Sunshine or Lead

by Adam Van Susteren

  Everyone decided they could wait on the rest of the group before ordering. The first pitcher was nearly gone as was Tina’s Captain Morgan and Coke that followed her regular Coke. Aaron noted no missed calls or text messages and it was almost seven. One of the tables next to them became empty. Aaron jumped over to sit there to hold the spot until it could be cleared and moved with all the seats.

  After that, there was a rapid influx. The waitress came to clear and help move the table while Tina stood up once she saw FBI agent Aurora Wulfers. Aurora brought someone with her, an Asian-ish looking woman a few inches taller than Aurora with a similar slender athletic build.

  “Aurora! It’s so great to see you.” Tina smiled warmly after the greeting and embrace. Aaron saw the arrival and moved to get in line for a hug as well.

  “Tina, Aaron, you guys look great,” Aurora said in between hugs. “This is my good friend, Nat.” Aurora caught Aaron’s eye and mouthed the letters C-I-A. It took Aaron a second to figure out what Aurora was mouthing and then he nodded his understanding.

  Introductions and handshakes went all around with Kor and Jessica standing up to meet and greet. Before Nat and Aurora could even place a drink order, Xiaowan and James walked up looking for everyone.

  Kor bellowed, “Lermas!” as he got up to hug them both. Hugs, handshakes, and introductions complete, they placed orders for more drinks and ordered a dozen tacos to start.

  Aaron made eye contact with Xiaowan and made sure that she saw him take his cell phone out of his pocket and put it on the table. He said to Tina, “I saw some creeper go into the men’s room. Can you tell me if the women’s room is clear so I can wash my hands?”

  Tina looked at him with puzzlement, wondering if she heard him correctly. She looked at his cell phone that he placed on the table. Maybe he wanted to tell her a secret. “Okay?”

  Aaron stared hard at Xiaowan and nodded over at the bathroom to indicate that she should follow Tina. He smiled when she didn’t bring her purse but left it on her chair for James to watch over.

  Tina and Xiaowan were in the two sink, two stall, women’s room when Tina came out and waved Aaron in; her suspicion that Xiaowan was his client who is in serious trouble being all but confirmed. Nat and Aurora’s trained eyes noticed what was happening. Kor, James, and Jessica all noticed something odd, but Aaron did odd things like this from time to time.

  Aaron glanced Xiaowan up and down. “I’m so glad you are okay. Your cell phone and home phone are probably bugged so we have to be careful where and when we talk. Did you learn anything new?”

  She nodded. “They say there is research regarding a cure for the flu, and possibly a sample, that they want me to get a hold of. Not much more in terms of details. I am supposed to go to the research facility in Barcelona if I can’t get the information here. I think they will hurt my parents if I don’t comply. They focused more on the good than the harm, but it was definitely intimidating.”

  “Do you want to tell James?”

  She nodded yes.

  “Do you want me to tell him?”

  She shook her head. “No. I want to tell him.”

  “You remember the FBI woman that helped me and Tina out?”

  Xiaowan nodded. “Aurora Wulfers.”

  “I think we should bring her in on it. I trust her.”

  “Okay. You think we have to?”

  He nodded. “I think it’s best. I’ll tell James to come in here and to leave his cell phone so you can have some time to explain. Tell him your house and phones are likely bugged and that I want to meet him at the swimming pool tomorrow at noon to talk more.”

  “Thanks Aaron. I feel better with you on my side.”

  “You’re welcome. We’ll get through this just fine, James will understand,” Aaron said confidently, but secretly feeling uneasy that he wouldn’t respond very well if he found out his Tina was sent to the United States to be a Chinese spy.

  Aaron walked out of the bathroom wondering how long the collective bladder of the women at this bar would last to give James and Xiaowan privacy in there. He firmly planted his right hand on James’ shoulder. “Can you look up who won the White Sox game for me?”

  James looked up thinking it was a random question and that he could check any number of ESPN tickers around the bar, but pulled out his phone when Aaron took it from his hand, pointed to the bathroom, and nudged James with his elbow.

