A spotlight glared to life, casting a white-hot circle around the three of them.
“Too late,” Caine growled. “They’re here. Like I said on the phone, a guy like Fang is bound to have friends in the Ministry.”
He looked left and right as heavily armed SWAT officers flanked them. He stepped in front of Sean. “Whatever happens,” he whispered, “follow my lead.”
Jia clenched her teeth. “I will not let them take me,” she hissed. “I will not lose Lian, not after all this!”
Footsteps echoed towards them. A figure emerged from the shadows.
It was Yong Jin. The man in the expensive suit. The man with the pale, wax-like skin.
He stopped a couple meters from the group and looked up at the smoking building. He uttered an exasperated sigh.
“An American assassin. A Chinese double agent. And a Triad gangster. Mr. Tyler, you still seem to have difficulty with the concept of ‘staying out of trouble.’”
“Story of my life," Sean replied.
Jia stepped forward. “Jin, please. They have my daughter, I had no choice. I—”
“I’m sorry, Jia,” Yong interrupted. “You must come with me. All of you. You are all under arrest on charges of endangering state security.”
“Tom,” Sean whispered into Caine’s ear. “This time, you follow my lead.”
Before he knew what was happening, Caine felt Sean’s hands tug his pistol from his waistband.
“Sean, what the hell—”
“Stop! Nobody move!” Sean stepped out from behind Caine.
He pointed the gun at his own head.
The SWAT officers pivoted their weapons, training them on Sean as he stepped away from Caine and Jia.
Yong waved them off with his hand. “Tingzhi! Everyone, just relax!”
He narrowed his eyes at Sean as the young man stepped towards him.
“What on earth do you think you are doing, Mr. Tyler?”
“I’m the one you want, Yong. You need me alive for this prisoner exchange, right? You want your hacker back. That’s why you transferred me to the black jail, that’s why you’ve been hunting Jia. That’s what this has been about from the beginning.”
“I was instructed to keep you alive, Mr. Tyler. I was following orders.”
“Okay, well, I have another deal for you. Let my friends go, and take me in. The exchange goes through, and everyone is happy.”
“Sean, what the hell are you doing?” Caine snarled.
Yong chuckled. “Our last deal didn’t go so well, did it, Mr. Tyler? We have you surrounded. And I don’t believe for a second that you have any intention of taking your life.”
Sean smiled. “Yeah, well, did you believe an American assassin and a Chinese double agent would break me out of that shithole you hid me in? Or that David Fang would try to kill thousands of people with a stolen cyber weapon? Did you believe any of this would happen?”
Yong shook his head. “This is insanity. Put down the gun. I assure you, you will all be treated fairly.”
Sean cocked the pistol. The SWAT team members readied their weapons.
Yong raised his hands in a calming gesture. “Mei ren houzai! Nobody fires!”
“Things are looking pretty tense here,” Sean continued. “Lot could go wrong. Maybe my finger slips. Maybe one of your men gets nervous and takes a shot. And if anything happens to me, then no more Sun Wai Tong. No more exchange. Think of all the juicy intel he has hidden away. Losing that won’t make your bosses too happy.”
Yong peered into Sean’s unblinking blue eyes. His stare was unwavering.
“You’re bluffing,” the Chinese man said.
“Is it worth taking the chance?” Sean replied.
Yong stared at him for a few more seconds, then shook his head. “Weisheme shi wo? What did I do to deserve you? Fine. The others are inconsequential.”
Sean smiled. “Give me five minutes?”
Yong nodded. “Say your goodbyes. Then they leave, and you come with me. Agreed?”
Sean turned and faced Caine. “Not much time. You two should go.”
“What the hell are you doing?” Caine hissed. “We know you’re not safe with him. What if the NSA tries—”
“There was a speaker in the tube. I heard everything,” Sean interrupted. “Sun Wai Tong didn’t hack the NSA. Fang and his boy did. When the TANGENT database gets released over the internet, everyone will know it. There won’t be any more reason to stop the exchange.”
