Chapter 91: Spies Like Us!

Chapter 91: Spies Like Us!

Back when Mei was leaving me and James alone to have some guy-time, she had stepped right into my personal space. Her fingers moved with careful precision, gently adjusting the white-bunny-pin pinned to my suit lapel.

"I will watch your 6 out in the waiting area just outside here," Mei informed me, her voice dropping into a professional murmur. "Plus, I will just use my laptop and see what is going on. Just yell for me if you want me, Master~!"

Mei gave a cheerful wave to Jim as she stepped backward into the hallway, pulling the heavy room door shut behind her.

Just as Mei started walking down the sterile corridor toward the private resting room she had scheduled an appointment in, the sound of James's voice drifted through the earpiece, catching her ear.

[ "Brother, be honest," James asked. "You and her?" ]

[ "Nope, just seriously my personal maid... I do admit she is so hot and I even dream about her occasionally, but we are just friends. You know about my maid fetish after all, so some days it's incredibly distracting. ]

Mei stopped completely in her tracks upon hearing the confession. She shook her head with a soft sigh, a small smile forming on her lips as she spoke under her breath.

"Idiot," Mei murmured to herself. "I even tapped on the bunny pin to remind you I was listening. If you were any other man, I would think you said that just for me, but I know you simply forgot, fufu."

Mei made her way further down the wing, stopping in front of an isolated room marked with a temporary out-of-order sign. She raised her hand and knocked exactly three times in a distinct, rhythmic pattern. An instant later, a sharp electronic click echoed through the frame as the lock slid back. She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

May Lee was lounging on the center couch, her legs crossed comfortably in Indian style. She had a sleek laptop balanced right on her lap, her fingers moving like a whirlwind as she went to town on the keystrokes. She caught sight of her subordinate entering the room and let a wide grin spread across her face.

May looked completely relaxed, currently wearing a pair of baggy jeans paired with a faded AC-DC shirt. "Sup, little Xia?"

Mei looked at her cheery Captain, pulling out her own compact laptop as she moved across the room to sit right next to her boss. She reached into her pocket, unwrapping a cherry Tootsie Pop for herself before offering a chocolate one directly to her superior. May accepted the candy with a satisfied grin, unwrapping it to match her pace.

"Rick has kept me incredibly busy," Mei began, setting her laptop down. "I don't even know where to begin, honestly. Well, I have already killed two hired amateur assassins gunning for him in the last month alone. One was from the Song family, which is no surprise, and the other was sent from the Southern Cross."

May Lee paused her typing, pointing her sucker directly at the maid as her gaze sharpened. "The Southern Cross I fully expected, but who exactly in the Song family sent the killer?"

Mei’s face remained entirely blank, all the usual playful maid energy vanishing into a serious, clinical tone. "Debby Song."

May Lee offered a slow, deliberate nod of understanding.

"Mei Xia, then when you have any free time, make sure she completely stops breathing," May instructed, her deep voice carrying a tone of cold finality.

"That woman has been a thorn in Rick's side for far too long, and I will personally take the blame for her death. She clearly has not learned her lesson and will just keep doing it. Plus, I absolutely don't want her going after Rick's children."

Mei Xia focused on her screen. "Method?"

May Lee lost her warm smile entirely, her expression hardening as she laid out the parameters. "Unofficially, I would like nothing more than slow and painful. But this time, suicide is the way to go. She has been drinking heavily lately, so alcohol poisoning is the best angle. Maybe her retard son will finally give up drinking if he sees that happen to her. And if you can't manage that smoothly, then a staged bathtub accident is the next one."

"Yeah, Rick let her off way too easy with simple financial ruin," Mei agreed, her fingers clicking against the keys. "A beast like that just gets even more aggressive if left loose in the wild."

"Yup, yup," May muttered, leaning back against the cushions. "And anything else ya got for me, Mei Xia?"

Mei focused on her security scanning, running a sweep for any active digital wiretaps before she spoke. "Well, Rick did great with the mall situation last night. Honestly, I feel like I am working with a professional hitman half the time, so I have no complaints whenever he takes direct action. But... he and I are getting too close."

May Lee’s fingers froze instantly on the keyboard. Her eyes snapped sideways to lock onto Mei Xia, her voice dropping into a demanding register. "Getting close, how? Give me actual examples and not just your opinions."

Mei Xia looked a bit guilty, shifting her posture as if she had just received a failing grade in spy class before she started listing the facts.

