Chapter 13 – I Am an Agent

　　In the ninth conference room of the police headquarters of Hangzhou. The officers who led the task force on the terrorist attack of August 16th sat in a single row, facing the four people across the table.

　　"How did you arrive to the conclusion that Li Yiming and Qing Qiaoqiao were the culprits?" Grandma w.a.n.g's finger joints paled as she pushed down against the top of the table, suppressing a glaring rage.

　　"Vice-Commissioner w.a.n.g, we have witnesses testifying their presence at the scene of the incident. We also have testimonies for their partic.i.p.ation in the kidnapping of Guo Xiang at the Golden s.h.i.+ne Nightclub," Secretary Ye, head of the police department at Hangzhou, answered her question. 'What a blunder today. First, the collapse of the viaduc. Then, some murder incident and now, a terrorist attack? I'm going to retire in half a year… Why such a mess now? She's only a vice-commissioner at State Security, but her authority is beyond mine, and it doesn't seem like she's here to help…'

　　"Testimonies for Li Yiming murdering the victim? Testimonies for him causing the explosion?" Grandma w.a.n.g pressed on, but avoided the topic of the kidnapping at the Nightclub, since that one was much harder to explain.

　　"From what we've seen at the scene… We believe that…"

　　Thud! Grandma smashed the table. Everyone, including Li Yiming, jumped from their seat.

　　"From what you've seen? You believe?" Grandma w.a.n.g took a deep breath, and pointed at Secretary Ye with one finger, pretending to outraged. "You exposed two of our best agents, agents that we've trained through blood, sweat and tears, to the media, based on groundless speculations? They are now known. Known by the media, known by other countries, known by our enemies. Do you have any idea how much time and effort it took for their training? Do you know how much the country spent on them? This… This is treason!"

　　"He's… They're agents?" Secretary Ye almost slid off his chair. 'Treason… With that accusation…'

　　"Hmpf!" Grandma w.a.n.g snorted in discontent. Qing Linglong gave her a file folder, and she threw it in front of Secretary Ye. The latter carefully opened it and pulled out a thick pile of doc.u.ments.

　　Wait…" Qing Linglong stopped him. She pulled out another sheet of paper out of her bag and said, "Please sign this non-disclosure agreement before proceeding. I'm talking to everyone here."

　　Secretary Ye was a little surprised, but nevertheless nodded and signed his name. The other officers followed his lead. He opened the cover, and found an abundance of information inside, whose natural complexity, compounded by the presence of black ink covering most of the key pa.s.sages, made it so that he could only grasp its rough outlines. The doc.u.ments delineated a special program in which children aged from 12 to 16 were recruited for espionage and counter-espionage purposes.

　　A bead of cold sweat rolled down Secretary Ye's forehead as he read on. 'If we really put on an A-level wanted notice for these two, although it would make sense, this old hag is probably going to fabricate some kind of treason allegation against me. That's their job after all, and they're the kind of people who would use any mean to get the desired results…'

　　"They received orders to stop the murder." Qing Linglong noticed Secretary Ye's hesitation and explained in a dignified manner.

　　"Then the true culprit is…"

　　Thud! Grandma w.a.n.g smashed the table again. "Did we not send you a memo about Zhang Qiang's arrival? Were you not sent a notice about Zhang Qiang's intention to a.s.sa.s.sinate Guo Tai, the chairman of Yunlong Group?"

　　Secretary Ye swallowed back his words: he had known about that and sent two teams for follow-up. "What about the kidnapping at the nightclub…?"

　　"If you want to know the details about that, go through the usual outlets." Grandma w.a.n.g was inflexible. 'That one is simply unexplainable. Who would have known…'

　　"Officer Zhang, go downstairs and immediately revoke the arrest orders for our agent comrades."

　　The officer at the end of the table stood up, saluted the secretary and left the room.

　　"Vice-commissioner w.a.n.g, the terrorist attack has brought a lot of bad press for Hangzhou. The whole country, and even the whole world is watching us. Since you are already here… Can I ask for your cooperation on the matter?" Grandma w.a.n.g's harsh att.i.tude, which added to the pressure the last few days had brought, made Secretary Ye seek the second available option.