China Box

4

4The cabby dropped me on Constitution Avenue, on the south side of the tall-windowed marble building housing the National Academy of Sciences.

I yanked my leather fake-designer bag higher on my shoulder and beelined to the cluster of elm and holly trees in the southeast corner. Muted traffic noise hummed from beyond the grove and the air smelled of fresh-cut grass.

When I’d worked in the State Department building on C Street, on my lunch break, I often brought take-out to this tiny park. The same guy was always present.

A twelve-foot tall statue, he didn’t say much but I enjoyed his company as I nibbled an empanada and worked the kinks out of my back after a long morning at my desk.

Today was the first of October, but fall comes late to the DC area. The elm leaves were as green as the holly. My guy was sitting comfortably in their shade. The rough finish on the bronze made his clothing look rumpled, his hair tousled. It creased his kind face with thoughtful wrinkles as he studied the equations engraved on the paper he held between oversized fingers.

My jet-lagged brain flashed E=mc2 as if the theory of relativity held all the answers I needed.

But Einstein wasn’t the proper source today.

I’d get more useful information from Harry Martin. My old friend was staffing the interagency group formed to implement the nuclear deal with Iran. He worked long hours, including weekends.

When I’d phoned from Dulles, he’d had no qualms about stealing across C Street on a Thursday morning to meet me. I chose the spot so I wouldn’t run into anyone else who knew me.

Glancing north toward the Department, I saw Harry loping down the sidewalk, his sandy hair pushed back by the breeze. He’d rolled up the sleeves on his white shirt and the tails were fighting to escape from the waistband of his dark-blue slacks.

I’d met Harry in San Salvador and our paths had crossed often in the years that followed. He’d helped me out of jam once in Berlin. Helped me again two years later in Warsaw.

Not long after that, I took myself out of the action. I’d avoided Harry because every time I saw him, he tried to lure me back into it.

Still, the bonds between us were strong enough to survive my long silence.

As soon as he reached me, I threw my arms around him.

He hugged back, crushing my chin against his collarbone. Always heavy-handed with his cologne, he smelled like he’d stepped out of a piney wood.

I pulled back first, one hand still clutching his upper arm, studying him.

“You haven’t gained a pound or lost a hair since the first time I saw you,” I told him. “You don’t look one day older.”

He snorted. “Because I looked like I was fifty-seven then.”

I laughed. I couldn’t disagree.

“Still adds up to ageless,” I pointed out. “No change at all.”

“One thing’s changed.” He tapped his thick glasses, calling attention to the bifocal line. “Otherwise, I’m the same. And you, as always, are in trouble.”

“What makes you think so?”

“You reappear with no warning and ask for a clandestine meeting. Did you think I wouldn’t guess Holger Sorensen was pulling the strings?”

“I am not Holger’s puppet.” My hands went to my hips. “And you didn’t make a wild guess. You checked a watch list that picked up his entry?”

“Better than that. I set an alarm to ring whenever he hits town. Ding ding and you ring ring.” Harry laughed, enjoying his feeble joke.

I glanced at the sky as if searching for heavenly help.

“A non-coincidence if I ever saw one.” Harry dropped onto the marble bench beside Einstein’s left knee. “What’s the Dane dragged you into?”

I laughed. “I’d repeat what he told me. But it’d be a waste of breath. You know how he compartmentalizes. I get only a tiny piece of the picture.”

“The man is congenitally incapable of sharing information in a reasonable fashion,” Harry retorted. “So what do you want from me?”

“Tell me how Bella’s doing at her new job.”

He lounged back, a smaller version of the statute. “You can’t ask her?”

I plopped down next to him. “I want your opinion first.”

Harry squinted and pressed two fingers to his forehead as if concentrating hard. He named the holding company which had gathered three of State’s private security contractors under its corporate umbrella.

All three provided personal protection to US diplomats stationed in hot spots.

“I assume you had some reservations when she left the Department in 2010 to join them?” he guessed.

“You bet. That bunch screwed up big time in Iraq. I thought they were hiring her as window dressing. To make it look like they were changing their cowboy approach without doing it.”

“A legitimate concern,” Harry said.

“Bella said I was too far removed from the scene to make a valid criticism. She was pretty harsh on officers who declined to volunteer for Baghdad.”

“Also legitimate. You had isolated yourself pretty damn well.”

“I thought she’d been sucked in by those guys. They massaged her ego and waved a ton of money in front of her. Told her she was a vital asset, worth every penny, and they’d give her all the freedom she needed to clean things up.”

I sighed. “I agreed she was good. But I doubted she’d have the clout to get those kill-crazy bodyguards under control.”

“My, my. Such language. And I thought you were a diplomat.”

Harry stroked the air with both palms, fingers spread, a cool-it gesture.

“They were reorganizing when they brought Bella on board,” he said. “New name, new ownership, new management. So far as I can tell, they've largely stayed out of trouble since. And they have a good track record in protecting diplomatic personnel.”

My laugh was bitter. “So it looks like Bella has made a difference. I was afraid of that.”

Harry frowned. “You should be pleased.”

I sighed. “I owe her an apology. I hate to crawl.”

He shook a finger at me. “You were always quick to admit you made a mistake. Maybe you aren’t certain you were wrong?”

“Intellectually, I buy your assessment. But my gut isn’t convinced. I worry that it’s the same old s**t, but better hidden.”

“Or maybe you’re still rankling over what Bella said to you.”

I punched his arm. “Damn, I hate it when you nail me. You’re right. She offended me. Insisted I’d demonstrated insufficient patriotism in time of war.”

Harry raised a disbelieving eyebrow. “I know Bella. Those aren’t her exact words.”

No, she’d been nasty and profane. I wasn’t repeating her tirade to Harry. He might find more nuggets he agreed with.

“That was the gist of it,” I said.

He smoothed his hair. “Look, I get that you needed a break after 9/11. But burying yourself back of beyond for more than a decade? Way too long. The world hasn’t gotten any safer. We need you.”

“I didn’t do my job right. I had to get out of the way.”

His fists clenched. “God, Casey. I can’t bear to watch you waste all that talent.”

“I can’t bear to do what I did before.”

“You can’t bear to do what you do so well.” Harry bit off his words. “Yet you’re back with that goddam Viking vigilante. Gearing up to talk to Bella on his behalf concerning a subject you won’t disclose. Why him and not us?”

“I’ve turned him down half a dozen times in the past ten years. But this is a whole different thing. Trust me.”

“I might trust you. But I don’t trust him. And you have a blind spot where he’s concerned.”

He put a hand on my arm and leaned in.

“Looks to me like you’ve come in from the cold so you can play with fire.”