"Rick specifically wanted me as support during the highway fight, plus again last night, ordering me not to come in and fight alongside him," Mei explained. "He just confessed to his buddy that he is deeply sexually attracted to me and, well, maids in general. He even stated he has been dreaming about me. He always intentionally avoids talking about Scott around me if he can help it. And the biggest thing... he has never once tried to use me for his own physical pleasure."

May expected nothing less from her nephew. She popped the sucker back into her mouth. "Okay, and what about you?"

Mei’s shoulders slumped instantly, all her rigid composure fading as she admitted the truth to her boss.

"I don't want to leave his side," Mei confessed softly, staring down at her screen. "I have found myself taking all of his personal affairs completely personally. I actively try to make him smile with my little games. I look at him far more than a spy ever should. I dress in ways that make him happy, not because of my training guidelines, but simply to make myself happy. I try to secure as much private time with him as I can possibly get away with. I even kissed him while trying to wake him up this morning."

Mei let out a quiet breath, feeling a wave of relief washing over her chest just by letting out the full extent of her failure as a spy. May listened quietly before probing further.

"I understand most of it, but why the kiss?" May asked.

Mei looked incredibly awkward, a faint blush forming on her cheeks as she answered. "He asked me to kiss him in his dream, so I just did it. I think I desperately wanted to know if I actually had real feelings or not. I have never been in love before, so I wanted to see if kissing him meant something real, or if it was just kissing a target."

May Lee studied her face for a moment. "Then do you want me to reassign you to a completely new mission?"

Mei Xia had not expected her captain to offer an out so quickly. A sudden wave of panic hit her chest and she blurted out the words before she could stop herself.

"No! I don't want a new mission!" Mei argued fiercely.

"Mei, you know that normally this would be classified as an automatic mission failure by the China Empire," May reminded her, her voice turning stern. "There are plenty of other young masters out there in the world that you don't have to care about. I won't even force you to stay here in Central. How about a nice, quiet assignment in the Black State?"

Mei’s mind raced through her limited options before she blurted out her defense. "Rick won't trust another agent if you remove me now, so it would be entirely bad for the agency. He will never trust Central again if I leave. We are partners, so I absolutely need to stay with him."

May Lee watched her panic, the wide grin suddenly returning to her face as she chuckled. "Wow, you're an absolute idiot to fall for your target. Now you will always prioritize Rick over your actual mission protocols, you know that, right?"

"No, I can still do my job just fine," Mei countered defensively, straightening her back. "I only wanted to report my current issues."

May Lee reached over and poked Mei Xia hard right in the center of her forehead.

"Mei Xia, you're an absolute failure as a spy!" May scolded her playfully. "You worked completely fine up until now, but now you only want Rick to do well. Don't forget that I know exactly where you came from. I also know the real reason why you regret ever hurting Ricky. Why do you think out of all the available spies in the registry, I chose you specifically for this?"

Mei sat there completely stupidly, her jaw locked shut as she said absolutely nothing. May just grinned at her silent shock.

"I remember it all so well," May said, her eyes turning nostalgic. "I was only eighteen years old and my older brother brought me into the China Empire for a high-level mission. We found you lying right on the brink of death. Because I begged him to help you, my older brother took you in and trained you himself. He was even branded a traitor by the higher-ups for teaching you advanced things you should not know, all because I wanted a little sister friend. I was so young and stupid back then, and my brother wanted to help you just for me."

May offered a warm, incredibly gentle smile.

"And when I finally showed you the files proving that Rick was the son of the exact man who trained you back then... you felt incredibly bad, right?"

May asked softly. "Little Ricky was only five years old when we first found you."

Mei’s intense physical training was the only thing keeping her from crying right now. Her mind drifted back to those dark, terrifying days of her childhood, and the genuine happiness Rick Senior had given her while training both May and Mei together.

"He named me Mei because it sounded so much like your name, May," Mei whispered, her voice tight. "I thought he was the strongest man in the entire world back then. So when he died nine years later, right when I was sixteen and preparing to come to Eurasia, I thought I would finally be able to thank him properly... but he died before I ever made it here."

May Lee reached over, gently rubbing Mei’s back to comfort her.

"Four distinct things have truly hurt my heart in my life," May confessed softly. "My brother being removed from our family registry for love, his sudden death, Rick's immense suffering afterward... and a seven-year-old girl with absolutely no name."

Both women sat in complete silence for a long moment, the hum of the laptops filling the quiet room. Finally, the spy-maid looked up.

"I am a failed spy, so what exactly do you want me to do now?" Mei asked.

