Targeting the Telomeres, A Thriller

by R. N. Shapiro

  "This is first visit from the North Korean dictator to Beijing, we should not invite him. News all the time. The parade will be on Chang'an Avenue. The Chinese President closed businesses and invited all the Beijing people to attend.” An explains.

  An’s parents leave early in the morning, before Amanda awakes. She groggily opens one jet-lagged eye to find An sitting on the floor beside the couch, staring at her phone. Even though her eyelid barely flutters, An notices and starts talking immediately, eager to make the most of her time with Amanda before she leaves.

  “At last, you awaken! My parents left instructions on how to obtain taxi driver, and here are telephone numbers. I can make phone calls for you. Do you know the song Royals by Lorde?”

  “Sure.”

  “Do you like it?”

  “I dunno, I guess, I don’t dislike it.”

  Amanda’s thoughts are far from song choices, getting a hot shower is front and center.

  “I’ll talk to you after I’m out,” she tells An before trudging toward the bathroom and softly closing the door. Not sure what to expect, Amanda is relieved to find the shower operates like the ones in the U.S., and she turns on the water to let it warm up. She finds a bottle she hopes is shampoo and washes her hair. The bar of soap is readily apparent, and she lathers herself from top to bottom, appreciating being clean more than ever before.

  While Amanda enjoys her shower, An’s curiosity of all things American makes her visitor’s unusually large backpack irresistible. The running water can be heard through the thin walls beside the couch, so Amanda won’t be coming out for a while. She flips open the canvas top and loosens the pull cord on the main compartment. Reaching into the pack and pushing some clothes aside, her hand touches something cold and metallic near the bottom. She pulls the object upward and recognizes the muzzle of the pistol, then immediately shoves it back down, her hand trembling. Scared, but even more curious now, An leans in closer and gingerly lifts up a clear storage bag containing a silicone face mask and a white dust mask.

  Feeling the long, thin outline of what appears to be a knife in the exterior vertical pouch pushes An over the edge. She leaps off the couch to find her mom or dad, but remembers they have left for the day. Americans own guns, yes, but how did Rachel bring these weapons into China, and why? Her teenage mind throbs with uncertainty. Is her new American friend here for something other than sightseeing?

  She remembers Amanda’s interest in the President and dictator on the news the night before. Could she be here because of that? Had her family unwittingly given refuge to a criminal? The bathroom door opens, and An jumps.

  “Sorry to scare you.” Amanda pulls a brush through her damp hair. “I feel so much better now.”

  An glances at Amanda and turns to the TV, avoiding eye contact. "Did you plan to watch the parade?"

  "No, I didn't know it was happening until I saw it on the news with you this morning.”

  An doesn’t believe her. This meeting had been discussed for weeks around the world, and if she knew about it in China, any American, with their open news sources, must have been aware.

  "Are you here as a tourist, or for some other reason?"

  "What do you mean?"

  “Did you come because of the North Korean dictator visit?”

  "No. I always wanted to come here, China is fascinating. I want to learn about your history, visit Tiananmen Square, go to the Great Wall. Which reminds me, I’ll need that taxi ride to meet my tour guide later this morning.”

  Amanda realizes An suspects something. She wonders what tipped her.

  "I can make the phone call for you. First I'm going to the, uh, restroom. Is that how you say it in English?"

  "Yeah, restroom. Or bathroom."

  An leaves, but doesn't go to the closest restroom, she goes downstairs instead. This confirms An’s change in attitude toward her, and Amanda quickly debates how best to handle it.

  Chapter 93

  Lifeline

  An closes the bathroom door and softly turns the lock before shakily dialing her mom’s number on her cell phone. As it starts to ring, the door crashes in and Amanda storms in with a long knife in her right hand. She swats the phone out of An’s hand and it clatters to the tile floor. She grabs An around her neck, positioning the knife just below her chin. When she hears the phone ringing, she pulls An downward with her and picks it up.

