Page 68 of Hidden Falls

“Thanks so much for getting your team out here so quickly,” Harry said. “This is Cruz.”

“Leonardo Cruz. CIA.”

“Sophie Smithson, Security Solutions CEO.”

The two shook hands, clearly taking each other’s measure and liking what they saw. Sophie went on. “We are glad to help you recover your daughter, Harry. Let me introduce you to all of the Security Solutions team.” Sophie turned and gestured forward three men and a woman, all dressed in combat wear. Lei, Harry, and Cruz met the operatives, and then the team leader, the man who’d opened the door, pointed to the dining room table of the apartment. “Let’s review our plan so far.”

Lei pushed in with the rest as the man used a tablet with a stylus to illustrate the extraction plan.

Her mind buzzed with questions, but she wasn’t a player here—Harry was. Sophie was.

She and Cruz hung back behind the others; Harry, Sophie and the team had taken over, and their voices and energy filled the space.

Cruz’s shoulder brushed against Lei’s with familiar electricity. “Time’s counting down,” he said.

“Yes.”

“I probably won’t see you after this.” He kept his eyes forward.

“I didn’t expect to see you ever, after Cabo.”

He looked at her at last. “Was it so bad?”

She smiled. “You know it wasn’t. You’ll always be—a friend.”

“Too bad. Let me know if you change your mind on that.” He smiled, his brown eyes flashed, and then he glided out of the room and was gone.

31

Malia

I had spent the previous days doing my best to cooperate with my father and his agenda: I went horseback riding and shot targets; I went hunting and learned to fly a falcon. I spent time in the great big kitchen of the mansion, baking cookies for a cultural celebration with the staff. I managed to get through tense family dinners without running away.

And I sat in my father’s office with him while he worked during the day, reading a book in the bay window of the library.

I wasn’t sure what his business was about, but all Papa did was pore over spreadsheets, reports, and emails, and make lots and lots of phone calls.

He let me overhear his conversations, because they were all in Spanish so rapid and accented that my introductory high school course could not help me understand them.

Through all of this, I wished I could say that I’d fallen in love with my new family, but that wouldn’t be entirely true. My stepmother was a cold, nasty witch with dollar signs for eyes and nails that looked like something out of a horror movie; my brother was a jealous, bullying little snob. But my little sister had made it into my heart. Every night she came up to my room with her nanny, dragging a cloth doll and carrying a book she wanted me to read her.

She reminded me so much of Kylie, when she was younger, that I wanted to cry.

But my bio sister Antonia was meaner than Kylie. She didn’t take no for an answer, nor did she consider a closed door anything but an opportunity to pound and yell. She was like me that way.

Just thinking about Antonia made me smile.

And I had no idea what the heck was going on with my current situation: sitting in the back of an armored SUV with my maid Noella as nasty Paulo the guard held a weapon to my side while our passports (mine, new and fake) were reviewed by the US Border Patrol. Paulo was the bodyguard who’d clocked me on the head when he caught me running away and brought me back inside the house; he’d been assigned to me, and clearly hated the job.

I wasn’t stupid enough to make a fuss at the border, but Papa couldn’t know that for sure, which was likely why he’d had us follow the family’s transport vehicle separately.

The Border Patrol waved us through. We drove on. No one batted an eye, as if seeing a teenager in the back of a stretch SUV with a driver, a maid, and a guard was normal.

Paulo removed the gun and put it back into his holster without a word as the limo picked up speed.

I couldn’t help feeling hope die a little more. “Where is Papa taking us?” I asked Noella for the umpteenth time.

I must’ve finally got on Paulo’s last nerve because the grumpy guard answered. “Don Ramirez is bringing us to California foryou. As if you’ll fit in and be more comfortable,” he said, a sneer on his face.

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