“But, my wife is still—”
“Remain silent and you won’t be hurt.”
The man instinctively yells his wife’s name.
“You don’t listen very well.” She pulls the Taser from her pocket and he goes down in a heap. She jabs her syringe into the top of his left thigh, watching his face to ensure he loses consciousness.
On the other side of the door, Ryan pulls his pistol on the wife. “Give me your baby," he demands in passible Chinese.
She grips the baby tighter, indicating no intention of complying.
"Give me your baby," he repeats as Liza exits the room without the husband.
Instead of complying, the mother turns and begins running down the hall with the child clutched to her chest. Ryan takes off after her and in less than 10 yards has caught her. He ruthlessly pushes the gun’s silencer against her head and she freezes.
He strips the baby out of her hands with one powerful arm. The boy begins crying, his eyes trained on the mother, arms outstretched trying to reach her. Ryan hands the child off to Liza and tases the mother. Once again, he pushes her over onto her stomach and jabs the hypodermic needle into her buttock. He binds the hands of the mom but doesn't bother binding her legs since she'll be out cold for a couple of hours.
Liza looks at the screaming child in her arms. “Um, Ryan, this baby is Asian. I thought we were rescuing Amanda’s baby brother.”
“Not exactly,” Ryan responds cryptically, taking the child from her. “Where’s the dad?”
"He's out cold and bound in the front room.”
“Good. Let's get outta here."
Ryan removes a cloth from a plastic bag in his pocket and loosely holds it over the nostrils of the child, who loses consciousness in a matter of seconds. Both of them run to the front door, with Ryan carrying the precious cargo. They stop and peer out the door and see Amanda, already seated in the passenger seat of the ambulance, the lights outside still swirling. Ryan notices a few curious onlookers, an older man and woman on the sidewalk near the electronic gates, outside the walled compound. He has no idea where they came from, but figures they are just rubberneckers and ignores them. They run out of the house and open the rear doors of the ambulance, putting the baby boy on the gurney and strapping him in place. The real rescue squad personnel sit on the floor, knees up, packed closely together.
"Liza, you stay back here with the boy. I'll drive the SUV and Amanda will drive the ambulance. I’ll message Britt we’re on our way. Amanda, no siren, just lights."
Just then, Ryan notices the body next to the ambulance. “Amanda, there’s a guy laying halfway under your vehicle.”
Amanda leans out of the driver’s door window. “Oh, yeah, I had to knock him out. He was acting hostile and asking questions in Chinese I didn’t know how to answer.”
Ryan goes back to the rear of the ambulance and opens the doors, startling Liza. He asks for the backboard and she takes it off the interior wall hooks and hands it to him.
“Stay with the kid. Amanda will help me, we’ve got one more body, leave the doors ajar.”
He taps on the window, Amanda gets out, and together they lift the compound guard onto the backboard and maneuver him into the back of the ambulance with Liza, contributing one more unneeded body to the overcrowded situation.
He exits the ambulance, and Liza bolts the doors from the inside. She sits in a flip-down seat bottom beside the baby and fastens her shoulder harness.
Ryan walks over to the driver's side and Amanda lowers the window.
"All set?"
"Roger. Just follow a couple car lengths behind me."
As Ryan walks to the SUV, he pulls the burner phone out of his pocket and texts Britt, confirming the countdown.
Chapter 100
Plus One
The SUV and ambulance turn into the parking garage. Both drivers shut off their emergency lights and proceed to the lower level as directed by Britt. In less than five minutes, a black stretch SUV pulls in, flashes its headlights, and stops near the ambulance.
Ryan, with his hand on his gun, opens his door and slowly exits, eyeing the driver of the limo.
Britt emerges from the front passenger seat and stands where he can see her. Liza exits the ambulance through the rear doors with the baby. Amanda also gets out and steps away from the driver's door of the ambulance. All three of them now stand near the open limo door just behind Britt's door.
"We have an extra passenger?” Britt leans close to examine the child, who is still sleeping.
“He’s collateral," Ryan says. Britt closely inspects his features, which are distinctively not caucasian.
“Who is it?"
Ryan and Liza both look at her but don't answer.
Finally, Amanda speaks up. "It's the Chinese president’s grandson."
Britt rolls her eyes and stares upward. “Of all the crazy, no, insane plans!”
Amanda, Ryan, and Liza, holding the sleeping boy, all slide into the limo, and Ryan closes the door behind them. Britt stands beside the front passenger door and shakes her head.
“Oh my God,” she whispers to herself, then finally gets in and closes the door.
“Let’s go,” she tells the driver.
The limousine pulls up to the gated entrance to the Embassy of Singapore. Two large metal gates swing inward and the limo pulls through as the gates close behind it. The limo stops under a covered portico, a common fixture on foreign embassies designed to keep prying eyes from knowing who is entering and exiting. The entourage exits the vehicle and enters the embassy. An administrative assistant greets Britt.
"Right this way, Ms. Gardner, we've been expecting you."
