“Thanks.” She put the heavy pistol in her handbag.
Matt said, “Just fire it from inside the bag if you have to.”
“Yeah, I never liked this handbag, anyway.” She looked out the window. In the distance, the dirty cop pedaled across the park.
Matt pressed the car's central unlock button. “Remember, today’s meeting is different. We have to assume he hasn’t been paid, either. Find out straight off the bat. It would have been great if Marcus had told us. What a dingleberry that guy is.”
“Dingleberry,” she laughed. “Well, here goes.”
She opened the door and sauntered toward the bench, feeling Matt's eyes on her. “Comms check. Matt, I can feel you looking at my butt right now.”
Matt pushed his earpiece in tighter. “Yep. You know me so well. You are looking good in that mini. I can't help myself.”
Casey laughed, despite everything. “Are we sure he doesn't have a tail?”
“You're all clear. First priority, find out if he’s been paid and if our cover is still safe,” Matt reminded her as he screwed the suppressor on the rifle barrel. It was fifty meters to the park bench.
She sat in her usual spot. Matt hadn’t used a rifle in quite some time and wasn’t feeling entirely comfortable with Plan B, not with his wife so close to the target.
The cop leaned his bicycle against its stand and shook hands with her.
“I have information, but the bank account payments have stopped.”
Matt warned, “Watch yourself. Pat him down.”
“Please open your shirt for me. You know how it works.”
He sniggered at her as she looked for a wire on him. She didn’t like it. He was usually nervous during their exchanges.
“What’s this?” She pulled out a small tape recorder from his shirt pocket.
“Press play.”
She pushed the play button and listened for a few seconds. Her cheeks flushed.
“I have already recorded you a few times. Very incriminating. If I gave it to the Police Chief, you would go to jail, maybe worse.”
Matt swore loudly in the car, and Casey winced a little at the volume in her ear.
“And what would you be asking for in return for keeping these recordings to yourself?”
Matt and Casey were each running scenarios now, both knowing that the spy could never be trusted to keep their secret. His life was about to end, but the question of how and when was still up in the air. How smart had this guy been?
With a superior look on his face, he continued, “The recordings are with a friend. She does not know what they are. They are in a sealed envelope. Also on a laptop, ready to be sent. I think you can imagine how the rest goes.”
Casey shrugged.
“When doing business with women in China, it is customary for certain physical favors to be offered by the woman,” he said, grinning as he placed his hand on her thigh.
“Also, I don’t think you have ever had backup. You work alone, don’t you? I have never seen anyone else. You are a lonely woman, all by herself in the park with a nice policeman.” His hand moved up her skirt.
Casey shook her head and gave him a disappointed look. “One in the shoulder please, honey.” She looked him in the eye and smirked.
Matt squeezed off a well-aimed round.
“Nice shooting, my love,” Casey said as Matt joined her at the bench with a roll of duct tape.
Matt taped his mouth. Casey talked quietly into the cop’s ear. “Such a pity you had to get greedy. By the way, you really should cut back on the fish sauce. It makes your breath stink. I’m sure the hookers hate it.”
They walked him over to the car, wrists zip-tied. “In you go stinky,” Matt said, getting in the back with him.
Casey stood outside, leaning against the car, keeping watch. She hated the next part and preferred not to be involved.
Matt pulled his prisoner’s bound wrists over the headrest and leant into them. “Now, in a few minutes we will go and get those other recordings. I just need to know where they are. Do you smoke?” Matt ripped the duct tape off.
“I quit.” The cop grimaced from the pain of his shoulder wound.
“It was a trick question, Dum Dum. Everybody smokes when I burn them.”
Matt flicked open his zippo and held the flame under the cop’s wrist. The smell of burning hair and skin filled the car as his skin turned black. He held the lighter in place until the screaming became panicked. Casey’s face appeared at the window, looking a little appalled. Matt looked at her through the glass and motioned for her to wipe her cheek. Blood spatter.
