Sunshine or Lead

by Adam Van Susteren

  Xiaowan looked at Tina. “Chinese?”

  Tina shook her head. “I don’t think so. It sounds like a Chinese name but I don’t think Johee is Chinese. She looks, I don’t know…”

  Xiaowan guessed, “Korean. Or maybe Japanese. Or mixed. But she wasn’t born in China.”

  Tina said, “I bet your husband could tell. And yeah, I’d bet Korean and American-born.”

  Aurora felt her skin turn a little red. “I’m sorry if that seemed racist. Do you think you guys can tell, confident to one hundred percent? If not, I’m a bit worried and think maybe we should rent a car and drive the two or three hours back to D.C. I don’t have a gun and don’t like the idea of walking us into a situation we can’t control.” Aurora thought about walking out onto the tarmac to meet a car and how that would be a perfect place for an abduction to take place.

  Tina agreed, “I don’t like that idea either. Why don’t we wait for someone you know from the FBI to come get us or rent our own car? I don’t want to pin my hopes on playing ‘Guess the Asian’s origin.’ You’re what, German and Swedish?”

  Aurora shook her head. “Pure German. My boss said that someone would be meeting us, but he couldn’t confirm the name.”

  Jessica said, “I really do have to pee. I can go, right?”

  Aurora nodded and both Tina and Jessica went to the bathroom while Xiaowan listened in on Aurora’s half of the conversation when she contacted her boss again.

  FBI Director Michael Schwartz wasn’t available so Deputy Director Pete Smegielski answered the call. He rubbed his hand against his shaved head and said, “Damn it Aurora, I don’t have any information on who they sent. We just know ICE sent someone to make sure you get to D.C. right away. We don’t have time to run a background check on every Chinese American in every position of power, but I’ll see what I can find on her and call you if there is any reason not to trust her. Just stay alert.”

  “Understood.” Aurora anticipated that the political ramifications and prejudice towards Chinese people could be severe no matter what happened with the spy program.

  Aurora whispered, “We’re going to stay in public areas until we can confirm this is the right person. She won’t be armed and can’t do anything by herself against four people without backup, so we’ll stay in public until we can confirm her identity. Meanwhile, I really need to go to the bathroom too.”

  After the women relieved themselves, they met back up with Johee outside the bathroom. Aurora said, “Thanks for your help in getting us through.”

  “No problem,” Johee replied and watched everyone gather up their carryon bags. She started walking towards the baggage claim with the four ladies in tow.

  Tina asked, “Johee, I was curious, what is your ethnicity? Your name sounds traditionally Chinese but I would have guessed you were Korean.”

  Aurora wished Tina didn’t bring anything up, just in case she was a Chinese sleeper agent like Xiaowan and was tasked with tipping off a squad to intercept them if suspicions arose.

  Johee turned around. You are correct. Both of my parents were born in Korea but moved here as adults, and I was born here. Our last name is pronounced more like Jhang but, because of the spelling, we Americanized it. And my first name is the Americanized version of Juhee, which was changed to honor my grandmother’s second husband, Joseph.”

  Xiaowan said, “What a nice story. I often thought about Americanizing my first name to Shawn or even just changing it altogether to Paris because I love the ambiance of that city so much. But I kept it. It’s what my parents called me…” and her voice trailed off as she thought back to her parents who were somewhere in Macau, or who knows where in China.

  Tina felt a sudden wave of fear pass through her. This Korean woman was suspected of being a Chinese spy simply because she had a Chinese sounding name. Tina Lee was similar to Xiaowan; both were straight A students and have Chinese parents. And now people might immediately question if Tina was also a spy from China. She thought about the Irvine area in Orange County that was predominantly Asian. How many of the people she knew were actually like Xiaowan? How many of her friends could be spies?

  Culturally, her community strived for excellence in education and her family was the perfect example of that stereotype. Tina recalled her sister getting an “Asian F” on several report cards and her parents punishing her severely for an A minus, a grade considered excellent throughout the United States, unless you happen to belong to an Asian community.

