Lauren opened her mouth, but no words came out for a moment.
“So she…she could be in Oakland?”
“Yes. But they’re not sure, not a hundred percent.” I wanted her to have hope, but I needed to keep her feet on the ground.
“So, what are we going to do? Have they contacted the FBI? Are we just going in there?”
“They need to be certain that these
are the right people, and we need to be smart about the timing, for your sister’s sake. They’re going to rent a house in the neighborhood and set up surveillance. We’re working on it. They only have a couple of days, so they’re moving quickly—I promise.”
My phone buzzed with a text from Levi. Coming back to the house for a team meeting before we set up. “Okay. Everyone’s coming here to get ready.”
Lauren nodded, lost in her own thoughts. “I’ll have Bethany come too—just to keep her in the loop. We need to act like everything is going forward as planned.”
“Okay…and Lauren?”
She looked up.
There was no way in hell I’d let her go to Shenzhen, but every second we had together seemed precious. “I love you, babe.”
She leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed my forehead. “I love you too.”
While we waited for everyone to arrive, Lauren and I checked our respective emails and paced. I called Dr. Kim to check in.
“Hey, Gabe.” He sounded out of breath.
“Did I get you at a bad time?”
“No,” he puffed, “I’m taking my break on the treadmill. I’m glad you called.”
“How is Wes?”
“Stable, but I’m still concerned. The tests show normal brain function, but this isn’t the type of thing you can ever call before the patient wakes up. I’m starting to worry about atrophy too. I need to make the call soon—I’d like to bring him out. I just hope this is the right time.”
“Does his heart seem better?”
“It’s tough to tell. It’s been functioning properly since the attack. There’s just a lot of things we don’t know the answer to right now.”
“Is his brother still there?” I asked.
“Ellis, yes—he hasn’t left Wesley’s side. I really think that helps. If you and Lauren can come back soon, please do. Wesley is tough, but he needs all the encouragement he can get.”
“Thanks, Dr. Kim. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Any changes?” Lauren asked when I hung up.
“No. He seems to be stable—the doctor said they’re thinking about waking him up.”
“We need to get Hannah back—Wesley needs her.”
I went and wrapped my arms around her. “I know. Hopefully, it’ll be soon.” For everyone’s sake.
Levi, Ash, and eight of their men showed up, followed shortly thereafter by Bethany. I called Timmy and had him join us too—he should know what was going on.
In case I asked him to lock Lauren in her room.
“What’s going on?” Bethany asked Lauren.