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“What does that mean, exactly?”
He sighed. “It means we believe she’s in this neighborhood. A lot of these condos are owned in blocks by foreign corporations and trusts. The FBI already had this neighborhood on a watch list because of so much foreign investment and activity. When they lost me on the way back from the Oakland airport, we were close to here. We’re just trying to find the unit.” He pulled out and headed slowly down another residential street, followed by another car filled with agents from Betts Security. I was pretty sure there were so many of their agents on the West Coast now, I’d never keep track of them all.
Ash handed me a list of cars. “We’re looking for these makes and models, and also these license plates. Or some combination thereof—I’ll take anything I can get. These are vehicles recently rented or recently stolen in the area. Some are both. Keep your eyes open.”
I scanned the information on the sheet, then looked out the window at the nondescript neighborhood. “Li Na just called Lauren. The closing is going to happen soon, probably by the end of the week. Li Na said she absolutely needs Lauren to come to Shenzhen to help her set up—otherwise the deal is off.”
Ash didn’t say anything for a minute. “I know what you have to say about that, but what about Lauren?”
“She says she has to go—and that she’ll come back.”
“She might have a point.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I stared out the window, fuming. “So you think I should just let her go—and take her sister’s place in Li Na’s noose?”
“I’m not saying that. But Lauren’s a public figure. Li Na’s not going to bring her to China just to kill her. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Does it make any sense that Li Na killed one of Paragon’s board members, or that she’s kept Lauren’s sister captive and beat her senseless over the past few weeks?”
“It’s not the same,” Ash said. “I know you don’t want to consider doing this, but if we can’t find her before the end of the week, it may be the only way we get Hannah back.”
“Then we’re going to find Hannah first. Or there’s going to be hell to pay.”
We canvassed the neighborhood for hours, driving up and down side streets, passing an endless line of cookie-cutter, boxy, beige condominiums. Before I knew it, the sun had come up, and residents were starting to leave for work.
My phone rang as we pulled down another side street. “Who’s this?”
“It’s Allen Trade. I need to talk to you.”
“I’m listening.”
“I had meetings with some of the members of the board that I thought might be…inclined…to share the information we talked about. And I’ve isolated the problem.”
“Well, that’s good, at least someone’s made some progress—”
“Wait a minute,” Ash said. “Shut up.”
“What’s going on?” Allen asked.
I turned to my brother. “What is it?”
Ash gripped the steering wheel. “I said, shut up. Hang up the goddamn phone and pay attention.”
“Allen, I’ve got to go. Is the situation under control?”
“Yes, call me when you can.” He hung up without asking anything further. I might like him better than I thought.
I peered out the window at one of the condominiums. “What are we looking at?”
Ash slowed the car to a crawl, staring at one of the condominium’s garages. “That door was closing as we just pulled down here. Something about the car… I’m not sure, but I think it’s worth checking out.”
“Did you get the plate number?”
“Only the last couple of digits.?
? He grabbed the list he’d given me and scrolled through it. “Bingo. I think we have a match.”
“A partial match.”
