The Shanghai Factor
Charles McCarry
He's meant to be laying low, polishing his Mandarin and awaiting further instruction from Washington. But Shanghai is a difficult city to sleep in, especially when his nights are taken over by the seductive and mysterious Mei - a woman with secrets he'd rather not hear.
Then he is tasked with a delicate operation; infiltrate the core of the Chinese intelligence service. Distinguish friend from foe. report to a single contact at HQ. trust no one. tell no one.
Pushed out into the cold, in a city of millions he's suddenly very, very alone. But in Shanghai city you're never truly alone. Faceless strangers linger in the shadows, watching your every move. No one is safe from the Guoanbu. Not even a spy with no name...
Act 1 : Deep Cover
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A spy has to be prepared to live a complete lie. This one is put in deep cover in China… become one of the locals, be un-noticed, be ready and keep ‘controller’ informed. Every detail, no matter how trivial or seemingly inconsequential, helps build a picture of the ‘enemy’.
So when he is ‘bumped into’ by a girl on a bicycle, Mei, who demands compensation and ultimately offers consolation, he is alert.
Has he been rumbled or are the Chinese security folk – his counterparts – wanting to rule him either in or out as a player in the ‘great game’? Actually that is not his concern.
He enjoys his life in Shanghai, the company of Mei, the mutual tutelage in each other’s language, and the bonding that comes from gratifying sex. He even manages to make contact with his minder in Shanghai, who grumbles about the price he had paid in compensation to Mei for a new bike. As he explains, it was either that or Mei’s threatened encounter for him with the local police. Better for a sleeper to stay well off the radar of any officialdom.
But his easy existence comes to an end one night, as all good things often do, with a severe reminder of the extreme penalty he might pay for what he is.
Act 2 : Working for the Chinese
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He’d been introduced by Mei to the ‘princelings’, children of the powerful Chinese ruling elite. Offspring who are indulged, who have seen beyond their country’s boundaries, who have sampled western education and decadence, who are well connected and whose future is secure…provided they do not loose sight of Chinese sensibilities. One of the ‘princelings, Da Ge, introduces him to his father, Chen Qi, a king pin at the top of a major corporation.
Chen is someone in whose interest it would be to further the cause of Goanbu – the Chinese secret service - just as much as the corporation and its thousands of employees and worldwide operations. Exactly the connection that could call for the awakening of a ‘sleeper’ such as himself.
Chen Qi wants him on their side, his task is to be a bridge between Chen and American business men with whom he does business. Of course he agrees. Sitting alongside this powerful man would be ‘deep cover’ to be exploited in the future, playing the long game.
Only Chen makes it clear – he demands his unswerving loyalty to the company and to the advancement of his adopted country.
Moved in to corporation accommodation, he is provided with a neighbourly associate. Someone who sees to his every need now that Mei has disappeared from the scene.
Act 3 : Back home
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One is never sure why it happens, but having proved himself to Chen in China he is moved to America to oversee their operations there. Then he is unceremoniously dumped; a very generous payoff commensurate with the substantial salary he was already being paid. An act which confounds the American secret services – who was playing who, and at what sort of game? Time to test the waters, maybe time to turn the tables. Especially when the Chinese secret service finally make clear their intention to recruit him.
The prize for all this patience would be to add to America’s assets, to turn the Chinese contact. A game of give and take, push and pull, as tactically handled as a game of chess.
Ensure your enemy makes the first false move, compromise his position, force him into the end game you want – one that will see you the winner.
But on the downside you could be letting loose a killer move, one that threatens a valuable piece. As always, high stakes in high places.
Who knows how such a dangerous game of subterfuge will end?
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