Chapter 622 - Rumours, Rumours everywhere (8)

10 June, Steven Hou's Office, Gu Group, City K

Stephen turned off the livestream on his computer from Abigail's interactions with the press.  For an eighteen-year-old, she handled what could only be said to be an emotionally challenging situation extremely well.  Looking at his watch, he noticed the time and quickly moved to the door, telling his secretary that he was not to be disturbed until he said otherwise before locking the door.

Confident in the security that they had recently upgraded in this office, he opened the top right draw of his desk, to trigger the secret compartment containing the wireless device that activated the surveillance countermeasures that had been installed, before turning to his computer and accessing the hidden but secure link to the capital.

As the screen opened to the web conference link, Steven noticed in addition to his supervisor two other men were in the room.  Steven knew that the shock passed across his face before he could hide it.  "Mr Hou stop worrying.  I will be on this link for a few minutes before these two gentlemen, speak to you about something."

Stephen nodded and said "I was surprised when I received your message for a conference.  Can you tell me what is going on?"

"Your cover, how good is it?"

"You know what I did?"

"You think we are stupid.  I wanted to fire you, and have you dragged into prison for what you did, but I was convinced not to do so, because your instincts were correct in the end.  You did what we trained you to do, think outside the box, and look to what could be done to achieve the goals we have.  So other than General Rong, do you think anyone else in the military knows about you?"

"I trust his word that he did not inform anyone of the source of the information," responded Steven, wondering what was going on.  He noticed the two gentlemen in the background nod.

"You have no doubts?"

"None.  He has always been trustworthy, and if you ask him not to talk about anything he will not."

"Fine.  But I go back to my original question, how good is your cover?"

"Perfect.  I do the job I am employed to do here in the Gu Group, and with the travel that involves I feedback whatever intelligence I gather.  You know me, I do not risk my cover to get every little bit of intelligence, as that is not what you pay me to do."

"Can you tell me what the world is going on there? The information about the Mo family, is problematic.  It will compromise many things possibly even your job, including you given the youngest daughter is married to your friend, Paul Gu.  Then there is the fact that the eldest daughter is married to one of General Rong's immediate subordinates.  Can we trust the Special Forces there?  Does that have the potential to compromise all special forces, let alone all military intelligence?  Then there is the fact that just last week, the contract signed by the health department for manufacturing of certain aspects of medical personal protective equipment.  What is the impacts on that?"

"Sir, that is a lot of questions.  You all my skill set, and I have found out from a contact at the courts, that Madam Mo has two distinct sets of charges.  The first, relates to breaches of the restraining order her daughter has against her.  I accessed, carefully, the CCTV footage at the JL International Mall and saw one of her actions, and literally found out that another thing she did was call Abigail while she and Paul were spending time with our mutual friend John Nang…"

"The police's military liaison officer there in City K?" came one of the men in the background.

Paul reacted in shock.  He knew John had some interactions with the military but to be the liaison officer… That was something both Matthew and he kept secret because it meant that John trained with them.

The voice continued "You did not know?  That is surprising but backs up your statement that General Rong can keep a secret as less than thirty people in City K know his true role, most think he is an analyst tied to the Police Special Action Team there."

Having gathered himself back together Steven calmly responded "I do now.  But Madam Mo did herself in, when she made a call a couple of days ago, John just happened to be visiting Paul and Abigail with his fiancée Bronwyn Li…"  Paul paused seeing a look pass across the two faces behind his superior, wondering what that was all about.

"John told me that he heard the abuse and encouraged it to be reported.  As to the historical s*xual abuse, I knew and it will be in my file because I disclosed this, when he was eighteen, she attempted to seduce Paul Gu, and he ran like anything telling his father and Kevin Mo.  I know neither of them believed it, but they agreed to keep her away from Paul as of how he was.  John Nang called a group of his friends to a meeting yesterday at General Rong's villa, and as you will see from the report I sent in, what he disclosed."

"That is the tip of the iceberg.  We need to reassess your position and the risks.  Madam Mo is facing over 100 counts of s*xual abuse including r*pe with seven victims who have come forward in the last twenty-four hours, along extortion and blackmail and other charges.  Your secure email has the names and charges relating to those victims that have come forward.  What is your gut feeling on John Nang, and knowing his role does it compromise him?"

"My gut feeling was that it did not impact his role as a police officer when he talked about it.  I observed some confrontation between General Rong, and his subordinate Colonel Pang about what was discussed.  I heard the mention of a name Craig and suicide, and I get the idea that Colonel Pang blames John Nang for not preventing it by not disclosing what happened to him.  My recommendation now knowing John's role with the police is that there will be impacts, the extent I cannot predict as I do not know who this Craig is and how it connects to everything."

After seeing his superior nod, Steven heard "There are too many uncertainties.  Protect yourself and your position but make sure you report anything that can impact on you back to us.  But because you are in country, we will protect you if things look like they are going wrong.  Report back to me through the secure communications once you have reviewed everything sent through and formulate a position not only about your exposure but potential risks to the county.  Now these two gentlemen want to speak to you about something, so I will leave you."

Within a minute Steven heard a door shutting over the link, before one gentleman spoke and said "A courier will arrive with data that we need you to examine to your home tonight.  If you disseminate the material, you will be thrown into the deepest darkest cell in the worst prison in the county never to see the light of day.  Other than the asset you will join eight other people who know of it from the three main intelligence agencies.  We want you to prepare a handwritten position paper tonight that will be collected with the material at eight am tomorrow.  Any notes and the note pad used must be burnt to protect the asset."

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