Part 26 (1/2)

”The PIA?” Jamie raised her head to look at her tormenter.

”Yes.” The interrogator's eyes, patient now, probed Jamie's face for comprehension. ”And as far as they're concerned, all of you are hostages. Including your senator.”

Jamie sat suddenly erect, alert, awash in adrenaline. ”And the PIA generally kill their hostages.”

”Yes, they do.” Shoo Juh stood, called in the guards, and ordered them to escort the hong mao to the Red Cross office for medical aid.

* 213 *

Chapter tWenty-Five.

Whether to lauGh or Cry Ow!””Sorry.” Leonard, the Red Cross physician, placed a sympathetic hand on Jamie's shoulder. ”But we don't want this to get infected.”

Restless for him to finish, Jamie squiggled on the stretcher that served as an examination table while he irrigated the gouge in her forehead. She was only now beginning to be able to think again. If the PIA are coming, we're in big trouble. If. If. How big an If?

A few feet away, Senator Hillinger had propped herself against a table like it was the only thing holding her up. ”Lieutenant, you look like a sodden six-year-old. G.o.d, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.” Jamie smiled; she liked the way that sounded.

”I'm sorry.” The senator looked distinctly penitent. ”I should've- But I might've made it worse-I just-I didn't know what to do.” Clearly she was someone who found indecision unsettling, someone who probably couldn't remember the last time an a.n.a.lysis of all the alternatives, even with just seconds to run through them, hadn't produced a clearly preferable choice, an actionable item. But not this time.

”Yeah, well, it's usually like that with Shoo Juh.”

”Who?”

”The Zhong special chief interrogator. She's, uh...”

”Responsible for your present condition.” The frowning senator pushed herself away from the table while Leonard dabbed Jamie's wound.

”No doubt the official Zhong version will deny that, ma'am.”

* 214 *

”How about the unofficial version? What happened?” Leonard now closed in with a small brown bottle. ”Iodine,” he said. ”This'll sting some.” Sting it did. But soon he was affixing a bandage.

”What happened?” Senator Hillinger pressed.

Jamie gazed resolutely at her- Not yet-and got a nod in return.

She and Leonard exchanged a brief look, and Jamie sensed beneath their pretense of normalcy an edgy but thus far frustrated quest for a way to end their predicament.

Now catapulted out of numbness, Jamie bounced from question to question. Does that electric fan over there near the door have a higher speed that'd be loud enough to mask our voices? What'd give us hints one way or the other about whether Shoo Juh lied or told the truth?

Jeez, do physicians ever use paperclips?

Jamie turned to Leonard. ”I can't leave yet.” Her words were mouthed more than spoken. ”I need you to pretend to keep treating me.”

The doctor didn't skip a beat. ”Well now, Lieutenant,” he said rather loudly, ”I don't like the look of this one bit. I'm going to run a quick test.” He picked up a mouth swab and a skinny, three-inch-wide white rectangle. ”Open sesame.” In seconds, his deft hands had swept the swab across the inside of Jamie's cheek and inserted it into the rectangle. ”Stick around. We'll have results in ten or twenty minutes.”

”Yes, sir.” Jamie lifted off the stretcher and hoped she appeared casual as she walked over to the fan. ”Do you mind if I cool off some while I wait?”

The senator understood first. ”Good idea,” she said and stepped next to Jamie to boost the fan's speed.

Starved for lubricating oil, the fan emitted a metallic screech and clanked erratically. Jamie removed her cammie blouse, stood in her soaked T-s.h.i.+rt in front of it. ”Much better. Thank you, ma'am.” She turned around so the fan blew at her back and she faced Leonard. ”Sir,” she whispered, ”can you check outside real offhandedly and tell me how close the guards are?”

Leonard obliged, adroitly moving his slight runner's frame to the door. Seconds later, he reported in a hush, ”They're on the other side of the yard trying to stay dry. Closest one is at least eighty, a hundred feet away. Want me to stay here and keep watch?”

* 215 *

”Yes, sir. Thanks.”

He was close enough that he, too, could hear Jamie's murmured account of what Shoo Juh said, Jamie's comment that she was inclined to believe it but wanted some sort of confirmation, since she couldn't fathom the interrogator's motives. She did not need to explain what the arrival of the PIA meant. Everyone knew the fate of those unfortunate enough to become PIA hostages. For a long moment, the two civilians stood in frozen silence, their faces tense.

”Any chance this interrogator comes from southern China?” Senator Hillinger finally asked.

”She could,” said Jamie. ”Hong Kong maybe. She speaks Cantonese. And the King's English.”

”d.a.m.n.” A new frown formed on the senator's face. ”This is mutating much faster than I expected. We're in a four-way fight now.

With four-way brinksmans.h.i.+p.”

Jamie was confused. ”Four-way?”

”Two sides-us and the Chinese.” Senator Hillinger squinted at the floor as if she could find a secret there to be deciphered. ”And two factions on each side. On both sides, one faction wants to keep fighting, the other wants a truce. And on both sides, neither faction quite has the upper hand.” Her eyes rose to find Jamie's. ”What's scary is that the center of gravity is probably s.h.i.+fting. And, covertly, some of the players are realigning. It's a fair guess that the factions on each side with a stake in continuing the conflict have opened a new back channel or two. And the factions on each side that want a truce-”

”You're not suggesting Shoo Juh wants a truce?”

”Maybe she does. If she told you the truth.” Jamie thought a mindf.u.c.k was likelier. Certainly it felt like a mindf.u.c.k. How could that woman ever want anything I want? The next thought made Jamie lightheaded. What if Shoo Juh did all that to me so she could offer up intel to help persuade her side toward truce?

”It doesn't matter,” Jamie said as much to herself as anyone. What matters is the PIA. We need to know if they're really coming. Maybe these civilians could help find out one way or the other. After all, they weren't quite prisoners. Not yet. And what they were and were not capable of might determine the future of everyone in Saint Eh Mo's .

Okay. Not a lot left to lose anymore. So okay. ”Where're they housing you?” she asked them.

* 216 *

”In the officers' quarters,” Senator Hillinger said. ”Access is across the yard from the interrogation area.”

”Can you move between here and there at will, no questions?”

”So far,” said Leonard.

”Hmm. I'd like to try a small experiment,” Jamie said. ”It entails one of you going over to your quarters to get something you need to bring back here. While you're there, stall a little, check out everything you can without being obvious. Look for any signs of people leaving or getting ready to leave. You know, gear getting packed or already gone.

Like that.”

”I'll go,” Leonard said. ”I get less attention than you do, Senator.

And I need more iodine anyway. Besides, it's my turn to get wet.”