Page 121 of Clive Cussler's Quantum Tempest
“I can’t thank you enough for everything you did for me,” Linlin said.
“Anytime you need me, you know I’ll be there.” He handed back her phone. Cabrillo had confiscated it when she boarded. “I charged it up for you.”
“Thanks.” She slipped it into her backpack. “I’m sorry we didn’t have more time together. Perhaps you can get some time off from your work and come visit me in Toronto.”
“I’d like that a lot.” He fished a card out of his pocket. “There’s a private email where you can reach me. Untraceable. Just be careful where you send it from.”
“Yes, of course.” She took it and slipped it into her pants pocket. “I’ll contact you as soon as I get settled and can set up some sort of security arrangement.”
“Can’t wait. I wish I could ride with you to San Salvador, but I’ve got—”
She touched a finger to his lips. “I understand.” She leaned into Murph’s chest, his long arms enveloping her small frame. She pulled him tight for a long hug, then released him.
“I guess this is goodbye,” she said, glancing up into his face.
Murph leaned down and kissed her gently on the mouth.
Linlin pretended to swoon, then ended the kiss.
She grabbed her backpack and scampered into the copilot seat next to Gomez. She waved meekly at Murph as Gomez threw him a half salute before engaging the controls and lofting the Joby into the air. The electric vertical takeoff craft sped toward the coast, its carbon-fiber skin licked by the last rays of fading sunlight.
Murph’s heart sank as the Joby vanished into the deepening twilight, afraid he’d never see Linlin again.
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El Salvador
The Joby was back in the air and already hurtling over the coast as Linlin approached the private-jet terminal. She didn’t bother going inside. Linda Ross had already made her a hotel reservation in the city and handed her a fully flexible airline ticket so she could make her own flight arrangements the next day. All she needed to do was hail an Uber and get to her hotel.
She stood in front of the terminal doorway, pulled out her phone, and activated her Uber app, typing in the address of the hotel. There was only one Uber ride nearby. She was glad it was there and hailed it. According to the app it would arrive in just two minutes.
In the rush to pack, shower, and leave, the MSS spy had little time to consider when she would contact Peng or what she would tell him. She couldn’t inform him about theBaktunor its precious cargo or else he would attempt to seize it. Considering China’s vast naval resources he might be able to grab it before the Guardians could destroy it.
As far as the Guardians were concerned, China acquiring AGI was the worst possible outcome imaginable. To hold Peng off, she simply needed to report that the Mark Murphy lead was a dead end. In order to maintain her cover, she needed to communicate to him her great disappointment and her zealous desire to immediately find the next target of inquiry. She also had to be careful not to draw his unwanted attentions. Despite his promise to the contrary, the man’s ego was only matched by his libido. With any luck, both would soon overwhelm him.
Linlin had been playing this dangerous game of double agent for quite some time now. She never felt comfortable in that role, but it was that discomfort that kept her from getting caught. She also had the feeling her time was running out as a double agent and she considered how she might be of use to the Guardians if she abandoned her post with China’s state security apparatus.
She brushed these thoughts aside as the Uber approached. She double-checked her app, confirming the car make and model, license plate, and driver photograph as it came to a halt. She wasn’t one to take chances. She jumped into the back seat of the Toyota compact and buckled herself in.
Because she ordered the Uber on the app, the address was already posted on the driver’s phone. There was no need to tell him where to go or even attempt to engage in polite conversation through the unexpected plexiglass security window separating the two of them. Six minutes outside of the airport the Uber fed into the flow of speeding traffic on the way to the Hilton.
She buried her nose in her phone and scrolled through her emails and texts searching for confirmation that her delivery to the anonymous internet dead drop had been picked up, something she hadn’t been able to do while on board theOregon. There was no indication it had been received, but her Guardian contact might have been overly cautious and covered his tracks.
Linlin pulled up her search engine, trying to plot out her next moves, careful to leave a trail of breadcrumbs that, if intercepted by Peng, would indicate she was actively searching for other AGI leads. She occasionally flipped to her Uber app live map to verify the driverwas on track, but twenty minutes into her trip she failed to notice the first turn off the prescribed route. But the second unexpected turn caught her attention. They were now in an industrial district.
“Driver? Where are we going? Why aren’t we on our route?”
“No hablo inglés,” the driver muttered.
Linlin flipped to Google Translate, spoke into the app, and held the phone against the plexiglass as she played the Spanish translation for him.
The man shrugged and kept driving.
“Stop the car.Alto! Alto!” She pulled on the door handle, but the door was locked. The driver punched the gas as she screamed and pounded on the plexiglass security window.
A minute later, the Toyota slammed to a stop at the loading dock of China Biopharma, a pharmaceutical warehouse, far from prying eyes.
Linlin glanced through her window just as Colonel Shi Chang stepped out of the shadows and into the harsh light of the dock’s sodium lamps. The door locks clicked open, a sign for her to get out.
