on behalf of her
husband. There will be plenty of opportunities for contact and
recruitment. All we have to do is keep watching
her. ”
Chu nodded, trying not to say too
much. Kean chimed in with questions of his own.
“ What if she
decides not to take care of him? What if she decides to dump his
ass and walk away for what he did to her? ”
Baker shook his
head and smiled. “ Maria needs money too. If she
decides to sell Erich ’ s work to finance her new life, the end result is the same.
We still track the buyer, get video of the illegal transaction and
the client uses the intel to blackmail Beijing. Everybody
wins. ”
“ So does this
mean we should continue to monitor the house? ” The prospect of keeping his job
made Privti ’ s face
light up like a kid at Christmas.
“ I
don ’ t know,
Ganesh. I was under the impression you were uncomfortable working
this assignment with Mr. Chu …”
“ Mr. Baker, I
would appreciate a chance to show what I can do. Mr. Chu and I
understand each other. We are on the same team.
I ’ m sure we can
turn this situation into a positive result. ”
Baker kept
shaking his head. “ What about you, Stanley? You willing to stay on the op and
switch targets? ”
“ Watching Mrs.
Maas get recruited is a lot better than watching her get beat up.
We ’ ll need more
people to cover all her potential contacts, but I think we should
stay on as the core team to help coordinate
things. ”
“ Right. ” Baker turned back to Chu with a smile mixed with pride,
relief and a bit of fraternal mischief. “ This is your plan, Smoke. Are you
willing to stay on and manage it on the ground? ”
Chu shrugged as
if it didn ’ t
matter to him either way. “ I try to do the right thing. If you
need me, I ’ m
here. ”
Baker
didn ’ t bother to
hide his amusement. “ Are you sure? I figured you ’ d want to take some time to visit
your mother. ”
Chu shrugged
again, downplaying the final hint of their shared secret. “ I ’ m sure she ’ ll understand what
I ’ m doing, even if
I never tell her. ”
“ We all have our
secrets, Mr. Chu. ” Baker gave his friend a good slap on his shoulder before he
left the room. “ Some of us just have more secrets than
others. ”
Interlude: Team
Building
Summer 2014
“ Did Chinese
intelligence ever make contact with the wife? ” Nikki watched Chu and Trent run a
brutal cardio circuit. One man would hoist the other over his
shoulder like a sack of dirty laundry and then sprint across the
beach parallel to the shore line. As he kicked up sand and
struggled to run with a full grown man on his back, the passenger
engaged in all sorts of torment. Orders barked in harsh military
tones followed brisk slaps to the kidneys or elbows to the back of
the head. When the runner reached the discarded t-shirt serving as
a marker, the men would switch, repeating the exercise. Just
watching the two men made Nikki ’ s thighs ache.
Rose watched with
her, without sharing Nikki ’ s respect for their exertion. “ No. Maria Maas never had
any contact from foreign intelligence and the entire op was
scrubbed after eight more weeks of surveillance. The client
wasn ’ t happy at
all. ”
“ We
can ’ t manufacture
engagement with the opposition, Ms. Mendoza. ” Baker took a seat next to Ria and
took her free hand in his own. “ We get paid to look, but we
can ’ t find what
isn ’ t
there. ”
“ Something might
have been there if you didn ’ t have a loose cannon in the
operation. ” Rose
turned away from the beach to face Baker. “ If it was my op, I would have made
sure Chu never worked another day for the company or anyone else.
He let his personal feelings get in the way and ruined an entire
operation. I would have turned him over to the police and let him
take his chances with an attempted murder
charge. ”
“ I ’ d be
careful if I were you, sister. ” Ria
husband. There will be plenty of opportunities for contact and
recruitment. All we have to do is keep watching
her. ”
Chu nodded, trying not to say too
much. Kean chimed in with questions of his own.
“ What if she
decides not to take care of him? What if she decides to dump his
ass and walk away for what he did to her? ”
Baker shook his
head and smiled. “ Maria needs money too. If she
decides to sell Erich ’ s work to finance her new life, the end result is the same.
We still track the buyer, get video of the illegal transaction and
the client uses the intel to blackmail Beijing. Everybody
wins. ”
“ So does this
mean we should continue to monitor the house? ” The prospect of keeping his job
made Privti ’ s face
light up like a kid at Christmas.
“ I
don ’ t know,
Ganesh. I was under the impression you were uncomfortable working
this assignment with Mr. Chu …”
“ Mr. Baker, I
would appreciate a chance to show what I can do. Mr. Chu and I
understand each other. We are on the same team.
I ’ m sure we can
turn this situation into a positive result. ”
Baker kept
shaking his head. “ What about you, Stanley? You willing to stay on the op and
switch targets? ”
“ Watching Mrs.
Maas get recruited is a lot better than watching her get beat up.
We ’ ll need more
people to cover all her potential contacts, but I think we should
stay on as the core team to help coordinate
things. ”
“ Right. ” Baker turned back to Chu with a smile mixed with pride,
relief and a bit of fraternal mischief. “ This is your plan, Smoke. Are you
willing to stay on and manage it on the ground? ”
Chu shrugged as
if it didn ’ t
matter to him either way. “ I try to do the right thing. If you
need me, I ’ m
here. ”
Baker
didn ’ t bother to
hide his amusement. “ Are you sure? I figured you ’ d want to take some time to visit
your mother. ”
Chu shrugged
again, downplaying the final hint of their shared secret. “ I ’ m sure she ’ ll understand what
I ’ m doing, even if
I never tell her. ”
“ We all have our
secrets, Mr. Chu. ” Baker gave his friend a good slap on his shoulder before he
left the room. “ Some of us just have more secrets than
others. ”
Interlude: Team
Building
Summer 2014
“ Did Chinese
intelligence ever make contact with the wife? ” Nikki watched Chu and Trent run a
brutal cardio circuit. One man would hoist the other over his
shoulder like a sack of dirty laundry and then sprint across the
beach parallel to the shore line. As he kicked up sand and
struggled to run with a full grown man on his back, the passenger
engaged in all sorts of torment. Orders barked in harsh military
tones followed brisk slaps to the kidneys or elbows to the back of
the head. When the runner reached the discarded t-shirt serving as
a marker, the men would switch, repeating the exercise. Just
watching the two men made Nikki ’ s thighs ache.
Rose watched with
her, without sharing Nikki ’ s respect for their exertion. “ No. Maria Maas never had
any contact from foreign intelligence and the entire op was
scrubbed after eight more weeks of surveillance. The client
wasn ’ t happy at
all. ”
“ We
can ’ t manufacture
engagement with the opposition, Ms. Mendoza. ” Baker took a seat next to Ria and
took her free hand in his own. “ We get paid to look, but we
can ’ t find what
isn ’ t
there. ”
“ Something might
have been there if you didn ’ t have a loose cannon in the
operation. ” Rose
turned away from the beach to face Baker. “ If it was my op, I would have made
sure Chu never worked another day for the company or anyone else.
He let his personal feelings get in the way and ruined an entire
operation. I would have turned him over to the police and let him
take his chances with an attempted murder
charge. ”
“ I ’ d be
careful if I were you, sister. ” Ria
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