Hannah saw the agent hurry off and she shook her head.
‘There’s no time,’ she mumbled. ‘I need you to pull anything you can on a Chinese man by the name of Jin Chen, who worked at a British bank in the city.’
‘Jin Chen?’ Hinkley asked. ‘What’s happened?’
‘It’s a long story, okay?’ Hannah shot back. ‘Just do what I’m asking and contact the FBI Headquarters. I need to speak to Director LeMay as soon as possible.’
Hinkley looked at his watch and shook his head. ‘He won’t be available for at least an hour or two.’
‘Then wake him up!’ Hannah yelled at the Texan. ‘The Chinese are preparing for some kind of major cyber — attack, and if we don’t let home base know about it what do you think will happen?!’
Hinkley raised his hands in supplication as he whirled and dashed back toward the offices, while in the other direction walked two medics.
‘We need to debrief LeMay or at the very least get this written up,’ Vaughn said.
‘The hell with that,’ Hannah muttered as she was gently led by the arm toward the offices. ‘We need to get the hell out of Hong Kong and back to DC. Whatever’s developing here is going to break on home turf and we need to be there to…’
Hannah was cut off as suddenly four armed police dashed out of the building, their weapons raised toward Hannah and Vaughn.
‘On your knees, now!’
Hannah stared in shock as the police surrounded them, Hinkley hurrying out of the building in pursuit.
‘What the hell’s going on?’ Hannah uttered in disbelief.
Hinkley approached them cautiously. ‘You said that you lost your weapons, papers and cell phones?’
‘We were attacked,’ Hannah said as rough hands yanked her arms behind her back and cuffed her.
‘That’s not what the police are saying,’ Hinkley said. ‘Yours and Vaughn’s weapons were recovered two hours ago at the scene of a homicide in down town, that of a respected businessman by the name of Jin Chen.’
Hannah stared at Hinkley as her heart felt as though it were plummeting into freefall inside her chest. ‘Jin Chen was being tortured by Mitchell in the woods on the south of the island!’
Hinkley stared apologetically at her.
‘Local police uncovered plyers with your fingerprints on them,’ he explained. ‘The bullets in Jin Chen’s body have already been matched to your gun, Hannah. The police are requesting that you be detained in Kowloon until further notice.’
‘You’ve got to be kidding me? I saw Mitchell torturing Jin Chen. He was involved in the abduction of the NSA agents in 1997! Mitchell got it out of him!’
The police yanked her aside as Hinkley replied.
‘They’re saying that you must have done this,’ he replied. ‘Nobody knows anything about anybody named Mitchell.’
‘Aaron James Mitchell!’ Hannah shouted. ‘You need to locate him to corroborate what we’re saying.’
Hinkley looked at Vaughn. ‘Did you see this Mitchell?’
Vaughn stared at Hinkley for a long moment. ‘No, I didn’t. I was attacked before I made it to Agent Ford’s location.’
‘Can you identify the people that attacked you?’ Hinkley asked him.
‘No, but it’s likely that they were the ones who also attacked Hannah. This is a set up, Hinkley. If the Chinese or Mitchell is behind it then they’re trying to prevent us from getting back to the states.’
Hinkley nodded.
‘I’ll do what I can.’ he promised. ‘We’ll get on top of this, okay?’
‘You’ll do what you can?!’ Hannah screeched. ‘Get us the hell out of the country!’
Hinkley managed not to shout back at her as he sucked in a deep breath and turned to the police.
‘This is the sovereign territory of the United States of America, gentlemen, and I cannot allow my people to be treated in this manner.’
The police sergeant confronted Hinkley. ‘These people are wanted for murder, Agent Hinkley! What do you think will happen to our countrys’ international relations if they are allowed to leave?’
‘They’ll survive,’ Hinkley snapped. ‘Release them or I’ll have you and your men detained here until this is all cleared up.’
A dozen FBI agents suddenly emerged from the building with their weapons drawn, all wearing uncompromising expressions as they confronted the four Hong Kong police officers.
‘Cleared up?’ the sergeant shot back. ‘Don’t you mean covered up?’
Hinkley did not reply as the police released Hannah and Vaughn and backed off as more agents from within the building arrived to support Hinkley. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Hong Kong police officers retreated under armed escort, their sergeant calling over his shoulder.
‘This isn’t over! We’ll be back!’
Hannah watched as the police were led out of the Embassy and then turned to Hinkley.
‘Good job,’ she said.
‘It needed to be,’ Hinkley replied. ‘You’ve been here less than twenty four hours and you’re already wanted for murder. You need to be out of the country within the hour, understood? I’ll arrange transport.’
‘They’ll intercept us,’ Vaughn pointed out, ‘and we can hardly maintain a low profile looking like this.’
‘You’ll travel on diplomatic plates, private charter. I’ll sort it now. Get yourselves cleaned up and ready to leave. I’ll check in at the Barn and find out what’s been going on, okay?’
Hannah smiled at Hinkley as she turned to leave with Vaughn.
‘I appreciate it, Brad,’ she said, relieved that somebody outside of LeMay’s direct influence was finally supporting them.
Special Agent in Charge Brad Hinkley waited until Hannah and Vaughn were out of sight before he pulled a pack of Luckies from his pocket and lit one, savoring the nicotine hit as slipped a cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number he had memorized some years before. It took only moments for the line to connect.
‘Yes?’
‘It’s done,’ Hinkley said. ‘They’re wanted for murder in Hong Kong and are now on their way. They’ll be in DC by the morning, but they’re officially fugitives from justice now.’
‘Excellent,’ replied the voice through dense digital distortion. ‘We’ll take it from here. Your career prospects will improve greatly within just a few days.’
Hinkley smiled as the line went dead and he lowered the phone from his ear. He took one last drag of his cigarette before he dropped the glowing butt down a storm drain in one corner of the lot. The cell phone followed it moments later.
XXXI
The limousine pulled into the White House grounds after a thorough search of the vehicle by dogs and explosives experts. Ethan sat quietly and watched as the vehicle drove slowly up to the iconic building, one that he had seen perhaps a million times and yet never set foot in before.
Tourists were admitted to the White House every day but they saw only limited areas of the building, others highly classified and off — limits to the public. The limousine drove to an entrance on the west side of the building and pulled up alongside a heavy looking door guarded by Secret Service agents. The agents responded with robotic efficiency, opening the limousine’s doors and ushering Ethan, Lopez and Jarvis out of the vehicle and inside the White House with the minimum of exposure.
The interior of the White House was pretty much exactly as Ethan had believed it would be; immaculate red carpets, chandeliers and elaborately framed paintings on the walls. The building was enveloped by a hushed atmosphere, perhaps because of the dense layers of electromagnetic protection built into the walls.