by Terry Toler
“Do you speak English?” I asked her.
She nodded yes.
“Don’t talk in Korean. I don’t want them to understand what we’re saying. Can you do that?”
The girl swallowed hard and took her feet off the bench and put them on the floor. She was small. Black hair. Dark brown eyes. Beautiful features. She was better dressed than most Korean children. Probably came from a higher-class family. It made me wonder what had gotten her into this predicament.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
She didn’t answer but recoiled back in her almost fetal position.
“I saw you steal the satchel,” I said.
Her eyes widened in amazement. “You were there?” she said barely above a whisper. Her lips contorted in puzzlement. I could understand why. At six-foot-four and two-hundred-thirty pounds, I was hard to miss. She probably wondered why she hadn’t seen me there.
“No. But I saw it on a security camera,” I said in a gentle, unassuming tone. I needed to gain her trust.
“Are you really an American spy?” she asked inquisitively, her voice grew stronger as she gained more courage.
“You’re in real danger,” I said, as I scooted closer to her. “There are two Iranians outside who want to kill you and steal the satchel.”
“I know.” The girl looked off in the distance. Her face showed the strain. There was no telling what she’d been through over the last couple of days. This girl had an innocence about her. I was guessing that she didn’t know there were nuclear codes in that satchel when she stole it.
“You and I have a mutual problem,” I said. “As soon as those five guards leave, those Iranians are going to come in here and kill both of us.”
The girl flinched. I don’t think I was telling her anything she didn’t already know.
“That policeman out there can’t protect you,” I said. “But I can.”
“How are you going to do that? You’re in handcuffs. Locked in a cell. Same as me.” The girl held her hands up in the air.
“That’s no problem. I can get out of the handcuffs. But I have to know that I can trust you. I want to help you.”
“How do I know I can trust you?” she asked.
“That’s a fair question,” I answered. “You don’t. But you don’t have a lot of options at the moment.”
“Start by answering my question. Are you an American spy?”
The girl had a sassiness about her.
“Think about it,” I said. “Why else would I be here? I didn’t come to North Korea on a sightseeing expedition. But I need your help.”
“I’m going to be a spy,” she said almost smugly. “I’m supposed to go to spy school when I turn fourteen. My dad got me in.”
I saw her wince when she mentioned her dad. What was that all about? Now wasn’t the time to ask.
“Really!” I said in a surprising tone although I meant for it to be complimentary.
“I’m tougher than I look,” she said, clearly taking offense. “Why should I help you?” Sometimes, I forgot that even young kids were indoctrinated with a hatred for Americans. We saw it in the middle east. Many American soldiers lost their lives when a young child approached, and they let their guards down only to find the kid had a bomb strapped to his chest.
I needed a way to get through to this girl and fast. An idea came to mind. “Do you want your first spy lesson?” I asked.
“Sure,” she said, her demeanor suddenly changing.
I turned my back to her so she could see my handcuffs. “I’m going to teach you how to get out of hand restraints.”
The girl scooted closer to me as I began to move my hands in a circular motion.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“The cuffs have links between the two wrist restraints. I’m twisting them so that they kink up. This is the hardest part.”
“Why are you doing that?”
“When I get the links in the right position, they will actually lock up which tightens the handcuffs but weakens the links. Like this,” I said as the chains suddenly froze up.
The girl was soaking it up like a sponge.
The five guards left. The policeman that brought the girl in left as well. We were there with just the one guard. That meant the Iranians would make their move soon. I needed to hurry. They’d wait a few minutes to make sure the men didn’t come back.
“Watch this,” I said to her. Once the links froze, I gave the cuffs a violent jerk and the chains broke.
“Wow!” she said. “That was awesome!”
I stretched my hands to the ceiling and rotated my shoulders in a circular motion to loosen them up. The cuffs were still around my wrists but at least my hands were free.
“What about me? Can you get me out of mine?” The girl held out her hands. “I don’t have the same ones you did.”
“Stand up,” I said to her, “and put one foot on the bench.”
She did as I said.
“In the future, if someone puts a zip tie on your wrist, flare the bottom of your wrist out, and put your thumbs together, like this.” I looked back over at the guard. He was busy at his desk, oblivious to what we were doing.
“Like this?” she asked.
“No. Put your hands in a fist with your thumbs up.”
She tried it.
“It’s harder to do now because you’re already restrained.” I demonstrated it for her in more detail. “Flare your wrists out. Then when they secure the ties, when you relax your hands the zip tie will not be as tight. Then you can wriggle your hands free.”
“What do I do now since they are already tight?”
“I can take them off for you,” I said.
“No! I want to learn how to do it.”
I liked the girl already. She reminded me of Jamie, my girlfriend back home. Stubborn and independent.
“Bring your hands up over your head. Flare your wrists out as far as you can making the zip tie as taut as possible.”
“I don’t know what you mean by taut. You mean teach. Like you are teaching me.”
“No. Taut.” I spelled it out for her. “Stretched. So, it’s really tight.”
