Alex grimaced at the single, black b.u.t.ton. "This is all? A b.u.t.ton? Nothing from your CIs?"

"Not yet. None of my informants have heard a thing."

"Which only means this kind of business hasn't touched them yet," David said. "Most people wouldn't recognize human trafficking if they saw it."

Alex called over the intercom for Mother to join them. She joined them at the table with her cup of coffee, taking the chair at the head of the table at Alex's right.

"Morning, Boss. Whatcha need?"

He handed her the CD. "I want you and Ember to dig into this game. Find out everything you can, highest scoring users, who created this piece of c.r.a.p, everything. Zack has something, too." Alex held out the evidence bag. "What can you do with this?"

She took it, her nose wrinkled like she could barely see the tiny b.u.t.ton. "What is it? Oh. Sure. I'll take care of it. I know a guy. Get back to you as soon as I know where it's been. Umm, Boss?"

"What?"

The atmosphere in the room shifted. Zack swore he could feel Alex's hackles rise. Mother always walked a fine line with the boss. As good as she was, she seemed to push his b.u.t.tons without even trying. She was by nature a collector of other people's personal information, a huge off-limits zone for him she never seemed to appreciate. Or respect.

She kept on going. "I've been in your office."

"So?"

"Well, so." She glanced at Zack and David for emotional supportor something. Zack leaned into his chair, offering nothing but observation to what might be an entertaining morning after all. "You have reports all over your desk. They're all from old operations. I coordinated them with you. What are you doing in there?"

Alex pushed away from the table, staring at his nosy techie. "What do you think I'm doing?" he asked icily.

"I don't know. At first, I kinda thought you were using those paper copies to prepare for the Senate investigation. You're all holed up in here with your door closed. Looks like you're studying for a bar exam. The place is a mess."

"Is everyone worried, or just you?"

"Well, that's what I'd be worrying about but, umm, am I worrying for nothing?" Her voice changed from smug to downright nosy. "Then whatcha doing in there, Boss? You been working all night again, haven't you?"

Zack pushed back from the table. Here it comes. Watch out.

"Do you recall our first black op into China a couple years ago?" Alex asked quietly.

"Sure do. You sent Murphy, Roy, and Mark. Roy got dysentery so bad he had to come home early. I never thought a black man could look so white."

"That's the one," Alex replied. "I need the name of the kid they ran into in Beijing. He wasn't part of the operation, but the discovery of Chai Yenn got me thinking, especially with the Interpol alert on Lenny Huang. Didn't that kid have something to do with an adoption agency in Mainland China?"

Mother stared for a few seconds. She paused, blinked a few times, and continued. "Tony Brown. His name was Tony Brown. He was a tall, skinny kid. Looked like he should've played for the NBA. Mark got a bunch of pictures of him."

Alex sighed. "I knew you'd come up with it."

"Oh yeah." Mother had her smug on now. "He went over there with his parents on some kind of a mission. Let me think. It was either UNICEF or Save the Children." She stirred her coffee. "No. Now that I think about it, he was there as an envoy for Charity Adoption Services. He and his parents went from orphanage to orphanage to set up arrangements between the United States and China so Americans could more easily adopt Chinese orphans. The only problem was they couldn't get enough little boys to make it work. Plus, they ran into a few diplomatic snags. You know how it is working with China."

Zack's mind instantly caught what Mother had not said. If they couldn't get enough boys, did that mean there were too many girls in China, the only country on earth known for its one child law, where parents were known to favor sons? His gut was talking to him again, pouring acid into the dilemma of all those unwanted baby girls. Was that how Chai Yenn fit into the picture? Was she part of some bizarre adoption scheme gone wrong? Was she one of those throwaway babies?

"Are you thinking Tony Brown and Lenny Huang are connected?" Zack asked.

"I don't know." Alex shifted in his seat to face Zack. "But Tony Brown was in the meeting yesterday. He works for Kevin Carducci."

"The ATF Director?" Zack hadn't seen that one coming. There was no such thing as coincidence. Stars only lined up when they were meant to. What was going on?

Alex turned back to Mother. "Find Mr. Brown's itinerary. I want to know who he talked to, their current location, and a good contact number for them. I don't want the people he said he talked to, though. He probably doctored the information he reported to the State Department when he got home. Whatever you do, do not contact Mr. Brown. Understood?"

