‘You’re not sure if Li is Foreign Ministry or definitely the Public Security Bureau?’
Snow shook his head. ‘I’m fairly sure it’s the Bureau. He refused to let me try to contact him, when I offered. Said he’d always come to me.’
‘Good,’ said Charlie. He hesitated, wanting his explanation to be as clear as possible, to avoid Snow misunderstanding. ‘What we’re trying to achieve is the maximum confusion among people who might be watching the mission or watching the embassy and trying to connect the two of us.’
‘How much time do you think we’ve got?’ demanded the priest, dispirited.
Don’t collapse on us yet, thought Charlie: it was unsettling enough to consider the man collapsing at all. ‘Enough,’ he encouraged. ‘It won’t be easy and there are things that could go wrong, but if you do it like I say, there’s a bloody good chance it’ll all work out fine.’ That was an exaggeration, conceded Charlie: he couldn’t think of a better way and he’d known escapes far more tenuous than this – his own from Moscow, the first time he turned his back on Natalia, for instance – but this was pretty threadbare.
‘Just tell me what to do.’
There was a dullness in the way Snow was talking, a resignation that Charlie didn’t like. ‘Tomorrow morning, early, telephone the Foreign Ministry. Try to reach Li. But don’t try too hard. All we want to establish is that you tried to get in touch, and then get him and everyone else moving in the wrong directions when they get the message and you start to do what I’m going to tell you. Leave a message that you’re sending something to him. Then go personally to the Foreign Ministry …’
‘Go there?’ exclaimed Snow, astonished.
‘First,’ expanded Charlie. ‘Before you go to the Security Bureau offices.’
Snow was shaking his head, bewildered. ‘This doesn’t make sense …’
‘Neither will it to anyone who is watching the mission, to see what you are going to do. Think about it! Where is the last place in the world they would expect you to go?’
The head movement now was a slow nod, but there was more doubt than agreement. ‘Certainly not there.’
‘So they’ll be thrown off balance?’
‘Possibly.’
‘The Bureau is a large building? Like the Foreign Ministry?’
‘Yes.’
‘Leave the photographs I’ve given you at the Foreign Ministry, addressed to Li. With a letter apologizing that they are incomplete. Say you’re trying to find out what has happened to the rest. Leave the Foreign Ministry by a different door than how you entered. At the Bureau, enquire the possibility of your taking another trip: go through the formalities of making an initial travel application …’ Snow was looking at him but Charlie was unsure if the man was comprehending it all. ‘Do you understand what I’m saying?’
‘I understand what you’re saying: not what it’s going to achieve.’
‘Confusion,’ repeated Charlie. ‘Leave the Bureau differently from the way you entered, too. This will be the most dangerous time: this is when you start to run.’
‘To the airport?’ guessed Snow, wanting to contribute.
‘That’s what they’ll hopefully think. I shall make a reservation in your own name, on a plane leaving direct for England the day after tomorrow. I want them to think they’ve got time to get into position. I don’t want confusion to become panic’
‘How then?’
‘Time your visits to get you out of the Bureau by mid-afternoon. Walk, initially. So that any pursuit will be on foot, not by car that can more easily pick you up when you switch to public transport. Go direct to the main rail terminus, for the five o’clock express to Shanghai.’
‘It takes …’
‘… I know how long it takes,’ cut off Charlie. ‘And you’re not supposedly going there anyway. Book yourself to Nanchang. There’s an express leaving for there at four forty-five: I’ve already checked. Your ticket will get you on to the platforms: if you are followed it’ll take longer than fifteen minutes for them to check where you’ve bought a ticket for, and when they find out it will be a long way away from where you’re going. According to the schedules, they can’t get on the Nanchang express en route for the first eight hours of the journey, at the first stop. And if they do – it’ll be in the middle of the night and I doubt they could organize themselves that quickly – it’ll take them at least until Nanchang to go right through the train to discover you are not on it. Actually board the Nanchang train, so that you’ll be remembered. Just before it leaves, get off. I’ve checked the track numbers, too. You’ll be two tracks away. Cross directly to the Shanghai train. I’ll have a two-berth, soft sleeper cabin. And a ticket for you. Which I’ll present around the door during any ticket inspection checks, so that once inside the cabin you’ll be out of sight. The majority of the journey is through the night, when everybody will be asleep.’
‘What happens in Shanghai?’
‘Nothing, I hope. There’s a plane out, four hours after we arrive, to Manila. Both tickets on it will again be in my name. We’ll go direct to the airport from the railway station.’
‘You’ve forgotten the need for travel permission.’
‘That only applies to restricted areas. There is none, on the route between Beijing and Shanghai. I checked that, like everything else. And you won’t be on the Nanchang train, where it does apply, anyway.’
Snow sat for several moments with his head bowed, deep in thought. ‘All right,’ he said.
Charlie was unsure to what the priest was agreeing. ‘You think you can do it?’
‘Yes.’
‘All of it?’
There was another pause. ‘I’ve got to, haven’t I?’
Charlie matched the cynicism. ‘Yes.’
‘From the moment I get into your cabin on the train you’ll be linked with me: as liable to arrest as I am? As that other man was?’
A fact that was paramount in Charlie’s mind. ‘Yes.’
‘I don’t want to cause any more problems, for anyone!’ insisted the other man. ‘Why can’t I do it by myself?’
‘Because it’s not a one-man job!’ rejected Charlie. ‘You need help and concealment on the train and help at Shanghai airport, to collect a ticket to get you out …’ Charlie hesitated. Then he said: ‘This is the only way to get you out.’ He wished to Christ there was a choice.
‘I have to return to the mission tonight?’
Charlie was torn between wishing to see the man show either something beyond dull obedience or a spark of initiative which might have risked the danger of improvisation. ‘Until tomorrow morning, when you call the Foreign Ministry, you’ve got to continue normally in every way at the mission.’
For the first time, Snow began to show some reaction. ‘What can I take with me, when I leave?’
‘Your passport,’ said Charlie, regretting the irritation in his voice. ‘That’s all! You can’t carry anything that will give the slightest indication that you’re not going back to the mission!’
Snow frowned. ‘I must have a rosary. And my bible.’
‘Will the bible fit into your pocket?’
Snow was clearly uncertain whether to lie outright. In the end he said: ‘Not really.’
‘Then no.’
‘I have always had it.’
‘No!’
‘I suppose I could ask Father Robertson to send it to Rome.’
‘Father Robertson has to believe you’re coming back to the mission, like everybody else.’
‘But he’s …’ Snow started, but Charlie wouldn’t allow the protest.
‘… exposed,’ he said, shortly. ‘His protection is not knowing! If he gives any indication of being aware in advance, he could be accused of colluding with you!’