Caine eyed the Chinese man with the expensive suit. The man stared back at him, then shook his head and began pacing back and forth. “Jia, what do you know about this guy? Can we trust him?”
Jia stepped forward and spoke in a low, soft voice. “He is like us. Relentless. Uncompromising. A dangerous enemy. But he will stop at nothing to perform his duty. If he has been tasked with protecting Sean, he will give his life to do so.”
Sean nodded. “Look, I came to China for personal reasons. But working with Monk, taking on Fang … I did that to help people. This Global Environmental Accord could make a real difference to people like Alton, and his family. And thousands of others. You were in Huagu, you saw what it was like. There are dozens of other villages like that. The GEA has to pass. And if this prisoner exchange makes that happen, I can’t just run away. I have to go through with this.”
Jia put a hand on his shoulder. “You are very brave. I am honored to have met you.”
Sean wrapped his arms around her in a hug. “Get out of here. And keep an eye on this guy for me.”
He turned to Caine and held out his hand. “Thank you. For coming for me. For keeping your promise. For everything, I guess.”
Caine stared at his outstretched hand for a moment, then shook it. “Sean, your father … he wasn’t perfect. But he loved you. And he would have been proud of you. Trust me on that.”
Sean smiled. “Maybe once I get back to the States, I can look you up? I’d like to hear more about him.”
Caine hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “I’d like that too.”
Sean took a deep breath. “Well, here goes nothing. Take care.”
He turned and walked towards Yong. He held out his hands, and the older man gestured to two of the SWAT officers. They handcuffed Sean as Yong turned his stare on Jia.
“You are sure this is what you want?” he called out. “Once you leave, there will be no coming back.”
“My heart left China when my daughter was taken,” she said. “Now, the things I’ve done, the things I’ve seen … there was never any chance of going back. I am already gone. You will not see me again.”
Yong looked up at the plumes of smoke billowing from the mangled building, then turned his inscrutable gaze on Caine. “You were correct, Mr. Caine. Fang did have friends in the Ministry. Luckily for you, I was never one of them. For what it’s worth, you’ve done my country a great service today.”
He checked his watch. “You have four hours to leave China. After that … our bargain is ended. Understood?”
“I got it, Yong. But there’s something you should understand as well.”
The older man raised his eyebrows. “Go on?”
Caine nodded towards Sean. “Anything happens to him … you will see me again.”
“Is that a threat?”
Caine’s lips curled into a grim smile. “No. That’s a promise. And I keep my promises.”
He and Jia turned and stalked off into the darkness between the buildings. Within seconds, they had disappeared into the shadows.
Yong turned to Sean. “Well, Mr. Tyler, let’s see if you can go another twenty-four hours without causing me any more trouble.”
As he led Sean towards a waiting SWAT van, the younger man smiled. “You know, you were right, back in the prison. My father did teach me something else besides how to fight.”
“Oh, what was that?”
“He taught me that when it comes to protecting your friends, sometimes you have to get a little crazy.”
>
“Then for both our sakes, I hope you don't make any new friends in China.”
Yong helped him up into the back of the van and shut the door. He thumped it twice and watched as the van drove off into traffic. The vehicle’s spinning lights were soon lost in the endless neon haze of the Shanghai night.
Forty-eight hours later, Caine and Jia stood at the rear of a Lockheed C-130 transport plane. They watched in silence as the aircraft's ramp descended to the ground. A slice of light from outside filled the dark, dank interior of the plane.
Caine stood motionless, exhausted. After a long, uncomfortable journey by cargo vessel, they had been met in Japan by a pair of nameless men. The duo identified themselves as “liaisons" sent by Rebecca. Their features and mannerisms were as bland as the matching gray suits they wore.
Rebecca's liaisons had arranged their passage on the massive C-130 transport plane. They departed the U.S. Kaneda Airbase in Okinawa and settled in for the long flight back to the States. Caine slept for a good deal of the flight, but Jia was restless, nervous. Several times he had cracked open his eyes and noticed her pacing back and forth. Her cat-like balance seemed unaffected by turbulence as the plane pitched and rolled through the rough air.
