Unparalleled

by D. S. Smith

  “Thanks for all your help Catherine. I wouldn’t have gotten through this without you. What do you think you’ll do when it’s all over?”

  “Well, I’m not sure it will ever be over Stuart. Who knows where this is going? If the technology is developed for use in the way the professor sees it there will be a lot of confused people needing counselling in the coming years. And, there is your brother David, or rather your counterpart’s brother. When you leave from here there is a good chance no one will replace you, so he will be left without the brother he has known all of his life. With that on top of everything else he has been through, I think he will be in need of some help.”

  “Shit, I hadn’t considered that.” Stuart said. “Hopefully I’ll get the chance to talk to him before I leave.”

  With that, Stuart suggested they go and find Terry to ask him if there had been any update on David’s repatriation. As they walked out of the library Stuart stole a glance at Catherine to see if he could gauge her reaction to his outpour. He hated talking to her the way he had. But revealing his true feelings toward her now would only make things more difficult for both of them.

  Chapter 36

  Lin Lee stared at the red-painted tips of her toes poking through the open sandals she had changed into for her dinner date with Captain Mitchell. She admired the tenacity he had shown in luring her into a false sense of security. She would tell him that before she killed him. First, she had to escape from her current captors. The two police officers who escorted her from the vessel now sat either side of her in the van into which she had been ushered. There were no windows in the back of the van so she had no idea where they were or where they were heading. Judging by the speed they were travelling and the smoothness of the ride they were probably on a highway. She assessed her situation and formulated her plan of escape. A set of cuffs secured her hands behind her back but the chain between the two cuffs was long enough to allow her to manoeuvre. The police officer to her right was sleeping with his chin resting on his chest. The officer to her left was thumbing the keys of a cell phone. They did not seem threatened by her presence so when the attack came their reactions would be slow. A windowless partition separated the back of the van from the cab so she had no idea how many officers were in the front. She needed to take control of her immediate environment as quickly and as quietly as possible. She ran through a scenario in her head. First, she had to get her hands from behind her back. This would not be difficult. Her small frame would allow her to pull the generously slack chain tethering the cuffs, under her bottom and around her legs, which she would fold into her body in a foetal position. As soon as her hands were in front of her, she would wrap the chain around the left-hand cop’s neck, twist though 180 degrees, dragging his head toward the second cop and forcing it into his face. The second cop would be unconscious as the first died through strangulation. Before the unconscious cop could come round, she would break his neck with one swift wrench of his head. She had no doubt this would play out exactly as planned. What she wasn’t sure of was how quietly she could strangle the first cop without attracting the attention of whoever was in the front of the van. She started to imagine a second scenario involving breaking the first cop’s neck quietly, but the van began to slow down. The reduction in speed immediately resulted in the two officers becoming alert. This would make her attack far more difficult. She had no choice but to wait until they had arrived at their destination to see what opportunities would arise there.

  Following the reduction in speed, the van banked off in what felt like a steep right turn. From the sound of it, they were now on a gravel track travelling at a much slower speed. They must have been nearing their destination as the two officers sharing the back with her started to tidy themselves up by fastening their jacket buttons and putting on their hats. Sure enough, after a few minutes on the gravel road, the van came to a halt. She heard the engine die and the doors to the cab open. From the sound of the footsteps on the gravel, two people had stepped out of the van and were heading away from them. The officers with her sat bolt upright in readiness. She considered her chances of escape at this moment but before she could formulate a plan, she heard footsteps on the gravel approaching them. There were three sets. She listened intently as they grew louder before stopping at the back of the van. She listened to the rattle of the key in the doors followed by the clunk of the latch as the handle dipped down. The doors creaked open allowing bright light to flood over her, blinding her for a moment before she was able to focus. Gradually her eyes adjusted revealing the round smiling face of the Chairman flanked by two heavyset men in black suits.

  “Miss Lee, welcome. I hope your journey was not too uncomfortable?” he offered in perfect English. The Chairman held out his hand to help her from the back of the van. She looked at her arms tied behind her. His face reddened when he realised she was still cuffed. He barked out orders in Chinese at one of the officers who immediately retrieved a key from his pocket and proceeded to unlock and remove the cuffs. Lin Lee splayed her fingers encouraging the blood to flow back into them before taking the Chairman’s offered hand and stepping down from the back of the van.

  He kept hold of her hand affectionately as he led her up the gravel path toward a palatial, sandstone building complete with castellated turrets on each corner and a large central dome. The driveway led all the way up to the front entrance and she wondered why they had parked the van so far away. She guessed the Chairman had ordered this so she would be able to take in the full splendour of his domain. He addressed her calmly and politely. “I am very sorry that you had to be dragged here like this but we had to keep up the perception that you were being taken by the authorities. Otherwise, it may have become more difficult to get access to you. And I could not allow you the indignity of sailing away on that awful cargo ship.”

