Danny Huang’s class received an early mark on Wednesday afternoon, allowing Hai, Ru and Froggy to head straight for Cape Hatteras. It wasn’t often Danny Huang was alone and he didn’t relish it. He was a man who had spent his life in the company of many; an extended family of elders who adored him, the only child, living in a city packed with life, and then a career in the military constantly in the company of fellow soldiers.
The dorm was eerily quiet. It was three p.m. and he was not due to catch up with William Ying until nine p.m. Then William would head straight to Cape Hatteras that night to work with the team in preparation for the Sunday morning test. Danny would remain, see the VIP in the morning and arrive at Cape Hatteras late Thursday afternoon to oversee matters. He felt trapped like a bird in a cage. Grabbing his coat, he decided to head to Chinatown to get some paid-for company.
Danny Huang wandered the streets anonymously; no one recognized the ‘cop’ in town for training or knew who he really was, as he blended in with the local population. He allowed himself to be persuaded into a club and paid for the company of a young woman who looked barely legal. He liked them young. He wandered into a restaurant later for a meal. At eight p.m. he hailed a taxi and repeated his routine of being dropped a street away from William Ying’s house. William would do the same or organize his courier delivery drop off again. This time, Danny intended to stay the night. Since William is leaving late for Cape Hatteras, Mei might like to have a man in the house, he thought.
It was after eleven p.m. when William Ying said goodnight to his old friend Danny and leaving him in the family guest room, he left for Cape Hatteras, driving through the night and arriving at the beach by five-thirty a.m. He waited in his car in the dark. Daybreak was some time away yet. He was frustrated that the last test mission had failed. It was unacceptable. He looked out to sea; the small tide made it look peaceful. If Sunday’s conditions could be the same for the test, it should go fine.
William sighed and thought of his family. He had lied to Danny Huang. Had Danny guessed, he wondered. He had regularly spoken with his mother in Beijing and had spent more nights with his family than he should have, but he trusted his mother and his wife more than anyone in the party and he trusted that they would never betray him—not even under duress. They were from good stock.
At six a.m., William grabbed his towel, left the car and walked across the sand to the water’s edge. He turned to see a shadow approaching in the dark. As the person got closer he made out Hai’s features in the moonlight. Froggy remained a few steps behind carrying a backpack and towels; he was scanning the area. There was no sign of Ru whom he guessed must have remained behind in the VIP house communications room and was probably watching them now. William liked Hai, he was a man of his word. He knew his good friend Danny did not feel the same. The two men shook hands and turned to look out to sea.
“We’re ready,” Hai said. “Test this Sunday, the lift Friday fortnight?”
“Yes, after you all graduate with honors, especially in English.” William grinned. “That gives us time to iron out any issues and this time, it will go like clockwork. Shall we do our test?”
Hai nodded. “Ready Froggy?” he asked.
Froggy pulled out his stopwatch, pen and pad, and got himself organized while the two men stripped off to their swim trunks. He gave them the go ahead, clicking the stopwatch on.
Hai and William swam out about thirty yards and disappeared from the surface. Shortly after, they reappeared; Froggy noted the time and how far the tide had carried them. He looked around to gauge visibility but it was a dark morning and the sun was slow to hit the horizon. He noted this information.
The men swam back in and did the same exercise parallel to their last location. Again Froggy timed them, making notes. They drifted further. Coming in, both men shivered with the cold and dressed.
Froggy updated the men. “It is as we calculated. I am concerned about what will be visible when the divers are underwater at this hour … but we’ll know on Sunday after the test.”
“We don’t want to be using any lights,” Hai agreed. “We should do a dive this time tomorrow, Froggy, and see what we can see. We can give them the heads up the day before the test and get an idea what we might need.”
Froggy agreed. He was always keen to get below water.
“The timing was correct though?” William asked.
“Yes, perfectly manageable, even allowing for the age of the VIP and his state of fitness,” Froggy said.
“I am concerned though,” William said. “If the VIP panics …”
“I will inject him if needed,” Hai said. “Then Froggy and I will put the oxygen mask on him and take control. Not ideal, but doable.”
“Good, good. So, let’s head to the VIP’s premises,” William said.
“Of course.” Hai led the way to the car and Froggy and William followed.
“I’ll drive your rental, William, and you travel with Hai,” Froggy offered.
“Good idea, then you can get me up to speed, Hai,” William said, giving his keys to Froggy. “But breakfast first? We’ll find somewhere open early around here.”
William nodded. “An even better idea.”
As the two vehicles drove out of the parking lot, the sun began to turn the horizon pink and they saw two board riders arriving for a morning surf. They did not see Nick waiting in the parking lot to follow them or Samantha watching from her beachside hotel room window.
Ru had waited at the VIP house watching on one of the screens as Hai, Froggy and William stood on the beach, looking out to sea and checking coordinates.
Ru looked at his phone and up at the screen again. Hai was calling from the beach parking lot. He took the call and made some notes, before hanging up and making contact with his network in Beijing. He glanced at his watch—seven a.m., it was seven p.m. in Beijing but all hands were on deck. He gave the updated coordinates and information phoned in by Hai on the beach only moments earlier. He waited until the communicator in Beijing confirmed he received and understood the information. Ru confirmed the date and time of the test in local and Beijing time, and the coordinates based on the tidal charts.
