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Jax stared over Punky’s head as he recalled the message from memory. “It said, ‘Wish you were here. Jenn and I have been touring the city. The cherry blossoms are so beautiful, and I can’t wait to show you my pictures when I return. Miss you.’ End quote.”

Punky shook her head. “Yeah, sounds real ominous.”

“The code word ‘cherry blossoms’ indicates information pertaining to an imminent threat.”

“Aren’t there cherry blossoms in Shanghai?”

“Not in October.”

She bit the inside of her lip. “Who’s Jenn?”

“I’m afraid I can’t say.”

Punky’s analytical brain was shuffling the tiny morsels of information around, trying to connect them with other clues and piece together a rational explanation for the operative’s disappearance. But beyond that, she was still stumped as to why the university had come up in SUBLIME’s communication. She knew they were somehow connected, but she still couldn’t see the whole picture.

“Your turn,” Jax said.

* * *

Punky had been thinking how best to explain what had led her to the University of California San Diego, and she concluded that there would be no way of sugarcoating it. If SUBLIME had pointed her to Dr. Tan Lily, it could only mean one of two things — either she was a willing participant in a larger conspiracy, or she was a target.

Based on what Jax had told her, she feared it was the latter.

“As I said, I’ve been investigating a network of individuals from China’s Ministry of State Security. Last year, I came upon an operative who had recruited a sailor aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and convinced him to turn over classified material pertaining to the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter.”

Tan Lily furrowed her brow, likely wondering what any of this had to do with her.

“We were successful in stopping the operative, but we lost our only lead on the sailor known as KMART.”

“So, KMART is still out there,” Jax said.

Punky nodded. “I’ve spent the last year trying to track him down but have only managed to uncover more Chinese operatives on American soil. The latest — and most promising — is one in the San Diego area known as SUBLIME. The frequency of his communications has increased lately and mention what I believe to be the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.”

Tan Lily lifted her hand off the desk. “What does any of this have to do with me?”

Punky glanced over at Jax before answering. “The last several messages have mentioned the university.”

Jax closed his eyes in a sign of exaggerated frustration. “As a target?”

“The messages are encrypted, and the NSA has only been able to provide partial transcripts, so we can’t see it in context,” Punky said to the CIA officer, almost ignoring the doctor. “But given the doctor’s specialty and what you just told us, I think it’s safe to say that the Ministry has targeted her.”

“For what?” Tan Lily asked.

Punky turned back to her. “I don’t know. Maybe to finish something your husband started? A synthetic bioweapon, maybe?”

Tan Lily shook her head. “The whole reason Shen Yu remained behind in China was to stop them from developing a viable weapon. He wouldn’t have helped them achieve success in such an endeavor. He just wouldn’t.”

But Punky could see the wheels spinning behind Jax’s brown eyes. “What if he did help them? What if he got them close and now they need someone with his same skill set to complete the weapon?”

The doctor straightened her back and sat tall. “I wouldn’t do it,” she said, matter-of-factly.

But Jax was on a roll. “What if they found some leverage to use? Like your husband?”

She shook her head, but Punky saw her eyes glisten with the advent of tears. “When my daughter and I fled China for the United States, I knew there was a good chance I would never see him again. We both understood the risks involved.”

Punky could tell Tan Lily loved her husband, but she agreed he probably wasn’t sufficient leverage to convince her to complete the engineering process on a synthetic bioweapon. There had to be something or somebody else that meant enough to convince Tan Lily to betray the very reason she had fled China with her…

“Did you say you had a daughter?”

Tan Lily nodded almost as if Punky had asked her about something more pedestrian, then her eyes grew wide as it dawned on her. She looked at Jax and saw the same worried look on his face.

“Where is she?” Jax asked.

“At school.”

He jumped up. “We need to go.”

Punky broke out in gooseflesh when she realized that Tan Lily’s little girl was defenseless at school while she and Jax bickered over whose mission took priority. They would have time to figure out what the Ministry of State Security wanted with Tan Lily later. What mattered right now was that they moved the doctor and her daughter somewhere safe.

“Do you have somewhere you can take her?” she asked Jax, then stood and fished for her car keys.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to get her daughter.”

“Not without me,” Tan Lily said, already out of her seat and moving toward the door.