Free The Washington Lawyer by Allan Topol Page B

temperature, and sneakers. He grabbed a cup of coffee and a piece of stale bread and headed out to Connecticut Avenue and then into Rock Creek Park.
    It was still dark, with heavy fog covering the area—typical for November in Washington. The trail, filled with leaves, was deserted as he expected it to be. Xiang passed the tree with a large hollow hole in the trunk facing away from the trail which he used as one of the spots for Jasper to drop documents which Xiang later recovered. He continued running. Ten minutes before 5 a.m. he reached the meeting point. No sign of Jasper. Xiang sat down on a tree branch and waited for the senator.
    Xiang recalled what Liu told him about Jasper when he gave Xiang the assignment four months ago. “The senator is extremely powerful as Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and has access to his government’s most sensitive military documents. Jasper is also badly in need of money. He faces a reelection campaign next year, and in American politics, which are so corrupt, money is everything. Besides that, he lost all his savings with a poor investment in a high-tech startup in Colorado. He has an expensive life style operating houses in Washington, Denver, and Aspen, and a mistress to whom he gives costly gifts.”
    Xiang felt nothing but contempt for Jasper, a man who had no control over his own destiny, and for the American political system in which offices went to candidates who had the most money.
    In the thick fog, Xiang saw the senator approaching, precisely at five. Xiang stood up and looked around. No one else was in sight. Despite the cool morning breeze, Xiang noticed that Jasper was perspiring heavily. From tension, he guessed. The senator’s face was also red from the sun. He must have been in a Southern resort.
    â€œWhat happened?” Xiang asked tersely, wanting to get right to the point and wrap up their discussion as soon as possible.
    â€œWhen I met with Liu in Tokyo in my suite in the Okura in July, a young woman on my staff at the Senate Committee on Armed Services overheard our conversation.”
    â€œShe overheard your conversation?” Xiang was incredulous. “How is that possible?
    â€œShe was in the bedroom of the suite. Asleep, I thought. Liu and I met in the living room.”
    You fool, Xiang thought. You stupid, contemptible fool.
    â€œWhat’s the name of the woman?”
    Jasper shifted awkwardly. “Vanessa Boyd.”
    â€œYour lover?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œNow she’s threatening to disclose what she heard?”
    â€œVanessa’s dead. She drowned on the Caribbean island of Anguilla, Sunday night.”
    â€œAnd you were with her at the time?”
    Jasper nodded weakly. “It was late at night. She had a lot to drink. Dumb bitch shouldn’t have gone swimming. She accidentally drowned. I tried to save her.”
    â€œTo your knowledge, did she tell anyone what she heard in Tokyo?”
    Jasper shook his head. “I don’t think so. She didn’t tell me about it until a little while before she went swimming and drowned. I had no idea. I thought she was asleep in the bedroom at the Okura.”
    Xiang realized he was missing a piece. “So what’s the problem? Vanessa’s dead.”
    He was staring at Jasper, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
    â€œShe secretly recorded the Tokyo conversation.” Jasper was speaking softly, barely above a whisper.
    Xiang leaned forward, straining to hear.
    â€œShe made a CD,” Jasper said.
    Xiang was horrified. This was worse than he had ever imagined. Happily, he was not responsible for the problem. Liu should have taken precautions to make certain he and Jasper were alone in the Okura suite and there were no bugs. Liu had been careless, but Xiang couldn’t dare tell that to Liu. He became apprehensive when he realized he would have to report all this to Liu. It could still come back to bite Xiang. Without a