The real Hui Lee, the older one with the buzz cut and the glasses, the loyal Rotarian Hui Lee, is at his desk at the Ministry of State Security, which, if the Chinese People’s Public Security University building is massive and imposing, then the MSS building is even more so. What else can a half mile long, ten story office building be? Unlike the fake Hui Lee, the real Hui Lee has not ventured far from his office this day. Endless meetings, the need for supervision of his staff, and the demands of higher ups make his presence a necessity.
So does the extremely wide view Lee has of the agency’s operations both within and outside of China. It keeps him pinned down to where people can reach him most easily, which is here, in his office, at his desk. He prefers to offer advice, to coordinate, to defer to others. He sees his post as consultative, collegial. He directs staff to gather information, not to intervene, not to take sides. As a result, he is sought out. His people know people. They talk. They can be counted on to get things straight, to report back frequently to their superiors, to remain impartial. Through this means he and his people have become one of the agency’s most respected and valuable resources.
Lee reads Miss Huiliang Tai’s email:
“Local Police report the death of a Mr. Li Hua Wang. Mr. Wang, who resides in Outer Beijing, is a journalist with a history of extensive internet commentary. Apparently he was stabbed at the Imperial Summer Gardens by an unknown assailant. With the cooperation of the Beijing Police, the staff and I have been going over video of this incident all morning. As Mr. Wang lie in extremis he was approached by and may have spoken to an American graduate student from Tsinghua University, a Mr. Zachary Miller. We also believe that we have a sighting of the elusive Mr. Christopher Gray of the American Embassy, albeit CIA. His tradecraft is as usual excellent. He stayed out of range of the close cameras, but we think we have him on a longer range camera with a lower resolution. The fact is, we can’t be sure that it was Gray.
We will continue to make every effort to identify the assailant as our resources permit, but at this point we believe that this should be considered a local police matter. And we will of course continue to track Mr. Miller as well as his companion, Miss Scott.”
Hui Lee picks up his phone and clicks on one of the many names at the bottom of his screen. It rings twice, Huiliang answers, and he asks her to come to his office to follow up on the email. It doesn’t take long before she enters his office, quietly taking a seat. Huiliang is a demure twenty-something who hides a formidable intellect not to be trifled with. He knows that she attracts little romantic interest from her colleagues, and this makes her even more valuable to Lee. She lets nothing stand in the way of her work, which she is known to perform with extreme devotion, alacrity and precision.
Momentarily, he breaks off and turns to her.
“So, Miss Tai, what have we here? Let’s start with Miller, shall we? What have we got on him?”
“Everything. We have the mobile, office, internet, apartment, building, family and all known associates for him and Miss Scott under active surveillance.”
“Where are they now?”
She looks down and touches her electronic pad a few times.
“The Capital Museum.”
“Ah, very good. It’s always refreshing to see young foreigners availing themselves of the opportunity to immerse themselves in our glorious indigenous culture! How very admirable. How very educational of them!”
“They appear to be in the area of a just reported disturbance. Someone fired a gun and stopped traffic on the Muxidi bridge.”
“Let’s hope no one was hurt.”
“It doesn’t look like it. I don’t think so.”
“Excellent! It would be most unfortunate for any young American students to accidentally come to harm while visiting our very hospitable country. That would be exactly the kind of thing that could very well attract attention in both countries, deleteriously impact our burgeoning and increasingly vital tourism industry. We would want to avoid that at all costs, don’t you agree?”
“Absolutely Mr. Lee.”
“And you mentioned in your email that the notorious Mr. Gray from the American Embassy has popped up in the Jinchun Gardens of all places. What was he doing there I wonder? Perhaps he was attempting to contact this dissident Wang fellow for an exchange of information?”
“It would appear likely, yes.”
“Indeed it does seem likely. More than likely. Is there any way to track Mr. Gray?”
“No, I don’t think so. He is, after all, a professional.”
“Yes. Right. I suppose so. But I don’t think I want him leaving the country until this is all sorted out. Please see to it that he is detained should he attempt to do so.”
“That should not be a problem.”
“Wonderful! Well, that’ll do for now. Excellent work as usual Miss Tai. You are a credit to us all.”
“Thank-you, sir.”
Miss Huiliang Tai rises and is gone before he has a chance to notice.
Lee knows that Li Hua Wang either is a dissident or could well be in the process of becoming one. Wang has a history that flags him only for general activism, something well below the standard that would have him rise to the attention of the authorities. Lee has no idea why Wang would be attacked, so he orders nothing more. He will leave the matter of this Wang’s unfortunate death to the police, just as the ever efficient Miss Tai has quite properly suggested.
Chapter 13
On Fire Page 12