Chapter 9
The Cynic and the foreign spy's defection.
ICU, Hospital.
Mei-Ling woke up to the consistent sinus rhythm from the monitor near her head. Immediately she felt a blazing inferno in her chest and lighting her whole body up. She tried to groan and curse her life but found her throat arched and unable to do so. Opening her eyes, the fuzzy vision slowly began to coalesce into a crystal-clear picture of the man who had attempted to patch her chest.
Luckily for her the bastard missed all vital organ and the bullet went through and through. She thought endlessly about the perils of spy life and other than her dear brother, she knew she was the best fit to be in the spy game.
Her brain went into overdrive as she took in her surroundings. There is no such thing as a coincidence. She painfully learnt that lesson early on and seeing the same guy again, so soon. He had to be an American operative. Immediately she clammed up and dove into her training. She wouldn't break to any interrogation or consume any food they offered. She learnt recently that the Americans had perfected the administration of Sodium Pentothal along with another compound to virtually have a truth serum with no obvious side effects.
When the tall, curly headed, quite-unusual looking American operative offered her a glass of water to quench her thirst, she stubbornly refused to drink. The operative sighed as if he didn't want to be there and would rather have anyone else here. Then he did something surprising. He took a sip of water in front of her and then gave her the glass. A show of 'nothing in here, just plain water'. She still didn't trust him.
He could have ingested a counter agent before drinking. So, she still refused his offering of nectar at this point. He flopped on the chair opposite her chair and went into a thinking position. He startled her, a few minutes later, when he suddenly got up, moved towards her and reached for something near her. Thinking he was going to force her to ingest, she began to struggle against her bindings, which she just noticed, more strenuously. To her surprise, he moved his hands completely away from her towards the call-nurse-button near her and jabbed it forcefully. Then he backed away with his hands raised.
The nurse came in soon enough and she heard him ask her to bring a newly packaged set of drinking water bottles. Within a few minutes she returned with a completely new set and opened one and gave her. At this point, she knew she couldn't hold out any longer and grabbed the water.
Feeling a little better, she asked the first question on her mind. "What do you want?"
His response amused her to no end. "You."
He backtracked immediately, "Not you as in being with you or something like that. And I am not saying I don't want to be with you or you aren't attractive. I just want to know few details about you and your mission here."
She decided to tease him. "With the way you were watching over me, I think it is safe to say you were admiring me. Are you sure you don't want…" and then she looked through her eyelashes "me?".
He was stunned. She was sure now that he was no operative. In general, operatives were quite quick to flirt back and thought themselves Bondsy or suave. He really wasn't.
Once the blush disappeared from his face and he had visibly strengthened his resolve, he replied. "While I am sure it would be quite a night, I am afraid, I am already taken."
She decided that she had enough fun and proceeded further with her questions. "Again. What do you want?"
He rolled up his sleeves and finally answered her question. "The Chinese government has disavowed you and deemed you a rogue agent. According to international laws, you are now an individual without a state. We wish to remedy that."
She understood. "Why didn't you just let me die? I am not going to betray my homeland even if they aren't backing me anymore."
He sat down and was silent for a while. "I guess you have surmised by now that I am not an agent. Or an operative exactly. In fact, I am a nobody. I am here because I found you dying on the road. Rather, I saw you get shot while I was hiding behind a dumpster.
"I was surveilling that place because a friend of mine had got into a spot of trouble there. Just to keep him updated. And to my surprise I saw this lady with a gun running out after the triad's boss and was shot. My… family and I value life beyond what normal people deem its value as. I guess it does have a lot to do with hardships in our life."
He then looked into her eyes and said, "Before you blacked out, you asked me to save your brother. Unfortunately, I have no power or am in no position to do so. I am a sort of CI… I suppose. I provide my supervisors with information unique and nigh useful, so I tend to have a little leeway.
"I have a certain skillset – observation and to an extent, familial sentiment evaluation. From the worry lines creased on your forehead when you thought you were dying, it was clear to me you and your brother have a unique bond. If I were to guess, I would say that you took care of your brother. I would guess that you are about 27 years of age.
"If I am right, at that time the one-child policy in China was and it still is in effect. Your younger brother is an illegal national of the PRC. So, you took care of him and hid him from the government's ruthless agents. You fed him and got him into a much more robust and yet far safer job in Chinese Diplomatic Services while you were picked up at a young age to serve Chinese Secret Agencies.
