*
Chapter 4
Marcus Roet
Marcus Roet was a career CIA officer who had nasty streak. At the age of fifty-three he was still a platinum blonde but the striking colour of his hair was negated by his somewhat feminine yet ferret-like facial features. He was mutually disliked at the agency, and had a string of dead assets to his name, mostly due to his own negligence. He had graduated near the bottom of his class, but his father’s connections had been instrumental in pushing him into his first job at the agency, and his subsequent promotions above talented and more accomplished officers had not gone unnoticed by his colleagues.
Roet didn’t particularly like Jimmy. They had never met, but Jimmy called regularly with intel about what the Chinese Government was up to. Jimmy’s intel was usually quite useful and therefore valuable to the CIA, so Roet managed to rationalize to his superiors the significant funds he required to run Jimmy as an asset. One of the CIA accountants had begun a secret audit of Roet’s accounts as there had been more than a few red flags. The truth was that Marcus had been characteristically rude to the accountant recently in the elevator and the accountant had decided to start paying close attention to his finances.
Roet’s attention was now focused upon Jimmy’s recent intel. The news about work on a new virus was concerning and Roet had already started to try and work out the identities of the principals involved.
The call that he’d been waiting for came through.
“Marcus here.”
“We had thousands of Wu’s in the last ten years. Over five hundred were scientists.”
“Seems like a lot” quipped Roet. “It’s a big window of time. Want me to narrow it?”
Marcus thought for a moment, and said: “Try biologist, then virologist”
“OK, biologist, 10 years, still hundreds…um….virologists we have…. had….only seven.”
“Do a search for ‘family of.’ We are looking for ‘F1 student visas’.”
“Right. Looking at ‘student visas,’ surname Wu, virologist, and we have a Miss Ning Wu, currently enrolled at New York University.
Could be the one I’m looking for. Call NYU admissions and get them to send everything they have on her. Copies of enrollment forms, home address. Most importantly I need to know who her father is.
“On it!” then Marcus hung up.
Roet hoped that Jimmy might come up with something concrete on Dr. Wu.
The agency would have to try to put one of their own operatives in with Wu as soon as they could find him. This would all take some time and preparation.
Roet answered his desk phone: “This is Marcus.”
“NYU admissions confirms a current Masters student, Miss Ning Wu. Her enrollment forms contain her apartment address, her father’s current home address in Beijing, phone number and some of his other details. Immigration says that he visited the United States only once with his daughter to look at schools three years ago. Profession was listed on his landing card as ‘scientist’, but listed on the daughter’s University entrance form as ‘Virologist’. Guess she was trying to impress the entrance committee.
“Send me everything!” said Roet and hung up.
Chapter 5
Jimmy is Summoned
Jimmy ironed his black suit. His alarm had gone off at seven but he was already awake, thinking about the day ahead. He had been summoned to the Chairman’s office for a meeting. Jimmy had never been in the Chairman’s office before, but he imagined it was like one of those scenes in the American President’s Oval Office he’d seen on some of his pirated movies. He had not been told what the meeting was about.
On his way in in, Jimmy pulled his car over and double parked next to his favorite breakfast vendor. He ordered the fermented mung bean juice and some deep fried pastries.
As Jimmy chewed, he thought about the possible trouble that he might be in. Some of the things he had done during his time as a Government employee were Capital offenses. He had spied for the Americans, he had even killed a couple of people for them. If the Government looked further into what he had been doing, they would be pushing bamboo shoots under his fingernails in no time. Knowing his Government, it would probably be a very long and painful death.
He kept chewing and then washed down the glutinous mixture in his mouth with some acidic mung bean juice. “Delicious!” he thought to himself, “I hope they have mung beans in America.”
Jimmy passed his ID out the driver side window of his car to the guard at the gate, and she had a good long look at it while the guard in the box called ahead to verify Jimmy’s appointment. They waved Jimmy through, raising the gate.
