Sea of Shadows eBook - Navy Thriller.com

14 JEFF EDWARDS
so confident in the inherent superiority of the communist social and
economic model that they continued to operate as if their actions took
place in a vacuum. If Tiananmen Square had taught them nothing else,
they should have learned that the world was watching China. To act in
ignorance of this fact was to court trouble. Which was, ultimately, why
Tian found himself being called across town in the rain and the dark to
answer for the actions of his government. He sighed. His country still had
much to learn.
Tian fidgeted with his coat buttons and drew the collar more tightly
around his neck. He did not yet know why the American president had
summoned him at this hour, and that lack of knowledge left him with a
cold spot in the pit of his stomach. He did not know what the Americans
were going to say, but he knew from the way they had chosen to say it,
that it was not going to be good.
At the beginning of his diplomatic career, Tian had viewed the
intricacies of state protocol with a critical eye. In the vanity of his youth,
he had dismissed the diplomatic ceremonies and rules of political etiquette
as nothing more than useless rituals. But thirty years in his country’s
diplomatic service had opened his eyes to many things, not the least of
which was the foolishness of his own youth. Protocol (and the Americans
thought of it that way in their own language—with a capital “P”) went far
beyond ritual. As the Americans practiced it, Protocol was more than a
system of rules for diplomatic communication; it was a language in and of
itself. It was a rich and subtle language, in which every detail had
meaning.
Tian checked his watch. Tonight’s meeting was an excellent example.
To begin with, the president wanted to meet directly with Tian. That was a
most disturbing development. Other than the little ceremony that took
place when he accepted the diplomatic credentials of a new ambassador,
the president rarely met with ambassadors at all. Meetings with foreign
ambassadors were usually entrusted to the secretary of state or an
appointed underling. For the president to call for a personal meeting with
an ambassador was nearly always a signal of extremely unusual
circumstances. The very thought made Tian nervous, and he checked his
watch again. No, traffic was light, and he would be on time. He took a
breath.
The Americans had given Tian another hint of possible problems when
they’d asked him to come alone. Under normal circumstances, he would
have been accompanied by his deputy chief of mission. By excluding
Tian’s deputy from the invitation, the Americans were forcing the
ambassador to face them alone. This was, of course, their prerogative, but