Inside the embassy

[Jacques]

Jacques and the rest of his entourage were shown to the board room where some of the Chinese soldiers already waited. The ambassador was still in residence, but a meeting between himself and Jacques had never been the goal of the visit. Jacques would get what he could from the Chinese, but had little interest in working through an intermediary that would be fleeing the country. He would continue to work through those he had spoken to remotely; those ones were in a better position to do what was needed, while the Ambassador could do little but offer empty promises of wasted time.

He would speak with each man individually. He had memorized a few key phrases but Chinese was not a language he was fluent in, relying instead on English, which, luckily, was a common tongue in the modern age. While they were not necessarily fluent, the soldiers knew enough English that they could struggle through.

Within minutes of his meeting with them, the men had relaxed. Laughter could be heard, as they shared stories with Jacques of the past few days, or of their time in Sierra Leone. They gave up nothing that could be considered secret or dangerous, but even then there was plenty to be shared. Questions of the battle at Jeddah, of others the Legion had been present for in Africa. Jacques would have little difficulty buying Reed the time she would need.