“A dinosaur who still shakes the ground he walks on. Funny, I had thought you had recently experienced the sharpness of his teeth.”

Huan’s eyes flashed with anger. “He had no authority over me!”

“He had you transferred out of Lhadrung,” Shan pointed out. “And then there was that unpleasant suspension from the promotion lists.”

“The bastard made suggestions and headquarters just went along because they were so used to Tan getting his way. Those days are over. The old man has no idea what he was dealing with.” Huan fixed Shan with a simmering gaze. “I won’t let some ordinary fool get in my way again.”

“No one would consider me just an ordinary sort of fool,” Shan replied in a level tone. “But surely it is impossible that a lowly constable could interfere with a Public Security officer in the Lhasa headquarters.”

“A constable waving a made-up badge as Tan’s inspector. A constable who has the nerve to be defiant to the Public Security Bureau. Yes, you are no ordinary fool. You are a blind, self-destructive fool.”

“I ever endeavor to follow the shining light of socialism,” Shan stated. It was one of the scripted responses from the old struggle sessions. Many subjects had been brutally beaten before finally mouthing the prescribed words.

“You just prove you are another dinosaur by speaking slogans from decades ago.”

Huan himself wasn’t much older than thirty, and struggle sessions had been a favorite Party tool in the sixties and seventies. “I’m impressed, Lieutenant, that you are so well versed in the ancient lore of the motherland,” Shan said.

“The history of the socialist dialectic is taught in every Red Hammer school,” Huan said, referring to the special summer schools run for the children of Party elites. “I also learned of the importance of silencing reactionaries before they can inflict harm to the motherland.”

“Reactionaries. I confess I never fully grasped that word. Everything in life is a reaction. You saw two soldiers die in a hailstorm. You reacted out of your own personal animus against a harmless old Tibetan. No one agreed with your charges. Your superiors reacted by sending you out of Lhadrung. You reacted by sending the Tibetan to administrative detention. He reacted by causing an earthquake at his camp, at least by your theory. Who is the reactionary, Lieutenant? I am not the one charging crimes based on ancient myths.”

Huan took an abrupt step toward Shan and with a lightning-quick snap of his arm slapped him. “Why are you in Lhasa?” he shouted.

Shan shook his head to clear his eyes. “Metok Rentzig.”

The name caused the knob officer to hesitate. “His case is closed.”

“Colonel Tan is fastidious. He can’t believe there can be conspiracy of corruption without other conspirators.” For an instant Shan saw worry on Huan’s face. “Corruption is never a solitary crime,” he added.