Jackpot

52

Millie was still thinking about Quentin and the fake drone data from the FBI when she got off the ferry in Hong Kong. She didn’t blame the FBI for coming to the wrong conclusion given the data they had, but she wondered about the future of their agencies if guys like Kevin Cushman in his basement could beat them to this kind of information. Maybe people like Kevin, and her friend with the many names, were the future of this work rather than the bloated bureaucracy it had become.

Her car dropped her off at the consulate and she made her way toward the secure conference room where Li Feng would be giving her testimony. She knew her congressional buddies had already arrived, and after leaning on a few contacts she’d made in Macau, she found out their entire itinerary from the hotel in Macau to the ferry, and then their lodging in Hong Kong across from the consulate. Originally assuming she’d find the gang at their hotel eating or drinking or gossiping, she’d found out they’d been dropped off at the consulate instead of the hotel.

Millie hated feeling like she was always playing catch up with Arrow, but on reflection she realized it wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, it was necessary — she was here to figure out his angle and catch him in wrongdoing. But it was a delicate balance. She didn’t want to give him so much free rein that he crossed the point of no return and did something destructive that she could have prevented. She didn’t think they were to that point yet, but all signs pointed to them being close. That’s why she needed to talk to the congressional delegation as quickly as possible and diffuse whatever time bomb of information Arrow had planted in their heads.

As she approached the secure conference room, she was disheartened to see the delegates exiting the executive conference room and heading as a group toward the exits. Whatever Arrow had told them seemed worse than she had anticipated.

Secretary Jeffrey stepped forward from the pack and put his arm around Millie to move her farther away from the group. She quickly shrugged out of the awkward and inappropriate touching and moved back toward the group. Jeffrey looked at her like a parent waiting for a young child to make a connection on their own, seeming disappointed rather than angry.

“Your work here has been commendable, Ms. Martindale, and we’ll be certain to pass that along to anyone who needs to hear it. In fact, your work has been so thorough, we no longer need to be here. The testimony has been called off.”

“You can’t do that. Without the testimony then no one will know—”

“The exception for QuiTel will not be renewed. Their business in the U.S. is done. The attack on Li Feng and all of the other chaos around this testimony convinced us, and our bosses, that the Chinese government had a vested interest in preventing her testimony. She had to be telling the truth. We talked to the president and her national security adviser, and they were in agreement. This is all because of you.”

“No,” Millie said. “This is because of Arrow Donaldson. He’s the one who killed the decoy. He’s the one who’s behind the chaos around the testimony. Where’s Li Feng now?”

Secretary Jeffrey looked confused.

“The last we heard from the FBI was that a former gangster named Sonny Ma is behind the chaos as he’s been trying to reclaim his former criminal empire. He killed Arrow’s decoy, thinking it was the real Li Feng. He may try again if we go through with the testimony. They grew up together and he’s afraid her testimony to our government with expose his secrets. Her family is also very powerful, and some of our colleagues in the administration worry about looking like we’re taking sides in a family dispute. We’re better off getting out now and letting them fight amongst themselves.”

“That’s just what you’re supposed to believe. A contact of mine who has done work for the Agency before in this capacity said the initial evidence made it look like Sonny Ma was responsible. But when he dug deeper into the data, he could see that Sonny Ma is being framed.”

“Why should we believe this source of yours over our boys in the FBI?”

“He’s the best there is,” Millie said.

“It sounds like he’s trying to be the smartest guy in the room by spreading conspiracy theories and lies. Why would anyone want to frame a gangster for crimes?”

“All the signs point to someone named Bing-Wen Jo, known as Bingo, and he works for Arrow Donaldson.”

“If you ask me,” Secretary Jeffrey said, “it sounds like someone is trying to frame Arrow Donaldson. And it sounds like they found the perfect mouthpiece in you.”

Millie kept her mouth shut so she didn’t say anything else they could use against her. She counted internally to ten, and then said, “Can you at least tell me where Li Feng is?”

Jeffrey shook his head.

“Arrow said he was moving her to the second-phase security he’d arranged for her after the testimony. She’s in perfectly capable hands.”

Nothing Millie could say would convince the delegates that they’d probably just handed Li Feng over to her death. She needed to get in touch with Li Feng, and she knew who could help.