“Do you not oversee the work that is done here, sir?”
Feng said indignantly, “We let our people explore what they wish to explore. Our involvement is minimal. I have never even been to this building before.”
“Well, it appears that your employees’ exploration got a bit out of hand. Do you understand the magnitude of the situation we have here?”
Feng looked at Royce questioningly. “I do not understand what you mean.”
“Do you have any ties to the Chinese government?”
“I fail to see what that has to do-”
Shaw interrupted. “Gorshkov has sworn that whoever was behind the smear campaign would be viewed as having committed an act of war against his country. If you have any ties to the Chinese government, then you might just have started a war between the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation.”
Feng sprang to his feet. “That is preposterous!”
Royce exclaimed, “It will hardly seem preposterous to the rest of the world, sir.”
Shaw added in a quieter tone, “Do you have any ties to the Chinese government? Better it come out now rather than later.”
Feng suddenly looked uncertain and sat back down. “It could be construed, that is to say, some people might…”
Shaw leaned down into Feng’s troubled face. “I’m sure you understand that telling us the truth is really your only option.”
Feng licked his lips and fiddled with a ring on his finger. “Part of our funding comes from the government.” He started speaking rapid-fire. “My partners and I have done much work with the Communist Party with respect to economic development both in China and in other countries. We started The Phoenix Group with the sole purpose of trying to better understand global issues that will help China adapt more readily to an expanded role in world affairs. There is no question that our economy will at some point become the world’s largest. With that comes a responsibility, a responsibility that we take very seriously. And thus we sought to educate ourselves as to critical issues around the world. Creating a think tank and staffing it with some of the best minds seemed a reasonable pursuit.”
Shaw snapped, “And yet you deliberately hid your ties to the Chinese government behind this Arizona millionaire façade?”
“We are misunderstood in many parts of the world.” He shot a glance at the MI5 agent. “Including in your country, Mr. Royce. We did not want any lingering doubts or misconceptions to taint the important work The Phoenix Group was undertaking.”
“Did any of the people who worked here have any idea of these ties?” Royce asked.
Shaw already knew the answer to that question. Anna would’ve told him.
“No,” Feng said. “We did not think it important or relevant to their work. What did it matter who they were working for if the goals were good ones?”
“Are you a member of the Communist Party?” Royce asked.
“I fail to see-”
“Please answer the question.”
“You have to understand-”
“Are you!” Royce bellowed.
“Yes. I am, like many of my fellow citizens,” Feng said defensively.
The MI5 agent threw up his hands. “This is a complete and total cock-up.”
A pale Feng said, “No, gentlemen, this is ludicrous. The Phoenix Group was not involved in any of this Red Menace business. It is absurd to even suggest it.”
“Since you said you’ve never even been here before, you’re hardly in a position to know that, are you?” Royce shot back.
“But why would they do such a thing?” Feng said in a near wail.
“How many other partners do you have?”
“Four.”
“I think somebody should ask them,” Royce said. He looked at Shaw. “For now, this stays among us. If any of this comes out, I can hardly imagine greater consequences for your country, Mr. Feng.”
“You cannot believe that Russia would attack us.”
“Gorshkov has staked his reputation on the fact that he will do just that. Go ask Afghanistan if you don’t believe me.”
“Who else knows?” Shaw asked Royce.
“A very few of the crime scene team. We hardly expected anything like this when the investigation started. Once they knew what they were facing, they cut off access to everyone else and called me in.”
“I’m surprised you allowed me in here,” Shaw said bluntly.
“Wells told me that you are the absolute best he has. So I thought I could rely upon your discretion and I desperately need your help.”
“You’re welcome to both.”
Royce turned back to Feng. “I’d like your passport.”
Feng’s features darkened. “You cannot possibly mean that.”
“Give it to me.” Royce held out his hand.
“I have committed no crime.”
“That remains to be seen, doesn’t it?”
“You will create an international incident?”
“What’s one more?” Royce retorted.
“I want to go to the Chinese embassy. Immediately.”
“Passport first and then I’ll see if I can get you a lift over,” Royce said pleasantly enough, even tacking a smile onto the end of his offer.
Feng very slowly handed over his passport. “This is outrageous.”
“Absolutely,” Royce agreed. “Everything we’ve discovered here so far is outrageous.”
As Feng and Royce headed out, Shaw said, “I’m going up to Anna’s office.”
“Shaw, we only removed the body. The rest of the place is untouched. It’s not very…”
“I know it’s not.”
CHAPTER 57
SHAW TOOK THE STEPS two at a time and followed the carpeted floor down to the end of the hall. The door on the left stood open. He closed his eyes and willed himself to focus on the task at hand – finding anything that could help lead him to Anna’s killers.
He walked into the room and suddenly grew very cold. His gaze wandered over the room, the books, the old desk, and the chair he had sat in when visiting her here. His eyes took in the small patch of oriental carpet in the middle of the room, her plants, and the sweater that still hung on the back of her chair. He touched the sweater, and his wall of professionalism started to crumble when he breathed in Anna’s scent that somehow still lingered on the fabric, despite the still-present stench of discharged weapons and the antiseptic vapor trail of the forensic team.
His professional demeanor started to crumble a bit more when his gaze went to the bookshelf right behind her desk where there were several photos of him and Anna. Their broad smiles seemed to pile up on him, like grain into a silo, threatening to bury him with their collective tonnage.
When he glanced down at the floor and saw her blood where it had leached into the wood, he had to sit down. In those dark stains he saw his past, present, and even his bleak, lonely future in one crushing vision. When you gave your heart to someone, you were never free ever again. And you had better be prepared for something like this. Only you never really could be.
The shattered window had been taped over, but he rose and studied it anyway, telling himself that if he broke down now, it would not help avenge Anna. He saw the scratches her desperate fingers had made in the window frame. She must have been seconds from jumping. He glanced back at the door and the twin bullet holes there. His practiced eye did the rough trajectory. It would have indeed hit her chest-high as the video had shown. Yet with the door closed the shooter could not have known Anna was trying to jump out the window.
A lucky shot, he concluded painfully.
She had fallen back inside the room. He knelt down and looked at the bloodstains and taped outline. Outside he could hear the normal sounds of a large city. In here there was only the silence of death. And yet sometimes the dead speak loudest of all.
Talk to me, Anna. Tell me what happened.