The Wuhan Mission

“I heard about that sir,” the Director laughed genuinely, picking up his drink and taking a large gulp.

“This young lady, we believe, has stolen the virus and has Doctor Wu with her.” The Chairman looked at his guest sternly: “Now, I hope that you still have the so-called ‘Barbecue Couple’ in custody somewhere. Is that so?”

“Yes sir, our operatives have them in San Diego. They should be on a plane to Milan soon.”

“Excellent. They have succeeded in eluding us for now, but our leverage over the young lab assistant should do the trick. We will allow them to leave China. Then we use the Barbecue couple to twist her arm.”

*

Jimmy drove through the streets of Shanghai following the map to the checkpoint on Xue Lin’s high tech phone. They had made excellent time and would be at ‘Empire Szechuan’ a little bit ahead of schedule.

“Let’s get ready” said Xue Lin. “Dr. Wu, put the vest on. It looks like we need to go on foot across two fields to get to the beach. Jimmy, bring the Barret just in case we have guests.”

Jimmy didn’t think the sniper rifle would be necessary, but it had a strap on it, so why not? Xue Lin pointed to an intersection. “Leave the van here.”

She got out as the van came to a halt and started leading the way in the direction of the ocean.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Jimmy asked, laughing at Xue Lin.

“Ouhhhh… right” she said turning around to go back and get the vials. She reached under her seat and slid out the vial cases and put them in her backpack.

Jimmy opened the trunk and slung the heavy rifle over his shoulder. He pulled a backpack out of the duffle bag. He had a few toys in there still, his papers, some ammo and all the cash he’d collected.

“Let’s go!” said Xue Lin, taking charge.

Sam had strapped into seat three next to the Captain of the Mako, with the squad of SEALs sitting calmly behind. They’d motored a few hours out into the East China Sea to ‘checkpoint Flipper’ where they waited silently with dead calm conditions, the frogmen carefully donning their drysuits and checking over their oxygen rebreathers. The boat captain gave Sam the signal that it was time to head to ‘checkpoint Miami Vice’. The Mako’s engines revved and the captain brought the boat up to 65 knots, skimming over the moonlit water in the direction of Shanghai’s coastline.

Xue Lin led the way through the fields in the direction of the sea. Dr. Wu did his best to keep up with her, but all the drinking and smoking he’d been doing of late was causing him to have to stop every hundred meters or so. Jimmy brought up the rear, making sure they hadn’t attracted any attention, which was unlikely. The only danger now was out on the water, which was heavily patrolled by the Chinese Maritime Police, China’s version of the American Coast Guard. Their patrol boats were armed with mounted high caliber machine guns. He hoped that Xue Lin’s extraction team were well equipped and highly trained, or the three of them would probably soon be Swiss cheese. The brightly shining moon had robbed them of the cover that darkness would have provided.

The Mako’s engines ceased their din as it arrived at ‘Miami Vice’, and the squad, kitted out in black, no uniforms, no dog tags or flags, slid the inflatable into the water with two frogmen, one skipper and Sam aboard. They headed towards the beach, the two divers getting ready to go over the side if necessary.

An officer on the Mako looked suddenly concerned: “I’m seeing a vessel on the radar, to the South. Probably a patrol boat. It’s moving slowly, not directly at us. I don’t think they have seen us. They are at seven miles sir.”

“Sit tight. We are good for now. We’re lucky that this boat is hard to spot on radar. I’m counting on it. Still, have someone check that gatling gun. Fire only if fired upon with deadly intent. Mind the warning shots. They are only Coast Guard.”

As Xue Lin began to cross the second field, she could see the water in the distance. She pointed and said: “Look Doctor, not far to go. Let’s pause and rest for a while.” Dr. Wu relaxed for a second. “Ok let’s go!” said Xue Lin, laughing at him. Jimmy shook his head at her, as he took the lead, feeling sorry for the Doctor.

The inflatable quietly motored in, forty meters from the beach. The skipper scanned the beach with night vision, seeing no-one. He radioed back to the Mako: “The castaways are not at Szechuan yet. We are dropping divers.”

“Pool’s open fellas. Have a nice swim.” The two frogman rolled backwards out of the inflatable and submerged as the boat reversed away from them and moved away from shore. Sam sat in the bow of the inflatable, looking calm. They were still quite early.

Under the surface of the water the visibility was very clear due to the calm seas. The moonlight provided ample visibility for the divers to follow the contour of the sandy bottom into the shallows where they would wait silently, partially submerged for their guests to arrive.