CHAPTER FORTY
Nate
“Is it true, gentlemen? Do you have my Téng hú?” Dr. Mai pouted as she paced back and forth in front of us. Jack and I stood like statues with our hands up.
“China aims to be world leaders in AI and create its own AI supply chain to share with the world. We are already in production with new Deep Ultraviolet lithography machines for high volume chip making. Within ten years, China will have an AI economy and society. It is why we have taken the lead on open development of AI models for the benefit of humanity,” she explained with evangelistic fervour.
“Téng hú is my project and it is a great honour and responsibility. For two years I have worked to perfect this chip for my government. There was no need for anyone to steal what we are willing to share through an open-source ecosystem once development is complete. Chinese technology will be cheaper, and work better than costly American technology. China will not be stopped,” she revealed full of pride.
“If you have what was stolen you must give them back. I cannot ensure your safety, gentlemen,” she warned.
“And it would make me sad to instruct my agents hurt you both.”
I shared a worried glance with Jack, and then he spoke up.
“Look! Dr. Mai, there seems to be a misunderstanding. We’re just having a vacation,” Jack insisted with a nervous laugh.
“We didn’t steal from you. I don’t use AI; don’t have a bloody clue what this is all about.
Those chips were planted on Nate to ensure that Oliver Roux didn’t get his hands on them, that’s all,” he revealed. Dr. Mai held her hand up.
“You do not use AI?” she asked, seeming confused.
“Why would I? It would be like paying someone to have sex for me. The joy of creativity is in the creation, not the finished product,” Jack stated. The young woman looked on, puzzled, as if trying to fathom an opinion she wasn’t aware existed.
I understood my father’s motivations. He knew about Oliver Roux’s secret dealings.
But I also had first-hand knowledge of Roux through my husband.
I was in no doubt that Roux set the fake Operation: Indigo in motion and that his end game was to possess, copy and get even richer from the stolen tech.
“We didn’t intend any disrespect, Dr. Mai. My father, Curtis Hale did you a favour keeping the chips out of Oliver Roux’s hands. You must know he’s a danger to us all,” I insisted. “When the power of wealth is wielded by a man like him, it’s a matter of life and death for humanity,” I said sagely.
Oliver Roux let out a hearty laugh and began a slow sarcastic clap. “Bravo, bravo, what a performance Mr. Linden, you should maybe think about an acting career!”
Jack wasn’t having his bullshit. “You’ve got the resources to change millions of lives for the better, house the homeless, feed the starving, but instead your greed destroys lives.
You’re one of the most hated men in the world, and I can see why.
There’ll be street parties when you’re gone! ” Jack seethed.
Roux laughed without humour. “I’ve got at least another forty years on this planet…you say shit like that to me when my men have the guns, my reaction won’t be so…calm,” Roux countered, his murderous glare pinned on Jack.
“Enough!” Agent Szi snapped. “We are quite aware of the danger Mr. Roux poses to the world.”
A knock at the door made everyone still.
“I did not know you were expecting another guest,” Dr. Mai said to Roux, then she sent a glare at her agent by the hallway entrance.
The sound filtered in, of the front door opening and closing.
“Hey, Oli, you busy?” the voice called. Agent Szi gestured for Amber, and Oliver Roux to move to the left, beside Jack and me so he had us all in shot.
The second agent pointed his weapon toward the hallway.
A man wearing a Hawaiian shirt in green and gold, with orange cargo shorts, sauntered in and froze.
The Chinese agent directed his weapon at the newcomer, who put his hands up in surrender.
“Good god Kirkland? Unless you’re here to make amends and rescue me, looks like you’ve fucked up yet again!” Oliver Roux groused.
“Kirkland?” Jack exclaimed with a laugh. “Why would anyone do that to their kid? You were conceived in Costco, right?”
Rivera’s face turned puce and, even though a Chinese agent was pointing a gun at him, the spook roared “Why you little—“ as he lunged for Jack. Jack nimbly stepped aside and Kirk face-planted.
