Locke said, “It’s a complication.”
“Yes. We still need Shing. Not for much longer, but for the moment he is necessary.”
Locke nodded. “Yes. I considered bringing my man in, but without Shing’s help, he wouldn’t be able to do the job right.”
“Shing could be persuaded to help,” Wu said.
“Too risky. If my man flubbed, it might be a problem for us. Maybe not, but I wouldn’t want to chance that.”
“No.”
“We could pay off Shing’s debts.”
Wu said, “Yes. I could manage that. But that would do nothing against what he might have already revealed to the triads. If they had the slightest clue what we intend, they would see that Shing’s debt was but a drop in the bucket. They would want to be involved. Too many people would know.”
“Loose lips sink ships,” Locke observed.
“Exactly.”
“So, what do you think we should do?”
Wu sipped from his wine again. Australia was the new France when it came to such things. “I am open to suggestions.”
Locke said, “One comes to mind. What if the triads suddenly found themselves the object of major law enforcement attention?”
Wu permitted himself a small smile. Locke was clever, too clever by half, but in such a venture, a man with a sharp wit was much better than one whose blade was dull. “A distraction? As is being done to the U.S. military and CyberNation?”
“Why not? A wolf running from a forest fire doesn’t stop to catch mice. If we give the wolves something else about which to worry, Shing becomes a mouse. Even if they think he might be something bigger someday, survival comes first. And pretty soon, we won’t need Shing. He could disappear.”
Wu allowed the smile to increase a hair. “Then go and start a forest fire and drive the wolves before it.”
Locke raised his glass. “Muddy roads to our enemy’s army,” he said.
Wu raised his glass. “And a great pox upon their generals.”
29
Jay stood in the middle of the sampan while Chang worked the long oar at the rear, sculling the wooden pole back and forth in a machinelike rhythm. The little boat was twelve or fifteen feet long, weathered wood, with a cloth-and-bamboo-covered hoop that formed an arc-roofed cabin running most of the boat’s length. They were going with the current, and Chang’s efforts were more to keep it lined up with the flow than to drive it.
The water did have a yellow color to it.
“Comes from the Loess Plateau,” Chang said. “The earth there turns this shade when it becomes sediment in the water. Half as big as Texas, that plateau. Haung Ho — the Yellow River — is also called ‘China’s Great Sorrow.’ ”
Jay looked at him, squinting against the bright sunlight.
“From all the misery the river has caused over the years,” Chang said. “Floods, destruction, so many deaths. Chinese civilization began here on its banks, you know. All the major dynasties.”
Jay nodded.
Ahead of them, behind them, other boats floated on the muddy water, small sampans like the one they were in as well as ones that were larger, with sails. A few were so tiny that they seemed like children’s toys, probably made from sheepskins. The smell of fish hung in the damp and warm air. Some of the boats held bamboo cages with big black diving birds in them. Cormorants, Jay knew, used to catch fish.
“We’re not far from the ruins of Banpo Village,” Chang said. “More than six thousand years old. In Xi’an, that’s the capital of this region, there are other ancient wonders — the Goose Pagoda, the Forest of Stone Tablets, the Qin Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses.”
“Very scenic and historical,” Jay said. “And a well-built scenario.”
“You honor me.”
“I call ’em like I see ’em. What’s the time line?”
“About 180 °CE,” Chang said. “There, just ahead, to your right, see the boat with the red eyes?”
Jay saw the one Chang meant. The same sampan-style, a bit bigger than their boat, with a single man in it, in one of those straw coolie hats — unless somebody was hidden in the little cabin.
“Why are we watching him?” Jay asked.
“Because he is watching somebody else,” Chang said. “The junk, ahead and to the left.”
Jay looked at the larger boat. He didn’t see anybody on the decks. The boat had an anchor line out, holding it still against the current.
“Who’s on it?”
Chang shook his head. “I don’t know. They have not revealed themselves. But the man in the red-eyed sampan has kept the junk — one of the old Grand Canal designs — under close observation since I spotted him.”
“What does it mean?”
“Again, I do not know. Before my recent software acquisition, I didn’t know either of these two existed. The man in the sampan — there’s a sexual metaphor in that name, did you know? — is a computer operator of some skill. I did not have the tools to see him before. When I happened across him, I was surprised. As adept as he is, his interest in the other player is by itself most interesting.”
“And you think this something I need to know?”
Chang stopped working the oar. He lifted a heavy anchor tied to a long rope and tossed it over the side. It disappeared in the muddy water and the line sank rapidly, paying out until the anchor hit bottom. The boat drifted a short ways, then slowed to a stop.
“Perhaps this would be a good place to fish,” Chang observed.
“It’s your scenario,” Jay said with a shrug. “But, again, why would I find this particularly interesting?”
“Please pardon me if I offer an observation that is completely incorrect,” Chang said. “But if I had to guess, I’d say you are looking for somebody who has caused something of a stir in military computer circles of late. I also understand that CyberNation has had some difficulties.”
Jay blinked against the glare from the water. Too bad they couldn’t wear polarized sunshades in this scenario. “How did you hear about that?”
“Even China does not exist in a vacuum. Rumors travel. I am not entirely without access to the West.”
“Assuming you’re right, why here?”
“Because I believe you are seeking a Chinese operator. Little things you have said during our acquaintance indicate this. My apologies if I am wrong.”
Jay shook his head. “No apologies necessary. You aren’t wrong.”
Chang said nothing.
Jay said, “Without getting into details, you nailed it. I’ll take all the help I can get.”
“I will give all that I can,” Chang said.
“Got a telescope on this boat?”
“In the trunk inside the cabin. I’ll fetch it.”
“Good. Then we can get a closer look at this guy.”
Both men smiled.
“General Hadden would like to speak to you,” Thorn’s secretary said over the intercom. She sounded
