Chapter 15 The Hero on Television #4
"You don't owe the world because somebody helped you."
Tan looked at him.
"You did your job."
"You did it well."
"Be proud of that."
Tan smiled.
"Yes, sir."
Terrence immediately made a face.
"Don't call me sir in my house."
Tan laughed.
Later, while most of the family remained inside, Tan and Amari slipped into the backyard.
The evening had cooled.
Music drifted faintly through the closed patio doors.
Amari sat on the swing.
Tan joined her.
For a while, neither spoke.
Then Amari rested her head against him.
"You looked handsome on television."
Tan groaned.
"Please stop."
"I'm serious."
"I looked exhausted."
"Handsome and exhausted."
"Better."
She smiled.
Tan stared toward the yard.
His proposal plan was ruined.
At least for now.
He hadn't cared earlier.
Now, sitting beside Amari, he found himself considering something simpler.
Maybe he didn't need elaborate plans.
Maybe he could take her to the park next week.
Or tomorrow.
Or—
Amari lifted her head.
"What?"
Tan blinked.
"What?"
"You were staring at me."
"Was I?"
"Yes."
"Maybe you're pretty."
She smiled.
"Maybe?"
"Very."
"Better."
He kissed her.
Slowly.
Amari rested one hand against his chest.
When they separated, she looked down.
His jade pendant had slipped outside his shirt.
She touched it gently.
"You wore this during the raid?"
"I always wear it."
"Even tactical operations?"
"Under everything."
She turned the stone carefully between her fingers.
"Do you ever wonder if your biological family saw you today?"
Tan became quiet.
He hadn't considered that.
Not seriously.
The thought settled strangely.
"Maybe."
"Would you want them to?"
He stared toward the darkness.
"I don't know."
Amari didn't pressure him.
Eventually he said,
"Part of me wants Jin to see it."
"Why?"
"So he knows I made it."
Her heart tightened.
"And another part?"
"Doesn't know what happens if he does."
Amari studied him.
Tan looked down at the pendant.
"My dad found that corporate filing years ago."
"I remember."
"If Jin's alive..."
He paused.
"What if he became somebody I don't want to know?"
Amari took his hand.
"Then finding him answers a question."
"It doesn't obligate you to become part of his life."
Tan looked at her.
"You always make complicated things sound simple."
"No."
She smiled.
"I make simple parts sound simple."
"The complicated parts are still complicated."
Tan laughed.
"Fair."
She rested against him again.
Inside, everyone started singing along loudly to an old Luther Vandross song.
Tan recognized Gloria above everyone else.
Amari smiled.
"Your family's loud."
"Very."
"I love them."
Tan looked down at her.
The words struck him.
He imagined the ring.
Locked away at his apartment.
He almost asked.
Right there.
But not yet.
Soon.
Across the city, Victor Zhang placed a thick folder onto Jin Lee's desk.
Jin looked at it.
"Already?"
"Public records gave us most of it."
"Police connections filled in some gaps."
Jin's eyes sharpened.
"Police connections?"
Victor said nothing more.
Jin understood.
He opened the folder.
First photograph.
Tan.
Official police image.
Then Terrence David.
Eva David.
Travis David.
Ella David.
Harold.
Gloria.
Then Amari Davenport.
Jin stopped.
"Who is she?"
"His girlfriend."
"How serious?"
"Very, from appearances."
Jin studied the photograph.
Amari leaving Tan's apartment.
Another at dinner.
Another entering the David home.
"Occupation?"
"Federal program management."
Jin looked up.
"Federal?"
"Administrative. No obvious investigative role."
"Salary?"
"High."
"Connections?"
"Nothing concerning so far."
Jin turned the page.
Tan's property.
Banking estimates.
Career.
SWAT.
Awards.
Public social records.
Neighborhood.
Church.
Everything.
Then adoption documentation.
Tan Lee David.
Jin stared at the legal name.
"He kept Lee."
Victor nodded.
"Yes."
"Interesting."
"He also appears to have made repeated lawful public-record inquiries into Lee-associated businesses."
Jin slowly looked up.
"How repeated?"
"Over years."
"Golden Meridian?"
"Unknown whether he connected it directly."
Jin leaned back.
"So he has been searching."
"Likely for you."
Jin's expression changed.
That possibility created an emotion he didn't want.
For one second, he imagined Tan at thirteen.
Eighteen.
Twenty-five.
Looking through records for the brother who never returned.
Something close to guilt moved inside him.
Then he killed it.
"Anyone from the older family contacted him?"
"Not that we found."
"Trust attorneys?"
"No."
"Good."
Jin closed the folder.
Victor remained seated.
"What do you want done?"
Jin looked toward the television.
Another replay of Tan's interview ran silently.
Terrence's hand on his shoulder.
Father and son.
Jin's jealousy twisted into calculation.
Killing Tan immediately would create chaos.
A nationally recognized police officer dead days after a trafficking raid?
Every agency in the country would investigate.
And if Tan died before Jin understood what he knew—
Risky.
But pressure could force him into the open.
People behaved irrationally when family was threatened.
Jin knew that well.
"Not Tan."
Victor waited.
Jin tapped Terrence's photograph.
"The father."
Victor's expression remained neutral.
"Police officer."
"Older."
"Respected."
"Yes."
"High-profile if killed."
"Less than Tan."
Victor studied him.
"You want leverage."
Jin smiled faintly.
"I want Tan distracted."
"Scared."
"Angry."
"People make mistakes when they're angry."
Victor looked down at Terrence's image.
"How far?"
Jin's eyes became cold.
"Far enough that Tan stops looking backward."
A pause.
"And if that isn't enough?"
Jin closed the file.
"Then we'll remove the problem completely."
That night, long after everyone left the David house, Terrence stood outside locking the back gate.
He had no idea anyone was watching.
A dark sedan sat half a block away.
Engine off.
Windows tinted.
Inside, a man raised a camera.
Click.
Terrence checked the gate.
Click.
Eva appeared at the back door.
Click.
Terrence kissed her forehead.
Click.
The man lowered the camera.
Sent four photographs.
Then typed:
Confirmed residence. Alarm panel visible through side window. Need two more days for routines.
The response arrived quickly.
Proceed. No mistakes.
The sedan pulled away.
Terrence never looked toward it.
Inside the house, he and Eva turned off the lights.
A family photograph remained illuminated by the hallway lamp.
Terrence.
Eva.
Travis.
Tan.
Ella.
Five people smiling together.
The photograph had been taken years earlier, before careers and adulthood began pulling the children into separate lives.
Before Amari.
Before Golden Meridian.
Before Jin Lee learned the little brother he thought was gone had survived.
Terrence paused beside the picture.
He smiled.
Then shut off the final light.
The house went dark.
And somewhere across Los Angeles, Jin Lee began planning the first move in a war Tan didn't yet know had started.