Johnny doesn’t come home after school. He sends a message to Jane’s phone saying that he will arrive at 8pm with a guest. He doesn’t say who it is.

The house perks up a bit at the news that Johnny is back. It is the first time that the two families will be getting together since the death of China. Jane sees Miguel Angel almost every day, but she hasn’t talked to his father since San Ber and his mother, Lujan, always seems indisposed or sick and stays at home by herself. Apparently, she is coming to the meeting that night.

When the taxi pulls up in front of the car, Jane is the first one on the porch ready to welcome Johnny home. She has missed him more than she is willing to admit. Jeremy is there almost as quickly, and they both stand on the porch as they watch Johnny and Alicia climb the steps to the house.

“You know Alicia,” Johnny says. “No need for introductions.”

Jane can’t speak.

But Jeremy has no problem telling Johnny what he thinks. “Are you crazy? Bringing the enemy to our house?”

Arnold and Annie come out onto the porch when they hear the angry words.

“What’s going on?” Arnold says. Then he sees Alicia. He looks at Johnny and starts to say something.

But Annie interrupts him. “So nice of you to come, Alicia. Welcome to our home.”

“She probably thinks it’s her home,” Jeremy says. “She lived here all her life.”

“Be polite, Jeremy,” Annie says.

“Why?” Jeremy demands.

“Because your mother said so,” Arnold states.

“Welcome, Alicia. Please come in. And good to see you, Johnny. We thought you were gone for good.”

“No, just doing my job,” Johnny says. “Let’s talk inside.”

Miguel Angel is standing in the doorway behind them, but he doesn’t say anything, and Alicia seems to make it a point not to look at him. The Montoya’s are seated in the living room with cups of coffee steaming on the end tables. They stand up when Johnny and Alicia come into the room.

“No introductions needed,” Johnny says again, needlessly.

He indicates that Alicia should sit next to him on the loveseat and Arnold brings some chairs from the kitchen. There is an awkward silence while everyone gets situated and then they look at Johnny to start.

“Ok, I know that this is awkward,” Johnny begins.

“You think?” Jeremy interjects. But Arnold lays a hand on Jeremy’s arm to keep him quiet.

“We can talk freely in front of Alicia,” Johnny says. “She probably knows more about what’s going on than all of us put together.”

“No doubt,” Arnold says. “She was probably listening to the conversations in this house while she was helping her dad.”

“Yes, I was.” It is the first time that Alicia has spoken.

“You were the one who bugged our house and invaded our privacy?” Annie says. Alicia looks down at the floor, but Annie isn’t finished. “And you broke into our house with your dad looking for the treasure and your dad threatened to hurt my husband.” Annie needs to get it all out. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself, young lady.”

“I am.” It is not more than a whisper, but they all hear it.

“Alicia has had a change of heart since China died,” Johnny explains. “We’ve had a lot of heart-to-heart talks about what happened.”

Heart-to-heart? Jane thinks she detected something in Johnny’s voice but isn’t sure what it is.

“I guess it got serious when China died,” Alicia ventures. “Helping my dad was one thing but nobody was supposed to get hurt.”

“What did your dad have to do with China being poisoned and killed by her ex-husband?” Arnold says.

“Your father, Moises,” Johnny says pointedly. “And he wasn’t her ex-husband. They were still married. Officially.”

“I don’t remember him much,” Arnold says. “Just a shadowy figure that came around once-in-a-while when I was a kid. I think I was around ten years old when I was told he was dead.”

“That was the official story they gave everyone,” Johnny says, “But he was actually undercover investigating El Doce and their role in the revolution of 1989.”

“Who are they?” Jeremy asks. “You said that “they” gave the story to everyone.”

“The secret service,” Johnny says. “China and Moises worked for them for years before and after the revolution. Of course, before the revolution they were the opposition and just a small, specialized group of people dedicated to a cause.”

“What cause?” Jane says.

“Democracy in Paraguay,” Johnny says. “They were spies. Unofficially at first but then after the revolution it became official, and they worked for the new government. Moises was chosen to go undercover to infiltrate El Doce to find out whether they would support the new government or not.”

“So, China was a spy?” Jane says. It is more of a statement than a question.

“Yes, she was,” Johnny says. “We checked out her rooms above the garage in your house in Chicago. It had a state-of-the-art surveillance system, sophisticated satellite communications and files on lots of people of interest.”

“Are you saying that China was spying on us?” Annie says. “On her own family?”

“Yes,” Johnny says. “I’m sorry. You wanted to hear everything, right?”

“Go on,” Arnold says as he takes Annie’s hand in his own.

“Yes, she was under orders to keep an eye on you, but she was also keeping the Montoya family under surveillance.”

“Us?” Juan Carlos says. Up to that point he has been quiet. “What does this have to do with us?”

“It was called Operation Red Sea, apparently a reference based on the name of Moses in the Bible.”

“Yes, I know the story,” Juan Carlos says. “But that doesn’t tell me why we were also under surveillance.”

“Apparently it has something to do with the connection between Lujan and Arnold,” Alicia says. “You know, like when they were younger. She was a Stroessner after all.”

“Are there bugs in our house as well?” Juan Carlos demands. “Yes, there are,” Johnny says. “If you give me permission, I will have your house swept and the bugs removed before you get home tonight.”

