The Armageddon Machine
Page 8
Chapter Seven
Seoul, South Korea
May 28 -- 00:15 UTC/9:15 am local time
David waited in the cream-colored office with Agent Norwalk. The Koreans were already thirty minutes late for their meeting and he was starting to grow impatient. Agent Norwalk appeared unworried and relaxed; David hated him for it. David picked up a framed photograph from the desk--a man who looked to be about fifty stood to one side, and a women of the same apparent age stood on the other; between them was a young man dressed in a graduation gown and cap. In the picture the three of them were smiling.
There was a knock at the door and David replaced the photograph to the desk as three people walked in--one of the newcomers was the man from the photograph (much older now); the other two were a younger man dressed in a nice suit, and a woman who looked to be about thirty years old, with long dark hair that was pulled back in an efficient bun.
“I apologize for keeping you gentlemen waiting,” the older man said, holding out his hand. “I am Commander Choi Junseo.”
Both David and Agent Norwalk stood and shook with the man.
“It’s good to meet you,” Agent Norwalk greeted. “I’m Agent Phil Norwalk, and my associate here is Agent David Diehl.”
The younger Korean man held his own hand out as he introduced himself.
“Sergeant Jung Hyeonjun,” he said.
David and Agent Norwalk took turns the offered hand.
“And this here is Captain Rhee Chan-sook,” Commander Choi said, indicating the woman.
“I prefer the name Violet,” the woman said; she did not offer her hand.
“Violet? As in Violet Dawn?” Agent Norwalk said.
Captain Rhee fixed Agent Norwalk with an unflinching stare.
“My colleagues will attest to my loyalty, Agent Norwalk,” she said. “If you have any doubts, that is.”
“I was just…it was a bad joke,” Agent Norwalk stammered.
She smiled.
“I know,” she said.
“Please, everyone sit,” Commander Choi said.
David and Agent Diehl took their seats again, as Sergeant Jung and Captain Violet Rhee dragged over two more seats from against the wall and also sat down. Commander Choi sat in the leather chair behind the desk.
“Agents Diehl and Norwalk,” Commander Choi spoke, “I take it that you both understand the gravity of the situation we are all in?”
“Yes, we do,” David replied.
Agent Norwalk nodded his concurrence. Commander Choi opened a desk drawer and pulled out a stack of papers, leafing through them with a furrowed brow. He found what he was looking for and passed a single sheet of paper across the desk to the Americans. David grabbed it up and took a look at it; it was a printout of a photo. It looked like it had been taken with a telephoto lens from a great distance, and it showed a tallish, dark-haired man walking towards a car, his eyes hidden behind a pair of reflective sunglasses.
“This image was provided by an intelligence source in China,” Commander Choi explained, “who in turn received it from another source, whose identity the first source either didn’t know, or didn’t care to tell me--same difference in the end.”
David passed the sheet of paper to Agent Norwalk, who took a good look at it.
“Who is he?” Agent Norwalk asked as he placed the sheet of paper on the desk.
“We believe that the man in the photo is an operative who goes by the codename Viper.”
The name rang a bell in David’s head; he thought back to the meeting with Hank Cromwell, and the slide showing a tree of the leadership of Violet Dawn.
“If I recall correctly, Viper is second-in-command of Violet Dawn,” David said.
“That is correct,” Commander Choi said. “He may be second-in-command, but we believe that he is the top man in the field. The leader--Mamba--maintains a more hands-off roll in the organization. Or so we believe.”
“Do you have an ID on Viper?” David asked.
“None.”
“On any other members of Violet Dawn?”
“No, not yet; we hope to learn more in time. We have many oars dipped into the water, and with patience I am certain we will get somewhere.”
Violet Rhee cleared her throat.
“Oh, yes,” Commander Choi said. “We here at the NIS think that it would be best to let both of you gentlemen go out into the field. Given the fact that you are visitors to our country, we feel it would be best for each of you to be partnered with one of our officers, who know the lay of the land. Agent Norwalk, you will be partnered with Sergeant Jung. Agent Diehl, you will have Captain Rhee as your partner.”
David looked at the woman, but she seemed to be making an effort to avoid meeting his eye; not out of shyness, he sensed, but rather out of irritation at having to babysit a foreigner. He could understand the feeling--in her place, he would probably feel the same way.
“Well, gentleman,” Commander Choi said. “Unless there are any questions you would like to ask, you can go. I’m sure Sergeant Jung and Captain Rhee are eager to get on with their day.”
They had no questions. There was the creak of wood and the squeak of leather as they all got out of their seats. David and Agent Norwalk shook hands with Commander Choi again, and followed Jung and Rhee out of the office.
“Agent Norwalk, please follow me,” Sergeant Jung said.
Agent Norwalk gave David a quick nod before turning to follow Jung. David turned to Captain Rhee.
“So, what happens next?” he asked.
“Next, I do my job,” she replied vaguely.
She turned on her heels and walked away from him. David followed after her.