Freedom TM

and we just need to find out for training purposes. We weren’t present during the incident, but we’re trying to back into just what went on when this unfortunate series of events unfolded.”
    Haverford gestured to a seat in front of a control monitor that had somehow mysteriously opened up. Shen felt that it suspiciously resembled the proverbial hot seat. However, he also knew, with the general and several dozen uniformed PLA senior officers nearby, it was not a request.
    He sat and examined the monitor in front of him. It showed a blurry image of himself sitting in the booth at the Suomi Linja martini bar hours earlier. They could barely see his head, and the rest of the table was completely blocked by a beam.
    Haverford pointed at the image. “You really couldn’t have chosen a worse spot for this meeting, Captain. It’s almost as if you wanted to have a private sit-down.”
    The words just hung out there for a few moments—a smiling fuck-you from his new American friend.
Passive-aggressive shitheel …
Shen looked up to General Zhang. “The only chance I thought I’d have of turning Ross, general, was in making him feel comfortable and in reminding him of the friendship we once had in Oregon. Having policemen hanging around and camerasfocused on him would not accomplish that. I take full responsibility for selecting the most shielded booth, but it was a calculated risk. I certainly did not think it would be an issue because there was no way for him to leave the bar unobserved—that is, if this system works as it must have been described in the brochure.”
    General Zhang pondered Shen’s words for a moment, then nodded to Haverford.
    Haverford sighed. “Well, okay then. I guess the fact that we don’t have any audio or video of you speaking with Mr. Ross—look there.…” Haverford pointed at a gesticulating arm being reflected in a mirror. “That’s Ross right there. We have him up until that point.”
    Shen frowned. “What do you mean ‘up until that point’?”
    The control board operator fast-forwarded the video, and people moved up and down the booth aisle like a
Benny Hill
closing credit chase. And then it suddenly returned to normal speed—to show Shen walking out of the bar several minutes later, a look of dread on his face.
    “Wait. Wait a second.” Shen was trying to comprehend what he just saw. “Back it up.”
    The video backed up at double speed. He saw himself back up to the table and sit far away from the cameras and the microphones he knew were near the restroom, the glass-and-blond-wood bar, and the entrances. Waitresses and Chinese patrons occasionally walked down the aisle—but no Jon Ross!
    “That’s impossible! He was sitting right there with me.”
    The video kept backing up until finally Shen saw the back of Ross, reverse-stepping toward the entrance with plainclothes policemen behind him. It was his moment of arrival seen backward.
    “So he arrived, but he didn’t leave?”
    “That’s what we’ve been wondering about.”
    They all just sat there without talking for several moments.
    That was when Shen remembered Ross’s words as he held up the ring.
    This is a magic ring
.
    A hot flash of fear came over him.
It couldn’t be.…
    The control board operator was clicking from camera to camera now. Inside and outside the building. He brought up a 3-D model of the city block. It was wrapped with security camera images. “This is running backward from the moment of your departure from the table, Captain Shen.” Half a dozen video insets showed as many scenes in front of the building, the lobby, the rear exit, and the surrounding streets—people and cars were everywhere. The video played, and people moved about, but Ross was absolutely nowhere to be seen.
    Haverford shook his head. “See, it certainly doesn’t seem like he left the table, now, does it, Captain?”
    Then it occurred to Shen that everyone was looking at him. And then it started to dawn on him that Zhang might seriously be suspecting him of some collusion with Ross—which would be crazy considering he was the one who brought Ross to the table to begin with.
    Shen cleared his throat. “There is one other explanation.”
    Haverford smiled. “Well, then let’s hear it, buddy.”
    Shen felt like punching him in his smiling toothy face, but instead tapped the screen. “Rewind it to the point when Ross arrives back at the table.”
    Haverford nodded to the board operator, and the monitor he was