Chapter 63
Taiwan
Emily Nighswonger’s eyes fluttered open.
She had no idea where she was, but noticed the IV tube inserted into one of her heavily tattooed arms. She lay rock-still in her bed, unable to move despite the lack of restraints, though she managed to roll her head to one side.
She caught a glimpse of pine-studded mountains shrouded in fog framed in a large picture window.
A serene Chopin nocturne played softly overhead.
Her face clouded with confusion as the room’s only door silently swung open.
Peng De pushed a steel cart in front of him, its tray covered with a white cloth. He wore surgical scrubs like a medical professional, though his face was unmasked. He wheeled the cart next to her bed.
“Doctor…where…am I?” she said in flawless Mandarin.
“You’re in a special clinic. You were in an accident, remember?” Peng responded in British-accented English with a low, soothing voice. He noticed the small spot of blood on her head bandage.
“No, I don’t.” Nighswonger took a deep breath. “What happened exactly?”
“You were nearly killed.”
She struggled to move, but neither her torso nor limbs responded. She blanched with fear.
“I’m paralyzed.”
“Yes, but only temporarily.” Peng nodded at the IV. “I’ve administered a small dose of a neuromuscular blocking agent.”
“Why?”
“To restrain you, of course. It was that or chain you to the bed. This seemed a more pleasant alternative.”
Nighswonger’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re not my doctor.”
“No, but I am your savior, if you cooperate.”
The door opened again. Square-jawed Agent Tu entered the room. He had arranged for Nighswonger’s transport from the hospital to this secret facility. He took up a position in the corner, his large-caliber pistol barely concealed beneath his ill-fitted suit coat.
“You’re MSS.”
“Very perceptive.”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“I have a few questions for you. Please answer them truthfully and I can make you comfortable.”
“Go to hell.”
“You are already there.”
Peng smiled as the woman’s face flooded with panic.
Peng pulled back the cloth on the steel cart, revealing three syringes on the stainless steel tray. He let her study the needles.
“Now do you remember the car wreck?” Peng asked.
Nighswonger turned her head aside, and stared stone-faced at the ceiling. A single tear fell from the corner of her bloodshot eye.
“Yes, of course you do. It’s all coming back now, isn’t it?” Peng lifted one of the syringes, and plunged its needle into the IV access port.
“I have just administered a newly developed drug, Zhenqing-7. It’s a biochemical compound ten times more effective than Pentothal, otherwise known as a truth serum.
In a moment, the compound will take effect and I will ask you a series of questions.
You will answer those questions truthfully because the drug will make you answer them, and there is nothing you can do to resist telling me the truth. Understood?”
A few moments later, the brain-altering compound took effect. Emily’s hardened features softened as her eyes dulled and her mouth fell open.
Peng sat on her bed and took her hand in his, patting it like a father comforting a frightened daughter.
“What is your real name?”
“Emily,” she whispered in a raspy voice.
“Nighswonger?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent. And you were formerly a biomedical researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab?”
“Yes.”
“But now you are a member of the Guardian organization, correct?”
“Yes.”
“You were with a man named Aidan Scally. Was he a Guardian as well?”
“Yes.”
“He’s dead, by the way.”
Nighswonger’s breath held for a moment, then she whispered a pathetic “Oh.”
“Let’s talk about the Guardians. How large is your organization?”
“Three people.”
“Only three? That’s not possible.”
“Only three people…in my cell.”
“So the Guardians are organized into cells?”
“Yes. Each cell, three people.”
Peng nodded. “As I’ve long suspected. You organized that way so that no one of you can betray all the other members of the organization, correct?”
“Yes.”
“How many Guardians are there in total?”
“Don’t know. No one does. The cell organization prevents it.”
“Then give me an estimate. Surely you have thought about it. Fifty? One hundred?”
“Five hundred.”
“People?”
“Cells.” Through sheer force of will she managed a small smile. “And growing.”
Peng frowned, hiding his surprise. He glanced over at Agent Tu. The normally stoic operative couldn’t conceal his shock.
“What foreign governments do you work for?” Peng asked, his even voice still calm and comforting.
“None.”
“Are you mercenaries?”
“No.”
“Political terrorists?”
“No.”
“Then why do you kill and destroy?”
“Ideology.”
“And what is your ideology?”
“AGI is evil. Must destroy it…before it destroys humanity.”
“You said you operated in small cells. But your attacks are coordinated and effective. How are you contacted?”
“Encrypted text. Burner phones. One-way comms.”
“From whom?”
“The Nexus.”
“Nexus? What is the Nexus?”
“Leaders.”
“How many are in the Nexus? Who belongs to it? Where are they located?”
“Don’t know.”
“If you don’t know who the leadership is, how do you know it’s not a CIA operation? Or FSB?”
“We attack…everyone.”
“Can you tell me all of the attacks you have participated in? Places, dates, objectives?”
“Yes.”
Peng glanced over at Tu. The agent pulled a Sony digital voice recorder from his pocket and handed it to Peng.
“Please proceed.”
Nighswonger spent the next ten minutes providing specific mission details from her past operations.
Peng fought the urge to strike the helpless woman as she confessed to over a dozen attacks that resulted in the loss of millions of dollars of state property and valuable Chinese lives.
