Chapter 145: Evacuation Phase 1 Completed

The truck started up again. Wang Kang sat in the driver's seat, while Li Wei sat in the passenger seat, gripping the seatbelt tightly with both hands, cold sweat pouring down his face.

At 3 a.m., the port of Seattle was still brightly lit.

From a distance, those giant gantry cranes, some tens of meters high, look like steel behemoths standing on the dark sea.

High-intensity halogen searchlights illuminated the vast container yard as bright as day, and the air was filled with a strong smell of diesel exhaust and the salty odor of the sea.

"We're almost at checkpoint number one, so try to control your expression."

Wang Kang looked straight ahead and casually reminded him, "Pretend you're still half asleep. You're delivering frozen pork, not bombing the Pentagon."

Li Wei swallowed hard, forced himself to lean back in his chair, closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, but his eyelids were still trembling slightly.

With a screeching sound of the air brakes screeching, the refrigerated truck slowly drove into the port's commercial vehicle lane and stopped on the weighbridge.

The numbers on the red electronic screen flickered a few times before finally settling.

In U.S. commercial ports, the first step for trucks entering the port is weighing. Customs and the port authority compare the actual weight on the weighbridge with the weight on the customs declaration.

Old Bill and Arthur, two adult men, weighed a combined total of over 300 pounds, but Wang Kang had already increased the gross weight of those boxes of premium spare ribs on the shipping manifest. With the weight of the ice added, the error was perfectly controlled within a reasonable range.

The barrier gate at the security booth ahead did not lift directly.

A port security officer wearing a dark blue uniform and a bulletproof vest pushed open the glass door and came out.

The guy was a burly white man, holding a powerful flashlight, chewing gum, and looking somewhat impatient.

He walked to the driver's side window and knocked on the glass.

Wang Kang lowered the car window, and a gust of cold wind blew in.

"Turn off the engine. TWIC card (transport worker identification), driver's license, and delivery note." The policeman shone his flashlight in Wang Kang's face, his voice rude.

"Of course, officer."

Wang Kang yawned, then casually pulled a plastic folder from the sun visor and handed it over along with his and Li Wei's identification documents.

The police officer glanced at the list with a flashlight and then checked the photos on the documents.

Logically speaking, if a delivery vehicle carrying vegetables and fresh meat to a departing cargo ship in the middle of the night has all the necessary paperwork, the security guard should just glance at the form and let it pass.

But today, the policeman seemed to be in a bad mood, or perhaps he was just bored late at night and wanted to cause trouble.

He slapped the order on the car window and pointed his flashlight at the back of the truck.

"Open the back door. I need to conduct a routine spot check."

Upon hearing this, Li Wei, who was pretending to be asleep, suddenly stiffened and his breathing stopped.

"Random inspection?"

Wang Kang frowned, displaying the complaints and impatience typical of a truck driver:

"Officer, it's the middle of the night, and the room is full of frozen meat that's below zero."

"If the air conditioning runs out as soon as the door is opened, and the meat thaws and turns to mush, the captain will complain about us, and the company will deduct our pay if they receive a complaint."

"The stamp on the form was just put on by customs yesterday afternoon."

"I said, open the door. That's the rule."

The policeman, his face cold, placed his hand directly on the gun handle at his waist and repeated the action.

"Okay, okay, you're the boss, I'll listen to you."

Wang Kang raised his hands in surrender, opened the car door, and jumped out. He turned to Li Wei in the passenger seat and shouted, "What are you sleeping for! Get out and help me open the door!"

Li Wei stiffly pushed open the car door and followed Wang Kang to the back of the car.

Wang Kang took out his key and turned the heavy metal lock.

"Squeak—"

The moment the doors to the side were pulled open, a thick, white mist mixed with the pungent smell of raw meat poured out like a waterfall.

The police officer shivered from the sub-zero air, tightened his collar, and climbed onto the train's running board with a flashlight in hand.

The carriage was filled with layers of cardboard boxes and wooden crates labeled with labels.

The police officer, holding a flashlight, casually scanned the gaps between the wooden crates, his leather boots creaking on the frosty floor.

He walked further in.

Li Wei stood under the car, his back soaked with cold sweat.

Because the policeman was walking towards the deepest part of the carriage, where Old Bill and Arthur's two specially made wooden crates were located!

The police stopped in front of the huge wooden crate that read "Premium Frozen Pork Ribs".

He seemed interested in the wooden box, which was noticeably larger than the others.

He stretched out his tactical gloved hand and slapped the lid of the wooden crate twice.

"Bang, bang."

Hollow, crashing sounds echoed through the carriage.

