Depth Charge

by Andrew Warren

  Caine grinned again, but narrowed his eyes. “I think you know the answer to that better than I do.”

  Su's lips parted, but she said nothing. He looked into her eyes for a second, then turned his piercing gaze back to the road. She continued to stare at him, like a deer frozen in headlights. Finally, she nodded, and took a deep breath. “You are right, Mr. Caine. The matter is far more complicated than I let on in Macau.”

  “It usually is.”

  “When I said my life was in danger, I was not lying. There is a submarine captain… He coerced me into falsifying his navigation records. He is using his current mission as cover to hide his criminal activities from the MSS, and others in the Chinese government.”

  Caine raised an eyebrow. Su noticed again that Caine was a handsome man. His strong chiseled jaw and thick, dark brown hair were attractive enough. But his eyes… It was his deep, soulful eyes, green as jade stones, that impressed her the most. He had an aura about him. If not for him, the men in the bathroom… She shuddered, banishing those thoughts from her mind. But she also had seen first hand that Caine could be a cool and efficient killer when the situation warranted it. He seemed to want to protect her… But for how long? What if she became a liability?

  “Do you know who Captain Zhao Jianyu is?” she finally asked.

  “PLA Navy submarine captain. Well connected with the Chinese Communist Party.”

  Su nodded. She squeezed her hands tight in frustration and fear. “Some time ago, he used his connections to have my parents arrested and imprisoned. He told me if I didn’t falsify navigation records for his mission, he would ensure they were killed.”

  Caine glared at her. More streetlights rushed by outside. “What exactly is this mission of his?"

  “His official objective is to get his submarine as close to the west coast of the United States as possible, without being tracked. The PLA Navy wants to test the stealth capabilities of our new submarine fleet.”

  "What's he running?" Caine asked.

  "Type 093. It's called the Hai Long. The name means 'Sea Dragon’.”

  “Type 093?" Caine shot her a glance as they sped around a tight bend. "I didn’t think they existed yet?”

  “They exist. You Americans aren’t supposed to know about them yet. The PLA Navy wants to assess their capabilities. Especially when combined with cyber-attacks on your NRO spy satellites.”

  Caine nodded. “To pull this off, Zhao would have to take his sub well south of the Hawaiian ops areas. He'd have to head west of Kauai and south of Oahu to avoid detection.”

  “That’s right,” Su answered, her voice quivering. “Hawaii was factored in.”

  “So that's what the PLA Navy thinks he's doing… what's his real objective?” Caine asked.

  Su turned and looked out the window. Caine could see her reflection in the glass. Her eyes were dark and wide as she gazed into the blackness outside the car.

  "Su… " he said in a low voice.

  She spun around and faced him. "If I tell you, you have to promise you will get me safely to America. You must protect me!"

  Caine tightened his grip on the wheel. "I'll do my best. But until I know what's really going on, I can't promise anything."

  Su watched Caine for a moment. She took another deep breath. "Why do you think Colombian drug cartels and a Chinese submarine crew would work together? It could only be for one purpose. A Type 093 has six torpedo tubes. Each torpedo weighs approximately sixteen-hundred kilograms."

  “Of course,” Caine growled. “Cocaine. Nine thousand, six hundred kilograms of pure cocaine, smuggled into America on a submarine that no one can detect.”

  Su nodded, her expression grim.

  Caine did some mental math, then shook his head. “At a street value of one hundred and fifty dollars per gram, we’re talking, what? One and a half billion dollars in a single shipment?" He whistled. "So what’s Zhao’s cut?”

  “I don’t know, but it will be substantial,” Su replied in a meek voice. “If Zhao succeeds, he will become incredibly wealthy. With that kind of money and power, he will rise far in the Communist Party."

  “Does he have the cocaine onboard already?”

  She hesitated for a moment. “I believe so,” she said.

  “So, his special delivery on the way.” He gazed out the window, then turned to her. “We’ll get word to Langley. They can pass the information onto the Navy, the Coast Guard and the DEA.”

  “Drug Enforcement Administration?” she asked.

