Nisha took over. “What John meant to say is that we have jamming tech in service scrambling the Chinese microphones and cameras in our rooms. You can talk in the clear.”

“Won’t that look suspicious?” he asked, still unsure.

“It would almost look more suspicious if we didn’t use it,” Nisha said. “This physics conference is really about weapons technology and everyone knows it. There are numerous countries represented—both allies and adversaries of China—and they fully expect us to conduct countersurveillance. It would be a red flag if we didn’t.”

“That’s it, bro,” John said and hiked a thumb at Nisha. “Like Lime Seltzer said.”

“You know I hate when you call me that,” Nisha said but laughed good-naturedly at the inside joke. Jed felt confused by what seemed almost like jealousy flashing inside him. He shook the feeling off and leaned in over Nisha’s shoulder at the console. There were video feeds from both directions in the hallway leading to the conference rooms on the mezzanine level, one from a camera facing outward from the lobby level north door out onto the park separating the Renaissance hotel from the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, and another in the upper left corner. That image was a fish-eye lens view of the conference room he’d just left. The two Chinese agents appeared to be having a collegial conversation with none other than Grayson, his Shepherds teammate and former Army SF operator.

“Audio?” John asked and Nisha typed a command into the computer in front of her.

“How come they don’t jam our signals?” Jed asked.

“They don’t need to,” Nisha said. “Not in there. It’s assumed everyone is listening, and anyway there are principals in the room who will report back everything discussed, so what would be the point? They have plenty of signal jamming going on, most of it we detected on the seventh and eighth floors, and the entire St. Regis hotel is a SIGINT black hole.”

“Here’s something you probably didn’t know about Nisha, Senior,” John said. “There’s no one in the business better at snatching people out of foreign countries—whether defectors or those who are, let’s say, less excited about their travel plans.”

One surprise after another here in the Shepherds.

Whoever Nisha had been before, he was grateful she was running the show now.

“What’s he saying?” Jed asked, satisfied, nodding at the computer where the audio continued to stream.

“They’re just chatting. Grayson’s supposed to be the Russian security head protecting Dr. Vinchenko. The Chinese and Russians are buds, for the most part. It would be like us in a room with guys from MI6. Plenty more trust than they had with the German security detail.”

Jed nodded, happy he’d chosen the German NOC.

He watched Grayson laugh, then wave and leave.