Freedom TM

focusing on obligingly reversed to the point when Ross arrived.
    “Okay. Now, fast-forward it about two, two and a half minutes, then put it on slow motion.”
    The screen moved forward, people jittering across the screen, then slowed. Shen held his index finger just inches away from the screen and focused intently on the occasional person moving down the aisle between booths. The rest of the assembled technicians and Chinese officers leaned in behind him.
    Then he saw it. “There! Stop!”
    The image stopped, and Shen pointed to a sliver of a shoe and a pant leg as reflected in a mirror.
    “Uh, it’s a leg. We can’t know it’s his.”
    “But there’s no one in the aisle. Look.…” Shen pointed. “That reflection occurs when there’s someone in the aisle.”
    “Captain, if there’s no one in the aisle, he can’t be in the aisle.”
    “Roll it slowly. Watch here closely.” Shen ran his hand along the empty aisle in the picture.
    The image ran forward and a wave of surprise went across the assembled witnesses. An aberration, like a fleeting specter, moved across the frame.
    Haverford jammed the PAUSE button, shoving the board operator out of the way. “That’s impossible. It’s an artifact. It’s a camera artifact.”
    Shen was staring at a slight discoloration and diagonal line occluding the frame. “I don’t think it’s an artifact, Mr. Haverford.”
    “But how could he … he couldn’t just walk out.”
    Shen kept his eye on the screen. “Who was controlling the operation? Was it being directed by central control? Were they giving the signal to the teams to move in from here?”
    The technicians looked at each other.
    Haverford ignored the question, busying himself in searching other screens—the front door, the side door, the rear door. “None of these doors are popping open. Look.”
    Shen pointed to the kitchen’s rear door, propped open to let cool air in. “The rear door is already open. Look—look
there
.” He pointed at video from inside the kitchen. “The staff is surprised. They are following something with their eyes—as though a very unexpected person is moving through their space. Perhaps a Caucasian businessman.”
    It was undeniable. They could see a server and a chef frowning and eyeballing an unknown entity—the chef actually shoutingand waving the unseen person away. As they watched, another shimmer disrupted the air of the tape. It was a ripple in the fabric of the screen’s reality. There were blurred reflections on stainless steel counters.
    Shen tapped the location on-screen. “These cameras, Mr. Haver-ford. They are digital CCTV cameras? The very latest, I imagine.”
    Haverford just stared at him. “Of course. And Chinese made, I might point out.”
    Shen just laughed to himself and shook his head.
Of course they are.
He recalled Ross’s words again….
    The Chinese people want to be free, Liang.
    He pointed at another screen—one that showed the mouth of the alley behind the restaurant. Where it met the street. There was no one in the street, but quite clearly, there in the reflection from a darkened window was Jon Ross, looking rather dapper in a Hong Kong pin-striped suit. Shen smiled to himself. “I think we’ve found the problem, Mr. Haverford.”
    Now a gasp went over the assembled engineers. More leaned in to see what appeared to all present an absolute impossibility.
    Haverford just kept shaking his head. “But …”
    On-screen, a block away, plainclothes policemen were gathered in a group on a corner, smoking—awaiting a signal that came too late.
    Shen turned to General Zhang, but spoke to everyone. “Let me tell you what your system is, Mr. Haverford. It’s a six-billion-dollar … how do you Americans say it? Oh yes: clusterfuck.”
    Haverford stood up and turned to General Zhang. “This is ridiculous. This is a glitch. That’s all.”
    Shen pointed to the cameras. “Mr. Ross is invisible here to a dozen cameras. Show me a camera where he reappears. Blocks away? Hours later? I’ll bet you cannot find him. Because your system has been defeated.”
    General Zhang studied the screen. “How, Shen? How did he do it?”
    “There are two million digital cameras. They are all unified with layers of digital image–processing software. With camera firmware. Someone has created a system where points on the screen are replaced with the background image.”
    “The background?”
    “Yes. Somewhere along the chain of custody between where