Page 29 of Shadowing You

“It’s a long story.” One he didn’t seem to want to tell at the moment. “We’ll switch cars in Yiyang.” His eyes flicked to the driver. “We’ll go from there.”

To Hong Kong, then Canada. Then Ethan would do what he’d been trying to do six years ago, before the pandemic—get her a visa and bring her to the States with him.

Assuming…a lot of things. Like that he hadn’t moved on from her. Like he wanted not just to rescue her but to be with her.

Assuming he still wanted them to have a life together. It was the thing she’d wanted more than anything, even if she’d stopped hoping for it.

But she couldn’t have it, not yet. “Okay.”

Ethan studied her, eyes narrowed. He knew her, even now. What was he reading on her face?

She gave him the best smile she could manage and turned to the window.

She would tell him, but not until there was no one who could repeat what she said to the wrong pair of ears.

He’d argue. He’d probably be furious with her, not only for what she wanted to do now but for what she’d done back then. He’d call her reckless and foolish, tell her she’d risked her life for nothing. He’d say whatever he had to say to talk her into getting out of China.

She couldn’t give in. Help me stand firm, Lord. Help me finish what I started.

She had yearned for freedom since the day she’d been arrested. She’d yearned for Ethan since the day they married. No, since long before that, even before she’d left Vancouver.

But she couldn’t have either, not until Lu Feng was finished.

She had no choice. She had to finish him.

CHAPTER NINE

The driver pulled into a parking garage attached to a hospital and killed the engine. “This is good?”

“It works.” Ethan peeled off a stack of yuan and pressed it into Taibo’s palm.

The man grinned and pocketed it. “Good luck, Chief.”

Ethan almost laughed. “Thanks.”

They climbed from the car and watched as he drove away. They were more than an hour’s drive from Changsha in a town Michael had chosen randomly.

Whoever was looking for Mei Lin would be looking for the wrong car and, hopefully, the wrong city.

Ethan’s shoulders relaxed for the first time since the call that morning. He and Michael had worked out a plan for getting to the border, and then he and Gavin had worked out a plan for getting into Hong Kong and out of China.

It would take eight or nine hours to drive to Shenzhen, where Ethan and Mei Lin would walk across the Hong Kong border. That last stretch would be the most dangerous, but every mile south was a mile farther from…whoever was chasing his wife.

He needed to know what they were up against.

A man climbed from the driver’s seat of a silver Volkswagen one row over.

Michael had told Ethan he’d hired a “black car,” and then said it would be a silver sedan—because why should that make sense when nothing else did? As long as it was safe, he didn’t care what color the stupid car was.

Ethan took Mei Lin’s hand and headed toward it.

“Mr. Ethan?” the driver asked as they approached.

“That’s me.”

They were still a few yards away when Mei Lin stopped and looked up at Ethan. Her eyes were wide and intense—and giving him a very bad feeling.

Whatever she needed to say, she apparently didn’t want to say in front of the driver.