by Terry Toler
“Perhaps I should call him and let him know you are on your way,” the manager said as he picked up the phone.
Jamie held out her hand to stop him.
“Don’t do that. Let it be a surprise.”
“As you wish.” The manager turned and walked back through the door he had come from.
Jamie walked to the elevators.
Alex is going to be really surprised!
37
Bae and I had a complicated relationship. She was a pain in the neck sometimes, and it jeopardized my mission having to watch out for her. Nonetheless, she had become like a little sister to me. That’s why I couldn’t turn her into the US Embassy once we crossed the DMZ safely. What I was going to do with her, I hadn’t a clue, which was why I brought her back to the hotel with me until I could sort things out.
The only thing Bae had to her name were the clothes on her back and the satchel, so we stopped at the gift shop downstairs and bought her a couple of tee shirts and shorts. When we got back to the room I said, “I’m starving.”
“Why am I not surprised?” she retorted with a wide grin. “You’re always hungry.”
The hotel had four restaurants. Bae could hardly believe there were so many food options. Her family mostly ate rice twice a day with various mixtures of vegetables and sauces. Twice a year they had meat. For her to see a menu with all types of gourmet dishes was culture shock.
Not all the restaurants were open at that hour, and the main restaurant served fancy French cuisine which I didn’t think would appeal to Bae. So, we ordered eggs and assorted pastries from the lounge. The food arrived about forty-five minutes later which gave me a chance to take a shower and change clothes.
We ate our breakfast on the round table in the corner of the room. Her plate was only half eaten, so I finished mine and hers. I wasn’t sure if she just didn’t eat much or was feeling the same sense of uncertainty I was. She must certainly be wondering what was going to happen to her, even though she hadn’t asked. Probably afraid to. The one thing we both knew was that going back to North Korea wasn’t an option. There was a couple back in the states who wanted to adopt an Asian child. They preferred a girl three years old or less. Perhaps I could convince them to adopt a teenager.
The one thing I knew for sure was that I intended to spend the next couple days spoiling her. She already thought she’d died and gone to heaven just being in the hotel—the most luxurious thing she’d ever experienced. My room was a large suite, with a sitting area, desk, and big screen TV. When we first arrived, she plopped on the massive king-sized bed with plush gold, burgundy, and wine comforter and let out a huge “Ahh” . . . clearly impressed.
I took her into the bathroom and showed her the opulent jacuzzi tub and the separate walk-in shower. Both were finished with marble tiles on the floor, in the shower, and on the bathroom counter that had two sinks and a large mirror. She described her house and it didn’t sound much bigger than my entire suite.
After we had eaten, Bae said, “I’m going to take a shower.”
“You should. You stink,” I joked.
In typical Bae fashion, she stuck her tongue out at me. There were two sides to Bae. The warrior who smashed the head of the soldier who carried an assault rifle, essentially saving our skin, and the young girl who was still a kid just about to cross over the line into puberty and then start her journey to womanhood. I was fond of both of those girls.
I heard a squeal come from the bathroom. The shower had four different jet settings. I could hear them pulsating. The door to the bathroom was still open, so I went in to show Bae how to use them. I found her stroking the towels like a girl would pet a long-haired cat. Her mouth was agape and her eyes wide as a tea-cup saucer.
I let out a satisfied chuckle and said, “Enjoy!” and closed the door behind me.
My computer was open on the desk, and this was a good opportunity for me to do some CIA business outside Bae’s nosy presence. I still needed to do several things. When we first arrived back at the hotel, I downloaded the nuclear codes and emailed them to Brad through the CIA secured system. Once Kryptonite was back on-line, Brad obviously knew that I was alive and back in the action as well. He’d be extremely surprised to see the codes, and the whole mission might come into focus for him.
Even so, I needed to call and explain things . . . and soon. But I wasn’t ready yet. The conversation still hadn’t formulated in my mind.