  Tina never would have guessed that Xiaowan was sent to the United States to be a spy. And after years of marriage, her husband didn’t know. Aaron Baker never had a clue and it seemed like he knew everything.

  The group walked in silence. Xiaowan carried a heavy heart thinking about her parents. Tina was consumed by thoughts about all of the friends she grew up with who could be spies. She also worried how many times her friends and family would be accused of being spies because of this program.

  Aurora was trying to synthesize all the information Nat told her while remembering to check the surroundings to make sure she could deliver Xiaowan and Tina to the White House safely. It was a quiet and long twenty minutes that passed as the women got their belongings, Jessica separated from the group to book a plane to Boston, and the rest boarded the plane to Reagan International Airport. Then Deputy Director Smegielski finally returned Aurora’s call to let her know that Johee Chang’s identity had been confirmed.

  Safely inside the plane, the women sent text messages while waiting for takeoff. Tina relayed to Aaron the incident, or lack of incident, with Johee Chang from customs. She also voiced her concern that all successful Chinese, Chinese-looking, or Chinese-sounding people would be suspected of espionage once the story broke.

  Xiaowan started writing an email to her parents, hoping they would read it and praying it was not the last thing she would ever say to them.

  Aaron wrote back that he understood Tina’s fear. They had a lot of friends that would fall under the aura of suspicion, and if Xiaowan could be a spy, so could anyone. He texted that they should be landing in three hours or so and that he couldn’t wait to see her. Tina responded that they would likely arrive around the same time.

  Aaron said to Manny, “Regardless of what happens, the fallout from this program will be huge. People will call for mass deportation and immigration restrictions on the Chinese.”

  “It will be a challenging time, as it must have been for the Japanese during World War II, a few years before I was born. Are you familiar with the Korematsu case?” Manny asked.

  “I remember it from Con Law back in law school. It was held to be Constitutional for people of Japanese descent to be moved away from military towns and bases.”

  Manny went to scholar.google.com and pulled up a copy of the court opinion. “This case really moved me as being wrong while also balancing a strict government need. If a second Pearl Harbor was being planned, it had to be prevented. But Justice Jackson’s dissent summed up the case perfectly.”

  Manny changed his voice from conversational to presentational, and did a dramatic reading that would make Morgan Freeman proud as he read the first paragraph of Justice Jackson’s dissenting opinion in Korematsu.

  “Korematsu was born on our soil, of parents born in Japan. The Constitution makes him a citizen of the United States by nativity and a citizen of California by residence. No claim is made that he is not loyal to this country. There is no suggestion that apart from the matter involved here he is not law-abiding and well disposed. Korematsu, however, has been convicted of an act not commonly a crime. It consists merely of being present in the state whereof he is a citizen, near the place where he was born, and where all his life he has lived.”

  Nat asked, “What does it mean that this is a dissenting opinion?”

  Manny glanced at Aaron and gave him a slight nod, so Aaron responded. “On the Supreme Court, there are nine Justices. The majority decides what happens but, often times, those who lose write their opinio
n as to why the other side is wrong.”

  “So the point of a dissenting opinion is?”

  “When Justices on the Supreme Court, or even judges on appellate panels, disagree with the holding, they write what they believe is correct under the law. A dissenting opinion from a Supreme Court can be useful. If say, Korematsu was a close call, an appellate judge might be able to distinguish Xiaowan’s case from it and use part of the dissent as support for saying why the future case deserves different treatment from binding Supreme Court precedent.”

  Manny added, “It may also signal to the legislature that something should be done to change the law. But like Aaron inferred, dissenting opinions generally aren’t all that useful as they aren’t law. In Korematsu, it articulately said to the legislature and President, ‘You may have the authority during times of war to essentially imprison citizens because they look a certain way, but there are limits to what you can do within the grounds of the Constitution.’”

