“To paraphrase a certain lady, goodness has nothing to do with it. History proves that you Yanquis are the enemy. I have the chance to strike against you as no one else and expose our own traitors for what hey are. Do you think I am not going to take it?”

“And when the smoke clears —”

“Exactly. When the smoke clears. You have an uncanny knack, Amy, for the felicitous phrase. When the smoke clears, the people will turn to me for leadership —”

He wanted to look at the screen. Sam was in the corner of the big room downstairs that had been made into an office, looking at the diagrams she had not gotten the chance to look at closely. He looked back over his shoulder to the entrance of the room, then at the diagrams again. A second time. He opened the bag he had been carrying and pulled out a laptop computer. Amy almost bounced in her seat. Where had he gotten a computer? What was it for? He opened the computer, but the angle of the camera would not let them see the screen.

“Gregory, can we see what’s going on there?” Chino asked the television set.

“It doesn’t matter. The computer screen is going to turn Chinese anyway, just the way ours did.”

“That’s something I wanted to ask you —”

He hushed her with a wave of his hand. “Let me watch this, please. I want to see your husband’s face.”

Sam turned the computer on. Amy saw his panic immediately. He pushed the on switch again. He punched some keys. He looked behind the screen. He lifted the computer and looked at the bottom. Chino laughed and clapped his hands.

“Now, what did you want to ask me?”

The computer wouldn’t work? Why not? “Those chip things: what the hell are they?

“Oh, what I learned in China about the importance of nutrition. It’s probably the only thing I learned in China of any value whatsoever.”

“Chino!” Gregory called. “He’s got a telephone!”

To Amy, Chino said, “The leadership of China doesn’t want this to become a subject of discussion in the rest of the world. Haven’t you ever asked yourself why Chinese leaders seem to live so long? Shhh.” He turned to the television set. “Open this mike, Gregory.”

“On your mark, Chino.”

“Dogs, Amy. They eat dogs. The younger, the better. Those chips, as you call them, are the deep-fried intestines of bouching and bright-eyed cocker spaniel puppies. Very playful at breakfast this morning. I ate a whole one for lunch today, as I do every day. Mark, Gregory.” He turned to the television set again. “Commander Merrill, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Amy realized what was wrong with Sam’s computer just as she threw up all over Chino.

Nine

NINE

“Oh, Jesus! Gregory, turn off this microphone!”

“What was that?” Merrill demanded.