by Chris Ryan
They removed their rebreathing masks. ‘You think Max and Lukas are on the barge?’ Abby said breathlessly.
Sami gave a solemn nod. ‘I am absolutely certain they are,’ he said. ‘The boat is moving already. There wouldn’t have been time to get them off.’
‘Then what do we do?’
‘I don’t know.’ He turned his head and stared back at the hotel. ‘Lili,’ he said.
Abby swore under her breath. ‘Somebody knew about us. It means they’ll be coming for her too, but maybe they’re not there yet. We have to warn her.’ She fumbled in her wetsuit pocket for the sat phone. Lili had the other one. ‘I’m going to call her,’ Abby said. ‘Tell her to get out of the hotel.’ She swore again. ‘I can’t get a signal,’ she said. ‘What are we going to do?’
There was panic in her voice, and for good reason. Two of them had been captured, and if Lili didn’t move fast, the North Koreans could make that three.
11
1313
Time check: 00:45 hours.
Lili watched with sick horror as events unfolded on the river.
At first, everything had seemed okay. By which Lili meant, nothing had changed. There was no sign of her fellow cadets. No sign of increased activity on the prison barge. Through her high-powered night-vision scope, she could clearly see a guard on the deck of the boat, but he had his back to her and was looking in the opposite direction.
It had all changed at five minutes past eleven. The river, dark and sluggish, had suddenly lit up. Several high-powered boats appeared from the direction of the hotel island, speeding urgently towards the prison barge, bright searchlights pointing down into the water. Two searchlights blazed on the prison barge itself, and suddenly there were more guards on deck – too many for Lili to count as they were all running around. She could hear them shouting at each other.
Then she saw something that made her blood freeze. Two people were being fished out of the river and hauled onto the barge. She couldn’t make out their faces at this distance, but it didn’t take a genius to work out who they were. Max and Lukas. Captured.
She scanned the river, searching for Sami and Abby. There was no sign of them. What did that mean? Were they safe? Where were they?
Lili was not a panicky kind of person. When something went wrong, she was more likely to keep calm and think her way through the problem than to overreact and lose her head. She was a good fighter, she was strong. But she was also smart, and she knew that when it was a choice between brains or brawn, brains normally won.
But it was hard not to panic. She drew away from the scope, aware that her pulse had risen and her breath was coming in short gasps. She had an overwhelming urge to run and hide. But where? She was alone, in a strange and hostile country. She didn’t know what to do.
Think, Lili, she told herself. She put her hands to her head and forced herself to breathe. Think … What is your next move?
Her room was locked from the inside, but she suddenly felt like she was in a prison of her own making. If the authorities knew about Max and Lukas, she was, of course, under suspicion herself. It meant they were coming for her. Right now. She had to get out of there. Quickly.
There was no time to dismantle the scope. She left it on its tripod pointing out over the river. It was incriminating, but she had no time and no choice. Her satellite phone lay on the bed next to a pair of binoculars that had been supplied as an additional surveillance tool and the make-up mirror she had used to check round corners on the way to the fifth floor. She stuffed the sat phone into a pocket, grabbed the binoculars and the make-up mirror and unlocked the door. She took a deep breath, opened up and peered outside.
The corridor was empty. She turned right and ran along it until it turned right. She held out the mirror to check round the corner.
Her heart nearly stopped.
Four men in military uniform were marching along the corridor towards her. They were armed with pistols, holstered on the outside of their jackets. Their faces were severe. They weren’t far off, and they were moving briskly.
Lili ran like lightning. Her feet made almost no noise as she sprinted back past her room to the other end of the corridor. Here there was another corner. She glanced over her shoulder before she took it, just in time to see the boots of one of the military men appear round the opposite corner. Once she’d turned right, she pressed her back up against the wall and used her mirror to watch the four guards. They marched up to her door. One of them thumped on it three times with his fist. She didn’t need to see any more. She wasn’t out of danger yet. She sprinted down the empty corridor, turned right again at the end and found herself by the stairwell. Her instinct was to go down, into the reception area and out of the hotel, where she could lose herself in the streets of Pyongyang. She even started following the staircase down.