Chapter 101
Next Move
The American entourage follows the Singapore Embassy aide past the guards and through a locked door as she explains to them all of the staff speaks English. She leads them into a wing of the building comprised of a number of small rooms set up like an extended-stay hotel. Each has a kitchenette, bathroom, and sitting area, and Amanda’s room is equipped with a crib for the baby.
Liza holds the child, now swaddled in a blanket and still sleeping soundly. “Does anyone know more about this than I do? Because I’m kind of clueless about babies and toddlers.”
“No, but between all of us we should be able to figure it out. Besides, it will only be for a few hours, maybe a day,” Ryan reassures her.
“You don’t know that,” Liza replies.
“Let’s all hope he’s right though.” Amanda says.
Britt stands down the hall just out of earshot, talking to the embassy staffer.
“My friends here will need diapers and some baby food. Do you have any supplies? I will ask our embassy to bring some things, but in the meantime, if you—”
“We will get them what they need for the child, and there are some necessities in the rooms. How long will they be staying?”
“Two days, maximum.”
The staffer nods and walks in the opposite direction, and Britt rejoins the group.
"They have some supplies here, and we can get the other things you need, like clothing. There are toiletries in the shower in each room, as well as a little food." Britt looks directly at Amanda. “Keep the kid in your room. Don’t let anybody here see his face. Avoid any surveillance cameras too.”
"Okay," Amanda replies, “but I still don’t understand why they’re willing to help us.”
"We have longstanding relationships with a number of countries. As long as what we ask of them doesn’t affect their standing with other nations, they don't ask us any questions. But if they find out who the baby is, they will not protect you, who knows, they might even notify the Chinese authorities. We understand your plan now. In fact, Solarez is now in Beijing, at our embassy. But our government can’t appear to be even remotely involved in anything you’re doing. Now, do you know where Justin is being held?"
“We think he’s in this area, but we don’t know the exact location," Rya
n answers.
“You think? That’s all you’ve got?”
“It doesn’t really matter where he is. They’ll produce him, especially if they think we might harm the president’s grandkid.”
“This doesn’t sound sane, or safe. How will you establish contact with the Chinese government?”
“Through Liza.”
“Solarez says he has intelligence from someone who might help. Perhaps he or she can be your intermediary, like your mediator.”
“I want to talk to Solarez,” Amanda says.
“Like I said, we can’t be much more involved with what you guys are planning than we already are, so I’m not sure I can make that happen. But I’ll see what I can do.”
Chapter 102
Summit Interruptus
The name of the Zhongnanhai complex, located west of the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, refers to the two lakes inside the sprawling government compound. The Chinese president and North Korean dictator walk from Tiananmen Square to Zhongnanhai with pomp and pageantry after the massive parade, as live coverage of this historic event is broadcast throughout China and North Korea, and to many other nations.
The leaders and their delegations walk beside one of the lakes, then pass through Xinhua Gate, otherwise known as the Gate of New China. "Long live the great Communist Party of China," states the wording in the wrought iron above the entrance. The formal talks between the two countries will take place in the Regent Palace during the afternoon.
Two hours and fifteen minutes into the meetings, one of the Chinese president's aides enters the cavernous room. He crosses the parquet floor and passes a small note to the president, who reads it and looks up with a serious, slightly pained expression on his face. Immediately excusing himself, he asks the delegates to carry on and promises he will soon return as he walks out with the aide who brought the message. Two guards close the sixteen-foot-tall doors behind them. Once they are standing in the large outer hall, they are joined by two other men in black suits and thin black ties from the Ministry of State Security, the Chinese equivalent of the CIA.
The MSS director and agent fill him in on the kidnapping of Bin Lai in hushed whispers. The director reassures him his daughter and son-in-law are currently in a safe location with MSS officials.
"But where is the child? Have you located the criminals?" the president demands.
"Not yet, Mr. President. We have not heard from the abductors yet."
"I would like to speak with my daughter."
"Absolutely Mr. President, let's step into this conference room to make the call." The men hurriedly walk through a nearby door, and the MSS director dials a number on the phone in the middle of a large round table. Several Chinese police officers have taken up posts outside the door. Once contact is made, the director hands the phone to the president.
"Zhu, you are safe?" he asks.
"Yes father, but they have Bin Lai. They have Bin Lai!” she says, nearly shrieking the second time she says her son’s name.
"Did you see them? Are they foreigners?" the president, now a concerned father and grandfather, asks.
"We've told the men everything. The female spoke very good Chinese. I'm not sure about the man. He may have been in disguise, and I did not hear him say more than a few words, so I couldn’t tell what country he was from."
"They did not harm you or Liu?" her father asks.
"No, they drugged us but we weren’t injured."
"What would they want with Bin Lai?" the president asks, mostly to himself, but his daughter responds.
"I don't know, but do everything you can to get him back, Papa.”
"I will Zhu, and I’ll contact you when I hear something," the president promises before ending the call and looking at the director of the MSS.
"Mr. President, I assure you, dozens of our operatives are searching every possible avenue to find him."
