Shan saw that another vehicle, a heavy diesel truck, had arrived at the station. It was parking directly behind the Red Flag, so close the car was blocked between it and the horse cart. The engine did not stop as the air brakes hissed and the truck halted. The driver stayed at his wheel, watching someone, the mahjong player closest to the prosecutor. Fat Mao. What had Marco said of the Maos? He had called them predators, always waiting for an easy kill.

Shan unfolded the paper he had taken from the school and pushed it in front of her. "Are they so eager to get the children to confess religion that they must offer bribes?"

Xu didn't touch the memo but read it where it lay. A lip curled up, and he began to realize that the sour expression was a fixture, that perhaps she had been sour so long that it was the natural position of her face when it relaxed. Shan watched her eyes drift over the names of those who had received copies of the memorandum from Ko announcing the gift of music machines. There were two names familiar to him- Bao Kangmei, Kaju Drogme- and a third unknown to him. Rongqi, Urumqi, it said.

Xu sighed and put the paper in her canvas bag. She held it by the edges as she did so, as if it were fragile.

"Thank you," she said. "I have you on videotape at my office. Now I have your fingerprints." A look of great satisfaction rose on her face. "Outside agitators always make good candidates."

"Candidates?"

"For anything. Murder. Even treason. Good for tying up loose ends in files. Maybe just breach of public security. That memo was for government workers only. You don't work for the government."

"Not for the government," Shan said. "It was for the Brigade."

She shrugged, as if it made no difference.

Shan stared at her. "Fine. Arrest me. The only thing I'm really good at, Comrade Prosecutor, is surviving. I'll go to prison. I'll survive. But they would have won."

"Who?

"I don't know yet. Bao, maybe. Kaju. This Rongqi in Urumqi, maybe."

Xu lit another cigarette before replying. "I don't have to implicate you in anything. You're a weed. You don't belong here. By definition, weeds are guilty. I have a weed control program. One call and you're in Glory Camp for a year."

Shan ignored her. "Rongqi," he said again. Was she trying to avoid the name? "Did he know Lau?"

Xu hesitated. "A general. Former general. Now one of the top leaders of the Brigade. Second in command. He met Lau with me in Urumqi."

"She went to the capital with you?"

"Rongqi was the one to approve the new program for assimilation. I thought she was a model of the kind of person we need. The Ministry of Justice decided to support the program, to offer up its databases. I asked her to go, at our expense, to be recognized." There was something new in Xu's voice. An uncertainty, a hesitancy.

"But something happened."

"I don't know. Rongqi was cordial. They were talking, then she went cold. Said she was sick and excused herself. All the way home, she was quiet."

"This was before she was eased out of the council position?" The day before she had died, Hu had said at the school, Ko had tried to persuade her to go back to Urumqi with him.

"Maybe two or three weeks before." Her face hardened. "There's no connection. I know your type, Shan. The higher up someone is, the more guilty they are." She twisted the butt of her cigarette into the makeshift tabletop. "I have a riddle for you. When you're made to disappear once, they call it the gulag. But when you're made to disappear twice, what do they call it?"

Shan sighed and looked up at the sky. "I'll go to your office, in two days. Your territory. Arrest me then if you still want to."

Xu frowned but didn't say no.

"I don't believe Sui was with you that day just because of your missing person inquiry," Shan said. "Not if he was looking for Tibetans."

"He was working roadblocks for me, and for a Bureau case on smugglers. Jade thieves."

"Jade?"

"He asked me that day if I seen any interesting jade. I knew what he was asking. This region is the source of all Chinese jade. Special licenses are given to those who extract it and process it. Special certifications are made by inspectors to assure its quality. Special fees are assessed. Sometimes people try to avoid the procedures and sell it cheap on the black market. It's one of the regular assignments for junior officers. He heard I was going to sweep roads, he thought he would take advantage to check for illegal jade. Tibetans with black market jade, apparently."

No, Shan was about to say. He was looking for the boys. He looked toward the rear of the garage, where Lokesh had been sleeping. Sui had been looking for the Jade Basket. He had been killed. Then Ko had given Major Bao his expensive car. Not out of friendship. Because Ko was obligated to Bao somehow. Or out of mutual interest.

Xu was watching the compound. She looked from the horse cart to the heavy truck that blocked her car. She seemed to sense something. There was a flicker of nervousness, then she swept the smoldering butt of her cigarette onto the ground and rose with a glare that caused all around her to turn away. Shan saw Fat Mao make a motion and the diesel truck began to back up, to make room for the Red Flag to move.

"One last thing," Shan said. "Miss Loshi. Did you ask her to come?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, her boyfriend is Director Ko. Did she ask you?"

Xu thought a moment. "My chief investigator is in the mountains. She knew that. She offered to ride with me."

"And watch."

"And watch," Xu agreed with a sneer, then waved toward the tea shop. Loshi emerged a moment later, the cell phone extended in front of her. Xu's protector.

Shan nervously watched as Xu placed her canvas bag on the hood of her car. He saw a flicker of movement at the corner of his eye. Fat Mao darted into the garage. A moment later the Uighur reappeared, holding a folded piece of white paper. Suddenly someone shouted from the far end of the compound. An animal burst out from between two trucks, a large ram, bleating, running wildly, butting its head into the air every few steps as if battling some invisible rival. Several men shouted and ran toward the animal. Others ducked into the buildings.

In the center of the road Miss Loshi stopped and made a sound, not a scream, but a high pitched yelp. She did not run from the animal charging toward her, but stood still and covered her eyes.

The ram seemed to take the motion of her hands as a signal. It lunged straight at her, veering at the last moment so that its heavy shoulder slammed into her knees, knocking her legs out from under her. She collapsed onto the road and sat with an expression of shock on her face as several men closed around the animal. Prosecutor Xu darted around the limousine to help Loshi to her feet. In the same instant Fat Mao ran to the limousine. Shan looked back to Xu as she led Loshi to the car.

The compound burst into activity as the Red Flag disappeared down the highway. The men at the tables stood. The driver in the heavy rig shut off his engine and climbed out. The man with the horse brought the animal back to its wagon.

Jakli reappeared, pulling off her cowl and shaking her hair free, Lokesh following a step behind, wearing a wide grin.

"It makes no sense," Jakli said, looking down the highway, where the car had gone. "What is she doing? She brought no one but her worthless secretary."