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Gant realized at once that it was classified material. There wasnt much of that to be seen at Treasury, but there was some, and hed been screened for a Top Secret/Special Access clearance as part of his employment on Secretary Winstons personal staff. So, there was intel coming in from Washington for the negotiations. Exactly what it was about, he couldnt see, and didnt know if he would see it. He wondered if he could flex his institutional muscles on this one, but Rutledge would be the one who decided if he got to see it or not, and he didnt want to give the State Department puke the excuse to show who was the he-bull in this herd. Patience was a virtue hed long had, and this was just one more chance to exercise it. He returned to his breakfast, then decided to stand and get more off the buffet. Lunch in Beijing probably wouldnt be very appealing, even at their Foreign Ministry Building, where they would feel constrained to show off their most exotic national dishes, and Fried Panda Penis with candied bamboo roots wasnt exactly to his taste. At least the tea they served was acceptable, but even at its best, tea wasnt coffee.

"Mark?" Rutledge looked up from his seat and waved the Treasury guy over. Gant walked over with his refilled plate of eggs and bacon.

"Yeah, Cliff?"

Ambassador Hitch made room for Gant to sit down, and a steward arrived with fresh silverware. The government could make one comfortable when it wanted. He asked the guy for more hash browns and toast. Fresh coffee arrived seemingly of its own volition.

"Mark, this just came in from Washington. This is codeword material—"

"Yeah, I know. I cant even see it now, and I am not allowed to have any memory of it. So, can I see it now?"

Rutledge nodded and slipped the papers across. "What do you make of these foreign-exchange figures?"

Gant took a bite of bacon and stopped chewing almost at once. "Damn, theyre that low? What have they been pissing their money away on?"

"What does this mean?"

"Cliff, once upon a time, Dr. Samuel Johnson put it this way: Whatever you have, spend less. Well, the Chinese didnt listen to that advice." Gant flipped the pages. "It doesnt say what theyve been spending it on."

"Mainly military stuff, so I am told," Ambassador Hitch replied. "Or things that can be applied to military applications, especially electronics. Both finished goods and the machinery with which to make electronic stuff. I gather its expensive to invest in such things."

"It can be," Gant agreed. He turned the pages back to start from the beginning. He saw it was transmitted with the TAPDANCE encryption system. That made it hot. TAPDANCE was only used for the most sensitive material because of some technical inconveniences in its use … so this was some really hot intelligence, TELESCOPE thought. Then he saw why. Somebody must have bugged the offices of some very senior Chinese officials to get this stuff … "Jesus."

"What does this mean, Mark?"

"It means theyve been spending money faster than its coming in, and investing it in noncommercial areas for the most part. Hell, it means theyre acting like some of the idiots we have in our government. They think money is just something that appears when you snap your fingers, and then you can spend it as fast as you want and just snap your fingers to get some more … These people dont live in the real world, Cliff. They have no idea how and why the money appears." He paused. Hed gone too far. A Wall Street person would understand his language, but this Rutledge guy probably didnt. "Let me rephrase. They know that the money comes from their trade imbalance with the United States, and it appears that they believe the imbalance to be a natural phenomenon, something they can essentially dictate because of who they are. They think the rest of the world owes it to them. In other words, if they believe that, negotiating with them is going to be hard."

"Why?" Rutledge asked. Ambassador Hitch, he saw, was already nodding. He must have