Deceit of the Soul (eBook)

7

Huiwei’s room was on the third floor – the top floor. She entered the elevator and pushed the button for the lobby. The lift suddenly slowed, stopped, and the door opened to the second floor.

She saw a balding man, probably sixty or sixty-two, and in need of some routine exercise. Tailored suit, polished black shoes and a gold, Rolex watch – respectable. He was fumbling with his two bags and a computer satchel, to close his door. He raised his hand toward Huiwei, signaling to hold the elevator. She pushed the button to hold the door open, hoping an alert signal would not sound. He scurried into the elevator still trying to coordinate his luggage.

“Thank you, Miss. This has been a very rushed morning.”

His jowls slightly flapped as he shook his head, taking out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat on his forehead.

Huiwei politely nodded, seeing the satchel slipping down. She kneeled to grab the shoulder strap to hand him. She momentarily paused when she spied a room key on the floor, peeking out from under one of the bags. Blocking his view with her back, she pinched the corner of the card pulling it free. She started to hand it to him, but changed course with a single motion, slipping the card into her jacket pocket as she stood and handed him the strap.

“Thank you, again, young lady.”

Staring straight ahead at the door, Huiwei softly said, “Colonel.”

“Oh, yes. I’m so sorry Colonel. I know better. Thank you . . . Colonel,” he said.

“You’re welcome. I hope your day will improve,” said Huiwei.

“It will. Last minute call and all. I need to catch the train and I hope my taxi is waiting. I won’t be back to my flat for several days now. I have to get home, and no time to first get to my office in Chengdu. Perhaps I will be able to buy you a cup of tea when I return on Monday. Your kindness reminds me of my daughter. At least before she was married.”

Huiwei understood the compliment along with his sense of humor offering a blunt jab at his son in law. He probably keeps her away from her family as much as possible. Isolation from those who would build her self-esteem. A control-freak. Her father seems very worthy of his daughter.

The door to the lobby opened. Grabbing his bags in a more orderly fashion this time, he said, “I certain hope your day begins better than mine, Colonel.”

“It already has, thanks to you.” Huiwei logged a mental note of his room number, 201, “And, thank you for making me smile.”

The man rushed off seeing his taxi waiting outside.

Before she took a step out, Huiwei heard the desk attendant spout, “Good morning Colonel Lí. A late start for you today. Shall I call for a car?”

Huiwei was weighing whether she was more concerned that the desk attendant knew that 9:00 a.m. was a late start for her, or the mere fact that she had never met this person before and he recognized her on sight. He also failed to assist the guest with his bags to the taxi, or to even open the door for him. She could process this later. She needed to get to her office and have on site access to the mainframe.

“No thank you . . .” she hesitated, intentionally, as if not finishing her response.

“Wang lei, Colonel Lí,” she instinctively knew he would fill the gap with his name. Wang lei? she thought, a rather common name and unlikely his real name by the way he said it. Maybe in his late twenties . . . perhaps an Airman, or Second Lieutenant, wearing an off -the-rack, black suit.

Now, only a few feet away, she fixed her eyes straight at him. With a friendly voice she said, “Well, Wang lei, since this is a civilian residence, you may call me Huiwei. Wang lei, is that your given name?”

Avoiding her eyes, he said, “Uh . . . yes, most certainly.”

Quickly gazing up once more, to gather his thoughts, he lowered his eyes and continued, “If you don’t mind Colonel Lí, my instructions are to refer to the residents on a formal basis.”

Now, finally looking at her, “And I do not want to lose my job, if you are so kind.”

Definitely military. At least he was honest about not wanting to lose his job.

“I believe I’ll take a taxi to the train station and into Tianfu Square. A car will not be necessary, Wang lei.” She tried not to smile using the name, but she also knew that the game was changing faster than she had hoped.

“Colonel Lí, that won’t be necessary and a car would be much quicker to the Research Center. It’s at least seven kilometers from the Square,” he said.

Now, she tried to calculate whether she was more concerned with the obvious surveillance, or his absolute ineptness in so openly revealing that he was given a profile on her to memorize. If he is training as a junior agent in the MSS, she hoped he would be weeded out sooner than later. He, or someone, will not survive his next birthday.

“This morning, I prefer the uninterrupted ride of the bullet train. It’s calming, and only a quick subway ride to the Center.” Huiwei already knew what was coming as she strolled to the door, but she wanted to play out the scene to uncover more variables from Wang lei – it was more like he was dropping slices of bread as opposed to crumbs.

As she began pulling the chrome handle on the large glass door, Wang lei scurried to stand between her and the opening door.

“Given my desire to do my best, I have already summoned a car for you Colonel. I hope you understand,” he said.

“Yes, I understand . . . fully.” She withdrew her hand from the door handle, turning back toward the fashionable lobby.

Huiwei walked across the parquet, walnut floor, and stepped to the plush white rug bearing the symbol of an orange, jumping koi fish, beneath the large, glass tea table. She sat politely on one of the white cushioned sofas, lowering her black leather satchel to the cushion next to her.

“Your courtesy is appreciated Wang lei. Do tell me what happened to the regular attendant, Zang Do. I do hope his mother is doing better since she’s so far away,” she asked.

He looked down, as she sensed he was processing the information in DSL for a 5G network.

“Perhaps he was too lazy as I understood that I would need to call him in advance to bring a car around,” she said.

“It is my understanding that there was a family illness, his mother as you mentioned. He was requested to return home, out of town, to assist. I believe it may be for some time.” Wang lei finally said.

Of course, Huiwei conjured up the name, Zang Do. The morning attendant was a polite young woman, named Chén. She is taking night classes at the university, living with her father and younger brother. Her mother had passed away several years ago.

On several mornings, Huiwei had enjoyed helping Chén with statistics calculations from her textbook, while Huiwei waited for a taxi. She hoped Chén was okay and whomever they were had placed her safely in another job.

Wang lei must have an uncle with some political pull and a mother who is a nagging sister to be able to get him into any type of surveillance position. It was most certainly not on any sort of merit. He will likely figure out his glaring mistake, later – there is no Zang Do or bedridden mother. It will not make it to any report, unless he is so ignorant or wanting to be assigned to a civilian manufacturing barracks, working fourteen hours a day making microchips or the latest basketball shoes. His festering confusion, knowing he is in over his head, without a place to turn, will make him a potential cornucopia of information for her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the security cameras in the lobby. One camera in her hallway, one in the elevator, two in the lobby and at least two more out front. Most surely the stairwell is covered as well. She will need to take a better security inventory later on – she knew she already should have. Her room? Another reason to get to the engineering lab at the center so she can reprogram an electronic scanner.

Taking away her flexibility to use a taxi at will, or the train, definitely changes the variables. With the thought, Huiwei plaintively pressed her extended forefinger to her mouth.

“Wang lei?”

“Yes, Colonel Lí,” he said, as if Huiwei was his enlistment Sergeant screaming, ‘attention’ in his face. Huiwei seriously hoped he never played poker, unless his uncle was also willing to cover his gambling debts.

She casually spoke to him now, “Given my long hours, I greatly appreciate the attention to security here. I presume there is a bank of monitors in a security room and I was wondering whether you had access to it should I have any incident of concern.”

His eyes perked up, “Security access . . . yes, Colonel Lí, I . . .,” and then his speaking trailed off, looking down at the floor now to reassess his response.

“I am simply the desk attendant, Colonel. I don’t know what...