“Please, do it.” Lujan has finally spoken. She looks at her husband intently. “I don’t want to go back to that house until I know it’s safe.”

“Ok, send your people, Mr. Martinez,” says Juan Carlos. “We will just have to trust you.” He pauses. “Don’t touch my office until I get there. We will do that one together. And can I get you to sweep our cabin in San Ber as well?”

“Yes, it will have to be tomorrow, but it can be done.” Johnny sends a quick message on his phone while they all wait for him. “Not that anyone will be listening anymore,” he says as he puts his phone away.

“What do you mean?” Arnold asks.

Johnny turns to Alicia for an explanation. She hesitates but Johnny takes her hand in his to encourage her. Jane notices the gesture.

“My Dad didn’t actually install the listening devices in the house,” Alicia says. “Not at first. They were already here.”

“Probably installed originally by China and Moises,” Johnny ventures.

“Or someone trying to listen in on them,” Jeremy says. “Other spies listening to these spies.”

“Could be,” Johnny says. “In any event, the bugs were here when Alicia’s family moved into the house.”

“Your mother, Maria, is the lawyer for the Simon Bertoni Foundation, isn’t she?” Jane asks.

“Yes, she is,” Alicia says. “She married my dad and moved into the house about four or five years after China and Arnold left the country during the revolution. Someone had to take care of the place.”

“So, your dad found the listening devices….” Arnold prompts her.

“No, he found the listening post,” Alicia says. “Up in the attic behind the false wall.”

“Cool,” says Jeremy.

“I haven’t been up there yet. Is it still there?”

Alicia looks at Jeremy with a shadow of a smile. “Yes, it is. My dad started using the equipment to listen to conversations in this house,” She pauses. “As well as….” She looks at Lujan guiltily.

“He was listening to conversations in our house as well?” Lujan says. “So the secret service was listening originally and then your dad? That’s disgusting and illegal.”

“Well, probably not the secret service,” Johnny says. “We have good contacts there and they claim that they know nothing about Operation Red Sea. I only found the name in China’s papers in her rooms above the garage in Chicago.”

“So, how could China be listening in from Chicago?” Miguel Angel asks. He has been quiet up to now. “That’s a pretty sophisticated procedure, I would think.”

“Probably has to do with that satellite uplink that I was telling you about,” Johnny says. “At least on the Chicago side, she had the right equipment.”

“Yes, but on this side the equipment was old,” Alicia says. “My dad replaced parts as needed. The bugs themselves seemed to work fine so he just left them.” She pauses. “Unless there is more equipment in the attic that we don’t know about.”

The room is quiet.

“Can I go and check it out, Dad?” Jeremy says.

“Later,” Arnold says. “And Johnny can come with us.”

“And Alicia,” says Johnny. “She’s been up there before.”

Again everyone is quiet. Thinking.

“Why would he listen to conversations in his own home?” Jane says finally.

“I can answer that,” Johnny says. He lets go of Alicia’s hand. “Apparently, he didn’t trust his wife very much. The money in the Foundation disappeared and she wouldn’t explain what happened to it. He was convinced that she was involved somehow.”

“She was,” Lujan says. “I asked her to hide the money from your dad.”

“Yes, we know,” Alicia says. “And we know that you stole the money from us and put it back in the tunnel where you originally found it.”

“How do you know that?” Arnold demands.

Alicia is quiet.

It is Juan Carlos who figured it out first.

“They were listening in on our conversation that night you first came to our home. Remember?” Heads nodded.

“I don’t get it,” Jeremy says. “How could they be listening to our conversation at the Montoya house if the listening post was up in the attic in our house?”

“I was up in the attic,” Alicia says. “We thought you had left already. My Dad was still looking for the treasure, but my job was to get to the attic and listen to your conversation at the Montoya house to see if you said anything interesting that we could use.”

“You were in the attic while we were downstairs?” Annie asks.

“And we were in the tunnel when you came into my room,” Jeremy says, delighted. “I am just loving this whole adventure thing we’ve got going on.”

“Jeremy, hush,” Arnold says. “This is serious.”

“Yes, we heard the whole story,” Alicia says. “It answered a lot of questions for us. We didn’t know about the tunnel yet but now we knew where the treasure was.”

“So why didn’t you take it?” Jane asks. “It was still there when we went to get it.”

“I never told my father.”

“Why not?”

“Because I also heard what else you said that night about why my father married my mother and how he was manipulating her just to get at the treasure.”

Everyone is quiet. No one stirs a muscle.

This is Alicia’s moment of truth.

“At first, I couldn’t believe it. But then I decided to talk to my mother and tell her what was going on.”

“She didn’t know about the listening post?” Annie asks.

“No, nothing,” Alicia says. “She was in shock. That was the beginning of the end for their marriage.”

“That’s why she stayed here when your dad was sent to Argentina,” Lujan says.

“Yes, she spoke with my dad’s family and told them the whole story and that she wanted protection from him.” There are tears in Alicia’s eyes now. “That was the last straw and they decided to send him off to Argentina. He’s not allowed back in Paraguay. Ever.”

“That wasn’t even the worst of it,” Johnny says. Everyone turns to look at him. He took several photos out of his coat pocket. “Look at these,” he says.