"Harold!" Webley from State cracked the whip. Then he turned away from the sweaty bureaucrat to Rhyme and said in a reasonable voice, "Look, if--I'm saying if--any of this is true, you have to realize there's a lot more to it than just this one man, Lincoln. The Ghost's cover's been blown. He's not going to be sinking any more ships. Nobody'll hire him as a snakehead after this. But," the diplomat continued smoothly, "if we send him back, that'll keep the Chinese happy. Beijing won't crack down on the provinces and the end result'll be a better economy for the people there. And with more American influence there'll be improved human rights." He lifted his hands, palms up. "Sometimes we have to make hard choices."
Rhyme nodded. "So what you're saying is that it's essentially an issue of politics and diplomacy."
Webley from State smiled, pleased that Rhyme finally understood. "Exactly. For the good of both countries. It's a sacrifice, sure, but it's one that I think has to be made."
Rhyme considered this for a moment. Then he said to Sachs, "We could call it the Historically Unprecedented Great Sacrifice for the Beneficial Good of the People."
Webley from State's face twisted at Rhyme's sarcasm.
"See," the criminalist explained, "politics are complicated, diplomacy is complicated. But crime is simple. I don't like complicated things. So here's the deal: either you hand the Ghost over to us for prosecution in this country or you let him fly back home. And if you do that we go public with the fact you're releasing a perp in a multiple homicide--for political and economic reasons. And that you assaulted an FBI agent in the process." He added flippantly, "Your choice. Up to you."
"Don't threaten us. You're just fucking city cops," said Webley from State.
The gate agent announced the final boarding of the flight. Now the Ghost was scared. Sweat on his forehead, face dark with rage, he walked up to Webley and raised his hands, the shackles jangling. He whispered angrily to him. The bureaucrat ignored him and turned back to Rhyme. "How the hell're you going to go public? Nobody's going to be interested in a story like this. You think it's fucking Watergate? We're sending a Chinese national back to his homeland to stand trial for various crimes."
"Harold?" Rhyme asked.
Miserable, Peabody said, "I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do."
"So that's your answer," Rhyme replied, smiling faintly. "That's all I wanted. A decision. You made one. Good." He thought, with both amusement and sorrow, that this was very much like playing a game of wei-chi.
"Thom, could you please show him our handiwork?" Rhyme asked his aide.
The young man took an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Webley from State. He opened it. Inside was a long memo from Rhyme to Peter Hoddins, international desk reporter with The New York Times. It described in detail exactly what Rhyme had just told Peabody and Webley.
"Peter and I are good friends," Thom said. "I told him we might have an exclusive about the Fuzhou Dragon sinking and that it had implications all the way to Washington. He was very intrigued."
"Peter's a good reporter," Rhyme said then added proudly, "He was short-listed for a Pulitzer."
Webley from State and Peabody looked at each other for a moment. Then they retired to the corner of the now-empty gate area and each made phone calls.
"We must have Mr. Kwan on board the aircraft now," the gate agent said.
Finally the two federal telephones were hung up and a moment later Rhyme had his answer: Webley from State turned without a word and stalked down the corridor to the main lobby.
"Wait!" the Ghost cried. "There was a deal! We had a deal!"
The man kept going, tearing up Rhyme's memo as he walked, not even pausing as he tossed it toward a trash container.
Sellitto told the gate agent to close the door to the aircraft. Mr. Kwan wouldn't be making the flight.
The Ghost's eyes bored into Rhyme's and his shoulders slumped, a clear flag of defeat. But an instant later it seemed that the despair from this loss was immediately balanced by the hope of future victory, the yang was balanced by a surge of yin, as Sonny Li might've said. The snakehead turned toward Sachs. He looked her over with a chill smile. "I'm patient, Yindao. I'm sure we'll meet again. Naixin . . . . All in good time, all in good time."
Amelia Sachs returned his gaze and said, "The sooner the better."
Her eyes, Rhyme decided, were infinitely colder than his.
The uniformed NYPD cops took custody of the snakehead.
"I swear that I didn't know what this was all about," Harold Peabody said. "They told me that--"
But Rhyme had grown weary of the verbal fencing. Without a word he moved his finger slightly on the touch-pad to turn the Storm Arrow away from the bureaucrat.
It was Amelia Sachs who provided the final interaction between the various branches of government regarding Kwan Ang, Gui, the Ghost. She held out her hand to troubled Harold Peabody and asked, "Could you give me the cuff keys, please? If you want the shackles back after he's booked I'll leave them at Men's Detention for you."
Chapter Fifty
Several days later the Ghost had been arraigned and was being held without bail.