like that video from Saigon during the Tet Offensive. You know, where the South Vietnamese police colonel shot the North Vietnamese spy in the side of the head with a Smith Chief’s Special, you know, like a fountain of blood coming out the head. Ain’t something to watch with your Egg McMuffin, y’know?” the watch officer observed. The reference came across clearly enough. The news media had celebrated the incident as an example of the South Vietnamese government’s bloodthirstiness. They had never explained—probably never even knew—that the man shot had been an officer of the North Vietnamese army captured in a battle zone wearing civilian clothing, therefore, under the Geneva Protocols was a spy liable to summary execution, which was exactly what he’d received.
“Okay, what else?”
“Do we wake the Boss up for this? I mean, we got a diplomatic team over there, and this has some serious implications.”
Goodley thought about that for a second or two. “No. I’ll brief him in in a few hours.”
“Sir, it’s sure as hell going to be on CNN’s seven o’clock morning report,” the watch officer warned.
“Well, let me brief him when he has more than just pictures.”
“Your call, Dr. Goodley.”
“Thanks. Now, I think I’ll try to get one more hour before I drive over to Langley.” The phone went down before Goodley heard a reaction. His job carried a lot of prestige, but it denied him sleep and much of a social or sex life, and at moments like this he wondered what the hell was so goddamned prestigious about it.
CHAPTER 25
Fence Rending
The speed of modem communications makes for curious disconnects. In this case, the American government knew what had happened in Beijing long before the government of the People’s Republic did. What appeared in the White House Office of Signals appeared also in the State Department’s Operations Center, and there the senior officer present had decided, naturally enough, to get the information immediately to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. There Ambassador Carl Hitch took the call at his desk on the encrypted line. He forced the caller from Foggy Bottom to confirm the news twice before making his first reaction, a whistle. It wasn’t often that an accredited ambassador of any sort got killed in a host country, much less by a host country. What the hell, he wondered, was Washington going to do about this?
“Damn,” Hitch whispered. He hadn’t even met Cardinal DiMilo yet. The official reception had been planned for two weeks from now in a future that would never come. What was he supposed to do? First, he figured, get off a message of condolence to the Vatican mission. (Foggy Bottom would so notify the Vatican through the Nuncio in Washington, probably. Maybe even Secretary Adler would drive over himself to offer official condolences. Hell, President Ryan was Catholic, and maybe he would go himself, Hitch speculated.) Okay, Hitch told himself, things to do here. He had his secretary call the Nuncio’s residence, but all he got there was a Chinese national answering the phone, and that wasn’t worth a damn. That would have to go on the back burner ... what about the Italian Embassy? he thought next. The Nuncio was an Italian citizen, wasn’t he? Probably. Okay. He checked his card file and dialed up the Italian ambassador’s private line.
“Paulo? This is Carl Hitch. Thanks, and you? I have some bad news, I’m afraid ... the Papal Nuncio, Cardinal DiMilo, he’s been shot and killed in some Beijing hospital by a Chinese policeman ... it’s going to be on CNN soon, not sure how soon ... we’re pretty certain of it, I’m afraid ... I’m not entirely sure, but what I’ve been told is that he was there trying to prevent the death of a child, or one of those late-term abortions they do here ... yeah ... say, doesn’t he come from a prominent family?” Then Hitch started taking notes. “Vincenzo, you said? I see ... Minister of Justice two years ago? I tried to call over there, but all I got was some local answering the phone. German? Schepke?” More notes. “I see. Thank you, Paulo. Hey, if there’s anything we can help you with over here ... right. Okay. Bye.” He hung up. “Damn. Now what?” he asked the desk. He could spread the bad news to the German Embassy, but, no, he’d let someone else do that. For now ... he checked his watch. It was still short of sunrise in Washington, and the