As Jimmy parked and went through security, he started to sweat. The Chairman’s assistant told Jimmy to take a seat until the Chairman was ready for him. He looked at the assistant’s pretty face. She could have been a model if she had wanted to. She was probably the daughter of a senior official, so he didn’t attempt any small talk with her. Before long the door opened inward and his current boss, the Secretary of the Party, was there in the doorway shaking hands with the Chairman, looking just a little bit peeved. As he left the office he threw a glance at Jimmy that was impossible to interpret. Jimmy’s face was already perspiring noticeably.
The Chairman motioned for Jimmy to come in, closing the door behind them both and walking over to the small bar on wheels containing crystal glasses and bottles of high end liquor.
“Scotch Whisky?”
“No thank you sir. I am a bourbon man.”
“Very well, Jimmy. Bourbon for you” the Chairman replied, smirking and picking up the Jack Daniels that Jimmy could see had the word ‘monogram’ on the label.
Jimmy thought to himself: “Ah the good stuff.”
As he poured Jimmy’s drink and then his own, the Chairman said deliberately:
“We only have to travel down the road for the next mile, and if we are willing to go step by step, we can reach any goal, no matter how far it seems, just by focusing on immediate, reachable goals.”
Jimmy nodded and watched the Chairman’s face intently, hoping for an indication of what the hell he was talking about.
“The reason you are here today,” the Chairman continued, “is that you have been assigned a special job. You are moving on. You are relocating to the Hubei Province. More precisely, its capital, Wuhan.
You will be my eyes and ears in Wuhan where I have some special projects going on. From time to time you will be assigned extra jobs. Do you understand?”
“Yes sir”
“You will be provided with a car, new clothes, a much better salary, and most importantly, more responsibility.”
“Yes sir.” Jimmy said, nodding, poorly concealing his excitement and relief.
“I need you to be down there in Wuhan by Monday. You are to report directly to me on a regular basis.”
“Yes sir.”
“That is all Jimmy. You have the rest of this week to make any preparations you need for the move. You are relieved from your duties serving the Secretary.”
“Thank you sir.”
The Chairman raised his glass, and yelled “Gan Bei!” throwing back his whisky.
Jimmy then followed suit and hurled the expensive bourbon down his throat. His eyes watered.
“Xiè xiè! Zià Jiàn!” Jimmy said, as he saluted formally and turned officially to walk out, closing the heavy door behind him politely.
*
Chapter 6
Jimmy’s new Place
Jimmy returned home and immediately called Roet.
“Hi-ya Boss, it’s me Jimmy. What’s up with you bro?”
“Hello.. Jimmy…” Marcus Roet’s snide voice crackled over the secure line on Jimmy’s phone. Jimmy talked quickly and excitedly:
“I found your ‘Doctor Wu.’ He is in Hebei Province. Wuhan. Easy for white man to remember right? Doctor Wu, in Wuhan, hahahah.”
Jimmy paused, waiting for a reaction, but could just hear Roet waiting silently
for him to continue.
“Dr. Wu doing something real special. Some shady shit. I could try to get myself reassigned to keep an eye on him, but it’s gonna be tough. Have to bribe a couple of people to make it happen, but I can do it for sure. Gonna cost you fifty grand to have your favorite guy Jimmy in Wuhan. You can do that right? 50K easy for you” Jimmy’s lies came easily.
Roet was smiling on the other end of the line. “I can maybe get you forty grand, but that’s going to have to be enough for now. I’ll make the transfer tomorrow. When do you think you might start there?” asked Roet.
“I can be there by the end of the week. Kicking it in Wuhan baby.”
“Confirm when you know. I’ll be standing by.” Roet said before hanging up.
Dancing his arms around in the air, Jimmy said out loud: “OK boss, thank you for giving me all your muNNNy.”