  “Cut it off, now!”

  Before An can hang up, they both hear her mother’s panicked voice.

  "An! An!”

  “Hang it up!” Amanda hisses, moving the knife blade closer to her chin. An presses the button.

  "That was a very stupid idea, An.”

  "You are not a tourist. You are here to kill someone. Why else would you bring a knife and gun?”

  “Oh, I see, you went through my bag. No, I’m not here to kill anyone."

  "I don't believe you. Now you kill me?"

  "Not as long as you don't do anything else dumb. But since you have now involved yourself by snooping through my stuff, there’s a new plan—we are driving into town together."

  "I'm not going to help you kill," An says defiantly.

  Amanda slides An’s phone into her back pocket. She thinks about taking the battery out, but she decides not to.

  "Let's go find the keys to the car." Amanda keeps her hand on An's back just above her jeans and propels her forward.

  "I cannot drive yet. You must be 18 in China. I only have training permit."

  "But you speak perfect Chinese, and there will be roadblocks leading into downtown. I need someone convincing to talk our way through.”

  An takes the keys from a small basket on the kitchen counter. Amanda grabs them from her hand.

  “Let’s pretend. I’m your aunt visiting from the United States, your mom’s sister married an American. I’m your adult for driving the car. Do you understand that?"

  An doesn’t answer.

  “Call me Aunt Rachel. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, I understand.”

  Tears pour down An’s cheeks while Amanda guides her back upstairs to her backpack. Amanda regrets scaring the girl, but she’s come so far and worked so hard to find Justin, she can’t let anything keep her from completing the mission, including An Ling.

  Chapter 94

  Joyless Ride

  Back in the guest room, Amanda guides An to the couch, still made up with her sheets and blanket. Again, she feels a twinge of guilt about not being a gracious guest.

  “Sit down and don’t move.”

  Amanda turns on her phone to check for messages from Ryan. There is one text, but it’s from an unfamiliar phone number.

  New instructions. 11:00 a.m. Vista Hotel, 814. —L

  Liza is the only other person with her burner phone number, and Amanda presumes the liaison coordinates changed because the mission was compromised. But to be sure, Amanda texts the information to Ryan for confirmation.

  11:00 a.m. Vista Hotel, 814 per L text. Confirm.

  Amanda waits a minute, then another. Finally, a text appears from Ryan’s number.

  Yes.

  Amanda breathes a sigh of partial relief. The three of them will meet and Ryan can put all the pieces back together.

  She turns off the phone, slips the hoodie back on, and with her back to An, slides the pistol in the front pouch of the hoodie to avoid scaring her further.

  “An, I really do like you. But if you try anything, I will use my gun. Got it? Now, let’s go to the car.”

  “I do not drive well, I am still beginner.”

  “Consider this an opportunity for more practice.”

  Amanda unlocks the car doors with the key fob and puts An in the passenger seat while she backs the car down the driveway. Then they switch places. After An confirms her lack of driving skills by unnecessarily slamming on the brakes two or three times and veering over the center line in the first few blocks, they switch places once more and Amanda drives until they see the roadblock a
head of them. At a stop sign, Amanda gets out and An slides across and back into the driver’s seat.

  While they sit in the line of traffic waiting to have their ID and passport checked, Amanda falsely warns An, “I can't speak Chinese very well, but I can understand it. All of it.” In fact, she only recognizes a few very common words, like “stop,” numbers one through ten, “yuan,” “hello,” and “goodbye.”

  "Why don’t you drive the car to the roadblock and I can do the talking?" An suggests.

  "You know tourists aren’t allowed to drive here, even with an international driver’s license. Don't play games with me."

