Shadow of the Dragon

62

“I do not understand,” Medina Tohti said when they were all seated around the table and the truck was moving — also toward the airport in the city of Khovd. Her face was flushed red with sleepy warmth after hours in the cold. Everyone was beyond exhausted. “How did the Chinese not see us when we flew out? I know you stayed low, but surely they were looking—”

“They were,” Yao said. “But they were looking in the wrong place. Russia and Kazakhstan were less than twenty-five kilometers away from the lake. Mongolia was double that.” Yao gave an impish smile. “And someone may have reported the son of a Russian politburo member who had gone missing out on a mountain adventure in the wilderness area north of the border. Chinese air assets would have seen the search-and-rescue efforts on radar and assumed they were there to assist in our escape.”

Chavez put a hand flat on a blank yellow notepad in front of him. “They will, in fact, likely still assume that.”

“I would like to speak to my daughter again,” Medina said.

Chavez dug the satellite phone out of his duffel. Yao had obviously put it there when he thought he might be left behind. “Of course.” Chavez slid the phone across the table to her and yawned. “Entirely up to you, but it is the middle of the night where she is, just like it is here. I’m sure she is sleeping.”

Medina pushed the phone away. “Okay… then tell me what you want to know.”

“It involves Professor Liu Wangshu,” Yao said. “Why would Beijing be so determined to find you? What do you have to do with him?”

Chavez nodded. “That’s our question. Why you?”

“I am sure I do not know,” Medina said. “I was one of his engineering students for a time. I was what you would call his teaching assistant.”

“Forgive me for being so blunt,” Yao said. “But I know how the Han majority feel about Uyghur people. How were you able to attend university as a teaching assistant?”

“I am not offended,” Medina said. “In western China there are two kinds of schools for Uyghur children. Schools where Uyghur children learn Mandarin and Han Chinese history with other Uyghur children — and schools where Uygur children are fully integrated into schools that are majority Han. My math and science scores were such that I attended the latter. Eventually, I was sent to university. Hala was very young, but she was even more skilled in gymnastics than I was at mathematics. The state took her away to train at a special school in the city. I believe they may have done this so I would go willingly to Huludao.”

Ryan, who had said little up to this point, frowned. “Bastards.”

“Yes,” Medina said. “They are that — though they would assure the world that everything they do is for our good.” She sighed, staring down at the table as she spoke. “I am sure I was the first Uyghur student to hold this position with Professor Liu. And I feel equally sure I was the first female Uyghur engineering student. I believe he truly respected me for my intellect, though…” Her voice trailed off, changing direction. “We worked on several different projects, all having to do with propulsion — submarine drives, propellers, for the most part.” She glanced up. “Submarine propellers are often closely guarded secrets. Maybe this has something to do with that.”

“Maybe,” Yao said. “Were these projects all on paper, or did you have functional buildouts?”

“Paper designs,” Medina said. “We built some models, but nothing functional. I was in the process of modifying one of Professor Liu’s propeller designs when I was expelled. My husband was dead, my daughter taken by the same government that killed him. All I had was my mathematics, and that, too, was ripped from me. One day I was a respected student, fully integrated into the program, the next Party officials came into my room without knocking and ordered me to pack my belongings. I was to return immediately by train to Kashgar. I telephoned Professor Liu’s private number from the train station, begging for an explanation. He assured me that this was all a misunderstanding, a mistake on the part of the government and that it would all work out. He said not to worry, that I was vital to his work…

“But I was not vital and it did not work out. Whatever the reason, it must have been far above Professor Liu’s head. The government changed my mobile number and his, effectively putting a fence between us. They are very skilled at that. In any case, Hala was still a virtual prisoner at her gymnastics school. There was nothing for me in Kashgar. One of my childhood friends had joined the group you call Wuming. I contacted her and… you saw the rest.” She looked back and forth between Chavez and Yao. “There is something you are not telling me.”

“There is,” Yao said.

Chavez gave a little shrug, exhaled sharply, and then nodded. They wouldn’t get anywhere unless Medina learned at least some of what they knew, though it was classified above top secret.