  Caine nodded and looked again in the rearview mirror.

  “Are we still being followed?” she asked.

  “We are. They think they haven’t been noticed. They want to see where we go.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  Caine grinned. “We stick to the plan."

  “I thought your plan was to fool the Ministry of State Security? But they aren’t even here.”

  “We don't know that. Besides, what works for the MSS will work for the cartel as well. So we stick to the plan." He turned and offered her a smile. "Got it?"

  She nodded. Her lip quivered, but she forced herself to return his confident grin. "Got it."

  They drove on. Despite the cold outside, Su rolled down her window. La Paz was surrounded by the mountains of the Altiplano range. The altitude in the city was well over three and a half thousand meters. She felt starved for oxygen. The air outside was cool and thin.

  She watched as they drove. The vehicle cruised at sixty, maybe seventy kilometers per hour. As they drove through a quaint mountain town, Su saw garden beds protected by bright yellow curbs. Buildings were brick or concrete slabs, covered in graffiti. Like military bunkers, the ground floors were protected by roller shutters or caged doors. Dark windows hid behind thick curtains or mirrored glass. Few people walked the streets in the cool night air.

  Bolivia was nothing like China.

  “What about your parents?” Caine asked after some time. Su had almost dozed off, and his question startled her. “Now that you have defected, won’t their lives be in danger?"

  “There is nothing I can do for them,” she murmured, choking on her words. “I’m almost certain they have been executed already. And with my usefulness at an end, it would be easier for Zhao Jianyu if they disappeared forever.”

  Caine stared back at her as more streetlights blazed overhead. Finally, he turned back to the road. He said nothing.

  She decided to ask the question that had been plaguing her mind for the longest time. “Mr. Caine, what’s going to happen to me?”

  “We fake your death. We smuggle you into Peru. Then we fly you to the United States. From there, you show us how to hack into your submarine navigation program. You’ll work for us.”

  “And when you have everything you need from me, what then?”

  Caine sighed. “Look, the U.S. isn't perfect, but we have rules, and laws. You'll be safe there, Su Liao. That I can promise.”

  She wasn’t sure she believed him. But she had to remind herself that China had very different values. China was about tradition, control, honor… control. How was it even possible to compare the two countries, when they were fundamentally different on so many levels?

  Caine slowed to a halt, and parked the car near a bridge that crossed over another slow-moving highway. “Okay. Here we go,” he said. All traces of humor and emotion had left his voice. “Listen very carefully. Do everything I say, when I say it. There's no margin for error here."

  She bit her lip. "I will do my best," she said quietly.

  Caine stared back at her, his emerald eyes blazing in the dim glow of the streetlights. "I know you will. I don't mean to scare you, but we have to stick to the plan. Otherwise, your death won't be fake after all. Understand?"

  She nodded silently.

  Caine opened the car door and stepped out into the chilly night air. "Good. Then let's get this done."

  Chapter Fourteen

  Caine handed Su a tiny radio earpiece and to
ld her to slip it into her ear canal. He glanced at the car that was tailing them. It had pulled over into the brush across the street.

  Su glanced in the rearview mirror as she inserted the tiny earpiece. Four men got out of the other car. She could see them moving beneath the street lights. They all held pistols. They walked at a brisk pace, stalking towards them across the pavement.

  “Su, listen to me," Caine said in a firm but quiet voice. "No matter what happens, you are going to run towards that bridge. When we give the signal, you jump.”

  “What? Into the traffic?"

  “Don’t argue. You’ll be safe. But your jump has to be timed precisely. Another man will give you the signal. Jack, you listening?"

  “Copy that,” came the voice of another American over the radio. “We're moving into position. T minus one minute.”

  Caine drew his pistol and pointed it at Su’s head. She gasped.

  "What are you—"

  “We need to make this look like I’m trying to kill you," Caine snapped. "Get out of the car now. Run to the bridge. I’m going to start firing. It might get close, but I promise I won't hit you. Now go!”

  Confused and terrified, Su stumbled from the car. She staggered as her feet struck the shoulder of the road. She almost fell as she ran towards the bridge.

