The Greatest of These by Greg Wendleton (booksvooks txt) 📕

Bobby typed an email addressed to The Red Assassin at the dark web site that he monitored for information from his agents. The message was limited in the information provided, but The Red Assassin could understand the deeper relationship to his association with Conrad.

The message stated that an American couple from Texas had been rescued from a man holding them captive near Hana. They were severely dehydrated and had been drugged. The FBI was keeping close tabs on the couple. Their names were Chad and Jamie Wilhite.

The Red Assassin had discovered, with very little help from Conrad, that Wilhite Logistical Consulting was the firm that had planned the shipping schedule for the COVID vaccine. He didn’t need further verification as to who these two Americans were. It left him no choice but to fly to Maui on the first flight leaving Taipei.

When the email arrived from his agent, it was already after eight on Thursday morning, but there was a United Airlines flight leaving Taoyuan International Airport at 1:10pm, connecting in San Francisco to another flight that would land in Kahului, on Maui, at 2:47pm, Thursday, February 25. It would be a very uncomfortable twenty-hour journey, since only economy tickets were available. He paid the air fare of $1,024.65, US dollars, and set about packing for a journey that could last the rest of his life.

After completing his packing, and without saying anything to his superiors at the UBG, The Red Assassin went to his bank and withdrew, one hundred and fifty thousand TWD, the rough equivalent of five thousand, US dollars. He would walk across the street to a currency exchange office and convert the New Taiwan Dollars into United States Dollars. Even though it would cost him a little more than using his bank to convert the money. He wanted to limit his paper trail. He could persuade the currency exchanger to look the other way.

With the American dollars packed safely into his computer pack, he hailed a taxi and was driven directly to the airport, where he checked in for his international flight. He presented a clean, Canadian passport identifying him as Jackie Ming, of Vancouver, British Columbia. He would drop his well-known handle of The Red Assassin, and simply become Jackie Ming. He would have the next twenty hours to develop his cover.

The first leg of his journey, that would take him to San Francisco, would consume more than eleven hours, but it would still be Thursday, February 25. In fact, it would still be morning. He would have nearly three hours to wait in San Francisco, before he took the flight that would land on Maui at 2:47pm. Jackie would recover a van that his agent, Bobby, would leave for him in a predetermined parking space at the airport, and head for a location that Bobby promised to obtain. He also agreed to load the van with some necessary equipment for the surveillance mission that he would be embarking upon. Maybe most important, water and a sleeping bag so he could let his body catch up to the jet lag.

The first flight was uneventful, but extremely uncomfortable. Jackie was not used to traveling in economy and his long frame did not fit well in the narrow seats with limited leg room. He made his way through customs with no issues and after rechecking his luggage to Maui, exited the international arrival area and found a restaurant. He didn’t know what meal would be available, and he really didn’t care, he just needed to eat.

As it turned out, he had his option of breakfast or lunch and ordered fried eggs, ham and toast with black coffee. Jackie wasn’t sure if the food was that good or he was that hungry. He cleaned his plate and left a twenty-dollar bill on the table and walked out of the restaurant.

Locating the gate for his connecting flight to Maui, he searched his surroundings for any unusual Asians that might be tracking him. He did not see anyone suspicious. He saw a Men’s room a hundred feet away and walked directly to the entrance and found an available handicapped stall. Not really caring if anyone saw him, he stepped inside, closed and locked the door. He removed some toiletries from his computer backpack and freshened up his face and torso. Jackie then pulled out a short-sleeve, camp style shirt and replaced the long-sleeve shirt he had been wearing for the last sixteen hours. He exited the stall and not a soul paid any attention to his obvious lack of any physical handicap. Americans, so many rules and accommodations that they completely disregard.

His seat assignment from San Francisco to Kahului was much more to his liking. He had a bulkhead seat at the window. He could at least stretch his legs out and lean up against the hull of the plane to rest more comfortably. After taking off and reaching a safe altitude, Jackie retrieved his backpack and returned to his seat. Buckling his seatbelt, he held tightly to his personal belongings. Not caring anything about the view out his window, he closed his eyes and slept until he felt the bounce of the wheels hitting the runway in Kahului. Sleep when you can, not when the clock says you should.

The baggage claim service was efficient and by 3:20pm Jackie had found the van left for him by his agent. Bobby had left the key in a magnetic box under the running board by the driver’s side door. He unlocked the dark blue Ford van and entered its front compartment. Bobby had done well obtaining a 2013 conversion van, not just a delivery van. All of the side and back windows were heavily tinted, affording a sense of privacy when in the passenger’s section. There were two Captain’s chairs in the back that could be rotated three hundred and sixty degrees. There was also a couch that ran along the back of the van. A drop-down table was