Chapter 318: Lock-on

Hearing the words of the young white man in the passenger seat beside him, Lin Ping, who was gripping the steering wheel, frowned slightly.

The few people in this car all had extraordinary backgrounds; they were all CIA agents.

Half a month ago, the CIA had dispatched several agents to follow a target into this Far East country.

No one expected that one day later, the person in charge of that tracking mission, a Senior Agent of the CIA—William Chen—would completely lose contact.

Among the CIA's massive number of employees, ethnic Chinese agents are a relatively small group.

Therefore, as one of the few ethnic Chinese Senior Agents in the CIA, Lin Ping had always had to interact with other ethnic Chinese Senior Agents. Although he was not very familiar with "William Chen," he had dealt with him before, and Lin Ping knew very well that the other man was a very capable and dedicated Senior Agent.

Lin Ping had actually heard of the mission William Chen had received half a month ago.

Although limited by the CIA's internal confidentiality principles, he did not know where the other man had been sent to carry out the mission, but he had roughly heard some rumors.

No one expected that something would go wrong with William Chen's trip.

The CIA Asia Division could not contact him at all, and it wasn't until a few days ago, when the two CIA agents who had gone on the mission with him reported his disappearance to the Asia Division and requested assistance, that the United States side realized the severity of the problem.

A Senior Agent had gone silent during a mission, and the person was not only ethnic Chinese but had also lost contact in this Far East country.

It would be no exaggeration to say that this situation was the worst and most dire scenario.

At best, the other man might have just been spotted and arrested by China's national security system; if that were the case, it would still be considered fortunate.

After all, the act of mutual espionage between countries is common, so as long as the two countries make private contact and reach some compromises, it is not impossible to exchange the captured agents back.

The trouble would be if William Chen had been killed by the target he was tracking during the mission, or if he had taken the opportunity to defect and join this Far East country.

The former situation would indicate that the CIA's initial risk assessment of the mission was not rigorous enough, and the result would likely not be as simple as the CIA just losing a Senior Agent; various uncertainties would likely cause them to lose even more personnel.

But if it were the latter situation, it would no longer be as simple as friction between the intelligence agencies of two countries, but would rise directly to the level of an international political dispute.

The CIA clearly realized the severity of the problem. After a brief meeting and discussion at the U. S. headquarters, they quickly activated an emergency plan. In addition to mobilizing three Senior Agents, including him, to rush to the Far East, they were accompanied by more than a dozen people from headquarters and the Asia Division. Among them were top hackers like the young white man in Lin Ping's car named "Thomson," as well as veteran agents capable of skilled disguise and intelligence gathering—Wang Bo.

Their Task was not just to rescue "William Chen." In addition to investigating the cause of his disappearance, figuring out if this Far East country was behind it, and capturing Ada Wong were all part of Lin Ping and his team's Task.

"... What exactly does the Task given to me by my superiors the day before yesterday—to investigate whether a young Chinese man named 'Sun Cheng' is in possession of certain things—mean?"

Vaguely sensing something amiss, yet unable to grasp the source of his unease for the moment, Lin Ping's brow was already knitted into a knot.

They had been in China for several days, but in the past few days, the CIA had mobilized almost all of their personnel in this country. Unfortunately, not only had they failed to find any trace of William Chen, but even the target he was tracking, the woman named Ada Wong, seemed to have vanished into thin air, with no news at all.

With no other choice, the CIA could only mobilize the secret sentries hidden in China for many years to subtly collect intelligence from Chinese intelligence agencies.

At the same time, they continued to follow the limited clues, re-investigating people who might be related to "Ada Wong."

Thus, in Nandu, the city where William Chen last disappeared, the agents dispatched to China by the CIA soon locked onto another Chinese youth who had had direct contact with Ada Wong and who had left quite a few records in the CIA's database—Sun Cheng.

"So? Thomson, do you mean we've found the right person? Is this Chinese man named Sun Cheng also related to William Chen's disappearance?"

Lin Ping drove quietly, remaining silent for a long while before asking.

The order from above was to secretly investigate "Sun Cheng," so in the entire team, only Lin Ping and the other two Senior Agents knew about this; everyone else was unaware.

"It's hard to say. The kernel of the Microsoft operating system automatically generates a short usage record code every time it is started. Although most professional computer Engineers proficient in programming have the ability to clear records, I don't think many people besides hackers or some secret research institutions would casually clear these records..."

The young white man, an American hacker recruited by the CIA named Thomson, first shook his head, then answered affirmatively: "I can only say this: this Chinese man named 'Sun Cheng' is very suspicious..."

"That's enough..."

Wang Bo sat back down in the back seat, his eyes cold. "It seems we must follow this lead. How about this: try to create an opportunity for me tomorrow or the day after. I want to enter the company of that young man named 'Sun Cheng' to see if I can find any clues!"

He was a veteran agent who had been recruited and trained by the CIA Asia Division for many years. Although his status was not as high as Senior Agents like Lin Ping who were sent directly from headquarters, he was much more familiar with Asia, especially the Far East, than Lin Ping and the others, so even Lin Ping, who was in charge of this investigation Task, and the other two Senior Agents had to listen to his words.

Moreover, even Lin Ping felt that it was indeed necessary to seriously investigate Sun Cheng.

He nodded slightly. "I will arrange it as soon as possible. We will discuss the specifics in detail after returning to the base. You all should also be careful and not be too careless. After all, this is the capital of China, one of the five permanent members of the United Nations. China's national security system was established in the 1920s and has a history of nearly a hundred years. We cannot afford to get into big trouble here!"

Thomson shrugged and continued to fiddle with the computer on his lap.

Wang Bo nodded with a serious expression; he had always been responsible for the China side and naturally understood the country's counter-espionage capabilities. The last time William Chen contacted the CIA to seek help, the reason the division only arranged for two newly developed recruits to assist him was out of fear that those old faces had long been targeted by China's national security system.

Inside the car, it soon became quiet.

But they did not know that at this very moment, more than two thousand meters in the sky above the car, a barely visible point of light flashed and disappeared, and at the same time, an electromagnetic wave was transmitted to a certain place dozens of kilometers away.

"Target trajectory locked, awaiting further instructions..."

PS:

I apologize for the break in updates over the past few days due to some matters.

This arc of the reality-based plot has about two or three chapters left. I have buried a few plot holes and also need to fill some previous ones. Plus, since I have always been writing in fits and starts, I need to spend time flipping through previous drafts when filling the holes.