Yeshe looked back toward Sergeant Feng, then sighed as the sergeant refused to acknowledge his stare. "This is only for the afternoon," Yeshe said tentatively.

"I did not ask for you. You said it was your job. You get paid to compile information." Shan was confused at Yeshe's hesitation. He thought he had understood the reason for his new assistant. If the Bureau was watching, it would not rely simply on one bug in a phone.

"We are warned against collusion with prisoners. I am looking for a better job. Working with a criminal, I don't know. It could be seen as-" Yeshe paused.

"Regression?" Shan suggested.

"Exactly," Yeshe said, with a hint of gratitude.

Shan studied him for a moment, then opened the pad and began writing. Before this date I have never met the clerical assistant named Yeshe of the Central Prison Office of Lhadrung County. I am acting on the direct orders of Colonel Tan of the Lhadrung County government. He paused, then added: I am deeply impressed by Yeshe's commitment to socialist reform. He signed and dated the note, then handed it to the nervous Tibetan, who solemnly read it and folded it for his pocket.

"Only for today," Yeshe said, as if reassuring himself. "I just get assignments for a day at a time."

"No doubt Warden Zhong would not want such a valuable resource to be wasted for more than a few hours."

Yeshe hesitated, as if confused by Shan's sarcasm, then shrugged and retrieved the list. "The doctor," he said, suddenly all business. "Don't ask for the doctor. Call the office of the director of the clinic. Say Colonel Tan needs the medical report. The director has a fax machine. Tell them to fax it immediately. Not to you. The warden's secretary. The warden left. I will talk to her."

"He left?"

"Picked up by a driver for the Ministry of Geology."

Suddenly Shan remembered seeing the unfamiliar truck when the body had been found. "Why would the Ministry of Geology visit the 404th work site?" he wondered out loud.

"It's on a mountain," Yeshe replied stiffly.

"Yes?"

"The Ministry regulates mountains," Yeshe said distractedly, reviewing the list of names. "Lieutenant Chang. His desk is down the hall. The army ambulance crew who took custody of the body from the guards. Their records will be at Jade Spring Camp," he said.

"I will need an official weather report from two days ago," Shan said. "And a list of foreign tour groups cleared for entry into Tibet during the past month. China Travel Service in Lhasa should have it. And tell the sergeant we may be going back to town."

Five minutes later Yeshe began delivering the reports, still warm from the machine. Shan read them quickly, and began to write. He had nearly finished when a claxon sounded in the corridor, a siren he had heard only once before in all his months at the 404th. It was the signal for rifles to be issued to the prison guards. A chill crept down his spine. Choje had begun his resistance.

Colonel Tan eyed Shan suspiciously as he stood with the report in front of Tan's desk an hour later, then grabbed the papers and read.

The building seemed nearly empty. No, not just empty, Shan considered, but deserted, abandoned, the way small mammals abandon their roosts when a predator at the top of the food chain moves in. The wind rattled the windows. Outside, a crow appeared, mobbed by small birds.

Colonel Tan looked up. "You've given me the ancillary reports. But the form is incomplete."

"You have all of the direct investigation facts. And such conclusions as are available. It is all I can do. You will need to make some decisions."

Tan folded his hands over the pages. "It has been a very long time since anyone mocked my authority. In fact, I don't recall it happening since I took over the county. Not since I was given the black chop."

Shan stared at the floor. The black chop was the authority to sign death warrants.

"I had hoped for more, Comrade. I expected you would want to do a thorough job. Take time to embrace the opportunity I offered to you."

"On consideration," Shan said, "it seemed that certain things should be said quickly."

Tan picked up the report and read. "At 1600 hours on the fifteenth a body was discovered. Five hundred feet above the Dragon Throat Bridge. The unidentified victim was dressed expensively, in cashmere and Western denim. Black body hair. Two surgical scars on his abdomen. No other identifying marks. The victim walked up a dangerous ridge at night and suffered a sudden trauma to the neck. No direct evidence of third party involvement. Since no missing person reports have been filed locally, victim was likely a stranger to the area, possibly of foreign origin. Attachments of the medical report and security officer incident report."

He turned the page. "Possible explanations accounting for the trauma. Scenario one. Victim stumbled on rocks in darkness, fell upon razor-edge quartz known to be geologically present in the area. Two. Fell onto tool left by the construction brigade. Three. Unacclimated to high mountain atmosphere, suffered sudden attack of altitude sickness, passed out and incurred injuries as described in one or two." Tan paused. "No meteorite? I liked the meteorite. A certain Buddhist flavor. Predestination from another world."

He folded his hands over the report. "You have failed to give me conclusions. You have failed to identify the victim. You have failed to give me a report I can sign."

"Identify the victim?"

"It is awkward to have strangers in the morgue. It could be misinterpreted as carelessness."

"But that is precisely why the Ministry should not trouble you. You cannot be blamed if his family is negligent."

"A tentative identification would attract less attention. If not a name, a hat."

"A hat?"

"A job. A home. At least a reason for being here. Madame Ko called the American company on the business card. They sell X-ray equipment. Let's say he sold X-ray equipment."

Shan looked into his hands. "There can be nothing but speculation."

"One's man speculation may become another's judgment."

Shan gazed over the shadows that were beginning to cover the slopes of the Dragon Claws. "If I gave it to you, the perfect scenario," he said slowly, hating himself more with every word, "one the Ministry would embrace, would you release me back to my unit?"

"This is not a negotiation." Colonel Tan considered, then shrugged. "I had no idea breaking rocks was so addictive. I would be pleased to return you to the warden, Comrade Prisoner."

"The man was a capitalist from Taiwan."

"Not an American?"

Shan returned Tan's gaze. "How do you think the Public Security Bureau will react at the mention of the word American?"

Tan raised his brow and nodded, conceding the point.

"Taiwanese," Shan said. "It will explain his money and clothing, even why he could travel without being noticed. Say a former Kuomintang soldier who had served here, had sentimental ties. Came to Lhasa with a tour group, broke away on his own and traveled to Lhadrung illegally. The government could not be responsible for the safety of such a person."

Tan contemplated Shan's words. "Such things could be verified."

Shan shook his head. "Two groups from Taiwan visited Lhasa over the last three weeks. The report from China Travel Service is attached. If you wait three days to check, the groups will all be home. Officially, nothing can be done to verify anything in Taiwan. It is well known by Public Security that such groups are often used for illegal purposes."