In the Grey (18 page)

“
Five or six,” Margaret
said.

“
I’ve never heard her ask
anyone,” Matthew shrugged.

“
You mean she’s just
asking people around me?”

Matthew nodded.

“
Sue Ann Joiner is right,”
Margaret said. “She’s a real stinker.”

“
Lieutenant Colonel
Stinker,” Matthew winked. “It does have a ring to it.”

Margaret gave him a dark
look.

“
Ready to shift gears?”
Matthew asked.

“
To what?” Margaret
asked.

“
To figuring out why
someone wants to split up the Fey Team?” Matthew asked. “Leena and
her daughter are already on their way.”

Matthew nodded toward the
laptop on the table.

“
Yes, sir,” Margaret said
and set to work.

FFFFFF
The next day

Monday
afternoon

November 8 – 4:54 p.m.
China Standard Time (1:54 a.m. MST)

Chongqing,
China

They had arrived in
China’s most populated city around two in the afternoon and were
asked to wait in a small room near the tarmac. An hour later, their
bags and passports were returned to them. An hour after that, their
laptops were returned, and they went through another full body
scan. When Max asked about their cell phones, their guards looked
confused and did not respond. Almost three hours after their plane
landed, they were welcomed to China and introduced to a driver who
would take them into town.

“
They’ve never taken our
cell phones before,” Alex said under her breath when they were in
the back of the limousine.

“
We never gone to an
execution,” Max said.

“
Don’t like it,” Raz
shifted uncomfortably.

Alex nodded. The limousine
took the highway and sped toward downtown.

“
Something is definitely
going on,” Max pointed to the river surrounding the peninsula.
“We’re going to the Central Politburo.”

“
Don’t like it,” Raz
repeated.

The limousine stopped in
front of the Communist Party headquarters. Their vehicle had just
come to a stop when their door opened.

“
Please,” a young soldier
said in accented English. “Your baggage will be taken to your
hotel. Please bring your computers.”

He directed them out of
the vehicle where another soldier waited. The soldiers escorted
them across the sidewalk and up the concrete stairs into the large
building. They reached the door, and the two soldiers saluted them.
Once inside the building, they were met by a young man and woman.
Wearing the official uniform of the international intelligence
community, ill-fitting blue suits, the agents did not introduce
themselves.

“
Thank you for coming,”
the young woman said in perfect American English. “We are meeting
upstairs.”

She waved her hand toward
a row of elevators where a crowd of people waited. The young man
stepped forward to catch the first elevator that opened. He waved
Alex, Raz, and Max onto the elevator. The young woman followed them
in. No one else attempted to get into the elevator with
them.

Alex shifted closer to
Raz, and Max moved next to her. Shoulder to shoulder, they eyed the
numbers above the door as the elevator rose.

“
Been here before?” Raz
asked in a low tone.

Max shook his head. Alex
nodded.

“
The Lieutenant Colonel is
a friend to China,” the young man said in Mandarin.

Alex smiled. Noting the
set of her shoulders, Raz knew that she was mentally preparing
herself for any possible outcome. Max glanced at Raz and nodded.
They had no idea where they were going or who they would
meet.

They followed the young
woman off the elevator. She turned right and stepped into an office
labeled “Fourth Bureau” in Chinese. They were going to the
Technology Bureau of the Ministry of State Security. The young
woman nodded to a middle-aged woman sitting at the receptionist’s
desk. The middle-aged receptionist passed out badges which stated
their names, their official titles, and had photos that had been
taken while they waited at the airport. Alex clipped her badge to
her shirt and checked to make sure that Raz and Max had their
badges. The young man came into the office just as they finished
putting on their badges.

“
Are they ready for us?”
the young man asked in Mandarin.

“
Did you allow them to use
the restroom?” The receptionist’s chastising tone indicated her
rank. The young man looked flustered. “Will you take them to use
the facilities?”

“
Thank you for your
concern, ma’am,” Alex responded in Mandarin. “We were able to
refresh ourselves at the airport. We are ready.”

The woman gave a slight
bow. She glared at the young man, and he gestured them into the
offices. When Alex got to the desk, the woman playing receptionist
reached out her hand. Alex took her hand for a moment before
nodding and following the young man to the back.

“
What was that?” Raz asked
under his breath.

“
We’ve met,” Alex
said.

The young man stopped at
what seemed to be a conference room. He opened the door and stepped
back.

“
Here we go,” Max
said.

He stepped into the room.
Alex paused for a moment before following him in. Raz held the door
for the young man and went in after him. Max and Alex waited at the
door until Raz was at her side. They moved into the room
together.

The head of the Ministry
of State Security, China’s intelligence agency, sat at the end of
the table. A man about Alex’s age sat to his right. Although his
eyes were now deep brown, she could detect the faint outline of
bruises left by a healing broken nose. He stood when she looked at
him. A woman sat at the table across from him. Alex recognized her
as the second-in-command for the MSS fifth bureau, local
intelligence, in Chongqing. She nodded hello.

Two men, whose
short-sleeved white shirts and pocket protectors made them look
like agents from the technology bureau of the MSS, sat next to the
woman. The man with the healing broken nose sat next to a man in an
expensive suit. A woman, possibly his secretary or a young agent,
sat just to the right and behind the man with the expensive suit.
The man in the expensive suit gave a nodding bow to Max. As if he
knew the man in the expensive suit, Max returned the nodding
bow.

