"It is not an accusation, Colonel. It is, however, well known that Han Ki Po's assassin, Tang Ro Ji, is a consort of yours."
"Tang Ro Ji is an animal," Quan replied, "a dangerous animalan animal with ambitions of his own."
"Is not this Tang Ro Ji the same man who engineered the abduction of the Russian, Schubatis?"
"A scheme accomplished only with Han Ki Po's approval," Quan countered. "Arrangements were made between Chairman Han and the Russian, Isotov. Arrangements that as you well know were founded on like ideological beliefs."
Han continued to play his role cautiously. "Why has Tang been able to elude your efforts to find him?"
Quan knew that no excuse was acceptable. Nevertheless, he detailed the events of the long nightthe storms, the crash of the Komisko, the theft of the Covertweaving his way carefully through the events, making it sound more and more as though he was the one who had been betrayed.
"The Russian pilot," Han asked, "has defected?" There was incredulity in his voice.
Quan realized that his admission could be interpreted as dereliction. He hoped that Han would see it as one more intolerable distraction in the night-long search for Tang.
"How could this happen?" Han demanded.
"I suspect some sort of collusion between the Russians, Schubatis, and the pilot, Air Major Borisov," Quan said. "During his brief stay, Schubatis proved to be most uncooperativeand the pilot, Borisov, was not only slow, but actually hesitant to qualify our pilots to fly the Covert. I brought this to the attention of Chairman Han during his visit here yesterday."
"You have located this downed Russian aircraft?" Han pressed.
Quan seized the opportunity to demonstrate that he had regained control. "Within the past hour I have received verification that the downed aircraft has been located." Quan used his pencil to indicate the location of the Anxi atolls. "It is, according to Captain Shin, only partially submerged. His assessment is that a salvation operation is entirely feasible."
"What about the pilot and Schubatis?"
Quan was growing more confident by the minute. He was convinced that in the eyes of his fellow officers, Han's attempt to discredit him had been blunted. He did not answer the General directly. Instead he took time to tap out a cigarette. Han would recognize the gesture for what it wasposturing; a rebuke of both his position and authoritybut he neither could nor would do nothing about it.
"Both bodies were located," Quan said.
"And recovered?"
Quan shook his head. "It would not be prudent, General Han, without the approval of the Vietnamese government. The Anxi Islands are a Vietnamese protectorate. However, if you wish me to make inquiries, I will contact"
Han waved him off. He had been patient too long. He had allowed talk of the downed Russian aircraft to blur the charge that Quan was somehow involved with Tang Ro Ji in the plot to assassinate Chairman Han Ki Po.
"For the moment, the recovery of both the aircraft and its occupants is of secondary importance. For the time being, our efforts must be focused on the capture of Tang Ro Ji."
Quan inclined his head forward to acknowledge the senior officer's orders. But he, like the others in the room, knew Han had committed a major blunder. On the world stage, Han Ki Po was an obscure player. The Fifth Academy had not yet captured world attention except for a handful of terrorist acts. By most standards, the capture of Han Ki Po's assassin paled in comparison to the magnitude of the crash of the Covert.
It was early afternoon when Zhun Be first began to regain consciousness. He had lost a great deal of blood, and there was a period during which Le Win Fo had regarded his condition as critical. Soon after he was brought in, Le had sent for a young woman named Tia who had grown up in the orphanage and later studied to be a nurse. She had been able to stop the bleeding. Afterward, she explained to Le that one of the bullets had ruptured Zhun Be's spleen and damaged his left kidney. A second bullet had caused minor bleeding in his stomach.
"Wh-where… where am I?" Zhun muttered.
Le sat close and bent over to comfort him. "You are in Zebo."
"Ze… Zebo?" Still disoriented, he tried to look around the room. His eyes stopped when he came to Tia.
Win Fo smiled. "Not only is she pretty, Zhun, but I'd go so far as to say you owe her your life. Tia was the one who was able to get your bleeding stopped."
When Zhun saw Bogner he managed to get out the words "Cormea" and "Jade". Then he closed his eyes again.
For the next thirty minutes or so, Zhun Be drifted in and out of consciousness. Occasionally he would utter one word, depositing seemingly incoherent clues as to what had happened. Despite the obvious disorientation, Le was beginning to put the pieces together. Finally Le asked him, ''Who shot you?"
Zhun Be closed his eyes and pursed his lips. It was a form of denial.
"Who shot you?" Le repeated. "We can't help you unless we know who shot you."
Zhun Be raised his head and tried to look around the room again. "You… you won't… won't tell anyone?"
Le Win Fo shook his head.
"He'll… he'll come… come after me. He… he said he would."
"It will be our secret," Le assured him. "Now, tell us who shot you?"
"Tang… Tang Ro Ji."
"Tang? Are you certain?"
Zhun Be closed his eyes and wetted his lips. "Yes."
"Where?"
Zhun opened his eyes and tried to focus on the face of Le Win Fo. "We… we were… almost to Zebo."
"We?"
"Shu Li Wan… me and Shu Li Wan. She was driving."
"Shu Li Wan was with you? Where is she now?"
Zhun Be looked confused.
"Damnit, Zhun, where is Shu Li?" Bogner demanded.
"She… she went with… Tang."
"Where?"
"To… to Haikou. Tang is hurt… needs a doctor…"
Bogner took Le by the arm and steered him out of the room. "Do you think Zhun Be knows what he's saying?"
"There's no reason to doubt him," Le said.
"You've been monitoring the Danjia radio. Is Quan still looking for Tang Ro Ji?"
"Less than an hour ago he ordered the Komiskos up again. He has ordered them to focus their search on the northwest quadrant of the island."
"What about Haikou?"
"Our friend Colonel Quan is far too arrogant. By now he's convinced himself that Tang won't be able to get past his roadblocks."
Bogner hesitated. "I've got an idea. Suppose we give Quan a little help."
"How and why?" Le Win Fo asked.
"What do you think Quan would do if he got a tip that someone had seen Tang Ro Ji in Haikou?"
Le began to smile. "That would be like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. We're talking about a couple of million people in the Haikou area. But one thing for sure, it would keep Quan occupied."
"Exactly what I was counting on," Bogner said with a grin. "It might make looking for that downed Covert tonight a little less risky for us."
By midafternoon, Harry Driver had surveyed most of the tiny island. To the east was the mouth of the atoll, shaped like a crab's claw. South and west the waters were shallow, as evidenced by the fact that the gulls were working the coral outcroppings just below the surface.
The north, Harry decided, was where the Taiwanese freighters could drop anchor closest to the atoll. There was a narrow strip of beach, no more than two or three hundred yards long, and even more revealing, evidence of footprints leading down to the sand from the small cluster of buildings.
It was apparent that Le Win Fo wasn't the only one who flew in to Anxi. In addition to the area where the helicopters landed, there was a pitted, and for the most part overgrown, place for a 1,300-foot runwaybig enough to accommodate any number of small fixed-wing aircraft.