“Fine,” Su said. Her voice was flat, and she kept her eyes on the ground as she walked.
“It will be difficult to adjust,” Rebecca offered. “What you've done… I know it can't be easy. You left your old life behind. And there's no going back.”
Su nodded and brushed her hair behind her ear. She kept walking. Movement was the only activity that stopped her from screaming at the top of her lungs.
“The intel you are providing us is top rate,” Rebecca offered, rubbing her hands together to warm them. “You should be proud.”
“Proud? I’ve betrayed my country,” Su responded in a morose whisper.
“They betrayed you.” Rebecca's voice was firm but kind. “You had no choice.”
“I could have chosen death.”
Rebecca shook her head. “That is never a choice you should have to make for yourself.” She stopped in her tracks, and took Su’s hands in hers. They turned to face each other. “You had an impossible choice, Su. You have to understand that. This hasn't been easy, and I’m not promising it ever will be. But you had no choice. We were, and still are, your best option.”
Su nodded and looked away. Her eyes were damp, and her lower lip quivered. She held her breath, forcing herself not to cry. She didn’t want Rebecca to see how much pain she was in.
“Will I see Mr. Caine again?” she finally asked. She felt indebted to him. She knew he had a dark side, but he had shown her kindness. Maybe he could convince her she had made the right choice. And more importantly, he might be the only person who could honestly determine, one way or the other, the fate of her parents.
Rebecca shook her head. “It doesn’t work like that. There is no operational reason why you two will ever need to meet again. You need to forget about him.”
“Is that what you tell yourself?” Su asked. Her words came out as a harsh whisper.
Rebecca squinted at her, exhaling another puff of mist between them.
“I saw the way you looked at him. You’re in love with him, Ms. Freeling." Su continued. "But something is holding you back.”
“My relationship with Tom is none of your business.”
Su stuffed her hands in her pockets, and resumed walking along the sun-dappled path. Rebecca was the one person she considered to be anything close to a friend here. The last thing she wanted to do was offend her. She quickly changed the subject. “I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. I’m worried sick about my parents.”
Rebecca nodded. "I'm sorry, Su. I know it must be hard."
“Is there any way you can find out…?” Su felt her words stick in her throat. She choked back a sob. “Is there… if they are alive?”
“Is there any chance of getting them out of China?” Rebecca asked, kindness in her words again.
Su burst into tears. She had been holding so many emotions in check for so long, and now she felt she had no will left.
Rebecca wrapped her in a warm embrace. Su's body trembled and shook in her arms. Finally, her crying faded to a muted whimper as Rebecca hugged Su tight. Rebecca's sudden affection comforted her, but she wasn’t used to it. She didn't know if she deserved to feel better. Not when her parents might be suffering…
“I can’t promise anything," Rebecca said quietly. "But I'll look into…” Rebecca didn’t finish her sentence. She hugged Su tighter.
Eventually, Su pulled away. They continued wandering through the pale white hills in silence, each lost in their thoughts.
Rebecca met with Jezebel Yan in a diner on Highway 220. Apart from a surly waitress and a pair of truckers eating eggs, the two women were the only other patrons. Outside the grease-stained windows, the rolling green hills were spotted with patches of snow. Row after row of cedar pines reached up into the brilliant blue sky. Rebecca sighed. This was the kind of place she would enjoy retiring to in her later years.
Yan sipped from a tall glass of orange juice. When Rebecca sat down, the waitress approached and offered them both coffee. Each drank theirs black. Yan sweetened hers with several teaspoons of sugar.
“So? How is she doing?” Yan asked in a matter-of-fact voice.
“So far, everything looks positive,” Rebecca said, adding a shrug. “Su’s scared, of course. It's been a shock for her, adjusting. But at the end of the day, I think she’s the real deal.”
