Day 37—Thursday
With rucksacks strapped to their backs, Yuri Kirov and Jeff Chang were on the move at 12:25 A.M. The sticky night air hovered around ninety degrees Fahrenheit. Across the navigation channel to the north, the Phoenix Island Resort towers glistened. The beat of live rock and roll with Mandarin lyrics—Chengdu Rock—flowed across the waterway. A cruise ship from Shanghai had docked at the Phoenix Island terminal in the late afternoon. An outdoor shipboard party was underway on the aft deck.
As expected, the pier mooring the Lian was not approachable from the shore. Its squad of pole mounted floodlights lit up the pier deck. The main pier ran parallel to the shore for 620 feet. Two trestles, each about 230 feet long, were located near the east and west ends of the main pier. The trestles provided access from the shore to the main pier.
Yuri located a work float tied up to a bulkhead east of the pier. The eight-foot-wide by twenty-foot-long raft had a timber deck and frame. Foam filled plastic pontoons supported the deck.
Yuri and Jeff kneeled on the float with Yuri at the lead. Each held an eight foot stick of lumber swiped from a pile on the uplands. About the size of a standard two-by-four, they used the boards as paddles. Once under the eastern trestle, they had worked their way seaward between the clusters of steel pipe pilings that supported the concrete superstructure. The tide was low, which provided just enough room to pass under the trestle’s lateral reinforced concrete beams—pile caps—that rested on top of piles.
Light from the pier’s floodlights spilled under the dock, allowing Yuri and Jeff to see. After paddling the length of the trestle, they traveled westward under the main pier. When they neared the middle of the pier, Yuri turned around and said, “I think we’re close.” He spoke with a whisper. “Are you ready?”
Jeff tapped the Taser riding in a holster on his right hip—part of his spy gear. “Yep, all set.” Canary yellow and about the size of a pistol, the electroshock stun weapon was a standard police issue. Jeff also carried a Beretta in a shoulder holster that he’d been issued, as did Yuri. But gunfire was a last resort. Their immediate mission was a quick in and out. The Taser was their first line of defense.
Yuri set his paddle on the float deck. Jeff followed. Yuri pushed against a pile, propelling the raft from under the overhead pier. The float drifted next to the stern of the Lian. After standing, Yuri cautiously peered over the ship’s transom. The Viperina canisters were thirty feet away.
* * * *
The BMW drove onto the pier and parked adjacent to a gangway. The aluminum ramp provided pedestrian access to the Lian. While still in the front passenger seat, Meng Park embraced Captain Zhou Jun—one last time. “Thank you for a wonderful evening,” she said.
“My pleasure.”
They had just driven from Zhou’s apartment. After a late dinner out, they had returned to the naval captain’s quarters for a nightcap and sex.
Park opened her door and slipped a leg out. Just before exiting, Zhou said, “Good luck with your mission, and please keep me posted on your progress.”
“Thank you, and I will.”
Meng Park exited and the BMW drove forward, leaving the pier via the west trestle. Before heading up the gangway, Park took time to scan the Lian’s aft deck. The Viperina canisters were as she remembered, stored under the A-frame hoist.
Where’s the guard? she wondered.
Meng eventually located the sentry. He was on an upper deck that overlooked the stern. The PLAN sentry wore civilian attire but he carried an assault rifle. Park waved; the sailor returned the greeting.
Dr. Meng boarded the ship, bound for her cabin. Jun had wanted her to stay until morning, reminding Park that most of the crew also avoided the ship. Homeported in Sanya, the Lian’s twenty-two person military crew all lived in or near the city. Just three elected to spend their last night of shore leave aboard the ship—all bachelors. Park chose not to push her luck. So far, she had managed to conceal her affair with the S5 commander. She could only imagine the shipboard gossip should their secret be exposed.
Sated from drink and sex, all Park sought now was a hot shower and sleep.
* * * *
“Damn!” whispered Jeff Chang as he watched Meng Park board the ship. “It’s her.”
Yuri muttered a Russian expletive. He and the CIA officer squatted beside an eight foot high stainless steel cannister. When the BMW drove onto the pier, the sentry they’d been watching walked to the port side of the ship to investigate. That’s when Yuri and Jeff scurried over the transom and made their way to the collection of steel drums.
Jeff Chang surveyed their surroundings. The sentry leaned against a bulkhead in the shadows. He had just lit up. The tip of the cigarette glowed as he inhaled, marking his position.
Jeff whispered to Yuri. “We need to take out the guard first and then snatch her, like we talked about with the SEALs.”
“No way. We’re not ready to deal with her. We should stick to the plan. Knock out the guard and crack open one of these things.” Yuri pointed to the nearest barrel. “Photograph the guts, take what we can, and get out.”
Jeff ignored Yuri. He crawled forward along the steel deck, using the Viperina canisters as cover. Exasperated, Yuri followed.
* * * *
The sentry was blindsided. One moment he was strolling on the upper deck and then he found himself flat on his face, his teeth clutched vise tight and his body on electric fire from a 1,200 volt jolt.
Jeff Chang handed the Taser gun to Yuri and rushed forward. He injected the incapacitated sailor with a knockout drug. The dose of ketamine would render the twenty-four-year-old comatose for several hours.
After binding the sentry’s wrists behind his back, Jeff and Yuri dragged the sailor down a companionway to the aft deck. They hauled the guard into a cargo container box, dumping him behind boxes of spare parts.
“Let’s go find Meng now,” Jeff said.
“No, not yet,” Yuri ordered. He held the sentry’s rifle. “We open one of those damn drums first. Get what we can, and then…only if we haven’t been compromised, we try to find her.”
Jeff Chang reluctantly agreed.