At this moment, Arthur, hiding in the box, covered his mouth tightly. He could even feel the vibration from the wooden plank above his head. He was already breathing heavily due to recovering from a high fever, and now he was suffocating so much that his face turned purple, and he felt like his lungs were about to explode.

"What's in this box? And why is it so big?"

The policeman turned around and looked suspiciously at Wang Kang, who was standing at the door.

"Tomahawk steak and a whole rack of pork ribs, officer."

Wang Kang walked forward without changing his expression, rubbing his hands as if he couldn't stand the cold:

"The first mates and captains on the Panama ship liked to eat these big, uncut pieces, so they couldn't be packed in small cardboard boxes and had to be made into these large wooden crates."

The policeman stared at the wooden crate for two seconds, seemingly considering whether to have Wang Kang use a crowbar to pry open the nails and take a look.

At this critical moment.

Wang Kang suddenly took a step forward and seemingly casually pulled out a white foam insulated box without any labels from a pile of normal-sized cardboard boxes next to him.

He walked up to the policeman, carrying the insulated box, lowered his voice, and gave a knowing, shrewd smile.

"Officer, actually... there's something I need to tell you."

Wang Kang patted the foam box in his hand.

"When the supplier was loading the truck, those brainless Mexican movers messed up the order."

"There were two extra boxes of top-grade Australian M9 Wagyu beef in here. This stuff wasn't on the customs declaration."

"If we take it on board, the captain won't honor the debt. If we take it back, the meat will thaw and be ruined, and the boss will deduct our wages."

Wang Kang pushed the styrofoam box forward and shoved it directly into the policeman's arms:

"It's the middle of the night, you must be tired from your duty."

"This piece of meat that was going to be scrapped is better than the cafeteria hamburgers, whether you take it home and fry or grill it."

"As for the goods in this wooden box, please spare me. If anything is missing, my boss will really skin me alive."

"Also, look... can we speed up this random inspection? The air conditioning is about to run out."

The police officer was taken aback.

He looked down at the heavy styrofoam box in his arms, and even through the lid, he could almost smell the money-grubbing aroma of the top-quality beef.

Originally, he just wanted to find some trouble and see if he could gain some benefits. Now that there was a wrong delivery, he figured he might as well take advantage of the situation.

The policeman's previously cold face instantly melted.

"Ugh... You suppliers are just not meticulous in your work."

He swayed the styrofoam box in his arms, cleared his throat, and very naturally turned and walked out of the carriage.

"Alright, the temperature inside is normal. No contraband found. Close the door."

He jumped off the train and casually slapped the signed supply order onto Wang Kang's chest.

"Get inside and unload the goods quickly, don't block the passage."

"Thank you, officer! Have a nice evening!"

With a broad smile, Wang Kang closed the heavy door and locked it again.

After getting back into the driver's seat, Wang Kang stepped on the gas, and the truck drove over the raised barrier.

Li Wei, in the passenger seat, slumped in his seat, panting heavily, as if he had just walked through the gates of hell.

"Kang... Brother Kang, you're awesome." Li Wei wiped his sweat and gave a heartfelt thumbs up.

"Stop talking nonsense and keep your eyes on the road." Wang Kang's expression returned to its coldness.

The truck navigated the complex interior of the port for about ten minutes before finally stopping at berth number 86.

A Panamanian-flagged ocean-going cargo ship, resembling a mobile fortress at sea, was docked there, its hull illuminated by rows of orange lights.

The port dispatcher waved a glow stick, directing the trucks to back into the loading and unloading area.

With a deafening roar of machinery, the heavy-duty gantry crane on the dock slowly lowered four thick steel cables.

The crane operator hung steel cables on the huge wooden crates and the surrounding pallets.

"Lift up!"

Instructions came through the walkie-talkie.

Under the watchful eyes of Wang Kang and Li Wei, the two specially made wooden crates containing Old Bill and Arthur slowly lifted off the ground and rose into the dark night sky as the steel cables tightened.

Subsequently, the crane boom moved horizontally, steadily delivering this batch of "frozen meat" into the bottomless hold of the cargo ship.

Wang Kang watched as the crane retracted the steel cable, rolled down the car window, and lit a cigarette.

"Mission accomplished."

He exhaled a puff of white smoke and said softly.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Li Wei watched as the crane completely retracted the steel cable, and finally let out a long sigh of relief, letting out a breath that had been stuck in his chest for so long.

He slumped back in his seat, his tense muscles relaxing, and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"Phew...that was a close call."

Looking at the huge cargo ship in front of him, Li Wei couldn't help but mutter a complaint:

"To be honest, Kang, tonight we're transporting senior engineers from Raytheon and Boeing. I thought this level of international evacuation mission would be much bigger."

