Sea of Shadows eBook - Navy Thriller.com

16 JEFF EDWARDS
exterior of the car was—through the vagaries of diplomatic custom—
classified as U.S. territory and was subject to inspection.
The steel gate slid open, and Tian’s driver eased the big car forward
into a three-sided enclosure built from the same black steel bars that
supported the rest of the White House fence. As soon as the limousine
braked to a stop, the gate slid shut behind it, leaving the car boxed and
helpless in a steel cage. My predicament exactly, Tian thought. Boxed in
and helpless.
An expressionless armed Marine guard stepped out of the concrete
guardhouse and walked over to stand in the rain near the driver’s
window—hands tucked behind his back and feet spread shoulder-width
apart in the formal posture known as parade rest. A pair of darkuniformed
Secret Service agents with powerful flashlights and inspection
mirrors conducted a thorough search of the car’s wheel wells and the
underside of the chassis, working smoothly from the front of the car
toward the rear. The men moved with determination and precision, not
letting the pouring rain deter them, or hurry their procedures in the
slightest.
When their visual inspection was finally complete, the Secret Service
personnel backed away from the limousine and took up positions near the
inner gate. One of them raised his right wrist to his mouth and spoke
quietly into a microphone concealed in his sleeve.
A few seconds later, another pair of Secret Service agents stepped out
of the guardhouse. Each of these men carried a device that looked like a
cross between a lunch box and a vacuum cleaner. They were smaller than
the models in use at the Chinese Embassy, but Tian had no trouble
recognizing them through the rain-blurred window. They were ionspectrometers:
machines that sucked in air and sniffed it for the specific
trace molecules given off by explosive chemicals. It was the electronic
equivalent of a dog’s nose.
Tian hoped that the smaller American spectrometers were smarter than
the Chinese models. The ones at the embassy had a tendency to sound
their alarms upon detecting the nitroglycerin in Tian’s heart medication.
Despite the downpour, the Secret Service agents went to work at once,
letting their machines sniff the exterior of the car, in a pattern that closely
duplicated the visual inspection that their fellow agents had just
completed. And, like their fellow agents, they gave no hint of even
noticing the rain that pounded down on them from the dark Washington
sky. Tian could not help but admire their patience and determination.
Satisfied at last, the Secret Service agents retreated into the guardhouse.
The Marine guard took a step backward, came to attention, and saluted.