Mitch shivered. His burns sweated, and his body ran cold. He slid down low in his car seat, took a sip of water and called Nick.
“Nothing happening here,” Nick said from further along the beach out of sight. “But I guess at three in the morning, you’d expect that.”
“Mm,” Mitch agreed looking around the dark parking lot and beach entrance from his car window.
“Don’t fall asleep in the comfort of your car there,” Nick said.
Mitch chuckled. “Yeah, boo hoo. You know I would have taken the beach if I could’ve got there and back quickly.”
“Sure you would have,” Nick ribbed him. “Worried about Sam?”
“All the time,” Mitch answered. “Call coming in, gotta go.”
Mitch hung up and answered.
“John?”
“Something strange is going on,” John said. “The VIP house is empty.”
“What?”
“Our team has just arrived there, got no readings and scoped the house and the perimeters. No sign of life at all,” John said.
“What about in the building on the block out the back, the water reserve where I was held?” Mitch asked.
“Nothing.”
“It’s soundproof. Are you sure they’re getting accurate readings?”
“Positive, it’s empty, nothing happening at all. Our underwater team also reports there is absolutely nothing in the water, nothing on SONAR. Nothing even within a twenty-five mile radius.”
“Remember the ‘Song’. We were only just talking about it,” Mitch said. “It quietly surfaced within nine miles of the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk … could we have something similar happening here?”
“It’s always a possibility,” John said. “Just hold position for now and let me know if anyone arrives at the beach. I’ll come back to you in a minute.”
Mitch drummed his fingers on the car wheel. He waited.
He rang Ellen. “Hey there, think this through with me,” he said when she answered.
“Sure, what’s happening?” Ellen asked.
“There’s no sign of the sub, it’s about an hour from mission time and our team is withdrawing from the VIP house, there’s no sign of life there.”
“What?” Ellen asked in disbelief. “Nothing in the tank reserve?”
“Nothing. The VIP and crew have moved out, but to where? I need to get out to the VIP house to see those monitors and to see if Dylan has left us a sign of any sort.”
“OK, I’ll come and take your post. Samantha can be the solo drunk girl.”
Mitch hung up and called John.
“I’m going to the VIP house. Dylan might have left me a sign which the team wouldn’t understand. Ellen will take my post,” he told John.
“I’ll let our people know you’re coming. No call from Dylan?” John asked.
“Not a word.”
“Any idea where they might have moved to before the lift?” John asked.
“No. The VIP might have got cold feet, the lift could be a smokescreen, they might have known we were onto them … any number of scenarios but as of last night, it was all still on.”
“I wonder if William Ying squealed,” John contributed. “Let me know when you get to the house and I’ll come back to you ASAP with any updates.”
Mitch hung up, swung his car out of the parking lot and started up the road. He rang Nick.
“Nick, Ellen’s taking my place, she’ll be arriving in the hire car in a minute. Just keep an eye on my area until she arrives. It’s up to you now to give the signal for Sam if needed,” he said.
“Sure, what’s happened?” Nick asked.
Mitch filled him in.
“I don’t mean to state the obvious, but do you really think you should go back to that house? Why don’t you hobble up here and we’ll swap places?” Nick suggested.
“Geez, if I didn’t go back to every place where there’s been an incident, I’d have nowhere to go,” Mitch said.
“What are you going to do?” Nick asked.
“Cruise in, lights off, walk through the scrub to the house, see if I can see anything, see if the crack team missed anything, go into the communications room and see if Dylan has left me a sign. That OK, boss?” Mitch asked.
“All right, but check in regularly,” Nick stirred him.
“Yes, sir,” Mitch hung up and shook his head.
He drove out of town, and turned off on the road that turned in to the VIP’s house. Mitch cut the lights and drove into Maple Lane and parked the car out of sight. He knew the road and path to the house well enough to manage in the dark. He left the car and hobbled through the underbrush to begin the walk towards where he knew the VIP house was located. In the dark it seemed that much longer. He tripped and hit the ground hard.
Crap. His phone began to vibrate. He pulled it out and answered.
“Mitch, where are you now?” John asked.
“On the ground at the moment. I’m heading to the VIP house on foot. Ellie’s in my place. Anything?”
“Nothing,” John said.
Mitch hung up on John as a call from Dylan Ting came through.
“Dylan?” he whispered.
Dylan didn’t answer. Mitch waited. He was hearing a conversation. Dylan Ting had called him and left the phone line open. Several voices were speaking hurriedly in Mandarin. Mitch listened, unable to make out anything but panic. Then he heard repeated several times words that sounded like “she-jong-she, she-jong-she.” The line went dead.
Mitch rang John back.
“What happened? Are you all right?” John asked.
“Yeah sorry, Dylan called, can you get this translated? She-jong-she.” He waited, listening as John picked up his landline and rang for a translation. He heard John hang up the landline phone.
“Shĭ-zhōngzhĭ.” John spelled it out for Mitch. “Abort mission,” John said. “That’s the translation, abort mission. I’ll manage this from my end. Where the hell are they?”
“I don’t know, but I’m heading in now, I’ll call Ellen.” Mitch hung up.
Ellen answered. “Not a thing here,” she said.
“They’ve aborted the mission, Dylan just rang. Ellie, follow me out here, come armed, leave your car behind mine at Maple Lane and take the scrub, they may return here. Tell Nick to stay there and call if he sees anything. Get Sam to stand by and watch the beach from the room.” Mitch hung up.
Ellen spun the car out to the main road. She drove with her foot to the floor and called Nick on hands-free.
“He shouldn’t be back there,” Nick said. “I’ll pass on the message to Sam, you just get there.”
“Will do,” she said, and hung up.
Ellen killed the lights as she found the turn off. She spotted Mitch’s car around the curve in Maple Lane, out of sight from the main road, and pulled her car in behind his. She took to the bush, knowing he had a good ten minute lead on her.
Mitch squatted, the house in sight. No lights were on, so they were likely to be in the basement room, he thought. The white Camry was in the garage. His phone rang and Nick’s name flashed on the screen.
“Nick?”
“Mitch, a car has just pulled up at the beach, and the VIP has got out along with William Ying. At least I think it’s William in this light.”
“Just the two of them?”
“Yep,” Nick confirmed.
“What are they doing now?” Mitch asked.
“They’re walking to the water’s edge.”
Mitch hung up and called John.
“No problem,” John said calmly, “we still have the team at the beach on standby. Leave it with me.”
Mitch called Nick back.
“Sam confirmed it is William Ying,” Nick said, “but there’s only the two of them—the VIP and William.”
“John’s confirmed we still have the teams underwater and on the beach, and he’s alerting them. So don’t move Nick, understand?”
“Yes,” Nick said. “OK, they’re at the water’s edge.”
“Stay put Nick, do you hear me?” Mitch ordered.
“Understood,” Nick said.
Mitch jumped at the sound of gunshots in the house.
“Was that …” Nick asked.
“Shit yes, but who’s the shooter? No one’s supposed to be here,” Mitch said. “What are they doing now on the beach?” he asked as he sidled up the side of the house.
“They’re both standing at the water’s edge,” Nick said. “They’ve dumped a towel, snorkel and mask on the sand. They must still be going ahead with it, but where are the others? Is Ellie there yet?”
Mitch turned and could see her approaching low through the shrubbery.
“Just arrived,” he reported as she sidled up to him. “We’re going in.”