“Well that's a letdown,” Tyler grumbled again. “I could do with some action. I’d say my ass is getting sore for sitting around all day. But it’s not my ass that has a problem. It being pointed upwards and all.”
Rebecca turned her head to hide her smile. Tyler’s joking did have a calming effect on her, despite his stubborn attitude. “Caine said you never stopped talking.”
“Is that right?” Tyler chuckled without moving. “That's because Tom's got the personality of a spare tire. I had to fill a lot of uncomfortable silences back in La Paz.”
Rebecca chuckled. “Sounds like you two are made for each other.”
Tyler was quiet for a moment. Then he spoke up again. “Ma’am, it's no secret that you two… well, you know what I mean. So why didn’t you bring him along?”
Inside Rebecca cringed. Despite her reservations, she knew she was falling for Caine more and more each day. That was exactly why she had not brought him along. And that was why she had lied to him about where she was going.
“Caine’s compromised,” she replied. “If one of us gets caught, we can at least hope for a prisoner exchange. But Tom—the MSS will execute him on the spot.”
“You underestimate him,” Tyler said, his voice a low growl. “He’s rough around the edges but—”
“Like I said, you're perfect for each other."
Tyler chuckled. “All I'm saying is, if there is one man I want covering my back, it’s Caine. Present company excluded, of course.”
"I think I resent that remark, Tyler." Rebecca turned her attention back to the road. A bicycle overloaded with many sacks of grain worked its way south. There was no need to call this one in.
“Anyway, things with Tom and me… It’s complicated,” Rebecca felt compelled to say.
“Yeah," Tyler muttered. "It always is."
She heard another truck, rumbling in the distance. This one was moving fast, powering up the mountain road, and leaving a trail of dust trail in its wake. Rebecca struggled to focus her binoculars on its mud spattered license plates.
CRACK! CRACK!
Gunfire rang out. Two shoots, one after the other, echoed through the mountains.
"All units, who the hell is shooting?" Rebecca hissed into her radio.
Before anyone could answer, another shot rang out from nearby. Tyler swore, and she saw sparks flash from his rifle. He dropped the gun and shuffled back in the dirt. It had been shot out of his hands.
They both rolled onto their back, drawing pistols to engage whoever it was who had snuck up behind them.
But there was no point.
A dozen PLA soldiers swept through the snow covered rocks. Within seconds, the soldiers had the pair lined up in the sights of their QBZ-95 Assault Rifles. Tyler put a hand on Rebecca's shoulder. He looked her in the eyes and shook his head. She knew what he was trying to tell her. There was no way the soldiers could miss at this range. They dropped their pistols on the cold, hard ground.
One of the soldiers stepped forward, and retrieved their weapons. Another man emerged from the shadows of a rock outcropping. He wore an expensive parka and khaki pants, and his desert boots were clean and unmarked. He pulled down his hood, revealing slicked back hair, parted carefully on the left.
“Rebecca Freeling,” Chen Fa Li said, baring his teeth with a wide grin. “So lovely to see you again.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Rebecca and Tyler were handcuffed, then marched at gunpoint down to the road. Several FAW MV3 military transportation trucks pulled up, delivering even more soldiers. Rebecca’s heart sank. Huang and Kalkan’s corpses tumbled down the hill on the opposite side. Their blood left a crimson smear across the snow and rocks.
They knew we were coming, Rebecca realized. This mission was compromised from the start.
A canvas bag was pulled over her head. Rebecca felt herself being shoved into the back of one of the trucks. She winced as she banged her head on the rear door. Despite the pain, she felt strangely optimistic. If they hadn’t killed her and Tyler already, she figured they still needed them for some reason. If she was of value, she might still be able to negotiate their release. It was the only hope she could still hang on to.
The truck drove for an hour or more, headed deeper into the mountains. Trapped in darkness, she could feel the truck shimmy and groan, as the winding road became steeper. She tried to sense if Tyler was nearby. It was impossible to be sure, but she suspected he was on one of the other trucks.
