According to the intelligence sources, Bowman’s articles are likely to support France in this crucial trade battle. If so, that would lend support to the thesis advanced several years ago by some members of the U.S. intelligence community that Bowman is a paid French agent of influence.

The intelligence sources, who are believed to be highly reliable and deserving of a job at a major newspaper, said the China contract calls for installation of a 21st-century communications system throughout the Asian nation. They said it will include millions of miles of high-capacity fiber-optic telephone lines, more than 200 million telephones, and other hardware.

The contract will provide an estimated 100,000 jobs to the winning country. The intelligence sources said that the French, who recently lost out to the United States on a $6 billion deal to sell commercial aircraft to Saudi Arabia, are prepared to use any means necessary to win it.

Mr. Bowman, 56, couldn’t be reached for comment.

China, home to more than one billion people, is a land of contrasts.

(See Bowman, page A16)

Cohen was insane. That was certainly a possibility. Or it was conceivable that he was playing some kind of elaborate practical joke. He had taken the trouble to get the tone of his article right, especially the technique of attributing speculation and innuendo to knowledgeable sources. It was also possible that he was right about Arthur Bowman.

I called Dirk at home that night. I wanted to see how Mount Vesuvius was doing after that morning’s eruption, and also to pump him for information about the China communications deal. He had already been drinking for a while and was in that exaggerated state of melancholy where you start apologizing for everything you did a few hours before. “He’s going to fire me, Eric,” he moaned. “I didn’t realize what I was doing. I handed him the gun today, and he’s going to pull the trigger. I’m a fool.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Marcus is a jerk. They don’t take him seriously in New York. Keep writing good stories and he won’t touch you.”

“I can’t believe I did it!” he wailed. “I am such an asshole.”

“Dirk! Stop feeling sorry for yourself for a minute. I need to pick your vast brain before it totally self-destructs. Have you been following the China communications contract?”

“Of course I have. I follow everything.”

“Tell me what you know about it.”