by David Archer
“Who did you contact?” Noah asked. “I want the name.”
“It was a guy who works for that fight promoter, Pak,” Randy said. “His name was Lom, but that’s all I know.” He finally looked up at Noah. “This isn’t what you think, Noah. It wasn’t for money or anything like that. Somebody knows who I used to be, and they’ve got my little sisters. If I don’t do what they want, they’ll kill them.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?” Jenny asked him. “We could have handled this without you becoming a traitor, Randy. I woulda helped you, you know that. I woulda killed the bastards for you!”
“They said if I told you or anyone else, they’d know and kill Cindy and Meri. The girls are all my mother has, now, since they all think I’m dead. What else was I supposed to do?”
Jenny almost got to him, but Noah caught her in time. “Randy, you’re going back to the states with these agents,” he said, “and you’re going to tell our people everything you know about this person. Jenny, you’re going to escort him back and see that Allison gets him, while my team goes back to Thailand. If Lom works for Pak, I’ll find him.”
“Okay,” Jenny said. “And, Randy, for what it’s worth, the person controlling you is a CIA mole. When we find out who it is, I promise you I’m going to beg for the mission to kill him.” She turned to Dave Lange. “You and Jim keep him covered. I don’t want him getting away or making any fuss. If he tries to draw attention, kill him.”
Dave swallowed hard, but nodded. “Yes, Ma’am,” he said.
“Time for our ride pretty soon,” Noah said. “Everyone get a drink or something to eat if you need it, because we don’t know when we’ll get another chance. We’re taking the weapons with us, just in case we need them. Marco, you keep an eye on Randy as well. Soon as everyone is ready, let’s go upstairs and wait for the truck.”
They didn’t have to wait long. It showed up, running without headlights, less than five minutes after they got upstairs again, and Noah hustled everyone out the door and into it as fast as he could.
The driver stopped him just before he climbed in with them. “You have too many? More people?”
Noah nodded. “Yes. The captured agents, we were able to rescue them.” The man smiled and clapped Noah on the shoulder. “Good job, good job,” he said. “I tell your people in Seoul! Get in, get in, we go!”
The truck pulled out quickly with its lights off, and Noah saw that the driver was wearing night vision gear. They went a couple of miles, and then the driver stopped, took off the starlight goggles and turned on the headlights before going again.
The drive lasted more than two hours, and one of the men explained to Noah that they had gone around the western edge of the city completely. They were now about four miles southwest of Pyongyang, but word would be sent to the driver of the truck they had ridden in on to pick them up in a new location.
They were dropped at an abandoned building that sat about 200 yards off the main paved road for the area. Noah posted Marco and Dave on watch, with Jim keeping the suppressor-equipped pistol aimed at Song’s head, while the rest of them sat down against the walls and tried to get some sleep.
Three hours later, Noah woke and relieved Jim, then woke Neil and Jenny to take over guard duty. The sun was just beginning to create a glow over the eastern horizon by that time, and a few of the others were stirring.
Dale came and sat beside Noah, holding out a small radio receiver. “Snagged this from Soo Mi’s gear, and I’ve been following what’s going on back in Pyongyang,” she said. “The Ministry of State Security is all over this thing, and they’re screaming like mad over Colonel Song being missing. They’ve got roadblocks set up all over the place this morning, so I don’t know what’s going to happen. We may never get out of here.”
“Don’t give up hope,” Noah said. “Any idea when the truck is supposed to pick us up?”
“Because she called it in the way she did, it set off an emergency extraction program. The truck should pick us up here at a little after eight, about an hour from now. After that, we should meet the sub at about ten-thirty, so that leaves plenty of time for us to get there. The only question is whether State Security is gonna be stopping trucks out on the farms.”
“That’s why I brought the weapons,” Noah said. “It’s very important we get all of you people back to American soil.”
The truck showed up on schedule and they climbed into it quickly. As soon as the side door was closed, it moved out again. It stopped several times on its journey, and each time Noah and the others prepared themselves for a gunfight, but each time the truck moved on again without the doors being opened.
The ride was slow and long, taking almost two hours. The abandoned building had been quite some distance off the normal route of the truck, but the drivers would be able to claim the roadblocks had caused their tardiness. It was just after ten when it stopped once more, and the side door popped open.
“Hurry, hurry, out,” the driver’s helper said, and they rushed out of the truck and over the bank. They were right back where they had been dropped the morning before, and settled in to wait for the last leg of the trip.
An hour later, there had been no sign of the submarine. Dale’s radio had not indicated that it had run into any problems, but when it didn’t show up by noon, Noah began to consider other options.
“How far are we up the coast?” he asked.
“About eight miles,” Dale said, “but if you’re thinking of trying to hike out, you better think again. The closer you get to the border, the more intense the patrols will become. Up till now, there hasn’t been any sign that the government here is aware of our little submarine, but that’s because it swings out so wide. If we tried to operate it anywhere near the border, we’d have been found out long ago.”
