Part 15 (1/2)

46.

As she cleaned each room on her list, Ping tried to appear calm, struggling not to show the excitement that was growing within her. She knew that although her mission was nearing its culmination, danger was everywhere. She hoped to be able to deliver her new message, and that once again the lethargic guard would just sit in his chair looking at his hands.

Her mind kept drifting back to her son, who is the sole reason she drags herself from bed each morning and soldiers on, desperately working to make this succeed. She tried to force herself to think only of what she must do. But as she and the guard once again approached the door to the room of the young American, she felt her heart beating faster. The guard inserted his key and swung the door open, motioning for her to enter.

She shuffled into the room pus.h.i.+ng her mop and bucket and looked up. Suddenly she felt a tightness in her chest and everything began to swirl around her. Unconsciously she reached for the arm of the guard to steady herself.

The room was empty.

He asked her if she was sick. For a moment she said nothing as her mind reeled. Then, as she regained her balance, she let go of his arm, excusing herself.

”I'm a little under the weather. What happened to the patient?” she asked, trying to sound casual, as though only curious.

”Probably upstairs,” he replied disinterestedly. ”They said to clean the room just the same.”

Ping was scarcely aware that she was mopping the floor. Upstairs could mean two places, either the operating rooms on the 11 or 12 floors or the patient rooms on the 4 and 7. She had learned that the transplants usually took place in the middle of the night when fewer people were about, so the young lady was probably on the 4 or 7 being prepped.

She finished the room and the next two and then was taken to the other side to clean. This was where the young American man was being held. She had not communicated with him at all, fearing that his youth and testosterone might tempt him to try to escape on his own, which would certainly result in his capture and death. But now she knew what she must do. As she had with the woman, she slipped the tightly rolled message into one of the small holes in the sink drain. Then she glanced over at the American and tilted her head toward the sink twice.

When they were walking down the hall she turned to the guard and told him she needed to use the restroom. There she pulled out the cell phone that they had given her to use if something went wrong. She had to wait in a stall until the restroom was empty. Then she dialed, finally hearing a voice on the other end.

”h.e.l.lo.”

”She is not in the room. They have taken her out. The male is still in his room.”

”Where have they taken her?” the voice on the other end asked.

”I am not certain, perhaps 4 or 7, I have no way of knowing,” she answered. The line clicked dead. Someone entered the rest room then and Ping emerged from the stall and washed her hands. It would be another six hours before her s.h.i.+ft was done. Then she would go home and wait, wait to find out if she and the Americans would on that night leave their nightmare behind or if a far worse nightmare had begun.

”We have a problem,” Jun said. The captain's heart skipped a beat. They were having their planned breakfast in a crowed restaurant where they could talk more.

”They moved your granddaughter.”

”Where?” asked the captain.

”The cleaning lady says maybe to the fourth or seventh floor, she doesn't know for sure. I think that's where they prep patients for surgery and where the patients recuperate afterward, but I'm not certain.”

”Then we need to move now!” said the captain. ”If I have to, I'll go in there alone and find them myself. I'll raise so much h.e.l.l they won't be able to go through with it.”

”One man?” Jun hrumphed. ”They will knock you down and stick a needle in your neck,” he said. ”Then you will become just another unwilling donor. You are in China, captain, they do what they want here and to h.e.l.l with everyone. No one would ever hear from you or your family again. Do not act stupidly. Listen carefully, they only do the operations in the middle of the night to make it easier to keep them secret, so we still have a little time. Let's go back to the place where we met yesterday and try to reach the others. Then we will make a new plan.”

47.

The Thai food tasted much better without all the drama. Clifford had driven most of the night and had agreed to meet Baines and Molly for lunch.

”Cliff, I am so very sorry. I had no idea I was putting you in so much danger,” said Baines.

”Virg, I've had folks come after me before; it goes with the territory. I just didn't expect to get rolled in broad daylight in an upscale neighborhood.”

”What happened?” asked Baines.

”Well, I gave the sleaze ball the bug and told him all he had to do was drop it in Brewer's jacket pocket. Since he'd already told me that Brewer always hangs his suit jacket on a hook in the outer office, and the secretary is gone at that hour, it seemed like a cinch. And it was. Brewer was on the phone when the dirt bag came in and he just dropped the bug in the jacket pocket on the way into the inner office, slick as snot. Rawles told Brewer that the camera malfunctioned and he didn't get anything. But he said that Molly had gotten close to you and they could try again. Then Brewer started giving Rawles s.h.i.+t 'cause he screwed up and the thug blew up and stormed out.”

”So the bug's in Brewer's jacket pocket at this point?” asked Baines.

”Broadcasting like a loudspeaker. I got every word. So then Brewer leaves to go explain things to Shumer. I'm sitting downstairs by the window of a restaurant listening to everything being said on the third floor office, which is also next to a window. I would have preferred that it had been a bit more explicit, but the conversation left no doubt that they were blackmailing you.”

”So what you recorded was unmistakable in terms of what it was they were trying to do,” said Baines.

”Let me put it this way, Virg, a slick Was.h.i.+ngton law firm could probably keep Brewer and Shumer out of jail, but everyone would be crystal clear about what they were trying to do.”

”So then somebody hit you over the head and took the recording,” said Baines.

”Well, sort of. You see, while I was sitting in the bar listening to everything, I noticed someone in the third floor window of the building right across the street, the office across from Shumer's. The guy's looking down at me, and I'm wondering why someone up there would be lookin' at me, but I figured maybe he's just taking a break and lookin' out the window. So, anyway, a little later I happened to look up and the guy's back in the window with someone standing next to him. One of 'em's pointing his finger right at me, you know, like the first guy saw something interesting and called the other guy over to show him.”

”At that point, it's starting to creep me out, but by then I was done so I just packed up and left. Halfway back to the car I heard someone behind me and the next think I know I'm in the hospital with an egg the size of a baseball on my head.”

”Listen, Cliff, I'm just glad you're OK. We can live without the recording, I should have known better than to send you into enemy territory.”

”We don't have to live without the recording, Virg,” he said.

”What? I thought you said they took all your gear.”

”They did, but whenever I make a recording, the first thing I do is put it to sleep on the cloud.”

”You just lost me,” said Baines.

”I have an internet account with online storage,” Virg. ”I just hit a b.u.t.ton and the recording goes to the server in the sky where I can retrieve it later. Before I came here I checked; it's still there. I made another backup and put it in a safe place just in case.”

A smile crept over Baines face.

48.

At 10:30 pm an ambulance pulled up to the emergency entrance of the Tianjin Hospital #77. A taxi following it parked nearby. The ambulance honked and the overhead door rose slowly, allowing it to back up to the dock. A police officer and three others got out of the taxi and walked into the dock area before the overhead door closed again.

The ambulance driver greeted a familiar face, telling him that he was there for a pickup and not carrying a patient, in which case they would have called ahead and had emergency personnel waiting. The man on duty returned the greeting and looked briefly at the others, noticing that one was a police officer. When the police appear, a wise man disappears goes an old saying in China. He smiled and then said h.e.l.lo to the doctor, whom he recognized as one of the staff.