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“What are you running?” I asked.
“Six fixed cameras monitoring the entrances and exits, two operatives on the main entrance.”
“Good.”
“We haven’t been able to install anything inside, but we’ll fix that tonight.”
I was impressed. They’d managed to get up and running very quickly.
“We’ve tried directional mics, but they seem to have counter measures running,” he said. “A lot of corporates used counter surveillance to prevent industrial espionage. We’ll learn more when we get inside later.”
“Can you show us the guy?” I asked.
Hua nodded and took a seat on one of the stools in front of the main console. He gestured for Zhang Daiyu and me to sit next to him. I was grateful for the van’s independent cooling system, which kept the air conditioning running even with the engine off—essential for long field operations in the heat.
Hua scrolled through some video footage of the main entrance to Liu Bao’s building, which captured everyone entering and leaving.
“Where are the cameras?” I asked.
“Lamp posts. Bollards. Two button cameras on the agents,” he said, pausing the footage on a man in black slacks and a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves. “Zhang Daiyu told me about the tattoo so I thought this might be relevant.”
I nodded and studied the man on-screen. He had short hair and a gentle demeanor. He was slim and moved gracefully, a far cry from the criminals we had encountered so far, but he sported the same tattoo as them. The likeness of two small dragons curled around a much larger one was emblazoned on his left wrist.
“Recognize him?” I asked Zhang Daiyu.
She shook her head.
“He’s coming out,” Hua told us. “Should I re-task the agents who are watching the building?”
He gestured to a smaller monitor showing a live feed of the main entrance. The man with the intricate tattoo was walking out.
“No,” I replied. “Keep them on Liu Bao. Zhang Daiyu and I will take this guy.”
CHAPTER 48
HUA KEPT ONE of his agents on the target until we reached the plaza outside Liu Bao’s headquarters. I felt uncomfortable being back in the space where we’d been attacked only the previous day, but no one knew we were here and we moved through the plaza without incident. Hua communicated with Zhang Daiyu by text to give her directions. We caught sight of the man heading down Jinchengfang Street, and she and I worked an overlapping tail to minimize the chances of him getting wise to being followed.
Zhang Daiyu took point for a while and I got ahead of the guy. I guessed he’d go straight on at the intersection with Taipingqiao Avenue, but he turned right so I crossed the street and followed from the other side. After a while, Zhang Daiyu went ahead of him and I took the tail. We carried on like this for twenty minutes, looping around the city until he reached Ganjiakou subwaystation. He went down the steps into the huge station, and I followed him and joined a queue at a kiosk to buy a ticket. Zhang Daiyu came down and took the lead then. She used her transit pass and tailed the guy through the subway barriers in front of the steps to the platform. When I finally got a ticket and made it downstairs, I couldn’t see her or our target anywhere.
I walked along the platform, which was packed with travelers, and caught sight of Zhang Daiyu standing behind a pillar. The target was talking to her. She waved her index finger discreetly, signaling me to walk on, and I stopped a short distance away, close enough to help, but sufficiently far to be a disinterested commuter. As the only Westerner in a crowd of locals, I was aware I stood out, but that might have worked to my advantage. What foreigner would be crazy or dumb enough to take on someone from a gang?
I heard the rumble of the Line 16 train rolling into the station, and when I looked through the crowd I saw our target finish talking to Zhang Daiyu and turn toward the platform edge. She headed for the exit, texting as she walked.
My phone vibrated and I checked my messages to see one from her.
He made me. He knows I was following. Be careful.
The crowd on the platform waited patiently as the train rolled to a halt. Zhang Daiyu gave me a last glance from halfway up the stairs, but I didn’t react. The target might have had accomplices in the crowd conducting counter-surveillance.
When the doors opened, the calm was broken as droves of people left the train, to be replaced by almost as many from theplatform. I was one of them. I pressed my way into the carriage, which was uncomfortably full. I made sure I could see the target throughout our journey north and held on to a handrail as the train rolled on.
We went five stops to Wanquanheqiao where I followed the guy out of an increasingly crowded train. I tailed him through the station and we emerged into a modern part of the city. New buildings nestled in parkland, and mature trees dotted the neighborhood. We walked past a university campus and entered what looked like a government district. There were police everywhere and grand, imposing buildings with ministerial signs. The national flag of the People’s Republic of China fluttered here and there. I felt distinctly out of place as I followed the target along Xinjiangongmen Road.
We neared a fortified compound of imposing buildings that was dominated by a tall concrete pill-box block. The complex was surrounded by high walls, wire fencing, and guard towers. There were cameras everywhere and police vehicles stationed in the street, which had been cut from four lanes to one by some concrete bollards.
As we neared the high-security compound, I tried to identify it, but the small sign on the main gate was indecipherable to me. While my eyes were on it the target walked behind a parked van. I moved to catch up but couldn’t see him anywhere.
“I will tell you what I told your colleague Zhang Daiyu.”