  Aaron said, “What it means for us is that the President, via executive order, and the Congress will have a lot of discretion with what laws they pass and how they proceed from here. Korematsu gives them the green light and the Supreme Court probably won’t strike down any laws unless they are even more restrictive than Korematsu.”

  “But there is a key distinction, Aaron. That was a time of declared war.”

  “But the United States military is currently deployed in several theatres engaging in combat. And a rampant espionage program might be considered an act of war.” Aaron’s blood was pumping, making him feel better and sicker at the same time. “I’ll tell you what it means. We have a few hours to figure out how to sell the President of the United States on a reasonable program before all the partisan hacks start thinking of legislation to garner votes and power and fuck up the lives of millions of Chinese Americans, like my fiancée.”

  Manny laughed. “We three lawyers and a CIA agent are going to figure out the policy considerations in a few hours while Congress hasn’t been able to do it in fifty years. All the while, we’ll ferret out the details of the secret conspiracy and figure out how to present our theory to the President…accomplishing all of this while the leader of our group is hung-over…”

  Aaron smiled broadly. “Sounds about right. Here’s my thesis. The President, and all presidents, no matter how much you agree or disagree with their policies and personalities, run for both selfish and selfless reasons. Their vision may be wrong for the country according to you and me, but they think it is right and they care. If we can show President Shortree the light, I’ll bet he doesn’t act from the darkness.”

  “Did you ever hear back from your guy about the SEC insider trading?”

  Aaron looked at his phone and tapped around to bring up his email. He shook his head then sent a text message to Aurora asking her to track down that trade.

  Chapter 29

  Aurora, Tina, and Xiaowan didn’t encounter any issues at Reagan airport. The shuttle ride to long-term parking to retrieve Aurora’s car was uneventful, as was the twenty-minute drive to the White House. They reached the first White House checkpoint when they pulled up to Seventeenth Avenue and H Street. Just like in the movies, a Secret Service agent walked around the car with a dog and a mirror while another agent collected identification from each of the three passengers.

  After a two-minute search, they were told to drive just past West Executive Lane and leave their car by the half circle, then walk up the drive. Someone would park the car for them.

  Each of the women had to go through a metal detector. Once they cleared security and were on the inside of the White House as guests, Tina and Xiaowan stood in disbelief as they soaked in the reality of where they were. Xiaowan nearly fainted when she was struck with the awareness that they were all here because of her.

  Tina reached out to put a hand on Xiaowan’s shoulder and whispered, “You okay?”

  “Considering we’re here because of what I did and both the United States and China are mad at me, not too bad,” Xiaowan responded with a forced fake smile.

  “We’ll get through this. Just last month, Aaron and I were being attacked by Secret Service agents and people that stole hundreds of billions of dollars in gold from the Federal Reserve. We figured that out. We’ll figure this out too.” Tina smiled warmly at Xiaowan who steadied slightly.

  The three sat in the waiting area near security. They were not permitted to wander. They were instructed to wait, which made them start to feel more like prisoners than guests.

  The long five minutes ended when Aurora’s boss, Director of the FBI, Michael Schwartz, and a White House aide approached the group. The aide introduced himself as Fred Fernandez. He was assigned to be with this group while they were in the White House. Fred, a man in his late twenties with short curly hair, warm blue eyes, and a friendly voice, made the women feel at ease. When he asked to be called Freddy, the White House started to feel a little bit less like a prison and more like a home.

  Michael Schwartz was nearly six feet tall and as broad as a house; he had the build of a power lifter that enjoyed bacon a little too much. His voice and introduction were as warm as Freddy’s. He projected the impression that he was always in control and was always willing to go out of his way to help someone.

  Freddy said, “Our plan is to have you three stop in the Oval Office to meet with the President for ten minutes. Then Aurora and Xiaowan will go to the Cabinet Room where they will debrief Director Schwartz and several others. In the meantime, I can give Tina a little tour, or you can stay with your friends. We will also find time to make arrangements for you at a hotel and get you settled in.”