“And that’s all you can remember?”
“Yes.”
Peng held up the voice recorder and Tu pocketed it for later transcription and dissemination.
“Any other names you can think of? Any Guardians you haven’t already mentioned? Friends? Allies of your organization?”
Emily blinked hard, trying to fight against the serum that was beginning to wear off. Her teeth clenched.
Peng stroked her forearm, and cooed soothingly. “Emily, don’t fight this. If I’m forced to give you another dose, you will talk. But the risk to your sanity would be very grave. I don’t want that. Neither do you. Just give me the name, and then you can rest.”
Nighswonger’s clenched jaw softened, and her lips parted.
“Only saw her…once.”
“Go on.”
“We call her the Huli Jing.”
“The Fox Spirit. A shape-shifter. A spirit of deception.”
Nighswonger smiled fondly. “Yes.”
“Tell me about her.”
“Beautiful. Brilliant. With special knowledge. A true believer.”
“What is her nationality?”
“Chinese.”
Peng lifted an eyebrow, surprised and curious.
“What is this ‘special knowledge’ that Fox Spirit possesses?”
“She works for you.”
“The Chinese government?”
“Yes.”
“Which branch?”
“MSS.”
Peng was stunned. He glanced over to Agent Tu.
“How did you meet her?”
“Computer science conference.”
“Where and when was this computer science conference?”
“Frankfurt. Three years ago.”
“Did she have a name then? Other than Fox Spirit?”
“Yes.”
“What was her name?”
Nighswonger took a deep breath and held it, as if willing herself to die. Despite the gossamer web of altered brain chemistry clouding her mind, something deep inside of her knew she must not utter the name.
Peng marveled. He’d never seen such resistance against his mind-altering drug. He didn’t want to give her another dose. That would only induce hallucinations at this juncture. What he needed was the truth.
“Her name, my sweet? You’ve been so helpful. You must tell me her name. Please.” He squeezed her hand gently.
Nighswonger coughed, unable to hold her breath any longer. The drug had won.
“The name, Emily?”
Her eyes welled with tears.
“Zhang.”
“Zhang? Zhang is a common name. Zhang what?”
“Linlin Zhang.”
★
Peng fought with every ounce of his strength to control the sudden surge of rage and shame electrifying his entire body. The woman he had recruited, trained, nurtured and, yes, longed for had betrayed him.
Perhaps the serum had worn off. Perhaps this vile creature was using Linlin’s name to destroy her.
“You are certain of this name, Emily? We wouldn’t want to punish the wrong person, would we?”
“Yes. I’m sure. Linlin Zhang.”
“I say that’s impossible. What proof do you have?”
“Zephyron…Dynamics.”
Linlin’s German employer, Peng reminded himself. The front company that arranged for the ASML lithography machine transfer that was destroyed.
“A plane was destroyed. Was she involved?”
Nighswonger nodded.
“How? Did she tell you about the transfer of the equipment?”
“Yes.”
Peng still couldn’t believe it. His best operative? A traitor?
“What does Linlin Zhang look like?”
“Young. Striking. Serious.”
Peng’s eyes narrowed. He knew in his soul she was describing Linlin.
His desire for Zhang had blinded him. The emotions welling up now threatened to overwhelm him. He tamped it all back down through the sheer force of his considerable will, his mind already plotting the next steps.
“Anything else you can tell me about this Zhang woman? The Guardians?”
Nighswonger shook her head. “No. Nothing.”
“Are you certain?”
She nodded. “I’m so…tired.” She closed her eyes.
“Of course. You have done well. Let me give you a sedative.”
Peng stood as he reached for the hypodermic containing a lethal dose of fentanyl. He planned a quick and humane death for the terrorist. He was not a cruel man, and rejected the violent methods of his predecessors.
But that was before she had confessed to a list of murderous crimes against his people.
Instead, Peng picked up the empty hypodermic he had already used.
He pulled back the plunger and filled the void entirely with air.
He then inserted the needle into Nighswonger’s IV port and smoothly depressed the plunger under his thumb, forcing the deadly bubble into her bloodstream with cold precision.
Moments later, the air embolus did its work.
Emily’s eyes snapped open as her body jerked involuntarily, her mouth pried open by a horrified grimace.
Her chest heaved with short, shallow breaths that could gather no air, and her numbed fingers twitched as they tried to claw the sheets.
Sweat beaded across her paling face even as her lips blued.
Her panicked eyes fell on Peng’s smiling face, his arms crossed as he stood triumphantly above her.
Nighswonger’s breathing shallowed into ragged gasps, her sightless eyes darting wildly across the ceiling. The fabric of her gown rippled with each thud of her hammering heart until she took one last, final draw of empty breath from her gaping mouth.
Peng savored the image of the dead Guardian’s corpse. He hoped her death was as painful and terrifying as it appeared to be.
He turned to Agent Tu.
“Colonel Shi is in San Salvador. Get him on a secured line immediately.”
Tu nodded curtly and sped from the room to fetch a satellite phone.
Peng pulled the sheet over Nighswonger’s face as he made his final plans for his beautiful traitor Linlin Zhang.