“See? You do smoke. Now, let’s remember, this is a time-sensitive task. If I don’t have those recordings soon, you’ll bleed to death. I can put some duct tape on your entry wound. If you apologize to the lady for insulting her, I might also put a strip on the exit wound. That will give you an extra half hour. What’s the address?” Matt snapped open the zippo once more, with a well practiced crazy look in his eyes. It was the same look he used on Lu Lei whenever he said the word ‘spinach.’
Casey opened the door and sat in the driver’s seat and opened all the windows. “Smells like one of those bug zappers in here. It’s gross. Do we have an address?”
Matt raised his eyebrows and smiled. “Just one more minute, honey.” He pushed his index finger into the shoulder wound, and the cop screamed.
Casey turned around. “Are you enjoying meeting my backup?” She reached back and gave the cop a pat on the thigh and winked at him.
Casey parked the car near the address the cop had given them. Matt duct-taped his mouth, zip-tied his ankles, and pulled down the center section of the back seat, giving access to the trunk. He had trouble shoving the cop in because he was squirming. Casey flinched as Matt used the butt of his pistol to stop him from struggling.
Casey put the duct tape and zip ties in her handbag. “Flash bang?” Casey asked, holding up the canister grenade.
“Bring it, but try not to use it,” Matt said as he put his overcoat on, to hide the rifle slung in front of his shoulder.
Matt stood casually at the building’s front door, chatting with Casey. A resident wheeled her shopping trolley out. Matt held the door open. Up one flight of stairs, they found the apartment. Listening at the door, Casey whispered, “One female voice.”
Matt planted one foot on the floor and let loose a savage kick next to the door handle, splintering the frame enough for Casey to push it open.
Casey went, gun barrel first, into the bedroom. Matt found a second bedroom and opened the door, revealing a beautiful young woman in a silk robe sitting in front of a laptop.
“Hands off!” Matt yelled at her.
She hit the return key, then put her hands up.
He yelled, “What did you do?”
Casey called from the other room, “I found the tapes.”
Matt kept the rifle trained on the young woman, who, from the looks of it, was a prostitute.
“Stand up and move away from the computer. Casey come here quick. Watch her please.”
Matt looked at the screen while Casey aimed at the woman.
“She sent an email.” Matt double clicked on the audio file that had just been sent.
Casey listened for a few seconds and swore. “It’s me talking about the Chief. They can fry us now, if they want to.”
Casey put the gun to the woman’s kneecap. “Who did you send it to?”
“I don’t know. It’s his laptop. He just paid me to press enter if anyone came into my apartment while he was gone. I don’t know anything, I promise. Please don’t hurt me.”
Matt sat at the computer. “It was sent to one of those free email addresses. It could be to anyone.”
Matt ran a search on the computer, with no result. He sent an email to the same address with subject: ‘Stand by. More coming. Do not act yet.’
“I’m afraid we are blown. It’s time to clean up and go.”
“Let’s talk when we get
in the car.”
Matt picked up the laptop and took it to the kitchen and put it in the microwave oven. He called out, “We have to take the girl with us. Tie her wrists behind her back.”
Matt returned to see Casey zip tying her, face down.
“Duct tape her mouth too. There might be a box of surgical masks in the bathroom. They all seem to keep a supply for when they get sick.”
Casey helped the terrified woman to her feet. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you. You are safe, but you have to come with us to a more secure location. You can’t stay here.”
Casey was already running scenarios of how to avoid killing the poor woman. If she or the cop were let loose, they would ruin any chance of getting out of China. The search may already have begun.
Matt returned from the bathroom, opening the plastic covering of a blue, disposable surgical mask. “All set? Turn your comms back on.”
Casey pulled the mask's elastics over the woman’s ears, hiding the duct tape. “Let’s move. You check the hall.”
Matt let the rifle hang on its strap under his coat and walked into the corridor and along to the stairs.
