She contacted Waxman and Marcella quickly with the confirmation.A moment later, her screen lit up with Marcella’s response to her urgent text:Surveillance team en route.Good work.
Maybe she had time to help Agent Chen with her storage facility searches after all, but the truth was, she was hungry and tired.She’d been away from home too long.“Not to mention, spending a night in jail,” she muttered.
Sophie leaned back, the chair’s springs groaning.They were close to these perps—she could feel it.But something scratched at her, fingernails on glass.
This felt too easy.Would they really use such an obvious location?She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands.
“What’s wrong?”Feirn asked.
“I don’t know.Maybe nothing.”She pulled up Yoshimura’s database again, the entries scrolling past.“Or maybe we’re seeing what they want us to see.”
The computer lab’s ventilation system kicked on with a wheeze, stirring papers on a nearby desk.Sophie shivered as cold air hit her.She texted Chen, telling the agent she had to go home; maybe after the children were in bed she could help with the search for other storage facilities.
The woman texted back that she had it in hand and would reach out if she needed any further help.
“Okay, Feirn.We’re out of here,” she said in English.
The young man cocked his head and replied in Thai.“What is going out of where?”
She chuckled, remembering all the years American idioms had been a puzzle.“We’re done for the day and going home.”
“That I can say yes to,” he replied with dignity.
Evening sun painted Honolulu’s glass towers in shades of amber and gold as Sophie got into her SUV.Feirn folded himself into the passenger seat beside her with the fluid grace of someone used to cramped spaces, his eyes scanning the shadows between parked vehicles.
“Seat belt,” Sophie reminded him in Thai, hearing a maternal note in her voice.The click of the buckle was reassuring in its normalcy as she navigated her SUV through the FBI building’s parking garage.The concrete walls amplified every sound—the squeal of tires on the smooth surface, the echo of a distant car alarm.
They emerged into the beginning of Honolulu’s heavy commute traffic, a river of red taillights stretching toward the Pali Highway.Sophie merged, the familiar route to Kailua unfolding before them.
“This traffic,” Feirn said, his tone carrying a note of wonder.“Bangkok is worse, but here the cars actually stay in their lanes.”
Sophie smiled.“Give it time.You haven’t seen what happens when there’s a surf competition on the North Shore.”
They crawled past the gleaming shops of Ward Village, where tourists clutched shopping bags and locals hurried home from work.The mountains rose to their right, their peaks shrouded in clouds that promised evening rain.Sophie’s stomach growled again, loud enough that Feirn raised an eyebrow.
“When did you last eat?”he asked.
“There hasn’t been time today.”She changed lanes to avoid a city bus belching exhaust.“I texted Armita we’re on our way.She’s making her famous pad krapow tonight.You’ll like it.She does it spicy for us adults.”
Feirn’s expression softened.“I look forward to eating food from home.”
They entered the Pali Highway, the road beginning its winding climb through the Ko‘olau Mountains.The temperature dropped a few degrees as they gained elevation, and Sophie cracked her window to let in the rain-scented air.Bamboo and wild ginger crowded the roadside, their leaves rustling with the wind, flowers a bright contrast.
“This reminds me of the mountains outside Chiang Mai,” Feirn said, his face turned toward the jungle-covered slopes.“But the trees are different.Everything here is so ...”he searched for the word, “...soft.Even the mountains seem gentle.”
“Don’t let them fool you.The trails around here have claimed plenty of hikers who underestimated them.”Sophie downshifted as they approached the first of the highway’s notorious curves.“Connor and I used to?—”
Her phone rang through the car’s Bluetooth system, the display showing Connor’s name as if she’d conjured up the man once known as the Ghost.Her heart did a familiar skip-and-ache.
“Speak of the devil,” she muttered in English, then answered in Thai.“Connor.You’re on speaker with me and Feirn.”
“Good.”Connor’s familiar baritone filled the car.She heard strain beneath his calm.“I have new information.”
Sophie’s hands tightened on the steering wheel as they entered the first tunnel, the sudden darkness making her headlights flare to life.The tunnel’s orange sodium lights turned everything sepia toned as an old photograph.
“Sunan will challenge me in seven days,” Connor said, his words echoing slightly.“On the anniversary of my ascension as Master.”
They burst from the tunnel into filtered green light, the road now cutting through dense rainforest.Sophie had to force herself to focus on driving.“Seven days?Connor, that’s soon.”