  She heard shooting. Two cars skidded to a halt in the street, nearly crashing into each other. She heard bullets, thudding into the ground near her feet. She glanced back for a moment. Caine fired one last shot in her direction. Then he pivoted and sent a burst of gunfire towards the advancing men. The surprised kill team ducked low and scrambled for cover. Caine had them pinned down.

  Su raced to the bridge. The sound of the gunshots sent her heart racing once again. She was terrified she might not be able to do what was asked of her. But then she remembered the leering smile of the skeleton-faced man in the bathroom… the cold kiss of his knife, as he slid the blade across her skin. She decided she would rather be crushed under the wheels of a car than die at the hands of a man like that.

  A voice crackled over her earpiece. “Doing great, Su,” said the second American. “We’re almost there. You need to be ready to jump in ten seconds.”

  Su couldn’t speak. She heard more gunshots roaring in the darkness behind her. She saw terrified passengers, glancing at her from cars as they sped past. She felt numb, barely aware of her surroundings. She was moving on instinct and adrenaline now. She climbed up on the concrete lip of the bridge. Beneath her, the headlights of the cars rushed through the roundabout. The pavement lay ten or twelve meters below her.

  “Okay Su, almost there,” came the American. “On my mark, you need to jump. Five…”

  Su felt the wind blowing around her. Her legs quivered like jelly.

  “Four…”

  She felt her foot slip against the concrete. She gasped as she struggled to recover her balance.

  “Three…”

  More gunshots exploded in the distance. She looked back, but the men were too far away… She could see nothing in the velvety-black darkness. If Caine failed, the vicious killers would come after her again…

  “Two…”

  What have I gotten myself into? she wondered. What if it was too late, and her life was destroyed anyway?

  “Su, jump!" the American shouted. "Jump now!”

  The shouted order cut through the rising tide of panic that filled her mind. It was all the incentive Su needed.

  She blinked. Then she jumped.

  She was falling. She closed her eyes as the wind rushed around her.

  She felt a sudden, soft impact. She opened her eyes. She had hit a tarpaulin, then mattresses beneath that.

  Su was in the back of a truck, sprawled on her back. She looked up in time to see a muscular man lift the corpse of a young woman. Su realized the dead body was wearing the same clothes she was. The man heaved the corpse out the back of the truck as they drove beneath the underpass.

  “All clear,” the man said over his radio earpiece. He rolled down the back door as the truck picked up speed. He leaned over to Su and offered a hand, helping her sit up on the tarp. “Nice landing, Miss Laio.”

  She was still trembling. “Who… who was…?”

  “Who was that I threw out the back? Don't sweat it. Former resident of the local morgue,” he said, grinning. “Young Asian tourist who wasn’t as lucky as you. She died a few weeks ago, after a climbing accident.” He shook her hand enthusiastically. “Name’s Jack Tyler, by the way.”

  “Thank you,” she mumbled. She could barely collect her thoughts as they sped away into the night. Caine had been true to his word. They had faked her death. “Wait, what about Mr. Caine?” she asked, suddenly worried for his wellbeing now she was safe.

  “Tom's a big boy. He can take care of himself.”

  “Caine’s extracted himself from the shootout," a third voice said over her earpiece. Another American, but this one was a woman. “He’ll meet us at the rendezvous in two hours,” she said.

  “Hear that?” Tyler said with another grin. “Everything’s going to plan.”

  Suddenly Su was gagging again. Her fear had finally caught up with her. But this time, she could only dry heave. There was nothing left in her stomach to cough up.

  Chapter Fifteen

  VIACHA, BOLIVIA

  As dawn light crawled across Bolivia, Caine sat waiting in his Mazda. He was parked on a dirt road next to a cement factory on the outskirts of Viacha, a large town west of La Paz. Grey clouds gathered in the skies. The thin morning air was crisp and dry.