"For example, there would have to be at least a few black SUVs chasing us, or customs officers fully armed and blocking our way, and we'd have to force our way through the checkpoint amidst a hail of bullets..."

Hearing this, Wang Kang, who was smoking, turned around and looked at Li Wei as if he were a fool.

"You young people, you've been in America too long, watching too many Hollywood blockbusters, haven't you?"

Wang Kang flicked his cigarette ash and cursed irritably:

"You've been in this line of work for a while now, and you've done quite a few jobs before. Don't you have any idea what kind of work we do?"

"Didn't the instructors at the training base in China explain the rules to you before you came here?"

After being scolded by his senior colleague, Li Wei scratched his head awkwardly and quickly sat up straight.

He knew perfectly well that his earlier rant was just rambling nonsense born of extreme tension, and it didn't align with any logical action.

"I've explained it clearly."

Li Wei obediently recited the training instructions:

"The highest standard for espionage missions is absolute routine."

"A successful infiltration or evacuation operation should be completed without any disturbances, relying on legal cover identities and normal social procedures to complete the handover."

"Leave no trace, attract no attention, and cause no physical conflict."

Li Wei sighed and corrected his own mistake:

"If it were really like in the movies, with people constantly drawing guns and shooting at each other, or speeding and exploding on the road, that wouldn't be a secret service mission; that would be a catastrophic failure after the intelligence network is completely exposed."

"Isn't that settled?"

Wang Kang stubbed out his cigarette in the car ashtray, started the engine, and put it back in gear.

"Since you know all these rules and regulations so well, why bother thinking about those unnecessary things?"

"I'm telling you, Li Wei."

"If we had actually drawn our guns and started a gunfight with that fat security guard in front of that barrier gate, none of us would have made it out of this port today."

"This ship will be seized immediately, those two old men will be taken away by the FBI, and the covert network we've built in Seattle over the past few years will be uprooted."

"Nothing going wrong is the best thing."

The refrigerated truck slowly started moving and headed out of the port along the original route.

Looking out the window at the receding shipping containers, Li Wei's voice carried a hint of helplessness and lingering fear:

"I know, Brother Kang. I understand the reasoning."

"This is the first time I've carried out such a core-level evacuation mission."

"Back in China or when I first came here, the jobs I took were mostly doing things like keeping watch on the periphery or dropping information into dead mailboxes."

"Today, the train is carrying some very important items that could affect national defense technology. When that customs security guard was knocking on the boxes just now, I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my throat."

Looking at the wide road ahead and listening to the frank complaints of the young man beside him, Wang Kang's stern expression softened slightly.

He held the steering wheel with one hand and patted Li Wei on the shoulder with the other.

"Being nervous is a good thing. Knowing how to be afraid shows that you have a sense of awe for the task, and that's how you live longer."

Wang Kang's voice became much calmer:

"But you have to learn to control this tension and not let it show on your face. Experiencing more of these big events will help you develop your mental fortitude."

"You need to grow up quickly."

"We old folks will eventually be too old to work and need to go back to China to retire."

"In the future, there will be many more missions of this level along this line, and we will always need you, the new generation of young people, to take over."

……

Port of Seattle, Berth 86.

On the bridge of a 60,000-ton ocean-going freighter, the green light of the radar screen illuminated the faces of two Asian men.

The captain, Zhao Jian, was holding a cup of strong tea. He was fifty-five years old and had spent most of his life at sea. He was an extremely experienced old seaman.

Standing next to him, staring at the loading system, was First Officer Sun Bin, in his early forties, lean and wiry, his skin tanned dark by the sea breeze, with a pair of calm and focused eyes beneath thick eyebrows. He stood upright, exuding a reassuring and steady presence.

None of them were professionally trained agents; their files were kept in state-owned ocean shipping companies in China, and they had no criminal records.

But just a few days ago, relevant domestic departments contacted them directly through a special encrypted channel, not only explaining the special cargo but also providing them with three days of emergency guidance.

From how to deal with surprise customs interrogations to how to cut ties with the domestic community in case of exposure and minimize losses, everything is covered.

For Zhao Jian and Sun Bin, who had spent their entire lives on ships, being entrusted with such an important task by the country at this age to transport strategic assets of this level for the motherland was not a source of fear or resentment for them. On the contrary, they felt it was a great honor.

As it turns out, the counter-search plan taught domestically was not needed tonight.

The U.S. Customs officers in Seattle, those high-paid old men, didn't show up at all. They were too tired to climb the steep gangway, which was more than ten meters high, to inspect a batch of frozen ribs with compliant paperwork at three or four in the morning.

The entire cargo hoisting process proceeded smoothly without any issues.