Act of War - Brad Thor Page 0,29
more important to them than the safety of their children,” Wu replied. “They want the best. That means Cheng.”
Shi and his wife had never been able to have children. With the hours he worked, he had always looked upon that as a blessing. Even so, he understood the human urge to protect one’s children. It was one of the few human traits he was willing to cede to China’s politicians, even though far too many lavishly spoiled their offspring while publicly espousing Mao’s revolution and the glories of communism.
“Assuming Cheng is able to locate all of them—” Shi began.
“Once Cheng has located all of them,” Wu corrected.
“Okay, once Cheng has located all of them, then what? The doubles program doesn’t exist anymore.”
The general took a slow drag off his cigarette. It was well known that the Americans tracked the visas of all Chinese nationals who entered the United States, especially those connected to the higher-ups in the Chinese Communist Party. Because the U.S. put special flags on these visas, China had created a doubles program.
At every university a princeling attended, the MSS enrolled a similar-enough-looking Chinese national. When princelings needed to be recalled for disciplinary action or any other reason that China wanted hidden from the U.S., a princeling borrowed the travel documents of his or her double, while the double stepped into the princeling’s shoes at school until the princeling returned. The adoption of sophisticated biometric devices by America’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement had rendered the doubles program obsolete.
If the five princelings tried to leave the country on one airplane, or even five different airplanes, the United States was not only going to know about it, they were going to start connecting the dots and soon thereafter questions would begin. China couldn’t risk that. The Second Department would have to come up with another way.
After a couple more moments of thought, Wu said, “What about Medusa?”
Medusa was the codename of an asset the PLA maintained in the southeastern United States.
Shi thought about it. “We’d use him to get them out of the country to the plantation?”
The plantation was China’s intelligence division based in Havana.
Wu nodded. “We could have a plane waiting for them there.”
It was an interesting plan, except for one thing. “Medusa has disappointed us in the past. If any of this goes wrong, the PSC and the General Secretary will hold you and me responsible.”
“That’s why we need Cheng. He will not disappoint us. He’ll make sure nothing goes wrong.”
Shi wasn’t as confident. There was not just the question of whether Cheng could handle the assignments; if the Americans did have the missing Somali and they had broken him, they would have a two-day head start.
Tasking Cheng with both operations was wasteful and it was Shi who ultimately would be held responsible if Cheng failed. Looking at his boss, he said, “You are placing a lot of confidence in one man.”
“No,” the general replied. “I am placing my confidence in two men—you and Cheng.”
“If this fails, and the PSC also uncovers what we know about Cheng, you and I are both dead men.”
“Then you had better make sure this doesn’t fail, and that you complete your assignment before the Americans have any idea what’s going on.”
CHAPTER 14
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DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
It was after five o’clock and the dusty Bur Dubai neighborhood was still crowded with tourists. Businessmen were headed home or out for drinks. Taxicab drivers, immune to the heat, drove with their windows rolled down, picking up and dropping off customers in front of shops emblazoned with brightly colored Arabic script. Clothing, jewelry, and electronics competed alongside prayer rugs, hookah pipes, and antique furniture for buyers’ attention. The scent of the Gulf mingled with the aromas wafting out of restaurants up and down the neighborhood streets.
One of the first things Harvath had noticed about Bur Dubai was that it wasn’t as security-conscious as other parts of the city. There weren’t cameras on every single building and street corner. He was glad. It would make his job a lot easier.
He had gone around and around in his mind as to the best way to grab Khuram Hanjour. What about an invitation from Fahad? Would he respond to something like that? Would he respond on short notice? From what Harvath had seen over his career, particularly in his training with the Secret Service, people who engaged in risky behavior were extremely compulsive. The risk alone delivered its own high, and they were constantly trying to