Hidden Impact (Safeguard #1)(34)
Course, if it had been a natural reaction to something the guy ate, it was very interesting timing.
No way for his team to know for sure right now.
“All right. Keep me posted. We want to know what this guy has to do with things.”
“Roger that.” Ending the call, Gabe decided to address next steps.
He’d dropped Maylin off at the front of the embassy, waiting for her to enter safely. Not likely to be much danger for her there, with all of the surveillance on property. Plus Gabe assumed whoever was tracking her had their attention on her phone, back at Centurion Corporation outside Seattle. Especially with Marc simulating normal activity on the phone, logging into email and apps as well as running predictable web searches.
But his ex was particularly good at remembering faces and recognizing family resemblance. If she was in the middle of all this, the embassy didn’t seem so safe anymore.
Chapter Ten
“I haven’t technically left the embassy.” And Gabe wasn’t there to hear her mumbled defense anyway. Nope. A good thing too. Maylin stood just in front of the entranceway, still on the embassy grounds, with the late afternoon breeze clearing away some of the embarrassment and frustration she’d built up over the course of the afternoon.
Hours of wasted time.
Oh, it wasn’t the cool reception when she’d first entered that bothered her. She’d been an entrepreneur for too many years to be intimidated by the formalities and the initial insistence that she make an appointment with some unspecified official who likely would be out of office anyway. She could and did handle those obstacles. The consultant badge associating her with the Centurion Corporation private military organization helped get her past the more difficult barriers when she might not otherwise have been able to as a random visitor. Subject Matter Expert had a much more valid ring to it than Desperate Client Who Almost Became Road Pizza.
And it wasn’t the patronizing attitude either. It would be politically incorrect to claim it was cultural. But it would also be ignoring reality to claim there wasn’t a social structure at the embassy, and she came in at the low end of the pecking order as a supplicant, consultant or not. It’d been a childhood survival skill to keep her frustration under control when her parents’ Chinese friends made social events a complex dance of backhanded compliments and thinly veiled verbal barbs. Besides, if she took a step back and observed objectively, every culture had a flavor of it. It was just the way they did it. Human nature, maybe.
It was what had happened once she’d found someone to help her. When they’d genuinely tried to run searches and couldn’t find any record of her emailed inquiries or phone messages. When they had no record of her little sister’s visa.
When they’d asked her if she was sure her little sister had gone to China at all.
To her shame, she’d been so incredibly frustrated and angry, tears had threatened. She had to step outside to calm herself despite Gabe’s warning to stay inside the embassy. It would damage any small respect she’d gained if they saw her cry, and stepping away at all was an acknowledgment of her lack of composure. And that, in itself, would set her back hours.
Time wouldn’t turn back, and she needed to get back to the person trying to help her before the nice man left for the day and she’d have to start her story all over again, going through the same searches. She pulled out her temporary phone to check her messages. For one thing, Gabe might have texted her. For another, it would give her a reason for having gone outside since there was no reception inside the building. She’d be able to save face to some extent.
“Excuse me.”
The unaccented, American voice was so close, Maylin jumped.
A blonde woman stood within inches, tipping her head to one side with a soft smile. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. I couldn’t help overhearing you inside.”
Interesting. Maylin forced her brow to remain smooth, her lips to shape a return smile. The woman hadn’t been anywhere in sight as far as Maylin had noticed.
“I’m afraid the aide had to leave for the day and the embassy will be closing soon.”
Oh no. Ice washed through Maylin’s body and her smile froze on her face. She never should have left. Now she’d have to start all over again tomorrow.
“Perhaps you could tell me more about your little sister?” The woman was tall, leaning too close into Maylin’s personal space. Her gaze was sharp and her smile reminded Maylin of a Cheshire cat. “I’ve worked in DC for years now and maybe I have a few connections who could be of help. Missing persons cases are difficult, otherwise, and I’m sure you’ve been running into a lot of red tape.”
Every internal alarm went off inside Maylin’s head. The woman had too much information for absolutely no good reason.
“Depends on your definition of help.” Gabe’s voice flowed through Maylin, washing away the tension. She wasn’t alone with this stranger who knew too many things.
The woman stepped past Maylin in a smooth motion, the intensity of her focus completely transferred to Gabe where he stood outside the embassy gates. Without waiting for any signal, Maylin strode directly past the woman to join him. Might have been wiser to circle around the stranger, but what would she do on embassy grounds in broad daylight? Another place with less light and Maylin might have been more cautious. But for the time being, she was done losing face.