  Suddenly the driver's door bursts open. An grabs Amanda’s backpack and bolts out of the car, then runs down an empty side street. Amanda leapfrogs into the driver's seat and pulls the door shut while the car ahead of them moves up a car length. She makes a hard left turn and follows An, who’s running as fast as she can with the backpack now over both arms. Fortunately for Amanda, the block she chose is blanketed with tall office buildings jutting upward, cutting out the sunlight along the narrow two-lane street. Amanda floors it, catching up to An halfway down the second block. She jams the car into park and launches out of the driver's side to catch An, who turned down a perpendicular street block.

  Several shocked tourists and office workers move out of the way of the frantic Chinese teen with the Caucasian woman chasing her. Amanda hears An yelling two words in Chinese she understands: “Help! Help me!” After running past several pedestrians, Amanda loses An for second, looks right, then left to see An running down a deserted alley. Amanda easily closes the gap between them and leaps onto An's back, throwing them both to the ground in a heap. Amanda strips the backpack off An's arms while the girl yells at the top of her lungs. Amanda reaches to cover her mouth, but she's too late.

  Amanda looks over her shoulder and spies a police officer trotting toward them in his long, forest-green overcoat; a billy club hangs from his black belt, and what appears to be a rifle or sub-machine gun is trained on both of them. Amanda raises her arms away from An, clutching the pack in her right hand. An, still on the ground, turns and yells at the officer in Chinese, apparently telling him Amanda has a weapon in the backpack. He trains his gun on Amanda and with his other hand indicates for her to drop the bag.

  Amanda contemplates trying to drop her left hand inside her hoodie to grasp her pistol, but decides not to risk it. She slowly places the backpack on the ground, her left hand still raised in the air.

  The officer motions for her to step away from the backpack. Amanda moves on the sidewalk between the guard and An, who still cowers on the ground with her back to the pavement, frightened, crying, and screeching in Chinese:

  “The American has a gun! She's wants to kill someone at the parade!”

  Amanda watches as the police officer momentarily lowers the sub-machine gun muzzle toward the ground and takes a partial step toward the backpack to lift it off the ground. At that moment, Amanda drops her hands and slides the razor-sharp KA-BAR knife out of the leg holster strapped to her calf. She lunges at the officer and draws the blade across his neck, causing blood to spurt everywhere, then violently lifts her left knee and pounds it into his crotch. As he tumbles to the ground, Amanda wrenches the sub-machine gun off his right arm; it bounces to the pavement, where Amanda swipes it up and trains it on An Ling. She slides the backpack onto her shoulders.

  "Get up, now!"

  An stands up with her hands raised.

  "Don’t say another word. One more dumb move like that and you’ll have your blood gushing like the cop." An’s eyes remain unblinking, sheer terror seizing up her little teenage rail of a body.

  Amanda realizes there is no good way to hide the long muzzle of the officer’s weapon under her hoodie, and once they emerge from the alley, they will be around other people again. Noticing a dumpster several feet away, she walks over, keeping her eyes on An, and tosses the big gun inside.

  "Smile like you're having a good time, and walk a couple steps ahead of me.”

  "I knew it," An says as they emerge from the alley, "you really are American assassin; I will not help you kill president."

  "I'm not here to kill anybody. If you cooperate, I'll tell you why I'm here when we get to the car.”

  They reach the car, parked slightly askew by Amanda in her rush to catch An.

  "Climb in the passenger side, I'm driving. We're going to drive away from the roadblock a few blocks to chat."

  Amanda looks both ways, but doesn’t see any police vehicles. She eases down the street to avoid detection and turns in the opposite direction from the roadblock traffic. After traveling two or three blocks, she finds a side street and parks the vehicle. An Ling recognizes the outline of the pistol in the pouch of Amanda's hoodie.

  "I saw how you and your family enjoyed each other so much when we were on the train, and it made me hurt inside. Can you imagine what it would be like if your younger brother was gone?"

  "Are you going to kill my brother?"

  "No. I’m asking if someone kidnapped your brother and you never saw him again, how would you feel?"

  "I would cry, I would be sad. You are telling me you will kidnap him unless I help you?”

