Ellen shivered as she waited for Nick to return. She saw Mitch’s car approaching and walked towards the parking lot. Nick pushed open the car door and Ellen slid into the front seat and turned up the heat.
“Freezing my ass off out there.” She shivered. “Anything?”
“Nothing,” he said.
“Me either. I guess that’s a good sign. I’ve got the coordinates,” she said.
Within minutes they were back at the hotel room. As they walked in, Mitch was on the phone, leaning on one crutch in front of the window.
Ellen went to the kitchen and set up three cups for coffee.
Mitch hung up.
“Mitch, please sit down and elevate your leg or else the doctor will blame me,” Ellen begged. “And I checked the coordinates, the ones we have are correct.”
“Thanks.” Mitch hobbled to the couch and dropped down. He raised his leg and propped it on the edge of the coffee table. Nick disappeared into the bedroom, stripping off his wet gear and reappearing minutes later in dry attire.
“You’re not going to believe it,” Mitch began. “Hang on…” his phone was ringing.
“Dylan?” Mitch answered. “Great send it through.” Mitch hung up. “Just got to call John. Anything?” he asked as he dialed.
“No, clear for both of us,” Nick reported.
Mitch nodded. He went to rise again, glanced at Ellen and sat back down.
“John, Dylan’s just confirmed the Vice President is the VIP. I have the photo and I’m sending it to you now. The Vice President has just entered the vehicle with a man Dylan identified as William Ying. Ellie and Nick are back, all clear on the beach locations. Hang on.”
He put John on speaker phone and Nick and Ellen joined him on the couches.
John spoke. “You need to understand the gravity of what is happening. This cannot go any further than this room. No one you speak to must know. Understand?”
They confirmed their understanding.
“I have notified the powers above and the SEALs will take over on the beach. Give me a rundown on how you see it going so I can give them a brief,” John said.
“This is how I see it being played out,” Mitch started. “Pre-dawn, the Vice President will be removed by submarine. We have the coordinates. His towel, flippers, snorkel and mask—which Nick saw being purchased earlier—will be scattered on the beach or left in the shallows to wash up. Our guess is that they’ll say the Vice President drowned when he went to catch up with an old friend at Cape Hatteras, a student he met when he was on exchange in Beijing.”
“Is that for real?” John asked.
“It’s for real he was an exchange student but I don’t know if he met any of the real police officers during his time over there,” Mitch continued. “In the meantime, they get the Vice President out of the country with whatever files he’s sharing or has already shared and eventually, everyone believes he is dead. He gets a new life, a new face, whatever it takes; they get government secrets.” Mitch stopped to let it all sink in. “John, this is my recommendation; as I see it we can play it one of two ways. The mission is shut down—using the coordinates we have, in the early hours of the morning the vessel and occupants are destroyed, evidence removed. That will eliminate the Vice President, Hai and Froggy. The media story is still spread to avoid panic and to spare retribution; let it be known that the Vice President is presumed drowned after an early morning swim. We move in to pick up Ru and William, and we already have Danny. We find out what the Vice President has given them, what they know and what information they already have that we have to get back or destroy. Once we have a grip on this, we can reveal the murder of the original police officers.”
“We don’t know they’ve been murdered,” John said.
“I’m pretty sure I know where the real police officers are.”
“Where?” Nick asked.
“I’m thinking they are in a container that’s going to be dumped at sea next week,” Mitch said.
“Do we need to intervene? Could they possibly be alive?” Ellen asked.
Mitch shook his head. “No, I suspect they died some time ago but I’ll get that container relocated before the drop. We need to focus on the now.”
“And the other play?” John asked.
“We reveal the murdered policemen now, arrest the whole party and expose the Vice President, but we don’t know what information has gone before him and we don’t know and may never know who has the information,” Mitch said. “We also expose a huge hole in our own security and there will be fear-mongering and conspiracy theories going wild if our Vice President is a spy.”
“Yep,” John mused. “Thank God we don’t have the weapon to be concerned about.”
“Assuming what Henri was told is correct,” Mitch said.
“There is no doubt it is the Vice President?” John asked.
“I’ve just sent you Dylan’s photo of the VIP as they refer to him, in the car with William Ying. I’ve also sent you the recommendations we just discussed. There’s no doubt from the photo but can you get someone else to track the vehicle? We also need to confirm that the Vice President is definitely coming to the VIP house.”
“I’ll get an agent on a bike to head that way,” John agreed.
“They’ve just left now, so we’ll give it some time and then we’ll also go for a drive and watch them come through,” Mitch said.
“If we go with plan A, the beach will be swarming with media once the story of the missing Vice President is leaked. You will all need to be back here ASAP. Stand by, I’ll contact you when I can, so wait for orders.” John hung up.
Mitch called up the photo of the Vice President and showed Nick and Ellen.
“No doubt there,” Nick agreed.
“And now, we wait.” Mitch reached for his coffee. He sipped it, a hundred thoughts going through his head.