“He loves Tibet. They tried to send him to North Vietnam as senior adviser to Ho Chi Minh in the early years, but he chose to stay. He’s immersed himself in Tibetan culture, he likes to say.” Tan turned to Shan. “What’s that word for a senior teacher? Not lama, the other.”

“Rinpoche.”

“That’s it. Sometimes he calls himself the ‘Rinpoche with a sidearm.’”

Their car emerged onto a small flat plain at the base of a low mountain, with a shooting range on one side of the road and a lake on the other. The small marble pavilion at the base of a dock was badly in need of repair.

“It was built as the summer residence of the Chinese amban in the nineteenth century, then used as a retreat for the Dalai Lama’s officials for decades,” Tan said. “The Commissar had research done so he could have robes identical to those the amban wore. That’s his favorite title. He said the amban never ruled, that the amban’s job was just to strike fear in those who did publicly rule so they would obey him at critical times. ‘Tremble and obey,’ he would tell them, like it said in the decrees from the old emperors. That’s what he’s done for decades. I think he’s what they call in those movies a godfather. Even in Beijing they don’t implement a Tibetan policy without speaking to the Amban first.”

Suddenly Shan himself was seized with fear. Surely then the Amban Council must be led by the very man they had come to see. It was a terrible mistake. What had Tan said when Shan had first suggested the visit? The old man could only kill one of them. When the car stopped Tan had to pull Shan’s arm to get him to leave the car.

The house was built much like the residences Shan had seen at the imperial Summer Palace outside Beijing, with lacquered pillars supporting a portico centered around two enormous enameled doors, and a moongate on one side that appeared to lead into a garden. The slim, well-dressed middle-aged Tibetan woman who greeted them declared that the Commissar was very much looking forward to luncheon with them, then led them down a corridor toward the rear of the house.