When they finally stopped, Rebecca felt several hands pull her from the truck. She stumbled as they dragged her across the frozen earth. They entered a building of some kind. She passed through many doors. Suddenly, the bag was snatched from her head. As she blinked in the blinding interior lights, soldiers removed her cuffs.
Her vision came into focus. The three soldiers in the room were female. Their expressions were hard and cruel, devoid of any other emotions.
“Strip!” the older woman shouted in Mandarin. Her hair was pinned in a tight bun, and it was starting to grey. A few wrinkles lined her eyes and lips.
“What?” Rebecca asked, not sure she had heard the woman correctly.
The woman lashed out with a bamboo stick, striking Rebecca on the face. Rebecca recoiled, more from the shock. Then she felt the red hot pain of a welt across her check. She touched her skin and her hand came away sticky with blood.
“Strip!” said the woman again, threatening with the stick.
Within a minute Rebecca was standing naked in the cold room. She covered her chest with her arms, and shivered.
The woman struck her again, this time across the back. She pointed to a concrete wall.
Rebecca didn’t want to think about what was coming. It couldn’t be good. She tried to remember her training. Be observant. Look for anything, no matter how small, that could be used to her advantage. But she saw nothing.
The woman struck Rebecca several more times, drawing welts and blood. She kept motioning with the bamboo stick until Rebecca finally comprehended that she had to stand tall, with her back straight and arms by her side. Only when Rebecca was motionless did the beating stop. But she couldn’t stop shaking.
Two male soldiers entered, dragging a long fire hose behind them. They turned up the pressure, then blasted her with cold water. Soon Rebecca was forced up against the concrete wall. The icy spray felt like needles, stabbing at her skin. Each time she fell to the ground, the woman hit her with the bamboo until she stood tall again. She sobbed, and begged for the ordeal to end.
After what seemed like hours the hosing and beating ceased. Her hands were again cuffed. She was taken by the female soldiers to a dark cell that smelled of mold and sewage. The women cuffed her to a metal chair, then left the room.
Rebecca looked down at her bare legs and arms. They were covered in bruises from the force of the water cannon. Her welts were raw and purple, seeping blood across her skin.
As bad as it was, Rebecca knew things could have been worse. Much worse.
Rebecca had read the after-action reports from Colombia. She knew Tyler and Caine had been tortured there. Neither man had talked about what had happened afterwards. But now she had been tortured for the first time in her life. Those reports haunted her. It wasn’t academic, what the men had experienced. It was real. It was a nightmare. Rebecca was like them now. How could Tom not have shared with her how horrible his ordeal had been? How was he able to bottle it all up inside?
Hours later, another man entered the room. He stood in the shadows for a moment, a silhouette against the light spilling in from the corridor outside. He stood there for what felt like several minutes, staring at her naked body. Watching her shiver.
Rebecca turned her head. A curl of fiery hair fell across her face. She glared up at the shadow in the door. “Enjoying yourself?" she snapped.
The man stepped closer, moving into the light.
She recognized him at once. It was Chen Fa Li. The MSS operative from Hong Kong. The man who had allowed Caine to
leave Hong Kong unhindered. At the time, she had wondered why.
He took several photos of her with a digital camera. He grabbed her chin and forced her head up as he snapped more pictures of her face. He obviously wanted to make sure she was recognized.
When he finished, he pulled another metal chair from against the wall and sat next to her. “Rebecca Freeling,” he said in perfect English. “I must offer you my apologies. I regret that I had to put you through all that.”
“No,” Rebecca snarled. “I don't think you do. You're a sadist, and a pig.”
“I was born in the Year of the Pig,” he said, amused. “This is not an insult in China. We pigs have great concentration. Once we set a goal for ourselves, we devote all energy to achieving it. That is exactly what I am doing here.”
“Is that so? Because it looks to me like all you're doing is getting yourself off.”
Chen grinned. “Have no fear Ms. Freeling, this has all been for a calculated effect. You will not be tortured again. At least not until I get what I want. If everything goes as planned, you and your friend, Mr. Tyler, will soon return to your homeland.”