“I’m beginning to wonder if it hasn’t been,” Noah said. “It’s well over an hour late…”
Neil, who was sitting beside him, suddenly tapped him on the shoulder and pointed out to sea. Noah turned and looked, and saw what looked like a dark bump on the surface of the water, and the hatch popped open as he watched. He turned back to Dale and shrugged. “Okay, so maybe the traffic was bad.”
Nobody laughed.
THIRTEEN
Five days, Sarah thought as she rolled out of bed. How much longer before Chung’s superiors decide he’s not doing his job? Oh, God, Noah, where are you? She looked out the window that was beside the bed, and noticed the guard standing a dozen feet away. The sun was just rising. There was always a guard there, no matter what time of day or night she looked out; there was always one guard on duty on each side of the house.
She went into the bathroom and took a quick shower, then put on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. The air had been a little cool the night before, and it wasn’t feeling much warmer even with the sun up and shining. She slid her feet into the sandals and sat down in the chair that faced the TV, then used the remote to turn it on.
She had tried watching the news channels at first, but there was nothing going on that she thought was connected to her situation. She’d never been one to watch a lot of regular television, but she’d come across a BBC channel full of old variety shows, and found them entertaining. The one that was on at the moment was an old Benny Hill show, and she managed a few chuckles at some of his ribald jokes.
The knock she was waiting for came just a few minutes later, and she turned off the TV as she got up and went to open the door. Chung stood there, dressed more casually than he had been the day before.
“Are you ready for breakfast?” he asked, and she automatically put her hand in the elbow he extended. They walked together to the dining room, and she was surprised to see a more American-style breakfast this time. Scrambled eggs, bacon and waffles were waiting as Chung held her chair for her to sit, and she smiled when she saw a bottle of genuine maple syrup. “I thought you might like a taste of home,” Chung said.
“I’m delighted,” she said. “Is all th
is stuff readily available in China?”
Chung laughed, and it was an infectious sound that put a smile on Sarah’s face. “I confess that I had to do some searching to find the syrup, but everything else was easy to locate. In China, waffles are usually topped by fruit, but I tried them the American way once and found it not unpalatable.”
Sarah chuckled at that, and put a big scoop of eggs onto her plate, then took several strips of bacon. She bit into one and moaned with pleasure. “That is some good bacon,” she said. “If you ever decide you want a girlfriend, be sure to feed her some of this bacon.”
“Perhaps I’m already trying that technique,” he said, winking at her. “From the look on your face, it might be working.”
Sarah rolled her eyes, but the smile remained in place. “Sorry, Chung, you already know I’m taken. You’ll have to try your ploy on some other unsuspecting girl.”
Chung’s flirtations, she had concluded, were all part of his methodology. He was trying to win her trust, trying to break through her loyalty to the organization so that she might consider the possibility of betraying them. She had little doubt that he would happily become her lover, but it would last only as long as it took to get the last bit of information out of her. She wasn’t about to risk letting him get that close.
Sarah wasn’t particularly what someone might consider a patriot. She did feel a loyalty to her country; it was simply overshadowed by her loyalty to Noah and Allison. Allison had given her a new life when her old one was about to become even worse than it had already been, and Noah had given her a reason to live. Between the two, she had everything she thought she could need, and wasn’t willing to risk losing either.
“How would you feel,” Chung asked her, “about taking a trip into the city today? We would of course be under guard the whole time, but I thought you might enjoy seeing Hong Kong, perhaps even doing some shopping while we’re there.”
Sarah looked at him for a moment, her smile fading slightly. “Do we have to? Look, we both know this isn’t going to last long, and someone is going to start using some pretty unpleasant tricks to try to get information out of me. Right now, I can put a lot of that out of my mind, but if we start doing things like taking trips into the city, things that are supposed to wear down my resistance and make me think about switching loyalties, then it’s all going to go sour in a hurry.”
For a brief second, Sarah thought she saw coldness in his expression, but then he smiled sadly. “We don’t have to go,” he said. “It was merely something I thought you might enjoy. Believe me when I tell you that I have no problem simply enjoying your company here.”
“Good,” Sarah said, letting her smile return. “We can keep playing twenty questions, as long as you remember that I may refuse to answer some of them. It was actually sort of fun, yesterday.”
“As it was for me. I learned very little, I confess, but the tiny details I was able to glean made me smile. For instance,” he said, leaning back in his chair, “you told me very little about your childhood, but I was able to—how do you say it? I could read between the lines, yes—and so I learned that you were raised by your father, whom you love but do not necessarily like. Am I correct?”
Sarah narrowed her eyes and looked at him. “Pretty much,” she said. “I don’t remember even mentioning my father. How could you have gotten all that?”
“Ah, but you did. Twice, you said, ‘me and my dad,’ which implies that your mother was not present. There was also a small expression of displeasure that appeared on your face when you said it, even though there was fondness in your voice. Therefore your father raised you, and even though you love him, there is some resentment.”
Damn, Sarah thought, I’ve got to be more careful what I let slip. He can learn as much from the things I don’t say as from the things I do.
“That’s pretty amazing,” she said aloud. “What else did you learn yesterday?”
