A Spy Story
Chapter 1
"Thank you, Xiang." A young woman seated at a poorly made wooden desk with a fountain pen and a small scrap of paper in hand said to a teenaged boy standing next to her.
"Hm." The dark haired boy nodded. "Don't waste precious time talking like this."
"I'm not wasting it, I'm spending it with my cousin whom I see for only a few waking hours every day, who risks his life daily to spy on the invaders of our homeland to protect our country." The young woman replied. Xiang's face reddened slightly, his face not showing the slightest emotion. He inwardly hoped that the dim light of the room the two were in would help mask his face.
"Yue, you do the same thing. No need to make me sound so noble."
"Alright, alright."
"I need to go now. The Japanese are having another war meeting today."
"Alright. I need to get started on this new message." Yue glanced at the small piece of paper clutched in her hand. She sighed slightly, knowing the long task before her. Yue lifted a slender hand to gently pat the boy's cheek.
"You're such a big boy now." Xiang blushed again, embarrassed. "Be safe, okay? I can't lose you like…" Yue trailed off. The two both knew who she was talking of.
"I will, I'm always okay."
"Don't become overconfident. That's always the downfall of the greatest spies." Yue warned. She knew that fact too well, having lost a parent and too many relatives to overconfidence.
"I'm just stating a fact. I'll never be captured." Xiang had a tint of defiance in his voice.
"Just be safe, and don't say things like that. It's bad luck."
"Superstitions. Anyways, I'm leaving."
Xiang walked with quick, purposeful strides over to the curtained window of their apartment. With a flick of his hand, the thin curtain was pulled away to reveal a slightly dirty window. Light streamed into the formerly dark room, making both occupants wince and blink away tears.
After adjusting to the light, Xiang flipped open the window and put one foot on the windowsill.
Xiang glanced below him. It would be a eight story fall if he were to lose his balance. He would surely die, and crush the many people milling about on the street.
Taking a deep breath, Xiang leapt from the windowsill to the roof of the building opposite of theirs. No one on the street noticed him jumping from one building to another, all of them too concentrated on surviving the seemingly never-ending war years.
Yue shut the window after her cousin had gone, and watched as he nimbly ran across roofs of buildings to his destination. After muttering a quick prayer to whatever Gods were listening, Yue closed the curtains.
She walked over to her desk and opened the drawer. In there sat a half-finished traditional chinese painting. A paintbrush and a bottle of black ink sat quietly beside it. Yue's slender hand reached into the drawer and retrieved all three items.
She quickly uncapped the bottle of ink and poured a small portion of it into a small bowl sitting on her desk. Yue grabbed her paintbrush and swiped it a few times around the bowl, before lifting it up and stopping to contemplate the painting before her.
The painting showed a eagle attacking a bleeding chicken, defending her egg. The eagle's eyes were sharp and calculating, black dots upon the white head of the eagle. The chicken cowered beneath the eagle's attacks, attempting to defend it self. The eagle's sharp beak connected with the chicken's stomach, drawing a few minuscule drops of blood.
The painting wasn't just a painting. As a spy, nothing is ever done for leisure. Everything had a purpose, just like the painting had one. The painting conveyed an important message, one which could save thousands of lives.
The eagle represented the Japanese empire, attacking the weakened nation of China. The chicken showed the shape of China, which made it easier to show which area of China would be attacked.
The stomach of China was the province of Guangxi, which Xiang had found out that the Japanese were planning to attack next. The painting would be passed through a complex network of Chinese, defected Japanese and Russian spies scattered across China. Soon, the message would be conveyed to the people of Guangxi, giving thousands of families the opportunity to evacuate the province, into neighboring provinces.
Her brush moved rapidly across the surface of the paper, making quick strokes. The unfinished painting was quickly completed, and Yue left the glistening ink to dry as she washed her hands.
Yue filled a small wooden bucket with cold water from her tap. The black ink smeared on her hands quickly dissolved and turned the clear water a murky grey. After making sure her hands were clean, she lifted the bucket and dumped the water down the drain.
She walked over to her desk to make sure that her painting was dry. Grabbing a rag, Yue patted the newly applied ink and pulled the rag away to inspect the dryness of it. After determining that the painting was indeed dry, Yue rummaged around her room to find a white cloth bag to hold the painting in.
Yue also brought along her purse, an excuse to drop by the local wet market and to give her message to the leader of the Hongkou district spy network.
Grabbing her red jacket, Yue headed out her door. She didn't bother locking it, knowing that none of the other occupants of her building would bother trying to steal something when no one had anything to be stolen.
Yue stuffed the painting unceremoniously into her bag as she ran down the stairs. She was intercepted by a Japanese guard the minute she stepped out of the door.
"You go?" The young man questioned in heavily accented Mandarin.
"I'm going to the market to buy some food, and then to deliver a painting." Yue replied in flawless Japanese. She had learned Japanese from a young age, as her step-father was Japanese. Yue sighed as she reminisced about the time before the war started, when her parents were still with her.
"You speak Japanese?" The soldier sounded highly suspicious.