*
Jimmy had been living in a small modestly furnished apartment provided by the Government while he was on the security team of the Secretary in the nation’s capital. The move to Wuhan was simple and easy for Jimmy as he didn’t own any furniture and had very few belongings. The moment he was notified that the Government had assigned him the new apartment in Wuhan, he drove himself straight there. It all happened very quickly, probably because the Chairman had given the directive. Jimmy’s twelve hour drive took him south through picturesque rural areas. He listened to the American pop music playlists stored lovingly on his phone connected via bluetooth.
As he drove through the countryside, Jimmy ran through future lists of things he would buy if he managed to get out of China and change his identity in America. Of course he would be considered a dissident and there would be Chinese spies trying to find him. Maybe he could even work for the CIA, hopefully with a different boss than Roet, who was obviously a total racist asshole. Lucky he paid well and was also quite stupid. ‘Probably got his job through contacts’ Jimmy thought.
Jimmy parked his dusty car on the street in an inner neighborhood of Wuhan and followed the walking map on his phone to his new place. He opened the lockbox on the wall of his new apartment building and pulled out the apartment keys that had been left there for him. He was on the top floor, but there was a modern elevator.
Opening the door of the apartment Jimmy smiled. This was a big upgrade from the crappy place he’d been stuck in in Beijing. A real bachelor pad. Nice view of the city in two directions. He opened the fridge. Empty. The mattress was new, with a set of new bedding still in its plastic sitting on the bed. The security system was not bad, but he would have to make some improvements. He’d call his friend in town, the Tool Man. This guy was even better than the tool supplier in Beijing, and he was a good friend.
Jimmy made two trips to the car and he was all moved in. He opened the wardrobe and saw three new designer suits, all in his size. On the desk was a military grade laptop which he opened and hit the space bar. The file on Dr. Wu was already open, so Jimmy, still standing, leaned forward on the desk and read through the file aloud to himself.
“Wife died in 2003, leaving one daughter, Ning Wu, currently studying at New York University.”
The file went on, with Dr. Wu’s resumé, his movements over the last forty years, his few transgressions which were very minor, the names of his friends, addresses and phone numbers. Dr. Wu was very much a good citizen. A good worker.
“Should not be any trouble at all.” Jimmy thought to himself.
*
Jimmy picked up his phone and called Roet.
“Yo Boss, I’m all set up in Wuhan. Thanks for depositing the dough.”
“You are welcome Jimmy. I hope you did not draw attention to yourself. Did they assign you there or did you do something dumb to get yourself posted there?”
“Yeah man, no it was all legit! The Chairman needed someone he could trust to keep an eye on Doctor Wu. Nobody else signed up but me so he put me on him. I’m supposed to keep tabs on him and to make sure he don’t make no new friends, no hookers, no bars. Maybe twist his arm sometimes. Don’t really know yet.”
“Well done Jimmy. Good work. Now I need you to find out if your Doctor Wu has a daughter in New York. We are still connecting the dots. We need to confirm him at your end.”
“OK boss! Two thousand dollars you can do? I have to pay people off for info. Intel not cheap. Risk my life you know?”
Roet was silent for a moment.
“Very well Jimmy, I will deposit it after you call me with the intel about the daughter.”
“Ok Boss, I’m here for ya.”
“Check in with me if you have any more specific news about what Wu is working on.” Roet hung up.
Jimmy felt like this was all too easy ripping off the CIA. He was always ahead of the game. Marcus Roet was always paying him to do things he had already done. It was perfect. He was going to be rich when he got to America.
Jimmy headed out to do buy some instant noodles and beer at the supermarket that he’d noticed around the corner. He needed to wait an hour before calling Roet back with the intel about the daughter. Another two grand in the bank without breaking a sweat.
*
A few hours later, Roet’s phone rang, it was Jimmy on the line again.
“Yo Boss! Dr. Wu has a daughter at NYU. Her name is Ning Wu. Easy to remember, Ning, like New York.” Jimmy’s voice came over loud and clear.
