by David Archer
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 capture
d, 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.”
Sarah continued to look him in the eye, but a single tear began to trace its way down her left cheek. She said nothing, as Chung watched her.
After a moment, he sat straight again. “Sarah, as you can see, we already know a great deal. Our concern is that, with our current trade policies being challenged by your leaders and political tensions beginning to reach levels not seen since the Cold War, this Camelot may become a serious threat to our own governmental officials. The entire purpose of our bringing you to China is to try to ascertain just how great that risk might be. If you will tell me about Camelot, then it is possible that we can stand down our efforts, and feel secure that he will not be employed against us.”
Sarah continued to stare at him, but after a moment he saw her lick her lips.
“Sarah? I need this information.”
“And I’m not going to give it to you,” she said.
For a split-second, Sarah saw a flash of anger in his face, but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. His calm smile returned and he leaned slightly forward again.
“Sarah, we must not play games. As you have pointed out, any failure on my part to learn what I must learn will result in more extreme measures being taken to secure that information. I do not wish to see you tortured, Sarah.”
Sarah blinked a couple of times, and another tear made its way down her right cheek. She shrugged her shoulders with a slight grin, but shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she said, “but I will not answer.”
Chung sighed deeply and lowered his eyes to the ground. He started to speak, but she cut him off.
“I’d like to go back to my room,” she said. “I’m afraid we have nothing more to talk about.”
FOURTEEN
The submarine ride had been much longer than before, and its pilot explained that they were having to go farther out to avoid patrols. It was after seven in the evening by the time they arrived back at Incheon Island, and Noah was surprised to see a bus waiting for them. A chubby, dark-haired American woman was standing beside it as they climbed out of the inflatable boat that had barely managed to carry them all to the shoreline, and Noah went straight to her.
“Camelot? I’m Anna Harris. I work with South Korea’s Tourism Bureau, but I’m also CIA. We got a coded message telling us that you were able to retrieve our people alive, and I want to personally thank you for that. If you’ll get everyone into the bus, we have a Gulfstream 550 waiting for you. You’ll be in the air in fifteen minutes.”
“At this moment, what I need is a phone capable of calling my HQ securely. Can I use my encrypted cell phone from here?”
Anna’s eyes went wide. “Good Lord, no,” she said. “I don’t care how good the encryption is, every cell signal in this area is picked up by both North Korea and China. If it can be cracked, they’ll crack it.” She looked upset for a moment, and frowned at him. “Is it something that simply cannot wait? You’ll be in San Francisco in less than ten hours.”
“It can’t wait. Delay the flight if you have to, but I absolutely must call in.”
The woman rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine, get on the bus. When we get to the hangar I’ll get you a line you can use.”
Noah got everyone onto the bus, with Jenny enjoying the position of escort for Colonel Song this time. Anna climbed on with them, and the driver took them directly into a hangar that looked like it had seen much better days. A beautiful Gulfstream airplane sat inside it, its door open and a flight of stairs pushed up to it.
Noah told Jenny to get everyone onto the plane, while he followed Anna into a small office in the hangar. She picked up the handset of a landline phone and dialed a number, then held it to her ear. “Kenny? It’s Anna. Listen, one of my tour group out here says he has to call the home office immediately. Can you patch him through? Great, just a second and I’ll put him on the line.” She scowled at Noah, but handed over the phone.
“Hello?” Noah said.
“Hello, sir,” said a voice. “This is Kenny Johnson at Republic Tours. Have you got a number?”
Noah rattled off the number for E & E headquarters, and Kenny told him to wait just a moment. There were a series of beeps, some of them pretty loud, and then the voicemail message came on the line. Noah punched in the code that bypassed it and the after-hours operator came on.
“This is Camelot,” he said. “Patch me through to the Dragon Lady.”
He was on hold for less than sixty seconds, and then Allison’s sleepy voice came on the line. “Camelot? Report.”