Another call I needed to make was to Jamie. I pulled up the email that Jamie and I shared, and in the draft box was a message from her.
R U Okay?
That caused me to wince. Jamie obviously knew I had encountered some trouble. When I went missing, Brad probably called her and told her as much. He wouldn’t have given her the details since she wasn’t authorized to know about the mission. Brad was a stickler for operational security. Plus, he didn’t have many details to tell her, anyway.
Jamie was probably worried sick about me. I answered her draft to ease her mind.
I’m fine. Tough mission. But safe now. Miss you. Can’t wait to see you. Love.
I saved the draft and closed the email.
I did miss Jamie. On this trip, I’d had a lot of time to think about her. About us. The thoughts always led to one conclusion―I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. My dad always said not to marry the woman you love. Marry the woman you can’t live without. Feelings come and go, he said. A woman who you must have in your life was the kind of woman you can make a real and lasting commitment to. The feeling of wanting to always have her around, would likely never go away. That’s real love, he advised.
That’s how I felt about Jamie. She was the first thing I thought of when I woke up in the morning and the last thing I thought about when I went to bed at night. When I got back home, I would ask her to marry me. The certainty of the decision had crystallized in my mind. My heart warmed as I thought about it. A sudden yearning to see her came over me. My phone was right next to the computer. I picked it up and considered calling her. It would be late at night back home, so I hesitated.
Before I could decide, something stopped me.
A noise. Faint. Almost imperceptible. Unusual.
As an operative, I was trained to tell the difference between normal footsteps and stealth shuffling of feet.
Who was it?
My mind started racing along with my heart.
I listened carefully, and barely let out a breath. My gun was on the other side of the room. That was careless of me. A mistake I didn’t normally make. It never occurred to me that there might be any threats at the hotel.
When I didn’t hear anything else, I decided that I had imagined it. Bae’s shower was still running, and maybe that’s what I heard. She probably made a noise in the shower.
Then I heard it again. Right in front of the door.
A loud knock pierced the silence and startled me. I jumped out of my seat and lunged for the gun. My heart beat wildly. My mind couldn’t perceive a threat. Why would someone knock on my door at six thirty in the morning?
We’d already had our room service. It was too early for maid service.
The Iranians?
Could they have tracked me to the hotel? Did North Korea have this far a reach? I was kicking myself for not taking more precautions. I hadn’t even checked to see if we were being surveilled. I assumed we weren’t.
The gun had a round chambered. I crept over to the door, careful not to make my own sound. That was a risky move on my part. If someone was there to kill me, they could hear a sound and shoot a bullet through the door, chest high, and end my life. That was a move I used once at a hotel in Turkey. Killed a terrorist before he knew what hit him.
Of course, I could shoot a bullet through the door as well. If there was an assailant on the other side of the door, I could take him out before he could even react. But I couldn’t do that without a visual. It could be someone who was at the wrong room.
So, I didn’t do anyth
ing rash. I kept the gun by my side. This was a five-star hotel with security cameras in the hallway. More than likely, I’d overreacted. No operative in his right mind, would try something under these circumstances.
With my body turned to the side, I strained to look out the peephole.
Jamie.
What the heck is she doing here?
She didn’t look happy. Her forehead was furrowed into a serious look. Confirmation came when she banged on the door a second time. It was early in the morning, and she didn’t seem at all worried about waking up the guests in the adjacent rooms. When she talked to Brad, she must’ve gotten concerned and flew to South Korea.
That’s so nice of her. But . . . she should’ve called first.
“Open up, Alex,” she said in a loud and harsh voice. “I know you’re in there.”
What’s wrong with her? She sounded mad.
The security latch was in place, which was a habit as second nature as breathing. At least I had taken that precaution. I unlocked it. I tucked the gun in the back of my pants and opened the door slowly.
Jamie burst through it. I reached out to hug her, but she shouldered me away roughly and walked directly into the bedroom of the suite. She looked under the bed and opened the closet doors.
