Lu Lei’s curiosity reached its limit. “Yes, and?”
Casey continued, “It’s an apartment that nobody knows about. It’s our line of retreat if our cover is broken. There is always a possibility that the government will find out who we are, and the consequences are dire, so if you get the text or the physical signal... quietly throw your cell phone inside a bus, steal a bicycle and head straight to the address. Matt will teach you a couple of tricks to make sure you are not followed.”
“What do you mean by 'physical signal'?”
“They have the technology to listen in. The signal must be simple but clever. I’m open to suggestions, Lu Lei.”
“Can I think about it for a while?”
“Sure, sweetie. Your parameters are: the signal must be receivable without entering our building here. In fact, it must be on the way home. It needs to be unique, but not unusual. The rest you think through for yourself. Assume we will all be in a hurry. The weather could be bad, it could be night time or rush hour, that kind of stuff. Tell us your ideas tomorrow.”
Lu Lei was excited to be involved. It all felt surreal. Like a game.
Casey went back to cooking while Matt explained some of the other things in the safe. Of most interest were the electronics in the black pencil case. Matt picked up the tiny little thing he called a bug and stealthily placed it in the kitchen while Casey was cooking. He gave Lu Lei a little earpiece and showed her how to listen in as Casey talked to herself while she cooked. Lu Lei had giggled and passed it back to Matt, who listened and smiled. He looked at her conspiratorially and handed it back before walking off into the kitchen.
She listened, giggling intermittently.
“Casey, I really think we should be putting more iron in Lu Lei’s diet. Can you start buying those big bunches of spinach when you go to the market?”
“But Matt, our little teenager won’t eat spinach. You know that.”
“Maybe if I hold her down, you can force her to eat it.”
Lu Lei was laughing hard now, trying to stop so she could listen in.
“What’s going on, Matt?” Casey asked.
Silence.
Casey continued after a few telling seconds, “Yes, you are right Matt, I think if you hold her down, you could pinch her nose shut while I shove spinach in her big mouth. It would be just like waterboarding but with spinach.”
“Hey!” Lu Lei yelled as she entered the kitchen and stood with her hands on her hips.
26
Double Hit
Jimmy pressed 1, holding it until the phone dialed the number for Marcus.
“Go ahead, Jimmy.”
“Yo, what’s up, my man?”
“Go ahead, Jimmy.” Roet repeated.
“I got you some pictures of the new rifle and of one of the handguns. I even broke them down so you can see the pieces. They are the bomb, my man.”
“Very good, Jimmy. Anything on the air force?”
“Only a rumor, but I heard my boss say that they might be getting upgrade from Soviets. SU-30 fighter jets. You know? Well, they will get the new model. Better. That’s all I know so far.”
“Okay, Jimmy, that’s good. See if you can find out how many, and when.”
“One other thing, Marcus. It’s not about military. A bit strange. I will tell you coz I like your man Matt Nelson.”
“Go ahead.”
“Beijing’s chief of police hired a sniper to kill their old tai chi friend.”
“We know that already, Jimmy.”
“He was supposed to kill the little girl, too. Just something I heard. Please tell Matt Nelson.”
“That’s a weird little piece of intel, isn’t it? I’ll be sure to pass it on. Now, Jimmy, I have an extra assignment for you. Please take care of it cleanly. You will only get paid if it looks like an accidental or a natural death. Go with a heart attack if you think that’s appropriate. I’ll send you the name and the photo. It’s a reasonable fee. You will be happy with it, and the job should be easy enough. He's a civilian. Let me know when it's done.”
After hanging up, Marcus began typing a text to his bank contact.
Marcus Roet’s silk bathrobe hung open as he paid his Asian massage therapist $500 and showed her out. He always hated himself after finishing with a girl, but he was addicted, and they didn't complain if it was all over within quickly. He picked up his phone and started to dial when a knock at the door startled him. He scowled, knowing that it was probably the pretty young pregnant woman from next door, coming to complain about the music again.
“Yes? What is it this time?” Marcus looked her up and down, noticing that she was no longer pregnant.
“I’m so sorry to bother you again,” she said loudly over the noise of the music, “but the walls are so thin in this building. Could you perhaps turn the music down? My baby gets woken up when it’s this loud.”
Marcus looked at his feet and shook his head. “Just go home and keep your complaints to yourself. If it bothers you so much, maybe you should move out.” Then he slammed the door in her face.
He went to the fridge and took the last wine cooler, using his robe to help get the twist top off. He’d picked up a taste for them from his stepmother years earlier, but was too embarrassed to drink them in public.
It was after midnight in Virginia, a good time to call Matt Nelson at his factory.
“Yes, hello?” Matt’s voice came clearly over the line. It was around noon in Beijing.
“I have a bit of odd information I felt that you should have, Matthew.”
“Go ahead, Marcus.”
“Our man Jimmy told me that your Police Chief hired a sniper to take out the old fellow that you were friends with.”
Roet waited for a reaction.
“Thank you, Marcus. We were aware. What did Jimmy tell you about it?”
