Chapter 44: The Face of the Seal

Helen Shaw laid the operation sheet in front of Shen Mo. "It contains seventeen separate ways to tell you to wait." Mo read the first page. "Eighteen." Shaw checked over his shoulder. "The line about maintaining perimeter discipline counts twice," he said. "It does now." The temporary command room belonged to Port Security, though Redwood Harbor Police had filled it with maps, evidence photographs, coffee, and people who had stopped pretending they would sleep. Beyond the windows, Pier Nine stood under white floodlights. The condemned cold annex was a dark block at the water's edge. Su watched Mo turn the page. He wore the black jacket Lili had chosen for him. The orange harbor harness was gone. A police camera remained clipped at his chest, sealed there by Ruiz, and his hair had worked loose around his face during the climb. Every camera in the city had caught that face…