"What? Ufufu," May laughed, the heavy tension breaking instantly. "I want you to do exactly what I asked you to do from the very start. Keep my nephew completely safe and happy."

Mei blinked, looking both incredibly happy and completely confused by the instruction. May leaned in to explain the reality of the situation.

"Little Xia, I picked you because there is absolutely no one else in this entire world I trust more than you to be there for Rick," May revealed warmly. "I personally erased all of our private connections inside the Central database. Only my silly father and you know that my brother was your official sponsor. I know for a fact you would protect Rick with your life even if you hadn't developed these feelings for him, simply because of our past together. So you're like real family to me, get it now?"

"But I thought General Lee and Rick did not get along?" Mei asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"Phht, ha-ha!" May busted out laughing, shaking her head. "Do you honestly think I have the kind of high-level authority required to get you brought back into this country on a whim? No, it was my father who pulled the strings behind the scenes to place you right at Rick's side."

May leaned forward, her expression turning dead serious. "He loves Rick far too much to not do everything he humanly can now that Rick has finally awakened. He and I had to helplessly watch my brother and my nephew suffer at the absolute bottom of society for years, all because some high-ego clansmen thought they were the best in the world. Well, the jokes on them. My nephew proved every single one of them completely wrong, and they are nothing but pompous assholes."

Mei absorbed the information, a sudden realization hitting her. "So you knew from the start that I could not refuse this mission, and you were just messing with me about reassigning me? Why?"

"I just wanted you to feel exactly how much he has already affected your decisions," May said, poking a finger toward her. "I chose you precisely because you are a failed spy! I want someone on this assignment who will always pick Rick over anything else, and that person is undeniably you. I wanted to be by his side myself, but father strictly forbade it because the Clan would immediately intervene. And so I have to stay hidden in the shadows. But at least I can help him now, and through you as well. I also am a failed spy, Mei."

The maid sat there, her emotions tossed into complete chaos by the revelation. "Big sister, why exactly are you a failed spy?"

May put on a slightly creepy smile, pure, unadulterated happiness radiating from her face as she answered. "Because I will pick Rick over the entire world as well. I was kept away from him for a long time, but now I can make sure he and his family have my clan's faction supporting him completely in secret. I won't let dirty politics stop his happiness. So you and I are very bad spies now... spies like us! We are exactly what Rick needs, so get as close as you can and give him everything you can give him. Just always protect him."

Mei smiled to herself as she tuned back into the live audio feed running through her earpiece. "Oh, Rick and James were just talking about his favorite idol, and that woman Kim Smith just showed up."

Click, click, click.

May Lee’s fingers froze instantly on the keyboard. She turned her head toward her subordinate. "Kim Smith. Her background is clean and proper. She found out just this morning about Rick's identity as his dad's son, so she is probably here to talk and confirm the truth. She was standing right at the site that day. The police let her stay on the scene due to her being a nurse and they wanted a medical professional around for survivors. She doesn't know anything about Linda, though."

Mei listened to her earpiece and said, "You called it. She is pulling Rick into a private room right now. So I don't need to worry about him with her?"

May reached into her bag and handed Mei a brand-new white rabbit pin. Mei accepted the duplicate accessory with a look of utter confusion.

"No, she is a genuinely nice woman and won't cause any harm to Rick," May reassured her. "Alex is nothing. And the new rabbit pin is for Rick after his X-ray appointment. Do you think he will actually remember it's a wiretap and take it off? Ufufu, no. I think he will fry it."

Exactly twenty minutes later, Mei smiled and spoke softly looking at her communicator.

"Sigh. You were completely right, big sister. He fried it. Well, I need to get back to him now. Thanks for letting me get all that heavy stuff off my chest."

Just as Mei pushed herself up from the couch to leave, May Lee called out to stop her.

"Mei, if you do decide to get closer to him, just promise me you won't get pregnant for a while," May warned, her eyes turning dead serious. "Rick needs you operating at your absolute best right now, not dealing with another massive distraction. Even if he begs you, just tell him the honest truth. He is a reasonable man and would understand. If you do become his, just wait until he is completely done with University before making that specific move. And do not fall for him unless it is absolutely forever. I love you like a sister, but I will personally send you back to Central if you do not love him with everything you have."

Mei winked playfully, completely unfazed by the warning. "Rick hasn't fully tamed me yet, so I am in no absolute rush. I want to make sure I fall completely before we ever move past being friends. I think Rick is at his absolute cutest when he tries to resist my charms, fufu. So I will take my sweet time with finding my feelings. And if Rick doesn't love me back, I simply won't cross that bridge. See you in a month then, and I will take care of that bag of bones within the week."