"Got it, Boss. When do you need it?"

"As soon as you get back to your desk. Why? Are you too busy?"

Zack caught the sarcastic dig under Alex's question.

"Oh, no. Ember and I are updating the project manager system, that's all. We'll work your request first like we always do." She handed Alex a four-by-six picture. "But take a look at something else while I'm here."

"What am I looking at?" he asked, annoyed as he peered at the photo.

"Just my latest hacker," Mother replied smugly. "She's got her camera link up while she's trying to hack our system. Doesn't even know she's broadcasting."

"But we're still secure?"

"You bet. Would I let a hacker in?" She rolled her eyes. "Am I not the Mother around here? See, I've created a little program to sends me an alert whenever-"

"Just asking," Alex interrupted, placing the photo face down in front of him. "Thanks. That will be all."

She cringed. "I've got one more question."

"Of course you do." Alex turned to her. "What?"

Zack allowed a smile to tug at his lips. His boss was fast approaching the need for more caffeine. Now would be a good time for Mother to take the hint and leave.

"You've got a lot of boxes behind your office door."

"Yes. They need to go to the Senate committee today."

"All of them?" Her eyes widened in exaggerated surprise.

"That's the intel from the ATF Op. Get Todd Chandler to run them over to the Russell Building." Alex's tone ratcheted tighter with every busybody question.

"Why Todd? I mean, he's new here. Did you notice he's got a crush on Ember?"

Zack tried real hard not to smirk.

"I think I hired Todd to work," Alex snapped. "That okay with you?"

"Sure." Mother stood, not noticing his less than gentle reprimand to mind her business. "He's a cute kid. Ember likes him. Me too."

Zack bit his lip to keep from laughing out loud.

"I'll get the information you need." She sashayed out of the Sit Room like the queen bee of the hive. "You want anything else, you know where I'll be."

Alex glared at Zack.

It was going to be one of those days.

TEN.

I can do this.

Mei snapped the bogus ID badge onto her belt for another long day of disappointment. Dressed in her usual attire for undercover worknavy blue skirt, white blouse, and black heelsshe hoped she looked like the scary federal agent on the badge. If she could only stop shaking.

It was another cold day. She was colder. Her daughter needed her cute, pink winter coat, the one with the fur-lined hood. Mei clenched her knuckles to her mouth, willing the sob back into her chest. Stop it. You have work to do. LiLi depends on you. Stop it, right now.

Glancing one last time into the mirror, she hissed to her reflection, "You don't have time to be soft. Who will find her if you don't?"

The stark, cold face of an angry American Chinese woman stared back. She used to be pretty, but now her dark hair was pulled into a tight knot that brooked no soft tendrils or femininity. The day for pretty make-up and smiles was past. All Mei needed was to keep her head down and blend in.

Despite the bitter chill in the weather, she opted for no coat. Not until LiLi was home would she be warm again. Resolute steps took her to the elevator and out to her a.s.signed parking stall. Everything weighed against her, even the frost on her windshield. While the engine warmed the inside of the car, she sc.r.a.ped the windows clean. Shivering in the arctic breeze, Mei shook the melting cold from her fingers and climbed back in. At least the heater worked.

Today, I will find her.

Shifting the car into reverse, she pressed the accelerator, slowly backing up. The driveway had been salted. Snow was in the forecast, but had yet to arrive. The steering wheel shuddered. What now? It didn't take long to find out the rear tire was flat. That solved one problem. There was no longer any reason to worry about fuel, at least not today.

Parking the car again, Mei grabbed her computer bag, squared her shoulders into the wind, and gritted her teeth.

Today, I will take the bus.

Zack's fingers tapped a steady beat on the table. Sitting around the Sit Room doing nothing but talking drove him crazy. The minute the op ended, he planned to ask for an a.s.signment overseas. Exciting or not, he needed something a whole lot more physical to do than meeting with Alex or Mother "Here's the contact information you asked for on Tony Brown."

Alex scanned what Mother handed him. "Put it up on the screen."

"Thought you'd never ask." She flashed the info to the overhead.

It showed the individuals Brown had contacted. She'd organized the info by orphanages visited, persons contacted, dates, times, and length of each conversation. All of the names were Chinese except one: Mr. Reginald Richards, attorney, Washington D.C.

