The Patriot Threat (Cotton Malone series)

by Steve Berry

The ambassador nodded. “Now you realize the extent of our mutual problem. Regardless of who wins this fight between the Korean brothers, the two of us remain in jeopardy.”

  “The crazy half brother, disgraced and exiled, isn’t as stupid as everyone thought,” Danny said. “That much we now know. We have a saying back in Tennessee, where I come from. Even the blind-eyed biscuit thrower hits the target every once in a while.”

  “And we have a similar wisdom. With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown.”

  A few moments of silence passed between them. Everything about the Chinese ambassador signaled both restraint and concern.

  Finally, she said, “We have our best people in Venice, right now, working on this.”

  “As do the North Koreans.” The ambassador faced Danny. “Please know, Mr. President, that China has no grievance with the United States. We neither started nor wanted this fight. To keep the current stability between our countries is a good thing for us all. But Kim Yong Jin is another matter. He is an unknown. So let us hope we are successful in stopping him.”

  The ambassador stood and bid them good night. Danny did not try to stop him from leaving. Apparently, enough had been said. The front door closed and the parlor returned to its former quiet, the lights still burning low. Edwin Davis had waited outside, his job to return the ambassador to Washington.

  Not until they heard the car drive off did she say, “You do realize that he’s lying.”

  “Of course. China’s after Kim, too. They surely have people over there, ready to move. But they won’t make a move until they have what it is Kim’s after. Beijing can’t, and won’t, let this opportunity pass, no matter how much supposed goodwill exists between us.”

  “Which begs the question, why alert us?”

  “That’s easy. First, he doesn’t want to disrupt the goodwill that really does exist between us. And second, he had to know if it was worth the effort.”

  “Is it real?”

  “Unfortunately this is as real as it gets, but I’m not going to make the same mistake Joe Levy made. Cotton and Luke need to know what they’re up against.”

  “What are we up against?”

  She saw that he understood her inquiry. She wasn’t referring to espionage and some potential assassins. Her question was more specific.

  More American.

  “I’ll tell you,” he said. “But first, make the call to Italy.”

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  ADRIATIC SEA

  MALONE SAT AT A TABLE BESIDE ONE OF THE EXTERIOR WINDOWS, the long dining room crowded, the air reeking of scrambled eggs and bitter coffee. The ferry was more a liner with 300-plus cabins, salons, bars, lounges, even a theater. Room for more than a hundred trucks and cars occupied its lower decks. Outside, the blue Adriatic rolled by as they cruised east toward Croatia, the ride smooth and level. He’d stayed with Howell the whole way, boarding after him, keeping his distance. There were several hundred people on board across the many decks, plenty of places to disappear into, yet Howell had come straight here and filled a plate from the breakfast buffet.

  Not a bad idea, actually. So he’d followed suit, having a bagel, banana, and orange juice. He hadn’t eaten since yesterday afternoon. But that was nothing unusual. Back when he was a full-time agent, he’d go days without eating. The anxiety and stress of fieldwork seemed to clamp his stomach. The same had been true at JAG when he tried cases in court. Thankfully, once the pressure was relieved, his appetite always returned. At the moment, though, things were ratcheting up. He’d found Howell, so the woman with the satchel should not be far behind. In Venice she’d gone one way, Howell the other, the idea surely to throw anyone interested off track. Of course, he doubted if Howell realized that two separate factions—the Justice Department and Treasury—were now interested in him. Yet the ruse had partially worked, as they were here without anyone from Treasury in sight.

  As if on cue the woman with the black Tumi bag entered on the far side, walked over, and sat with Howell.

  They kissed.

  Malone relaxed into the clamor of dishes, silverware, and conversation, eating his breakfast, acting disinterested in anything and everything, his actions no different from those of the hundred or so others around him. The noise, along with the din of the unabated engine became hypnotic and he resisted the urge to close his eyes.

  His phone buzzed.

  The display read UNKNOWN.

  He decided to answer, which also made him no different from a multitude of others engrossed with their own mobile devices.

  It was Stephanie.

  “Your number didn’t appear,” he said.

  “I’m at another location, on a landline.”

  “I have Howell and the documents in sight,” he whispered to her.

  “Tell me,” she said.

  He gave her a quick report.

  “You’re going to have company at some point,” she said.

  He listened as she explained about Kim Yong Jin, a disgraced exile who had once been the next in line to lead North Korea, and his contacts with Howell and Larks. Then she told him about a conversation with the Chinese ambassador.

  “We suspect the Chinese and North Koreans may be after Howell and the documents. How about you secure them both before anything bad happens.”

  “This is turning into something far more than a part-time babysitting assignment.”

  “Don’t worry,” a male voice said. “I’ll make sure she ups your pay.”

  Danny Daniels.

  “Are you two always together?” he asked. “It sure seems that way every time we’re on the phone.”

  Daniels chuckled. “We need you to get those documents back. They’re actually more important than Howell. So if you have to choose—”

  “Let’s hope I don’t have to.”

  “I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have on site,” the president said.

  “Your nephew might take issue with that.”

  “Experience over youth. That’s all.”

