Jed looked up from where he was inspecting the back side of a credenza beneath a large flat-screen TV monitor on the wall and frowned at the man. His cover was that he was acting as private security for one of the German scientists who been a late addition to the conference roster. In reality, Jed knew next to nothing about his charge—or even if he was a member of the spooky team that arrived early this morning compliments of Nisha. The Chinese were notorious for bugging hotel and conference rooms, which made it within his rights as a supposed contract security specialist to insist on sweeping the room in advance of the meeting. The Chinese security contingent had agreed—provided they were allowed to supervise his inspection.

“I don’t speak Chinese,” Jed said in English flavored with what he felt like was the worst German accent ever.

“I asked whose protection detail you are on,” the Chinese man replied in flawless, virtually unaccented English.

“I am German, so obviously I protect Dr. Weider and the rest of the German contingent,” he growled. “Now let me do my job, danke.”

The Chinese agent glared at him, then turned to his smaller but equally menacing partner and said, “Yúchûn de wàiguó rén,” with a chuckle.

“They think you’re stupid,” Nisha said in his earpiece and Jed could practically hear the smile in her voice. “We have facial recognition on the bigger guy from the database. He’s PLA Unit 61486. They’re tasked with stealing military trade secrets from the West, so his presence is not related to Zhao’s security. The other guy didn’t return a hit. If you find any of their bugs, leave them in play. We wouldn’t want to dissuade them of your stupidity.”

Jed resisted the urge to reply. The irony of the situation was not lost on him—pretending to sweep for devices while he was in fact planting bugs of his own. Feeling very much like James Bond, he delicately placed the tiny camera—no bigger than a sesame seed—onto the right top corner of the room’s wall-mounted flat-panel TV, just as Nisha had instructed.

After that, he made a show of running a hand along the under edge of the beautiful dark-wood table, then squatted down to inspect the underside. When he returned to his feet, the two men were whispering and smiling again, no doubt at his expense. Instead of retreating at the discomfort he felt, he headed directly toward the men standing beside the large window overlooking the bay. The smaller man crossed his arms on his chest and refused to let Jed pass.

Jed sighed.