The Wuhan Mission

by Irving Waters

  Sam looked up the base’s main switchboard number and called. It would take an hour before the base commander had his staff track down everyone who had been into the armoury since Sam was there. Roet was reported to have just gone in to conduct his interview with Dr. Wu.

  *

  Marcus Roet had slept a few hours on the plane to Korea but realized how tired he still felt as he was met on the tarmac and driven to where Dr. Wu and Jimmy were being held. Roet decided to go straight in and talk to Wu without trying to find Sam or his operative, Xue Lin. He didn’t need them for this.

  Dr. Wu was resting in his quarters where Sam and Xue Lin had interviewed him a few hours earlier. He heard the guard unlock the door and there stood a man he had never seen before, smirking.

  Roet turned his phone off and paused for a moment and then introduced himself as ‘Marcus’, but Dr. Wu already knew who he was. He recognized his snide way of speaking and the pitch of his voice from the regular phone calls.

  Roet sat and placed his folder of notes on the table in front of him. His hands were dry from the long flight, and he found himself having to lick his fingers to turn the pages on his notepad and to move his papers around on the table. Dr. Wu paid great attention to Roet’s finger licking, and nodded in approval.

  “Please have a seat Doctor Wu. We have a few things to discuss.”

  “Very well Marcus. What do you have there? Is that some kind of written apology letter?”

  “What on earth do you mean?” Roet asked, annoyed.

  “I’m told that you shot and killed my daughter. What do you have to say about that you mother fucker?”

  Roet was a little taken aback. He wiped a few beads of sweat from his forehead and put his hand back flat on the table. “She caught a bullet from one of your Chinese guys, actually. I didn’t shoot her. I’m sorry that you have been misinformed. It was a terrible thing. Such a pity.”

  “You have something in your teeth Marcus. Maybe some kimchee or spinach?.” Dr. Wu pointed at his own mouth to help him locate the stuck food that wasn’t there. Marcus picked at the gaps in his teeth with his fingertips.

  “It’s seaweed salad probably. I ate on the plane.” Roet said, continuing to pick.

  “Almost gone. A bit more there still.” Wu encouraged, trying not to smile as he saw in his mind’s eye the SARS-CoV-X journeying through Roet’s body.

  There was a loud knock at the door. “Come!” yelled Roet, a little peeved that he was being interrupted already. Maybe it was Sam coming to complain about not being invited to the interview.

  The door opened and two soldiers in full hazmat suits were standing there.

  “Sir, you need to come with us.”

  *

  Xue Lin saw that there were indeed a couple of syringes in the medical kit. She estimated the dosage from the green vial and swabbed Sam’s forearm before giving him the shot.

  “Any idea how contagious this virus is?” Sam asked hopefully.

  From what Jimmy and Wu said, it can live on surfaces for days. Transmitted through eyes, nose and mouth. It can move through space in sputum, especially in enclosed unventilated spaces. That’s about all we know.”

  “OK, so Roet’s screwed.” Sam said. “The base Commander told me he was already in with Wu when the call came in. I’m sure they will have him locked in quarantine within the hour.”

  Xue Lin was shaking her head: “Shame about Dr. Wu though. He just bought himself a one way ticket to some black site for a nice interview with some simulated drowning.”

  Sam looked grimly back at her, nodding. “Jimmy said that Wu gave him the antidote. He has no reason to lie about that right?”

  “Yeah, Wu immunized him before he went on that joyride with a spray bottle in Wuhan. I’m certain he wouldn’t lie about it” answered Xue Lin.

  “Well, nothing more can be done about that now. At least we are all good here. Let’s get back to the matter at hand.” Sam said, scrolling on his laptop.

  “Ah, good news. Looks like they have found them!”

  Sam clicked the link that the tech had just sent through from Langley. A map opened. Sam saw the red dot in the middle of Milan’s tiny Chinatown.

  “Snowflake, we have the location.”

  Xue Lin looked relieved. Jimmy had really come through for them. He was full of surprises.

  She picked up the Barret and went over its mechanics just to remind herself. Sam looked at her thinking how sexy she looked with such a large and powerful rifle.

