The Wuhan Mission

Sam had always been wary of Roet. He had a tendency to cut corners and blame others for the problems he himself had caused. He was a coward, and of course an alcoholic. Sam had learnt from his step-father that no alcoholic can be trusted to tell the truth or to do the right thing.

Sam was on a ‘need to know’ basis, according to Roet, but now he needed to know exactly what ‘the package’ was that his operative was going to be going after.

Sam had recently been briefed about the basics concerning Dr. Wu. He was a ‘coerced’ asset, not to be relied upon, and was likely under equal pressure from the Chinese Government. It was still officially ‘classified’ how Roet had coerced Wu. Maybe money, maybe blackmail. Sam had been ordered to keep Xue Lin in the dark about Wu. So as far as his operative knew, she was on her own in Wuhan with nothing but the promise of an extraction team on the day she secured the package, which might be soon.

When Sam arrived at the church, he looked at his phone, 10:55am. He decided to wait until Roet showed before getting out of his navy blue SUV. Sam put his phone in the glove compartment and pulled out his Beretta PX4 in its holster and shoved it down the small of his back. The pistol was not issued by the agency. It was his personal weapon which despite being licensed, he was not supposed to need while working in the States. He just liked to carry. Maybe it was a thing from his military days, but he just felt better packing a gun. He and Roet were swimming in murky waters now.

Sam observed Marcus Roet pulling up outside the church, getting out and looking over his shoulder for a moment before going into the church. Thirty seconds later Sam followed him in and sat next to him in a pew up the back. The church was empty.

“Marcus.” Sam said, nodding.

“Samuel” replied Roet.

“Marcus, you’ve got to tell me what the package is going to be.” Sam wasn’t one for beating around the bush.

Roet looked sour: “Come on Sam you know that’s above your pay grade” replied Roet. “You’ll know when the time comes. No-one is to be trusted, and that includes CIA officers, for now.”

“OK, then what about our Dr. Wu? What do you have on him?” Sam smirked at Roet, encouraging him to answer. “You’ve got something on him, what is it?” he prompted.

Roet’s ego pulsed in him. He wanted Chilvers to know the power that he had over the Chinese virologist.

“Well… he has a daughter here that we have been keeping tabs on.”

“By that you mean you have tapped every device she has and bugged her apartment?” replied Sam, smiling.

“Yep” said Roet smugly. “We send videos to her father every now and then, just to let him know that she is still… safe…”

“So the Doctor is behaving over there for us?” asked Sam.

“Far as we can tell. There’s no biological oversight from our side. He’s working alone. The dumb assistants are just doing the admin, but he’s the only one who knows the ‘special mission’ that I’ve assigned him, that is besides me and the Deputy Director of National Intelligence. Not even the President knows that Dr. Wu is in play.”

“My operative is going to need to know what’s in tha lab. She’s going to be stealing it from that facility. It’s going to be pretty God damned tight. She’s got to get to extraction with the package intact, and needs to get her exit routes straight soon, and her knowledge of the contents of that package might change her mind about how she plans to evade and escape the Chinese. Don’t you think we should tell her Marcus?”

“When the time comes, Samuel, you’ll know, she’ll know, but that’s all. This particular item, when put into play, is going to affect everything it touches, and currently, the Chinese don’t know that we know what’s going on in that lab. I’d like to keep it that way. This is also for the safety of your pretty little “Snow Forest” over there, who we all remember from her Langley training.” Roet smiled, remembering how Xue Lin had injured several other trainees in hand-to-hand sessions. She was quite the little tiger.

“Have it your way Marcus, but you make sure that Wu doesn’t find out that she’s one of ours. Her life depends on it. Do I have your word?”

“You have my word Sam. Relax. Wu is shackled to us. He’s a puppet.”

Chapter 23 Three Scientists

Dr. Wu’s work on the antidote was infinitely simpler than creating the virus. Years ago he had perfected the anti-viral drug that he had proven could kill the ‘Human Immunodeficiency Virus.’ AIDS was considered by the Communist Party to be a useful ‘reaping machine’ for the undesirable parts of the population: homosexuals and intravenous drug users. The US Government had similar sentiments about HIV. Dr. Wu’s anti-viral drug had been buried by the Chinese Government almost immediately and had never been leaked. His ability to keep his mouth shut had been noticed by the Communist Party, which almost certainly had something to do with them offering him his current job.