Page 67 of Wired Ghost

Armita would contact her.She had in the past; she was the one who had taken Momi away from Pim Wat and brought the baby to Sophie, at the risk of her own life.

Sophie closed and locked the doors of the hangar, re-sealing the tape, and hurried to meet the pilots. “Everyone is gone, and the houses are marked, too. Wheels up as soon as you can get us in the air. We’re going back to Hawaii.”

* * *

They landedin Honolulu twelve hours later. Sophie wasted no time collecting her things and calling for a rideshare to her apartment.

She could be walking right into a Department of Justice trap by heading back there, but she had to see if Armita had left her a message via her landline or computers.

The rideshare vehicle wove through busy downtown Honolulu traffic, headed for the Pendragon Arches building. She took out the burner and called her father.

The ambassador picked up right away. “Sophie! Why didn’t you call me back?”

“I left you this number, Dad. Why didn’tyoucallmeback?”

“I tried, but none of the calls would hook up.”

Sophie frowned in annoyance. “I should have been able to retrieve a message, but I have been flying for the last thirty or so hours.” Maybe the lack of communication had been the cheap phone—at a time when her sanity depended on it, technology had failed. “What’s going on with the DOJ investigation, Dad? Have you been able to find anything out?”

Her father cleared his throat. “I spoke to my Secret Service contact about the situation. There’s a full-blown multi-agency investigation going on into this Connor character, Sophie.”

“I know. That’s what I told you. Two men, one from the CIA and one from the FBI, restrained me in my own building to force me to tell them where he was. I don’t know what is going on.” She shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose—there was so much she couldn’t tell him!“Can you help me deal with these people, Dad?”

“I hired a top-notch criminal defense attorney for you. He told me to advise you to stay close to home. Don’t do anything suspicious. I’ll text you his info; you should call him right away about next steps.”

“Don’t do anything suspicious, like fly to a private island in Thailand?” Sophie forced a laugh. “That’s fine, Dad. I’m back now, and not planning on going anywhere else.”

“Can we get together? I’d like to talk further.” She heard a current of anxiety behind her father’s words.Maybe he had more to tell her but didn’t want to talk on the phone.

“I’ll call you tomorrow. Right now, I’m so hungry I could eat a whole donkey.” After her nausea and fatigue, her appetite had come raging back—and she remembered that, too, from her first trimester with Momi.

“You mean, ‘eat a horse.’” Her father chuckled, but it sounded forced.Someone was definitely listening in. “Get some rest and we’ll talk tomorrow. Love you, Sophie. I’m glad you’re home.”

Sophie put the phone away and stared out the vehicle’s window. Cars honked, bikers whizzed by, kids on skateboards and dogs on leashes filled the sidewalks. Palm trees reflected in windows. Colors were bright and sounds loud, but Sophie hardly registered any of it, not even the massive shade trees that sheltered the area from the brilliant sun and heat of downtown, as they turned into her neighborhood.

The web of lies she’d become a part of, woven around protecting Connor’s identity, was tightening around her—and she had no idea how to get free of it.

But that wasn’t what she was really worried about now.

Where were Armita and Momi? And the dogs?

She was going to have to call Alika, and tell him they were missing. The thought made her belly clench. Sophie glanced down at the stubbornly silent phone and tried Armita’s number one more time.

“Here you are,” the driver said, pulling up in front of the elegant, well-appointed Pendragon Arches building, where Security Solutions owned several units, including the one she lived in. Sophie thanked the driver and exited the vehicle.

She pushed through the glass doors and greeted the elderly security officer at his desk as she carried her travel backpack through the beautifully decorated lobby, spangles of light from the chandeliers falling on her like drops of sunshine.

Once on the elevator, Sophie dictated a list of chores into the phone’s voice memo:order takeout. That call to Alika. Contact the lawyer. Talk to Paula and Bix at Security Solutions about whatever ended up happening with leaving those agents in the conference room. Make an appointment with OB/GYN.

The elevator dinged, and opened.

She walked down the hall to the door of her unit, stuck her key in—and a dog barked on the other side of the door.

Ginger.

And then, the patter of running feet, and a stream of giggles.

Momi.

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