The Wuhan Mission

The forger added their photos to the passports and ran them through his machine adding the embossing and glossy sealant. On the desk lay various fake credit cards and loose cash to put in the purse and wallet he’d put together for them.

“Hand luggage!” the Team Leader yelled.

Two small identical navy blue suitcases on wheels were opened in front of the couple.

“Did you pack your suitcase yourself?” The Team Leader asked them, smirking.

The couple poked through the contents of their new suitcases.

“Normal things, your size. No worry. We take care of you.”

“Wo-men chyu ba!” yelled the Team Leader, then yelling at the couple: “Let’s go!”

Two of the team followed the couple back into the van. The leader and driver climbed in the front as the garage door opened and the van pulled out headed for LAX.

Milan

The Lufthansa flight with the couple and their two Chinese minders on board landed in Milan without incident. They cleared customs and were met outside arrivals by two slightly more elegantly dressed Chinese agents. They were ushered quickly to a waiting minivan, where black cloth bags were put over their heads and they were driven to central Milan where there was a very modest Chinatown.

The Chinese agents had a safe house which occupied an old building in Chinatown. The van drove through the arched wooden doorway all the way into the building where two more agents held a hand up indicating for the minivan to stop.

The couple were tired, having not slept during the twelve hour flight. They had paid attention to the time and apparent speed in which they had arrived at this Chinese safe house. As the black bags were removed from their heads, the couple looked around them taking in as much information as they could: six trained Chinese men, all armed. Security cameras inside and out with screens showing two angles on the street. The two windows to the street had been boarded up from the inside. No visible back entrance.

The guards could possibly have been briefed that the couple understood Mandarin, having spent several years undercover in Beijing. More likely though, the men would forget and give away information that might help the couple escape, or in an exchange or rescue scenario.

Chapter 40 On the Road

Jimmy had been silent for a while. “So, Doctor Wu, you like America?”

“I like anywhere they don’t want to kill me.” Wu replied sulkily.

“They’d kill you in China for sure.” Jimmy agreed. “They have to cover up the truth. They will tell the world that ‘Chinese people eating bats’ caused the virus. The Government would never allow the scientist who engineered it to go free. You’re lucky to be escaping.”

“What’s that now?” said Xue Lin. “Bats? Oh come ON!”

Dr. Wu looked at her. “It is true. The Ministry of Propaganda is going to make the press say that the virus is from cross-contamination at the market. Bats!”

“Wow!” Xue Lin retorted in complete disbelief.

“What does the virus do exactly?” she asked.

“Starts with dry, sore throat, maybe bad headache, tired, dry cough then lungs break down, die of heart attack, or no oxygen. It’s just like the SARS from 2003, but this one is contagious before symptoms appear. Therefore much more dangerous. No human testing though, only monkeys. Well we did accidentally infect one Doctor I know, but he was an asshole. He opened his big fat mouth and got himself killed.”

The Investigator put out a general radio call that all police units should be looking for two men and a woman traveling together in a black sedan out of Wuhan. Roadblocks on all highways out of Wuhan were quickly put into place.

The Quick Response Team closed in on Jimmy’s car. It was moving fast along the G70 toll highway. There seemed to be a driver and two passengers.

“Lights!” ordered the Team Leader. The flashing lights on top of the armored van lit up.

“He’s slowing down sir.”

“Pull over to the side of the road!” ordered the Team Leader over the megaphone that sat behind the front grill of the van.

The car came to a stop with the van directly behind it, the team readying themselves to take the car.

“Put your hands out the windows and flat on the roof!”

The Team Leader gave the hand signal to go, and the team of six surrounded Jimmy’s car, guns pointed at the three inside.

“Slowly open the doors and get out of the car.”

Three tattooed youths in their twenties got out of the car and looked nervously back at the men pointing high powered rifles at them.

The Team Leader picked up the radio: “It’s not them. It’s just a bunch of kids. Must have stolen the car. Over”

“Bring them in for questioning, just in case they know something. One of you drive the car. Check the trunk first” said the investigator on the other end.”

“We did sir, just a bag full of pirated DVDs.”

*

The young Chinese computer tech timidly put his hand up to get the attention of his superior who was finishing a call with an unpleasant investigator at the Wuhan Bio Lab.

He hung up, gave an order to another operator, and then walked over to the tech’s cubicle.

“Yes?”