Both Gabe and Lizzy were sitting in awkward silence. Gabe was texting on his smartphone but he was keeping an eye on Maylin.
She realized they were being sensitive to her. But she couldn’t hide from serious discussion every time she got anxious. It would slow down their main purpose. And honestly, she needed to grow up some, step up to the issue at hand. “Are they doing recon on the biotech company Gabe found out about?”
It was Lizzy who answered first. “Marc and Victoria headed down to California to check out the biotech facilities and get us some basic intel. If your little sister is being held there, though, they are either incredibly smart or insanely arrogant.”
Leaving the chopped stuff by the sink, Maylin grabbed the shrimp and dumped them in her batter, giving them a light toss to coat. She nabbed a pair of long chopsticks from her personal kitchen tools. Glad she’d brought the box of cooking tools with her from her place. It had seemed stupid at the time, but she hadn’t been willing to leave without them in case she needed to return straight to work. Having them here was a comfort.
“Why arrogant?” An-mei had to be there. Where else could she be?
The oil in the wok sizzled as she started frying the shrimp a few at a time so as not to drop the oil temperature too low.
“You can run an easy internet search and view satellite photos of the whole facility,” Lizzy answered.
Gabe grunted.
Maylin kept her eyes on her shrimp, ensuring each one fried to a light golden brown before nipping them out of the oil to drain on a plate layered with paper towels. “What?”
“Generally, biotech or tech companies with things to hide have high enough security to lock down satellite images of their facilities. Not usually available to the public or the casual internet surfer.” Gabe pushed away from the counter and took the plate with the fried shrimp from her. As he held it for her, she transferred the last few shrimp to the plate and turned off the heat under the wok.
In a fresh skillet, she poured half a tablespoon of the oil from the wok and tipped the skillet this way and that to coat before setting it on the stove at high heat. “So Marc and Victoria went all the way to California to confirm?”
Lizzy laughed. “It’s not a long flight and they were getting a little cabin fever. Some light reconnaissance did them good.”
Maylin considered that as she tossed the green onions and jalapeno onto the skillet, stirring them with a wooden spatula as they sautéed and released fragrant scent. Turning to Gabe, she relieved him of the plate of freshly fried shrimp and added them to the skillet, tossing to mix the shrimp with the greens. Then she added another sprinkling of salt and dusted it all with pepper. As she finished, the rice cooker beeped. “Perfect timing.”
She flew about the kitchen then, putting out plates and arranging them with a nice scoop of rice topped with the salt and pepper fried shrimp. Gabe had taken a seat at the breakfast bar with Lizzy, but neither of them started on their plates until Maylin sat with them to eat.
“Leave the dishes. I’ll do them since you cooked,” Lizzy said between mouthfuls. “S’good.”
“Do you get any communication from them while they’re gone?” Maylin figured Lizzy would have told them if they’d found An-mei, but it seemed odd for them to head out and not send back any information at all.
“Standard procedure is to check in every twelve hours for a short trip like this. We know you’re under surveillance, so we’re keeping communication to a minimum to reduce the chance of our friends tapping into us.” Gabe was eating his portion quickly too. “They’ll be sad they missed this. It’s delicious.”
Pleased, Maylin applied herself to her own plate. “Normally, I’d serve this as part of a meal with several other dishes. But it seemed like it’d be good tonight on its own.”
“It is,” Lizzy agreed. “Last checkin, they confirmed the location seems to be legit. No signs of underground labs or unusual shipments. Personnel come and go on a normal schedule. They’re maintaining observation through the night to see if there’s any interesting activity in the dark when the normal employees go home.”
“There’s probably another facility if this one is filled with normal employees.” Gabe stood, taking his plate and Lizzy’s to the sink.
Maylin swallowed hard, only halfway through her dinner. They ate fast. No. They inhaled. Minimal chewing.
“We’ll find what we’re looking for,” Lizzy said, standing away from the breakfast bar. “We’re systematic to be sure we don’t miss anything. And we will find anything they’re trying to hide. You’ll see.”
Maylin turned on the stool to face Lizzy. “Thank you.”
The smile Lizzy gave her was gentle, and somewhat awkward. “Good night, you two. Try to get some actual sleep.”