Dying to Live Read Free

superiors. They would probably put blocks on her passport or send someone out to collect her. If she knew Bao, though, he would expect no less than this from her and would try to buy her some time. Before she could change her mind, she hit reply and typed out one brief sentence.
     
    ‘I’m sorry, I have to.’
     
    The response was almost immediate, but came from Bao’s personal email address rather than the monitored lab address.
     
    ‘I can buy you one hour. Be quick, be careful and stay in touch.’
    Within ten minutes, Xin had dressed and washed and gathered up her things. She had also called ahead to the reception to make sure that they had a car waiting that would take her to the airport, and to request someone to assist with her bags. She hoped that an hour would be long enough to get through the passport checks. She expected that, in all likelihood and with a situation of this nature especially, the American authorities would be called and told to look out for her when her plane came in. Conscious of this, Xin had dressed so as to draw as little attention to herself as possible. She wore a pair of simple, black jeans and a black polo neck jumper. She had even ditched her usual high heeled shoes for a more practical and sensible pair of black boots. Normally her hair would be tied back in a convenient ponytail, but any description given of her would probably mention this. Therefore, she had slipped a hair tie around her wrist for later and allowed her long, straight, chestnut hair to flow freely around her shoulders and down to her waist.
     
    The Porter’s arrival at her door was announced by a brief knock. Xin opened the door and greeted the young man stood there. He was red headed and his curls were topped with an unflattering, maroon hat. His cheeks were marred by a smattering of enflamed acne. He smiled pleasantly and, with a polite nod, strode into the room. Xin watched as he hefted her baggage onto a trolley and wheeled it towards the door.
    “Ma’am, I will pack these into the car that is waiting for you. If you make your way out after handing in your keys, all should be ready for you,” he said, before nodding again and disappearing down the corridor.
    She looked around the room one last time, surveying it for anything that had escaped her scrabbling hands when she had packed. Finding nothing, she scooped up her passport and plane tickets and slipped them into her handbag. Then she hurried out of the door and down to the reception desk, where she stopped only to drop the keys into the awaiting hands of the clerk. Stepping out into the crisp early morning air, she took a calming breath and reflected upon the fact that her brief stay in London had not allowed her to taste the city properly. She vowed that one day she would return for a fuller experience.
    Shaking herself from this thought, she dashed to the car where the porter was holding the door open for her.
    “Thank you,” she said quickly to him. He smiled graciously and wished her a safe journey.
    The car pulled away from the building and made its way into a busy but fast flowing lane of traffic. The driver had already been informed that the airport was her destination and she did not wish to engage in chitchat. Not whilst her mind was awash with the possibilities of what she could be facing pretty soon. For now, she pushed this from her mind and pulled out her phone. Xin scrolled through her call history, searching for the number of Heathrow airport, which she had dialled only yesterday to check the plane times for today. She had selected a later flight, anticipating that she would need the lie in. However, it was only 7.30am and she did not have six hours to spare waiting for the flight she had booked. Her only hope was that there was a space on an earlier flight.
    Xin pressed a button to connect the call. It did not ring for long before she was greeted by a nasal voice.
    “Good morning, Heathrow Airport. How can I help you