An official from the gas company met Rainey at the airport. “Dr. Banerjee, my name is Ling.”
She gave him a short bow and he gestured for her to follow him through the airport and back out onto the tarmac. An Agusta A109E helicopter, excellent for high altitude, whisked her away. Once they had their headphones on, Ling explained the operation. Rainey talked enthusiastically about the research results of the drug the company was testing. She’d reviewed the protocols and biochemistry. Ever since her experience in Afghanistan, her mind was surprisingly elastic. Subjects she hadn’t studied before came easily to her.
He nodded as she spoke, obviously hearing one word out of three even with the headphones, then handed over a folder complete with all the appropriate propaganda along with some actual facts.
“Thank you,” Rainey said.
“Of course.” The man‘s English was accented by way of Oxford or Cambridge.
Rainey tucked the folder into her briefcase. Ling sat back and turned his gaze to the views. Rainey did the same, relieved she didn’t have to make conversation. Helicopters were too noisy, plus she didn’t relish acting. The craft cleared the clutter of the city, and the stunning peaks and green valleys unfolded beneath them, lifting Rainey’s heart.
They arrived at dusk. Ling showed her to a company hotel on the edge of the facility. The place was small, but elegantly appointed. The porter took her luggage and led her up two flights of stairs, then opened the door to her room.
Two black lacquer bamboo armchairs flanked a low sofa of light gray silk. A black lacquer coffee table sat in front of it. A circle of green silk in the middle of a rectangle of mahogany decorated the wall behind the bed. On either side sat low tables and lamps with paper shades the color of butterscotch. Three lanterns with matching larger shades hung in the middle of the room. Another lacquered dresser sat to one side. Lavish for the plains of Tibet. Obviously, the site’s visitors expected luxury.
The porter set her suitcase on the rack discreetly placed next to an expansive closet. She gave him five US dollars and his bow deepened. As soon as he left, she scanned the room for bugs. There were seven—three in lamps in the living room, another next to the small refrigerator and hot plate in one corner, one on either side of the bed, and a camera and listening device attached to a painting with a view of the bed. This one almost made her laugh out loud. She left them all in place.
Rainey ordered room service and poked through the folder. She’d stay off her computer until she left. The Tibetan noodles were hot and the sauce spicy. Sleep came as soon as she got into bed and she woke the next morning to a clear, blue sky.
The skin on her head felt tight and her focus off—sure signs of the thin air. She dug out a bottle of chlorophyll concentrate and downed three brilliantly green pills. She dressed in black slacks and a white blouse, threw a white lab coat over it, and filled her pant pocket with more little green pills. She’d have to be careful not to let anyone see them. After all, she was here to sell a drug to help with altitude sickness.
Downstairs, the hotel café offered American, English, and Chinese options for breakfast. She chose congee and fruit along with tea. She longed for black tea, but chose green in deference to the altitude. Too much caffeine dehydrated the body. Too bad they didn’t offer coca tea here as they did in the highlands of Peru. She remembered some brew they’d given her at the nunnery while she recovered from her ordeal in Afghanistan, but she’d never gotten the names of the herbs. She’d be fine. She went up to her room and picked up a medical bag, then went downstairs.
Ling waited in the lobby. Two Chinese agents sat to the side idly reading newspapers. Ling gave her a short bow, seemingly oblivious to the presence of the agents. Or in league with them.
“I trust you slept well?”
“Yes, a wonderful room.”
“Ready?” he asked.
She patted her bag. “Ready.”
He headed out the door and Rainey followed him to a black Mercedes SUV. They drove the short distance to a modern steel and glass structure. The lobby offered a tribute to Mao with his picture over a fountain and a mural of happy workers all smiling in a rice paddy. Not exactly Tibet. Ling processed her through security and gave her a badge on a lanyard which she slipped over her head. He escorted her through hallways, up an elevator, and through more security into a lab.
A huddle of men in white lab coats stood around counters filled with scientific instruments.
“This is Dr. Banerjee.” Ling gestured with his right arm toward the men. “Our science team.” He gave a crisp bow and left.
Via a translator, Rainey explained why the company preferred to send someone to draw the blood samples rather than have the company do it themselves. “We add a new solution to the vials and it’s important to get samples from a variety of workers.”
The scientists nodded politely. After a few questions, Rainey set up shop. A series of Chinese and Tibetan workers paraded through, dutifully rolling up their sleeves and assuming stoic faces as she took their vitals and a blood sample. Thankfully, their medical records had already been gathered before her visit, so there was no need for any extended conversations using the interpreter.
She skipped lunch and pressed on, finishing up in mid-afternoon. The workers in the lab had spun the blood and packaged the serum for transport according to her specifications.
Ling arrived and escorted her to a fancy conference room. Rainey put on her game face and spent half an hour exuding to the top brass about the efficiency of the facility and making exaggerated promises about how the drug would extend the stamina of the workforce. The translator kept up a steady stream while men nodded and smiled. At last, they all bowed, and Rainey returned the gesture. She picked up the serum. Ling came forward to escort her back to the hotel.
“Is there any chance I could fly back to Lhasa now?” she asked. “Don’t we have a few hours of daylight left?”
“Our hotel is not to your liking?” he asked.
“It’s quite elegant. Lovely, in fact. I was hoping to get in a little shopping for my family tomorrow before my evening flight.”
Ling eyed her package of serum.
She patted it. “It will be safe with me. No worries.”
“I will check with my superior.”
Ling left Rainey in the lobby under the watchful eye of Mao. He walked a few feet away and took out his cell phone. After a rapid conversation that she could not hear, he returned with a smile. “Your excursion has been approved. A guide has been appointed to take you on your shopping trip. She will know the best bargains.”
“How kind,” Rainey said.
Damn, she thought, another person to give the slip.
In Lhasa, a man arrived late in the night to pick up the serum. Rainey sent him off with her extra clothes and big suitcase. She kept one small bag. In the pre-dawn, she checked out of her hotel, leaving a message at the front desk for her guide that she’d received bad news from home and taken an earlier flight. Control added her name to the passenger manifest, giving her a bit of leeway to make her way through Lhasa and to the nunnery. The Chinese would figure it out soon enough and be after her, so she had no time to dawdle.
In the lobby, an agent snoozed behind yet another newspaper, easy enough to spot. Rainey went into the restaurant, which served a buffet even at this hour. Checking that no one was around, she slipped through the service entrance and stepped out into an alley. There she threw her jacket into the garbage bin, covering it with kitchen waste. She donned a black hoodie and down jacket, shedding her identity as Dr. Joya Banerjee, and headed off.
Rainey caught a bus out of the city into the mountains, reaching the last stop by noon. She stood on the road, like all Tibetans do, waiting for a ride. Within an hour, a car sped up and stopped, letting her and an older man who’d joined her into the back seat. Providence was on her side, because the driver had a heavy foot and knew the twists and turns of the road. No one spoke English and her Tibetan consisted of a few phrases, so after saying hello and expressing her thanks, she sat back and enjoyed the view.
The car spun around the turns, coming within a hair’s width of plunging into the ravine at the edge. Rainey stared down the rocky cliff, looking for wildlife. The driver looked back, surprised she had not cried out. They laughed together. Rainey wasn’t concerned about dying. She’d already done it and been sent back with a job to do. It was unlikely she would get to return to that world of light until she finished it.