
Ken looked thoughtful. “I honestly don’t know yet, Curtis. Putting you back within her reach might not be a smart move. We can still divert this flight somewhere else. We will need to make a stop before we reach New York, anyway.”
“No. I told you I can’t let her run me out of my home and my life forever.”
“We understand,” Lina intervened. “Ken is just saying there is still time to change your mind. We can always go somewhere else until we come up with a foolproof plan to end this.”
“No.” Curtis insisted stubbornly. “My family can’t get back to their lives until I resolve this. Either we figure out a way to do that peacefully, or I’ll draw her out myself—”
“That’s not an option,” Lina sharply cut him off.
“It might be the only way. Dangle me in front of her, force her to make her move.”
“I’m not using you as bait,” Lina flatly dismissed Curtis’ idea.
“She wants me,” Curtis argued. “Let’s give her what she wants. It’s the simplest solution. Then you and the police can swoop in and arrest her ass.”
“She’ll never do her dirty work herself. It’s too risky. You might get hurt or worse, dead, and we still wouldn’t get her.” Her hand slashed the air with a rare show of temper. “No!”
Curtis’ stubborn gaze met Lina’s. Her eyes were hard, her lips pursed.
“We may have to consider that idea,” Ken chimed in, a calm voice in the heated argument. “But let’s not make any decisions before we get all the information. Marcus may have new developments we could use in our plan.”
Ken took out a laptop and a few folders from his backpack that he passed on to Lina and Curtis. “I made some printouts of what we have so far. We have a long flight. What better way to pass it than to learn everything there is to know about the Stilettos? Let’s find their weakest link.”