  Soon enough, Tyler’s truck pulled onto the tiny road. He parked inside the crumbling plant, keeping the vehicle out of sight from casual observation. Rebecca, Tyler and Su Liao transferred to the Mazda. Caine hit the accelerator as soon as their doors slammed shut. They headed west. He was tired. He hadn’t slept in twenty-four hours. But that wasn’t going to stop him from getting them all out of the country in one piece.

  “Any problems?” Caine asked, as the factory disappeared in the dust behind them.

  Tyler leaned back in the passenger seat and closed his eyes. “That's a negative.”

  Caine glanced back at Rebecca and Su through the rear vision mirror. Rebecca looked as tired as he felt, but Su was an anxious bundle of nerves. Under the circumstances, Caine couldn't blame her.

  “What happens now?” she asked.

  “We get to the border,” Rebecca explained. Her hands massaged her temples. “It’s only an hour away. We have a passport for you, Su. A United States passport. You and I cross together, Caine and Tyler will go separately. On the other side we drive to Arequipa. Then we get on a plane and fly to Miami.”

  “That simple?” Su asked.

  Rebecca nodded. “That simple.”

  Caine kept a watchful eye on the rearview mirror as he drove, but there was no sign they were being followed. They crossed the border into Peru without incident. It was late afternoon when they made their first stop at a gas station. Arequipa was still a few hours away, but it was time for a break. Caine was dead tired, and needed to sleep on the next leg of the journey. Tyler filled the tank, while they all stretched their legs.

  Rebecca kept an eye on Su while they used the bathroom together. Not that they were expecting Su to run, but they couldn’t rule out the possibility altogether. When Su got back in the car, Rebecca joined Caine. He was leaning against the vehicle’s hood, watching people. Together, they observed a group of wrinkled Quechan women in their colorful skirts, ponchos and Panama hats drinking coca leaf tea.

  The old women laughed and joked. They were happy souls despite their subsistence lifestyles. In the Andes coca tea was drunk everywhere, and it was legal. As a tea it was harmless, no different to Darjeeling or Earl Grey. Caine had heard coca tea helped with altitude sickness, but he had no need to try it himself. His constitution had not been affected by their elevation.

  “I can hear the gears turning in your head,” Rebecca said, adding a chuckl
e. She leaned next to him, and nudged him with her arm.

  Caine offered her a tired smile. He wanted to tell her the truth, tell her he was contemplating their future. But he couldn’t bring himself to talk about their relationship right now. He was afraid of what might come out. Instead, he replied, “I’m thinking about Su.”

  “You have a read on her yet?” Rebecca asked. The cool breeze blew a strand of hair across her face. Caine saw that her fiery red hair was starting to show now that the dye was fading. She looked good with dark hair, but he preferred her natural color.

  “She’s scared,” he said. “She’s starting to realize, there's no going back now. She feels guilty about abandoning her parents, even though she knows they are likely dead by now." Caine exhaled, and stared down the long, empty road ahead of them. "She’s probably wondering if she can trust us too.”

  Rebecca crossed her arms and shivered. “Understandable. I hope she was worth the effort.”

  Caine glanced back at her. “You're still not convinced? You think she could be a double agent?”

  “I think Jezebel Yan is a smart woman. I trust her instincts.”

  Caine thought back to their time in Hong Kong. Rebecca had come to life operating in the Far East. Her career was going somewhere there, but Macau had ruined all of that. Now she was playing babysitter to a defector who might have nothing to offer.

  If Su Liao didn’t produce actionable intelligence, then all their careers with the CIA would take a huge step backwards. Caine didn’t care so much. He was used to being sent from one hell hole to the next, always getting the job done. He lived his life one mission at a time. But Rebecca wasn't like that. She had a plan and she knew what she had to do to make that plan a reality. It wouldn’t surprise Caine if she had her eye on the Deputy Director of the Clandestine Service. Her career was everything to her.

  How could he force her to jeopardize that, when he knew he was going to have to leave her?

  He rubbed his tired eyes. A flicker of motion drew his attention. Su Liao exited the car, hugging her body against the cold winds. She marched to Rebecca and Caine. Her expression was sour. “There is something I haven’t told you.”