  James felt a little annoyed. “What?”

  “Who won?” He pointed at the phone and placed his finger over his lips to indicate shush. He pointed at James and then pointed at the ladies’ bathroom.

  With bewilderment on his face, James reached for his phone to put in his pocket as he got off the stool. Aaron grabbed his wrist to indicate that the phone stays. James complied. With butterflies working their way from his stomach up into his chest, he headed to meet his wife in the ladies’ room.

  Everyone at the table was staring at the strange exchange. Aaron asked, “Jess, where are you going for your bachelorette party?”

  After pausing a second or two, she gathered her thoughts. “I’m not sure. I’d love to go somewhere in Italy or maybe Spain.”

  Aaron’s eyes went wide with recognition and excitement. If he was playing poker, everyone at the table would have folded. He tapped Tina’s leg twice with two fingers under the table. She figured he meant the second one and Tina asked, “Spain?”

  “Yeah, I’ve never been and Kor went with his ex, so it’s not a place we are excited to go to together. So I think it would be a great place to see some culture, history, and have an adult-style bachelorette party.”

  Tina said, “I’m in.”

  “I loved Barcelona. I think you guys would have a blast there,” Aaron said with a nod to Aurora.

  Aurora guessed Aaron was afraid they were being spied on. “I have family in Barcelona. Let me know when you guys are going; I might be able to arrange a place for you to stay.”

  Jessica figured something was up and she too was playing along in case something was up. “That is so kind of you, Aurora.”

  Aaron interjected, “You guys have become pretty close now, why don’t you guys all go out there together?”

  Jessica, thinking of inviting only her closest friends, wasn’t sure how to react to that intrusive statement, but politely said, “Sure, if the schedules work out well, the more the merrier.”

  Inside the bathroom, Xiaowan took James’ hands in hers. “James, I am in trouble.”

  The butterflies moved down a few inches from his chest to his stomach. While he was concerned about his wife being in trouble, he was immediately relieved it didn’t sound like it was his fault or that she was thinking of leaving him. “I’m here for you, Shy. What’s wrong?”

  Tears formed in her eyes and as simple as a six year old would have described it, she said, “Bad people from the Chinese government want me to steal secrets from work.”

  The butterflies left his stomach and he relaxed. “Oh. I know some good law enforcement people. We’ll get through this.”

  She shook her head. “It’s more complicated. Our phones and home are probably bugged. If I don’t do it they will hurt my parents, you, and me.”

  Some butterflies returned to James’ stomach. “We will figure it out then. I see that you told Aaron about this already,” he added with a little hurt in his voice that she went to Aaron before him.

  “Because he met the President and just did that huge thing in Washington D.C., I thought he might have some good advice on where to start,” she said a little defensively.

  “Did he?”

  “He said to tell you right away.”

  James smiled slightly. “He was right. I have so many questions, but I don’t think the bathroom of a bar is the right place for them. Let’s put our phones in the car and talk on the beach tonight.”

  She smiled at him. “And Aaron wants to meet you tomorrow at noon in the pool to talk.”

  James wrapped her up in his arms and
held her tight. During the hug, Xiaowan thought the conversation went fantastically well but she wondered how he would take it knowing that she was trained to be a spy. Would he still trust her? She carried this secret for so long. She said into his shoulder, “I love you so much. So sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

  “I love you too.”

  They let go of each other. When she looked in the mirror, she saw her makeup was slightly smudged from her tears and pressing her face against his shoulder. She complained sweetly, “I don’t have my makeup to fix my face.”

  They both laughed. “I’ll send Tina in with your purse. There have been too many guys in this bathroom.”

  James walked outside feeling rather relieved for a man that just found out his wife was being extorted to steal secrets from her place of employment. His law practice dealt with a mix of patent law and criminal law so he was no stranger to corporate espionage and was oddly comforted that he would be in such a good position to help. He walked up to the table that was ensconced in a conversation about Barcelona and handed Tina his wife’s purse, nodding to the bathroom. Tina took the cue and headed in without a sound.

