After she left the multipurpose conference room, Liang Siyao entered Xia Lei’s office. She placed the two confidential doc.u.ments for ‘Alloy X’ and ‘Wasp’ on his office desk.
Qing Caiyue entered and handed over her notebook. “CEO Liang, these are my notes.”
Liang Siyao tossed the meeting minutes on the table. “There really wasn’t anything worth recording.”
“I thought so too, that’s why I didn’t take many notes,” said Qing Caiyue.”
Ring, ring…
Liang Siyao’s phone rang suddenly. She picked up. “h.e.l.lo… Director Xia? Mmhmm… You want me to come over? Alright, I"ll be there.” As she spoke, she walked out of the room.
“Was that Director Xia?” asked Qing Caiyue.
“Yep, that was him.” Liang Siyao didn’t stop walking. She had already exited the door when she finished her sentence.
Qing Caiyue was the only one left in the office.
Once she left, Liang Siyao whispered, “I’ve left, it’s all on the table. Watch it closely.”
Xia Lei’s voice came from the phone. “I’m watching.”
In the other room, Xia Lei was watching the screen of his laptop. The screen showed Qing Caiyue staring at the confidential doc.u.ments labelled ‘Alloy X’ and ‘Wasp’ on the table. She was only two steps away.
‘Take it, take it,’ thought Xia Lei silently.
Qing Caiyue walked over to the desk in two steps and stretched her hand out.
‘Is it really you?’ wondered Xia Lei. Images of their first meeting, the work she did in Paris and the scene of him almost sleeping with her surfaced in his mind.
There were two doc.u.ments and one set of meeting minutes on the table. Qing Caiyue’s hand slowly moved.
“Pick up the phone, princess. Pick up the phone, princess…”
Her phone rang. This quirky ringtone was suited for a girl like Qing Caiyue.
She retracted her hand and accepted the call. “Mm...mm.”
She didn’t say anything, merely grunted twice and hung up. Then, she picked up her notes and turned to leave.
She didn’t touch the two doc.u.ments at all!
Xia Lei was baffled. He thought she was about to touch the doc.u.ments, maybe use her phone to take pictures of them but she didn’t. She only took a look and left.
The door opened as Liang Siyao walked in, asking hurriedly, “Is it her? Is it her?”
Xia Lei smiled bitterly, then turned the laptop around to show her the screen.
There was no one in the office now, yet the doc.u.ments were still on the table.
“You mean it’s not her?” asked Liang Siyao, surprised.
“There are no security cameras in my office and Qing Caiyue knows this. You weren’t there either. If she were the spy, could she really ignore the lure of Alloy X? Plus the secrets of the drone. If she wanted to steal the confidential data, she merely had to take pictures with her phone.”
Liang Siyao’s brows were furrowed. Then, she suddenly took out her phone and made a call.
She was calling Qing Caiyue.
“h.e.l.lo? Secretary Qing, I was in a hurry just now and forgot about the two confidential doc.u.ments I left on Director Xia’s desk. Help me keep them… Where? Put them in the drawer under his desk,” said Siyao.
Xia Lei asked, “Why bother asking her to store them?”
Liang Siyao said, “I want to test her again. Plus, it’s a very logical and normal thing for me to ask her to keep them. By giving her this instruction, she will think I trust her.”
Xia Lei nodded. Liang Siyao used to be a high-level intelligence officer at the CIA, her capabilities were undeniable. He believed that she was right in doing this.
On the screen, Qing Caiyue had entered the office again.
She walked directly to the desk, then picked up the doc.u.ments. She did not open them and placed it in the drawer before locking it. Then, she left.
Xia Lei said, “Not her.”
Liang Siyao thought for a moment. “Based on my observations, I don’t think it’s her. However, I was also observing other people at the meeting, but…”
“But you did not find anything suspicious,” said Xia Lei with a bitter smile. “I was observing too. I observed everyone, especially their expressions when the doc.u.ments were revealed. It’s too bad I did not find anything suspicious either.”
“The spy really is a master at this, we must’ve underestimated them.” Liang Siyao’s eyebrows were tightly furrowed.
Xia Lei said, “Siyao, you used to work at the CIA and held a high position, you…”
Liang Siyao hit him. “You’re not allowed to bring up my past, why did you have to mention my last job? That’s not allowed either.”
Xia Lei smiled. “Don’t you want to catch the guy too?”
Liang Siyao sat in his lap. “I know what you’re thinking about, I’ll tell you.” After a pause, she said, “The CIA is a giant organisation with tens of thousands of employees around the world. Although I’ve worked at the CIA, it’s forbidden for us to look up employee records.”
Xia Lei sighed. “Tens of thousands of employees, you can’t possibly know them all.”
“Also, the CIA has its own a.s.sa.s.sins. These were directly controlled by the highest-ranked officials to a.s.sa.s.sinate national enemies and disrupt enemy nations’ political systems. They are the true elites of the CIA. Have you seen the movie?”
“Are you talking about The Bourne Ident.i.ty?”
“Yeah, that one. In the movie, Jason was based on a CIA a.s.sa.s.sin. They are not deployed for regular people, only for huge missions. This time, if we cannot catch the spy, they will probably be a cla.s.sic case study later within the CIA.”
Xia Lei smirked. “I won’t let it happen, the spy cannot escape me.”
“You have another idea?” Liang Siyao stared at him intently.
Xia Lei smiled. “It’s a secret for the moment.”
“Hmph! Can’t believe you’re keeping secrets from me. No way, tell me now or I’ll tell your son.” Liang Siyao twisted her hips like a child.
“Alright, I’ll tell you. Give me your ear.”
Liang Siyao leaned over.
Xia Lei came to her ear and mumbled something. She smiled and nodded. When she thought he was done, he stuck his tongue out.
”Aargh, you…” She blushed heavily from his actions.
Xia Lei grinned. “So you’re the only one who’s allowed to play dirty?”
Sa’im returned with a lot of photos.
Some were taken from the hotel’s surveillance system, some were taken from a pinhole camera while others were taken by the drone in the air. These pictures showed the entire situation at Os.h.i.+no Hakkai.
There weren’t pictures of anyone from the Bureau 101 but there were people who obviously were from the j.a.panese special forces. Some of them were disguised as tourists, some as the owner of a bathhouse or service staff, others as local farmers. The entire area had essentially become a battleground.
As long as Long Bing appeared in Os.h.i.+no Hakkai, it would become a battlefield!
“Madam Long, I think you now understand that the call for help was a trap waiting for you to jump in,” said Sa’im. “I risked my life taking these pictures. I believe there are FA group members lying low within Os.h.i.+no Hakkai. If all of us went with you, not one of us would survive.”
“Madam Long, it’s time to make a decision.” Tsukino Kyoko appeared at the door. “Even if you don’t want to think about yourself, think about the boss. Even if you don’t want to think about yourself or the boss, thinking about the child in your womb. Are you going to rob that child of its chance of life?”
Long Bing instinctively looked at her small belly. Although it was still flat, she could feel the little life form within.
“Madam Long, is it worth destroying everything just for a mission you couldn’t complete?” said Tsukino Kyoko.
Sa’im said, “I even suspect someone a.s.signed you this mission on purpose. Knowing of the FA group’s Plan B, the Thunder Horse Organization has also made a Anti-Aeros.p.a.ce defence plus a set of S400 anti-aircraft missiles. What’s the use if the FA group succeeds in hijacking the plane this time?”
Long Bing heaved a long sigh. “Let’s go back.”
The last mission of her career as a special force agent ended in a failure.