Now, she stood next to him and brushed a hand through her long, black hair. Her breathing was heavy, and her eyes darted towards him with a nervous glance. She looked tired, but alert.
“Jia, relax. It's over. Everything is going to be okay.” He tried to force a note of reassurance into his voice.
She nodded, but they both knew he was lying.
It wasn’t over. Not yet. There was still one thing left to do …
The ramp touched the black cracked pavement of the airstrip with a metallic thud. Caine slung a duffel bag over his shoulder, and they descended to the ground. He squinted as they stepped out into the light. Behind them, the afternoon sun cast dappled patches of gold across the brackish waters of the York River.
“Welcome home,” a woman’s voice called out.
It was Rebecca. She rolled her wheelchair towards him. A group of five men followed behind her. They were dressed in casual sportswear, but Caine noted their guarded, precise movements. He spotted the telltale bulges of weapons under their clothes. He clocked them as a CIA Special Operations Group unit. Rebecca's security detail, assigned after Bernatto’s attack on her in Thailand.
Standing behind Rebecca was a tall, lanky man with muscular shoulders. His right arm was in a sling. Aviator sunglasses hid his eyes, and his head darted back and forth, watching the movements of Caine and Jia. Caine assumed he was the leader of the detail.
He eyed the man's sling and frowned. An injury like that should have removed him from duty.
Caine looked around the long air strip. A few unmarked planes were the only other aircraft in the area. Red brick buildings with green roofs dotted the sides of the airfield. A few SUVs were parked out front. Behind the buildings, acres of dense, green forest stretched as far as the eye could see.
He knew the area well. The buildings, the trees, the earthy brine smell of the river. Memories came flooding back to him. His recruitment, the training … Bernatto.
“Camp Peary,” he said. “The Farm. Haven’t been here in years. This is quite a homecoming.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Rebecca said. She followed his gaze across the sweeping green forest. “But it sure does bring me back.”
She turned to Jia and held out her hand. “Ms. Zhao, welcome to—”
“Where is my daughter?” Jia said, flashing Caine a sideways glance.
Rebecca stared at her for a second, then turned as a Jeep motored towards them. “Here she is now. I’m sorry for the delay; we wanted to make sure the area was secure before we brought her to you.”
The jeep pulled to a stop. An MP in a green Army uniform stepped out. Lian Zhao sat in the passenger seat of the jeep. When she saw Jia, her face lit up with a wide smile.
The MP lifted her from the seat and set her down on the ground. Laughing, she ran in short, hopping steps towards Jia.
“Mama!” she called out. “You came back!”
Jia swept the child up in her arms. Tears streamed down her face as she kissed her girl’s cheeks.
“Dangran. Of course I came.” She smoothed back the girl’s short, dark hair and looked into her shining eyes. ‘I will never leave you again, xinai.”
Rebecca smiled. “Ms. Zhao, on behalf of the CIA, I would like to apologize for what happened to you and your daughter. And on a personal note, I want you to know I will not stop until the men responsible are brought to justice.”
Jia stood up, holding Lian in her arms. “Thank you. Is there a place I can clean up and talk to my daughter for a few minutes?”
Rebecca nodded towards one of the small brick buildings. “There are restrooms in there. One of my men will escort you. After that, I’m afraid we are going to need some debriefing time at Langley. There’s a lot we have to sort out.”
“I understand,” Jia said, her voice cool and flat. The MP followed her as she walked towards the small building.
Caine looked down at Rebecca. “Debriefing?”
Rebecca glared back at him. “What did you expect? Milk and cookies?”
He shook his head. “Never mind. What about you, are you okay?”
Rebecca sighed, then turned and looked back at the man in the sling. “Josh, could you give us a minute?”
Josh lifted the sunglasses off his eyes and shot Caine a wary look. “Director, I—”
“Josh, please.” Her voice was soft. It was a request, not a command.
That was when Caine knew.
They're together.
Josh gave him one last glance, then stepped away towards his other men. He began barking orders, and the SUV’s engines started up.
