I finish my meal and eat the digestible wrapper so I won’t leave any trace of my being here. I doubt anyone is going to look inside the ventilation shaft, but one never knows.
Time to act.
I crawl farther along the shaft, make the left turn I know is coming, go about twenty yards, hook a right, and then shimmy down a vertical drop for ten feet. On the next level the shaft goes in three directions. I tap the OPSAT for the compass mode just to confirm that the tunnel on my left is the westerly direction, and then I crawl that way. One more right turn and I can see the grill at the end of the shaft. The casino president’s office.
I peer through the grill to make sure the office is dark and uninhabited. I carefully push the grill off but hold on to it. I don’t want a loud clang when I drop it. I worm my upper body out of the shaft and gently place the grill behind a sofa directly beneath me. I then clutch the bottom of the shaft opening, roll my lower back and hips out, and somersault onto the carpeted floor. So far, so good.
I push the goggles over my eyes and switch on the night-vision mode. No need to turn on any lights and attract attention. Being quiet and invisible are the two main rules in my profession. Get the job done without being seen or noticed. If I’m caught, the U.S. government will deny any knowledge of my existence. I’d be on my own, in the hands of a foreign agency with no legal recourse or means of escape except with what I can manage to achieve with my body and mind. It’s a test I don’t particularly want to take, even though I’ve studied for it for years. There are always trick questions in that kind of test.
I go straight for the computer on the president’s expansive mahogany desk, power it up, and tap my fingers impatiently while I wait for the system to load. When it asks for the password, I type in the one that Carly assured me would work — and sure enough, it does. Carly St. John is a wizard when it comes to technical shit. She can hack into any system, anywhere. And she can do it from her desk in Washington, D.C.
Using the Search function, I quickly find the folders I want. They contain files of payoff records to various organizations and individuals. I have to make sure these are separate from the legitimate casino expenses, and Carly has briefed me on how to tell the difference. Once again, the telltale flags she mentioned are there, so I know I’m in the right place.
I unzip the pouch on my left leg calf and remove a link that I insert into the computer’s floppy drive. The other end I plug into my OPSAT. A touch of a few buttons and voilà—the files begin to copy onto my portable device. It takes only a minute or so.
As the OPSAT does its work, I think about Dan Lee, the Third Echelon man who was murdered in this casino three months ago. He was tracking illegal arms sales in China, and the trail led him here to Macau. The Shop, of course, are the guys doing the dealing. Before he was killed, Lee had given Lambert proof that the Tropical Casino’s accounting department was being used as a front for the illegal transactions. Shutting down the Shop is one of our primary directives, and the only way to do it is to work from the outer ends of the pipelines back to the source. And there are lots of pipelines, all over the globe. Uncovering them is only half the battle. Now, with these files listing the Shop’s customers in our possession, other U.S. agencies can act on closing this particular pipeline.
We still don’t know exactly what happened to Dan Lee. A Chinese recruit, Lee had worked for the NSA for something like seven years. I never knew him personally — we never meet the other agents in Third Echelon — but I understand he was a stand-up guy. He did his job well and was a good man. Lambert thought that someone in the Shop had learned of his identity and lured him to the casino with information as bait. Lee never left the casino.
The OPSAT finishes the transfer just as I hear noise in the hallway outside. Shit. I pull the link out of the computer. Keys rattle in the door and I hear a voice followed by a laugh. There are two of them. I have no time to shut down the computer, but I hit the monitor’s Off button.
I leap away from the desk and eye the distance to the ventilation shaft. The key turns in the lock. There’s no time for that route. I scamper up a set of filing cabinets and press myself into the corner, my head against the ceiling. It’s a difficult position to hold. I have to use my knee against the top of the filing cabinets to leverage myself while at the same time pushing with my arms on the two walls to anchor my body. It isn’t comfortable. Just as I settle myself, the door opens. Maybe they won’t notice me since I’m some four or five feet above their heads.
I recognize the first guy, the one with the keys. It’s Kim Wei Lo, probably the mastermind behind the Shop’s operation in Macau. He’s on the wanted lists for all the three-letter agencies — you know, the CIA, the FBI, the NSA… When the other guy turns slightly, I make him, too. He’s Chen Wong, Lo’s bodyguard. Wong is a big guy, but I’ve seen bigger. If it came down to a face-off, I’m pretty sure I could take him.
Lo hits one of the two light switches on the wall by the door. The fluorescents directly over the desk blink on. Thank God he didn’t switch on the other one. My side of the room would’ve been showered with illumination. At least I’m still in the shadows. If they look up and focus on the back wall, corner and ceiling, they’ll see me hanging there like a spider.
The two men go to the desk and Lo says something in Chinese. I catch the word “computer,” so I figure he’s wondering why someone didn’t shut it down for the night. It doesn’t bother him too much, though. He sits at the desk and begins to work while Wong paces slowly behind him, gazing out the large glass window that overlooks the main drag cutting through this poor excuse for a city. An urban area is a more appropriate term. As it’s the middle of the night, there isn’t much traffic or neon lights. I hope something will mesmerize him enough that he’ll keep his back to me while I wait this out.
As a precaution, though, I mentally practice drawing my Five-seveN from where I am, but, ultimately, I don’t think it’s possible without falling to the floor. I have a directive not to kill anyone if I don’t have to. Unfortunately, I’ve had to disobey that directive on numerous occasions. I don’t like doing it, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
It’s hot in the room. They must shut off the AC at night. Or maybe it’s a ruse to get gamblers to buy more drinks. I’m dying to adjust the temperature in my uniform, but I don’t dare move. I can feel the sweat building underneath my headpiece, and it’s starting to trickle down my face.
Shit. Wong turns and walks aimlessly around the desk and heads my way. He’s drawn his own pistol — it looks like a Smith & Wesson.38 from here — and he’s twirling it in his hand, Western-style. He does an abrupt turn and faces a bookshelf. As he continues to twirl the gun, Wong scans the titles of the books. I guess the guy really can read.
Lo says something and Wong grunts in reply. He doesn’t walk back to the desk, though, damn it. Instead, he moves away from the books and starts ambling toward the filing cabinets. All he has to do is glance up and he’ll see me for sure. The carpet must be awfully interesting, though, because he’s keeping his head down. It’s as if he’s watching his feet as he walks.
Oh, for Christ’s sake, he’s standing right beneath me now. Most of my body is above the filing cabinet, but my head and shoulders extend away from the wall, flat against the ceiling. Just don’t look up, you bastard.
I feel a bead of sweat run down the bridge of my nose. Aw, fuck. I can’t wipe it. I can’t even move. That little drop of salt water builds up on the very tip of my nose, threatening to fall right on Wong’s head. My breathing stops. Time stands still.