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Kara didn’t know then that it would be the last time she saw him. He’d be murdered three weeks later after his cover was blown by the media.
She drank coffee, ate a banana that was a couple days overripe and was heading to the precinct when her cell phone rang. It was her undercover cell, and she glanced at the number.
Sunny.
She answered. “Yep,” she said neutrally. Sunny knew it was happening today. She was supposed to stay in her apartment until Kara got her.
Kara tensed when she heard machinery in the background. What was Sunny doing at the factory?
“He knows,” she whispered, and the phone went dead.
Kara pressed the gas and called Sunny back—no answer. She then called Lex. “Kara, I’m on my way, sh—”
“Chen knows we’re coming. My informant is at the warehouse. She’s in danger.”
“Fuck. Okay, meet me—”
“No! Activate SWAT now. We can’t wait.”
“Dammit, Kara, you can’t go in alone!”
“I’m going to stake it out, see what’s going on, try to make contact with her. I’m not going to be reckless, Lex, but I can’t wait two hours!”
The plan was to stage at 0600, raid at 0700, based on the intel that Kara and Colton had put together.
“Don’t get dead.”
“No plans to die today. Me, or Sunny.”
She ended the call, sent Lex her tracking information so he could see her movements in real time and headed to Chinatown.
Chen owned two square blocks in Chinatown. Street-side he ran shops that catered mostly to tourists; in the back was a network of warehouses where his slaves worked. All trafficked from Shandong in China, all threatened that their families would be killed if they disobeyed, talked or ran.
Except Sunny. Sunny learned from a new arrival that her only relative, her mother, had died, and now Sunny had no one. When Kara approached her, at first she didn’t want to help. Terrified for her life. But she was sad, lonely, desperate and angry, and Kara pushed.
Kara had a way of getting people to work against their own self-interest. And over time, she turned Sunny, pulled her in. Without Sunny, Kara would never have been able to build the case against David Chen.
Kara parked her beat-up undercover car in an alley. She was dressed in tactical pants and a Kevlar vest over a black T-shirt. She pulled a larger T-shirt, this one dark gray, over her vest as she walked.
She knew the secret way into the main factory where Sunny worked. Down the alley, through a nondescript door that had no outside knob, but a hidden panel revealed a code box. Sunny had uncovered the code six weeks ago, and that was when the case began to steamroll.
Before Kara entered, she texted Lex and informed him of her plans. She pocketed her phone before he responded, knowing he’d order her to stand down. If she didn’t see the order, she wasn’t disobeying.
Most of the workers hadn’t yet come in. In fact, while she heard the machines, Kara saw no one.
The facility made clothing—designer knockoffs that were sold in the shops on the street, and generic brands sold to big-box stores. Stamped with a big fucking Made in the USA but nowhere did the stamp also admit that the clothes were sewn by trafficked Chinese nationals who made no money for their labor.
Kara headed down narrow metal steps into the basement, where a hall led to the main floor. With the help of Sunny, Kara had been here before to take photos and copy documents. Sunny knew how to avoid or temporarily disable the security cameras. She was a smart girl who deserved more than life had handed her. She had to be okay.
Over the hum of the old machinery, Kara heard no voices. As she proceeded down the faintly lit corridor, glancing into each dark room as she passed by, she still saw no one. Empty. Empty. Empty.
She walked briskly but cautiously, all her senses in tune with her surroundings. Sounds. Movement. Smells. She heard voices in the main factory room, followed by a stifled scream.
Then silence, except the damn machines.
Kara stopped. A plastic sheet blocked the doorway, obscuring her view. She listened, wishing she knew who was in there, what they were doing, if it was Sunny and if she was in danger.
A clamoring sound of falling metal had Kara running onto the factory floor, gun drawn.