  She dropped the weapon on the bed and pulled out the case with the virus in it, holding it out to one side, looking at Sam provocatively: “I guess we should tag the virus. I still have a locator. A pretty small one actually. Made in China...” she fluttered her eyelashes and smiled.

  “What if we make the exchange, get your parents out and then follow the virus” Sam offered.

  “Bit risky eh? What if we lose it? Can we switch it out for some red gatorade or something?” Xue Lin was thinking ahead, running scenarios as she had been trained.

  “Maybe they will have someone there to check it. You wanna run that risk?” Sam asked.

  “Not really. They might kill my parents” she answered.

  Sam looked like he’d come up with an idea: “Go grab that other new syringe from the medical kit and at least we can take an extra sample from one of the vials. But which one?” he asked.

  “Well the virus that Wu wiped on the interview table... I’m sure it’s being swabbed and collected as we speak by specialists. Right? We don’t need the vaccine as it’s just the crowd control medicine..”

  Sam interrupted: “So let’s just take a nice sample of the antidote. Our scientists can reproduce it from a sample right?”

  “Sam with the big ideas all of a sudden” Xue Lin said going for the medical kit.

  “I’ll call Langley and OK it with them.”

  *

  Wuhan

  A man in his seventies was admitted to a hospital in Wuhan, exhibiting severe respiratory difficulty and flu-like symptoms. The Ministry of Propaganda suppressed the story until the following week when more cases started to show up. Meanwhile a large team of young social networking specialists was put to work taking down tourist youtube videos of the Wuhan wet market, as there were no bats in the videos. Markets in other countries with bat footage were left up.

  The secure lab at the Institute was cleared out by Government scientists, leaving no evidence of Dr. Wu’s work. All of the staff at the institute were given a harrowing interview by the Government Investigator, ensuring that everybody knew not to talk about work to anybody.

  *

  “Deputy Director Wood’s phone” answered the young secretary.

  “This is Officer Chilvers. I need to talk to Mrs. Woods right now. It’s urgent!”

  The secretary rolled his eyes dramatically: “I’ll put ya right through Sir.”

  “Sam?”

  “Yes, it’s me. Ma’am, did you hear what Wu did to Roet?”

  “Yes, the whole base has been clamped down but what about you two? You’re both infected now!”

  “Actually Ma’am, Snow Forest had already been given the antidote during the theft. She just gave me the shot too.”

  “That’s a relief” she said.

  “Yes, I was quite surprised to see the footage of...”

  “Sam, we can’t afford to lose that antidote. You’re gonna have to switch it out.”

  “Yes Ma’am, we thought of that. Actually we have a solution.”

  Xue Lin carefully prepared the new syringe as Sam explained the workaround to the Deputy Director.

  “Good Sam. The bioweapons people at Langley agree with you about pulling a sample. It’s a good plan.”

  “Thank you Ma’am. Sometimes I manage to..”

  “Hand the syringe over to our guy in Milan. I’ll have him meet you at the airport” she said impatiently.

  “Roger that Ma’am.”

  “And do NOT under any circumstances
lose the virus. Is that understood Sam?”

  “Copy that.”

  “Good luck.”

  Chapter 44

  The Milan Team

  The Gulfstream landed at a small airstrip on the outskirts of Milan where Sam and Xue Lin were met by a older looking CIA officer and a team of four casually dressed operatives. Sam gingerly handed the syringe over to the officer in the suit who placed it in a special bio-safety case. He looked at Sam and Xue Lin and said, simply:

  “Go get em” and then turned and walked back to his SUV.

  Sam and Xue Lin shook hands with the team of four Americans who had already been briefed on the exact location of the Barbecue Couple. Their Team Leader spread a map of Chinatown on the hood of one of the SUVs. “They are being held in this building. The ground floor windows have been boarded up from the inside, so we think they are probably being held there on the ground floor.”

  “You’ve been to check it out?” Xue Lin asked.

