Codes and Lies (BWWM)

En Route

A slight jolt of turbulence woke me from my sleep . It took a moment to reorient myself as to where I was.

I lifted the screen on the window of the large Boeing 747. I squinted my eyes to adjust them to the light. A sea of clouds painted in peach and coral shades greeted me. Settled back into my seat, I soaked in the sight.

After a moment of watching the ever changing skyscape, I looked toward the monitor in front of me. I watch as the small animated plane made its way farther from the LAX icon and closer to the PEK one on the screen. Soon the reality of what I was soon to be embarking on began to plague my thoughts.

"I'm really doing this." I whispered to myself letting out a shaky breath I didn't even realize I was holding.

Getting nervous was not a common thing for me, but with the dawn of my first official field mission, the temporary calm I had experienced just moments ago was gone. I could feel the anxiety building in the pit of my stomach. I peered across the aisle and two seats over to June who was still sound asleep oblivious to the turmoil building within me.

June's real name is Junjie, but after years of teachers' butchered attempts at proper pronunciation he figured "June" would be easier.

Junjie literally means handsome and outstanding, and he had no problems living up to his name. After graduating with two Masters degrees in Computer Science and Physics from Caltech at the age of 17, it was no wonder the CIA grabbed him two days after his 18th birthday. Four years later, and he was already one of the CIA's best tech engineers. And beyond his brilliance he was extremely good looking. Although he was a bit on the shorter side, it was never a surprise his desk was constantly being visited by all the single and some not so single women in and out of our department. If they could feign not knowing how to turn on a computer I'm sure they would have just to ask for his help.

I was very fortunate he'd been assigned as my tech support and CIA connect on the ground, but with his fluency in Mandarin and Cantonese it was really a no brainier.

He and I had met just three short months ago on The Farm , but the way we clicked made it feel as if we'd known each other for years. I can still easily recall the first day we met.

I had been called into meeting with Director Kurtis Manestrom to discuss my first official field mission. June was sitting adjacent to Director Manestrom showing him something on the screen of his laptop when I walked in...

Now, June is 5'4, on a good day, and when all 5 feet 11 and 1/4 inches of me strolled into the conference room, his eyes darted straight up to me then right back to our director. June furrowed his brow and said, "You paired me with the Amazon?"

Mr. Manestrom shot June a warning look, but I laughed and quickly retorted "No worries, I'm used working with halflings."

June smirked and nodded his head in approval. "Well played", he replied. "Anyone who can use a Lord of the Rings reference is ok in my book."

I extended my hand to June
"Dakota Martin, or Kota for short"

He took it and replied,
"Junjie Wu, but everyone calls me June"

An understood bond was developed in that very moment, and needless to say we've been close ever since.

After the initial formalities Director Manestrom began to brief us on our mission.

I was to make contact with Canaan DuMonte, a French native living in Beijing for the past twelve years. Mr. DuMonte had become an extremely wealthy tech firm CEO. This earned him several strong connections with prominent Chinese officials. He was also an extremely private man, and his top of the line security detail made it almost impossible to get a clear photo of him. Aside from a fifteen year old passport photo of him, all we had were blurry photos and back of the head views.