Sea of Shadows

the state-owned Brilliance China Automotive, had been forced to partner with BMW (German capitalists) and Italdesign (Italian capitalists) to produce their all-Chinese masterpiece of communist automotive engineering.

The Politburo had chosen to carefully ignore strategic parts of that partnership, the same way that they had chosen to ignore a hundred other changes brought on by globalization and the Information Age. They were so confident in the inherent superiority of the communist social and economic model that they continued to operate as if their actions took place in a vacuum. If Tiananmen Square had taught them nothing else, they should have learned that the world was watching China. To act in ignorance of this fact was to court trouble. Which was, ultimately, why Tian found himself being called across town in the rain and the dark to answer for the actions of his government. He sighed. His country still had much to learn.

Tian fidgeted with his coat buttons and drew the collar more tightly around his neck. He did not yet know why the American president had summoned him at this hour, and that lack of knowledge left him with a cold spot in the pit of his stomach. He did not know what the Americans were going to say, but he knew from the way they had chosen to say it, that it was not going to be good.

At the beginning of his diplomatic career, Tian had viewed the intricacies of state protocol with a critical eye. In the vanity of his youth, he had dismissed the diplomatic ceremonies and rules of political etiquette as nothing more than useless rituals. But thirty years in his country’s diplomatic service had opened his eyes to many things, not the least of which was the foolishness of his own youth. Protocol (and the Americans thought of it that way in their own language — with a capital “P”) went far beyond ritual. As the Americans practiced it, Protocol was more than a system of rules for diplomatic communication; it was a language in and of itself. It was a rich and subtle language, in which every detail had meaning.

Tian checked his watch. Tonight’s meeting was an excellent example.

To begin with, the president wanted to meet directly with Tian. That was a most disturbing development. Other than the little ceremony that took place when he accepted the diplomatic credentials of a new ambassador, the president rarely met with ambassadors at all. Meetings with foreign ambassadors were usually entrusted to the secretary of state or an appointed underling. For the president to call for a personal meeting with an ambassador was nearly always a signal of extremely unusual circumstances. The very thought made Tian nervous, and he checked his watch again. No, traffic was light, and he would be on time. He took a breath.

The Americans had given Tian another hint of possible problems when they’d asked him to come alone. Under normal circumstances, he would have been accompanied by his deputy chief of mission. By excluding Tian’s deputy from the invitation, the Americans were forcing the ambassador to face them alone. This was, of course, their prerogative, but it was one that the Americans rarely exercised. It was another bad sign, and Tian was not at all pleased with the prospect of walking alone into a room full of angry Americans.

The designated location for the meeting was yet another clue. There were three traditional choices for diplomatic meetings in the White House.

The Roosevelt Room had a neutral connotation, and the majority of diplomatic meetings were conducted there. The West Wing Lobby was Dao shan huo hai— a mountain of swords and sea of flames. The Americans had an equivalent expression. What was it? The doghouse?

Yes … the West Wing Lobby was the doghouse. An ambassador called to a meeting there could be certain that he had angered the American government.

But no, tonight’s meeting was scheduled for the Oval Office, the third and by far the least common site for diplomatic conferences. The selection of the Oval Office meant one of two things, each of which were — oddly enough — at opposite ends of the spectrum. If the president wanted to ask a favor of China, or of Shaozu Tian himself, he might call for an Oval Office meeting. The favor would have to be enormous for the Americans to invoke such a rare privilege. And, though Tian had racked his brain to the point of a headache, he could not think of a single favor China could bestow that might warrant such treatment. Which meant that, in all probability, the Oval Office had been selected for the second reason: the president was angry at China. Not just angry either, spectacularly angry.

Too angry for the doghouse — a thought that made Tian squirm uncomfortably in the limousine’s leather seat. Maybe even dangerously angry. And he was calling in the ambassador of the People’s Republic so that he could vent his wrath in person, in the Oval Office — the very seat of his country’s power.

Such a meeting could conceivably lead to the disruption of diplomatic ties, or even trade embargoes and the loss of Most Favored Nation status.

It was even conceivable that a meeting of that sort might serve as a precursor to war. Tian realized that his armpits were damp. The more he thought about it, the more this promised to be an ugly night.

* * *

As the limousine slid to a stop before the black steel bars of the diplomatic security gate that led to the White House grounds, Tian peered out the windshield through the rhythmic sweep of the wipers. The limousine had diplomatic license plates, which made the interior spaces sovereign Chinese territory, and therefore, immune to inspection. But the exterior of the car was — through the vagaries of diplomatic custom — classified as U.S. territory and was subject to inspection.

The steel gate slid open, and Tian’s driver eased the big car forward into a three-sided enclosure built from the same black steel bars that supported the rest of the White House fence. As soon as the limousine braked to a stop, the gate slid shut behind it, leaving the car boxed and helpless in a steel cage. My predicament exactly, Tian thought. Boxed in and helpless.

An expressionless armed Marine guard stepped out of the concrete guardhouse and walked over to stand in the rain near the driver’s window — hands tucked behind his back and feet spread shoulder-width apart in the formal posture known as parade rest. A pair of dark-uniformed Secret Service agents with powerful flashlights and inspection mirrors conducted a thorough search of the car’s wheel wells and the underside of the chassis, working smoothly from the front of the car toward the rear. The men moved with determination and precision, not letting the pouring rain deter them, or hurry their procedures in the slightest.

When their visual inspection was finally complete, the Secret Service personnel backed away from the limousine and took up positions near the inner gate. One of them raised his right wrist to his mouth and spoke quietly into a microphone concealed in his sleeve.

A few seconds later, another pair of Secret Service agents stepped out of the guardhouse. Each of these men carried a device that looked like a cross between a lunch box and a vacuum cleaner. They were smaller than the models in use at the Chinese Embassy, but Tian had no trouble recognizing them through the rain-blurred window. They were ion-spectrometers: machines that sucked in air and sniffed it for the specific trace molecules given off by explosive chemicals. It was the electronic equivalent of a dog’s nose.

Tian hoped that the smaller American spectrometers were smarter than the Chinese models. The ones at the embassy had a tendency to sound their alarms upon detecting the nitroglycerin in Tian’s heart medication.

Despite the downpour, the Secret Service agents went to work at once, letting their machines sniff the exterior of the car, in a pattern that closely duplicated the visual inspection that their fellow agents had just completed. And, like their fellow agents, they gave no hint of even noticing the rain that pounded down on them from the dark Washington sky. Tian could not help but admire their patience and determination.

Satisfied at last, the Secret Service agents retreated into the guardhouse.

The Marine guard took a step backward, came to attention, and saluted.

As if in response, the inner gate slid open, allowing Tian’s limousine access to the White House grounds. With barely a nod of acknowledgment, Tian’s silent driver steered the car into the White House driveway and turned toward the famed West Wing.

Tian reached across the seat for his diplomatic pouch, pulled it to him, and held it in his lap. The esteemed members of the Politburo could not seem to grasp the fact that the Americans were different now. The terrorist attacks on New York and Washington had changed them, hardened them — as fire hardens steel. They were less trusting now and a good deal less naive about world affairs. And — after decades spent trying to broker peace at nearly any price — they had become awfully eager to reach for their guns. Surely the American invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were ample evidence of that.

Tian tightened his grip on the diplomatic pouch, rubbing the largest, most familiar nick in the old leather with the ball of his thumb. He had not been told why he was being called to task, so he was reduced to guessing — a thoroughly uncomfortable situation for an international diplomat to find himself in. If the Americans were truly