“Exactly.”
They disappeared into the sights and sounds of the city.
“I don’t even know why Shanghai was chosen,” he murmured. “I would have thought the kidnappers were somebody other than the Chinese government. You know? Like, maybe to say another country did the kidnapping and then maybe took her here, if that was the original plan,” Diesel said.
“But it’s a little too obvious that China’s involved.”
“Meaning that somebody is trying to make it look like China?”
“Well, China is the easy bad guy, isn’t it?” Jerricho said.
“True enough.” Diesel thought about it for a moment and then said, “Well, we have to figure out who’s behind it for the scientist to be safe after her rescue. But, at the same time, I don’t think that’s today’s issue as much as it is finding her.”
“Maybe, but then we also have to make sure that we can get her safely away, and that might require finding out just who is behind all this.”
He nodded. “Suggestions?”
“I’m not sure how the information flows among the Mavericks, but we need intel, and we need it now.”
“Not only do we need intel,” he said, “we need some weapons.”
“That I can arrange,” Jerricho said with a grin.
“Legally?”
“Are you asking for that?”
“Hell no,” he said. “I just need to have what I need to have.”
“So give me a list of what you want,” Jerricho said.
“I can do that, as soon as I stop walking long enough to write it down for you.”
They headed toward their hotel and arrived shortly. They quickly registered, moved upstairs, and, once inside, searched for bugs. They tried not to take too long about anything, knowing that their progress would have been watched throughout the city. And Diesel sat down with a pen and paper and quickly jotted down what he thought they would need. Then he ripped off the page, handed it to Jerricho, and asked, “How’s that?”
“Perfect timing,” he said, looking at his watch. “We’re almost at the dinner hour.”
“Right. I haven’t eaten. How about you?”
“I’ll place an order for this stuff,” Jerricho said, lifting the list. “And I can pick up food at the same time, if you want.”
“Perfect,” Diesel said. “I’ll start ordering intel.”
“You didn’t already?”
“I did and got a lot of it, but you’ve got me thinking more about who’s behind it,” Diesel said. “So let’s see what else we can come up with.”
And, with that, Jerricho walked out of the hotel room.
Diesel logged into the Mavericks chat box, while he thought about Jerricho’s connections and how this might be very helpful in the job. And then how the hell did the Mavericks know about his connections? Diesel grabbed his encrypted cell and pressed a Speed Dial button. As soon as Shane came on the line, Diesel asked, “How did you guys know about Jerricho?”
“He’s been on the radar for a while,” he said.
“Makes sense, I guess. He seems to be the right person for here.”
“His stepmother is from China,” he said. “She took over his care when he was really little. So he’s fluent in their languages, and he’s been to China, particularly that area, for many years.”
“Well, his expertise will be welcomed,” he said. “Otherwise I’d be skulking through the shadows.”
“Skulking through the shadows is what we do best,” Shane said.
“That’s the truth,” he said. “I’m wondering about something that Jerricho brought up, as to who’s behind this. If it were the Chinese, wouldn’t they have used another party to kidnap her?”
“They’re getting bolder, and they’re getting a little more aggressive with that thumbing their nose attitude,” Shane said, “so I wouldn’t count that out at the moment. It took a lot to dig down and to find her current location—a random sighting at a Chinese harbor as she was moved onto land. We didn’t have a solid confirmation at the time, but we do now.”
“Okay,” he said. “I want all plans for the area, where she disappeared or was last seen. I believe several commercial buildings are in that area. What does the actual underground network here look like?”
“I’ll find out what I can,” he said, “but check out this first.”
And, with that, Diesel heard a chime and clicked the link he had in chat and was taken into the street views of Eva Langston’s home in Boston. It took him a moment, and then he saw her walk to her car. Another vehicle drove up, blocking hers. There wasn’t even a visible struggle. And the vehicle suddenly left, and she was no longer in view. “That’s the SUV that the Chinese Consulate denies was theirs, right? Even though they drove there, I understand.”
“We presume the Chinese used third-parties, so they could deny this initially. We tracked all their transport transfers, which were many, and most recently found her in Shanghai. See here.” Shane dropped another link, showing another black vehicle turn a corner into what looked like a huge commercial parking area.
“Near our hotel, I presume. And was that vehicle traced?”
“It was, and it was stolen.”
“Of course it was,” he muttered. “And who can park there?”
“Only those who work at this series of warehouses.”
“But it would be easy enough to steal a parking spot too.”
“Yes, and we find no other camera feeds showing her in or out.”
“It’d be too obvious that she’s in there though,” he said.
“Depends if they thought anybody would notice. The other thing is, she could have been moved out at any point in time further down the road,” Shane said.
“Yes. Any reason to suspect she’s in danger?”
“Not as long as she’s cooperative.”
“What’s her temperament like?”
“She lives for her science. She would not keep quiet about being pulled away from her projects, her research.”
“There could have been some consolation that she would continue to work.”
“Maybe,” Shane said. “She’s also a rebel, who doesn’t take kindly to authority, and only plays the game so she can get grant money.”
“Interesting. And
