Shadow Lies

  Shadow SEALs

  Cat Johnson

  She's a beauty. He's become a beast. Both fell from grace. Can a secret shadow organization help them rise from the ashes? Or is it all lies?

  * * *

  Alexis was the sister of his ex-girlfriend. Kane never expected to see her again, especially not all grown up and standing in the Shaolin monastery where he’d gone to hide from the world…and from himself.

  * * *

  She says she wants to save him. But why does she reek of CIA while claiming to work for an undisclosed organization? One that wants to hire him for a job that sounds like it could cost him what little is left of his soul after the SEALs destroyed him. And why does he want her so badly?

  Chapter One

  "Alexis!" Frank’s bellow permeated through her ear buds even as they pumped loud music directly into her ear canal.

  There was no ignoring him.

  Gripping the mop handle in one hand, she pushed the long curly piece of hair that had escaped from the elastic band out of her eyes.

  She felt very much like Cinderella at the moment. Overworked. Under appreciated. Yelled at constantly by her evil stepmother.

  At least Cinderella had those cute mice and bluebirds to keep her company as she cleaned. Not to mention a fairy godmother to give her anything her heart desired.

  Alexis only had Frank.

  She drew in a deep breath before she pulled out one earpiece and called back in as sweet a voice as she could muster, "Yes, Frank?"

  "Don't forget to mop the men's bathroom real good. The place smells like piss."

  “Got it,” she said, shoving the earbud back in and hoping this was the end of the conversation.

  As she wheeled the bucket toward the foulest of all rooms, the men’s bathroom, she snorted at the irony of this particular task.

  Her whole life was in the toilet, so why shouldn't it smell like piss too?

  The real question was, how could her boss distinguish one foul odor from another? The combination of stale beer, spilled drinks, vomit, and yes, urine—not always in the bathroom—was the aroma that surrounded her from four p.m. until closing time, Wednesday through Saturday.

  The sad part was, as shitty as this job was, she was still grateful for it.

  Working at the bar paid the bills. This crappy job made it possible for her to continue to hide out in her old college town. To pretend to herself that she was still a student working toward her degree.

  If not for this job, she’d already have had to crawl home with her tail between her legs and tell her parents she’d messed up. Bad. Like career-ending, life altering bad.

  She sighed. This was what her world had become. Mopping floors, hauling glasses, restocking bottles in the afternoon. Then slinging drinks for tips when the college crowd arrived late at night.

  How the hell had this happened? Well, to be fair, she knew how it happened, but it still didn’t feel real.

  More important was, how was she going to turn her life around?

  As she considered that, the song cut out and she heard the ringing of an incoming call coming through the earbuds.

  She glanced at the door she’d propped open.

  Frank was nowhere in sight. Even so, she kicked out the doorstop and let the door swing closed before she swiped the cell’s screen to connect the call.

  She didn’t need her boss bitching she was on the phone while also on the clock. As if her minuscule hourly rate was going to break him.

  “Hello,” she answered, not knowing who was calling from the blocked number and not caring.

  Any distraction was a good distraction. Although, it did stink in here, especially with the door closed. The faster she got finished the better.

  With that in mind, she reached for the mop again as a woman’s voice came through the earpiece. “Is this Alexis Jackson?”

  Here it came. Some scam pitch for lower interest rates on her credit card balance. Or, another favorite, a warning that the extended warranty on her car was about to expire and she needed to extend it.

  Yeah, right. Like the ten-year old hunk of crap she’d bought used on Craig’s List had a warranty.

  She wasn’t even sure it would pass inspection next year given all the warning lights blinking on the dashboard. It looked like a damn light show in there.

  “Yes.” She braced herself for some phone solicitor bull shit.

  She’d enjoy hanging up on this person as soon as she heard what they were selling. She didn’t have much control over anything in her life, but she had the power to do that.

  "The same Alexis Jackson who is an acquaintance of Kane Lee?" The stranger’s question was delivered in a cultured, silky-smooth voice.

  She didn’t sound like anyone who lived in any of the five boroughs. Or even like anyone Alexis knew.

  More confusing than that, was who the woman had mentioned by name that had her complete attention.

  Kane Lee.

  The way her heart jumped at just hearing his name proved her teenage crush on her older sister’s college boyfriend had not gone away.

  "Um, yeah. I know Kane. Can I ask why you’re asking about him? Is he okay?"

  Oh, God. Was he hurt or in the hospital?

  Was she the only person they could track down to tell? What about his parents? Oh, no. Were they dead? They couldn’t be. They weren’t all that much older than her own parents.

  “We were hoping you could tell us if he’s well…and where he is.”

  “Me? I can’t tell you anything. I haven't seen him in years. Who are you?” she asked, her sixth sense in overdrive.

  “You can call me Charley.”

  Nice to have a name to attach to the voice, but that didn’t answer a whole lot of questions. She asked the next one in her roster. “Okay, Charley, why are you looking for Kane?”

