Old Lovers Don't Die (21 page)

“Good morning,” Jin said on their first Saturday morning. “I would like to welcome you all here and let you know what a privilege it is for you to have been selected. You have one of the highest security clearances and the chance to further all of your careers within the party. We will start with small tasks to challenge you as a group.”

Kim noticed another anomaly; Jin did not use party language for everything he spoke about.

“Analyse, analyse, analyse. Don’t use words when you can use an equation, equations cannot be misinterpreted in any language.”

Initially Jin considered Kim the token girl in the group and of limited value. He ignored her and concentrated on the five boys. When she spoke to Ruan about her exclusion, Ruan had told her not to worry. He did that with everyone until they proved themselves, and it had nothing to do with her being a woman. Kim was not convinced, even though there seemed to be more acceptance of woman in Shanghai. Jin seemed to be more like those men from her village. She did not feel comfortable next to him.

To begin with, the tasks were small, learning how to hack into websites of not-for-profit organisations around the world. Kim learned quickly as she ran variations of people’s names, birthdates, and high schools as simple algorithms. It really was not much of a challenge. To impress Jin, she accessed the bank account of one of the biggest not-for-profit groups, Give to the World. When she showed Jin, he said disdainfully,

“China has enough money. With information you are far wealthier.”

Kim quickly realised that the rest of the students were the best in their disciplines and small tasks like hacking into websites proved little challenge to any of them either. One Saturday morning while waiting for Jin, they were talking about their new found skills and that there had to be a greater goal. Their speculation stopped when Jin arrived and gathered them together saying he wanted to introduce them to someone important.

“Good morning,” he began in his nasally voice. “You have done well in the tasks that we set you. Then, we knew you would because not only were you the brightest in your class, but you all are competitive. You have the instincts and the loyalty to the party that we need for your next task. We also wanted to make certain that you could work together as a group. That is going to be important in your next assignment. I am going to introduce you to someone who is going to challenge you.”

Kim looked around the room, but there was no one else present for Jin to introduce.

“Come with me,” Jin said while walking out through the door and heading back up the corridor. Kim hurried to catch up and saw in the distance three PLA security members standing in front of a red door. Kim had not seen anyone pass through that door previously. Jin stopped in front of the three PLA security officers and showed his pass. Jin then turned and the security officers opened one of the two red doors and Jin led them inside. They filed in and in the middle of the room was the largest computer that Kim had ever seen. As they stood looking at banks of computer terminals and screens, Jin did not speak, allowing them to take in its impressive size and computing power. After they had taken in impressive array of computer hardware, he turned to them and said,

“This is Hei Long. You will not discuss Hei Long or Black Dragon with anyone. You will not be allowed to tell anyone that you have seen Black Dragon and if there is a suspicion that you have, you will spend five years in a labour camp.”

Jin then went on to explain that Black Dragon was the latest in artificial intelligence, and they were to use it as part of China’s intelligence gathering from foreign universities and countries. Around the central module were individual computer screens, each with a seat.

“Select a screen,” Jin said. “You will see a task on the screen. You will not leave her until your task has been completed. There is a toilet at the far end, and food will be brought at regular intervals.”

The first task on Kim’s screen was to access the physics database at the University of Berkeley in California. The university supplied information to the National Aeronautical and Space Programme, calculating solid and liquid fuel ignition times, information useful in China’s space programme. Within four hours, Kim had found the password by running an algorithm based on the University’s history. She was the first to complete her task and knew that Jin would be impressed. She put her hand up and Jin came over and stood behind her screen. He said little as he stood behind her screen. They waited half an hour and then accessed the database through the personal computer of the university’s physics professor. That way Jin explained, they would leave no electronic footprint. Kim was disappointed that Jin had one of the others hack into the professor’s computer. She knew she could have done it faster. However, Jin offered faint praise when he used Kim’s algorithm and was able to access the National Aeronautical and Space Programme database. He quickly extracted the firing sequence for the Saturn rockets.

“Our North Korean friends should be interested in that. Now let us all go and celebrate at Ma Dongs Sushi kitchen,” Professor Jin shouted.

Jin had sat next to Kim, and ordered the first course, ginger chicken and coconut soup. As that arrived in small dark blue bowls, he reached over and touched on her lightly on the thigh, indicating he wanted to say something to her and she should move closer.

“The senior party officials are very impressed with your group’s ability and organisation. They have a very important task for your group, which they have called the Sheng Long, the Living Dragon. I will explain that to everyone tomorrow, but if you are successful, which I know you will be, you will be given the highest security clearance. Zhang Liu, who is the senior adviser to the president of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, on my recommendation would like to interview you.”

“Forgive my ignorance, but what is the function of the CICIR?”

“They are an advisory group on international affairs and strategies to our security services.”

“And why do you think they would be interested in me specifically?”

“They need intelligent gifted people for overseas missions. Women attract less attention and are less threatening.”

“And I’m to meet Zhang after the next assignment if it is successful. What is the next assignment, Prof Jin?”

“Please call me Jin. The party would like some of the anti-Chinese press disrupted. They want you to break into the international news feed at the New York Times and corrupt their computer system. You are to leave no trace. That is to demonstrate that we have the ability to strike where we would like.”

“You know that that’s not much of a challenge for us.”

“I realise that,” Jin said, touching her thigh again. “However, it’s part of a two-step strategy, and the senior party officials need convincing of our capabilities.”

