Page 58 of Shadow Lies

“Why would we kill him?” Charley asked, still looking amused.

“You said he’s a problem.”

“We encounter a lot of problems. If we killed them all we’d have even more problems to deal with. Trust me.”

That was the problem. She didn’t trust Charley. But as her stomach twisted, she wanted so badly to trust her about this.

“You’re not going to do anything to him?”

Charley cocked up one perfectly shaped auburn brow. “As crazy as he’s acting, it seems you’ve already done that.”

“So Kane is all right?” she asked, her heart thundering.

“See for yourself.” Charley moved to the door, opened it and called, “Bring him in.” Standing in the open doorway, she glanced back. “And Alexis, sometimes being a bitch is necessary.”

With that, she disappeared, closing the door behind her.

Less than a minute later, a minute during which Alexis paced the room like a caged animal, the door opened again to reveal Kane.

“Oh my God.” She rushed him, throwing herself against him in a full body hug right there in the doorway. “You’re alive.”

Kane wrapped her in his strong arms, burying his face against the top of her head. “So are you. I was so worried about you.”

“So was I about you.”

“I’ll give you two some time. Then we’ve got work to do.” Charley’s voice coming from behind Kane interrupted the reunion.

The door closed and Kane pulled back to glance down at Alexis. “Was that—”

“Charley,” she supplied. Although she had to wonder whatworkCharley had been referring to.

It didn’t matter. She didn’t care. Kane was here and safe. And he’d been crazy with worry about her. He cared. She squeezed him tighter, pressing her head against his chest.

She realized the shirt beneath her cheek wasn’t his usual. She leaned away. “You changed.”

“Yeah.” He glanced at the sofa. “Can we sit? I have questions.”

So did she, although she’d rather just keep hugging him. “Sure.”

She sat first. He sat next to her, but not close enough for her liking. She reached out and grabbed his hand. “What happened at the banquet?”

“Charley’s men—at least I think they were Charley’s men—grabbed Wei from a back hallway and took him. I spent until the end of the lunch observing as best I could, but I didn’t notice anyone looking for him. Admittedly, I wasn’t in the best position to see the room. They grabbed him after the performance was done so I had to watch from the service doorway. What do you know?” he asked.

“Not much. She didn’t answer me about Wei. But I did have quite a conversation with Charley. She’s a bit more talkative live and in person, unlike on the phone.”

“What did you talk about? And why did your hotel room look like you’d been kidnapped?” he asked.

“I kind of was.” She saw his frown and rushed to explain. “Yeah, sedating me for a job interview is insane but it might have been a misunderstanding between her and her guys.”

“Sedating you? For a—what interview?” He shook his head, looking confused. She didn’t blame him.

“I can catch you up pretty quickly. Charley wanted to bring me in for an interview to be 'a charley' like her. It's not a name. It's a position. Although this Charley seems to be the main one. The head Charley. The big man—or rather woman—in charge of all the rest.”

“All right.” He nodded, his brows still drawn low over his dark eyes.

“Apparently I’d be doing a lot of the stuff I did for the CIA. Information coordination. Some liaison work. We didn’t get too far into the discussion because Charley heard that you were running around Beijing looking for me.”

“Well, you were missing. I found your wallet, ID and personal cell phone in the bedroom. And your burner cell was under a table by the door, as if you’d been dragged out and dropped it. What was I supposed to think? And what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t call the police. I had to look for you myself.”

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