Outside the residential complex.
It was not yet eight in the morning.
Dong Xuebin came striding out of the building with a grim face, stood by the street, hailed a taxi, opened the door, and got into the front passenger seat.
The driver asked, "Where to?"
Dong Xuebin said, "Just drive straight."
The driver found that strange. "What do you mean, drive straight? Give me a destination."
"I'll tell you once I ask around," Dong Xuebin replied stiffly.
The driver shook his head and gave him a look, then stepped on the gas and headed toward the Third Ring Road.
Dong Xuebin took out his phone, scrolled through his contacts, and called Tan Limei, who worked for State Security.
Beep, beep, beep. The call connected.
"Hello, Xuebin?" Tan Limei kept her voice low.
Without another word, Dong Xuebin said, "Tanzi, where's the Municipal State Security Bureau?"
Tan Limei paused. "The municipal bureau? Which municipal bureau? Public Security?"
"Not Public Security. Your municipal bureau. Give me the address."
"What happened? Why do you sound... Why do you need the municipal bureau's address?"
"Don't worry about anything else. I need to go handle something. I know the address is classified, but it's not exactly a secret. Plenty of people know it. I've never dealt with that side of things, so I've never been there. You've been at the branch bureau for so many years, so you should know, right?"
"I do, but you..."
"All right, then I'll ask someone else."
"No, don't hang up yet. I... sigh, I'm at the municipal bureau right now. There's a meeting here this morning, and a lot of State Security branch bureau leaders are attending. Since the meeting concerns our department, several branch bureau officials and I came over with Director Zhen. Zhen Anguo, Director Zhen.