CHAPTER ONE

“China’s not dead?” Jane asks in shock.

“No,” Johnny says, “at least she didn’t die in that burnt-out car like they said.”

“Then where is she?” Jeremy demands.

“And how do you know she isn’t dead,” demands Arnold.

“You better be right about this,” Jane says seriously, “or I’m going to kill you myself.”

That last part is said a bit too loudly just when there is a moment of silence. Jane is defiant. “I mean it,” she repeats. Everyone smiles at her passion.

“Give me a chance to explain,” Johnny says. “You can kill me later.” He smiles, looking at Jane. “Do you remember the para-military group that broke into the house pretending they were with the police?”

Heads nod.

“They were looking for China,” Arnold says.

“But she was hiding in the tunnel,” Jeremy says, “which I showed her.” He is proud of his part in the drama.

“Yes, that was good thinking,” Johnny says “Remember that I told you that they were part of a rival security company that is willing to disappear people for a price?”

“We remember,” Annie says. “Not good people.”

“We didn’t know about that,” Juan Carlos says. He grabs Lujan’s hand. This is getting serious.

“I did some digging,” Johnny says. “Let’s say I have a friend on the inside. I found out who hired them. It was Moises.”

“My dad?” Arnold says. He thinks for a moment. “That makes sense actually. He was after China, finally caught up with her somehow and then killed her in that car bomb.”

“Or not,” Johnny says. “It wasn’t her body in the burnt-out car.”

“I went to identify her,” Arnold says, “but I only recognized one of her shoes and part of the dress she had on the day she disappeared.”

“Easy enough to plant on another corpse,” Johnny says.

“That’s truly horrible,” Annie says. “Who was that poor lady?” “I have no idea,” Johnny says. “My company works closely with the forensics lab in Asuncion, and we got the report before anyone else. We told them to keep it quiet. I promised to let you know but as far as the general public goes, we want to keep it quiet for as long as possible.”

“Why in the world should we keep it quiet?” Lujan asks. “Don’t we need to contact that poor old lady’s family and let them know what happened?”

“We will,” Johnny says. “They haven’t identified her yet, which gives us a few days to figure things out.”

“But why hide the fact that China didn’t die in the car accident,” Miguel Angel asks.

“Because China went to a lot of trouble to make people think that she was dead,” Johnny says. “I think we should respect her wishes until we can find out what she’s up to.”

“I thought that Moises killed her?” Annie says. “Apparently not,” Johnny says. “There is no way to pull that off without both of them being in on it.”

“So, the other body is definitely Moises,” Juan Carlos asks. “That seems strange that one would die and not the other.”

“Yes, it does,” Johnny says. “China will have to tell us what that was all about.”

“Where is she?” Jeremy asks. “I would like to see her with my own eyes.”

“I assume that she will make herself known when she is good and ready,” Johnny says. “For some reason she needs someone to think she is dead. And Moises too.”

“Moises is dead,” Jeremy says. “It’s not about thinking he’s dead. He’s the grandfather I never knew. Supposed to be dead years ago. Alive again for a moment. Kills China. Kills himself. She comes back to life. He stays dead. It’s all rather confusing.”

“It’s about the money,” Jane says again. She looks at Miguel Angel. “We need to trust Alicia at some point,” she says. “She has heard too much already. And we need to get everyone up to speed.”

Miguel Angle looks at her for a long moment and then quickly at Alicia who keeps her head down and her eyes lowered. Finally, he relents. “Fine,” he says, “but if you betray us, Alicia, I’ll…”

He can’t finish the sentence, but everyone knows what he means.