I wasn’t sure what to say, so I didn’t say anything. I just closed the door, latched it, and then followed her.
“Where is the girl?” Jamie asked roughly. Her jaw was tense, every muscle in her body taut. Her eyes were firm and resolute. Cold. But on fire like burning coals, which was a contradiction, but I had seen eyes like that before. In crazy people.
“Who are you talking about?” I asked.
“Don’t play coy with me, Alex Halee! You know who I’m talking about.”
I actually didn’t. There was no way Jamie could know about Bae. I had no idea what had set her off like this.
“The woman,” she said. Tears welled up in her eyes.
“Honey. I have no idea what you’re talking about. What woman?”
My heart was beating faster than at any time on this mission. Which was saying a lot considering everything I’d been through and the threats I’d confronted.
“I know you have a girl in here,” she said. “Do I hear the shower running?”
It suddenly occurred to me that maybe she was talking about Bae. “Yes, I do have a girl in the room,” I said casually. “She’s taking a shower.”
I suddenly realized how that sounded. Jamie started at me with her fists raised like she was going to hit me, but she didn’t. Instead, her head just fell into my chest.
“How could you, Alex?” she said. “I thought we had a good thing going. I thought you loved me.”
The whole thing suddenly seemed funny to me, and I wanted to laugh, but that would be the wrong thing to do when Jamie was this mad.
“I do love you,” I said with as much sweetness as I could muster.
Jamie kicked me in the shin. Not as hard as she could have, but enough that it stung.
“No, you don’t. If you loved me, you wouldn’t cheat on me!”
That made me mad. The kick hurt. Now she was accusing me of something I didn’t do without even asking me about it. She’d owe me a big apology when she learned that the girl was thirteen-years old. Jamie headed for the door to leave and got as far as to unlatch and open it.
“Have you lost your mind?” I said, as I slammed it shut, anger rose in me to the point where it matched her intensity.
My shin throbbed from the kick.
“What’s all the racket out here?” Bae said as the door to the bathroom burst opened and she emerged, wearing only a towel wrapped around her body. Her hair was still dripping wet. I could see soap on the side of her face.
A sour expression came over Jamie as her lips pursed.
“How old are you?” Jamie said sharply.
“I’m thirteen. But I’ll be fourteen tomorrow,” Bae said with just as much attitude.
That caused me to smile. Watching the two of them go at it would be fun. Then something Bae said hit me. I didn’t know that tomorrow was her birthday. A thought came to me out of the blue. I knew exactly what I was going to get her for a present.
“You’re disgusting, Alex,” Jamie said, obviously getting the wrong impression. “I risk my life saving girls like her.” Jamie was a CIA operative specializing in rescuing girls from the sex trade. She clearly thought Bae was one of those girls. For whatever reason, it made me want to laugh, but I choked it back.
Jamie said to Bae in a stern motherly voice, “Get dressed. You’re coming with me.”
When she said that I couldn’t help myself and burst out laughing.
“Is this funny to you?” Jamie said.
“What’s going on?” Bae asked.
I pointed my finger at Jamie and said, “Bae, this is my girlfriend, Jamie.”
Bae’s expression of confusion turned to a smile as fast as it would take to flip a dime over. She walked toward Jamie with her hand outstretched and said, “Jamie . . . It’s so nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”
I couldn’t stop laughing. By this time, I was doubled over, my hands on my knees.
Jamie stared at me with an enigmatic frown. If looks could kill, I’d be dead five times over.
I laughed so hard tears came to my eyes as the tension of the mission was finally unleashed in that one moment. Bae started laughing too, although I was sure she had no idea what she was laughing about.
Jamie forced a smile onto her face.
“Why are we laughing?” Bae asked.
“Go back and finish your shower,” I said to her. “I’ll explain later.”