“Get up! Good god, this isn’t the school yard!” Roux growled angrily. The CIA case officer got to his feet and straightened his clothes.
“Put your hands up, no funny business,” Dr. Mai ordered in a waspish voice.
The sweet, frothy girl we’d met when she originally entered the room was entirely gone now.
Her face was held in a scowl and the bright, innocent eyes of minutes before were replaced by the shrewd eyes of a predator.
The second Chinese agent patted the CIA doofus down and then gave him a once over with the metal detector wand.
Rivera only had a phone on him. The Chinese agent had run out of cable ties and so he improvised, tying his wrists with a USB cable.
“This is what will happen,” Dr. Mai stated.
“Mr. Linden, you will go back to your suite and retrieve the Téng hú and return them to me. We will keep Mr. Boyd here. If the exchange goes as planned your friend will be allowed to leave without injury. You have five minutes, Mr. Linden,” she warned.
“Every minute after…I will have no option but to order Agent Szi to shoot Mr. Boyd…first a foot, then a knee, then a hip…you understand? Very painful…very painful.” I gulped and turned to Jack to see the colour had left his face.
“It’s gonna be okay…I’ve got this!” I said to Jack, but he didn’t look convinced. I checked the time on my Rolex. It was twelve-thirty-six p.m.
“Let’s synchronize…give me a minute to get to the door, yeah? Five minutes from when I leave the suite will be twelve-forty-two.”
“Agreed. And remember, if you do not return your friend will pay for your actions.” I nodded, gave Jack’s hand a squeeze, and then headed for the door.
“Oh, and when you leave tell the security guard in the hall that his boss wants to speak to him!” Dr. Mai added.
I couldn’t look back at Jack again and see the fear in his eyes.
I had to end this, and get Jack out in one piece.
I opened the front door and stepped out of the suite, “Mr. Roux wants to see you,” I said as I passed the hall guard.
He appeared none the wiser that his employer was being held at gunpoint by the Chinese Ministry of Security, and stepped into the suite, closing the door behind him.
I rushed down the hall, toward Agent Lopez who was looped into the audio from our button cameras.
“No one tried to enter your suite. Do you want to abort, Mr. Linden?”
“No, no, not yet, everyone’s on standby, yeah?
Five minutes, that’s all I need,” I said as I swiftly pulled out the keycard and opened the suite door.
Then when I stepped inside and closed the door, I stood there with my back against it.
There was nothing more to do. You see, since my father suddenly appeared back in my life and revealed what had happened to him, Jack and I had been bluffing in all of our interactions with the security services.
I had no words to express the hurt and pain my family endured at the hands of our government, and suits who decided what we needed to know, and what was off limits.
They’d played with my family’s life for too long, and so we agreed, Jack and me, that enough was enough.
We didn’t want to keep the stolen Chinese AI chips in our possession; even having them in the biometric safe in our suite was too much.
And so, I’d snuck the credit card containing the chips into the wallet with my father’s Christopher Hurst passport, giving him back the tech he’d stolen.
The passport wallet was given to Agent Deveraux, who then took it to London when my father was taken out of Europe on a diplomatic flight.
Curtis and the Téng hú chips were now safely in London, out of the clutches of Oliver Roux. My dad could decide their fate.
The Chinese Ministry of Security was responsible for my father’s stabbing, and they knew that before the tracker went dead, his final location was in the Royal suite.
I was sure they’d turn up at some point, and I was right.
When Dr Mai and her guards arrived, I understood that the secret play Jack and I hoped for was happening.
We would collect evidence of the conspiracy showing how Roux bankrolled industrial espionage, and that China’s agents had engaged in illegal covert action in the EU.
It was a diplomatic nightmare that would be shared between the German security services, MI6, Interpol, and the FBI.
Oliver Roux’s involvement would not be swept away by his deep pockets or connections with the current, corrupt US administration.
He couldn’t wheedle his way out of industrial espionage allegations now, could he?
Time was ticking on and I had one minute and forty-five seconds to get back to the Superior suite before shots were fired!
****