  They entered the building through a large set of beautifully decorated wooden doors, adorned from top to bottom in gold leaf, depicting a river scene of naked women bathing to a background of fishing boats. The doors opened into a large entrance hall filled with priceless pots, statues and paintings. Two curved, white marble staircases with gold handrails arced to the sides of the hall almost touching at the bottom but separating as they ascended to opposite sides of the second floor. At the top of the staircases stood a curved wall housing seven doors. Six of the doors were decorated with characters that Lin Lee immediately recognised as the Honours Symbols from the game Mah-jong. Four of the doors depicted the wind characters North, East, South and West. Two doors displayed the red and green dragons respectively. The seventh door was all white apart from a blue-green rectangle forming a frame around it. Lin Lee smiled as they headed toward the white door, enjoying the Chairman’s subtlety. Her smile was short-lived as the doors opened revealing Captain Mitchell sat at a dining table enjoying a meal. Just the way he had been hours before as he watched her being dragged from his ship. For a moment anger rose inside her and she wanted to run over and strangle him. She considered the situation. He was unguarded, unharmed and being fed. Clearly, he had been part of a plan she was not yet privy to. She decided to play it casual and offered him a wry smile before addressing him. “Why, hello there Bruce. I didn’t expect to run into you again so soon!”

  Before Bruce could respond, the Chairman interjected explaining the captain had agreed to assist them with their plan to get her away from the authorities. The Chairman’s team had received intelligence from an informant they had in the security forces, stating Lin Lee had arranged to escape by sea. The police had already approached the captain and formulated a plan with him to entrap her on the vessel. All the team had to do was intercept at the point where she was about to be taken into custody. As soon as they knew which vessel it was they approached Captain Mitchel and persuaded him to cooperate by making it as easy as possible for the police to take her. This allowed them to liberate Lin Lee without drawing attention to themselves.

  Lin Lee cringed to hear her plan explained so openly. She
thought she had covered her tracks but clearly her moves had been careless. “As far as the authorities are concerned Miss Lee, you are currently on your way to a secure facility for questioning. Soon they will realise something has gone wrong and they won’t be able to reach any of the officers escorting you,” the Chairman said with a casual shrug. “I’m guessing this will not end well for any of those officers?” Lin Lee asked. “They will be taken care of,” the Chairman answered. “So what of me sir? How can I be of further service to you?”

  “Our misguided government have dismantled our machine, arrested the engineers that built it and all but sentenced my son to death,” said the Chairman. “They naively collude with the West in the vain hope they will have access to this technology once completed. They are weak,” he said banging hard on the table in front of him. “If they had listened to me, they could have had full control. Instead, they will be thrown a few scraps from London and Washington at their convenience. I will not allow this.” He banged the table again. “With the captain here to assist you, I want you to go over to England, destroy their Harmoniser and eliminate all those involved with building it. I will make available all the money and resources that you require to achieve this. How you do it is up to you. If you are successful you will never want for anything again.” He studied them for a moment adding, “Can I rely on you both to achieve this?” Bruce looked to Lin Lee to offer an answer. The man lingered for a moment waiting to hear their response. Lin Lee knew there was only one answer she could give. With a show of confidence she turned to the man and told him what he wanted to hear. “Of course you can rely on us sir, we will not let you down.”

  With that, the Chairman bid them goodbye and left the room. Lin Lee stared at the doors as they closed behind him. She was trying to comprehend the gravity of the task she had just been given. Before she could consider this further, a voice broke her chain of thought. “I notice he didn’t say what would happen if we fail,” Bruce said in his thick, Australian accent. Lin Lee spun around to face him, composing herself as she did. “We can’t and won’t fail Bruce,” she offered, “but where the hell do we start?” She looked around the room as if searching for answers or inspiration from the walls and ceiling but the inspiration came from Bruce. “Starting is the easy bit!” he advised. “I’ll get you to England but the rest is down to you.”

  “And how do you propose to do that? Just about every security agency in the world will be looking for me. We don’t have time to cruise over on your ship and getting through an airport will be virtually impossible.”

  “No one will be looking for you Lin,” he answered as he pushed back his seat and stood up. “Oh really, and why’s that?” she asked tilting her head to one side in a show of curiosity. Bruce approached her and as he did his demeanour changed has he announced; “Because, you will be dead.” Lin Lee immediately poised herself for whatever attack was about to come but before she needed to defend herself he disarmed her by laughing loudly.

  “Chill out girl. I’m not going to kill you. Come on. All will be explained in the meeting we are about to have next door.” With that, he looked at his watch and headed for the exit. Lin Lee stood for a moment in total bewilderment before following him.

  The room they entered was much smaller than the one they had been in. It contained one large table with eight chairs, a large screen on one wall and a few pictures. The room was already occupied by four people, three of whom Lin Lee recognised as the two suited security guards who accompanied the Chairman earlier, and Director Wei Hui Zhang. The Director, sat at the head of the table, smiled widely at her as they entered the room.

  “Lin Lee, how wonderful to see you again, safe and well,” he said sounding genuinely pleased to see her.