"If anybody gets that, it is me. I have an elder sister who took care of me, fed me, sheltered me and kept me out of the claws of the foster system. I and my sister are attached far beyond what one might see as a normal sibling relationship. I know that I would do just about anything for her and I know she would do anything for me, just the same.
"What I am basically trying to say through all this is… I get it. I want to save your brother. But I am in no position to do so. I can't authorize anything as I am just a glorified CI."
She shifted her head to the side and processed whatever he said. She was a little freaked out how he had been able to read her past so well and so quickly. It was like he took one look at her and told her past. But she brushed that aside for the more important question that was bouncing in her head, "Why are you telling me this? If you can't save my brother, what is the use of the whole monologue?"
He stared at her. His stare seemed to penetrate her soul and strip her walls apart like they were butter and he, the hot knife. She felt bare. It felt like eternity as she lost herself in the warm brown stare. An inviting stare. An alluring stare, she felt. And she almost missed what he said next, only making out from her lip-reading skills.
"Because you can."
She was not entirely clear on that. So, her puzzled expression with a resounding, "What?" was a frightening sound to him. He repeated. "Because you can."
She again looked away and after a while replied, "Well… The last time didn't go that well, did it? How will I know this time will be any different?".
"This time, you will have the support of the entire American intelligence arsenal."
She looked angry. "Are you blackmailing me? For my brother's life?"
He finally put his face in his hands and replied. "No. I am not. In fact, I didn't want to be here at all. I am here because the local law enforcement has not been able to touch Ben Lo Pan for thirty years. Do you really think that if they were alerted, they would circumvent all the laws that bound them in the first place?"
She contemplated what he said. "So… you said you were a CI. But not for the local law enforcement. That means you inform the federal enforcement or the Homeland department. Are you saying that they too are bound by the same rules?"
He took a few seconds and replied, "I am saying that in the next nine hours, there is no possible way for any law enforcement body to execute the search legally and recover your brother. The only way ahead is for us to conduct an operation for ensuring national security by recovering a foreign national integral to Chinese diplomatic operations in USA. It is a grey area but US intelligence agencies can be authorized to intervene in a homeland operation if properly incentivized."
She was furious. She practically spat on him when she accused him, "How is that not blackmail? You are asking me to betray my country for my brother. I thought you Americans were supposed to be upholders of freedom and all that."
His eyes flashed. "We definitely do uphold those values. Do we get lost sometimes? Undoubtedly. But everybody makes mistakes. However, we also respect the rule of law. And other such things that aren't conveniently removed whenever our government deems it unnecessary.
"We did this not because we wanted to turn you. If that were the case, there are other techniques that could have been employed. No. We are offering you a chance to not only save your brother, but also avoid prosecution for running off reservation. If you were to return to China after successfully rescuing your brother, do you really think they aren't going to see that he is an illegal? Do you really think they won't make an example out of both you and your brother?
"This is a chance to not only save face for the Chinese saying that their agent was able to successfully rescue your brother from the clutches of a gang that blemishes Chinese prestige, but also an out for you. Your brother can visit the USA whenever he wants. You can both have a life without being forced into a particular direction because the CCP wants you to."
Her stubborn face caused him to sigh heavily. "I don't like this anymore than you do. But if it were me, I would rather have my sister alive and well and me trapped in a foreign land rather than him dead and me wallowing for the rest of my life in a country that doesn't respect my service to its security. You have about eight hours and twenty-seven minutes to save your brother from now.
"I am truly sorry that you face an impossible choice. But life isn't fair and I have come to learn that through tougher scenarios. I am pretty sure you have too. When you make your decision, I will be outside."
He got up and was nearly out the door when he heard a soft request. "Wait. Please."
He stopped and look at her. She seemed convinced of something. She sighed and took a deep breath before she spoke, "I have been disillusioned with the Chinese way of things for sometime now. But we don't really have an out in this way of life. However horrible as it may be, I am willing to give information if and only if my brother and I are both given the protection of the US government. Do you have the authority to make the deal?"
He couldn't believe it. He had been able to get her to understand her choices. And now they can save that poor guy. He hated that he had done nothing while her brother had been tossed into the trunk and driven away. But, now he had a chance to fix it. He could help this family back and give them a shot at a real life. He immediately switched on the monitor in her room and Graham and Beckman came online.