  James clasped Aaron’s shoulder. The two made eye contact and James nodded a gesture of appreciation. Aaron nodded as if to say, ‘Of course I’ve got your back.’

  A moment later, Xiaowan returned to the table with Tina. After they were both seated, Jessica said, “Xiaowan, Tina, I think that my bachelorette party is going to be in Barcelona in a couple of weeks. Do you think you can make it?”

  Xiaowan looked at James and then Aaron with a ‘what the…’ look on her face. “I think that’s a great place. I would love to. Maybe James and I will pay for the plane tickets as our wedding present?”

  James, not knowing about the quarter million dollar stipend, swallowed hard and pretended to be excited. “Um. Sure. That’s a great idea.”

  Aaron looked from James to Kor. “Kor, wherever you want to go for your bachelor party, Tina and I will pay for the plane tickets too, to make the presents even.”

  Kor said, “Bachelor party! Boom! Now we’re talking. We just missed Indy 500. I want to go somewhere we can gamble, golf; maybe a sports festival.”

  James said, “There is gambling in lots of places. We could do Monte Carlo, Panama City, Vegas…”

  Aaron chimed in, “What about Asia’s Vegas? Macau.” Aaron wondered if he could get to Macau and bring Xiaowan’s parents back to the United States. The girls’ trip to Barcelona could buy time and hopefully help them learn more about what’s going on.

  “That’s pretty far. Maybe,” Kor replied without as much enthusiasm as would have been expected.

  Aaron said, “They’re going to Europe. Let’s do something special for your bachelor party, buddy.”

  “Maybe. I’m just not sure that everyone could afford to go there,” Kor said thinking about his friends and brothers who would want to go.

  Jessica tapped him on the arm. “Let’s have two each. One local and one far.”

  “Boom! That’s why we’re getting married!” He leaned over to kiss Jessica, then asked the table, “Has anyone been to Macau before?”

  For the first time in the night since introductions, Nat broke her silence. “I have. It’s a very fun city and you will have a great time.”

  Aurora egged her on, calling her by her last name, “Come on Rosetti. Tell them a story about one of your wild times there. The one that ended up with the angel wings tattoo on your back.”

  Nat was close to Aurora but had a hard time trusting and opening up in groups like this. She wanted to fit in and make it sound like she was one of the girls so she said, “I was gambling at the Venetian and started playing craps.”

  “In Vegas?” Kor interrupted.

  “No. The Venetian Macau. This good looking athletic Chinese guy comes up and starts betting on my roll. I roll for five minutes and make everyone some money at the table. He says he’s feeling my roll and comes out with ten thousand dollars, and I crap out right there. He puts another ten thousand down and says he’s going to win it back. He gets the dice and craps out right away. Ten minutes later, everyone is cold as ice and the dice get back to me. He puts twenty-five thousand on the no pass line. I switch to bet against myself too. Crap out, we get paid. Everyone at the table bets the do not pass and every time a point is rolled, the shooter is hoping to crap out. We stay there betting the do not pass line for three hours and everyone gets paid,” Nat said before stopping to take a sip of her beer.

  Everyone was listening intently as she continued, “He keeps calling me death’s angel because the dice were so cold and he loved it. We cashed out. I was up maybe three thousand dollars, which was a lot of money for me, and he was up a half million. We spent the night drinking, dancing, eating, and having a great time. I got the tattoo of the devil with angel wings in Macau with him the next morning.”

  Aurora jabbed her with her elbow. “You’re leaving out some details.”

  “I don’t want to talk about all the details.”

  Kor said, “Come on girl, what happened? You get arrested? Threesome?”

  Nat shrugged. She wasn’t embarrassed about what happened, it was a great memory for her, but she wanted to control who she shared her stories with and when. Especially if this was going to be a professional relationship. She wanted to snap at Aurora, but like a master actress she pretended to have fun in the conversation. “You’re just jealous you weren’t there and are too lame to have any wild stories of your own.”

  Aurora took the cue to back off on pressing her and took a sip of her drink.

