Page 38 of Wired Fear

“Yes. We…didn’t use anything that night. There’s a chance…”

“I wondered, afterward…”

They both stared at the parquet squares of the kitchen floor.

“I’m seven or eight weeks along, I think.” Sophie twisted her fingers together. “Will you take a paternity test? With Jake? So we can determine who the father is.”

Alika looked away and his throat worked. “I figured you had moved on. I have too. For all our sakes, I hope this isn’t my child.”

Sophie swallowed, surprised at how much his words hurt even though she understood perfectly what he meant. “You don’t have to do anything, regardless. I’m not asking you to take the test because I’m looking for help or support.”

Alika turned back and his eyes blazed. “You think I’d abandon my responsibility to my own flesh and blood—myohana? I thought you knew me.”

Sophie wound her fingers together even tighter. “I meant no insult.”

They stared at each other in tense silence.

Alika looked out the window and gave a deep sigh. “Of course, I’ll take the test. And we’ll all deal with whatever the results are.”

“I don’t expect you to understand, but I am happy I am pregnant. I thought I could never be a mother.” She blinked stinging eyes.

Alika reached out and caught one of her hands. “Don’t leave like this. We can be friends, at least. We were friends for years, and we might be parenting together.”

“We don’t know that,” Sophie argued. “And I don’t know where to go from here, in a manner of speaking.”

“Me neither. But let me start by showing you around the whole house. I’ve got an idea where you and the baby could stay, when you visit.”

“You’re extrapolating excessively,” Sophie protested, but let herself be led toward a wide staircase ascending to a second floor.

“I hope you’ll plan on visiting, regardless.” Alika squeezed her hand as they climbed the stairs. “In fact, I’d like to count on it. Just know you’ll always have a soft spot to land if you need it. No matter what.”

“Thanks,” Sophie murmured. As awkward as the situation was, she felt better for his words, and for resolving so much so quickly. “I appreciate that.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Seated in the office area on the jet, Connor ended the call from Felicia, frowning down at his phone. Jake had been shot? Who could be trying to take out one of his best operatives from a sniper position? The situation reminded him too much of Sophie’s recent case when a contract killer had been after her.

The shooter had to be Akane Chang.Chang had no love for either Jake or Sophie.

Connor looked back down at his phone and scrolled to the text he had received from Sophie declining his help in getting to Kaua`i.Good.She’d be safe there, out of the way of this latest threat.

He should probably go check on Jake, but the man was likely out of commission for a while. The Ghost’s time would be best spent trying to track the shooter, and all he needed was a computer for that.

Connor sat down and fired up his laptop. He hacked into a grid of surveillance cameras around the office building for Security Solutions in downtown Hilo. None of the feeds covered the particular area in which Jake’s shooting had taken place, but by scrolling through one of the traffic camera backups, he was able to spot a man exiting the building across the street in the appropriate time frame.

The subject was close to six feet tall, wearing bulky, nondescript sweats, and carried a rifle-sized duffel bag over one shoulder. He wore a University of Hawaii Warriors ball cap, pulled low. His skin was medium dark in the black-and-white video.

The suspect got into a black Toyota 4Runner SUV parked on the corner. Connor paused the feed and magnified the license plate number.

Another quick hack, and he was into the Hawaii State vehicle registration site. He ran the number and came up with a car reported stolen of a completely different make.The plates had been changed.

This was Jake’s shooter, for sure, but Connor had no useful information to pass on to authorities except that the man was roughly the same dimensions and race as Akane Chang, and was smart enough to have swapped the plates on what was likely a stolen vehicle.

Connor paced around, frustrated and worried. He missed his home in Thailand: the long, empty beaches of his island, Phi Ni, on which to run. He missed the company of his dog, Anubis, and the help and presence of his houseman, Nam. His home truly was his castle, and this enclosed container, parked on the hot tarmac of the Hilo airport, was far from ideal. Connor got up and went to the gym area that was a part of his office on the jet. He went through a routine on the Bowflex machine for a vigorous twenty minutes, getting blood flowing to his brain and extremities.

He was stalled on dealing with the shooter, but was sure it was Akane beginning the revenge spree that the man had sworn to complete in the courtroom a few short weeks ago.

The Ghost did have one unconventional weapon in his battle against the serial killer.

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