The Armageddon Machine
Page 34
Chapter Thirty-Three
Beijing, People’s Republic of China
June 18 -- 01:10 UTC/9:10 am local time
Lu Ping stopped every couple of blocks, pretending to look over merchandise displayed on stands outside of the stalls of various merchants. The real purpose of these stops was that she needed an opportunity to surreptitiously check out her surroundings, making certain that nobody was following her. She cast glances around, looking for any familiar faces, for anyone who may be watching her; it was a task made difficult by the fact that anyone trailing her would surely take precautions to make their surveillance as inconspicuous as possible.
She knew there was a possibility that she was wrong, but she felt as certain as she ever would be that she was not being followed. She slipped down an alley and knocked on the alley door of a store. The door opened and a hard-looking man motioned her inside. She brushed past the big man, and he shut the door behind her, locking it with a heavy deadbolt. He motioned for her to continue down the corridor they were standing in. She went ahead, and the man stayed behind.
The corridor led to the storage area behind a clothing store; the store had remained closed for the day. The store was owned by a cousin of Jimmy Chen, and Jimmy was the first person Lu Ping saw when she came out of the corridor. With Jimmy there were three men and two women, all of them either standing or sitting on boxes. They turned their inquisitive eyes on Lu Ping as she entered.
The men and women waiting with Jimmy were all members of the Recovery Team, and each of them had received a message over the past four days telling them where to be and when to be there for this meeting. Each message had contained a warning that they should tell nobody about the meeting, that it would put them all in danger if knowledge of the meeting got into the wrong hands. Ever cautious, Lu Ping hadn’t let any of them know who else she was inviting to the meeting, but she had let them know her own identity, as she felt it was the only way that they would come. It was a risk, but one she felt she had to take. Lu Ping hadn’t been certain that they would all come, and she was glad to see that they had; she could only hope now that they had kept quiet about it.
Jimmy Chen cleared his throat, breaking the silence among the group.
“Welcome, Madame Lu,” he said. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
“Hello, Jimmy,” Lu Ping said. “Thank you for your patience, all of you. I’m sure you are all very curious as to why I asked you to meet me here.”
“Of course we are,” one mad said. “You must admit that this is all very strange.”
“I’m glad to see you here, Mister Yeung,” Lu Ping addressed the man who had spoken. “I will explain everything momentarily. Jimmy, has Wu Lei arrived yet?”
“Yes, he has,” Jimmy replied. “He had to take a leak.”
As if on cue they heard the sound of a toilet flushing, and a moment later the sound of a door creaking open on unoiled hinges. Wu Lei walked out from a short hallway.
“I’m right here,” he said.
He came over and stood beside Lu Ping.
“Do you want to start, or should I?” he asked.
“I will,” Lu Ping said.
Everyone in the room was watching her intently, eager to learn what was going on. Lu Ping started, filling them in on every pertinent detail of what had happened over the past three weeks.
“It was after the failed raid on the warehouse in Tianjin that I first started to feel that the terrorists must have someone feeding them information from the inside,” she said. “They had managed to smuggle Dragon’s Breath out of the city just in time. It seemed too convenient, and I have never been one to trust in luck, either good or bad. I have been told before that I am suspicious by nature--usually by men.”
Wu Lei laughed at this.
“That day my wariness cried out to me,” Lu Ping continued. “I knew that something--that somebody--was rotten. That’s why I got in touch with Jimmy. I placed great faith in him, and he came through for me.”
Jimmy Chen puffed up with pride at her words.
“I had him take a look at every principle member of the Recovery Team, as well as key members of both the government and military. I was looking for any traitor, or traitors, in our midst.”
“You spied on us?” one of the women asked.
“It was necessary,” Lu Ping said. “I needed to know who had warned the terrorists in Tianjin of our imminent operation there. I needed to know why they have been one step ahead of us at every turn. I needed to find the traitor.”
“Did you find a traitor?” Yeung asked.
“Yes. I believe that I have. And after what happened to the city of Los Angeles, the need to take him down is more urgent now than ever. And I need you to help me do it.”