  “Yep. We’ve done a walk through and taken some video. Looks like they posted a few men on upper floors of the building. Maybe a sniper up top. We had a look across the road too. There are some acceptable sniper positions with a good field of view of their building. We used the thermal camera to see how many bodies inside. We’re eighty percent sure that there are only five guards inside, and one outside, but you know how it goes.”

  Sam looked pensively at the map: “My thinking is that our ‘Plan A’ should be: ‘we go in and make the exchange, get out safely and then we follow the vial, which we’ve tagged, and then make our move on them at first opportunity.”

  He continued:”Now we have to keep in mind that these guys might have not one but two. Clearly they want to get their hands on these vials, but we have to assume that their Government has issued a standing order to take out Xue Lin and the Barbecue Couple, all of whom are now enemies of China and are worth bonus points to these fuckers.”

  “So who goes in then?” asked one of the team. Sam raised his eyebrows a little: “Well let’s see what their demands are when I make the phone call. If they say ‘come alone’ then I’ll go in.” Xue Lin started to complain, but Sam interrupted her: “I want one of you guys up on the building over the road with a sniper rifle to keep Xue Lin company, she’ll have this Barret 5o cal with a thermal scope. If I see any of them make a move...well we’ll have comms, so I’ll let you know and you can start wasting as many as you can while I do the same inside. We have to be careful not to break the vial with the virus in it. The last thing we need is an outbreak in Europe.”

  The Team Leader chimed in: “And there are no prizes for shooting the hostages.”

  “Or me” added Sam.

  Xue Lin didn’t look particularly happy about the plan. She wanted to be the one going in to make the exchange. Nevertheless she handed her backpack to Sam, giving it to him to hold while she retrieved from it her two pistols and magazines, leaving the odd looking flash-bang grenade for Sam.

  “What do you want to take in with you?” she asked him. Sam replied: “Well it might be a moot point considering they will wand me for weapons as soon as I walk in the door. You just take what you need from the bag, and leave the rest with us. We’ll probably have to make it up as we go along after I call them anyway.”

  Xue Lin had taken the Chinese submachine gun with its suppressor out of the long bag. The team stared at her as she methodically armed herself to the teeth with two pistols, a grenade, the Chinese machine gun and the Barret 50 caliber sniper rifle with a thermal scope. She left the rest in the bag for Sam and the team.

  “Who is my sniper buddy?” she asked looking around the team.

  “I am” a stocky fellow with round glasses squinted awkwardly back at her. “The name’s Ryan. Nice to meet you.”

  “Is that a Barret you have over your shoulder?” Xue Lin asked cheekily, recognizing the rifle.

  “Looks like we are gonna be a loud couple” he replied, smirking, a little embarrassed. The Team Leader looked at Xue Lin and assured her: “Don’t worry, you can rely on Ryan. He’ll be there for you when it counts.”

  “I like him already!” she said smiling. She raised her eyebrows at Sam. They may as well get on with it, she thought.

  “Let’s get into the city and I’ll make the call when we are all in position. Snipers in the front vehicle with a driver. Us three in this one.”

  The Team Leader collected up the map: “Mount up!”

  *

  The Barbecue Couple had been listening for clues from the conversations in Mandarin between their various captors but there had been none during any of the trivial chats between the guards about the best packet noodle flavor and other mundane topics. Mercifully, the Chinese had elected not to gag them. They whispered freely without being stopped. They both agreed that it felt grim in the safe house.

  *

  As the two SUVs neared Milan’s very modest Chinatown, the Team Leader said over comms: “Five minutes out.”

  Sam put his comms on. The team were using tactical throat mics and earpieces.

  “Is there a back entrance to the building across the street?” Sam asked.

  “Affirmative. We have a man on the scene to let them in. Let’s get Ryan and your girl up there with the 50’s.”

  “Roger that” replied the driver, accelerating the SUV that was in the lead. He turned to Ryan who was navigating. “How’s traffic on the ring road?”

  “Not much. Make a left at the second set of lights.”

  “Xue Lin looked out the window at the change of scenery: “Wow! It’s pretty here.”