“Ah, you knew. Did you know that the sniper was supposed to take out your little Chinese adopted daughter, too?”
“What?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so Matt. The hit was for her, too. No reason given, and no idea why it was called off.”
Roet loved knowing things before his workers knew. It kept them in their place. He listened to Matt’s series of rapid-fire questions without answering them. He didn’t have any answers.
“I hope you two are not making a mess over there with the police department. If that little girl is getting in the way of you doing your job, I think you know what you are going to have to do.”
“Marcus, you are a piece of work, but thank you for the heads-up.”
Matt waited for Lu Lei’s bedroom door to shut before he talked to Casey.
As Casey scrubbed her face, Matt joined her in the bathroom.
“Roet had some disturbing news for us. He heard from somewhere that seven years ago the Chief hired a guy with a long gun to take out the Master.”
“We kind of knew that.” Casey looked puzzled.
“Yeah, but we were guessing about that. Here's the weird part, though. Roet told me that the hit included Lu Lei.”
“What? Why would he want to take out a six-year-old girl? It makes no sense. I mean, taking out the Master wasn’t too logical either, but we know how spiteful the Chief is. Perhaps he thought he was cleaning up after murdering her parents.”
Matt replied, “Maybe he thought she’d be a witness. I don’t know, honey. Clearly the Chief is psychotic. Maybe that’s all it was. The spite of an evil man.”
“Do you think she’s in danger still?”
“Could be. Hard to say, with someone like the Chief. We haven’t had any problems from him in seven years.”
“I’m starting to feel like our luck is running out over here. Maybe it’s time to pack it in.”
Lu Lei pulled the earpiece from her ear. She noticed her fists were clenched, and she was gritting her teeth. How could a man be capable of such evil? What could she do about it?
27
Lu Lei's Revenge
Lu Lei’s alarm woke her at
6AM. She went straight to the living room to pull the couch away from the wall. The code was still the same. Feeling somewhat ashamed, she knelt in front of the open safe. She reached in and picked up Casey’s pistol, checking the magazine. Then she pulled out the files about her parents’ accident from the brown folder, replacing them with blank paper. The pistol on the floor between her knees, she closed the safe and slid the wooden panel almost all the way back into place, but it came out of its bracket and hit the floor. Lu Lei froze, waiting a moment for Casey to appear but then thinking, move faster Lu Lei, you’re still fine.
Her second try at getting the panel into place worked, and she pushed the couch back, slid the pistol into the envelope and scampered back with it to her room. She was about to close the door when she heard Casey’s voice beckon, “Lu Lei? Are you up?”
“Yes, mom. I’m up.”
She thrust the envelope under her pillow as Casey approached and poked her head in.
“You’re up early, honey. Did you sleep okay?”
“Same as usual. Bad dreams, night sweats.” Lu Lei took part in the mother daughter chat, hoping that it would be short this morning.
“Matt and I have a busy day today, so I had best shower and get going.”
“Okay, mom.”
Lu Lei’s heart pounded. She hoped Casey didn’t need her gun today. Too late now, she thought, as she pulled the envelope out. Flicking through the files, Lu Lei swore quietly. Since the age of six she had felt unsafe, and now she knew for certain that there was one man at the root of it. Not only had he ripped away her family, but he had taken her mentor, imprisoned all of her tai chi friends, and now she had found out that seven years ago he had planned to kill her.
She sealed the envelope, thinking, Wei Bao will be an orphan if I kill his father. Maybe his housekeeper will adopt him and his life will be better.
She assured herself that it was for the best, and Wei Bao would see that she had done him the greatest favor a friend could do.
After writing neatly on the envelope, she slid it inside her backpack, along with Casey’s pistol. She was taking it all to school with her, which felt wrong, but her timetable required it.
By the ring of the lunch bell, Lu Lei had already been berated by three different teachers for continually looking at the clock on the wall.
Wei Bao asked, “What’s going on with you today?”
“I don’t know. Nothing. What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing.”
He walked along the corridor with her silently. He appeared to want to talk, but she discouraged it. He was quite sensitive to her signals these days.
“Are we going skateboarding after school?” he asked.
“I have other stuff to do today. More important.” Lu Lei knew she was being hurtful, but she wanted him to shut up. She didn’t want to think about the consequences of what she was going to do. She just wanted to do what had to be done and deal with the aftermath later, whatever that might entail.
Matt keyed in the combination and opened the safe.
“Matt? Are you geared-up? I’m off the phone. We should get out of here before Lu Lei comes home from school.”
“Yes, honey. Where’s your piece?”
“It’s in the safe. Can you grab it for me?”
“It’s not in here, Casey. Are you sure you didn’t–”
“I’m sure,” she interrupted, wondering if she had left it somewhere stupid. “You don't think Lu Lei took it, do you? She knows better, right?”
“If she did... she'll be grounded for life. We can call her and check, but let's not do that yet. Listen, it’s getting close to the meeting time with our virologist friend. Do you want to stand him up, or go in unarmed?”
“I can’t find it anywhere,” Casey said, trying all the cupboards now. “Strange. Is anything else missing?”