"I can't imagine how this would be related to the summit, but the timing seems more than coincidental,” the president says. “Don’t let them leave our country with my grandson.”
"I thought that too, Mr. President. As soon as we locate the kidnappers or make contact with them, I will notify you."
"There is to be no word of this to any media representatives at the summit. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes sir."
The president rises from the table and the others in the room follow him. Moments later, he walks back into the meeting and assures his North Korean counterpart that everything is fine, there was a family matter needing his immediate attention, but it has been handled.
Chapter 103
Back Channels
Inside the United States’ Beijing Embassy, Solarez is ensconced in a room with six staffers, each with triple computer monitors on the desks in front of them. He slowly swivels to view the different screens, but stops when his phone rings and he sees Britt’s number.
"Our monitoring indicates their president was just advised of the kidnapping," Solarez reports before Britt can get a word out.
“Okay. We took them to the Singapore Embassy—Ryan, Liza Zhang, Amanda, and the president's grandson. Are we going to intercede and return the kid?”
“Depends. Let me see if my Chinese connection can mediate a trade. If not, we may have to.”
“Wait, do you know where Justin is?”
“No, but I have some thoughts on who might have him. I'll reach out to my contact and see if he wants to deal with Ryan and Amanda.”
“I doubt it. What if he refuses to cooperate?”
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I’ll send over some supplies, including a laptop to make the connection on if he agrees. The signal will be masked through our servers and we’ll monitor the conversation."
“Amanda wants to talk to you,” Britt casually mentions.
“No way. I have to keep my distance, especially if we end up having to abort her mission.”
“Alright, tough love it is,” Britt says and ends the call.
Solarez swivels back around to one of the computers and begins typing a message to Birdie.
"You know that favor that you needed? There's a chance I can deliver. I'm in Beijing. Your president's grandson has been kidnapped. Let me assure you the U.S. government is NOT responsible, but we can put you in contact with the kidnappers. We have an email address for them, nothing else.
So I will get you what you wanted, but only if you can make a deal that involves Justin Michaels.”
Solarez hits the send button and pushes his rolling desk chair back to the middle of the room. One of the female agents turns and addresses him.
"Sir, the Chinese president went back into the room with the North Koreans. We'll be keeping tabs on his whereabouts and will let you know if he leaves again."
"Sounds good."
Less than five minutes later, a message from Birdie arrives.
"This is a most serious threat to Chinese-American relations. We know Amanda Michaels is in China with a former SEAL, Ty Ryan. The Chinese Ambasador is requesting an emergency meeting with U.S. ambassador in Washington. Maybe I will attend, maybe not. If I make a successful deal, you will provide me assurances on my request?”
Solarez studies the message and knows Birdie must be worried, when he notices the first typo his connection has ever made in the messages between them, misspelling Ambassador. He picks up a satellite phone and contacts the director of FBI counterintelligence to explain the situation at hand.
“Yes, we can make the necessary arrangements if he facilitates the return of Justin Michaels. However, if the MSS believes our agency is behind this kidnapping, we’ll have hell to pay,” the director says.
“Hell to pay? The Chinese didn’t exactly ask permission to kidnap the Michaels kid either.”
“We still don’t know if the MSS or the government was responsible.”
“Sir, no one else has been all over the telomere research more than MSS. And this is their crown jewel of foreign intelligence: hac
king and purloining. The Russians are a little sloppy, but the Chinese know how to be discreet and virtually invisible.”
"I hear you, but I'm being told the Ambassador from China is contacting my office. I’ll get back to you after I take this call."
The FBI director calls Solarez back a few minutes later.
"A Chinese delegation is arriving at the old executive office building. I'll be there, along with officials from the Department of Justice."
"Is Stein going to be there?" Solarez asks.
"I'm not sure who all the participants are, but I imagine he’ll be there. Any idea who the kidnappers are? Please tell me they aren’t Americans."
Solarez pulls the phone away from his cheek for a moment and pretends to cough, not wanting his pause while he’s deciding how much information to share, to clue the director in on what he knows.
"Our agent, Britt Hayes, believes she located them, but I'm waiting for her report. I’ll forward it to you as soon as possible," Solarez fibs.
“It would help if I had it before our meeting.”
"I understand. Oh, one more thing. We may need collateral to keep the Chinese honest during the negotiations.”
“Collateral?”
“Yeah, it might be beneficial to hold some citizens so they don’t try to seize or kill Amanda Michaels.”
“You mean take hostages? Are you kidding?”
“I wouldn’t call them hostages, they’re more like temporary bargaining chips. I’ll explain it to Stein.”
“If he approves some temporary detention, and I’m talking a matter of hours, I’m okay with it. If he won’t agree, forget it.”
“Yes sir.”
Solarez pushes himself out of the chair after ending the call and exits the ready room to search for an Embassy agent he can use as a messenger. When he locates one, he hands over a laptop in a metal case and writes an email address on a memo pad.
Targeting the Telomeres, A Thriller Page 30