“Well,” Rebecca said. “Looks like you’re finally back on the inside.”
“I … Rebecca, look," Caine stumbled over the words. "Whatever happens to us, I want … I want to be more than just a voice on the phone. I hope you know that.”
She blinked and was silent for a moment. “Tom, I don’t know what to say.”
Caine shook his head. “There’s nothing to say. I'm not asking you for anything, I just wanted you to know. Is there any news on Sean?”
She stared at him for a moment, still processing his words. Then she brushed a strand of copper hair from her face. “The exchange is scheduled to take place tomorrow. Sun Wai Tong was transferred to a facility in Egypt. He’ll be released from there, to minimize U.S. involvement. And there's more good news … the GEA was signed by all parties. David Fang’s factories will be closed for non-compliance. The Chinese government has declared Huagu an environmental emergency site. They'll be providing medical and clean-up assistance to the inhabitants there.
Caine nodded. “Sounds like a good start.”
“I understand Sean chose to stay behind to make sure the agreement passed?”
“Yeah. He takes after his father. TANGENT was erased, and the database was uploaded to the internet. It proves Sun Wai Tong didn’t hack the NSA. He never had any intel to recover. There’s no reason for anyone to block the exchange now.”
Rebecca smiled. “Brave guy. So the database is public? Not exactly how I would have handed it."
“I told you, protecting the NSA’s dirty laundry wasn’t my priority,” Caine said. “Before, on the phone, you said you were attacked. Lapinski escaped?”
Rebecca lowered her voice. “The man who attacked us was another private security contractor, a military vet. Then we dug a little deeper.”
“Let me guess,” Caine said. “Scorpion Unit.”
“Got it in one. How did you know?”
“Scorpion Unit is NSA’s Special Forces team. If Lapinski had to clean up a mess, it makes sense that’s who he would call.”
Rebecca shook her head. “Lapinski didn’t call them, or at least I don’t think he did. When I mentioned that I’d spoken to John Blay
ne, he was terrified. He said there was someone else behind this. Someone above him in the intelligence community. I think Scorpion Unit was there to eliminate him. He was the mess they were sent to clean up.”
“Could John Blayne be behind all this?” Caine asked. He turned his gaze to the small building where Jia had taken her daughter.
“Lapinski didn’t know. But Blayne is the Director of National Intelligence. He’s connected to high-ranking members of every intelligence service in the country.”
“Which means if he knew you were about to expose Ted, and he leaked the info …”
“It could be almost anyone. Blayne, or anyone he's connected to.”
“We have to find Lapinski!” Caine snarled.
She nodded. “I've got people on it, but the NSA isn’t exactly eager to help—”
A woman’s shriek echoed from inside the tiny building. Josh sprinted towards Rebecca, drawing his pistol with his left hand. The other men fanned out around her in a circle as Caine charged towards the building.
The MP threw open the door and Jia stumbled out, carrying Lian in her arms. The child’s face was pale. Her eyes were closed.
She wasn’t moving.
“What happened?” Caine shouted.
“She just passed out; she’s not breathing!” Jia screamed. She placed a hand on the girl’s cheeks. “Her face, it’s cold. Oh my God, they must have given her something, they drugged her, or …”
She glared up at Rebecca. “If anything happens to my daughter I swear I will—”
“Someone call an ambulance,” Rebecca shouted, cutting her off.
“Already on the way,” Josh replied. “We should get you out of here. Now!”
A loud siren rose in the distance. Caine turned and saw a military ambulance rushing towards them.
“Rebecca, he’s right, go. I’ll ride with her, you can send your detail to follow us.”
The ambulance pulled to a stop, and its rear doors swung open. Caine leapt into the back with the paramedics. The MP helped Jia in after him. She cradled the unconscious Lian in her arms, refusing to let go.
Rebecca turned her head and met Caine's eyes. He bit his lip and looked away. He could not meet her questioning gaze. Then Josh blocked her view as he grabbed her chair and wheeled her towards her SUV.
Thomas Caine series Boxset Page 65