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“Here is what you tell him,” the oracle said

Thirty minutes later, the Dalai Lama nodded and smiled at the oracle

“I will have ument,” he said, “and thank you”

Rising from the chair, the oracle walked unsteadily from the room

LANGSTON Overholt was using a borrowed office in a far corner of the co on a secure line to the director of Central Intelligence in hushed tones

“I didn’t order that,” he said “I simply don’t have the apparatus in China to pull it off”

“The estiround place the nu,” the DCI noted

“I’ll ask the contractor,” Overholt said, “but it may just be a lucky break”

“Whatever the case,” the DCI said, “reports say the Chinese are paying close attention to the protests”

“What about the Mongolians?” Overholt asked

“I had a secretwith their ambassador,” the DCI said “They’ll play it either way”

“What did that cost?” Overholt asked

“Don’t ask,” the DCI said, “but suffice it to say the United States’ strategic reserves of tungsten andfor some time”

“That gives us choices for the contractor to offer to the Russians,” Overholt said

“As soon as he meets with them, I need to knohat they have decided,” the DCI told him