He hadn't been to the U.S. in a awhile. The last time was a couple of years ago, and he'd posed as an agricultural secretary. His wallet had been stolen on the Washington subway -- that was embarassing. Some spy. He'd kept that incident to himself.

His feet began to sweat and he decided to go straight to the drop-off point. Climbing into a cab, he recited a Georgetown address in a heavy Mandarin accent.

His orders -- straight from a senior Party official -- were to hand the money over and catch the first plane back to Beijing. No sense hanging around. The Party was nervous. The American FBI had been warning Congress members about Chinese attempts to influence the elections. No word yet whether they were onto the efforts to get to the President. Extra caution was required.

His role ended with the drop-off, but he knew what would happen next. The man renting the Georgtown townhouse was a naturalized American citizen, originally from Canton. The Cantonese would deposit the money in small bits into several bank accounts. A week or two later he would write a check to the DNC for $50,000.

Next, the Cantonese would be invited to the White House for coffee with the President: That had been previously arranged with the DNC. The Cantonese already had been supplied with a list of Chinese businessmen he was supposed to bring along to the presidential meeting.... How amenable the President proved to be to China's concerns would determine whether more checks to the DNC would be written or not...