looked at.
"I'd appreciate whatever you could do," she said. "I'm sure L. Stephen White will be more than willing to make the request a formal one."
"Never hurts," said O'Donnel, widening his smile. "More coffee? Or would you prefer to go back to the museum?"
Lindsay hesitated, then shrugged. "The museum, please, if Mr. Stone has no more need for me."
"If he does, you'll be the first to know," O'Donnel assured her.
He led her out the door without even looking over his shoulder at the audience he knew watched behind the mirror.
"Hell of a performance," Catlin said.
"Miss Danner?" asked Stone. He shrugged. "The others have a better score than hers on the bronzes."
"I meant O'Donnel. He didn't look at the mirror once. And he acted like he'd never seen a piece of art in his life."
There was a long pause before Stone asked, "Just what makes you think he has?"
"Instinct," Catlin said laconically.
Yi gave Catlin a swift look that Stone couldn't see. Catlin was certain that Yi was thinking about tigers and teasing. But Catlin knew Stone's type of tiger very well. There was a vital difference between teasing and shouldering for position in the coming battle. Catlin had no doubt that a battle was coming. Stone would get one look at Catlin's file and everything loose would hit the fan. Yi would have to fight hard to keep his undomesticated dragon.
Not that Catlin blamed Stone for the coming battle. In Stone's position, Catlin would have done the same. The last thing a company man wanted was a renegade spook poking his nose into an FBI counterintelligence pie.
"Let's decide on an expert," said Stone, drawing a paper from his pocket. "Then we can get together on a plan."
The paper contained a list of the seventeen bronzes down one side. The sheet had been divided into seven columns. In the first was the information that had come with the bronzes from their various museums. Each of the other six columns contained the name of one of the experts who had been tested. The arrangement made it very easy to score each expert against the rest.
Stone took out his pen, finished filling in Lindsay's column and handed the sheet over to Yi. He studied the paper with every evidence of acute interest, holding it so that Catlin could read, as well.
There was agreement on most artifacts. It was easy enough to justify dismissing the "expert" who had overlooked bogus inscriptions. Four other experts had agreed all the way down the line with the museums' assessments. Two of them were people whose names had been added to Yi's original list by the FBI. The other two had had their names crossed out by Stone.
"Why do you dismiss these?" asked Yi. "They performed as well as the people you selected."
"Their backgrounds don't inspire confidence," Stone said flatly. "Ah!"
Calmly Yi drew out a pen and inked through the names of the two people put forward by the FBI. Stone's mouth flattened into a line, but he said nothing. He knew a quid pro quo when one was politely shoved down his throat.
Yi shrugged. "That leaves us with Miss Danner, I believe."
"But she missed two of the bronzes," protested Stone. "The two people you crossed out "
"Overlooked what Miss Danner's more sensitive eye discerned," Yi interrupted, impervious to Stone's objections. "The p'an is indeed Shang. I saw photographs of its twin not two months ago. It was found at a newly excavated Shang site. Very worthy. Very rich."
Yi's cigarette glowed once, then made a flat arc from his fingers to the ashtray.
Expressionlessly Catlin watched the final moves of the mental chess game the two men had been playing since the instant they had been introduced. At this point, Stone was checked. There was no way he could argue that Yi was wrong on the basis of archaeological evidence only Yi had access to. Even as Catlin understood the gambit, he admired Yi's shrewdness. Lie, truth, or half-truth, only Yi knew, for only Yi held the proof.
"What about that incense burner?" challenged Stone.
"I'd appreciate whatever you could do," she said. "I'm sure L. Stephen White will be more than willing to make the request a formal one."
"Never hurts," said O'Donnel, widening his smile. "More coffee? Or would you prefer to go back to the museum?"
Lindsay hesitated, then shrugged. "The museum, please, if Mr. Stone has no more need for me."
"If he does, you'll be the first to know," O'Donnel assured her.
He led her out the door without even looking over his shoulder at the audience he knew watched behind the mirror.
"Hell of a performance," Catlin said.
"Miss Danner?" asked Stone. He shrugged. "The others have a better score than hers on the bronzes."
"I meant O'Donnel. He didn't look at the mirror once. And he acted like he'd never seen a piece of art in his life."
There was a long pause before Stone asked, "Just what makes you think he has?"
"Instinct," Catlin said laconically.
Yi gave Catlin a swift look that Stone couldn't see. Catlin was certain that Yi was thinking about tigers and teasing. But Catlin knew Stone's type of tiger very well. There was a vital difference between teasing and shouldering for position in the coming battle. Catlin had no doubt that a battle was coming. Stone would get one look at Catlin's file and everything loose would hit the fan. Yi would have to fight hard to keep his undomesticated dragon.
Not that Catlin blamed Stone for the coming battle. In Stone's position, Catlin would have done the same. The last thing a company man wanted was a renegade spook poking his nose into an FBI counterintelligence pie.
"Let's decide on an expert," said Stone, drawing a paper from his pocket. "Then we can get together on a plan."
The paper contained a list of the seventeen bronzes down one side. The sheet had been divided into seven columns. In the first was the information that had come with the bronzes from their various museums. Each of the other six columns contained the name of one of the experts who had been tested. The arrangement made it very easy to score each expert against the rest.
Stone took out his pen, finished filling in Lindsay's column and handed the sheet over to Yi. He studied the paper with every evidence of acute interest, holding it so that Catlin could read, as well.
There was agreement on most artifacts. It was easy enough to justify dismissing the "expert" who had overlooked bogus inscriptions. Four other experts had agreed all the way down the line with the museums' assessments. Two of them were people whose names had been added to Yi's original list by the FBI. The other two had had their names crossed out by Stone.
"Why do you dismiss these?" asked Yi. "They performed as well as the people you selected."
"Their backgrounds don't inspire confidence," Stone said flatly. "Ah!"
Calmly Yi drew out a pen and inked through the names of the two people put forward by the FBI. Stone's mouth flattened into a line, but he said nothing. He knew a quid pro quo when one was politely shoved down his throat.
Yi shrugged. "That leaves us with Miss Danner, I believe."
"But she missed two of the bronzes," protested Stone. "The two people you crossed out "
"Overlooked what Miss Danner's more sensitive eye discerned," Yi interrupted, impervious to Stone's objections. "The p'an is indeed Shang. I saw photographs of its twin not two months ago. It was found at a newly excavated Shang site. Very worthy. Very rich."
Yi's cigarette glowed once, then made a flat arc from his fingers to the ashtray.
Expressionlessly Catlin watched the final moves of the mental chess game the two men had been playing since the instant they had been introduced. At this point, Stone was checked. There was no way he could argue that Yi was wrong on the basis of archaeological evidence only Yi had access to. Even as Catlin understood the gambit, he admired Yi's shrewdness. Lie, truth, or half-truth, only Yi knew, for only Yi held the proof.
"What about that incense burner?" challenged Stone.
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