The Wuhan Mission

The officer took a few steps back as he responded: “I’ll call it in, just to make sure.”

“I would not do that if I were you” said Dr. Wu, giving him a grossly exaggerated look that would have been more suited to a Chinese soap opera actor.” The Chairman will not want this to get out. You should keep this to yourself until the site is secure. Then you can report it.” Dr. Wu gave them another look. Jimmy and Xue Lin tried their best to go with it, adding their own stern looks.

Jimmy took over: “You two stay here and stop anyone going in. The ‘BHCT’ should be here shortly.”

They looked at him, confused.

“The Bio Hazard Cleanup Team!” He yelled at them condescendingly, as Xue Lin did her best not to smirk at the bad soap opera that Jimmy was putting on.

Jimmy continued: “I will drive these two scientists to the other facility for observation. Clear? You know what to do?” he looked at them, awaiting their hesitant nods.

“Good work comrades. Keep it up!” Jimmy said, gesturing for Xue Lin and Dr. Wu to follow him. He walked stiffly, followed nervously by the two in lab coats, to the stolen black sedan. He opened the back door and they both got in, hearts racing. Dr. Wu was terrified, but Xue Lin was almost enjoying herself.

“Nice work Jimmy! You are quite the actor!” she quipped.

“It won’t hold for long.” Jimmy said as he pulled out into morning traffic.

Jimmy reached into the glove compartment and pulled out Dr. Wu’s new passport and ID card.

“Memorize your new details. All of our lives might depend on it if we hit a roadblock.” Jimmy said, passing them back.

Xue Lin pulled out one of the guard’s walkie talkies from her bag and turned it on to monitor the scene at the lab. Very little was happening still and the subterfuge laid by Jimmy was holding. No-one wanted to enter the building to investigate and no-one was yet brave enough or smart enough to call it in.

Xue Lin passed the radio to Jimmy saying: “Tell them the cleanup team is on route.”

Jimmy smiled at her in the mirror: “Ah you are just not a pretty face!” and proceeded to make the transmission in an overly authoritative voice: “This is the BHCT… ah we are on our way. No personnel are to enter the lab. Repeat, nobody goes in. There has been a bio-contamination.”

Jimmy threw the radio up on the dashboard, listening for the reply.

“Copy that” the reply came from the nervous security officer outside the building.

Chapter 38 On the Run

Jimmy drove east crossing the Yangtze River and headed towards the edge of town where he’d parked the minivan. The violent theft of secret substances and the kidnapping of China’s top virologist would become the Chinese Government’s number one priority within the next 30 minutes or so. Jimmy drove efficiently without breaking the law too badly.

Being rush hour, most of the traffic was headed into the city, so Jimmy’s navigation took them smoothly to the stolen minivan he had stashed on the street on the southern edge of town where there were no traffic cameras. He parked down the block and got out of the car.

“Take off your lab coats. They draw attention” said Jimmy.

Xue Lin stuffed Dr. Wu’s coat in her bag, and wrapped the submachine gun in her’s.

She and Wu got out of the car as Jimmy grabbed his duffle bag from the trunk and led the way to the minivan.

The radio in Jimmy’s hand squawked: “Change channel to next. Over.”

“Copy” came the reply from the officer.

Jimmy looked grimly at Xue Lin. “They have a channel change protocol when a radio goes missing. They must be inside the lab already.”

“We just have to keep moving Jimmy. Let’s get on the road. We need to get to Shanghai ASAP.”

Jimmy opened the back and retrieved his heavy bag, thinking that they might need access to its contents. The three of them quickly got in the minivan, Dr. Wu in the back seat, Xue Lin in front, and Jimmy started the engine and headed for the highway.

Xue Lin, shaking her head, heaved a sigh. “Maybe I should have cleaned the scene.”

Dr. Wu looked questioningly at her: “What do you mean?”

“I could have put a bullet in each of those security guards. They can ID me as an assailant. I’m no longer an innocent bystander. They will be looking for a male and female fitting our descriptions, and a Government employee matching Jimmy’s description, though it may take them a while to work out who you are Jimmy.”

“You are an amateur. Any good spy would have taken them out.” Jimmy scolded, miming a ‘gun to the head.’

Xue Lin continued: “The Government probably knows who I am already. They bugged my apartment the day after I moved in. Perhaps killing two more guards would have accomplished nothing.”

“You’re soft. CIA makes soft soldiers” Jimmy quipped as he sped up a ramp onto the highway heading east.