Private Beijing

Chapter 59

I woke up to find Huang Hua standing over me.

“You really need better security,” he said.

He was holding a laptop, which he took to the desk where Zhang Daiyu and I had our makeshift operation center. She was stirring now and sat up in the loose T-shirt and leggings she’d bought to wear as pajamas.

“Good, you’re awake. I have something you need to see,” Hua said.

He set up his laptop in front of the others he’d given us.

Zhang Daiyu said something sharp in Mandarin and he smiled.

“In English, Zhang Daiyu. Don’t be so antisocial.” He turned to me. “She wants to know how I found you and how I got in.” He powered up his machine. “Getting in was easy. I just told the receptionist I was going to visit some friends, and I found you because I put a tracking device on my machines in case they were stolen.” He gestured at the computers he’d given us. “I didn’t mean to disturb you. I can come back later if you’re busy.”

His insinuation wasn’t lost on either of us.

“They don’t have any other rooms,” Zhang Daiyu explained.

He held up his hands. “No need to explain. I’m not here to talk about you, I’m here to tell you about Gavin Hudson.”

“Gavin who?” I asked.

Hua opened a file on his laptop and showed us a photograph of Liu Bao and the blond man with the Stars and Stripes lapel pin we’d observed at the reception the previous night.

“This is Gavin Hudson,” Hua revealed. “He’s a junior staffer at the US Embassy.”

Hua opened another file and scrolled through Gavin’s personnel records and official photographs.

“How did you access his State Department records?” I asked.

Hua made a face that reminded me of Mo-bot’s expression when I doubted her abilities to fix a problem. It was as though I was suggesting his skills weren’t up to the simple challenge of circumventing US Government security.

“The American State Department has rules and guidelines about in-country relationships,” Hua went on. “Thankfully, Gavin met his sweetheart during his last rotation in Washington.”

He showed us another photo, this one of an athletic brunette in a dark pant suit, posing for an official photo.

“This is Daisy Wells, a freelance technology reporter with by-lines in Wired, the Atlantic, and other well-established publications. She passed State Department vetting without any problems.” Hua paused. “But there is a problem.”

He brought up a photo taken from one of the surveillance cameras planted in Liu Bao’s penthouse. It showed three women, and I recognized one of them as Wells.

“We thought she was a call girl. It is the perfect cover, with the number of women Liu has coming and going from his apartment. I think she’s feeding him information on Hudson, or else taking instructions on how to manipulate him. Whatever she’s doing, I’ll bet Gavin Hudson has no idea she knows Liu Bao.”

“Then I think we should tell him,” I said, and Hua smiled and nodded his agreement.