"That's our man. David, you and Zack-"

Mother flashed another list overhead, interrupting Alex. The profile of Mr. Richards, an adoption lawyer who specialized in overseas adoptions, replaced the previous list. The room was silent as Alex, David, and Zack absorbed the attorney's list of clients and his fees. Mr. Richards catered exclusively to the rich and famous. There were a few well-known celebrity types on the list, as well as diplomats from all over the world. His adoption fees ranged into the millions and all the children he'd dealt with were between the ages of newborn to eight-year-olds. All girls. Hundreds of girls.

"See this?" Mother used the laser pointer to indicate the far right column t.i.tled EXOTIC. "These are bi-racial children with one Chinese parent. Apparently there's a market for girls who have different and unique looks."

"I want this dirt bag," Zack muttered under his breath. "All he's doing is selling babies."

"Do we know why Brown contacted Richards all the way from China?" David asked.

Mother shrugged. "Ember and I were talking about that. If the right people got their hands on the right baby girl, they could turn her into a model, maybe even a movie star. It's all about marketing and appearance. A blue or green-eyed Oriental woman would make a breathtaking model. She'd be a real money-maker for some of these cosmetic companies."

Alex growled and pushed away from the table. "Only if they were halfway decent people to begin with, and I doubt it. We're not tackling an operation this big without federal backup, the FBI for sure. Contact them, and Immigration and Customs. Let them run with it."

Zack glanced at David, and immediately wished he hadn't.

Alex noticed. "What's going on? You two have something else to say?"

"Ah, Boss, sorry," David stuttered. "I should have mentioned sooner. ICE is already involved. We ran into Agent Mei Xing when we checked on Chai Yenn yesterday. She's a.s.signed to the case."

"Good. Work with her. Let me know what you find out. Anything else?"

"Not right now," David replied.

"One last thing." Alex stood. "I'm putting Todd Chandler full-time on the case with you. Put him to work. In the meantime, I'll contact Interpol and see what they know about Huang." With that final command given, he was out the door with Mother on his heels.

David didn't move an inch. Neither did Zack. Working with Todd was a good thing. The kid had skills, some of them computer related. He was a good fit for the rapidly expanding operation. It was the other a.s.signment that stuck in Zack's throat. Work with Cruella de Vil? Just thinking of another confrontation with the snarky woman gave him a chill.

"You want to call her?" He turned to David. "I mean you are senior agent and all."

Before he had a chance to answer, Mother peered back into the room. "Excuse me, David, but you have a visitor."

And there she was, the ICE queen herself.

Zack jumped to his feet, a product of all the politeness trained into him from childhood and the Corps more than anything else. Agent Xing actually smiled when she entered the room. Okay, so it wasn't a very happy smile, but it did crack her face a little bit. She politely shook hands although she still kept the contact brief, limp, and insincere.

He scanned her once from head to toe. She wore no wedding band, and why he noticed bugged him. He didn't care about the uppity woman. h.e.l.l. She wasn't even what he considered attractive. Her cheeks were gaunt, and her hair was pulled back tight enough to pull even the hint of a smile off her face. This chick's wearing the same clothes as yesterday. What? Did she work all night?

"How's the investigation going?" She placed her laptop on the table while she accepted the chair he'd offered.

"What investigation would that be?" Zack asked as he and David resumed their seats.

"Why, Agent Lennox, the investigation on Chai Yenn, of course." She smiled again, which irked him more than when she was rude.

She wants something.

"Like I said, what investigation? The last time we met, you said you worked alone. Isn't that what you heard, Agent Tao?"

David nodded, his index finger tapping his chin like he was thinking.

"You gentlemen must think I have a lot of nerve." She didn't appear fazed in the least.

"You think?" Zack pushed away from the table.

"I'm sorry. I acted badly at the hospital, but I'm here to offer the a.s.sistance and total cooperation of the entire Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency."

He caught the first tell. Federal agents used acronyms. They a.s.sumed everyone spoke their language. This woman was not who she pretended to be. He leaned back and looked closer. She'd also spoken her apology too quickly, as if they tasted bad on her tongue and she had to spit them out before she changed her mind. At least she had the good grace to lower her eyes. Long eyelashes fluttered against creamy cheeks. David might be right. She might be someone's daughter after all. She'd almost bordered on feminine for a second there and, d.a.m.n it anyway. Why'd he notice?