But then she stopped.
Think.
How had her friends been captured? The river was wide and deep. Max and Lukas were small in comparison. The chances of them being located by chance were tiny. Which meant the Korean authorities knew they were coming. They knew Max and Lukas would be in the water, in the vicinity of the prison barge. How? Had somebody tipped them off? Who could that be? Jerry and Elsa? That would make no sense. They would be in as much trouble with the authorities as the cadets themselves, if they were accused of smuggling agents across the border. Maybe somebody had seen them switch suitcases at the airport. But that wouldn’t explain how Max and Lukas had been located in the river.
She realised she instinctively knew what the answer was, even before logic led her there. The only other possibility was Hwan. He had seen Lili leading Max and Lukas to the fifth floor. He hadn’t seen their diving gear, but … She sighed. Lukas’s neoprene dive shoes had been visible. If Hwan had told the authorities about those, they’d have worked it out immediately.
Her eyes narrowed. The safety of her fellow cadets was down to her. If Hwan had betrayed them, she had to find out what he had told the authorities before she decided on her next move. She was already heading upstairs before the thought was fully formed in her mind: she had to find Hwan, and ask him.
Lili’s memory was unusually good. ‘Photographic’, some people called it, but that wasn’t quite accurate. She just had excellent recall. So she remembered quite clearly that as Jerry had handed out keys in reception, he had told Hwan his room number was 1313. It was late, so he’d most likely be there.
She took the steps two at a time, constantly scanning the stairwell above for any sign of threatening personnel. But the corridors were deserted at this hour and she was soon on the thirteenth floor. Sweat prickled on her forehead as she moved from the stairwell to the corridor. She could hear people arguing in a nearby bedroom, but her route to room 1313 took her in the opposite direction, and the voices faded. When she reached Hwan’s room, she stood by the door, listening carefully. She couldn’t hear any voices but she could, perhaps, hear somebody moving around inside.
She raised her fist to knock. As she did so, she remembered Jerry’s comment as he’d handed Hwan his key. 1313, unlucky for some …
Unlucky for her? She was about to find out.
Gently, she knocked three times.
The sound of movement inside the room stopped. There was silence, then the sound of footsteps. Lili realised she was holding her breath. She forced herself to breathe.
The door opened a crack. Hwan’s thin, anxious face appeared. He blinked, obviously surprised to see Lili. ‘What do you want?’ he said. He sounded unusually aggressive.
‘We need to talk,’ Lili replied.
Hwan tried to shut the door, but he couldn’t: Lili’s right foot was over the threshold, and it wasn’t going anywhere.
‘Please,’ Hwan mouthed silently. ‘Go!’
Lili shook her head. Hwan bowed his, as if in defeat. He opened up and she stepped inside.
And she realised, as Hwan closed the door behind her, that she had made a terrible mistake. Hwan was not alo
ne. There was another Korean man in here. He wore black trousers and a black T-shirt. He wore a shoulder holster. It was empty. The pistol it normally carried was in his hand, and it was aimed at Lili.
Nobody moved. Then the gunman said, ‘Sit down.’ With his handgun he indicated the bed. Lili reluctantly moved to the edge of the bed and sat down. The gunman stood directly in front of her, while Hwan retreated to one corner of the room. He looked wretched, helpless and scared. The gunman stared down at Lili with a dismissive expression. He clearly didn’t see Lili as a threat, because he re-holstered his handgun before cracking his knuckles.
‘I work for the Ministry of State Security,’ he said in excellent English. ‘Do you know what that is?’
Lili wordlessly shook her head.
‘It is the secret police. We report directly to the Supreme Leader. We have a special place close by where we take enemies of the state. Would you like to know what happens there?’
Lili didn’t reply.
