Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Mei Lin woke to a steady hum.
She listened, afraid she’d open her eyes and find herself back in that cold, damp cell. But there’d been no machines there to hum—no heat or air conditioning, and certainly nothing as loud as the rumble she heard.
Her eyes were scratchy and dry when she opened them, but they weren’t hot like they’d been the night before.
The plane’s cabin was dim, lit by soft lights along the floor and sunshine glowing around the closed window shade.
When she swallowed, her throat burned, but her temperature was lower, if still a little elevated, and her mind clear.
The strangest thought occurred to her. Though fear still hung on like the fever, she was out of China, meaning she was safer than she’d been in years.
When was the last time she’d felt truly safe?
Thank You, Father. Thank You.
A murmur came from the row in front of her, and she peeked between the seats at the back of Ethan’s head, the dark hair at the nape, the curve of his shoulder where he leaned forward. He was talking to Gavin across the aisle.
There was something so comforting about the rhythm of her husband’s voice. She sat back and let the sound wash over her the way she used to lie in bed as a child and listen to her parents talking through the wall, knowing all was well because they were there.
But then a name rose above the murmur.
Lu Feng.
The warmth in her chest cooled. She sat up and found the button to adjust her seat.
Ethan must have caught the movement from the corner of his eye. He stood and faced her. “Good morning.”
“Is it morning?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea. How’re you feeling?” His voice was gentle, his eyes concerned.
“Better.” The word came out scratchy, and she cleared her throat.
“Sounds painful. I’ll get you some water.”
After he walked past her to the back of the plane, she unbuckled her belt and stood, pausing until her legs steadied. She moved to the row ahead and sank into the empty seat beside Ethan’s.
Gavin smiled at her from across the aisle, and she remembered the manners she’d been too tired to manage the night before.
“Good morning.” Her voice was still rough. “I’m sorry I wasn’t more talkative when we met.”
“I was impressed you were standing, considering how sick you were. How do you feel?”
“Better.”
“You’ve got a good doctor.”
Her husband was a doctor now. She hadn’t fully processed that.
“I’m glad you got some sleep,” Gavin said.
“What time is it? How long have we been in the air?”
He checked his watch. “About seven hours, give or take.”
“Really?” No wonder she felt better. She had woken several times, but the cabin had been quiet and warm, and Ethan had been sleeping beside her. She’d drifted right off again. “The seats are very comfortable.”
Gavin’s mouth lifted at one corner. “We’re blessed to have a charter pilot in the family.”
She wasn’t sure what to do with that. She hadn’t even known this part of Ethan’s family existed until the week before, but if not for them… She didn’t want to think about what would have happened.
Gavin glanced at his phone.
“Good news?” Ethan slid in beside her, carrying a bottle of water, a protein bar, and a paper bag.
Gavin leaned forward to see Mei Lin. “Michael made a few calls and got you something called humanitarian parole.”
Mei Lin asked, “What’s that?”
“Michael?” Ethan asked at the same time. “Not you?”
Gavin answered her first. “It’s basically an emergency visa allowing people into the country for a short time.
In your case, the justification is the evidence you’re bringing against Lu Feng.
It should allow you to stay until your visa is ready.
” He shifted to Ethan. “You’d be surprised at Michael’s connections.
I know people in the intelligence community. He knows people in the White House.”
“Nice.” Ethan handed Mei Lin the water and the protein bar.
She glared at the little wrapped food. “Do you have an endless supply of those?”
“I’ll need to start buying them by the case.”
“Please, don’t.”
“When you finish that, I have a treat for you.”
“Am I a toddler who needs to be bribed to eat her breakfast?”
“Maybe.” He opened the sack enough for her to peer inside. “Is it working?”
The sugary confection at the bottom of the bag had her mouth watering. “Is that a donut?”
“It’s yours if you finish your protein bar.”
She made a face that had him chuckling.
She sipped the water. It didn’t soothe her throat, but she was thirsty enough to take a second sip.
He set two small white pills in the little tray on the console between them. “Take these after you eat. Not on an empty stomach. I don’t want you to get sick.”
“I am a nurse. I know how medicine works.”
He stretched his legs. “Just let me take care of you.”
As if he’d done anything but take care of her for days. The bar tasted like cardboard with a faint suggestion of chocolate. She couldn’t remember when she’d eaten last. She should be hungry, but every swallow was painful. She gave up and held it out to him. “The donut will be softer.”