“Excellent news! That’s what we needed Jimmy” said Roet, relieved to finally have some reliable and actionable intel on the asset’s daughter.
“No problem Boss. You put the money in the bank, yes?”
“Yes, Jimmy, you will get paid today. Check your US account in twenty-four hours. Money will be there. Make sure you don’t spend a cent of it there in China. Any activity on this account will get you a one way ticket to a Chinese jail. We cannot have that Jimmy. You understand?”
“Sure Boss. Don’t sweat it. I’m all good here. I spend money when I come to America.”
Roet hung up abruptly, not caring to talk to Jimmy any more than he had to.
Chapter 7
Ning Wu
The sun shone through Ning Wu’s white IKEA curtains that were drawn across her bedroom window in Manhattan. She woke up late again this morning. She had already missed her first two classes of the day. Living alone meant that she could sleep in whenever she felt like it. She took time choosing a cute outfit and then packed her Dior handbag and headed out to the Starbucks on the corner to get her ‘triple-venti, half-sweet, non-fat, caramel macchiato.’ She had learned quickly in New York that an obnoxious coffee order was totally acceptable in America. Her Daddy called America: “the land of the entitled.” Ning loved to abuse her Daddy’s credit card, and since the death of her mother a few years back, he had become very soft with her. She could get away with anything.
Two casually dressed men in their thirties watched her until she left Starbucks and she disappeared down the dirty stairs into the New York subway. One of the men gestured with his head that it was time to go and break into her apartment.
They sat casually on the stoop waiting for someone to exit the building. Eventually an old man came out, struggling with the door and his walker. The two men held the door open for him, and one dropped something in to stop the door closing completely. As the old man meandered down the street, the two men entered the building and went up three flights of stairs to Ning Wu’s apartment and turned the lock easily with the two pin technique they teach you in ‘trade craft.’ One sat at the laptop, put a small flash drive in the USB slot and began typing code. The other installed two microphones and four tiny cameras around the apartment including one in the bathroom, as per Roet’s instructions.
*
Ning was riding the C train to University in a fairly empty carriage as Manhattan’s morning rush hour had long passed. Two young guys, dressed in hoodies and jeans were standing up the other end, one of them keeping an eye on her. The train arrived at West 4th Street and the two guys followed Ning as she go
t off. The taller one jogged nimbly ahead of her up the stairs and waited near the closest exit to the street for his accomplice to run by. The second guy came from behind Ning, bumped into her so roughly that she fell to the ground. He grabbed her handbag from her shoulder and took off up the stairs, disappearing around a corner. A couple of minutes passed as Ning was helped to her feet by a couple of concerned New Yorkers.
The guy at the steps gently coat-hangared his accomplice as he jogged past him, bringing him to the ground without hurting him, and freeing the handbag from his grasp.
As she arrived at the exit, the thief had gotten up and escaped, but the other was standing there holding Ning’s handbag up high in the air asking: “Who’s bag is this? Does this bag belong to someone?”
Ning walked over to him and gushed: “Thank you so much, thank you!”
He handed her back her bag. Smiling, and panting a little.
A small crowd had formed, people started to tell her: “Wow that guy got your bag back for you. The thief guy is gone though! Is anything missing?”
She looked in her bag and noted that her ‘Hello Kitty’ purse was still inside. Nothing was missing. She turned to thank the guy but he was gone.
The two guys met up again three blocks to the east.
“Where did you put the tracker?”
“On her keys.”
“Did you clone the phone?”
“Right here!” He said holding a small device in his hand.
“Good job. Better call Marcus and give him the good news.”
Marcus Roet was typing numbers into a ledger when his cell phone rang.
“Roet!” Marcus answered, seeing that it was a team member calling.
“It’s done. The phone’s cloned, and the tracker is on her keys.
“Where on her keys?” asked Marcus accusingly.
“It’s cool, she won’t find it. It’s inside her stupid fluffy Asian keyring toy.
The Wuhan Mission Page 2