105 Infiltration

 

It didn’t take long for Mary to remove the kidnapper’s voice, and leave the background noise behind. She increased the volume to the maximum and we perked out our ears to listen. The background noise was so quiet that I felt like sleeping, like Mary said, in the silence, there was a low humming of sorts. We closed our eyes to listen better but I wasn’t good at this, the sound made no sense to me. Suddenly Mary announced, “That’s a transformer!”

“Transformer?” I was thinking about the toy.

Mary explained, “There are many large harbours at the eastern side of town, and industrial buildings use much larger voltage compared to normal households. Normal household appliances wouldn’t cause such a large flow of electricity, so that means our kidnappers are near a factory near the sea, a place where you’d find plenty of voltage transformers.” Then Mary pulled out a map of the industrialization of Dong Xing City on her computer. “Portside industries, they wouldn’t be in chemical plants, that will require special clearance; the harbours will have too much traffic; so… fisheries?” Mary marked down locales on the map, “Other than a large seafood processing factory, the other factories are relatively small! Dong Xing City will go into an off season for fishing starting from June. It’ll last as long as 3 months, so now, most fishing boats are out on the ocean already.”

“In other words, we’re now in the fishing season.” I looked at the map. “The fishers will be out at sea for 1 to 3 months on their boats. It’s entirely possible for the kidnappers to rent one of the smaller fishery factories while the fishermen are out.”

Mary nodded. “That’s my guess too.”

Captain Zhao slammed on the table. “We do not have the time to verify it anymore. We’ve already considered so many factors, if we still get it wrong, then we can only blame it on luck. Mary, contact the local police to search the fishery factories. Get their help to narrow down the list for us. Gu Chen, round up everyone at the station. Ready their gears, we’re going to head out soon.” Everyone mobilized.

Seeing the pistol pressed into my palm, I had a lot of emotions. This was not my first time seeing a gun but it was my first time holding a gun. However, my pistol didn’t have any bullets due to my mental history. Technically, I was given one just for show. Gu Chen inspected his bullet chamber. When he saw me study the gun, he chuckled, “I say Brother Meng, have you not played with a gun before?”

I holstered the gun and said, “I’ve played a lot with my own gun but not this kind of gun.”

Gu Chen looked at me for a long time before giving me a thumb’s up. “Fine, you win. After this case is over, I believe we’ll all get a promotion. When that happens, I’ll accompany you to the shooting range and have you fire a few shots of your own.” Gu Chen chuckled. “Stop looking at me like that. It creeps me out.”

While everyone was preparing, I asked Gu Chen, “When you were in the armed forces, have you fired a gun before?”

“Of course!” Gu Chen answered, “For armed forces, gun training is the most basic skill. But ever since I’ve been transferred to this unit, I haven’t got the chance to even touch a gun, much less fire one. But it’s like riding a bike, everything comes back easily. But I don’t think it’ll escalate to a gunfight. Do you think these kidnappers will be that audacious?”

I nodded and warned, “It’s entirely possible, we’re not dealing with a normal team of kidnappers here. They are all fugitives on the run, they have nothing to lose. But the most dangerous one has to be the one on the phone, that man just sounds like a sociopath.”

Gu Chen shrugged, “He can be a sociopath or a garden path, if he dares to do anything dangerous, I’ll shoot him right through his head.” Gu Chen raised his gun and closed one of his eyes to mimic making an aim. “Hmm, this feels like old time.”

I leaned closer to whisper, “I say Brother Gu, you’ve had your fun but I have not. See, this pistol of mine doesn’t even have a single bullet. How about you sneak me a bullet? I’ll at least be able to protect myself if I’m in danger, right?”

Gu Chen and I were transferred to this unit at the same time, we were about the same age so naturally we had a good relationship. Seeing the desire in my eyes, Gu Chen looked around and told me, “Hand me your gun.” I obliged. Gu Chen loaded one bullet and said, “I’ve switched on the security. If you’re in any danger, just remove the security and fire. I’ve already loaded the gun for you. I also kept your magazine clip empty because I believe Captain Zhao will check it before we leave. Just be sure you know what you’re doing. Don’t make me regret this.”