Rebecca’s eyes blazed with fury. “And what about Huang and Kalkan?”
Chen looked away, as if to consider his next words before speaking them. “There is no point lying to you. Those two men had no emotional connection to Caine. There was no reason to keep them alive.”
Rebecca frowned. “If you think I'll help you lay a trap for Tom, you are very much mistaken.”
Chen laughed. “Oh, that is most amusing, Ms. Freeling. You see, I don’t need your help to lay a trap. The trap is already set. Now, I just need to convince Mr. Caine that if he doesn’t do exactly what I ask of him, then you and Tyler will be executed. I think these photos will prove to be quite convincing, don’t you think?”
Chen clicked his fingers. The two younger female soldiers returned to the room. One carried a cup of hot tea. The other a bundle of clothes.
Chen took a key from his pocket. He tapped it against his palm, then used it to uncuff Rebecca from the chair. He took the tea from the first woman and handed it to Rebecca. “Drink,” he said, despite her suspicious stare. “It is jasmine tea. It will warm you. Please, relax. There are far faster and easier ways to kill you than poisoning.”
Rebecca took the tea and drank quickly. When she was done the woman handed her the clothing, a pair of utilitarian blue prison scrubs. Rebecca dressed fast. The warmth was a welcome relief, but the pain of her beatings was no longer dulled by the cold.
Chen offered her more tea. Rebecca accepted. Its warmth surged through her tired body, reviving her strength, giving her hope.
“So what happens now?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Chen answered, adding a bemused smile. “You are our guest here. You shall be treated fairly. When I return, I am quite sure Mr. Caine will have done what I ask of him. In which case you and Tyler will be released back to America.”
“And if he doesn’t?” Rebecca asked. She already knew the answer to her question.
He smiled. “I don’t think we need to talk about the unpleasantries of life, and death, any further, do we Ms. Freeling? Now… let us enjoy some more of this delicious tea."
Chapter Twenty-Seven
MAUI, HAWAII, UNITED STATES
Caine's feet pounded across the damp earth. Sweat drenched his body, and his thin t-shirt clung to his skin. His breathing was rapid and labored. He knew he was pushing himself, but it took extreme discipline to keep his lean and muscular body in top physical shape. For the last four mornings in a row, he woke at dawn to exercise. He ran along a path through the subtropical forests, up the side of Maui’s largest peak. He figured this morning he’d increase his sprint elevation by another thousand feet. Push himself even further.
After Rebecca's sudden departure Caine had considered cutting his trip short. Then he’d figured, when was the last time he had taken a vacation? Years? Never? There was nothing urgent waiting for him back at Langley. And there was always the possibility Rebecca’s assignment would end early. Perhaps she could fly back, and they could spend a last day or two together.
Caine pushed the whimsical thoughts from his mind and sprinted up the next stretch. The tropical scrub grew close to the path here. Caine’s senses sharpened, he became more alert. In the field, this would have been the perfect location for an ambush.
As he rounded a bend in the path, he spotted a figure up ahead. An Asian man stepped out of the dense foliage, and stood waiting under a grove of palm trees.
Caine froze in his tracks. He recognized Chen Fa Li immediately.
A smug grin was plastered across The Ministry of State Security officer's face. The man ran a hand over his slick hair, ensuring the left side part remained in place. He wore light blue cotton pants, sneakers and a Hawaiian shirt. The outfit matched the attire of the many tourists on the island. Caine walked closer, taking a good look at the man's clothes. He didn’t spot any telltale bulges of concealed weapons on Chen's body, but it was impossible to be sure.
“Mr. Caine,” Chen said pleasantly. “What a surprise.”
“I doubt that.” Caine scanned the surroundings. The scrub grew dense and close on all sides. There could be armed men hidden in the foliage less than a hundred feet away and he wouldn’t be able to see them. “I’m assuming you didn’t come alone?”
“That would be a wise assumption.” Chen carefully reached into his pants pocket and withdrew a cell phone. “I only want to talk, and show you something.”