“I’ll make this quick,” he said. “In the course of the mission, I was personally captured by the same people who had the targets, and locked in with them. While there, I learned that their organization’s management has a very serious security leak, a mole. Were you aware that CIA has picked up chatter indicating the Chinese have been looking for a way to identify me?”
“Hell, no,” Allison said, suddenly wide-awake despite the fact it was 4:30 in the morning for her. “Where did you get this information?”
“My targets had heard about it. Under the circumstances, I chose not to terminate the targets but to bring them out. There is a mole in the CIA, selling information to China, and some of that information is what got them arrested. It appears that North Korea only picked them up for the Chinese, they didn’t even seem to know what they’d been doing. Their local station chief was also involved, and was the one who actually handed them over. She has been terminated. However, we then learned that the mole has even turned some of our own people, and this led to a new hypothesis which has proven to be true. Somehow, the mole found out that Team Camelot was involved in the Bangkok operation and that our female operative was part of the team. Knowing that China is after me, they would give just about anything to get their hands on one of my team members, so the mole contacted Randy Mitchell on Jenny’s team, while they were still in Hanoi. Randy was instructed to notify one of the Nay Thas bosses about Sarah being in the prison undercover and who she really was. That man arranged the abductions, and undoubtedly made contact with China to arrange for transportation there.”
“Damn!” Allison yelled in his ear. “I can’t argue with your logic, it makes too much sense. I’m calling our liaison at Langley and reaming some ass, but that isn’t going to help the situation. I’ll call in every possible favor and see if we can find out just where in China she might be held. Meanwhile, we need to get those agents back to the states. It might be that they can help figure out just who that mole could be.”
“They are already on the plane, and I’m sending Cinderella back, as well. She will be bringing Randy to you, and he might be able to help identify the mole. I want to take my team back to Thailand. I know who Randy contacted, and I believe I can track him down and make them talk. At the moment, I’m only a couple of hours from there by air. If we can get any kind of location, I can get to China in pretty short order. If Sarah hasn’t been broken yet, we may still have the chance to get her out alive.”
Allison hesitated. “Noah? You’re right about being close, but are you really thinking this through?”
“I believe I am,” Noah said. “Sarah is extremely valuable, and while she may not know enough to do any serious damage to national security, she’ll still be facing treason charges if she gives up any information at all. If I can get her out, I want to; if not, I think
she’d rather be terminated than betray our country.”
“And could you pull the trigger?” Allison asked harshly. “Could you actually terminate her if it came down to it?”
“Yes,” Noah said. Allison waited, but he didn’t add anything else.
“All right, then,” she said at last. “Send the others back with Cinderella, and I’ll instruct our liaison there to provide anything you may need. I will authorize you to go to Thailand and to stay there for three days, and hopefully you can find out where she’s being held by then. If you do, I want you to do everything possible to bring her back alive, but if you cannot do that then I expect you to eliminate her.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Noah said. He handed the phone to Anna and indicated that she should put it to her ear.
“Hello? Yes, Ma’am. I can do that, Ma’am, but I’ll need authorization from—yes Ma’am, no problem.” She hung up the phone and turned wide eyes to Noah. “Seems I have to put you up for a little while,” she said. “Get the people you’re keeping with you off the plane. I need to get it in the air.”
Noah went into the aircraft and told Marco and Neil to come back down. He glanced at Colonel Song, who was belted into a seat with Dave and his pistol facing him, then quickly explained to Jenny what was going on.
“You did what? Where’s that phone? I’m not leaving you to handle this all by yourself, let me call…”
“Jenny, stop it,” Noah said. “You have your orders, just as I do. I appreciate all you’ve done, but this one is all on me.”
Jenny scowled at him, but there was a hint of a smile on her face. “Fine! But next time we’re both in Kirtland, let’s get together and hang out. Just make sure you got Sarah back by then, or I’ll kick your ass myself!” She flopped hard into her seat and started buckling her seatbelt.