“Listen carefully,” he said, “because I’m getting to the serious part, where this whole story comes together. Because ultimately, Eric, this isn’t about France—at least not for the agency. It’s about China.”

“I’m sorry, but you’ve lost me. What do you mean it isn’t about France?”

“Just what I said. The hell with France. Let them play their games and send their Corsican thugs out to beat people up. So what? That’s certainly a nuisance as far as the United States is concerned, but it’s not a serious national security problem. Think of a really obnoxious little brother who does everything he can to make trouble for you—spreads gossip about you, steals money from your wallet when you aren’t looking, tries to snake your dates away from you, squeals on you to the school principal—just basically goes out of his way to be an asshole. That’s France in dealing with the United States. But so what?

“No, our real headache in the twenty-first century is China. The country is huge, the people are smart and industrious, and the government is run by a bunch of corrupt autocrats. Now, some Western country is going to be their main ally over the next few decades and hold their hand as they modernize. For a long time it looked like that would be the United States. But now that obnoxious little brother is trying to elbow us aside.

“That’s why the communications deal is so important. Whoever helps wire the new China will control the future. I mean, it’s like giving somebody a chance to build the road network in the United States back in 1950. Whoever gets the contract wins the game. That’s why the French are pushing so hard. They have paid hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes—hell, our five million in Shanghai wouldn’t even pay the interest on what they’re dishing out. They have greased relatives of the people who run the People’s Liberation Army, the Communist Party, the Communications Ministry, the Chinese intelligence service, the mayors of Beijing, Shanghai and Canton. That’s all off the record, by the way.”

“Hold on.” I raised my hand. “At some point, I need facts. This is all very interesting, but it isn’t a story. I need details about bribery. And I want to know about weapons.”

“Be patient, Eric.” He patted the briefing book that lay on the table in front of him, as if to reassure me that there were nuggets of gold at the end of this trail. “I’m trying to do this right. I’m getting to the weapons business now. But this part is really, seriously, no-shit off the record. I don’t even want you to take any notes, so put away that notebook.”