  “We’d like to offer him a job,” the woman explained, as if it was the most perfectly normal thing in the world to contact job applicants through their ex-girlfriend’s sister a decade after the break-up.

  Wait. Did Kane need a job? Last she’d heard he was in the Navy. A SEAL. That had been years ago though. Did he get out?

  There were too many questions and not enough answers in this conversation. Alexis decided to work on that. “Who is this we you keep mentioning? Who do you work for, Charley?”

  “An entity that would prefer to remain nameless until we speak to him directly.”

  That was a polite way of saying it was none of her business.

  She sighed. This woman was good at avoidance.

  “It’s nice that you want to hire him, but I don’t know what I can do to help. Like I said, I haven’t seen him or even heard anything about him in years.”

  Certainly not from her sister Brittany.

  Kane had been persona non grata—he who shall not be named—ever since he broke up with Brittany to join the Navy after dating her for two years while they’d both attended CUNY City College.

  Once she was done ranting about it, no one was allowed to even breathe his name in her presence.

  “We’re reaching out to you because we think you might be able to locate him,” the woman continued, still speaking on behalf of the as yet unidentified ‘we’.

  “Me? What makes you think I can find him if you can’t?” she asked.

  Seriously, this person and her mysterious organization managed to uncover that she knew Kane and find the number to her cell phone. Why couldn’t they locate Kane themselves?

  “Because you two have a past.”

  She let out a snort. “No. I don’t have a past with him. Kane and my sister have a past. And that’s long over. I’m not even sure my parents still get Christmas cards from his—” She stopped herself.

  His parents. They would know where Kane was. And her own parents might still be in touch with the Lees.

  Even if they weren’t, knowing the Lees, traditional to the bone, they probably still had a landline and their home number listed in the local phone book.

  This Charley person could call them herself.

  She’d just opened her mouth to say that when Charley said, “There will of course be monetary compensation for you if you were able to assist us.”

  Monetary compensation. That got her attention.

  Acting like the Ramen-eating, starving, pretend student she was, she asked, “How much compensation?”

  “That depends.”

  “On what?” she asked, jumping for that carrot Charley dangled.

  “On how helpful you are. Let’s just say, your next month’s rent will be paid if you can get us a current location for him. After that, we’ll see.”

  After that... Meaning there could be more?

  Next month’s rent being covered would give her a nice cushion. She’d even be able to pay for a course next semester and start chipping away at the credits she still needed to graduate.

  Once she did that, actually earned the degree she was currently pretending to have, she’d be able to get a real job and stop lying to her parents about her employment.

  “All right. I’ll do it. I’ll find him. How do I get in touch with you?” There was no number listed on the caller ID for her to call back.

  “We’ll be in touch with you.”

  Then the call disconnected. No mention of when or how long she had. Which meant she’d better hurry.

  With another glance at the graffiti covered men’s room door—the men who hung out at this place truly were disgusting—she hit the listing to dial her parents. She needed
the Lee’s phone number and she needed contact information for Kane.

  Just the current location of Kane Lee. She could get that. Easy. And after that, she wouldn’t exactly be on easy street, but she’d be able to move forward instead of just trying to stay afloat.

  Show mamma the money!

  Chapter Two

  Alexis decided not to make the call from the men’s room where Frank could bust in any moment and blow her cover.

  She leaned into his office. “I have to run to my car.”

  He frowned. “It’s not your break yet.”

  “I have female problems, Frank. I either go to my car now and get what I need or bleed all over the place. Your choice.”

  “Jesus. Just go. Don’t tell me next time. Christ.”

  She controlled her smile until she was heading out the door. The female problems excuse never failed on her boss. And his embarrassment never failed to amuse her.

  In her car, she grabbed a pen and fast food napkin out of the glove compartment. Hopefully she’d have something to write down after making this call.

  With a bracing breath, she scrolled through her contacts and tapped her parents’ number.

  When her mother answered, she crossed her fingers and said, “Hi, Mom.”

  “Hello. Nice of you to call.” The attitude in Alex’s mother’s flat, unfriendly tone was clear.

  She got it. It had been a long time since she’d called home. There was good reason for that. Reasons she couldn’t go into.

  “Sorry I haven’t been in touch. I’ve been busy at work.”

  “They don’t have phones where you work?”

  “Yes. Of course, but I didn’t feel right making overseas calls on the phone the company provided.”

  “Overseas?” Her mother brightened. “Really. That’s exciting. Where did they send you?”

  “Oh, all over. Taipei. Hong Kong. So many places I can’t even remember them all.”

  “For what?” her mother asked.

  “It was mostly just a tour of all the offices abroad. And you know meetings, meetings, meetings.”

  “And they wanted you there?” Pride colored her mother’s words.

  “Yup. As the, uh, designer of the new tech, I had to be there to, um, explain everything to the management. You know upper-level executives. Have to hold their hands and walk them through anything new.” She rolled her eyes as her own lies got even more elaborate.