The heavy door automatically locked shut the exact instant Mei stepped out into the corridor. May Lee stared at the blank surface, a soft smile spreading across her lips as she thought about her adopted little sister.

"See, brother?" May muttered to the empty room. "Saving that little girl back then is finally helping your son today. I felt so incredibly guilty for my choice when you were branded a traitor for my stupidity, but it ended up being you who made the absolute right call to save her life."

May slowly lifted the hem of her shirt, her eyes dropping to inspect her belly. She gently rubbed the pale, faded line of an old scar left over from her dangerous spy years.

"You chose me over your mission, and to save my life, you became a traitor," May whispered into the quiet room. "I was so foolish back then, and you only ever stayed our hero. Brother, I will keep him safe, I promise you. Even if I have to become a traitor to do it, also."

I had just finished up with my chest X-ray and was made painfully aware of the reality. I had fucking fried my earpiece and, apparently, the tracking unit inside the bunny pin. Sigh.

I walked into the doctor's private office and took a seat across from her. She gestured toward my bare back, pointing out the areas of impact. She informed me that I luckily hadn't fractured any bones, so my orders were simply to keep applying heat to the deep bruises and avoid using the left arm excessively to keep it from causing any further issues.

That was the extent of it. I officially walked out of there with a clean bill of health to participate in my next big fight, which was scheduled exactly three weeks from today.

I thanked Hana's doctor friend for her time and left the department to go meet up with Kim.

The exact moment I stepped out into the main waiting lobby, I saw Mei standing there waiting for me. A wide smirk of pure joy was plastered all over her face as she held up a brand-new white rabbit pin. Oops.

Kim stood up from her chair and dusted off her pants, looking at me expectantly. "Well, Buckaroo, is everything hunky-dory?"

Hearing her use old slang from the UK of America made me smile at this gorgeous foreign girl. "For King and Country, I am fine, ha-ha!"

Her face twitched hard the exact second she realized I was making fun of her Old English speech, and she pouted cutely. "If you're going to tease my speech, then at least do it right! If you say it as an exclamation, rather than a term to show a good result, it works, sigh. Oh, can I ask for a quick favor, Rick?"

I gave her a solid nod, prompting her to look down sheepishly as she asked.

"Akeno brought me here in her car, and I, um... completely forgot to drive, ha-ha," Kim admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. "I just moved into my brand-new house today and desperately need a ride back, if you could?"

Yeah, this woman was a certified, grade-A klutz. She routinely tripped over absolutely nothing, dropped everything she touched, and somehow managed to forget to bring a car to a hospital visit. Sigh.

"Sure, but I brought Hana's sports car, so you'll have to squeeze into the back seat if that's fine with you?" I offered.

"Perfect!" Kim cheered, her mood flipping instantly. "My home is located really close to the hospital and the university now, so it will not be out of your way at all, I promise, ha-ha!"

No, she absolutely did not lie to me. Her new home was really fucking close... to mine.

"Lot 7 is right here!" Kim announced happily as the Camaro idled at the curb. "Hana sold it directly to me when she officially moved out. She even left the place fully furnished for me, too, so I am super happy. Now going to work every day is going to be an absolute breeze!"

I popped my door open and stepped out of the passenger seat to let this blonde joy box out of the tight rear cabin. The exact moment her feet hit the pavement, she pointed a finger directly at my massive estate across the way.

"Howdy, Neighbor, ha-ha, surprise!" Kim laughed.

Surprise my ass. Hana or literally any of my other wives had completely failed to mention a single word about this arrangement to me. I forced a fake smile onto my face and tried to sound polite.

"Well, I guess Hana didn't have any use for the old house anymore, and it was perfect for her back when she lived alone," I said, looking over the property. "Congratulations on getting your hands on it before it went to the public market."

"Yuppers!" Kim beamed, bouncing on her heels. "Plus, now you don't have to worry about some nosy, pestering, creepy neighbor always bothering you for one thing or another!"

"That is very true," I agreed with a nod.

"So, my student, feel free to invite me over for a home-cooked meal anytime," Kim offered, giving me a playful wink. "I am also completely bad at cooking, just like Hana was, ha-ha!"

As I watched her wave and walk up her driveway, I couldn't help but shake my head. Somehow, I had a very strong feeling she was talking directly about herself when she described a nosy, pestering neighbor.