He carried on regardless. ‘All prisoners are …’ – he hesitated, before putting an unpleasant emphasis on his next word – ‘questioned. Sometimes they even survive the questioning. But whether they survive or not, they always – always – tell us what we want to know. Would you like to pay it a visit?’
Lili shook her head again.
‘I thought not. In that case, I suggest you tell me everything I want to know right now. Let us start with a simple question. What is your name?’
‘Annabel,’ she said.
The man bent down so his face was close to hers. ‘You are a nasty, lying little girl,’ he said.
Lili fixed him with a calm stare. When she spoke, it was in little more than a whisper. ‘I might be a nasty, lying little girl,’ she said. ‘But I am a nasty, lying little girl with a black belt in four martial arts.’
And before the man had the opportunity to speak again, Lili hooked her left foot around his ankle. She yanked his leg from underneath him while striking him hard in the breastbone with the heel of her hand. He collapsed with a heavy thump, by which time Lili was already sitting on his legs. She clenched her right fist, allowing the knuckle of her middle finger to protrude. She briefly sized the man up, then delivered a sharp, shocking blow to his kidneys. The man’s eyes bulged with the sudden pain of being winded. He coughed, then struggled to catch his breath. Lili grabbed his handgun from his holster. With practised ease, she cocked the weapon and held it steadily, aiming it at the man’s face. ‘Speak another word,’ she said, ‘and you know what will happen.’ She sounded a lot more confident than she felt.
The man nodded. Now he was unarmed and no longer in control, his sneering arrogance had left him. One-handed, Lili quickly unbuckled his belt and removed it from around his trousers.
‘What are you doing?’ Hwan said, his voice high-pitched and stressed.
‘You, shut up,’ Lili said. ‘You, lie on your front.’
The secret police officer did as he was told.
‘Hands behind your back,’ Lili said. When he obeyed, Lili tied the belt in a figure-of-eight loop around his wrists and buckled it tightly. Then she jumped up, took a pillow from the bed and removed the pillow case. She pulled this over the police officer’s head and tied a tight knot at the nape of his neck. She stood again and turned to Hwan, who was still cringing in the corner of the room. He seemed horrified at what she had done.
‘Out,’ she said.
Hwan swallowed hard.
‘Now!’
He moved to the door, opened it and stepped into the corridor. Lili followed, taking the key from inside the room and locking it from the outside once she had joined Hwan. She slid the handgun behind her cardigan so it was hidden. She considered going to find Jerry and Elsa, but quickly dismissed the idea. They could be under armed guard too by now.
‘This is what we’re going to do,’ she said. ‘You and me, we’re heading to reception. Once we’re there, we’re going to walk straight out of the hotel. I’ll be behind you every step of the way, and you know what I’m carrying. Don’t make the mistake of thinking I won’t use it if you raise the alarm.’
She thought Hwan might cry. ‘You don’t understand …’
‘I understand that my friends are in trouble. Trust me, I’ll do anything to help them. Anything. Do you understand?’
Hwan nodded. Lili glanced back towards room 1313. Unlucky for some, she thought. But the belt and pillowcase wouldn’t hold the secret police guy for long. And if he raised the alarm, her chance of getting out of here was zero. She checked the time. 01:00 hours.
‘So move,’ she said. ‘Now!’
12
The Bridge
Sami and Abby could feel their temperature dropping. Their energy sapping away.
But that wasn’t their biggest problem.
Their biggest problem was that the prison barge was now out of sight.
‘It wasn’t moving fast,’ Abby said. ‘It’s just because we’re low in the water that we can’t see it.’
‘It doesn’t matter how slowly it’s moving,’ Sami said. ‘If we stay still, it’s getting away from us. And if Max and Lukas are on that boat …’ His face creased up into a frown. ‘Max is my best friend,’
‘But we can’t move,’ Abby said. ‘If we do …’
She gestured to the river. It was clear what she meant. Sami counted six boats, all of them with searchlights whose beams zigzagged across the river, searching for threats. Their wrist units no longer indicated Max and Sami’s positions. If they were to follow the barge, they would have to break the surface, and they would risk being seen.