Yet, he felt sad even though he accomplished something huge for the US government. They had made him play her family against her duty. And he had done their dirty work. He felt ashamed. He was enraged. He despaired.
Sarah was just outside. She had watched her asset… well, not an asset any longer. But, SSA Chuck accomplish the task he was given within ten minutes. She understood now what Bryce meant by a great spy. He never meant a spy in the type that she and he were. He meant a spy who could convince others to do things that generally they wouldn't. A spy that could get the job done in means and methods that conventional spies had no knowledge. A spy who had too much heart in the game and would be repeatedly burned even if the magnitude of his achievements would have been enormous. A spy like no other whose soul had to be saved from the perils of her world.
Even now, the smallest of things had left him in a state of disillusionment. It clearly had gotten to him even if all he did was get an agent to defect. She went close to him and wanted to comfort him. She wanted to wipe off the disheartened look, the distraught vibes that had overtaken his normally cheery self. She wanted to assure him that this would never happen again. But she couldn't. She wouldn't lie to him. He was looking to be a field analyst now. He was basically an operative of Graham and Beckman's decisions and indecisions. If he rebels in any way, they won't hesitate to burn him. Not kill him. But rectify his emotional capacity through other means. They may even force her to seduce him. She would resist as much as possible. But she was trained to be the obedient catalyst for their whims and fancies. And as much as she would try and resist, her training would take over.
She had begun desensitizing herself to the indoctrination she had been through during the farm. It began to happen gradually. It accelerated largely because of the baby. And now Chuck and his awesome nature have completely exploded that transformation. But she needed more time. More time to completely overthrow her training. And she needed to repent her mistakes. Her failures. Her past.
She wanted to overthrow their trained agency and replace it with her own. She didn't want it to be sporadic or triggered by extreme situations. She wanted it to be spontaneous like it was for Chuck and his family. She had been training him and so had Casey. But unlike the farm, they decided that they would spare him of the indoctrination. They would let him retain his own agency. His own unique demeanour and charm. It was a rare moment where they got to exercise their own agency for the welfare of not only the common good, but also the greater good.
She would make sure that Chuck would be the only analyst of his kind. A field analyst of exceptional calibre with the ability to recourse and adapt for the best possible situation and outcomes for all parties involved. If there was one thing she gleaned over time, it was that he understood the need for the greater good to prevail. But he taught her, that most of the time, the greater good was served when the common good was allowed to flourish. He still has to learn that sometimes, on this job, the only way to get the common good was through incredibly difficult choices – ones that aren't necessarily bad, but aren't great either. Best of the bad lot in essence.
She stopped Chuck and led him to a room that was free from bugs. Free from unwanted attention. She hugged him and let him sob. Let him sob his heart out and repent his feelings of him leveraging his most cherished value – family – because he was in essence, ordered to. She knew this wasn't a weakness. She now knew that emotion wasn't a bad thing for a spy. She knew that if she could, she would have spared him this brutality. For now, she would just be there for him. Like he has been her pole of support through her time adjusting and adapting.
Chuck's home.
Mei-Ling was reunited with her brother and they were celebrating their new life at Chuck's home. The operation had been successful and with the help of a SAD unit as well as NSA's magic, they had practically gift-wrapped the entire case to the FBI. Grey areas were a divine thing. Now they had living breathing embodiments of Chinese spy craft and diplomatic channels in Mei and her brother. To say the operation was successful would be a massive understatement.
Chuck had come up with the plan of redirecting communication between the members of the triad to give misleading information. There were 40 members protecting Ben Lo Pan. With the misdirectional communications, they reduced it by half. The remaining half stood no chance against the elite 6-unit SAD team, Sarah, Major Casey and surprisingly, Mei herself.
The resounding success had allowed Chuck an opportunity to coerce the bosses an obtain a signed document, proclaiming him an analyst-in-training and all the other agreements he demanded. They weren't thrilled that he had that evidence but true to their word, and proof-read by Jones, the contract was legal and completely real, something even the CIA couldn't make disappear as it now was lodged safely in the bureaucracy of the DOJ.