Yan nodded, looking somewhat relieved. It had been her reputation on the line as much as Rebecca’s. She took a sip of coffee, and peered over the rim of her glasses. “You do know she’s hacked into the Internet? Visited many websites outside her mandate?”
“Yes. She's looking for information about her parents…”
Yan lowered her eyes. “What about them?”
Rebecca stared at her across the table. “Look, I haven't said anything. But you and I both know Su’s parents are alive. They're imprisoned in a reeducation camp in Xinjiang. Not far from the border with Kyrgyzstan.”
“If you tell her that,” Yan snapped, “it will destroy her. Then we will lose her, and her intel. And you know we haven't had an intelligence coup like this for years.”
Rebecca looked out the window. She watched as a semi-trailer truck thundered past outside, disturbing the peaceful morning. “I know, Jezebel, I know. But I've been thinking. What if we could get them out? It would make a world of difference to Su. Motivate her to help us even more. Plus, it eliminates any risk of Su defecting back to China.”
Yan finished her coffee and looked away also. Rebecca recognized the distant look on the woman's face. She had felt the same way after she left Su Liao. They both knew they were destroying this woman’s soul. But that’s the way this game is played, Rebecca mused. Recruit the talent, then suck them dry, until they could no longer deliver. Su Liao would be no different.
“You’ve got a week off,” Yan said, changing the subject. “Hawaii, right?”
Rebecca nodded. She had mixed feelings about that. It bothered her that Su had guessed right about her feelings towards Tom. She hated that her personal life was so obvious to others. Especially an asset like Su…
“You need a break, Rebecca," Yan continued. "Go and enjoy yourself. Refresh. When you come back, who knows…”
Rebecca nodded and forced herself to smile.
Yan threw some money on the table. “Coffee's on me. I’ll see you in a week.” She stood and walked out.
Rebecca sat with her coffee for a moment. She couldn’t help but reflect on her own motivations in all of this. How much did she really care about Tom? How important was her career at the CIA? How many compromises would she make to get what she wanted, despite the cost to others?
Yan was right. Rebecca needed distance and downtime if she was ever to get any real clarity on how she felt. A week lying on the beach with Tom at her side sounded like bliss.
Another truck rumbled by, shaking her from her thoughts. She finished her coffee, then stepped outside into the beautiful Virginia morning.
Chapter Twenty-Four
MAUI, HAWAII, UNITED STATES
Caine watched Rebecca saunter out of the lapping ocean waves, and step onto the pristine white sand. Her black bikini left little to the imagination. Her hips swayed from side to side as she walked towards him. Smiling happily, she ran her hands through her wet copper-colored hair. Rivulets of water ran across her chest and down her flat, toned belly. When she reached Caine, she gave him a quick kiss. Then she stretched out on the towel next to his and closed her eyes.
Life, Caine mused, had never been better.
“I know you’re watching me,” Rebecca said as she slipped on her sunglasses."
“I don’t want to look at anything else.”
He wore a pair of navy blue board shorts. His legs were marked with a few bruises, most of which had faded to dull, yellow and orange splotches. The blows from Supay's hammer were still angry purple welts, and a scar ran along his arm from the knife attack. Rebecca's tan body was unblemished and perfect.
“What’s on your mind, Tom?” she asked, her voice slow
and languid.
“I’m thinking how beautiful you are.”
She smiled. He could tell she enjoyed the compliment.
While she rested he sat on his beach towel and looked out across the water. The sun hung over the Pacific Ocean, bathing them in its warm rays. In a few hours, the blazing orb would fall beneath the horizon, painting the sky in brilliant streaks of purple and orange.
“A whole week of this,” he said with a grin. “I could get used to it.”
“It’s only our first day. Let’s not rush anything.”
“I have no intention to.”
He leaned in and kissed her.
Her mouth met his. Her hands wrapped around his neck and pulled him close. Soon their bodies were intertwined. Caine felt himself losing control. He wanted Rebecca like he had never wanted anything else in his life.
