“We have nothing on her.”
“What about probable cause to believe she’s in the act of committing espionage against our country?”
Fisher smiled. “I meant something real.”
She raised her head as she said, “So that’s how we’re gonna operate. I just like to lay down the ground rules.”
“For now. But keep asking.”
12
The train to Harbin was slow and plodding and expected to take all day to travel the five hundred miles or so, stopping in nearly every one-water-buffalo town to drop off and pick up passengers.
Jake Adams watched Chang Su as she slept on the lower bunk, the constant sway of the train almost lulling him as well. It should have, he thought, since he had barely slept on the train from Beijing to Shenyang the night before.
She woke now and caught him watching her. “Was I making noise?” she asked, pulling her legs to the floor and sitting up. She ran her fingers through her dark, straight hair, brushing it away from her eyes.
“No,” Jake said. “I was thinking I should be doing the same thing.” He thought about his current task, and wondered if she had the same information. He knew how the Agency liked to compartmentalize everything on a need to know basis. The military had been even more restrictive in that regard.
Time for a fishing expedition.
“Tell me the plan,” he said.
“The plan?”
“What we do after we get to Harbin?”
She looked confused. “They should have told you.”
They had told him, but that wasn’t the point. “I’m a civilian. I was in Beijing as a personal security officer for an American businessman. I was asked if I would help. That’s it.”
“I thought you were Agency.”
“At one time, yes. But that was years ago, before this new Agency existed.”
“Why you here, then?”
“Like I said. A favor.”
She hesitated, in deep thought. “This is pretty dangerous for a favor.”
That’s not what he wanted to hear. He had left those dangerous missions behind. At least that’s what he thought.
“After Harbin?” he probed.
“You serious?” She shook her head. “We go to northern frontier. Less than hundred miles from Russia. You need better clothes. We get that in Harbin.”
“What’s there?” he asked, knowing the answer. At least hoping he did. It wouldn’t have been the first time he had been lied to on a mission.
“A mobile missile base. Very high security. We can hit Moscow, New Delhi, Los Angeles, Seattle from there. Soon even New York with newer weapons.”
What the hell was going on? He was told they would be checking into laser weapons.
“That’s pretty well known,” Jake said. “I read a story about those in Newsweek.”
“What’s your point?”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“How do I know what you don’t know? I don’t even know what you know.” She smiled now.
He was starting to like her.
“I’m sure we have all kinds of satellite photos of that location, right down to the damn serial numbers on the side of each missile. What more do they need?”
She shrugged. “I just do what I’m told. I get a call, meet Agency man, and he tells me to take a few days off. I tell my real job I have to visit my sick sister in Xi’an.”
“This the same sister who made you a triple agent?”
“I’m not triple agent.” She looked genuinely concerned or angry. “Same sister, though.”
“Does she live in Xi’an?”
“Used to…but I haven’t seen her in a year. She moves a lot.”
Jake needed to get her back on track, but he didn’t want to push her too hard. “So we go to the missile base in the north,” he said. “Then what? Just waltz in and snap a few shots? What’s the point? And why are you helping?”
Her jaw tightened and Jake thought for a moment that she was ready to pull her gun again.
“China doesn’t need more missiles. We need food for our people.”
“And cell phones.” Jake smiled at her.
“Right. Gotta keep in touch with family. China is big, Jake. It’s easier to set up cell towers than to run phone lines to every remote province. We skip a step.”
Jake couldn’t argue with that point. It wouldn’t be long before they ripped up all hard phone lines worldwide.
Suddenly the train lurched, thrusting Su to the floor and shoving Jake back into his seat. He helped her up, and then went to the window and peered outside. They had either hit something, or the conductor had hit the brakes hard, because they were now slowing fast and coming to a halt.
“What’s going on?” she asked, sliding her head around him.
The train had now come to a complete stop.
Su had a grave expression as she turned away from the window, closing the drapes.
“What’s the matter?” Jake asked.
“I saw police cars,” she said. “And military vehicles. On the cross road ahead.”
“And?”
“It means they’re looking for someone.”
“I’ve done nothing wrong. Except deviate from my visa itinerary. But nobody knows about that.” He looked at her. “What about you?”
“I’ve done nothing.”
“You’ve worked for the government before,” he said. “Are you sure they haven’t been watching you? What about your meeting with the Agency man prior to leaving Shanghai?”
She shook her head emphatically. “I have secure cell phone.” She rummaged through her bag to produce the most advanced cell phone Jake had ever seen. “It’s coded nowhere. I route through six cities randomly. Only one man has the number.”
“The Agency man. Who’s that?”
Before she could answer, there was a great commotion at the front of their car, with loud voices.
“What’s going on?” Jake asked.
She didn’t answer. Instead, she pulled out her gun and her eyes shifted about the small compartment.
“Wipe it clean,” Jake said, moving to the window. He peaked through the edge of the curtain and saw soldiers making their way alongside the tracks. Two of them, side by side. “Damn.”
The voices were getting closer. Jake thought about what he had in his own bag that could be scrutinized. He had the camera and the phone that would transmit the photos. He had memorized the numbers to call, so that wouldn’t be a problem. Think. What else? He had nothing, and maybe that was the problem. He didn’t even have a proper coat for the climate, yet he was traveling without real luggage to a city with no real tourist attractions with a woman he barely knew. Was this an elaborate set up? He didn’t think so, but worse things had happened to him in the past. The gun. It had to go.
He looked back outside. The two men had passed. Their backs were to the window now.
“Give me the gun.” Jake put on some leather gloves and took it from her. “Any extra clips or loose rounds?”
Embarrassed, she retrieved a full clip from her backpack. Jake took that also, wiped her prints from it, and checked the window again.
The voices were now at the compartment next door. Someone down the hall laughed for a long moment and then it stopped with the slam of a door.
Jake opened the window and poked his head outside, looking both ways. All clear. Then he thought and checked the gun to make sure there was no round chambered. The first round was in the clip. Good. He stepped back and launched the gun outside. It landed near some tall weeds in a foot of snow.
“Hurry,” she said. “They’re coming.”
Jake threw the clip and it too sunk into the snow. Then he closed the window and took a seat next to Su, who held his hand.
There was a sharp knock on the door, followed by the door swinging in swiftly. A semi-gray man with short hair, wearing a police uniform and holding an automatic handgun, shifted his eyes about the small compartment. Behind him stood three younger officers with automatic assault carbines drawn. Behind them, barely visible, was a bald man in civilian clothes.