“All good, we are fine to proceed with the test this time on Sunday,” he informed Beijing.
Again he waited for confirmation before disconnecting and then called Danny Huang to advise him.
Danny answered on the first ring and sounded satisfied. “Good. When we return to class on Monday, we want to know everything has worked perfectly, because next week will be our last and the plan will be in action.”
“Yes sir,” Ru agreed.
Ru then called Hai and advised him that all was confirmed with Beijing. He declined the offer to join them for breakfast, preferring to have some time away from authority. He put his feet up on the console and watched Hai, William and Froggy as they drove away from the beach.
“They were just here,” Samantha said with excitement, “they must have come late last night because they were on the beach; I watched them from our room. There’s three of them.” She stopped for breath. “Mitch?”
“I’m here, just couldn’t get a word in,” he teased. “That’s a relief; I want to know where they are staying. Who’s there?”
“The same two as before and a third party.”
“Is the new addition William Ying?” Mitch asked.
“I think so, given I’ve only seen Gunston’s original photo. I’d say it is a fair bet it’s him. He arrived about ninety minutes ago, sat in the car until six a.m., then went straight to the beach and looked out to sea. The other two came down to meet him.”
“Where’s Nick?”
“In the car,” she said. “He’s just left and is following them. I’m handy in case they park in the village for breakfast; I can try for prints if you still need more clarification?”
“I have prints from the classroom, but wouldn’t hurt to have them of the men on location, just to prove they were definitely in Cape Hatteras. I don’t want to give them an inch to find an alibi,” Mitch said. “Keep me posted, Sam.”
“Sure. So exciting, the waiting was killing us.” She hung up and glanced at her watch—just after seven. The phone rang and she answered it, then hung up. Nick had given the signal—Hai, William and Froggy were heading into the village.
Samantha grabbed her bag, locked the room and raced out to the sidewalk. She entered the hire car. Nick spun the car out and down the street, following the Asian men.
“We have some fingerprints for you and they’re not mine,” Nick assured Mitch as he sat in the car, watching the three Asian men. “Sam got their water glasses. They’ve just left the cafe and are standing out the front talking, Sam’s paying our bill then she’ll scan these and get them to you.”
“What next?” Mitch asked.
“I’m waiting to follow these guys; they’re in two vehicles: a navy RAV4 and a white Toyota Camry.”
“Hire cars?” Mitch asked. “I can find out what name they used to sign it out.”
“Yep hire cars. The Camry has a Budget sticker on it,” Nick read out the registration number. “Can’t see the RAV’s rego yet.”
“Has Sam got her bug kit?” Mitch asked.
“Yeah, it’s in the backseat,” Nick said without taking his eyes off the men. “OK here they come now and here comes Sam. They are getting into a car and we’re about to follow. Hey, why don’t you come down here for a stint, swap with me or Sam? Change of scenery will clear your head.”
“Only if I need to, but thanks. Be smart, don’t take any risk with these guys. If they’ve bumped off four cops, two more of ours won’t bother them.”
“Cheery thought, but I hear you. Got to go.” Nick hung up.
“So?” Ellen leaned forward.
“It’s coming, little lady,” Marcus calmed Ellen. He relayed the scanned print to the fingerprint data base. “In the old days,” he continued, “you would have had to commit this fingerprint to memory and look at photo card after photo card. Hours and hours of work,” he crooned.
Ellen watched as the computer ran through hundreds of fingerprints in a matter of seconds looking for a match.
“Where is it from?” Marcus asked.
“Nick transferred them to me just now,” she tried to explain without mentioning Samantha’s name.
“Mm,” Marcus nodded. “Nick who would be on assignment with Samantha in Cape Hatteras?”
Ellen reddened. “Yes, that Nick.”
Marcus grinned. “You don’t have to protect my feelings, Ellie. Samantha and I were only ever a short-lived couple. If she prefers flings with pale English men to me, what can I do? There’s no accounting for a lady’s taste.”
“No accounting indeed.” Ellen shook her head.
Mitch bounded into Marcus’s lab room with a manila folder under his arm. “Hey Marcus, anything yet? I need to confirm that the fingerprints that Nick sent match the classroom prints.”
Marcus looked up at him and then to Ellen. “What did they teach you at Quantico? Clearly not patience.”
Mitch grinned. “It’s just you’re so good, we knew you’d have results.”
“And that, Ellie, is how you do it. Flattery will get you everywhere!” Marcus announced as the scanner stopped and flashed the word ‘match’.
They all leant forward. Marcus read the name. “I can confirm that the two men’s fingerprints match those from the classroom and are Kiang Hai and Fan Wen. And yes, they are impersonating the cops, consider it a match.
Mitch muttered as he looked at the printout. He headed towards the doorway with Ellen in pursuit. “Thanks Marcus. By the way, nice shirt,” Mitch said with a backward glance. “That green is very becoming,” he joked.
Marcus smiled and stroked his green linen Caribbean shirt.
“Thanks Mitchell, my man,” he called after him. “It was a present from my mother.”