Her Texas Ranger Hero

“I haven’t had a letter from her in two months!” Soo-Lin was one of Ally’s best friends. She couldn’t wait to hear all her news. Since Ally’s family had returned from China last summer, she’d hungered for Soo-Lin’s periodic letters. “I’ll take this with me.” She hugged them both again. “I’ll be back soon to help you, Mom.”

“All right, darling.”

Ally knew her parents would appreciate some quiet time together, and flew out the door to her car. She wanted to open the letter right away, but would have to put off reading it until she reached her office.

Twenty minutes later she pulled into the faculty parking lot of the University of Texas at Austin campus. “Hi, Nedra,” she said to the receptionist as she hurried in. “Have any students been by asking for me?”

“Not yet.”

“That’s good. I’m running late.” She made her way down the hall. After unlocking the door, she rushed inside and settled in before pulling the letter out of her purse.

Dear Friend, Thank you for your last letter. I can’t get used to you being so far away now. I’m not happy about it, but if you are happy, then that is good. You asked what happened when I went to the doctor. She said my fallopian tubes are blocked and suggests we try in vitro fertilization if we want children.

Oh, no...

My husband has been quiet about it, but that is Zheng’s way. Nine years and still no baby. Now we know why. I wouldn’t blame him if he wanted to leave me.

Ally cringed to hear those words. IVF was a very viable option for Soo-Lin, but Ally needed to give her a pep talk in person.

Mother is well enough. Father is doing poorly. His heart is not good, but the jewelry business has never been better and Zheng has been overseeing the other showrooms to ease the load. He has a fine business mind, like my father, and they see many things the same.

Soo-Lin’s parents were wonderful. So was Zheng. Ally loved them all.

What I have to tell you next is very upsetting to me and has devastated our family.

Ally couldn’t imagine. Her heart rate sped up.

Maybe you don’t remember my third cousin Yi. He came to my wedding with his wife and two children. But something awful has happened. Three weeks ago their sixteen-year-old daughter, Yu Tan, didn’t come home from school. One of her friends said she ran off with a man from a disco club in the city where she often went dancing without permission. I don’t believe it. Yu Tan is a sweet, well-brought-up young woman with plans to make the Olympic team and go to college. She’s won all kinds of awards in gymnastics.

Ally did remember her, but hadn’t seen her since the wedding. Yu-Tan would have been around seven at the time.

I know she wouldn’t go off with a man like that. I don’t trust that her friend is telling the truth. Now a tragedy has happened, because my cousin has disowned her, his own daughter! He listens to his father, who is the head of their family and a very forbidding man. You know what I mean. He believes in the old traditions and closes his mind to reason.

Both my cousin and his father believe she has disgraced the entire Tan family. My mother does not agree and says the grandfather’s pride is too great to help find his own granddaughter. I’ve begged my father to talk to him, but he says it will do no good. He will not listen. This isn’t right, Ally.

No. Nothing about it sounded right. Soo-Lin belonged to an upper-class family that didn’t tolerate embarrassment. Ally could feel her friend’s pain.

I’ve given you enough bad news for now. Write me back as soon as you can. You’ll always be my best friend. Soo-Lin.

When Ally got home, she’d write a letter and ask her father to send it with his classified correspondence. As she was putting the letter back in her purse, one of her students walked into the office. It was time to get to work.

* * *

RANGER JAMES DAVIS had just arrived at Texas Rangers’ headquarters in downtown Austin when his cell phone rang. He clicked on. “Davis here.”

“Luckey?”

Only family and close friends called him by his nickname. “Hey, Randy.”

“Do you have time to talk?”

“I always have time for my little bro.” Though he had a Monday morning meeting scheduled with his boss, TJ, he could spare a few minutes. TJ was the captain of the Austin-based Company H, where Luckey had been assigned since becoming a Ranger. “What’s going on? How are Lisa and the two cutest little girls in Texas?”

“We’re all great and wish you’d drop by more often.”

Luckey swung by the makeshift lunchroom located on the second floor of the building for a cup of coffee and a doughnut. Taking a bite, he entered his own office and sank down in his chair. “Sorry it’s been so long. My last undercover case was no picnic and took forever to solve.”

“So I heard. Dad said three escaped felons are in the federal slammer because of you. Guys are singing your praises all over the department.” Luckey smiled. Their dad had recently retired as sheriff for Travis County and was now doing full-time ranching, but he’d never be out of the loop. “You’re becoming a bigger legend than our original Texas Ranger ancestor,” his brother added.

“Knock it off, Randy. Still enjoying your work as a mounted police officer?”

“It’s getting old. At least I was put on the day shift three days ago.”

Luckey frowned. “I thought you liked it.”

“The horse part I love, but more and more I know I want to be a Ranger.”

He’d heard that from his brother several times before and took another sip of his coffee. “That means a lot more hours away from the fam. I don’t have a wife and children, so that isn’t a problem for me.” Never again. “How does Robin feel about it?”

“She said that if it’s what I want, I should do it.”

“You married a terrific woman.”

Luckey’s ex-wife had felt the exact opposite. She couldn’t handle his work as a Ranger and acted on it by divorcing him and moving to Houston. But that was old news.

Randy’s voice lowered. “I didn’t mean to remind you of the past.”

“I know you didn’t.” Luckey had the greatest brother in the world. He was thirty to Luckey’s thirty-two. “If that’s your goal, I’m behind you.”

“It’s all I’ve been able to think about for the last year. Remember that body my partner and I found dumped on the street on our beat last week? It’s the fourth one in the last ten months. Though each was discovered in a different area, I believe they’re all related. But the detective who arrived on the scene disagrees.”

Luckey was listening intently to his brother, who was no fool. He remembered clips on the news, but hadn’t paid much attention. “What do your instincts tell you?” This was Randy’s case, but Luckey was always interested.

“All four bodies have been young Chinese and Indonesian women, which smells like human trafficking to me. When I pointed this out to him, he said he wasn’t ready to make an assumption like that quite yet. He said coincidence could play a role, or some copycat criminals who heard the news on the media could’ve decided to pull the same stunts for the sheer pleasure of creating chaos.”

At a trafficking conference Luckey had recently attended, he’d learned that although Asians represented only 6 percent of Austin’s 800,000 residents, their population had surged by 60 percent since 2000. It was the fastest-growing group in the city by percentage and tripled the rate of Austin’s overall growth.

“It doesn’t sound like a coincidence to me,” Luckey concurred. “Have you discussed this with anyone else?”

“Nope. You know I can’t.”

“Listen—I want to talk to you some more about this, but I’ve got to go in to a meeting right now. This one will probably last an hour. Expect a call from me after I get out.”

“Thanks.”

Luckey clicked off and headed for TJ’s office at the end of the hall. The gray-haired captain nodded as he walked in. “I’m surprised to see you remembered. I thought you might be home enjoying some well-deserved sleep after your last case.”

“Not me. I like work.”