“Twenty-four hours?” the director had gasped.

“Of course. Unless you think the military governor needs longer to become acquainted with the largest project ever undertaken in his county. Do you have vodka?” Amah Jiejie had asked. “He likes Russian vodka for the toasts at his banquet.”

Ren had gone silent. “Vodka,” he had repeated in a defeated whisper. “For the banquet.” Before he hung up they could hear his frantic calls to his staff.

Tan’s soldiers leapt out before the helicopter’s rotor stopped, as if making a combat landing. They formed a corridor for Tan to walk down as he approached the director, who had an assistant snapping photographs of the esteemed occasion. Shan, in his dress uniform, climbed out behind Tan but the colonel pulled him forward so that they walked side by side toward Ren. Before they had climbed into the helicopter, Amah Jiejie had rummaged in her purse and produced several ornate medals, military decorations awarded to the colonel but which he generally declined to display. Tan had watched with amusement as she had pinned three on the colonel’s breast pocket and two on Shan’s.

Now the director nodded with new respect at Shan before motioning them toward his office. The loudspeaker system began playing The East Is Red, the favorite anthem for military parades. Halfway to the office building, Tan halted.

“What’s this?” he asked as he pointed to the Tibetan workers in the fenced-off quadrant of the equipment yard.

The director seemed confused. “Just some Tibetans. We’ve had incidents. More efficient to keep them under some discipline. A reasonable precaution,” he added.

“You’re going to make my prisons look bad,” Tan said.

The director gave a nervous laugh.

“Do you have any idea of the paperwork required for even a single detention?” Tan asked. “My prison auditors will need to know you are running an auxiliary jail.”

Ren gazed into the colonel’s face, trying to detect any sign that he might be joking, then trotted to a man wearing a foreman’s red hat. The gate into the enclosure was opened, and the Tibetans started drifting uncertainly toward it. “Just some discipline,” the director said, “no real detention. It was Deputy Director Jiao’s idea. They didn’t seem to mind.”

Shan stayed with Tan as they were given the slideshow about the ambitious project then they left the building for the same driving tour Shan had been given on his first visit. Tan insisted that a utility truck be provided for his army escort and as they waited for the vehicle, Ren directed them to the billboard-sized painting of the completed dam erected by the parking lot. “We’re doing a calendar with glossy photos,” Ren boasted as an assistant snapped a photo of Tan and himself by the painting. “This will be perfect for it.”