“Don’t worry!” I said. Gu Chen had clearly violated the rules but the fact that he had done it for me, touched me greatly. Captain Zhao used me mostly for my unique talent, while Gu Chen trusted in me fully. In my life, other than my father, Gu Chen was the second one to do so.

When everyone was ready, Captain Zhao did check my clip. “It’s not that I don’t trust you but this is the rules. Due to your mental history, if there’s any problem, both of us will be in hot water and I can’t risk anyone else’s life.” Captain Zhao regarded me with a complicated look.

“I understand.” I smiled. “I know you have your own factors to consider from your position. I’m not offended.”

Captain Zhao smiled thankfully. “It’s great to hear you say that. Okay, let’s head out now.”

…

When we got out of the vehicles, we split up and headed down the coastline to search the nearby buildings. There were only several minutes left until the end of the first hour. This meant that Liu Yinyan was close to losing a finger. This might not be that serious for a young man but Liu Yinyan was already an old man in his 70s.

Another hour passed and another finger was gone.

“Wu Meng!” Captain Zhao’s voice came from the communicator. “Bring everyone over here, we’ve found the place.”

“Really?”

Captain Zhao answered, “Yes, I’ve sent you the address on your phone.”

10 minutes later, I finally arrived. The place was indeed very remote, far away from the noisy industrial factories. Captain Zhao led his people along the path less travelled and eventually they happened upon this place. From the outside, the place looked like an abandoned factory. The red bricks and metal bones were exposed. It looked like it was going to collapse.

We leaned against the wall beside the gate and Captain Zhao whispered, “This place looks abandoned but the gate shows recent signs of use. Also this place is near a mountain so it provides an easy escape route. That’s why I’m certain we’ll find our kidnappers here.”

Gu Chen nodded and whispered back, “But we do not know what’s the situation inside. We don’t know how many people there are, where Liu Fei’er and Liu Yinyan’s locations are, we don’t even know if the enemy has guns. If we charge in blindly, I fear they might harm the hostages.”

“That’s why we need to infiltrate the place to scope it out.” Captain Zhao said, “No one is better than you here in terms of infiltration. We’ll need you to get in there and get a sense of things without exposing yourself. It has been 2 hours and 12 minutes since our communication with the kidnappers. 48 minutes later, the kidnappers will cut off Liu Yinyan’s 3rd finger. We need to be quick.” Indeed, from the current situation, a rash action might cause the whole operation to fail. Captain Zhao added, “The special agents are on their way but we need to know the enemy’s location to set up the snipers.”

“Understood.” Gu Chen nodded. Mary patched a small lens around Gu Chen’s chest. “Through this camera, we’ll be able to see everything you see.” Then she opened her bag and handed Gu Chen several spheres. They looked small, about the size of a marble. They weren’t exactly spherical in shape either, they had plenty of indentations on the surface. Gu Chen accepted the balls and asked, “What are these?”

Mary explained, “They are similar to the thing on your chest, they’re all cameras, but they’re easier to carry and use. Plus they look just like dirt balls so it’ll raise little suspicion. If you can’t be sure if there’s anyone inside the room, just throw one in. The material is specially made to cushion any landing sound. And I will be able to monitor its captured footage from my laptop.”

“Okay!” Gu Chen nodded. “I’ll go in then.”

“Good luck.” Captain Zhao said, “You’re allowed to fire if necessary.” Mary rolled a rubber ball camera through the gap of the gate. The ball rolled forward and we were given a view of the situation inside the building compound. The outside space was quite large but there was no one around. Mary said softly, “There’s no one in sight. Be careful and be mindful of your camera angle.”

Two officers leaned against the wall and bent over. Gu Chen stood on their shoulders and the two officers slowly supported Gu Chen into the air. Gu Chen placed his hands on the wall, he looked around and then gave us an okay sign. Then his arms pulled and his whole body slithered into the compound. The whole sequence was smooth and soundless.