Caine’s sensors were on overdrive. He tensed, ready to spring into action, take down the other operatives Chen had brought with him. But some rational corner of Caine’s mind argued against that course of action.
If he wanted to kill me, he could have already taken a shot, he thought.
“How did you know I was here?" Caine asked. "I flew in under an assumed identity."
Chen laughed. “I’m MSS. Do not underestimate our capabilities. You were easy enough to find.”
“So what is it you want?”
“To show you some photographs, Caine.” He passed over the cell phone.
Caine glanced down at the phone. The photo on the screen showed Rebecca Freeling, handcuffed and bound naked to a chair in a dark cell. Her skin was bruised and beaten.
Caine clenched his jaw as he flipped through the photographs. More of the same. She had been tortured, there was no doubt about that. He flipped again, coming across similar photos of Jack Tyler.
Caine's face flushed with anger. He clenched the phone in a white-knuckle grip, and stalked towards Chen. "Where are they, Chen?" he snarled. "I don't care how many men you have in the trees… they won't be able to stop me before I tear out your throat."
Chen took a few steps back. “Don’t be so hasty, Mr. Caine. If you want them to live, you must listen to what I say.”
The foliage around them rustled. Several armed Chinese men emerged from the undergrowth. Each carried a semi-automatic pistol, which they aimed carefully at Caine.
Caine glared at Chen. He clenched and unclenched his fists as he panted for breath.
“Relax, Mr. Caine,” Chen said. He smoothed out the creases in his clothes. “Tyler and Freeling are both fine for the moment. You can have them back, mostly intact, after you do a job for me.”
Caine focused on controlling his breathing. He kept his eyes fixed on the man before him, ignoring the others. “What kind of job?" he asked.
“You are an assassin, are you not?”
Caine didn’t answer. His emerald eyes grew dark as he stared down the Chinese operative. He imagined his fingers wrapping around the man's slim neck, and throttling the life out of him.
That's not going to help Rebecca or Jack, he thought. Got to keep this asshole talking.
"Why? Who do you want killed?" he asked.
“Captain Zhao Jianyu. The commanding officer, or should I say, former commanding officer, of the nuclear submarine Hai Long.”
; Caine took a moment to consider the request. The Chinese agents fanned out around him, keeping him in their sights.
Caine laughed without humor. “Right. I take it you don't approve of Zhao's little stunt in Columbia?"
Chen smiled again. “As you say. Zhao has gone too far. I would take care of him myself, but the man still has powerful connections in the Communist Party. It would cost me valuable political capital if I issued orders for his arrest and execution. Zhao gave in to capitalist temptations. He used government property to smuggle drugs into America. This unsanctioned activity could have caused an international incident. But still, his connections offer him protection.”
Caine kept his expression impassive. He was surprised how much Chen knew about Caine’s recent operations in South America. "I heard Zhao was in debt to some nasty criminals. Doesn't sound like much of a threat to me."
“He is a threat to nationalist ideals.”
“You mean he is a threat to you,” Caine countered.
Chen tilted his head thoughtfully as he considered Caine’s words. “I suppose he is. Either way, he must be dealt with, and I cannot be involved. But a rogue American agent with a personal vendetta against Zhao… ”
“There is no way I could get close to him, Chen,” Caine countered. “Not in Beijing. I’d be arrested the moment I stepped into your country.”
“That is the beauty of it. Zhao is not in China. He’s been, how shall I put it, ‘encouraged’ to take a holiday. He’s currently in Bali, Indonesia. Ever been there?”
Caine didn’t answer.
“I have a ticket waiting for you. You leave tonight. That is, if you want to see Freeling and Tyler alive again.”
Caine's fist clenched even tighter. A loud crack echoed through the forest, and Chen jumped slightly, as his men tensed. Caine dropped the remains of the cell phone to the ground. The screen had shattered in his white-knuckled grip.
He stared at Chen, and took a deep breath. “Very well. But if I do this, there's one thing you need to understand."
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