  “Director Zang, I must say I am surprised to see you safe and well,” she replied a little more coldly than was intended. “Indeed, I guess we are both fortunate to be here after the betrayal that led to our failure. But we have been given a second chance so let’s make sure we do not fail again.” He gestured for them to sit down and the meeting began. He started by introducing the people around the table. The fourth person, who Lin Lee did not recognise, was a middle-aged woman who was there to help them prepare for their trip to England. At first she baulked at the idea but as the plan unfolded she accepted the importance of the woman’s presence. The Director informed her that by now the police would have received reports the van taking her into custody had driven off the road and plunged two hundred feet into the Wenyu River. At this time of year, the river would be shallow and the van would have exploded on impact with the gravelly banks. Further investigation would reveal Lin Lee had overcome the guards in the back of the van and tried to reach the front. Wow, I really am transparent, she thought to herself. In doing so, she would have shot the driver causing the vehicle to career off a bridge and into the river. Forensic evidence from one of the bodies would reveal both dental records and DNA form a match with those held on the database for Miss Lin Lee. This was made possible by the Chairman’s own team of hackers breaking into the system and replacing her records with those of an unknown prostitute, who’s charred and mangled body now lay in the wreckage of a van on the edge of the Wenyu River. The one area the hackers had been unable to access was the face-recognition software held by Interpol and linked to international airport databases. This is where the importance of the middle-aged woman became obvious. The woman had spent the past fifteen years working for a Chinese production company as a lead makeup artist. She would ensure Lin Lee’s features were unrecognisable to any of the cameras linked to the face recognition database. Lin and Bruce were to travel as a married couple who had been visiting China to try and trace Lin’s origins. One of the suited men handed them documents including passports (one USA and one Australian), credit and bank cards, driving licenses, inoculation books and airline tickets. They were to fly first class directly to London that night on Cathay Pacific. Travelling with them would be the makeup artist and the security guard who had handed them the documents. On arrival in London, Lin and Bruce were to be taken by private car to a safe house in Oxford which would be their base for as long as needed. Weapons would be made available on arrival. They had approximately four hours to familiarise themselves with their new identities before leaving to take the flight at Beijing Airport.

  Chapter 37

  As the aircraft began its descent over London, Dave gazed out of the window at the sprawling metropolis revealing itself through wispy clouds. He followed the contours of the unmistakable River Thames meandering snake-like though the iconic landmarks epitomising England’s capital city. Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and St Paul’s Cathedral, ancient monuments to a rich, cultural past − Canary Wharf, the Gherkin and the London Eye − equally iconic but a contemporary homage to a very different societal structure. Seeing the familiar sites of the city he called home made the events of the past few days seem like a fading nightmare, becoming less real with every passing moment. Before he could reflect on this further his thoughts were interrupted by the voice of his escort who sat beside him. Until now the Security Service representative, whom he now knew as Agent Lawrence, or less formally, James, had said very little the whole flight. The man, a tall, skinny redhead with spiky hair and milky-white skin, had opted instead to writing reports between catnaps and in-flight meals. Now, has the Boeing 747 made its final approach into Heathrow Airport, he informed Dave of what would be expected of him when they arrived at their destination. Dave learned from the agent there was to be a debrief of his experiences in China. They were to be joined by two of his colleagues from the Intelligence Service the following day. This did not surprise Dave but what did surprise him was where this was set to take place. It seemed their immediate destination from the airport was the city of Oxford.

  Their exit from the airport was swift as they cleared immigration through the diplomatic channel. They had no luggage to collect in the baggage hall. It took no time at all to reach the final set of
automatic doors leading into the public domain. Dave smiled inwardly as he read the big white letters on the green background above the door − “Nothing to Declare”. He considered using this declaration when he got to Oxford but doubted it would go down too well. Beyond the doors stood a mixed crowd of people waiting for loved ones, colleagues and clients. Dave scanned the crowd, looking to see if there was anyone he recognised or if there was any indication of someone there to greet them. The agent headed straight for the terminal exit, leading him through a set of revolving doors and out into a cool, fresh, English morning. Dave squinted at the natural light as he raised his face to the sky, letting the sun wash over him, cleansing the vestiges of the recent ordeal from his body. He felt completely relaxed for the first time in many days and could have stayed in that position for much longer, but a hand on his shoulder snapped him out of his trance. A car had pulled up at the curb in front of them and Agent Lawrence was indicating he should approach it. Has he did so, a man got out of the driver’s side and walked over to greet them. After a brief handshake with his colleague and a cursory nod towards Dave, the driver reached over to open the back door of the car to let them in before climbing back into the driver’s seat. He informed them they were headed to a hotel in Oxford where they could relax and catch up on some sleep before attending the debrief scheduled for the next day. As the car pulled away, Dave looked through the window at the revolving doors they had exited through just moments before. His attention was drawn toward a smiling couple leaving the arrivals hall hand in hand. The man was a tall, rugged-looking guy with tanned skin, shoulder-length blond hair and a beard. His partner was a petite, Asian woman with peroxide blonde hair peeking from underneath a white headscarf. She was wearing dark glasses which she removed as she scanned the pickup area looking for someone or something. For a moment, their eyes met and Dave’s stomach churned as he thought he recognised the deathly stare. The woman waved at someone beyond them and her expression changed, leaving him doubting what he thought he had seen. He shrugged it off and leaned back into the soft leather car seats as the car drove slowly away from the airport.