Li made a slow left turn onto a wide street.

“I’m not hanging around here for a few weeks,” I said. “No one gets to change that agreement. I went back and forth on the language for weeks. It’s very precise.” I looked at the line of streetlights down the avenue that led to the big square. They were all on, every one of them. “Visitors? Who are we trying to impress?”

“We have lights on most streets now, except where we need it dark. Things have changed a little.”

“I’ll bet.”

He shrugged. “Have it your way.”

“If I had it my way, I wouldn’t be here right now.”

“Yeah, I know. You’d be sawing a piece of wood. People still talk about you, O.”

“Nice to be remembered, I guess. Nicer to be forgotten.”

We drove across the square; just past the party’s offices, we turned into a narrow street. The car slowed at a guard post long enough for the guard to read the plates and wave us through. More lights, a turn into a long driveway, then down a ramp into an underground garage, very dark.

The car stopped, but Li let it idle. “Let me give you a piece of advice. For a change, maybe you’ll take me seriously.”

“Turn off the motor, will you, before we suffocate.”

“You don’t know what you think you know.” He turned the key and the engine quit with no complaints.

“That’s it? I don’t know what I don’t know? That’s helpful. I can put that in the bank. Maybe I’ll carve it in wood and hang it over my door. I’ll use beech if I can find any. Beech is the most inane wood on the planet.”

“We’re going inside for you to meet a few people. They outrank me.”

“You got rank? I’ll throw a party.”