“Mm. A likely story.” But he traded the bar for the donut—plain glazed, her favorite. She took a bite, and though it hurt to swallow, it went down easier than the crunchy bar. And not just because it tasted better.
After managing a few bites and swallowing the tablets, she angled to face both men. “What were you two talking about?”
“We were going over your evidence.” Ethan glanced at his father. “Apparently, he doesn’t sleep.”
Gavin leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees. “There’s a lot of information here, Mei Lin. It was brave of you to collect it. Ethan told me how you kept it hidden. That was really impressive.”
“Or foolish,” she suggested.
“Some things are worth taking risks for.”
Ethan might not agree, but he didn’t argue, just lifted her hand and kissed it gently.
“The problem,” Gavin continued, “is that it’s old—2018 to early 2020.
If we can find these women and question them, they could validate your suspicions.
But that’s not going to be easy. It’s not like these networks are keeping careful records about their victims. Even if we can find them, it won’t tell us what he’s been up to in the past six years. ”
“So it was all for nothing?”
The older man’s eyebrows rose. “I didn’t say that.
” He tapped the laptop screen. “Lu Feng was building something and getting rich in the process. People don’t walk away from that kind of money.
Once it starts pouring in, they just get greedier—and cleverer.
They get better at hiding it.” Gavin’s lips tipped up at the corners.
“He’s good, but I know people who are better, and they’re digging into every one of the names you listed—victims and those you thought might be accomplices.
They’re also looking at hospitals he’s connected to, charities, foundations—anyone he sent money to, anyone who sent money to him.
If he’s still working, we’ll find his fingerprints. ”
Mei Lin slid the donut back into the bag and wiped her sugary fingertips on a napkin. “What if you don’t?”
“We will. It’s just going to take time.”
She must have looked less than convinced because Ethan squeezed her hand. “Now that you’re out of China, we have time.”
“The good news is that this information should be enough for the Party to take him into custody, especially considering he’s been acting as a champion fighting human trafficking.
He’s an embarrassment, and they’ll want him silenced.
They don’t have the same pesky habeas corpus rules in China that we have in the US. ”
Ethan’s mouth tipped a little. “Mei Lin has firsthand knowledge of their criminal justice system.”
His words and the deadpan tone surprised a chuckle out of her.
Gavin’s grin faded when a phone on his tray vibrated. He looked at the screen. “This should be news.” He pushed to his feet and wandered toward the back of the cabin as he answered.
She looked at Ethan. “How does he have service?”
“He has access to tech the general public doesn’t—like phones that connect to satellites.” Ethan nodded at the food and water she hadn’t finished. “I know it hurts, but—”
“You are very bossy.” But as much as it hurt to swallow, she was hungry and thirsty. She forced more donut and water down her swollen throat.
Gavin’s voice rose from a few rows back. “When did that happen?”
Ethan twisted to see him, and she stood, wondering what had the man so upset.
“Where did he—?” Another pause, then, “Keep working on it. I want to know the second you know, and tell them to hold off—” He nodded, but he didn’t look happy. “I’ll do my part. You need to do yours.”
He ended the call and spun, seeing them both watching him.
His expression shifted from angry to mild in a split second. He returned to his seat and set the phone carefully on the armrest. She had a feeling he was trying to decide what to tell them.
He looked past Ethan and met her eyes.
“Lu Feng left China yesterday.” His voice was even. “He’s scheduled to attend some global conference on human trafficking in Belgium next week, and the flight was booked to Brussels. He made it to Doha, but he didn’t get on his connecting flight.”
A chill seeped inside her chest, chasing away the safety she’d allowed herself to feel.
“Where is he?” Ethan asked, his voice sharpening.
“They’ll find him.”
“You don’t know?” Her husband’s voice rose. “Is he still in Qatar? What would he be doing there? Or… Surely if he took another flight out, there’d be a record of it.”
“There’s no record of him on another commercial flight.”
But that didn’t mean anything. Mei Lin was on a charter plane, and she was nobody. Lu Feng had money and connections.
Ethan pushed to his feet, then seemed unsure of what to do. “He could be anywhere.”
“Is he running because of me?” She gestured toward Gavin’s laptop. “Because I got to the evidence?”
“We don’t know what he’s doing.” Gavin’s tone was measured. “But we’ll figure it out. We’ll find him.”