The comment catches Rafferty unprepared, since he’s given no thought at all to how he’ll get out. “If there’s anyone there, they’ll be watching her,” he says. “What I’m planning to do is get there two, two and a half hours early so I can look the place over again. Then I’ll go into the business center on the fourth level with a couple of books for them to copy, so I have a reason to stay there. It’s got a big window, but it’s away from the heaviest traffic. I’m going to ask her to meet me at the fountain on the first floor. I can see it from up there.” Up to this point, he’s rehearsed it mentally, but now he’s off the map. “When she shows,” he says, “I’ll go back into the business center and call her and tell her to go out through the front. If anyone is watching, they’ll see her answer the phone and trail along after her. I’ll go down the interior stairs and out the other way.” As he invents it, it feels almost plausible. “Then I’ll call her again and tell her to walk toward the back of the lot, and I’ll pick her up in my car. If there are people behind her, I’ll just keep driving.”
Arthit says, “You have a car?”
“Rented.” He’s startled again by how little he’s told Arthit. “Got it this morning.”
Arthit shakes his head. “You can’t use your ID or your credit cards. Who rented it for you?”
“The same friend. You’ve never met him.” He gets back to what he came to say. “So. I’ll get there about six-thirty, stay mainly in the business center, wait and keep my eyes open for the opposition, and then leave through one door while they’re following her through another. What do you think?”
“I think it would be better if you had someone to watch as she leaves and make sure she comes out alone, not trailing some posse.”
Anna holds up her pad. She’s written Don’t do it and underlined the words twice.
“I agree,” Arthit says. “I’ll go. Instead.”
Anna’s face freezes. She looks like someone who’s seen lightning and is waiting for the thunder.
Rafferty says, “You wouldn’t recognize her.”
“Describe her to me.”
“No. No, it’s not possible.” He gets up, just to do something. “I can’t put you in that position. Suppose you’re right, suppose she really is a plant, suppose it’s a trap and Shen’s people are there with Murphy. How could you explain it? You’d be committing suicide. Your career would be over.”
Arthit looks at his glass and swallows most of what remains, and Anna watches every move as though she’s afraid she’s seeing him for the last time. He lowers the drink and looks up at Rafferty. “I’m not sure what you might get that’s worth the risk.”
“I’m not sure of anything,” Rafferty says, sitting again. He closes his eyes and rubs them with the heels of his palms. “Except that this can’t drag on much longer. They’re going to catch me sooner or later, and if they don’t, I’m going to die of exhaustion. And I’m lonely. I want my wife and daughter back. I want my life to be ordinary again, the way it was before. When I barely appreciated it. I just want to get through this and put things back together and then be grateful for everything I have, everything I had, before all this began. Honest to God, Arthit, when I get through this, I’ll never be bored again. If you ever hear me complain, you have permission to kick me. Hard.”
Arthit says, “Why does it take something terrible to make us understand how blessed we are?” He leans forward, and Anna shifts away slightly. Rafferty thinks, She’s frightened. But then he pictures Pim, blistered on speed and hanging on a pimp’s arm, and the moment passes.
“If you have to do it,” Arthit says, “just think it through a few more times. I’ll do the same, and we’ll talk tomorrow. Maybe we can find a way to improve it.”
Rafferty wants to tell his friend the truth, that he’ll be nowhere near the shopping mall, but he can’t. And it feels like he’s lost something else, something almost as precious as his wife and child, and the anger he’s been carrying gives him a sharp shake. “I’ll do that,” he says, getting up and avoiding Anna’s eyes. “Listen, one other thing. Maybe this doesn’t mean anything, or maybe it does, I don’t know. I think Murphy has been misrepresenting how close he is with the U.S. people here, how much they know about what he’s doing. I think he’s lying to Shen.”
“Why? What makes you say so?”
The instant he looks at Anna, her eyes skitter away, but they snap back to him the moment he begins to speak. He talks to Arthit, but he feels her gaze like warmth on his cheek. “I had a talk with someone who’s with them-the U.S., I mean-and I’m not mentioning a name, okay? You never heard a name from me.”
Arthit’s forehead wrinkles in a question, but he says, “Sure.”
“And this guy seemed to be worried that Murphy has gone off the tracks, the way he did in Vietnam. They’re not hearing much in the way of reports from him, and they’re getting worried that he’s … well, overenthusiastic in the way he does things. The bottom line is, the newspapers are taking an interest in Murphy, thanks in part to me, and if there’s a bad story, I’m pretty sure Shen doesn’t know that the Americans are going to deny any direct involvement. Shen will be left holding the bag. You know the drilclass="underline" ‘We’ve used Mr. Murphy as an intelligence source from time to time, but no one here authorized anything beyond that.’ So who else is responsible? Shen, that’s who.”
“That’s interesting,” Arthit says. “There’s a space between them. You might be able to get a lever in there, especially if Shen thinks he’ll to be the scapegoat in case anything goes wrong. But you’d have to find a way to get the word to Shen.”
“I’m working on that,” Rafferty says. “Maybe you can think about it, too.” He smiles and directs the smile at Anna as well. “So there are two things to consider until tomorrow.”
“Turn your enemies against each other,” Arthit says. “Very Sun-tzu.”
“It’ll be interesting to see who turns up at the shopping mall tomorrow,” Rafferty says. “If this woman is a plant, if Murphy set her up, maybe Shen’s people won’t even be told about it. Might just be Murphy and a thug or two if his plans for me include stuff he thinks Shen might draw the line at.” He picks up the beer again and knocks back about half of what’s left. “Is it just me, or is this complicated?”
“ ‘O, what a tangled web we weave,’ ” Arthit says, and Rafferty feels a sharp pang of conscience, but his friend’s eyes are direct and clear; he’s talking about Murphy. “But it all seems simpler if we just keep the end in mind. Getting you out from under.”
“Right,” Rafferty says. “Thanks for everything.” To Anna, who has sprung to her feet, he says, “And thanks for the beer.”
She nods, and Rafferty surprises himself by reaching for her hand and saying, “And take good care of my friend. He needs it.”
She looks at Arthit, at her own hand clasped in Rafferty’s, at the floor, at everything in the room, before she looks at him. When she does, he sees that her eyes are moist. She says, in her low, uninflected voice, “I will.”
It’s raining again when he comes out; he can almost feel the weight of the swollen river rushing by several miles to the west. He has an impulse to lift his head and scream curses at the sky. Instead he turns left and takes the sidewalk to the corner, realizing he’s lost yet another umbrella. He makes the right, and there’s Ming Li, waiting for him behind the wheel of the little Toyota.
He gets in, and she starts the car without asking whether it’s okay if she drives. The tires hardly squeal at all as she pulls away from the curb. He doesn’t say anything, just sits back with his eyes closed.
She says, “And?”
“And I’d like to kill myself. But since that wouldn’t accomplish anything, let’s go get something really good to eat and then sleep for twelve hours. I think we’re going to need it.” He pulls out the cell phone he used when he called America. “But first.” He presses SEND and a moment later says, “Helen Eckersley’s room, please.”