the man who admitted leaking top secret documents will spying programs is on the run. abc news learned edward snowden checked out of this hotel in hong kong. it's here that snowden used the code name verax to communicate with the "washington post." it's not clear where the 29-year-old nsa contract worker is headed but he knows it's unlikely he'll avoid capture. >> if they want to get you, they'll get you. that's a fear i live under the rest of my life. however long that happens to be. >> reporter: hong kong and u.s. have an extradition treaty. china could refuse to hand over snowden if they believe the request is politically motivated. >> if he stays in hong kong, you know, there are real questions. does the government of hong kong and china, maybe more importantly, view this as the kind of case where they want to draw the line and say, you know what, we're going to battle on this one. >> he's a traitor. the president outlined last week that these were important national security programs to