Matt peered back into the safe. “It’s all here. Did you check her room?” Matt looked at his watch again and rolled his eyes. Casey was always misplacing things. Losing her pistol, however, was a new trick. He expected that she’d find it shortly, as she tended to do with all her temporarily lost objects. It would probably somewhere obvious. He preferred not to get sucked into Casey’s "lost item tornados." He knew better than to try to help.
Moving the couch back into place, he stopped for a moment and looked down at the chipped wood panel. Was that new?
“Shit, Matt. I can't find it. This is not good. Maybe it's in the bedroom.”
Matt moved to the front door and stood with his hands on his hips, watching Casey rummage through another of her handbags.
“Casey, I’ll be armed, and outside on the bike, so you’re covered. We need to go in two minutes.”
Casey walked toward the virologist, who was sitting in the back of the teahouse. It had become a tourist trap in recent years. Scammers brought unwitting foreigners here for an authentic tea tasting experience that stripped them of fifty dollars a head. It was ideal for Casey as she didn’t turn as many heads here.
The virologist fidgeted with his cup. His body language was agitated. Something was bothering him. Casey felt naked without her pistol.
“I think Roet might have stiffed him already,” Casey said into her wrist as she approached and sat down.
“Hello. Nice to see you. You look well. Do you mind? I have to frisk you.”
She was half-expecting to find a wire under his shirt, but found nothing.
“I have information for you. Names. Chinese doctoral students in America, but the money has not gone into my account.”
Casey heard Matt’s voice in her ear, “Get the names if you can.”
“Yes, things are backed up this week at the agency. They are straightening it out now. There is no need to be concerned. Your money will arrive. I promise you. If the information is good, there’ll be a bonus.”
“I’ll give you half the list now. The rest you can have when the money shows up in the account.”
Casey slid her hand into her jacket and pulled out an envelope. “Look, here’s a down payment. We’ve been good to each other. What you are doing helps the world. Give me the complete list now, and you can have the cash.” Casey nodded at him and looked into his eyes.
He accepted the envelope and passed her his list. “The names with the dots above them are People’s Liberation Army.”
“Where did you get this?” she asked, hiding her surprise.
“There’s a new Ministry filing cabinet in the research building. There's a file in it for each Chinese student who has gone abroad. We use it to keep track of who is sending what. The students are sharing American research with us. As far as I know, that’s all the students are doing. They are not messing anything up in the labs; they are just copying research data and sending it to us.”
“This is good. Well done. Enjoy your tea. Please let me know in a week when the money comes through. Just so I know not to bug them.”
Casey stopped for a second as Matt’s reminder came over the earpiece, “Threaten him.”
“Listen, please accept my apologies for the delay. We know your family is enjoying the gifts and expensive dinners, and they’ll be disappointed if that stops. We want them to be happy. Your wife looked stunning in that yellow dress you bought for her last week. The shoes were lovely, too. She is a classy lady.”
Matt chuckled, “Nice. Very subtle, yet so menacing.”
“Have a pleasant week,” she said, getting up. She smiled at him and walked out.
After school, Lu Lei killed time, riding her bike around the streets, stopping for a while to sit in a park and rest. She couldn’t go home until she’d finished with Casey’s gun. There was no way she was going to risk having it taken away now. The cell phone that Matt had given her a while back for emergencies was sitting at home on her bed. She didn’t want to be talked out of tonight’s plan, or told to bring the gun home.
She felt a surprising clarity about what she was about to do. It felt good to take control of something t
hat had been following her, like her own personal dark cloud.
As the sun set, she stopped at a street stall for a bowl of noodles. She thought of her birth parents, knowing that they wouldn’t approve of her plan. In a way, though, she was fighting her way out of a corner, perhaps the same way that they had done on the night of the accident.
Casey sat poised over a legal pad on her kitchen bench, doodling a crude cartoon of a stick figure being hanged from a crane. Roet’s voice on the other end was impatient. She knew she was passing him valuable intelligence, but for some reason, he was being a douchebag about it. Sarcastic. Nasty.
“I’m glad he’s given over the list. Good job, well done. I’m sure you’ll both get stars on the wall one day. You may have guessed, though, he’s being shut down. It has been decided that the funds would be better spent elsewhere.”
“Really.” Casey gritted her teeth. “The guy risks his life, hands over a bunch of names that makes you look good, and probably plugs a bunch of leaks in our research sector, not to mention the potential for counter-intel. This is a gold mine for the agency. What do you do? You hang him out to dry; cut him loose.”
“I’m not cutting him loose, Casey.”
She ran over the possibilities in her head.
“Who’s going to do it?” she asked.
Roet let the question hang in the air.
“Marcus?”
“Listen, Casey, it’s out of your hands. Don’t meet with him again. I have to go.”
“Marcus, you–” she heard the click as he hung up. “Unbelievable,” she said out loud to an empty kitchen.
Casey parked the car in a spot with a good line of sight to the park bench. Matt loaded a round into the chamber of his pistol and held it out in front of her.
Surviving Spies (Irving Waters, Spy Fiction Series) Page 20