At the Project building Ronnie went with them to the apartment.
"The Director said tell you when you got in there isn't anything can't wait for morning, so the two of you should make yourselves at home. There are two bedrooms for privacy."
Ronnie's expression gave no indication of what he might be thinking, which told Carter everything he was thinking.
"We meet with Harker at 0700. I'll see you then."
"Thanks, Ronnie."
"Hey, no problem. See you tomorrow."
He closed the door.
The living area where they stood was furnished with a hide-a-bed couch, lamp, coffee table and two chairs. A self contained kitchen unit featured a sink, burners and small fridge. The overhead lighting was uninspired, the carpeting a faded blue government industrial. The bedrooms had twin beds.
Selena turned to him.
"I think he knows we slept together."
"You picked up on that. There's no law says we ought to hide it."
He looked at her and wanted her. He stiffened. She saw it.
"Nick." She was tense. "I can't do this right now. Have sex, I mean. Part of me wants to, but it's too much, everything is moving too fast."
He wanted to crush her against him but her words brought an odd sense of relief. Maybe he wanted more than casual sex with Selena. The thought unsettled him.
"It's okay. It's like you said. Sometimes people end up in bed after something happens."
The tension went out of her face.
"You mind if I use the bathroom first?"
"No, go for it."
She went into the bath closed the door. He thought about tomorrow. Harker would have a plan. She always did.
Chapter Twenty-One
They ate a mediocre breakfast in the cafeteria and at seven were in the Director's office. Stephanie was there, sitting at a computer console set off from Harker's desk. Steph had a wide, pleasant face and dark hair cut in bangs. She wore a black and red combo that concealed a few extra pounds. Gold bracelets jangled on her wrist.
She looked like the sort of person you'd see standing at the edge of a soccer field cheering on her kids. Stephanie didn't have any kids. She had a Glock 40 millimeter in a speed draw holster tucked high on her waist. She had the Project.
Harker said, "There's a new twist on Yang." She pushed a piece of paper and her pen across her desk to Selena. "Before I get into it, I need you to sign this."
"What is it?"
"I'm upgrading your security clearance. You sign that and you go to jail if you repeat anything you hear in here. You can't talk about it with anyone except us."
Selena said nothing. She signed.
Harker put the paper in a drawer. She said, "Deng Bingwen defected. Langley's got him."
Carter was stunned. "He's been building bombs for them for years. Why would he come over now?"
"Yang wants a war and Deng wants no part of it. Or so he says. He says Yang heads up a group called the White Jade Society. According to him it's a cover for a conspiracy to seize power. Langley is listening to what he says about China's nukes, but they don't believe him about a coup. They don't think anyone could pull that off, or would even try. If he's telling the truth, the money Yang stole could help fund a takeover."
Selena said, "The White Jade Society? White jade symbolizes immortality in Chinese culture. Maybe that's why they wanted the book. But it's just an old formula. No one could take it seriously."
Carter tugged on his ear. "Who's in this group?"
"Colonel Wu is one, but he's small fry. It wasn't hard to get a list. They're heavy hitters. The head of their naval forces, two of the missile base commanders, the Minister of Railways and several senior generals from the PLA, including two armored division commanders. There are other government and military leaders."
She tapped her pen. "A coup would destabilize the entire region. Pakistan, India, Russia, Iran. All those countries over there ending in 'stan'."
"You call Afghanistan stable?"
"Don't be a pain in the ass, Nick. You know what I mean."
Harker was definitely in Director mode. He decided to keep quiet.
Her intercom buzzed.
"Special Agent Jordan is here."
"Bring him up."
Jordan wore a blue suit and blue silk tie with gray accents that matched the color in his close cropped hair. The collar of a crisp, white shirt cut a deep crease in his thick neck.
He reminded Carter of pictures of Leadbelly, the famous blues singer. Big, hard, with a life of being black in America written deep inside his face. Jordan was a serious man.
Harker settled back in her chair. She said, "We identified one of the men who came after you in California from prints on the wine bottle. He's Wu's gofer."
Stephanie tapped on her keyboard. A picture came up on the big monitor.
"That's him," Carter said, "the one who tossed the grenade. Ugly bastard, isn't he?"
Jordan cleared his throat and pointed at the screen. "His name is Choy Gang. He's a real piece of work. The night you were in that mine a CHP patrolman made a routine stop outside San Francisco. He wrote up a safety violation. When he gave it to the driver he noticed something and went for his gun. The driver blew him away, three shots, nine mil. The camera in the cruiser taped the whole thing."
On screen, the video played. An arm and part of a face came out of the driver's window. There were three flashes as the gun fired and the officer went down. The video was badly lit but the hard looking face behind the gun was Choy's.
Jordan continued. "We got lucky and found a print on an empty casing. They usually burn away, but we've got a new process that sometimes can bring them out. We matched it up with Choy. We sent people over to the Consulate yesterday.
"They were told Choy was no longer in the country and had left two days before for the People's Republic, so there had to be a mistake in the identification. The Consulate representative said several weapons used by the security guards had been stolen a week before, so perhaps that was why Choy's prints were found. He expressed his sincere condolences over the death of our police officer and offered any assistance he might be able to provide. Then he showed our agents the door."
Nick had to say something. "Can't you get a warrant?"
"Not for the Consulate. It's off-limits. We don't want any incidents here."
"Shooting a cop isn't an incident?"
"Not big enough."
"What about Wu and Connor?"
"There's no hard evidence. Anyway, Choy is gone and there's nothing we can do about it."
Jordan looked at Carter as if it were all his fault. "What I want to know is why the Chinese are throwing grenades at you and in general making a whole lot of trouble."
Harker said, "Tell him about the book, Nick."
"What book?" Jordan ran his finger under his tight collar.
"An ancient book that belonged to Selena's uncle," Nick said. "The Chinese were looking for it when they killed him. He hid it in California. We went there to retrieve it. Then Choy showed up and you know the story.
"They were after the book, because why else drive up there? We think the attack here in DC was an attempt to kidnap Selena and get the location of the book from her."
"What's in it that they want?"
"We don't know yet. We'll find out, now that we have it."
"Where is it?"
Selena held up the book. "Right here."
Two old pieces of wood with yellowed pages between. It had already cost at least eight lives and might cost more before they were done.
Jordan loosened his tie. "I've been authorized to brief you. My unit tracks Asian criminal or terrorist activity. Something's up involving the Chinese Triads and Wu is mixed up in it. We followed him to a meeting with the Triad bosses from San Francisco, Oakland, New York, and Houston. That's a big deal. They never get together like that."