“Our government has reason to believe,” Yao said, “that a Chinese submarine is in trouble, stranded on the seabed, unable to surface or communicate. It’s highly likely that Professor Liu is aboard this submarine and that it has been outfitted with a quiet gearless ring-propulsion drive the Chinese call—”

Medina finished his sentence. “Hai shi shen lou—Mirage.”

“Was Mirage one of the projects you worked on with Liu?” Chavez asked.

“It was my project,” she said. “I submitted it to the professor as an assignment. He told me there were too many flaws. He said that I should go… how do you say it… back to the drawing board, before he would accept it.”

“Was he working on a similar project?” Chavez asked.

“He was,” Medina said, eyes narrowing.

“Do you think it is possible the professor had you expelled so he could call the Mirage drive his invention?”

Medina shook her head in disbelief, though it was clear from the look in her eyes that this was exactly what she thought had happened. She reached for the notepad in front of Chavez. “May I?”

Yao scooted forward in his chair, looking at Chavez. “I may need to go to Huludao and take a look through the professor’s office.”

Medina shook her head. “No,” she said. “He kept everything important to him under the floorboards of his bedroom.” She looked sheepishly at the men. “I did not… I mean to say… he was my superior. There was nothing…”

“Bastard,” Ryan said again.

Yao patted the table. “We are not judging you for the actions of bad men. Now, do you believe he would have kept plans from his work in this secret spot?”

“I feel sure of it,” Medina said, scribbling on the pad. “He stored little at the labs, fearing others would steal his work and take the credit for it.” She got to her feet, carrying the pad as she walked, swaying with the motion of the truck to work off her anger, since there was no room in the back to pace.

“I must return to China,” she said.

“Not a chance,” Ding said. “We almost didn’t get you out.” He didn’t say it out loud, but he couldn’t help but think that Lisanne might well still lose her life on the mission to get Medina. He wasn’t about to let her return and risk falling into Beijing’s hands.

“Listen to me,” Medina said. “I can retrieve the files.”

“No,” Ding said. “I’m confident the professor’s home has already been ransacked by government agents a dozen times over.”

“I doubt they could find his hiding place,” Medina said. “He has an engineer’s mind. He knows how to build clever things. I would pit his intellect against the idiots from the MSS any day.”

“My friend is right,” Yao said. “We just prevented you from falling into Beijing’s hands. You are the key.”

“No,” Medina said. “The key is the plans for the Mirage propulsion drive, and that will be in Liu Wangshu’s home. I am certain of it.”

“Then we will go,” Ding said. Resolute. “Or, at least, I will.”

Medina looked stricken at the thought. “If anyone goes, it should be him.” She nodded at Yao. “You look Chinese, so you might be able to walk around Huludao for a time without being questioned, but even you will still need me to get past Auntie Pei. She is the neighbor across the street.”

“No,” Chavez said. “And that’s final. I may not be the person for the job, but you certainly aren’t. We’ll figure out another way to get around Auntie Pei.”

Yao patted the table again, harder this time. “Wait,” he said. “How long after you turned in your assignment with the design of the Mirage drive were you expelled?”

“That very evening,” Medina said.

“Did Liu tell you what components of the project he wanted you to correct?”

She looked up from the notepad. “He did not.”

“I don’t think there was anything for you to correct,” Yao said. “I expect he saw right away your plans were workable. If he’d needed your help with anything, he would have waited to have you kicked out.”

Chavez was nodding now. “So if the professor is somehow incapacitated on that sub, and the Mirage drive is damaged, then they want Medina so she can help repair it.”

“Could be,” Yao said. “It is more likely that they want to destroy the existing one to keep it from falling into our hands. If they have Medina, they can re-create a new one.”

Medina smiled. “And if Medina can re-create it for Beijing…” She tapped the side of her head with her pencil and turned the notepad toward them. “Then she can re-create it for you.”

Chavez thought for a moment, and then smiled at Yao, who walked to the back of the truck so he could get a good signal on the sat phone.