‘We can’t leave them,’ Sami said resolutely. ‘Whatever happens, we can’t leave them.’
‘Agreed,’ Abby said. ‘But what –’
‘I have an idea,’ Sami said.
‘I’m all ears.’
Sami gave her a confused look. ‘What does that mean?’
‘Just tell me your idea, Sami.’
‘These boats are all staying in this area. They’re not following the prison barge. They don’t expect anybody in the water to be able to follow it.’
‘Well, they’re right,’ Abby said. Her voice was trembling a little with the cold.
‘Yes,’ Sami nodded. ‘They are right. But earlier today, when we crossed the bridge on our sightseeing tour, did you notice those old wooden boats on the far side of the bridge?’
‘No.’
‘They are there. I think I saw Max looking at them. I think he will remember.’
‘Max won’t be able to get to those boats, Sami.’
‘I’m not talking about Max,’ Sami said. ‘I’m talking about us. We can’t follow the prison barge underwater – it’s too cold and moving too fast. But we can follow the bank to those boats. I’m sure some of them had motors. We can steal one and follow the barge like that.’
Abby stared at him. ‘You’re crazy,’ she said. ‘They’ll see us.’
‘Okay, then,’ Sami said. ‘We’ll just bob here in the water waiting for them to find us. And while we wait, we’ll know that Max and Lukas –’
‘All right, all right,’ Abby hissed. ‘I’m not saying we shouldn’t do anything.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Sami said. ‘I know you weren’t.’
Abby peered across the water again. ‘The boats will be locked up,’ she said.
‘I have the underwater welding unit.’
She nodded. ‘This bank of the river is in shadow,’ she said. ‘I guess there’s a chance that if we get to the boats, we can move without being seen. But it’s a big risk, Sami. As soon as we get a connection on the sat phone, we should call the Watchers. Tell them what we’re doing. Make sure they haven’t made other plans.’
‘Okay,’ Sami said. He shivered. ‘Whatever happens, we can’t stay still in this water all night. It will suck the life from us.’
‘Yeah,’ Abby said. ‘It would be a shame to let that happen and deny anyone else the pleasure.’ She gave a rueful smile. ‘I kno
w it’s cold, but it beats maths homework, right?’ When Sami didn’t smile back, she said, ‘Just a joke, buddy. Come on, let’s go get our friends.’
They replaced their rebreathing masks. Seconds later they were underwater and heading downstream.
Lili and Hwan’s footsteps echoed as they moved down the stairwell. Lili had decided to avoid the lift again. The stairs gave them exit routes up or down. If they were caught in the lift, there was nowhere to run.
They didn’t speak until they reached the ground floor. Hwan was sweating. Lili thought he might be on the verge of collapsing. She briefly considered questioning him in the concrete stairwell to find out what information he had given the authorities. But no. There would be military personnel scouring the hotel for her. They needed to get away as quickly as possible.
‘Okay, Hwan,’ she said. ‘Remember: I’ll be behind you and I’m armed.’ She showed him the handgun underneath her cardigan. Hwan swallowed hard. ‘We’re going to walk straight across reception to the exit.’
‘What if they’re searching for us?’ Hwan said.
‘They are searching for us, Hwan. For you as well as me – and I’ve got a feeling this will end badly for both of us if we’re caught. But I think they’ll be concentrating on the upper levels. They won’t expect us to show ourselves in public. So that’s what we’re going to do. And we’re going to do it now. Act normal. Go.’
The way to reception was through a heavy fire door. Hwan pushed it open and looked timidly through the gap. ‘Just walk!’ Lili hissed. She poked him in the back with the barrel of her gun. He twitched as if he had been electrocuted. Then he walked. Lili followed.
She knew instantly that entering the reception area had been a mistake. Like the hotel corridors, it was practically deserted. There were no guests here, just the receptionists, two men and a woman, behind the desk. Outside, Lili could see flashing neon lights.
She had a choice to make. Keep going, or turn back.