The Wuhan Mission

During her ride in the semi-trailer she’d spent a couple of hours running scenarios in her head. Today was her official arrival day and she was to be met by Jimmy, a contact who should have tools for her and should have organized her an apartment. She had been taught in training never to let her guard down in these situations. Assets can never be trusted. They can flip back and forth, they can be playing both sides, or they may just try to kill you the moment the opportunity arises. This particular asset was one of Roet’s. He was ex-PLA, and on the CIA payroll.

Xue Lin paid the cab driver in local currency and walked in the direction that her phone was indicating. On reaching the exact spot, she pulled out a blank piece of paper from a folder in her dry bag and dug a thumb tac out of the wooden post that stood in front of her. She reached up and pinned the paper to the post where there were a few other thumb tacks already embedded. Then she walked a hundred meters along the river where she could still see the post where she had pinned her page.

Nine minutes on her phone’s stopwatch had passed when she saw a figure appear on a motor cycle, walk to the post and pull down the blank page. She walked towards him warily.

“I love this river” she said as she approached him.

“Would you go fishing in it?” he replied

“Only if I needed fish” she sang back to him, smiling.

It was a ridiculous way to confirm identity. This guy had clearly watched too many spy films. Somehow though, Xue Lin liked it as it was so silly. The paper on the post was interesting, however. That was a new one.

“What’s up with the blank paper on the post?” she asked.

“I have binoculars on a tripod over there in my apartment. Easy to see when a contact arrives. Good field of vision.”

“What’s your name?” she asked, as a further security measure.

“Call me Jimmy.”

Xue Lin noticed that his Mandarin had a strong Beijing accent.

“OK Jimmy, what do you have for me?”

“Not here. Let’s go to your new place!” Jimmy pointed to a small motorbike parked on the corner.

“Let’s go then!” said Xue Lin, somewhat excited to be going on another leg of her adventure.

The cheap, useless helmet he handed her was large on her head and as the bike lurched forward onto the road, it tipped forward covering her eyes. Jimmy steered the bike through the streets across town, pulling into the Shuiguo Lake Residential district and turning up a side street in front of a shabby looking apartment building.

“Helmet.” Jimmy held out his hand and Xue Lin tossed the paper thin helmet to him. He shoved both the helmets inside the seat compartment and gestured for her to follow him into the building.

“This key is for the front of the building” he said holding it up.

“You are on the third floor. You can use the stairs or the elevator. Follow me.”

They walked up two flights as Jimmy said: “You are paid-up for six months rent, no problem, no questions. Anybody asks, your daddy paid.”

The stink of fish sauce hung in the stairwell. Loud televisions blared, and cheesy pop music added to the assault on Xue Lin’s senses.

“Apartment 310. Got it? Not too big but good for a lab assistant” He said smiling.

“Oh yeah? You got me a job?” she said, surprised.

“Interview” he replied “but you are pretty. He’ll take you for sure.”

“Why thank you Jimmy, you are very kind” she replied almost genuinely, while thinking to herself what a slippery character this Jimmy seems to be.

“Here’s your stuff. Special order by your boss.” He pulled back the bed cover revealing a spread of equipment.

“One Ruger LC9S pistol and 5 magazines. Cleaned and oiled. One laptop. Don’t use it to communicate with anybody except work friends. Never break cover on this computer. Not secure. They are always reading and listening in China. Use this radio. They can’t listen. I show you how to disassemble.”

Jimmy proceeded to pull it apart, slowly, piece by piece, looking at her after each step to see if she had it. Each piece fitted into a clock, a lamp, a power outlet or some other appliance somewhere in the apartment. It was very clever.

“Instructions for contacting your boss” Jimmy pointed at a notepad on the bed. “Memorize and then destroy.”

“Cash, People’s currency” Jimmy threw a sizable roll of notes on the bed.

Xue Lin counted it. “You’re short” she said looking accusingly at Jimmy.

“You know, tax…” Jimmy showed very little shame. She let it go. Xue Lin knew exactly what Jimmy had been assigned to provide her with, and noted that Jimmy had a tendency to take care of himself at every step of the way.

“Reading glasses, your prescription, but Chinese geek-style. Make you look like science girl. Your job briefing and a copy of your file for the interview, Friday 10am. Wear something low cut. Dr. Wu is a boob man” Jimmy said, not smiling.

Xue Lin picked it up and leafed through it. ‘Impressive’ she thought.