The Wuhan Mission

“Thank you sir.”

The Chairman raised his glass, and yelled “Gan Bei!” throwing back his whisky.

Jimmy then followed suit and hurled the expensive bourbon down his throat. His eyes watered.

“Xiè xiè! Zià Jiàn!” Jimmy said, as he saluted formally and turned officially to walk out, closing the heavy door behind him politely.

Chapter 6 Jimmy’s New Place

Jimmy returned home and immediately called Roet.

“Hi-ya Boss, it’s me Jimmy. What’s up with you bro?”

“Hello… Jimmy…” Marcus Roet’s snide voice crackled over the secure line on Jimmy’s phone. Jimmy talked quickly and excitedly:

“I found your ‘Doctor Wu.’ He is in Hebei Province. Wuhan. Easy for white man to remember right? Doctor Wu, in Wuhan, hahahah.”

Jimmy paused, waiting for a reaction, but could just hear Roet waiting silently for him to continue.

“Dr. Wu doing something real special. Some shady shit. I could try to get myself reassigned to keep an eye on him, but it’s gonna be tough. Have to bribe a couple of people to make it happen, but I can do it for sure. Gonna cost you fifty grand to have your favorite guy Jimmy in Wuhan. You can do that right? 50K easy for you” Jimmy’s lies came easily.

Roet was smiling on the other end of the line. “I can maybe get you forty grand, but that’s going to have to be enough for now. I’ll make the transfer tomorrow. When do you think you might start there?” asked Roet.

“I can be there by the end of the week. Kicking it in Wuhan baby.”

“Confirm when you know. I’ll be standing by.” Roet said before hanging up.

Dancing his arms around in the air, Jimmy said out loud: “OK boss, thank you for giving me all your muNNNy.”

*

Jimmy had been living in a small modestly furnished apartment provided by the Government while he was on the security team of the Secretary in the nation’s capital. The move to Wuhan was simple and easy for Jimmy as he didn’t own any furniture and had very few belongings. The moment he was notified that the Government had assigned him the new apartment in Wuhan, he drove himself straight there. It all happened very quickly, probably because the Chairman had given the directive. Jimmy’s twelve hour drive took him south through picturesque rural areas. He listened to the American pop music playlists stored lovingly on his phone connected via bluetooth.

As he drove through the countryside, Jimmy ran through future lists of things he would buy if he managed to get out of China and change his identity in America. Of course he would be considered a dissident and there would be Chinese spies trying to find him. Maybe he could even work for the CIA, hopefully with a different boss than Roet, who was obviously a total racist asshole. Lucky he paid well and was also quite stupid. ‘Probably got his job through contacts’ Jimmy thought.

Jimmy parked his dusty car on the street in an inner neighborhood of Wuhan and followed the walking map on his phone to his new place. He opened the lockbox on the wall of his new apartment building and pulled out the apartment keys that had been left there for him. He was on the top floor, but there was a modern elevator.

Opening the door of the apartment Jimmy smiled. This was a big upgrade from the crappy place he’d been stuck in in Beijing. A real bachelor pad. Nice view of the city in two directions. He opened the fridge. Empty. The mattress was new, with a set of new bedding still in its plastic sitting on the bed. The security system was not bad, but he would have to make some improvements. He’d call his friend in town, the Tool Man. This guy was even better than the tool supplier in Beijing, and he was a good friend.

Jimmy made two trips to the car and he was all moved in. He opened the wardrobe and saw three new designer suits, all in his size. On the desk was a military grade laptop which he opened and hit the space bar. The file on Dr. Wu was already open, so Jimmy, still standing, leaned forward on the desk and read through the file aloud to himself.

“Wife died in 2003, leaving one daughter, Ning Wu, currently studying at New York University.”

The file went on, with Dr. Wu’s resumé, his movements over the last forty years, his few transgressions which were very minor, the names of his friends, addresses and phone numbers. Dr. Wu was very much a good citizen. A good worker.

“Should not be any trouble at all.” Jimmy thought to himself.

*

Jimmy picked up his phone and called Roet.

“Yo Boss, I’m all set up in Wuhan. Thanks for depositing the dough.”

“You are welcome Jimmy. I hope you did not draw attention to yourself. Did they assign you there or did you do something dumb to get yourself posted there?”

“Yeah man, no it was all legit! The Chairman needed someone he could trust to keep an eye on Doctor Wu. Nobody else signed up but me so he put me on him. I’m supposed to keep tabs on him and to make sure he don’t make no new friends, no hookers, no bars. Maybe twist his arm sometimes. Don’t really know yet.”