She did it.
“Like this?” she said with a grimace.
“It may hurt a little. Are you sure you don’t want me to break the ties for you?”
“I said I wanted to do it myself.” The girl raised her voice for emphasis.
“Shh,” I said. “Don’t let the guard hear you.”
I stood up so I was next to her.
“Bring your arms down. Really fast.”
She started to do it, but I stopped her. “You want the zip tie to be really tight. So, flare your wrists out. Bring the tie down against your knee. Really hard. Right here. The bony part.” I pointed to the top of her kneecap which was jutting out.
“I’m ready,” she said. The girl moved her back leg to get more leverage. She raised her hands over her head, took one look at me, tightened her lips together and then brought her arms down in one quick motion. The ties slammed against her knee. She let out a yelp. The zip lock gave way, leaving the tie dangling loosely on her wrists.
She let out a squeal of delight.
I was amazed. It had taken me four tries to learn how to do that. She did it on the first one. I nodded my approval.
“What do we do now? she said.
“I have a plan,” I said.
“What is it?”
“You’re not going to like it.”
She frowned and curled her nose, in an obvious show of displeasure. Just like my girlfriend Jamie does, when she’s disgusted with me.
“Here’s my plan,” I said as we huddled close together so I could explain it to her.
20
“I’m not doing that,” Bae said adamantly.
“We have to figure out a way to get the guard into the cell so I can disable him so we can get out of here,” I said.
I was free from my handcuffs and Bae was free fr
om her zip tie, but we were a long way from being out of the woods. Between us and freedom were the bars that locked us in, a North Korean policeman guarding the exit, and the two Iranians outside the police station who were intent on killing us.
Bae was resisting my plan.
“I’m not going to flop around on the floor like a sick monkey,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“You said you wanted to be a spy.” I couldn’t suppress the huge grin on my face. “This is your chance. Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do.”
Bae crossed her arms in front of her in defiance. “Why don’t you do it then? Why does it have to be me?”
“The guard doesn’t care anything about me,” I said. “He won’t open the door if I’m sick. You’re a young girl. From a rich family. He’ll open it for you, and I’m the only one who can disable him.”
“I’m not doing it,” Bae said, pouting her lip.
I guessed she wasn’t going to change her mind. “You are so stubborn!” I said in a whisper so the guard couldn’t hear but with enough emphasis for her to know I was angry.
Time was of the essence, and I was losing patience. We both still sat on the bench and I moved closer to Bae, and crowded her in an attempt to intimidate her. “We’re sitting ducks in this jail cell. If the Iranians make their move, we’re dead.”
“What do I need you for anyway? I’ve done fine on my own.”
“Looks like it,” I said sarcastically. “You got yourself thrown into prison. You have two Iranians right outside the door, itching to kill you.”
“Well . . . From what I can see, you got yourself thrown into prison too. You must not be such a good spy.”
She had a point.
“What’s your plan then?” I asked.
“The guard will protect me,” she retorted.
I laughed out loud. “That guy couldn’t protect a bug from a grasshopper. You don’t know these Iranians. They’re good. And they’re angry with you. They won’t just kill you. They’ll kill your family.”
I saw her wince again. Maybe they had already killed her family. That’s why she was running.
“Look. I may not be able to protect you either,” I said softening my tone. “But I’m the best chance you got.”
Bae stood and put some distance between us. “Tell him you have to go to the bathroom or something if you want to get out of here. I’m staying put.”
I threw my head back in exasperation. The bathroom idea had crossed my mind, but the guard wouldn’t open the door for that. He’d tell me to relieve myself in the corner. I had to think of something else.
Before I could, the argument became moot when the guard suddenly appeared at the door, opened it with a key, and walked inside.
***
Within seconds, we both knew what he wanted.
Evident by the lustful look in his eyes and the creepy grin that showed his rotten, stained teeth, or at least what was left of them. He barely noticed me. I put my hands behind my back so he would think I was still restrained. Bae didn’t think of it because she kept her hands in front of her. The zip tie that was binding her hands a few minutes before was on the floor next to my foot. When the guard wasn’t looking, I made a lame attempt to kick it under the bench.
It didn’t seem to matter to him. He had one thing on his mind. Toothless guy reeked of cigar smoke; and by the looks of his greasy hair, the filthy clothes, the caked on grime under his nails, and the stench that suddenly filled our prison cell, it didn’t seem like he had taken a shower any time recently.
He sat next to Bae who promptly scooted away from him as she contorted her face from the smell of the man. He reached out and touched her cheek with the back of his hand. Gently. Seductively. Like she would like it. Bae’s face twitched and her body tensed. I could see her hand ball into a fist. Don’t do it, Bae, I wanted to say. I’ll take care of him.
“Don’t touch me,” she said, glaring at the man.
He took her arm and jerked her to her feet. Bae tried to resist, but he was too strong. He dragged her across the room toward the door. I wanted to move, but the angle wasn’t right.