Fifteen minutes later Caine had Rebecca inside their luxury resort room, standing before their king-sized bed. The view from the floor to ceiling window looked out over the ocean, and the mountainous island of Kaho'olawe.
Their hands tore at each other's clothes. Her beach shirt went up over her head. He pulled at the strings of her bikini, and the tiny scraps of fabric fell away. She tugged at his board shorts as he pulled her onto the bed, devouring her body with his rough kisses. She moaned with pleasure.
They made love until the sun was gone, and the black water outside shimmered in the moonlight
Later, Caine leaned against the bed's padded headboard. He stared out the window at the dark waves breaking on the beach. Rebecca lay face down next to him, the sheets puddled around her legs. Caine’s hand traced a path across her bare skin, caressing from her shoulder to her thigh and back again. Outside, they could hear the ocean murmur, and insects buzzing in the tropical air. The sounds had a calming effect on them both.
“The website didn't lie… This is paradise,” Rebecca purred.
“I’ve never taken a vacation like this,” he said, as his fingers circled the small of her back. “I never understood the appeal of resorts until now.”
Rebecca moaned in agreement. For a while, they both settled into a long, very comfortable silence.
The chirp of her cell phone broke the tranquility.
Caine almost asked her not to take it. But in their occupation, he knew that was not an option.
She groaned, and rolled out of the bed. She stretched her arms as she padded over to the phone on the table.
“Hello?” she said. She listened for a second, then rattled off a series of code words. “Oregon, Uniform, Alpha, seven eight, three five, Juliet, seven.”
The conversation continued for several minutes. Rebecca made a series of affirmative noises, nodded her head as she listened. Caine found it strangely alluring, watching her be briefed by a faceless bureaucrat on the other side of the world, as she stood naked before him. But his arousal was tempered by the fact that the longer the call lasted, the more likely their time together would come to a sudden end.
Five minutes later Rebecca ended the call. She came to Caine, and straddled him in the bed. Her finger traced a line around the bruise on his forearm, the mark left by Supay's hammer.
She kissed him, gently at first. Then the touch of her lips grew hungry, passionate. But she broke it off a few seconds later, and leaned away from him. “Thank you for doing this, Tom. This was wonderful."
“You have to go?”
She nodded. “I’m sorry. I told you this might happen.”
Caine sighed. He could have complained, but what was the point? They were both professionals. The situation was what it was, and nothing he could say or do would change it. But that didn’t do anything to lessen his disappointment. “When do you need to leave?”
“I have to go right away.” She climbed off him. She gathered her clothes off the floor and started dressing.
Caine climbed out of the bed and pulled on his light cotton pants. “Want me to drive you to the airport?”
She shook her head, and kissed him again. “Why don’t you stay? No point both of us missing out on all of this.” When she pulled away, the hairs on the back of his neck tingled. The look in her eyes… It was fear. She was afraid of something, even though she was doing her best to mask it.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine.” He knew she was lying, but he wasn't sure why. There was a lot about their work they could never share with each other. He kept secrets from her. He assumed she had to do the same, from time to time. “I’ll tell you what… When I get back, why don’t you break out those Police and Talking Heads albums you keep telling me I should listen to?”
Caine nodded. PT was code for Portugal. That was a relatively safe country. He would worry less knowing she was in Europe and not some hellhole in Africa or the Middle East. And if she got into trouble, it would be an easy country for him to reach and find his way to her again. “Sure. Sounds great.”
She buttoned her blouse, then pulled her fiery hair into a ponytail. Her travel bag was already packed, as was his… Standard practice for operatives who might need to leave a location at a moment’s notice.
She kissed him a final time. “I’m sorry, Tom. Honestly, stay and enjoy yourself.”
She went to leave but he pulled her close one last time. “Be careful,” he whispered.
She smiled, but there was something sad in her expression. “I'll be fine. Don’t worry about me, this is just routine analyst work.”