  “Next right. Then it’s two hundred meters on the left. Yes Ma’am. It’s a beautiful city. Let’s hope we don’t infect it with that big ol’ virus that your boyfriend is carrying” Ryan said.

  “Call me Snowflake” she replied loading the pistol on her hip. “How the fuck do these comms work?” she asked, struggling with her new necklace of communications technology.

  Ryan turned around and helped Xue Lin position her throat mike.

  “Try it now.”

  “Good morning Vietnaaaaam!” she yelled, deafening the whole team.

  Everybody winced in both vehicles.

  “Best if you just talk quietly Ma’am” Ryan quipped, smirking.

  The first SUV pulled up at the back entrance and Xue Lin and Ryan got out and jogged through a door being held open by a man who seemed to be expecting them.

  As Xue Lin followed Ryan up the stairs to the fifth floor where the access door to the roof was unlocked. The second SUV slowly pulled up to the curb a block away around the corner and out of the line of sight of the Chinese lookout.

  Ryan pointed to a spot at the edge of the roof: “That’s us right there.”

  The two of them unpacked near the edge of the building. Xue Lin snuck a look over the edge with the thermal scope at the building with boarded up ground floor windows. She could make out her parents sitting close together, and one man standing near them.

  “I’m showing the two hostages on the ground floor near the back of the building with one guard. Two more on the ground floor just inside the front door.”

  Ryan was scoping the rest of the building: “I have one on the top floor at the window and one on the second floor.”

  “I’m calling them now” Sam said, the line already ringing.

  “Welcome to Italy. I hope you brought the vials” the voice said.

  “Yes, we have the vials. We just touched down in Milan.”

  “I hope you had a nice flight. You made very good time. I am sending you our coordinates. We are in Chinatown in the center of Milan. Forty minutes from airport by car.”

  The text came through with the coordinates. Sam nodded confirmation to the team that they were in the right place.

  “Just one of you can come in. You understand of course.” The Chinese agent was being very polite. “Please believe me when I tell you that we just want to make exchange. No trouble. No dead bodies.”

 
; Sam nodded before replying: “I’m with you on that.”

  “We are in agreement then. When you come?”

  Sam looked at the Team Leader and shrugged.

  “Forty minutes I guess. Good for you?”

  “I look forward to seeing you” he said, hanging up.

  Sam wanted to go with Plan A and try for an exchange, but he was very concerned about the Virus getting out of his sight.

  “What do you wanna do Xue Lin? How does it look from up there?”

  She looked at Ryan for his opinion.

  Ryan replied on the radio: “If we went in now without the package they wouldn’t be expecting us. They probably wouldn’t shoot the hostages. They need them as leverage. Snowflake and I could take out three from here. That would leave you with two on the ground floor. That’s if you can get in that big ‘ol door. I don’t think we are equipped for that kind of breach.”

  Xue Lin added: “With the door, that’s a whole bunch of moving parts.”

  Sam thought for a minute. He asked: “Ryan can you see what the front door is made of?”

  “It’s wood sir, but they make ‘em thick here. We’d definitely have to quietly take out their lookout on the street and then you’d have to blow the door.”

  Sam was still very pensive. “Xue Lin, if you took out that guard at the front, you could grab his comms and we could listen in for a while before making a decision.

  Ryan shook his head: “Security cams outside the building sir.”

  “Damn it Ryan. Then what do you suggest?” Sam asked, getting frustrated.

  “Sir, I think we have to go with Plan A: You go in; hope they don’t wand you, and we’ll back you up.”

  “Jesus. Is Ryan always this annoying?” Sam exclaimed.

  The Team Leader nodded: “Yeah but he’s usually right. He’s just like my wife.... only a better cook.”

  “And better in bed” Ryan’s voice chimed in.

  Everybody was sniggering a little bit despite the gravity of the situation.

  Xue Lin said: “We have a little over thirty minutes before they are expecting us to arrive. How about Sam goes and knocks on the door now. Push them off balance a bit. Sam, if they want to wand you or take your comms, you haggle! They are Chinese don’t forget. That guard out front looks young.”