Chapter 13
The alert came in just after midday.
Elevators have frozen in Türkiye, including here at the American embassy. Ambassador stuck in one. Outage is widespread. And appears to be spreading.
McAllister leaned back in his chair and rocked for a moment, thinking. At what stage did he need to send out an alert? He did some calculations.
Not yet. No need to panic. And less reason to cause panic. He’d wait for more information before sounding any sort of alarm.
Barb closed the door behind them.
“What happened here?” Alice asked.
The desk, the bookcases, even the wastepaper basket were empty. No laptop, no papers. Nothing. Everything was gone. It was as though no one had ever used this office.
“Some people came yesterday afternoon and took everything. We don’t even know who they were.”
But Alice did. She was pretty sure the contents of the office were on their way to Alan Zhou.
What were they looking for?
What were they afraid of? But she knew the answer to that too. They were afraid that Liam was a double agent. And that he was somehow involved in those global alarms.
While they’d been in that White House meeting, McAllister’s agents were here, scrubbing Liam’s office. And probably, now that she thought about it, his condo too. Which was why she and Mae hadn’t found anything there.
Barb sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk and motioned Alice to the other.
“You came here for a reason, and I don’t think it was to write an article for the alumni newsletter. What’s happening? What was he into?”
Alice regarded Barb, trying to decide how much to reveal. Then she sighed. What was there to lose at this point?
“I don’t know. And yes, I’m trying to find out more. He was a good swimmer, but he drowned. He was deathly allergic to coconut, but the last photo he sent shows him holding a coconut bun.”
“That’s impossible.”
Bringing out her phone, Alice showed her the evidence.
Barb took the phone, her chin dimpling as she studied the picture. “He’d never hold a coconut bun. Even casual contact burned his skin. This must be doctored.”
“Why would anyone do that? And even if they did, why put a breakfast bun in his hand?”
Barb enlarged the picture. “I know this man, here.” She pointed to the durian man. “He’s one of our company’s drivers and translators when we go to China. A fixer.”
He was also, Alice knew, one of the MSS agents.
Grant McAllister was heading into yet another meeting when his phone exploded with messages. All from US Intelligence desks at their embassies around the world.
He did a quick about-face and headed back, jogged back, almost ran back to his office.
“Barb?”
An older man had opened the door and was looking in.
Barb stood up, clearly flustered. “This is a friend of Liam’s from Columbia. She’s writing an article about him. And an obit.”
Though the man hadn’t asked anything, still Barb was babbling.
“I see. Best not to be in his office, I think. Don’t you?” He studied Alice. Then, nodding, he closed the door.
“Well, that was strange,” Alice said. “He seems nervous.”
“Everyone’s on edge since that visit. We have big contracts in China. The executives are afraid our government’s about to impose an embargo in retaliation for those alarms.”
“Can I see a list of the contracts Liam was working on? The complete list. Not just China.”
Barb glanced at the door. “If they find out…”
“They won’t.” Though both women knew there was no way Alice could guarantee that.
She watched as Barb did her silent calculations. What are the chances…?
McAllister sat at his desk and read.
Messages were pouring in, all saying the same thing. Elevators were stuck between floors in the UK, France, Germany, the UAE, Russia.
The names of countries he barely knew existed popped up.
But one thing was certain. It was heading their way.
He composed a quick text and waited, waited. The timing was crucial.
Then his forefinger hit send.
It would be close. Had he waited too long?
Alice stood in front of the elevators and wondered how bad it would be to walk down nineteen flights.
She chastised herself for being such a coward, even while still contemplating walking. Odd that she could fly for hours at forty thousand feet, but put her in an elevator for two minutes and she could feel herself wanting to claw at the walls.
She’d come all this way for nothing, it seemed. All she had was a cheap li bien ball. She was no closer to understand why Liam was in Hong Kong. What he was. What he was up to.
Barb had walked her to the elevators, then abruptly turned and left without giving her what she’d asked for. Liam’s accounts.
Alice stared at the elevator door, wondering what she should do next. She pulled out her phone and looked at the picture of the ball.
“Going down, too?” It was Barb, suddenly back by her side. She was staring up at the numbers. “Taking longer than normal.”
“Is it? I hadn’t noticed.”
“Helps if you press the button.”
Alice smiled and felt something being shoved into her pocket. She didn’t look.
Now, for the first time in her life, she willed the elevator to come quickly so she could get out of the building before anyone stopped her.
The bright numbers were stopped at the twenty-second floor. The number throbbed there, as though unsure; then began to descend.
21 … 20 …
People were crowding closer, anxious to get in.
Vivien finally got the coffee machine to work, though for some reason, it had dispensed hot chocolate. She didn’t know it could do that. It seemed a miracle.
She was back at her desk when she finally saw the message. Encrypted and red-flagged. She stared at it. It had been years since that account had been used. Years.
She clicked on it.
请勿乘坐电梯
Stay off elevators. In Mandarin.
She stared at her screen, frozen for just a moment. Then she acted.
There was a ding. The elevator doors opened and people began pushing in. Sweeping Alice and Barb in with them.
This was pretty much Alice’s nightmare. A crowded elevator.
She felt her phone go off. It was set to a specific vibration, to warn her Vivien was there.
She struggled to reach it, bobbling it as she was elbowed. Giving the fellow the stink eye, she finally read the message.
The door still hadn’t closed, but there was a clunk as the elevator dropped a fraction of an inch. Behind her, there were a few nervous laughs.
“Shit,” said Alice. “We need to get off.”
But no one moved. All pretending they hadn’t heard her.
“Really!” she said. “Come on!”
The doors were closing. She reached out. Normally, breaking the motion detector would stop them, but they kept closing.
Alice pushed her way out and just had time to grab Barb’s hand and yank her out too before the doors shut.
“What’re you doing?”
The first ring came a few seconds later. Someone was pressing the elevator alarm, to call for assistance. Her heart pounding, Alice looked at the number flashing above the closed doors.
The elevator was stuck between the eighteenth and seventeenth floors.