"I studied painting in Japan when I was younger," Yue lied "Japanese painting techniques are the best."
The soldier looked pleased when she said that. "Very well. Let me see your painting. I want to see how an inferior Chinese can learn Japanese painting techniques."
Yue grit her teeth as she dug around her bag for the painting. As the soldier unrolled the painting, his eyes widened slightly at the quality of the painting.
"You are good. For an inferior." The soldier added.
"Thank you. Am I cleared to go?"
"You may."
Yue hurried away, as the soldier swooped down upon an old man who was out for a walk.
Thank goodness he wasn't the trouble-making type. Yue thanked the gods. She glanced at the body of a young man shot in the back of the head lying by the side of the road. Probably an assassin, working for a different underground network than hers.
Yue was tempted to at least move his body to a respectful cemetery to get him a proper funeral with his ancestors, but was stopped as a watchman from his tower glared at her as she stared at the body. Instead, she held her bag closer to her body as she hurried on to her destination.
Before long, she had made it to the crowded market. Store owners called out the price of their vegetables and rice, attempting to gain customers. Yue waved away several shop owners trying to shove bags of rice into her face, and made her way carefully into the back of the market.
At the back of the market, it was a lot quieter than at the front. There were fewer shops, and barely any customers. In fact, only two stalls were there, and one was empty, manned by an old woman with her head on her empty table, snoozing the day away.
Yue walked over to the other stall, one manned by a teenaged girl with flowers in her hair and a long, wild curl sticking out of her otherwise perfect hair.
"Hello, Mei." She addressed her younger cousin, who was the sister of Xiang.
"Hello, cousin." Mei didn't look Yue in the eye. Things had been tense since… something both of them didn't want to talk about happened.
"Uncle is out back?" Yue gestured vaguely at the wall behind Mei.
Mei nodded, and moved away as Yue swiftly pulled open a secret door in the wall behind them.
A small tunnel was dug into the wall and down into the ground, lit by a single hanging lightbulb. Stairs were roughly carved into the ground, uneven and barely visible. Yue quietly shut the door behind her, as she swiftly descended into the ground.
The tunnel didn't go on for very long, and soon, Yue reached a small wooden door with a door handle that was painted gold. She knocked twice, before a man's voice beckoned her in.
"Hello, Uncle." Yue bowed.
"Sit down, sit down." The man sitting before a desk gestured at the seat opposite of him. Yue took out the painting and set her bag down before sitting down.
"What have you got for me today?"
Yue said nothing as she unfurled the painting. "Guangxi." Was all she said.
"They're heading south… do they mean to take Hong Kong?"
"I don't know. All I know is what Xiang told me."
"How is my son? I haven't seen him in weeks."
"He's good enough. He got a burn on his arm from playing with his fireworks outside one day, but that's about it."
The man smiled a weary smile. "I'm so sorry for not being able to take care of him, making you do my job."
"It's nothing. After all, the leader should have complete freedom to do what needs to be done." Yue replied smoothly.
"Alright. You'll be going soon?"
"Yes I will. I have to get some food, then I'll have to find a way to get some extra money. I've been running out lately. Do you have any to spare?"
"We're all penniless."
"Ah. Well, I'll just do what I have to do."
"I'm sorry I wasn't of any help."
"Good bye." Yue turned to leave the room.
"Wait, wait. There's something I need you to give Xiang."
Yue stopped and turned back to her uncle. In his large hand was clutched a tiny talisman of a jade dragon on a black string.
"It's good luck for him."
"I'll make sure her gets it."
"Thank you so much."
Yue didn't respond as she opened the door and headed out the tunnel again. Mei opened the door for her as she slipped out, and pretended to be a customer buying rice from Mei. As Mei filled a small bag with rice, she asked Yue. "What's the bad news this time?"
"Don't talk like that. It's not normal for your age."
"And being in war isn't normal for my age."
"Alright, you've got me. This doesn't leak out to anyone." Yue warned, knowing her cousin's tendency to gossip.
"I won't! I swear."
"Guangxi."
"And…?"
"No. I've already said too much."
"Alright, alright." Mei whined a bit, indignant at how Yue was treating her. "I just want to know what's going on for a change! I can't see Xiang or anyone I know anymore. At least let me know what's going on!" The girl ranted.
"I'm sorry, Mei. I want to tell you too, but I can't."
"Can you?"
"I'm leaving now." With that, Yue turned her back to her cousin and merged with the crowd in the middle of the market. She then carefully made her way back to her apartment, avoiding any confrontations with soldiers.
"I suppose I'll rest a bit. I have nothing to do." With that, Yue found her bed and flung off her cloth shoes. They hit the wall with a dull thump, and slid down to the floor. Yue didn't bother righting them, and just closed her eyes and curled up in her thin blankets. Within minutes, she was asleep, all worries gone. Even if for just a few hours.
Author's Note: I know I should be working on Half-Alive Doll, but I honestly can't think of how to keep the story going. To anyone who's reading it, sorry! Also, please review! I really want to see what people think of this story.