Wang was MSS. So we spat him back this morning.”
Joe was stunned. It simply didn’t make sense that the man he had interrogated less than eight hours earlier was a Chinese double. Wang Kaixuan may have been many things-a smooth-talker, a liar, a sentimentalist-but he was surely not an agent provocateur.
“Well, I have to say that I’m amazed by that. It certainly wasn’t my instinct when I spoke to him.”
“No. It wasn’t. We might have to chalk that one up to experience.”
The implied criticism was clear: Joe had fallen for a basic Chinese deception. All of which would reflect badly on his reputation within the Office. It was a body blow.
“So he’s already back in China?”
“Dropped him off in Lo Wu this morning.”
14
When Miles Coolidge wanted to avoid awkward conversations he adopted a number of different tactics: meetings cancelled at the last minute; phone calls ignored for days on end; letters and emails left stubbornly unanswered. If it wasn’t in his best interests to tackle a problem, he would leave that problem unresolved. So when Joe walked into Samba’s at nine o’clock that evening and spotted Miles at the crowded bar surrounded by a seven- strong group of his American consulate co-workers, he saw it not as a happy accident of the diplomatic life in Hong Kong, but as a deliberate delaying tactic to prevent any serious discussion of Wang. They had agreed to meet alone. Miles was playing games.
“Joe!”
One of the girls from the consulate-Sharon from the Commercial Section-had spotted Joe coming through the door. Her greeting had a ripple effect on the rest of the party and those who knew him broke off from their conversations to acknowledge his arrival.
“Hey, man, great to see you again.”
“It’s Joe, right?”
“How’s the shipping business?”
Miles was the last to turn round. Resplendent in a lime-green Hawaiian shirt, he removed a tanned, muscular arm from the shoulder of a Chinese woman at the bar and moved a couple of steps forward to shake Joe by the hand. His impassive eyes said nothing about their broken arrangement; there was no apology in them, no embarrassment or regret. If anything, Joe sensed a certain triumph in Miles’s expression, as if he was actually glad to be wasting his time. Joe knew that it was useless to complain. Any formal expression of his frustration would simply play into Miles’s hands. The trick was to stay the course, to act as though nothing had happened, then to corner him at the end of the evening when everyone else had gone home.
To that end Joe ordered a round of drinks-eight bottles of beer, eights shots of tequila-and went to work on the crowd. He was a genius with names and faces. He remembered that Sharon had a brother in the US navy who was currently serving in Singapore. He reminded Chris, a gay African-American who worked in the Culture Section, that he still owed him a hundred dollars for a bet they’d had about Chelsea Clinton. When Barbara and Dave Boyle from Visas came over and complained that Joe was a “bad influence” for plying them with drink, he bought them two more tequilas and asked fascinated questions about their recent wedding in North Carolina. Meanwhile Miles, who was attempting to seduce an Australian backpacker near the cigarette machine, occasionally looked over in Joe’s direction as if surprised to see him still there. The clincher was the backpacker’s departure at eleven o’clock. Claiming the sudden onset of a migraine headache, she climbed into a cab with Barbara and Dave and took off down Lockhart Road. With a belly full of alcohol and a wounded ego, Miles was left with nobody to play with. Joe was the obvious target.
“So how’s Isabella?” he asked. He had eaten garlic for dinner and the smell of it on his breath cut through the smoke and the sweat of the bar.
“You tell me.”
Miles seemed to take this as a compliment. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You were the last person to talk to her. When I got home last night she was asleep. When I left this morning she was asleep.”
“And where is she now?”
Joe looked at his watch. “Asleep.”
One by one, the consulate crowd departed until Chris was the last of them. At around half-past eleven he spotted a vacant table at the window overlooking Lockhart Road and ordered another round of drinks. Joe was keen to get Miles alone but could see that Chris was gearing up for a long night out on the tiles. Realizing that he would have to resort to a lie, he waited for Miles to go to the bathroom, then slumped down at the table with deliberate exaggeration and played what was, in the circumstances, his only viable card.
“Thank God for that.”
“What do you mean?” Chris asked.
“I’ve been trying to have a serious conversation with Miles all night. It was impossible to pin him down with everybody here.”
Chris was a sensitive soul and would soon pick up on the signals. “Talk to him about what?”
Joe opened a packet of cigarettes. He made a point of crushing the cellophane wrapper nervously in his hand and let out a stagey sigh.
“Can I tell you something in confidence?”
“Sure.” Chris’s gentle, attentive face was quickly filled with concern. “What’s up, man?”
“I’ve got a bit of a problem at Heppner’s. A serious problem. I called Miles about it earlier today and he said he’d be able to help. We arranged to meet for this drink but with everything that’s been going on I haven’t been able to talk to him.”
“Shit.” Chris looked genuinely crestfallen. “Anything I can do to help?”
“That’s really good of you, but I’m afraid Miles is the only person who can do anything at this stage. Apparently he knows somebody in logistics in San Diego who’s the one guy that might be able to solve things. But I have to catch a flight to Seoul at eight tomorrow morning and this needs to be sorted before then.” Joe looked up at a clock on the wall, then at his watch. “It’s still the late afternoon in California…”
Chris interrupted him. “Listen, man, if you need some privacy to talk things over with Miles…”
“No, no, that wasn’t what I meant. Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply…”
“You didn’t imply anything.” Chris was in his late thirties, a decent, obliging “soul,” and he adopted an expression of infinite wisdom and understanding in the presence of the younger man. “You got a tough job, Joe, and-”
“No, no, please don’t worry. We can do it later.”
“-and I’d like to help you out.” Chris laid a firm, understanding hand on Joe’s arm and gave it a meaningful squeeze. “You don’t wanna be sitting here listening to me all night when you’ve got this shit preying on your mind. And you’re right. Miles is exactly the guy you should be talking to. That man is unbelievable.” He stalled a little here, as if unsure whether Joe was aware that Miles was CIA. “I can see how frustrated you are and I totally understand. In any case, I could do with an early night. When he gets back I’ll finish my beer and slip away.”
Joe, who was certainly not above using his looks to gain an advantage in such a situation, whispered, “That is very kind of you, Chris, thank you so much,” and offered up what might have been construed as a flirtatious smile. Then they both spotted Miles returning from the bathroom. Joe calculated that Chris would be gone in under fifteen minutes.
It took ten. He smoked one of Joe’s cigarettes, drained his Michelob, then stood up from the table and announced that he was heading for home.
“You sure, man?” Miles asked. There was neither concern nor particular surprise in the question.
“I’m sure. I’ve got an early start tomorrow. You guys be good. Take care now.”
Joe rose to his feet.