Kim looked down at the hand which now remained on her thigh. For all the time that she had now spent in Shanghai, she had never had to deal with that revulsion which followed her uncle’s attack on her. She looked at Jin’s hand, commanding it to leave as her nausea returned, but it did not.

“The second part of the strategy,” Jin said, sliding his hand further up her thigh, “And I’m telling you with this first, is to manipulate the international money markets.”

“I thought you said it was information which gave the wealth, not money,” Kim said feeling his grip tighten on her thigh.

“It’s not the money that we are seeking with this assignment,” Jin said leaning closer.

“The Federal Reserve Bank in America is symbolic to most Americans. Outside of Fort Knox, it is considered one of the financial cornerstones of their society. We want you to penetrate their database and insert corrupt data that they will use as the basis of their next economic forecast. That information will suggest that unemployment in America is decreasing, and that the Reserve Bank is about to decrease quantitative easing. That will have an immediate effect on the stock exchange and cause the American dollar to plummet. Such a disruption should cause the stock market to fall by one or two per cent. Then senior Communist Party officials will buy stocks at lower prices in great volumes. When the Reserve Bank discovers the corrupt data, the stocks will recover and we will sell our purchases. The proceeds, of course, will go to the Communist Party, not to the members or officials. The other part of your assignment is to leave traces enabling authorities in America to trace this attack to North Korea.”

Kim did not reply, but looked frantically around the Sushi Bar for her other students. They had left her alone with Jin.

“We will need to take over the North Korean government’s education computer. Once we give them the rocket sequence starter, they might even provide free access,” Jin said with a smirk, oblivious to Kim’s silence and growing discomfort.

“I have great faith in your abilities, Kim, now that I’ve got to know you and understand you better. And if you know the right people in the Party, who I can introduce you to, means that you could go far.” Jin winked.

“Now let us enjoy the honey-glazed quail, and then I can walk you home,” Jin said giving her thigh an extra squeeze. Kim felt the nausea start to build up in the pit of her stomach. She wished she was the quail on the plate in front of her. Being dead was preferable to having sex with Jin.

She could not eat; knowing that if she refused Jin, not only would she no longer be part of the group, but also that he had the power to revoke her place at university. Jin pushed the quail into his mouth and then looked at her, licking his fingers suggestively.

The walk back to the apartment took ten minutes from the restaurant. Jin constantly touched her backside as they walked, rubbing it in a suggestive manner. She suppressed the urge to scream; perhaps it would be over with quickly and he would not bother her again. Going back to her village, she could not manage. Jin talked nonchalantly as they walked, telling her that she was going to do so well in the party when he put in his recommendation. When they reached her room, he followed her in and hung his coat behind the door. The small talk stopped.

“Take off your clothes,” he said as he went back to the door and removed a syringe from his coat pocket.

“You have an excellent body. It must be all the martial arts training,” Jin said as he filled the syringe from a small vial in his left hand, staring at her nakedness.

“Lean over the table. I like doing it from behind.”

Kim hoped that he had nothing sexual that she would catch; she imagined she was not the only female student subjected to coercive sex. As she turned to face the table, out of the corner of her eye she saw him inject the syringe at the base of his penis. Then she felt the lubricant being rubbed between her legs. At least she thought she would not have the horrible lasting images that she had from Uncle Yang grunting on top of her. Nevertheless, the anger at the impending violation rose rapidly. She lay on her arms across the table, willing herself not to put a thumb in both of his eyes as she felt his body behind her. He placed his hands around her waist and pulled her roughly towards him. There was no penetration; she could feel he was not hard enough. The injection hadn’t worked, and his hardened arteries were unable to dilate to create an erection. Several times he tried, including what she imagined was trying to masturbate his penis to hardness. Then suddenly he stopped and quickly put on his trousers, taking his coat from behind the door.

“Don’t say anything to anyone about what happened,” Jin said as he walked out the door and closed it behind him.

Kim wiped the lubricant with a towel from the bathroom and got dressed. She made a cup of green tea and sat at the table thinking about what had happened. Then she smiled briefly to herself thinking that even in situations of subjection, there can be natural justice. She half smiled to herself before coming back to the thought that all men in China were disgusting and depraved. The only solution she could see was to get out of China. After several minutes of wondering how she could achieve that, she got up and walked to the wardrobe, wrenched her martial arts uniform out, and decided to take her anger out on the punching bag at the gym.

In the special group meetings after that encounter, Jin never looked directly at Kim. The group successfully hacked into the New York Times, Lehman Brothers, and the Bank of America in addition to the Reserve Bank. Insinuating their data had caused a predicted two per cent drop in stocks and shares. North Korea had been successfully blamed for the attack and a senior official from Beijing turned up one Saturday morning to congratulate them in person. He also said 5000 yuan would be deposited in their scholarship accounts.

Several days later Kim was summonsed to meet a Zhang Liu in a small office on the campus. She had received an e-mail telling her to be there at 9:30 AM sharp. Jin, despite his disastrous attempt at sex, had obviously kept his word. At precisely 9:30 AM, she knocked on the door. Interestingly for an organisation which made recommendations to China’s major security agencies, there was no security check.

“Come in.”

Opening the door, she could see the office was large by university standards. Four big red lounge chairs faced an ornately carved green wooden table. On top of the table were a blue vase and a red lacquer box. Both she recognised were from the Qing Dynasty. Zhang Liu did not get up from behind his desk as she entered, merely pointing at one of the large red lounge chairs. Kim took the one closest to the window.