  “Hold on, Alexis. Your father just walked in.”

  She waited as her mother repeated to her father, almost word for word, what she’d just said.

  When her mother was done relaying everything, she took the opportunity to steer the conversation in another direction.

  “You know who I was thinking of the other day? The Lees. Do you still hear from them ever?”

  “Yes. We still get a card from them every Christmas.”

  Kane’s parents had emigrated to the States before he was born. The few times she’d met them, she could see how Kane’s upbringing must have been an interesting one.

  Her sister had said they’d enrolled him in Chinese language classes and martial arts from when he was little. But the family had also embraced all the holiday traditions of their new country—including Christmas.

  Thank goodness they had since it meant her parents were still getting holiday cards from them.

  “Oh really? Where are they living now?” she asked, as casually as she could.

  “Florida. On a golf course, if you can believe it. They sold the house in New York.”

  “Do you have an address or a number for them?” Realizing that sounded like an odd request, she quickly added. “I, uh, wanted to ask them for Kane’s phone number.”

  “Kane, huh?” There was a smile in her mother’s tone.

  “Why do you say it like that?” Alexis frowned.

  “Oh, come on, Alexis. I’m not blind. A mother sees things.”

  “Sees what? What was there to see?”

  “You know. You had a crush on Kane the whole time your sister was dating him.”

  “Mom. I was like thirteen.”

  “That’s old enough to have a crush.”

  It didn’t matter if it were completely true. That her pubescent self had been completely in love with Kane Lee. That didn’t mean she wanted her mother to know then or tease her about it now.

  Next month’s rent. Paid.

  The memory of Charley’s words reminded her what was at stake. The payoff was worth giving her mother the satisfaction of being right, even if she did hate it.

  She let out a sigh. “Fine. Yes. I liked Kane.”

  “Well, then, lucky for you I know where he is.”

  “You do?” She gripped the pen tighter in her hand.

  “Sure. It was in the Lee’s Christmas letter this year.”

  A letter. Even better than a card. Packed with information that might be helpful.

  “What did they say?” Alexis asked, her pulse beating faster.

  “He’s living in China.”

  She frowned.

  “Are you sure?” Alexis asked.

  There was no US Navy base in China. Maybe her mother was mistaken. Or confused and he was on a ship in the Pacific, not on a base.

  “Hold on. I have the letter. Let me find… Here it is. They wrote, ‘We are so proud that since our son Kane left the Navy he has traveled back to our home country where he was accepted as a student and is studying to become a Kung Fu Master at the Shaolin Temple in Henan.’”

  Alexis scribbled every detail as fast as she could. She was going to have to get on google and figure out where this place was exactly. She had a feeling Charley and the mysterious we wouldn’t accept anything vague.

  “Did they say anything else?” she asked, heart pounding faster than before as everything began to fall into place.

  “Mr. Lee had a pacemaker installed last year.”

  She let out a huff. “Anything more about Kane?”

  “No. That was it.”

  If that was all, she could end this call. It was more than time to do that. “Oh, Mom. My boss is on the other line. Gotta go. Call soon. Love to Dad. Bye.”

  She disconnected and opened a browser on her phone. She did a voice search and watched the results populate the screen but she didn’t believe her eyes.

  The Shaolin Temple wasn’t the name of some martial arts school, as she’d expected.

  It was a monastery.

  She sat in the broken passenger seat of her piece of shit car, staring between what she’d scribbled on the napkin and the facts on her screen.

  Kane Lee had left the SEALs and was now studying to be a monk in China.

  What the hell was going on?

  That couldn’t be right. Could it?

  She was still contemplating the situation when her cell rang.

  The call was from a blocked number.

  Charley.

  “Hello?”

  “What do you have for us, Alexis.”

  It was creepy as fuck the way she insisted on talking in the plural, but as long as her cash was green, Alexis was willing to put up with it.

  “Kane is in China. The Shaolin Temple in Henan.”

  “Really?”

  Had she surprised Charley? Score one for the home team.

  Feeling cocky, Alexis said, “Yup. Did I earn my money?”

  “What is he doing there?”

  “Studying to be a Kung Fu Master. And possibly a monk,” she added since according to the one site she skimmed, it looked like the masters were all monks.

  That was one reason why she was having a really hard time wrapping her head around Kane being there. She’d heard her sister and Kane through the wall of the bedroom.

  The man didn’t seem the type to willingly become celibate.

  Charley let out a, “Hmm.”

  “I know. It’s a shocker. Right?” So was the fact she was agreeing with Charley.

  “Not exactly. It makes sense,” Charley said in her trademark tone that was somewhere between therapist and phone sex operator.

  “Does it?” Alexis snorted. “I’m glad it makes sense to you because it doesn’t make a bit of sense to me.”

  “There are things you don’t know.”

  “No doubt. But I bet you know them.”

  “We do. Thank you for your assistance, Alexis.”

  “Wait. What about my money?”