“Two residents coming into the building. Keep it casual. Go.”
Casey put her hand through her prisoner’s arm and walked her out like a friend. As they passed an old couple, Casey waved her free hand around, muttering, “You are too funny, but you drink too much.”
Matt opened the trunk a little to make sure the cop was still unconscious. Casey appeared on the steps, and Matt jogged around to the back door for Casey to load her prisoner in. Once she was in, Matt pulled down the center section of the back seat, giving access to the trunk. “Crawl in there with your friend. He’s sleeping.”
From the front passenger seat, Casey scanned the sidewalk for curious faces. She gave a couple of stern looks to people to indicate that they should mind their own business.
Matt soon had the car out on the road, reaching for the car stereo to keep their conversation private. Casey liked it when he went into task mode. “What now?” she asked.
“One: get Lu Lei from home, and two: get us all to the safe house. Call home and tell Lu Lei to get ready. She should be there, right?”
“Yes, she’ll be at home,” Casey replied, “but I’ll call her to make sure.”
Casey had been thinking about her pistol all afternoon. She was now almost certain that Lu Lei had taken it.
Beijing’s rush hour traffic thickened ahead of them. Casey redialed ten times before giving up.
Casey suppressed the instinct to worry. “She’s not picking up the landline so she must be out, but she’s not answering her cell, either. Let’s go home first and then deal with what’s in the trunk. Maybe one of us can take a bike and see if she’s at her parents' house or at one of her haunts.”
“We have to bug out of the apartment. We are already taking a risk going there to empty the safe. Let’s make it a quick visit. Maybe Lu Lei is there sleeping.”
Matt snapped out of his negative thoughts. No point worrying about what happens if Lu Lei is missing. She’ll turn up.
The virologist was exhausted as he left the lab at the end of the day. It was already 7PM, and he wanted to get home and eat. A man in a black suit stepped in front of him as he left the building. The identification card took him by surprise. It was a government card of some kind. He just caught the words ‘special security’, and caught a glimpse of the photo, before he looked up at the face of the man, who was smiling at him reassuringly.
“Yes?” the virologist forced a smile. “May I help you with something?”
“There’s nothing to fear. You are not in trouble. Please come with me. I just need to ask you a few questions. My car is that one.” He pointed to a black sedan that looked official.
“Ah… I can’t talk for long. My wife will have dinner on the table soon. We are eating duck tonight.”
“Come.”
The virologist’s mind raced as he got into the back seat. Was he going to jail? Did they know what he had done? What would his children think when they found out that their father was an American spy?
The man joined him in the back seat. There was a brown paper bag on the seat between them, which the man picked up and opened.
“Pork bun?” he offered.
“Yes, thank you,” taking one, the virologist felt slightly less anxious.
He took a bite, noticing that the bun was stone-cold. How disappointing, he thought, though he nodded and smiled back as he chewed.
The man leaned forward and placed his hand over the virologist’s mouth, pinching his nose closed. The virologist didn’t react at first. What a strange thing to be happening, he thought. The feel of the man’s hand against his face had a strange intimacy to it. The palm was warm, but a little sweaty.
His diaphragm gave him the first indisputable signal that something was wrong. The urge to breathe became desperate, and as he tried to push the man’s arm away, he was shocked at how forcefully the man was now covering his mouth. Without meaning to, his arms flailed against him, trying to hit him. Soon his whole body joined the fight. As he struggled harder, the man’s weight and strength seemed more insurmountable. His lungs screamed for air. Just before he blacked out, the man said to him, “Let go. It’s nearly over. Just let go. Sh.”
Jimmy opened the virologist’s mouth and pushed two fingers in, shoving the unchewed pork bun deep into the throat, then another piece into his mouth. Checking his pulse, Jimmy said, “Sorry about that, bro.”
He drove to the nearby park and moved the body from the car to a bench, placing the paper bag containing the remaining pork buns next to the body.