  As the group followed Freddy, Aurora asked her boss, “Sir, any progress on tracking down the person who made the stock trade?”

  “Yes. There were several layers of corporate shells to dig through. Someone wanted the trade hidden but we found him, a man named Kenji Bo. We have set up surveillance on him and located him in California.”

  Aurora pulled out her phone and texted Aaron Baker to let him know that the man who stands to make a fortune on Ameriprobe tomorrow is Kenji Bo. She looked up from her text. “What happened with Nannette Allenby?”

  “We have the video footage from the interrogation room. There was no audio because of the attorney-client privilege, but it looks like she attacked her attorney and he killed her in self-defense,” Director Schwartz said in disbelief. He continued, “I was a prosecutor before joining the FBI. No decent criminal defense attorney would ever let their client talk to a prosecutor until a deal was reached. Everything would go through the attorney so there would not be any direct evidence to incriminate. I don’t know why Enloe Burden was in that room and brought in that box of evidence. Something is off, even if it looks like clear-cut self-defense.”

  Aurora said, “I tried to speak with her and her first attorney wouldn’t let her say anything. So either the second lawyer was a terrible lawyer and was lucky to be able to save his own life -”

  “Or he went there to kill her.”

  Silence hung in the air as Freddy’s knock on the Oval Office door was answered. He led the three ladies and the Director into the room. The President sat behind a desk. He stood up and came around to welcome his new guests as they made introductions with his current guests who were sitting on the chairs and couch surrounding a coffee table.

  Everyone was introduced to the President’s National Security Advisor, David Scott. When Tina saw the second man, she blinked twice in disbelief. The President’s new Chief of Staff introduced himself as Dr. Brandon Joseph. After shaking Xiaowan’s hand, he gave Tina a hug.

  “What are you doing here, Chief?”

  “The President offered me a job. Instead of running a hospital, I’m going to help him run our country.”

  Tina paused slightly in the receiving line, but moved on to greet the President. He smiled at her. “Dr. Lee, welcome to the White House. Seems like you and Aaron just can’t stay out of trouble, can
you?”

  Tina’s face was slightly flushed. As she followed the procession to sit down in the squared seating area, the President greeted Aurora. “Agent Wulfers, welcome. I trust that we’ll sort everything out?”

  “Yes, Mr. President,” Aurora said confidently.

  The President nodded at her and then she took a seat. He was the only one left standing when his National Security Advisor said, “It looks like we avoided the start of World War III earlier today, over this espionage program run by the Chinese. I have been briefed and found that various sectors of our government have known about several secrets being stolen by the Chinese. We didn’t know how it was started, but the program that Xiaowan was a part of, and exposed, confirms what we have suspected for quite some time.”

  The President nodded and walked back behind the desk. His Chief of Staff, Dr. Joseph, said, “We need to figure out the extent of the espionage program before we will know what we can do with you, Xiaowan. But you did the right thing by coming to us before stealing anything. Thank you.”

  Seated once again, the President said, “I am in the first summer of my second term. I am done playing politics. After what happened last month, I vowed to surround myself with people who will do their job for the good of the country, not their political party. When I wasn’t able to get Aaron Baker to join my team full-time and I learned about Dr. Joseph, I was thinking of placing him in the Department of Health and Human Services, but had the Chief of Staff opening.”

  Tina cut in, “And we still get to call him Chief,” and flashed a warm smile at the President for making such a bold and brilliant selection.

  The President smiled back. “I’m hoping he has the same dedication and success in his new role here.” He looked at Xiaowan. “We need to get the CEO, or whichever person has the ultimate authority, at Ameriprobe to discuss with us what happened with the influenza program. I understand, based on your research, that you believe there is no cure for the flu? That the Chinese asked you to steal something that did not exist?”