believe it. Needing privacy, Luckey got up from the chair and walked out into the hall. He clicked on. “Ally?”
“Hi. Forgive me for bothering you when I know how busy you are, but I need to discuss something really important with you. Can we meet again?”
His heart thundered in his chest. “Where are you?”
“I’m home, but I’d be glad to drive to your office if you’re there.”
“How soon can you get here?”
“I’ll leave the house now. What’s the address?”
He gave her the information. “I’m on the second floor when you come up the stairs. Third door on the left.”
“Thank you. I’ll be there shortly.”
After hanging up, he walked back into Cy’s office.
“Was that who I think it was?”
Luckey took a deep breath. “Yes. She’s on her way here to discuss something important about the case.”
Cy was all smiles as he cleaned up the coffee spill. “Sure she is. What was it you said? Something like ‘I don’t know how she feels about me’? She’s doing both of us a favor, because I want to get a good look at her.”
Luckey shook his head. “She sounded serious.”
“While you wait for her, tell me why you need a Chinese expert.”
“It’s a female trafficking case involving a Chinese victim.”
For the next little while, he told him what he’d uncovered and they talked about possible theories. “I believe the victims are being held here in Houston or Austin or somewhere nearby. I’ve got to find out where.”
“Don’t be afraid to use me if you want help.”
“Thanks, Cy. I might take you up on it.”
He got up and went out into the hall to keep watch for Ally. The office was busy, with lots of staff milling around, but she was impossible to miss when she appeared at the top of the stairs. She was wearing the same outfit she’d worn to breakfast. “You got here fast,” he said, walking toward her.
She sounded a little out of breath. “The traffic cooperated.”
“Come with me.”
Cy had just emerged from his office with the empty coffee mug. Luckey slowed down. “Ally? I’d like you to meet a friend and colleague Cy Vance.”
A smile broke out on her face. “Another famous Ranger. I always wanted to meet one. Now I’ve met two.” She shook his hand.
“Even if the famous part is fiction, that’s the nicest thing anyone has said to us in a long time.” Luckey saw the way Cy’s eyes lit up. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m on my way for more coffee. Do either of you want some?”
“Not for me, but thank you,” she said.
Luckey flashed him a private glance. “We’re good. Talk to you later.” He turned to Ally. “My office is right down here.”
He showed her inside and shut the door. “Have a seat.”
“Thank you for meeting with me again so soon.”
“When I’m on a case, I don’t let anything interfere with my work.” Luckey sat down behind his desk. “Tell me what’s happened.”
“During the years we lived in China, our family was watched by the Ministry of State Security. The MSS employs a variety of tactics including cyber spying to gain access to sensitive information. They also engage in industrial espionage. Because of this, I was never allowed to use email or the phone.
“As I told you, Soo-Lin and I met and became friends at the university. Any news passed back and forth had to be done in person, either at school, my parents’ home or when I traveled to her home in Yongzhou. When I went there on vacation, I didn’t contact my parents at all during my stay in order to avoid a paper or electronic trail. The MSS is always looking for subversive chatter.”
Luckey marveled over her family’s ability to function under such difficult conditions. “That couldn’t have been easy.”
“I got used to it. But when our family came back to the States, it meant I had to resort to using my father in order to correspond with her. He’s constantly sending classified material to the new ambassador and receiving classified information back through the diplomatic pouch. When Soo-Lin has a letter for me, she takes the train to Changsha and leaves it with a trusted professor at the university who became our good friend.
“He comes from an old, venerable family. One of his sons works at the American Embassy in Beijing and facilitates our exchange of mail now that I’m in the States. What he does is put Soo-Lin’s letters in the diplomatic pouch for my father. If I’ve sent a letter in the pouch, he gives it to his grandfather, who passes it off to Soo-Lin when she visits the university. Father reminded me we have to be careful after what happened to the artist Ai Weiwei.”
Luckey stirred in the chair. “I read he was detained for months and interrogated fifty times for being openly critical of the Chinese government’s stance on democracy and human rights. I remember hearing that the officers watched him in his sleep, their faces inches from his.”
She nodded. “He was finally released but is still under their watch. His story is common. Even though our family is back in the States, because of my mother’s work against trafficking we have to be extra careful. But we’re willing to take the risk. Yesterday my dad flew in from DC and brought Soo-Lin’s latest letter to me. You won’t be able to read it, so I’ll translate the important part for you.”
Ally withdrew it from her purse and started reading. As Luckey listened, he was reminded of what Dr. Wolff told him about the latest body in the morgue. He’d said the young woman was likely either a ballerina or a gymnast. More than ever Luckey recognized the implications and understood the horror her friend’s news had raised in Ally’s mind. He dealt with the dark side of life every day. But now this case had become personal, because it directly affected this woman’s life, a woman who had already impacted him in a profound way.
He sat forward. “You were right to bring this to me.”
She stared at him through those beautiful, shadowed eyes. “Do I have your permission to tell my parents about this? They have no idea you came to see me at the university. But they love Soo-Lin and her family. When they read what’s in this letter, my father won’t wait to do something about it.”
“That’s what has me worried, Ally. Would you set up a time when I can meet with you and your parents?”
“Yes,” she said softly. Before he could blink, she got up from the chair and hurried over to the door. Before exiting it, she said, “I’ll drive home now. I’ll phone you when it’s arranged. Thank you, Luckey.” Her voice throbbed.
After she’d disappeared, Cy strolled into his office. “I can tell from the look on your face you’re a goner. No wonder. She’s gorgeous.”
Luckey