“Not as much as I had hoped,” he said with a laugh. “Let me see; I learned that the unpleasantness in your life as you were growing up helped you to accept the opportunity to do what you do now. You are not personally a killer, but you accept the role your employer plays in the world because it helps to keep your country safe, and in some way makes the world a better place.”
Sarah shoved another bite of eggs into her mouth. “Okay,” she said after she swallowed, “I’ll concede both of those points. But do you know what that tells me?”
“It tells you that you hope to be more careful in the future,” Chung said, chuckling. “And yet it was you who suggested we play twenty questions again today.”
“Oh, we can play,” Sarah said, chuckling. “But I think I’m going to start throwing some false information into my answers. Think you can spot when I’m fibbing?”
Chung smiled, showing his teeth, and a chill went down Sarah’s spine. “Oh, I believe so,” he said.
They finished breakfast and walked out into the courtyard. The air was cool, but the sun felt good on Sarah’s face. She let him lead her to the bench they had sat on before.
“Well, I guess we might as well get started,” she said. “First question?”
Chung looked at her for a moment, a half-smile on his face. “Sarah,” he said, “I have not been entirely truthful with you. Please understand that if I mislead you, it is only because it is part of my job.”
She gave him a humorous sneer. “What, you thought I didn’t know that? I’m not that dumb.”
He let his smile grow a bit. “Very well. I had told you that my government was trying to confirm the existence of the organization you work for, E & E. In truth, we have known about that agency for some time, but there are some details that have eluded us. One of those details involves the particular assassin that you work with. The one who was given the code name of Camelot.”
“Who? Camel pot? Don’t know who you mean.”
Chung burst out laughing. “Oh, my goodness,” he said, “you are so entertaining. As I told you before, I have heard a recording that was made in which you warned one of your captors that he should be afraid of Camelot. We already know that you are his driver, but perhaps I should tell you why we are so interested in him. Will you listen?”
“I’ll listen to anything you got to say,” Sarah said politely, “but that doesn’t mean I’ll tell you anything.”
Chung bowed his head in acknowledgment. “There was a time, not long ago, when certain important people in my government were being manipulated, forced to cooperate with foreign agents under threat of having an embarrassing or threatening bit of information revealed.”
“Blackmail,” Sarah said. “Okay, go on.”
“Yes, blackmail, as you say. This was the work of a single individual, one of the most evil men of whom I have ever heard. He was a former Russian agent, named…”
“Nicolaich Andropov,” Sarah said. Her face had gone blank, but her eyes held something that caused Chung to look at her differently for a moment.
“Indeed,” he said. “Andropov was manipulating high-ranking officials in many countries, and we believe his goal was to completely disrupt international relations between the East and the West. My government and others had spent massive amounts of money and resources trying to eliminate this man, but he always seemed untouchable.”
“He thought he was,” Sarah said. She looked into Chung’s eyes but said nothing more.
“A year and a half ago, Andropov was disavowed by the Russian government. This was because of a situation that arose involving the kidnapping and rescue of the daughter of the Mauritanian president. We were able to learn that Andropov's plans were thwarted by an American assassin who killed a number of Russian officials who were also involved in criminal operations. These killings, we were told, were part of a plan to draw Andropov out, because he had abducted a young woman who worked with that assassin.”
Sarah continued to stare into his eyes, but did not speak.
“There was a confrontation between Andropov and the
assassin, but it apparently went badly. Andropov escaped, and this led to a gun battle in the streets of Moscow. After that, Andropov was not seen again, but it came to the attention of certain sources we have in Russia that the assassin who confronted him was known only as Camelot. Because this Camelot had done a great deal of damage to the Russian government in his quest to recover that young woman, we became concerned about whether he might be deployed against any of our own officials. Locating and identifying Camelot became a priority of Chinese intelligence operations, and it was because of those efforts that we learned of the death of Nicolaich Andropov sometime later, in the United States.” He cocked his head to the right and looked closely at Sarah’s eyes. “Sarah, we know that Andropov had taken you hostage, and I can only imagine what tortures you must have suffered while in his grasp. Under most circumstances, your government would have considered you lost, and no attempt would be made to rescue an agent in that position.”
Silently, Sarah turned her eyes toward his. There was something in his expression that spoke of compassion, perhaps even of admiration and respect. “There are a few legends in the intelligence community. Mata Hari, Sidney Riley, Nancy Wake, so many others—and yet, there is one that stands out even though his identity still remains a mystery. While you were captured, while you were actually used as bait to set a trap for Camelot, he chose to walk unarmed into that trap in order to bring you out safely. This makes Camelot an enigma, and this is why my government is so fascinated by him. It appears that he follows no rules other than those he sets for himself, and that frightens many people.”
Chung leaned his head down so that he was looking up at her eyes slightly, then grinned. “The thing that fascinated me the most about that report, however, was not his courage or devotion. It was a final footnote at the bottom of the report. You see, Sarah, according to our intelligence, it was not Camelot, but you who delivered the final, fatal blow that ended Andropov's life.”