As it went on, Chuck had retreated to the kitchen. Unbeknownst to him, Mei had followed with Sarah tailing her from afar. Mei watched Chuck prepare his mocktails, which were surprisingly delicious and certainly pop-inducing if people wanted a little dry ice in it. She observed him work the mocktail mixer and all the ingredients diligently and pour into the glasses. His voice shook her out of her stupor, when he asked her, "Anything I should add or remove from yours Mei?"
She smiled and replied, "No, Chuck. I have had too many tonight. They are pretty good."
"Then I am guessing you want to ask me something?"
She smiled. A coy smile. "You played me pretty well, Mr. Carmichael. You said you weren't blackmailing me. And yes, technically, you didn't. But, you didn't give me much choice, did you? That needs to be…" He looked directly at her when she stopped and saw a look of playfulness and bizarrely, lust. And she continued knowing she had his gaze now, "… corrected".
Sarah watched this interaction and felt the stirrings of something. She couldn't really identify that. It was something new. And yet old. She could recall feeling like this in high school. About all that perfect hair, perfect teeth, popular assholes, parading themselves as students. Yeah. Jealousy. She grimaced and stamped it out and instead bemused herself with Chuck's deer-in-the headlights look.
Chuck sighed and decided he needed to apologize. "I truly am sorry, Mei. I honestly didn't see any alternative to save your brother without any harm to him or to you. I can't say how deeply dirty I felt when I had to convince you to ditch your country."
Mei couldn't believe him. He had saved her brother's life. One that her country themselves deemed worthless. A country who she dedicated her whole adult life to. Some of her teenage years as well. And here he was apologizing for giving her the best possible dream she could have. Free from espionage. Freedom for her brother. And a life of liberty in the USA.
Perhaps he was right. He was no spy. He felt too much for one. And he didn't act like one too. Not remotely as close. Maybe he was what he said, a special circumstances CI with skills the government chose to employee from time-to-time. So, she decided to let him be at ease.
"Relax, Chuck. I know your bosses ordered you do this. And I guess, in the end, everything turned out alright. So, I want to thank you. Thank you for making my priorities clear. And thank you for going the other way when torture was a clear alternative." She cast her eyes down and said, "I have chosen it far too many times in the past and hopefully I can atone for it in the future."
Her mood took a U-turn when she became happy all of a sudden and asked him, "Are you free for dinner tomorrow night? I'll pick you up. I need to convey my thanks… in a manner befitting the nature of this event."
Chuck chuckled. He couldn't believe that yet another spy was taking a run at him. Nonetheless, he had his eyes only for one woman and he will stay steadfast. "Like I said, Mei. I am already taken. And I apologize, but I need to decline your invitation." When he finished, his eyes met Sarah's and a flicker of emotion through her eyes conveyed to him that she had been worried but was now happy. He had eyes only for her and he let her know it.
Mei sighed and turned. "Maybe someday, I would get an opportunity. Until then, I suppose. Goodbye Chuck."
And she and her brother left the apartment.
Warehouse, Downtown.
The panther was tied to a chair and his mouth was muffled. Thick ropes bound his feet to the legs and handcuffs which were not jerry-manderable, were locked to a pole. He surely looked like he had better days. A huge gash was running across his cheek and his torso was cut with thin lines of red appearing in large numbers.
A curly, brown-haired man stood across him with a whip whose rope's diameter was about two millimeters, clearly the cause of these gashes. He reached for the gag and removed it so that the person could speak. Blood dripped from his mouth when he tried to speak.
"Please… Please… Don't hurt me further."
"I am not hurting you now. I haven't hurt you really. I know these micro-wounds will heal up in a few days. I just want to know how to stop the sanction that is out on my friend. Tell me that and I will let you rest."
"I don't know. Please. I don't know. I just do as I am told. Please Mr. Cha-"
"What did I say about speaking my name? Whip him, Patrick. Whip him again till he tells me what I want to know."
The brown-haired man's phone rang and Chuck Bartowski's photo id appeared. "Hey Chuck. (Pause) Yeah, I am good. The patient you sent over, he seems like a tough nut. (Pause) He will break eventually. (Pause) Are you sure? (Pause) Okay."
He placed the phone to the guy's ear and said, "He's hearing."
Hey guys. So that closes that arc. We will move into operation Tiny and more. Just a smaller teaser at the end. Hope you enjoy it.