  “Were the Chinese behind that money theft?” he whispered.

  “No, that was Kim,” Daniels said. “He didn’t want his half brother getting the money this year. But that cash is no loss to us.”

  His hunch had been right. All of it was related. “Do you want me to use the direct approach or a little finesse to get those documents back?”

  “Your call,” Stephanie said. “But get them, and bring Howell home with you, if you can. You might tell him that the Chinese have far less regard for his physical safety than we do. He’s in their crosshairs. He’ll be a lot safer in a federal penitentiary.”

  “Let’s sweeten the deal,” Daniels said. “Tell Howell he’ll get a presidential pardon if he plays ball with us.”

  “That’s quite a prize,” he said.

  “Cattle go to the slaughterhouse a lot faster when there’s food in the chute.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  He ended the call and went back to eating his breakfast. The ferry provided free WiFi, so he connected and used his smartphone’s browser to gather more about Kim Yong Jin, keeping one eye on Howell and the woman.

  The name was familiar, but he could recall few details. He read that Kim was now fifty-eight. From an old article he learned that when Kim had been caught trying to gain illegal entry into Japan he’d chosen an odd identity, passing himself off as a Dominican friar named Pang Xiong. Fat Bear. Which seemed to fit Kim physically. Every online image showed that weight had always been a problem. There were two other brothers. The current Dear Leader, who was the youngest. And a middle brother, never in serious contention for anything as their father had considered him too feminine to lead. Kim remained a North Korean citizen, though he lived in Macao. His only public comment about the current North Korean leadership came ten years ago and was not flattering. “The power elite that have ruled the country will continue to be in control. I have my doubts about whether a person with only a few years of grooming as
a leader can govern.”

  Another more recent article described how North Korea had long been actively engaged in both ballistic missile and nuclear warhead production. The country remained under international sanctions, pressure to end its nuclear development coming from all sides, including now from its chief ally, China.

  He then found a fascinating New York Times piece from last summer describing a stage show that had been broadcast live throughout North Korea. A costumed Tigger, Minnie Mouse, Mickey, and other Disney characters had paraded before Dear Leader and a slew of clapping, uniformed generals. Mickey Mouse himself had conducted women in slinky black dresses playing violins. Scenes from Disney movies were shown on screens behind the performers. Disney songs were played and sung. A spokesman for Disney was quoted as saying that none of that proprietary use had been sanctioned or licensed by the company. The band on stage was said to have been organized by Dear Leader himself, who was noted as possessing a grandiose plan to bring a dramatic turn in the field of literature and arts.

  He smiled. What irony.

  One brother was chastised and stripped of power for his interest in Western entertainment. And the other used the same thing to seemingly bolster his popularity. He could see how Kim Yong Jin might resent his half brother. But none of that explained exactly what was happening here. Lots of tendrils and bits and pieces existed, but nothing as yet had come into focus.

  He finished his food and downed the rest of his juice. Howell and the woman remained at their table. He was about to head that way and get this over with when a man entered the dining room. He had a round brow on a round, fleshy head, atop a heavy, doughy body. The face was wide and seedy, his hair cut short, the neck thick and chinless. Replace the designer shirt, slacks, and jacket—which surely hung better on their hangers—with a drab green uniform buttoned to the neck and he made for the perfect North Korean stereotype.

  Kin Yong Jin.

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  VENICE

  ISABELLA HAD CHANGED CLOTHES AND DRIED HER HAIR. HER LUGGAGE rested in the water taxi, beside the helmsman, along with two travel bags Luke Daniels had tossed on board. They were headed to the airport. Just before leaving the cruise ship terminal, Daniels had taken a short telephone call. He then informed her that not only Howell but also Kim and the woman with the documents were now on a ferry to Zadar, Croatia, scheduled to arrive there in three hours.

  Exactly what she wanted to hear.

  That cold trail just turned hot.

  She was back positive, reassured, in command. So she’d arranged for a quick flight across the Adriatic on a charter plane, which would place them on the ground just before the ferry arrived. The only thing Daniels had not mentioned was how he’d come to know all that he did.

  So she asked.

  “Malone’s on the ferry,” he told her. “We tagged Howell after he clipped you into the water and followed him.”

  They were alone inside an enclosed cabin that usually accommodated about ten passengers. The water taxi rode low to the water and the roar from its engines shielded their conversation.

  “Maybe it’s a good thing Malone doesn’t follow orders,” she said.

  Otherwise she’d be back to square one, three months’ worth of work truly wasted.

  “This Haym Salomon,” Daniels said. “Was he really that important?”

  Telling him more on that subject wouldn’t hurt a thing. “I’d say so. The Continental Congress was broke. It had no gold or silver, and in those days currency had to be backed up with real collateral. Each colony printed its own money, but hyperinflation had taken hold. Prices skyrocketed, shopkeepers quit taking Continental dollars. We desperately needed a loan from the French, but it never came. What did come was French money that flooded the American market. Scrip sent to pay soldiers who were here fighting with us.”

