God's double agent in China.

• Author: Fu, Bob
• Position: Literary Scene - God's Double Agent: The Tree Story of a Chinese Christian's Fight for Freedom - Excerpt

IT WAS MIDNIGHT. I placed my fingers on the bottom of the window and gently, quietly tried to pull it open. Years of paint had cemented it shut, so I held my breath and gave it a sharp yank. It opened---but not as silently as I had hoped. I prayed none of the police officers stationed by my building's door had decided to take a cigarette walk around the block and none of my neighbors were awake. If I was going to do this--and survive--there could be no witnesses.

Heidi, my wife, had just left our apartment on the sixth floor, wearing a scarf and different clothing than usual. The agents were used to seeing us as a couple, so she would have a better chance of slipping past them without me. There were three exits to the gigantic building, but the government had shut down two when they began watching us. The only remaining exit was next to a room of security guards watching our every move. Whenever I left the building, they sent out an alert and another guard inevitably would pick up my trail. I could not remember what it was like to be outside in the open air without surveillance.

If Heidi's disguise failed, the agents would come up to the sixth floor to arrest me--but I would not be there. Heidi purposely had left on the light to mislead the spies into thinking we were milling around before bed, but I already was on the fifth floor, where I had entered the restroom. Everyone on the floor shared the same bath, and the doors to the restrooms always were unlocked. I looked out the window; I could not see a thing. My chances of survival would increase with every floor I could descend safely without being detected. I quietly slipped out of the restroom and back into the stairwell, watching the numbers decrease: fourth floor, third floor, second floor. That is where I stopped. The agents were on the first floor and, at this point, there was no turning back.

I gently opened the door of the stairwell and slowly walked down the corridor to the bathroom. I entered a toilet stall and climbed on the ledge of the window, which already was open. Even though it was August in Beijing, the breeze sent a chill through me. I placed my feet as close to the edge as possible. The jump was close to 20 feet. Though I could not see the ground, I knew there was vegetation there to help break my fall. As long as I did not die or break any major bones, I would be all right.

After our experience of prison and house arrest, death was not the worst option, but now Heidi...