Bae turned and walked back into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
From the look of relief on Jamie’s face, it was clear that she had started to figure things out. Her cheeks blushed, and she looked down and away, embarrassed.
I took her in my arms and squeezed tightly.
I took Jamie’s hand and led her over to the bed where we sat down on the edge. “Her name is Bae. She’s from North Korea,” I said soberly.
“What is she doing here and why did you go to North Korea?”
“That’s a long story,” I said as I shifted positions in the bed to face Jamie more directly. I took her hand and held it.
Jamie took her hand out of mine and crossed her arms, clearly still distressed, “Take all the time you need.”
“I found Pok’s cyber lab,” I said, after I rolled my eyes for emphasis, so she knew I thought she was acting like a fool. Then I continued. “Pok stole Pakistan’s nuclear codes and sold them to the Iranians. Bae stole a satchel that contained the codes.” I pointed to Bae’s satchel sitting on the couch.
Jamie nodded her head. I didn’t know what she knew, but I could see by her expression that some pieces were coming together in her mind.
“I had a run in with two Iranians at the airport,” Jamie said. “They were looking for you.”
I was afraid to ask what happened to them. If they had a run in with Jamie, they were probably dead. That would complicate things if she killed them at the airport. More importantly, I wondered how Jamie knew they were looking for me. We’d get to that. I’d tell her my story first.
I lowered my voice to just above a whisper and leaned in closer to Jamie. “Bae’s parents were killed by two Iranians. They were going to kill her, but I rescued her. I didn’t know what to do, so I brought her back here. As far as I know, they may still be looking for her. Sounds like they are if there were two Iranians at the airport.”
“Those two are dead,” Jamie matter-of-factly like she said she did the laundry today.
“Honey, I would never cheat on you,” I said sincerely. “I love you.”
I held out my arms, wrapped them around her, and pulled her to my chest, and she relaxed her body language and didn’t resist.
“I was worried about you,” she said, pulling away and then hitting me playfully on the arm.
“I was worried about myself,” I said.
The bathroom door opened, and Bae came out dressed in her new clothes which fit her perfectly. Jamie and I suddenly moved apart as though we’d done something wrong. Bae had a bounce her step. The shower must’ve invigorated her. Or else she enjoyed the opulent life. She plopped down on the bed right next to Jamie.
“I heard all the yelling,” Bae said, talking faster than a mile a minute. “I thought I was going to have to save your life again.” Bae said it looking at me with a huge grin on her face, her chin up, and her chest out in pride.
Jamie looked at me with her nose crinkled, and her eyes narrowed in more confusion. “You saved Alex’s life?” Jamie asked.
“I did,” Bae said.
Jamie looked at me and I shrugged my shoulders. “Like I said, it’s a long story.”
“This I got to hear,” Jamie said, her body turned so she faced Bae. She touched Bae’s hand. “Tell me everything.”
Bae was a handful to deal with. Jamie could be next to impossible sometimes. I had a feeling that both of them together was going to make for an awfully long day.
38
Wonsan Kalma International Airport
North Korea
The Iranian Ambassador to North Korea, Hamid Ahmadi, stood outside the baggage claim area of the airport for several hours. The two Iranian fighters sent to North Korea to hunt down and kill the American spy and the girl who stole the satchel filled with nuclear codes, inexplicably, did not arrive on their scheduled flight from South Korea. He confirmed that the flight had landed, and the passengers deplaned a long time ago.
The two men’s cell phones were turned off, and they had simply vanished in the same manner as the two men who were sent before them. At first, Hamid chose not to worry. There were several reasonable explanations. They might’ve missed their flight. Perhaps they arrived in North Korea and went to the wrong meeting point. Maybe they came in on a different flight.
After he talked to the airlines, he was beyond worry and had crossed over the line into full-blown panic. The men left Tehran on time. They made a connection in Frankfurt on a flight to Seoul, South Korea. The flight arrived on time. That’s when things got sketchy.