  She explained how Salomon realized the usefulness of that French scrip and started buying those bills of exchange, the goal being to establish a standard value. But there was risk. If the American Revolution failed, the bills would be worthless and Salomon would lose everything. There’d be no way to recoup his investment.

  “But he believed in the cause,” she said. “And what he did funded the Continental army. He invested his entire fortune in buying those French bills of exchange. Then he made loans to Congress, mainly from his own reserves. He expected those loans would be repaid once the fighting ended, but he died in 1785 before any of that could happen.”

  “And his widow was cheated out of repayment?”

  “Cheated is a strong word. She provided documentation for the debts and asked for repayment, but those papers disappeared. Without them, she had no evidence of the debts. That documentation has been missing since 1785.”

  The boat continued to plow along, rounding Venice’s northwest corner and heading for the international airport.

  “During the Revolutionary War Salomon and George Washington became close. Washington was grateful for all that Salomon was doing. When the war ended, he asked Salomon what he might like in return. The man was modest and said he wanted nothing for himself, but he would like something for American Jews. So years later, as president, after Salomon had died, Washington made sure there was a tribute added to the nation’s Great Seal. You have a dollar bill?”

  He found one in his wallet and handed it over.

  She flipped it over and pointed at the right side to the familiar eagle clasping thirteen arrows. “Look there, above the bird. Thirteen stars. Notice anything about them?”

  She traced the outline of two triangles with her finger.

  A six-pointed star.

  “The Star of David,” she said. “Washington’s gift to Haym Salomon.”

  He was amazed. “I’ve never noticed that before.”

  “Few have. But once you see it, it’s hard to miss. Kind of like that arrow in the FedEx logo.”

  She could see that he was fascinated. She had been, too, when first told. “I assume history was not one of your interests in school?”

  “Hell, school was not an interest in school. Not my thing.”

  “Paul Larks was investigating some sensitive matters for the Treasury secretary that dealt with Haym Salomon and the heirs’ claims for repayment. The president himself ordered that inquiry. Larks found some information but, unfortunately, the important stuff was purged by Andrew Mellon in 1925, when Congress was once again looking into authorizing repayment. A previous investigation, ordered in 1937 by FDR, confirmed that Mellon had probably taken the Salomon repayment documents.”

  “Which proves the U.S. government now owes his heirs $330 billion?”

  “Something like that.”

  “I don’t get it. How could this interest a guy like Kim Yong Jin? Okay, we might owe somebody $330 billion, but that’s not an international incident.”

  She needed this man to believe her.

  Get those documents, Isabella.

  She could not let her boss down again.

  “Larks copied some confidential papers—”

  “I get that. But you still have the originals. It’s not the end of the world.”

  “Actually, it is. Those copies are important, particularly if you know what you’re looking at. We don’t want them floating around. And Anan Wayne Howell, for all his fanaticism, actually might know exactly what they mean.”

  She wondered how long Luke Daniels had worked with the Magellan Billet. From what she knew, that agency only hired the best. Stephanie Nelle, its longtime head, bordered on legendary. She’d even once considered applying there herself. For a long time you had to be a lawyer to be a part, but in recent years that requirement had been waived. Perhaps Stephanie Nelle might take notice of her here. A move to international espionage would be good. She’d had a few tastes of that on several other assignments.

  Daniels smiled at her. “You must really think me an idiot.”

  She said nothing.

  “I hear what you’re sayin’. But I also hear what yo
u’re not sayin’. All this trouble for a bunch of copies? Bullshit. But I’m going to give you the benefit of allowing you to keep what you’re holdin’ back to yourself. At least for a while longer. ’Cause right now, it doesn’t really matter.”

  She remained silent.

  “Lockjaw?” he asked. “I get that myself sometimes. A word of advice. Don’t try this bullshit story with Pappy. He’s—”

  A perplexed look came to her face, which he noticed.

  “Malone. That’s Pappy. Me? I’m downright congenial compared with him. He has a zero bullshit-tolerance level. Don’t push him.”

  “I’ll remember that.”

  She watched as he studied the dollar bill again.

  “That is pretty amazing, though, about the Star of David,” he said. “You almost had me with that one.”

  “What I said about that is true. There are many amazing things about the dollar bill.” She decided to toss him one more tidbit. “In recent years the $10, $20, $50, and $100 bills have all been redesigned. Lots of bells and whistles have been added to make counterfeiting harder. Ever heard of the Omnibus Appropriations Act?”

  He shook his head.

  “Section 111 of that act expressly forbids Treasury or the Bureau of Engraving from using any funds appropriated by Congress for the redesign of the $1 bill.” She pointed at the money he held. “That has to stay exactly like it is.”

  The look on his face asked why.

  So she led him along.

  “That is part of what we’re here to find out.”

  TWENTY-NINE

  ADRIATIC SEA

  KIM WAS ENJOYING HIS ANONYMITY. NEITHER HOWELL NOR THE woman had a clue to his identity. The crowded room was full of strangers, except for one face, on the far side, sitting at a window table by himself.

  Malone.

  The American had managed not only to escape the trap set for him, but had also found his way here. He assumed Howell had led him, as there’d been no sign of Malone from their tail of the woman with the satchel.