Just as he said, that afternoon Director Tie came right to the point and told me there was no way out. ‘Stop complaining!’ he said in a loud, hectoring tone. ‘And stop fussing! Just go to work and you’ll soon get used to it. The decision to recall you was a very difficult one to make, but having made it there is no going back. That’s point number one. Secondly, this is a really important job. The Party decided to recall you from your mission working with Anderov because right now cracking RECOVERY takes priority over the work on any other cipher – it is the most important thing that we have to do. Why is it so urgent? Well, it’s obvious. Chiang Kai-shek is still dreaming of recapturing the Mainland, and he has adopted a whole series of practical measures to this end. You should know that last year the Taiwanese made a one-off purchase of 1.7 billion US dollars’ worth of American military hardware; they’ve held a whole series of “Recover the Mainland” exercises; they’ve sent wave after wave of special agents over here; and now they’ve changed their cipher. All these things coming on top of each other mean that this time they’re not just talking about a counter-attack: they’re getting ready for something big. Are we going to just sit here ignoring what they’re up to while all their special agents run around under our very eyes, committing sabotage here and spreading seditious rumours there? No we are not! This cipher – RECOVERY – must be broken: that is top-priority! Thirdly, if there’s something you need, or you encounter a particular problem, then say so, and the Party – and indeed I myself – will do our very best to help you. Bureau Chief Liu tells me that this is the highest-level code the KMT has ever used, and that it’s reckoned to be secure for thirty years. Giving special agents such a high-level cipher to use, rather than the military or their own upper echelons, indicates that these people have a very special role to play in the upcoming operation to “Recover the Mainland”. You’ve just come back; you don’t know anything about this cipher; and so you have no idea what kind of problems you’re likely to encounter – so even if you wanted to request assistance, you don’t know what to ask for. That’s fine: Bureau Chief Liu understands the situation, so when we’ve finished our conversation I’ll hand over what we have to you and you can think about it, and then write a report for me explaining your plan of action, including any problems that you can foresee and special requests, and I’ll do my best to see that you get an answer as soon as possible. How would that be?’

What could I say? I could only agree.