“I was ready today. I have a small card with the Dalai Lama’s photograph. On the back I wrote my name, and my job in his government. If they ask for my identity card, that is what they will get.” The old man, sensing Shan’s frustration, stared at the dead man’s effects. “Lha gyal lo,” he whispered.

“You will never know freedom again if you do.” Most of the old man’s life had already been spent in prison.

“The gods have always looked after me, whether inside or outside the razor wire.”

“I need you, old friend,” Shan said.

“You need me to be true,” Lokesh replied and took up the chant again.

Shan felt numb as he drove back to the station. He could not bear to lose the old Tibetan but he could not stay with him to protect him. He had just sat down at his desk when a dog began barking. Someone shouted in alarm. As he stood, something thunderous rushed in from the south, swooped over the station and receded toward the edge of the town.

The helicopter’s passengers were still climbing out when Shan pulled up to meet them. He was not surprised to see Colonel Tan, but had not expected Amah Jiejie, who laughed as she stumbled on the thin rail-like step and fell against Tan. The colonel patted her affectionately on the back, then straightened as he saw Shan and marched toward his truck.

Minutes later they were at the station, where Tan conducted a brief search as if for eavesdroppers, then pulled the cell room door tightly shut and gestured Amah Jiejie forward. The cell phone she produced was of surprisingly recent vintage. “Lieutenant Zhu has only my number for calling from Hong Kong,” she explained. “Seemed safer that way.”

Zhu. Shan had almost forgotten that Zhu had gone to Hong Kong.

The text message under the video said simply: For Shan and the Colonel only. The image was of a Public Security officer with a bloody lip. “So the Hong Kong knob admitted lying?” Shan asked.

“Something like that,” she said and tapped a button.

Zhu, the careful professional, had orchestrated what sounded like a video witness statement. The frightened officer confirmed that he had signed two statements related to the Metok Rentzig case. The first was a confirmation of a bank account and the second an eyewitness confirmation that he had seen Metok.

“Officer Daoli, did you in fact see the account records and the subject Metok?” Zhu asked off camera. The Public Security officer was standing in front of a brick wall. Car horns and truck engines could be heard in the background. They seemed to be in an alley.

“I complied with orders,” the forlorn officer said, his gaze dropping toward his feet. Zhu snapped his fingers and his head shot up.

“Orders?” Zhu asked.

“She showed them to me.”

“She?” Zhu was clearly surprised.