Page 144 of Shadowing You

Paper shifted again on the other end of the phone. “We’re looking for the other ones too. Were these women attempting to leave China and just got caught up in this smuggling ring, or⁠—”

“They were patients at a clinic in Fuyin, where I used to work. They came for care and were sent to rest—to recover.”

“And never made it,” Ethan said.

“Okay.” Callan drew out the word. “How did they end up as victims?”

“Dr. Lu said he was sending them for rehab, but he put them in cars and sent them off to…whoever purchased them. They had families, Ài Le had children who never heard from her again.”

“Wow. That’s gutsy, and…so evil.”

“Will the women be in trouble?”

“For being sold against their will?” Callan sounded almost offended. “Of course not. We’re looking for them because they’re victims—and because we need witnesses.”

“And then they will be sent back to China?”

There was a pause. “That depends on a lot of things—where they’re found, what they know, and if they want to go back. For your friend Ài Le, if she wants to stay in the US, and if she cooperates with our investigation, then she’ll be able to stay. But if she has children and a family back home…? I guess she’ll have to decide if it’s worth the risk.”

“I see. Because even if Lu Feng is stopped⁠—”

“We can’t bring down his whole organization. We can pass along what we know to Chinese authorities, but what they do with it…” His voice trailed.

“I understand. But she will have a choice. She will be safe.”

“If she cooperates, safer than she is right now. There are a lot of organizations specifically built to take care of women being freed from human trafficking. She’ll be taken care of, if she chooses to stay. Given food and housing, taught a trade, offered counseling—you know, that kind of thing.”

Mei Lin hadn’t known, and again, she felt emotion pressing against her eyes. “And you will find the rest?”

“If they’re in the US, there’s a good chance. And we’re working with Interpol, which gathers data from almost two hundred nations. Those countries don’t all share everything, and if the women never left China, I doubt we’ll find them. But one victim willing to testify, plus the documents you and Ethan smuggled out of China—that’ll give us all we need to arrest Lu Feng.”

Ethan leaned toward the phone. “Any updates on that?”

“I don’t have the latest intel,” Callan said. “Last I heard, Lu was spotted in the UAE—they have almost as much surveillance as China. If he’s still there or flew out, though, I have no idea.”

Ethan practically growled, the sound so low she doubted Callan heard it. “All the evidence in the world doesn’t do any good if we can’t find the guy.”

“Thanks to your wife’s evidence, the whole world is looking for him.”

Ethan relaxed slightly, taking her hand. “She is pretty amazing.”

“That much, I already guessed,” Callan said. “I look forward to meeting both of you.”

“Thank you, Callan.” Mei Lin hoped the two small words conveyed her gratitude. Even if only Ài Le was rescued, the years Mei Lin had spent in prison would be worth it.

At a sound in the kitchen, Mei Lin turned from where she sat on the sofa.

Asher nodded at her, then at Ethan, who was sitting on the adjacent loveseat. “Just grabbing some grub.”

It was almost nine o’clock at night, and she and Ethan were in the middle of a game of Yahtzee, one she was losing badly.

They’d hardly seen Asher since that first day. He kept to the front room, where he’d set up monitors to watch the property. If he slept at all, he did it during the day when she and Ethan were awake.

He plopped a little pod into the coffeemaker and then pulled lunch meat out of the refrigerator.

“Not sure I could drink coffee at this hour,” Ethan said.

“It’s morning somewhere.” Asher built a sandwich, then grabbed a bag of chips. “I’ll be up front in case the bears and coyotes decide to organize.”