  “No! That’s not what I’m saying. You wouldn't just be sad. You would think about it every day and you would want your brother back. Wouldn’t you do anything to find him if the police couldn't?"

  "I do not know...I think so. Yes.”

  "If you thought he was taken to another country would you go there?"

  "I told you I do not know. What are you going to do to him?”

  “Look at me and listen: I am not going to do anything to your brother. I have a brother, a little brother, he’s about one year old. Somebody kidnapped him and brought him to Beijing. That’s why I came here."

  "For your brother?"

  "It doesn't matter, you won't believe me anyway." Amanda sighs and rubs her left hand across her forehead, feelings of hopelessness and heavy remorse for what she did to the police officer settling in. Amanda knows she’s barely hold back her own tears.

  An Ling looks over at Amanda, her deep sorrow and pain finally registering.

  "Are you sure your brother is here?"

  "I think so. I'm just not sure exactly where he is. Look, my dad is a U.S. scientist. His research is worth a lot of money. And someone from your country killed people trying to get his research."

  "How are you sure China killed people?"

  "Trust me, I just am. I believe it’s the government or a large company that makes medicines. And the American government thinks that too. My mother died in a plane crash, it crashed because of sabotage by the Chinese government, but I survived. I was the only survivor.”

  “What? That is bad! Are you American assassin, you said you were not!"

  "Oh. My. God. For the last time, I'm not a secret agent. I came here with another man to bring my brother home. My government doesn’t know we’re here."

  "Tell me what your plan is."

  "I can't, it could get you killed. But I promise you I'm not here to kill anyone."

  "You just killed that policeman.”

  "That was only because you ran. I'm not happy about it. Look, I don’t want to hurt you, or anyone else, but I can’t let you interfere with getting my brother back. Will you help me clear the roadblock? If you do, I will be sure you get back to your house safely within a few hours. I am asking you, no, I am begging you, please don’t tell the police why I am here, or what happened to the man in the alley.”

  “Why should I protect you?”

  “Because I told you the truth. Think, what if it was your brother.”

  She looks at Amanda, then out the window, before almost imperceptibly nodding her head.

  “Thank you. You have no idea what this means to me. Once we clear the roadblock, I will blindfold you and put you in the trunk. If you are not rescued within a few hours, I will come back for you myself and return you safely. An
d when you get out, please, keep my secret so I can find my brother.”

  An Ling and Amanda clear the roadblock with An Ling at the wheel. Several blocks later, Amanda finds a side road with very little traffic and tells her to park the car there. Amanda assures her she will leave the car in a busy area where someone walking by will hear her banging on the trunk. An climbs in the trunk, and Amanda blindfolds her.

  “Don’t start banging for ten minutes, I need to be out of the area first. Please. I’ll leave the keys under the floor mat of the driver’s seat. Thank you for helping me. I’m sorry our friendship has to end this way.”

  Amanda closes the trunk and drives to a street a few blocks from the Vista hotel. She has just enough time to park the car and reach the meeting place by 11:00 a.m. As she gets out of the car and walks toward the hotel, she figures it’s 50/50 on whether An Ling will keep quiet. Amanda figures Ryan would never let An Ling live. Even if she talks, An has no idea what their plan is, so she shouldn’t be able to compromise the mission.

  Chapter 95

  Casing

  The Prior Evening

  Sunlight breaks through the cloud cover as Ryan exits the vehicle dressed like a Chinese utility worker, wearing the company’s blue jacket Liza supplied him. Thanks to a wig, his hair is now straight, close-cropped, and almost the same color as the nondescript black knit cap covering most of it. He lifts a small plastic container from the backseat of the rental vehicle and places it on the sidewalk. Using a program on his tablet, he launches the drone, watching it rise vertically, and puts the container back into the backseat without looking away from the sky. His timing is perfect, as several young women walk past him and down the sidewalk a moment later, hardly paying attention to him and completely unaware of the drone.