The colonel brightened as he spotted Shan and his escort. “Comrade, I commend you to the able hands of my brightest staff officer, Lieutenant Zhu,” he declared, and pulled Zhu in front of the irate man. “I have been explaining to the stationmaster,” Tan said to his lieutenant, “that his train may not leave on the return service until we give him permission. Please,” he added with a hint of amusement, “continue the dialogue, Lieutenant Zhu.” Shan saw now that a soldier with a submachine gun hanging from his shoulder blocked the entrance to the locomotive cab. Tan sobered, and unexpectedly touched his open hand to his temple. “We salute the Chairman’s wisdom,” he said. It was a slogan from one of Beijing’s newest posters and had become a warning to anyone who would challenge the government.

The stationmaster, suddenly looking worried, promptly repeated the slogan.

Tan led Shan down the platform. “You can get on this train and in two days be in Beijing,” he said. For a moment Shan wondered if he should take the words as a threat. “It shouldn’t be so easy. My first time it took me three months to get to Lhasa.”

“Battle tanks do tend to travel more slowly,” Shan observed. Tan’s first experience in Tibet, he knew, had been as commander of one of the armored brigades that had invaded Tibet. His words brought a nostalgic gleam to Tan’s countenance, and they spoke no more until they reached the line of soldiers that blocked off the last car of the train, the only car without a line of windows along its side.

“They call it the utility car,” Tan explained, “mostly used for freight and supplies for the train.”

Shan saw now the angry men, some in Public Security uniforms, some in blue police tunics, who were being kept away by Tan’s commandos. A knob officer and a police officer were having two separate, heated arguments with Tan’s deputies.

“It is possible that there are differing perspectives on jurisdiction here,” Shan suggested.

“Nonsense. The first Lhasa detective who arrived got a broken lip from one of my sergeants,” Tan said as he returned the salute of the soldier who admitted them through the line of guards. “That ended any dispute. They’re just expressing their disappointment now.”