Red Cell by Henshaw Mark E

Author:Henshaw, Mark E. [Henshaw, Mark E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller, Mystery, Suspense
ISBN: 9781451661934
Amazon: 1451661932
Goodreads: 12988422
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2012-05-01T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

TUESDAY

DAY TEN

BEIJING CAPITAL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (PEK) BEIJING

The airport was in the Chaoyang district, northeast of the city in a suburb no longer considered remote. The ’08 Olympics had fixed that. If the government had spared any expense to ready the city for visitors that year, it had not been here. Beijing’s largest airport left no question that the host country had become a deserving member of the first world. Terminal 2 was all painted girders and steel rising to a low hangar ceiling, well lit and devoid of any obvious Chinese influence. The size was impressive and the architecture was not, which was a disappointment to Kyra. Growing up in Charlottesville had given her an appreciation for the architectural influences of Mr. Jefferson. She wanted a country with such a unique heritage to make a unique first impression. The building was a justifiable source of pride for a nation whose citizens had starved to death by the millions under Mao, but Kyra hoped they weren’t losing their own culture in bits and pieces in a bid to prove their national standing.

The views of Beijing seen from the taxi window as they traveled the Shoudou Jichang Airport Expressway southwest into the city did not change that impression. It was as modern a city as any she had visited, better than most, with construction that was threatening to crush out the buildings that still matched the Beijing that Kyra had pictured in her mind. Rental cars were not available to foreigners, so they had settled for a simple taxi. It was the most random option available, and random behavior was a counterintelligence officer’s worst enemy and therefore Jonathan and Kyra’s second-best defense. The first was to say nothing during the drive and do nothing openly illegal for the rest of their stay.

The expressway terminated in an exit onto the Dong Sanhuan Beilu Freeway near the northern embassy district, one of the four major roadways that circled the city center. From there, the driver took them on a tour of the small side streets that left Kyra grasping for a sense of direction. Despite her boast on the plane, she had spent a good chunk of the flight staring at maps and guidebooks that she’d pilfered from the CIA Library’s map office. The case officer—she still couldn’t think of herself as an analyst—had been trying to memorize the major street names. She couldn’t feel comfortable entering a hostile territory without arming herself with a detailed knowledge of the terrain, but she had finally given up on that dream. The endless dajies and zhonglus labeling the streets had all run together within minutes, and so she had settled for a general overview of Beijing’s asphalt geography. The city center was an elongated box with Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City at its center and Nanhai, Zhonghai, and Beihai Lakes to its immediate west. Most of the major streets ran north-south and east-west. It was only the smaller side streets that were laid out in haphazard fashion.

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