The young man guided them
to three empty chairs at the end of the table.

“
You may sit here,” he
said in Mandarin.

“
I’d prefer to stand,” Raz
said in English. He gestured to his back and added, “It’s been a
long flight. My back is stiff.”

“
There is no danger here,
Agent Rasmussen,” the head of the MSS said in clear
British-accented English. “We need assistance with a matter. We
believe you might be able to assist us.”

“
And what would that be?”
Max asked.

“
It is nice to see you
again, Mr. Hargreaves,” the head of the MSS said. “I had heard you
were an exact twin to the Fey. I would never have believed it if I
wasn’t sitting right here.”

The middle-aged woman who
was playing receptionist scooted into the room. She pulled over a
seat to sit between the head of the MSS and the woman from local
intelligence. As if on cue, the young woman who’d met them came in
with two pots of tea. She set a pot of tea in front of Alex, Max,
and Raz. Knowing the Chinese would receive their tea in the order
of their importance, Alex waited to pour the tea until the Chinese
were done.

The head of MSS, of
course, was served first. The man with the broken nose was served
next, and then the woman who had pretended to be the receptionist.
The man in the expensive suit received his tea before the agents
from the technology bureau. The young woman sitting next to the man
with the expensive suit received her tea last. When tea had been
distributed among the Chinese agents, Alex poured Max and Raz a cup
of tea before pouring for herself. The room was silent while
everyone drank their tea.

The head of the MSS
cleared his throat and sat up straighter. He nodded to the man with
the broken nose.

“
Would you mind if we skip
introductions?” the man with the broken nose asked in English.
“We’d only offend you with false names.”

“
Does save time,” Max
said.

They had agreed that Max
would take the lead in the meeting. As a representative of the US
secretary of state, he had more authority in China than Alex or
Raz.

“
We knew you’d
understand,” the man with the broken nose said. “If it is all right
with you, we will conduct this meeting in Mandarin. I am aware that
although Agent Rasmussen has made an impressive attempt at
pretending not to understand Mandarin, you speak it
fluently.”

“
That will be fine,” Max
said in Mandarin.

Alex leaned back in her
chair and waited. She caught a nervous look pass between the
technology agents. The young woman near them took out a computer
tablet and began taking notes with a light pen. The technology
agent closest to them took a plastic box out from his bag and set
it on the table.

“
What is this?” the
technology agent asked in Mandarin.

The box was made out of a
paper-thin plastic. The top appeared to be hermetically sealed to
the box with silicone. There was a small winged object
inside.

“
A plastic box?” Max
responded.

The technology agent
glanced at the head of the MSS, who gave a curt nod. The technology
agent took a plastic wrapped sterile knife from the pocket of his
shirt. He picked up the box and pressed the sterile knife through
the plastic wrapping. He used the knife to break the seal on the
box. He carefully pulled off the top and slid the box in their
direction. Max picked up the box to look inside. He passed the box
to Alex.

Alex looked at the head of
the MSS, the man with the broken nose, and the middle-aged women
sitting next to the head of the MSS before looking into the
box.

A nanodrone sat inside the
box.

Alex gave the box to Raz.
He took a look and set it down.

“
Do you know what this
is?” the head of the MSS asked.

“
We might,” Max
said.

“
You’re wondering what you
will receive in exchange for that information,” the head of the MSS
said. He nodded to the man with the broken nose.

“
We know where Steve
Pershing is being held,” the man with the broken nose
said.

“
As a part of your
contract with the Fey Team, you are obligated to pass along that
information,” Alex said. “Are you violating your
contract?”

“
No,” said the middle-aged
woman who had played the receptionist. “Mr. Pershing is being held
in a region that is inaccessible to the Fey Team. We are offering
his location as well as every assistance – diplomatic, and
otherwise.”

The middle-aged woman
gestured toward the man with the broken nose. He nodded in
agreement. Alex glanced at the man.

“
We have heard that you
know what this is and have a way of detecting them,” the head of
the MSS said. “For the sake of clarity, we are offering assistance
at the highest level in exchange for information regarding what
this is and how to detect it.”

Max leaned back in his
chair and let the silence lag.

“
In case you cannot see,
it’s a drone,” the technology agent closest to them said. His
fingers stretched toward the box. The head of the MSS gave him a
stern look, and the agent looked down at the table. As if they were
itching to hold the drone, his fingers continued to stretch toward
the box.

Max glanced at Alex and
then at Raz.

“
I appreciate that you do
not insult us by saying you need to get permission from your
superiors,” the head of the MSS said. “We are requesting your
assistance and will give you something you desire in return. It
seems like a fair deal.”

Max nodded to Alex and she
leaned forward.

“
I’m not sure why you
didn’t contact me with your question and your offer,” Alex said.
“This type of issue is easily dealt with over official
channels.”

“
The information came into
our possession while you were in-flight,” the middle-aged woman
who’d pretended to be the receptionist said.

Alex opened her mouth to
ask why they hadn’t passed the information to the Fey
Team.

“
Both pieces of
information,” the man with the broken nose said.

Alex picked up her teacup.
She looked at the man with the broken nose and drained her
cup.

“
We agree to your terms,
but with this caveat,” Max said. “You will assist us in the return
of Steve Pershing prior to receipt of the detection
devices.”