“Aren’t you going to do something?” she said to me in English. I was, but I needed to wait until his back was to me. Even if he never turned away from me, I would still have to react. There was no way he was leaving the room with her.
Bae screamed. Fought him with everything she had. He seemed to be enjoying the battle he knew he’d win with his superior height and weight. This wasn’t the first time he’d done something like this and probably liked it when his victims put up a struggle.
Bae needed to quit fighting. She was making things worse. Her petite frame and inexperience made her vulnerable to getting hurt. The greasy man gave her several opportunities that an experienced fighter would’ve taken advantage of that would’ve disabled him. But Bae didn’t have any idea what to do.
She needed to quit fighting for another reason. The policeman’s vile smell was being stirred up from the battle, like a witch’s brew. I almost gagged.
As expected, he started getting the upper hand. Greasy man had hold of her arms. Bae was feisty but was losing the battle. Her legs were braced against the ground. The guard was pulling her, and she was sliding across the concrete floor like she was water skiing. Finally, he let her go, and Bae ran back against the back wall.
He was on her in a second. This time he grabbed her around the waist. Bae let out a shriek and tried to wiggle away, but he was too strong.
His back was to me.
Perfect.
Like a cat, I bolted from my seat. In no time, I had my forearm around his neck. I slammed him backward. A loud crunching sound echoed through the room as his head cracked when it hit the floor, knocking him out immediately. His body convulsed twice and then went limp.
I helped Bae to her feet. She had fallen when I freed her from the man’s grip. She was still shaking. “Are you okay?” I asked. She didn’t respond.
I dusted both of us off in a feeble attempt to get the remnants of the man off of our bodies. The only way I was going to get the smell out of my nose was to get outside which I was anxious to do anyway.
“We have to hurry,” I said as I knelt down next to the policeman. The guard’s gun was in a holster. I checked it for bullets and found it full, so I took it. He had another magazine on his belt. I took that. I started rummaging through his pants.
“What are you looking for?” Bae asked.
“His keys,” I said.
“You mean these?” Bae held up some keys and shook them in the air.
“How did you get those?”
“I took them off his belt when he was sitting next to me.”
“You’re amazing,” I said. “You might make a good spy after all.”
Bae shrugged her shoulders, but a smile formed, clearly moved by the compliment.
I took the keys from her hand and inspected them. One appeared to be to his police cruiser. The key to the handcuffs wasn't on him. I’d have to pick the locks later.
“Let’s go!” I said.
We went into the main office where I looked for another weapon. A Russian-made RPK-74 assault rifle was propped against the wall. It had seen better days. It also didn’t have any ammunition in it. It would have to do. The Iranians wouldn’t know the magazine was empty, and just the sight of it would give them pause.
I went over to the window and peered out, careful not to be seen. The Iranian’s car was still parked in the spot, but they weren’t in the front seat. A wave of panic went through me.
They were in the back with the trunk opened, clearly preparing to make a move. The guard had come into our cell in just the nick of time. Saved his life as well. For now, he just had a bad concussion. Had he waited a couple of minutes later, the Iranians would’ve been inside, and we’d all been dead.
Them behind the car was another stroke of luck. We might be able to get to the police cruiser without being seen. If they didn’t see us
, they might not follow the vehicle when it pulled away. They wouldn’t have any reason to believe we were the ones in it.
Bae had the satchel on her back. I nodded in agreement.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” I said. “I’m going to open the door slowly. You go first. I’ll follow you. Go to the driver’s side and get in the back seat. Stay down. Don’t let them see you.”
I examined Bae’s eyes closely for any sign of fear. None was evident more than could be expected under the circumstances. She raised an eyebrow confidently, then pursed her lips in determination.
I gave her one last instruction. “If the keys don’t work for whatever reason, you take off running. Toward the woods. Don’t look back. I’ll hold them off. Whatever you do, don’t let them have the satchel. Destroy it.”
I opened the door slightly, and she slivered through it without hesitation.
The cruiser was two spaces down from the front of the building. Bae was in the car in a flash. I followed shortly after she was safely in. The Iranians didn’t see her but saw me. I heard one of them yell and point in my direction. They came out from behind the back of the car and pulled their guns and started toward us. I waved the RPK-74 in the air, and the Iranians jumped back behind the protection of their car.
The police cruiser was unlocked, thankfully, so I opened the door and jumped into the driver’s seat. I put the key in the ignition and prayed for it to start. When it did, I quickly put it in reverse, pulled out of the space, and sped down the road. I didn’t know the roads, so I didn’t know where we were going. All I knew was that we were headed south.
The lab was south.
It didn’t matter. The lab would have to wait. I had to put it and Pok out of my mind for the moment.
The Iranians would have to be dealt with first. They settled in behind us as we drove down the road to a confrontation that was soon coming. I needed a plan, and I needed it quickly.
21
“You did good back there,” I said to Bae after she finally told me her name. “You’re going to make a good spy.”
“Thank you,” she said as she smiled broadly. “So, did you. You knocked that guy out with one move. That was amazing!”