Then she was gone. Caine was alone in the hotel room.
After a minute, he went to his luggage and found the gift box he had hidden there before flying out. He slid the box open. A set of freshly cut keys lay inside. They glinted in the dim light.
He closed the box, and stuffed it back into his bag. He stood at the window, and watched the ocean creep farther up the pale stretch of sand.
The keys in the box were for his apartment. Rebecca had left before he had a chance to give them to her. Before he told her what he wanted for them, for their future.
He was ashamed to admit it, but he felt relieved.
Chapter Twenty-Five
KASHGAR, XINJIANG, CHINA
“I don’t like it,” Jack Tyler muttered. His body was frozen in place, and only his lips moved. He peered down the scope of a Chinese QBU-88 sniper rifle. His target was an isolated stretch of bitumen road in the mountains. The road led north, out of the city of Kashgar and into the Tian Shan range. Traffic was sparse. Only the occasional battered old truck or rusting car puttered across the rifle's sites.
Rebecca Freeling acted as Tyler’s spotter. She read each vehicle's license plate numbers through her binoculars. The jagged, mountainous terrain surrounding them was desolate and bleak. The temperature was well below freezing, chilling her bones even through her thick coat.
The road below was empty and still. Rebecca checked her watch. It was five in the afternoon, Beijing time. There were at least three more hours of daylight. With any luck the prisoner transport would show before nightfall. That would give them just enough time to disappear into the dark mountains. A waiting helicopter would airlift them back to Masas Air Base, a U.S. Air Force controlled facility in Kyrgyzstan. Their infiltration into China was only possible here, in this very spot, due to the proximity of the Chinese-Kyrgyzstan border.
“You don’t have to like it, Tyler.” Rebecca felt the cold air sting her lungs every time she spoke. “You just have to do your job.”
Tyler was silent. Rebecca knew she was being short with the former Delta Force operator. He’d complained for hours now, grating on her nerves. But despite that, Jack was a professional. His eyes never once left his scope, and his trigger finger was always ready.
When he said nothing more, Rebecca checked in on the two other SAD Operators in their team. They were stationed in the mountain rise on the opposite side of the road. Both men returned her signal. They were also armed with Chinese-made assault rifles, pistols and equipment. None of them wore or carried anything that coul
d identify them as American military. Their cover was as unofficial as it got. If the Chinese authorities caught any of them, it was game over. No one would come for them. It was for that reason, Rebecca knew, that Tyler grumbled. He didn’t think the targets were worth the risk.
“The intelligence is good,” Rebecca said in a cool, monotone voice. She wasn't sure who she was really trying to convince… Herself, or Tyler. The longer they waited out here, the more she began to doubt their plan. “Su Liao’s parents are being moved. Transfer from the Kashgar reeducation camp to another facility in the mountains.”
“And you think we’ll win Su Liao’s heart and mind if we arrange a little family reunion?” Tyler drawled.
Rebecca focused the binoculars on the road again. “What do you think? Su Liao is the best intelligence asset we've recruited from China in decades. If this makes her more productive, the benefits—”
“She’s still a defector, ma’am. If she can betray her own people, what will stop her doing the same—”
“And that’s why we grab her parents, Tyler. If we have them, she won't want to run.”
They heard a noise. A rigid truck appeared on the road headed north. Rebecca read the number plate. She sighed in disappointment. “Wrong truck," she muttered.
Their intelligence had come from the NSA, about two days ago. A hack of a cell phone signal, sourced from within the Kashgar reeducation camp. It gave them a time and a route. Someone in the MSS had concluded that Captain Zhao Jianyu had been responsible for placing Su's parents in custody. Whoever it was, they had ordered that the elderly couple be transferred.
“That’s a negative,” Rebecca said into her radio. Corporals Jefferson Huang and Peter Kalkan on the opposite mountain rise answered back. "Copy that. All teams, remain in overwatch.”
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