Another twig snapped, and Hannah eased forward to the edge of the thicket and then she froze once more as she surveyed the scene before her.
Bound to a tree trunk, his mouth gagged, was a Chinese man perhaps in his late fifties or early sixties. His brow was sheened with sweat and his face pinched with agony as he writhed against his bonds.
Another sharp crack, and now Hannah realized that the man’s arms were tied back around the far side of the tree and that she could see a tall, broad figure partially concealed there. The Chinese man screamed behind his gag and Hannah saw the shadowy figure wielding what looked like some sort of metal tool. She drew her side arm and waited, watching as the bound man wept, his head hanging low as the shadowy figure emerged from behind the tree with a pair of bloodied plyers in his hand.
Aaron Mitchell was physically larger than she had anticipated, the images she had studied for so long not doing justice to his frame. She figured maybe six four, two hundred fifty pounds and no fat that she could make out under a thin white shirt that bulged with muscle.
Mitchell moved to stand before his victim and waved the plyers in front of his face.
‘Don’t make me start on the front,’ he growled as he yanked the gag from the man’s mouth. ‘Kowloon, 1997. Start talking or you’ll never see your family again.’
The Chinese man’s features twisted in a volatile mixture of pain and rage as he spat his response.
‘Go to hell!’
Mitchell watched his captive for a moment and then shrugged. ‘So be it.’
The big man drew back his elbow and Hannah realized that he was about to plunge the plyers directly into the victim’s groin. The captive screwed up his face and gritted his teeth in anticipation of the unthinkable pain he was about to endure when Hannah stepped into the clearing and aimed her pistol at Mitchell.
‘That’s enough.’
Mitchell looked over his shoulder at her, an expression of mild surprise on his features as he remained motionless, the plyers inches from his victim’s body.
‘Drop the tool,’ Hannah uttered, her pistol aimed between Mitchell’s eyes.
Mitchell turned slowly to face her but did not drop the plyers. ‘You don’t know what you’re doing.’
Hannah raised an eyebrow. ‘Stopping you from killing somebody else, I’d say. Hands up!’
Mitchell did not move.
‘You’ve got about four minutes before we’re all dead,’ he said calmly. ‘I suggest you use them wisely.’
Hannah frowned at the big man. ‘You don’t expect me to believe that? Get down on your knees right now!’
‘Less than four minutes,’ Mitchell replied. ‘Either I extract the information that I know this man possesses, or neither of us will find out what really happened in Kowloon in 1997.’
Hannah kept her aim steady. ‘We can find that out at the Consulate’
‘You’re very naive,’ Mitchell growled.
‘And you’re a murderer!’ Hannah shouted. ‘I’ve already got you for one killing and it looks like you’re set for another right here!’
‘Needs must,’ Mitchell replied. ‘Three minutes.’
Hannah felt her pulse begin to race as she looked at the elderly man bound to the tree.
‘What does he know?’ she demanded.
‘Everything,’ Mitchell replied. ‘He works for Chinese intelligence as a hacker and has done so for many decades.’
‘I’m a financial consultant,’ the injured man whimpered, ‘for Hei Sing Bank in Kowloon. Call them, they’ll confirm it! And call the police!’
‘It’s a cover,’ Mitchell replied. ‘The bank has been infiltrated by hackers who use it as a staging post to attack western digital interests and military installations. We’ve known about them for some time.’
‘That’s a lie!’ the captive wailed. ‘He’s insane, he’s going to kill me! I have a family!’
Mitchell kept his eyes on Hannah. ‘Three minutes, Agent Ford.’
‘How do you know my name?’
‘I know more than you about a lot of things, and right now the only thing standing between me and preventing another attack on our country is you.’
Hannah’s grip on her pistol felt slick and conflicting emotions raced through her mind as she glanced at the man tied to the tree.
‘This isn’t the way to do it,’ she snapped.
‘On the contrary, this is the way it’s always been done,’ Mitchell countered. ‘Not much more than two minutes, Agent Ford, before this man’s associates arrive. Believe me, if you want to end up floating in Kowloon harbor you’re going the right way about it.’
Hannah shot the Chinaman a glare. ‘Start talking!’
The captive’s eyes flew wide as horror paled his complexion. ‘But I don’t know any…!’
Mitchell whirled and the plyers clamped down on the captive’s groin and were twisted violently. The hellish scream of agony that soared from the captive’s lips was silenced by Mitchell’s other hand that clamped down on the victim’s mouth, virtually covering the smaller man’s face as the plyers bit deep. Hannah’s guts convulsed in sympathy as she witnessed his torture.
Mitchell yanked the plyers free and removed his hand. The captive’s hellish cries faded into choked sobs that coughed from his heaving chest as he wept openly.
‘1997, talk fast,’ Mitchell growled.
The captive did not respond and Mitchell moved the plyers in again.
‘We took them,’ the captive gasped finally.
‘Took who?’ Mitchell demanded.
‘The operatives, from the NSA,’ the man whimpered. ‘They were on Kowloon Bay, on a pleasure boat during a break from a neurotechnology symposium. Agents were sent in and they abducted them, took them to the north shore and then into China.’
XXVI
Mitchell glanced over his shoulder at Hannah, who lowered her weapon as she stared at the Chinaman’s tortured face.
‘Everything, Jin Chen, if you want to survive this,’ Mitchell snapped.
The agonized victim sucked in a trembling breath as he replied.
‘We’d been watching them for months, waiting to see what they were doing. We knew about the listening posts in Hawaii of course, but it wasn’t possible to spirit NSA operatives away from there to China without being intercepted. Kowloon was much closer, so we focused on the embassies and CIA fronts based there.’
Hannah stepped forward. ‘What happened to them?’
Jin Chen struggled for breath, mastering his pain.
‘They were interrogated for weeks, deep inside the mainland. The purpose was to break down their will before then showing them kindness and compassion, winning their “hearts and minds” as you Americans say. It took time and a great deal of suffering on their part, but we were helped by America’s media suggesting that they had died in a boating accident: the agent’s families were not looking for them anymore, and the American government was more interested in hiding the existence of its listening posts than protecting its own people.’
‘How far did they help you?’ Hannah pressed.
‘They were invaluable,’ he replied. ‘Our technology leaped immensely just from those four individuals, and the devices they carried revolutionized our understanding of neurology.’
‘What’s the connection to the attacks in America?’ Mitchell pressed.
Chen drew another breath. ‘I don’t know about any attacks in…’
Mitchell slammed the plyers against the man’s groin but did not twist them.