  “Sounds like you had a great weekend,” Aaron said, hoping to transition into an area that wouldn’t make the women uncomfortable thinking about wild sexual exploits. “Do they have any major sporting events in July or August out there?”

  “Don’t laugh, but that guy was a professional badminton player. It’s actually a real sport in China and they have a tournament in July. If you’ve never played, it’s a good workout,” Nat said, and then just went for a joke, “I mean, you have to be in good shape to chase a shuttlecock all day long.”

  Everyone politely chuckled sensing it was a joke. Nat added, “That’s what the birdie thing you hit in badminton is called, a shuttlecock.”

  That got a couple of oh’s and laughs, and Kor raised his glass. “To chasing shuttlecock.”

  After some more stories, fish tacos, and just a few more drinks, James asked Aaron, “How long will you be here? Shy and I are thinking it’s been a while since we’ve been near the ocean and might want to take a walk for a while.”

  Aaron surveyed the bar and saw no one that made him suspicious at all. He looked at his watch and it was nearing nine. “Maybe another hour.” He looked at Tina, then Aurora. “Maybe we all go for a walk. We can drop the purses off in a car trunk and do a few miles in the beach to burn off some calories and give some time for the alcohol to settle before driving?”

  “Great idea, I’d love to walk by the ocean,” Aurora said. She stood up. “Let me get some pictures of the group first.” With her back to the bathroom, she focused past the table and took pictures of everyone that was in the upstairs section by the bar.

  They paid the check and all walked out to Kor’s car. All the women put their purses in the trunk. Aaron grabbed his cell phone to put there too and signaled to James and Kor to also do the same. All eight were cut off from the satellites. Even Aurora and Nat decided to go completely off the grid despite having secure devices.

  Aaron looked around the beach area. “You guys want to walk out on the pier?”

  A quick consensus was reached and as they started strolling, Aaron went over to Kor and Jessica and pulled them back from the group by a few feet because he wanted to have a quick heart to heart.

  “Guys. You might have guessed with some things going on tonight that there is another possible big deal brewing like in D.C.”

  Kor and Jessica looked at each other with disbelief. Kor looked at
Aaron. “What’s up?”

  “I’m not sure yet. You went above and beyond last time and I hate the idea of putting you in harm’s way again. But as you can tell, we might need an excuse to get to Barcelona and China. I don’t know the details yet.”

  “Are you in trouble again?”

  “It’s not me this time. I can’t disclose who yet.” Aaron realized it was painfully obvious that it was Xiaowan or James.

  Jessica nodded at Aaron. “This is a lot more exciting than my dental practice, we’re in. Let us know what we can do.”

  Aaron beamed a smile at her and then at Kor. “I love you guys. Be right back.”

  He jogged up to Xiaowan and James who were just behind Tina, Nat, and Aurora. “How are you holding up?”

  Xiaowan said, “So much better with James and you guys supporting me.”

  James added, “Nervous, excited, and kind of relieved that she wasn’t mad at me for doing something.”

  Xiaowan squeezed James’ hand. “How could I be mad at you? I was afraid you would leave me. That’s why I have been so stressed out.”

  Aaron interrupted them. “I want to let you guys talk through things but right now I feel like we have a modicum of privacy and can move forward towards setting a plan in motion. Xiaowan, I need your permission to disclose what I feel necessary to Kor and Jessica so that we can try to use their parties as cover to travel. If we need to.”

  James nodded. “I trust Aaron with my life. He has good judgment.

  “Thanks buddy. You didn’t let me down when I trusted you with mine. Neither did Tina, Kor, Jess, or Aurora,” Aaron said feeling confident with the team surrounding him.

  Xiaowan said, “Okay. Be careful though.”

  “Here’s where it gets tricky. I want to be able to tell Aurora about everything if we can get an immunity deal.”

  James was a little annoyed. “Immunity from what? Being a victim of extortion?”

  Xiaowan looked up at James. “There is a long story, but the short of it is that when I came to the country, I knew that people in China might ask me to do this someday.”