Then she tells her, “You are the love of my life. I will never forget you. No matter what happens, do not follow me. Stay right here, stay back where it’s safe.”
Koyamo looks up at her, her eyes bright with fear. “Why are you saying that? Nora, what’s wrong?”
Nora doesn’t answer that question, just pulls away. And with a determined stride, she walks towards the two Silent Triad.
“Nora! Nora!” Koyamo calls after her.
She sounds confused. And hurt. But it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that her voice is getting farther away. That means she’s doing what Nora said. She’s not following her.
Nora marches right up to the guys in says in Cantonese, “I’ll come with you without any bother. But only if you promise to leave her alone.”
They glance at the woman calling her name over Nora’s shoulder. Exchange looks. Then nod.
It’s done. Her time of freedom. Her paradise with Koyamo. Her promise to follow. It’s done.
And as Nora walks away with the two guys on either side of her, she wonders…
What did my father do? What has he done to bring The Silent Triad to my doorstep?
34
VICTOR
A message arrives on Victor’s brand-new burner phone on Christmas morning: We’ve got the package. Be there in less than twenty minutes.
Even though Victor hasn’t had a chance to enter any new numbers into this phone, he knows it’s Phantom. So part one of the plan has been fully executed.
He’s been parked a mile up the road from Kuang’s compound for nearly twenty-four hours. Still, even twenty more minutes feels like too long.
Rubbing a hand over his face, he pulls out his compromised phone. Normally, he would destroy a phone at any hint of possible surveillance. But the security camera feed link he received the day before is on this device, so he can’t get rid of it.
He doesn’t have to click on the link. It’s still open from the last time he checked it. Two cameras trained on what looks like a well-outfitted panic room. So he can see from two angles that Dawn’s coworker, Lucy, is still crying on the couch while Dawn has fallen asleep on the bed.
This is an improvement from the last time he checked, when the guard, who was apparently Yaron’s brother, entered with two trays of food and made a big show of spitting in both of them before dropping them on the floor in front of the imprisoned women.
But he hates it no less.
Keep watching! Tomorrow’s lesson will be even better.
Receiving that message yesterday told Victor the rest of the story. No, Yaron’s brother didn’t work for The Silent Triad. He was a 24K.
Kuang had Dawn and their unborn baby imprisoned in his compound.
And now, the promised tomorrow has arrived.
Twenty more minutes….
Victor begs the fates for it to be soon enough.
DAWN
Our wedding—our real wedding—is beautiful.
It’s a warm breezy day in some tropical destination. Palm trees sway overhead as our guests dance to an upbeat Justin Bieber song.
Everyone else gyrates to the beat of the music. But Victor and I sway with our baby girl held between us.
I’ve never known such peace. This is the happiest day of my life.
Then I awake with the jerk to the sound of crying in a room I don’t recognize.
There is no dream here. Just cold reality. Literally cold.
I think we’re in some sort of panic room. There’s a couch, a bed, and even a large TV. But the television doesn’t work. The only food we’ve received has been spit in by Yaron’s brother. There are only a few thin sheets on the bed. And someone seems to have turned the temperature down in the room as if they’re purposefully trying to freeze us out. Or to death.
I wake to the same sound I fell asleep to, Lucy sniffling miserably on the couch with one of the sheets wrapped around her.
“Lucy…” I say, sitting up in bed.
“Did I wake you?” she asks, using the sheet to wipe at her red nose. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for everything.”
I tell her the same thing I told her the last thousand times she apologized for playing any part in this deception. “It’s not your fault.”
The dream is all the way gone now. It almost seems like a cruel prank; it’s so opposite to my real-life situation.
I’m right back where I was when I fell asleep. Imprisoned. But not nearly as comfortable as I was in Providence.
Lucy is a fifty-five-year-old woman, not a little boy. But the situation is so close to what happened to Victor when he lost his mother that I know he must be freaking out. I think of what he told me after I complained about being assigned an extra guard.
Not because you have to….Because I love you.
And the memory makes me want to start crying again, just like Lucy.