Matt pulled the car over next to the telephone pole where Lu Lei had screwed in a rusty hook. The signal to go to the safe house was to turn the hook downward.
Casey looked around before getting out. Matt drove off as Casey bent down to tie her shoe next to the pole, turning the hook downward, hoping that very soon, Lu Lei would be walking past to check its position, just as they had discussed.
She walked the two remaining blocks to where Matt was checking inside the trunk.
“How are they looking in there?”
“The cop won’t make it. The girl is unconscious now. I knocked her on the head.” He locked the car and gestured that they head in.
“No lights on,” Casey said, looking up at their apartment windows. “What do you want to do? Go in quietly?”
“Turn your comms back on. I’ll go up, and if there’s a problem, I’ll let you know and you can come up and start shooting.”
Casey didn’t laugh. She listened to Matt’s progress through her earpiece. She thought it was risky to leave the girl alive in the trunk. She might make noise if she regained consciousness.
Matt was whispering now, “Okay, Casey, there’s no sign of anyone in the corridor. I’m entering the apartment.”
Casey’s mind drifted to her missing pistol. She was certain that she’d not removed it from the safe. If Lu Lei was still out there somewhere, it was possible that she was armed.
“Apartment’s clear. You can come up now. Let’s make this as quick as possible.”
When Casey entered the apartment, Matt had already emptied the safe into a large backpack. Casey went to the kitchen and grabbed a pair of Lu Lei’s metal chopsticks. Then she moved to Lu Lei’s room. The cell phone lay on her bed. She put it in her pocket. Where could she be?
“Are we ditching the car?” Casey asked.
“You know it. We are on motorbikes from here on in. By the way, are we both thinking the same thing about your missing pistol?”
“I think Lu Lei must have taken it. I really hope she doesn’t do anything stupid. Are you sure there’s nothing else missing from the safe?”
“All here. I checked.” Matt replied, putting the backpack on.
“Let’s get out of here. We have to find her before someone grabs her… or she shoots somebody.”
Matt looked grim.
“And by ‘somebody’, you mean the Chief.” He paused for a second. “Actually, we could take care of him ourselves since we are on our way out.”
Casey smiled. “Got everything?”
“Grab your helmet.”
Casey suddenly ran into the bathroom, calling out, “Hang on. One more thing.” She pulled a packet of sleeping pills out and took them to the kitchen bench and crushed four with a spoon. “Let’s have that poor girl take an eight hour nap.” She funneled the powder into a water bottle.
“Okay, Casey. Your call. One less innocent victim. Let’s hope we don’t get delayed.”
Down by the car again, Casey looked around for plain-clothes police before she tossed Lu Lei’s phone on top of a passing truck.
After shaking her back to consciousness, Matt convinced the groggy woman in the trunk to drink the contents of the water bottle. “You need to keep yourself hydrated. We’ll be back to let you out in an hour or so. Just relax. You are safe.” Then he shut the trunk.
“The cop is dead.”
Casey shook her head. “Can’t say he didn’t have it coming. So, meet you at the safe house in an hour. You try Wu Feng's house. I’ll swing by the Chief’s place and then cover her favorite places. Then, let’s get off the street. You okay with the rifle or do you want to trade?”
“Good point. You keep that one. I’ll make a stop at the safe house and grab one of the spare pistols.”
“Let’s find our daughter.” Casey flipped her visor down and started the bike's engine.
Casey parked the bike a block from the Chief’s place and crossed to the opposite side of the street for a better view. Lights were on both upstairs and downstairs. The Chief was not in the front room. The boy was in his room upstairs.
“Oh crap, here we go.” Casey muttered. She hated sneaking around outside people’s houses. It made her nervous, and it wasn’t part of her job in China, so she hadn’t done it for years.
Surviving Spies (Irving Waters, Spy Fiction Series) Page 21
