The Wuhan Mission

She considered the need to use Dr. Wu’s security pass to get inside the Level IV lab. It would have to be during working hours so she could enter and exit the building without arousing suspicion.

*

Jimmy had decided that he needed to be in the loop about what Roet’s plan was regarding Dr. Wu and what he was doing for the CIA. Jimmy was in very deep now, and he had to watch all angles to make sure he wasn’t blindsided. Bugging Wu’s car was a simple solution, and a long term one.

Jimmy drove into the Institute of Virology carpark, flashing his Government ID at the attendant. Once inside, he drove to Dr. Wu’s parking spot and stopped behind Wu’s Mercedes. Leaving his engine running, Jimmy opened the driver side door of Wu’s car, using the special Mercedes issued security key that he had picked up at the dealership using his credentials. He got to work under the dashboard connecting the audio bug’s transmitter to the electrical circuit and the audio line to the internal microphone of the Mercedes. It would only pick up Wu’s side of any phone calls he would make, unless of course he used speaker phone, which was likely as it was illegal to talk on a cell phone while driving. The audio would be transmitted to his laptop. The bug would serve multiple purposes for Jimmy. He could not listen in on conversations with Roet, he could use the information to report back to the Chairman, so he appeared to be doing his job. It would also make his job of babysitting Wu easier.

Jimmy cleaned up the wiring and screwed the panel cover back in place.

Chapter 22 Need to Know

The smog of Wuhan had gotten even worse since that first ominous meeting with the Chairman. For several months Doctor Wu had been driving to the lab in this Mercedes every work day, often wondering what would happen to him after he had created the virus for the Chairman. Today his thoughts happened to be of the new lab assistant, Xue Lin, riding her bike to work in this pollution. She was just an average worker, but her coquettish nature and her beauty tipped the scales in her interview. She was coy with him and he liked it. The lab assistants were the only real joy he had left in his life. Jobs in laboratories were hard to find so the lab girls were somewhat at his mercy. It gave him a sense of power, but his life was now devoid of much choice. He was a slave to the Chairman.

His phone rang, it was his daughter Ning, calling from New York City.

“Daddy! It’s me. What time is it there? I’m just about to go out to dinner with a friend.”

“Hi Pumpkin! I’m just driving to work. Who are you having dinner with tonight?”

“Just a girlfriend from NYU. We are going to Chinatown to eat. How’s work?”

“Work’s the same. Saving the world one test-tube at a time” Wu rolled his eyes at his own lie.

“Anyway Daddy, I just wanted to call to say hi.”

“Bye Pumpkin. Be safe.”

Dr. Wu was concerned and a little frightened for his daughter. But as long as the CIA thought that he was doing what Marcus Roet was telling him to, Ning should be safe. Roet probably had no way of checking up on his work in the lab. He worked alone, with no oversight from anyone. Roet had not complained of any lack of progress on the so-called ‘Yellow Virus’ that he had ordered.

Roet had called him this morning in his car on the way to work to give his intimidating reminders.

“Wu, how is the project coming along?” Roet had asked in his snide voice.

“Work is progressing steadily but I have more ground to cover.”

“Your daughter is also doing very well. She studies too much though. She really needs to get out more.” Roet had said.

Dr. Wu had been lying to Roet. He was indeed very close to having the new SARS-CoV-2 virus that would satisfy the Chairman, but he had so far ignored Roet’s request for a special ‘Asians only virus’.

He hoped that the Chinese Government would help him with getting his daughter out of America unharmed. He had no intention of ever doing what Roet was asking. He would rather take his chances with the Chinese Government grabbing his daughter and bringing her back to China, but he would put off telling the Chairman about Roet and his daughter until it was absolutely necessary, if at all.

*

Sam Chilvers had been waiting a good couple of months for a briefing from Roet about the details of the package that Xue Lin would be tasked with stealing. He had become frustrated with Roet’s excuses and he felt that Xue Lin’s life might be being put in danger by the pointless secrecy that was going on. Sam dialed the phone on his desk.

“Speak!” answered Marcus Roet from his office upstairs on the fifth floor.

“We need to talk, Marcus” said Sam,”Immanuel Presbyterian at 11am.”

“OK Sam. This better be important” said Roet, annoyed, abruptly hanging up.