by Chris Ryan
‘You’re wrong,’ Max said. ‘They’ll find a way. Trust me. They’re coming.’
A pause.
‘In that case, my young friend, you need to prepare yourself.’
‘For what?’
‘I’d have thought that was obvious. For the end. If this barge sinks, we die. Your friends are also your cyanide capsules.’
Max was unable to suppress his anger. ‘You want to give up now?’ he said. ‘Fine. We’re not going to.’ He tugged hard at the chain, several times. The only effect it had was to make his leg hurt.
‘I’m not doubting your courage, young man. But if you work out a way to breathe underwater, be sure to let me know, won’t you?’
Lukas swore again. Max tugged once more at the chain. Prospero fell silent.
Abby and Sami swam relentlessly. Within minutes they had reached the pier to which the prison boat had been moored. The metal legs supporting it in the water were slimy and covered in algae. The cadets surfaced carefully underneath it. Hidden by the pier, they were able to check the activity on the river. It was still considerable. Five vessels had searchlights scanning the water. On the pier above them, they could hear footsteps and shouted instructions. But of the prison barge itself, there was no sign.
‘We’re low in the water,’ Abby reminded them. ‘We can’t see far.’
Sami was grateful to her for not stating the obvious: that they had no idea how far the prison barge would travel, or if it would even be possible to catch up with it.
They didn’t stay above the surface for long. The inky water was still sapping the warmth from them. The only way to stop their muscles seizing up was to keep moving. And that, of course, was also the only way to rescue Max and Lukas …
They submerged again and continued to follow the line of the river. Sami felt his fitness was starting to let him down. It was becoming difficult to instruct his limbs to do what he wanted. He sensed that Abby was having the same problem. When, after fifteen minutes, they almost swam straight into the hull of a small boat moored to the bank, it was a relief. It meant they had reached their first destination.
They broke the surface again gingerly, keeping in the shadow of the high bank. There was no activity in this part of the river. The search boats were all scouring the area where Max and Lukas had been captured. Here, all was silent, apart from the gentle clunking of the wooden boats knocking together.
Abby and Sami swam underneath them to reach the furthest boat. It was a rickety old thing, with a wooden hull and chipped paint. It had an outboard motor that stank of fuel. It made Sami nervous. He expected to have to use his welding gear to cut through the chain tying the boat to the bank. Then he saw that it wasn’t a chain, but a rope knotted to a mooring ring. It took him and Abby a full five minutes to undo the tight, wet rope with their cold hands. The boat yawed precariously as they clambered in. It was particularly difficult for Sami with the welding gear strapped to his chest.
Abby checked the sat phone. There was still no signal, so they could contact neither Lili nor the Watchers. She turned her attention to the outboard motor.
‘Please let the motor work,’ Sami said fervently as Abby pulled the starting cord.
There was a feeble cough from the motor. It whimpered into nothing.
She pulled again. Even less.
‘We’re going to have to swim it,’ Sami said. Even he was aware that his voice sounded weak.
Abby, however, had an expression of intense concentration on her face. She gave the starting cord a third, violent tug. The motor spluttered into life. Within seconds they were moving.
The cadets crouched low in the boat, Sami at the stern, Abby steering them at the helm, shivering in the night air. They kept to the shadows, close to the bank. Continuing downstream, they were soon completely out of sight of the search boats as they scanned the water up ahead for the prison barge.
14
A Bag of Rice
It was slow work for Lili and Hwan, crawling along the railway bridge to the mainland of Pyongyang. But it was better to be slow than to be caught.
Lili’s knees and elbows were sore and scraped, her throat and lungs full of thick, choking dust. Every thirty seconds she had to hiss at Hwan to keep moving. Her Korean captive was a mess. He kept collapsing. Lili couldn’t tell if it was through fear or lack of fitness. Eventually, however, they reached the far side of the railway bridge. Lili could still see the flashing lights of the roadblock on the road bridge. She shuddered to think what would happen if they were caught.
Time check: 02:00 hours. She thought of Max and Lukas and what must have happened to them. Her anger at Hwan redoubled. ‘Hey,’ she hissed. ‘Stop here.’
Hwan seemed pleased to obey. From his crawling position he collapsed and lay face down. Lili raised her binoculars and scanned the darkness. She could see a train station up ahead. To their left, trees. To their right, open ground, but deserted. They would need to climb the fence again to reach either. For now, they were alone and unseen. This would be a good place to talk.
‘Sit up,’ she told Hwan. ‘Do it!’
Hwan pushed himself up miserably from his prone position. He sat next to Lili, who had her back to the railway fence, and hugged his knees. Lili removed her sat phone, switched it on and checked the signal. It was good. She could make a call to the Watchers. But to brief them properly, she needed to know what information Hwan had given the North Korean authorities.
‘You reported us,’ Lili said. It was a statement, not a question. Hwan did not deny it. ‘Who did you call?’
Hwan stared blankly across the track. ‘I am your chaperone,’ he said. ‘All chaperones have a member of the secret police they must call if they suspect anything strange.’
‘And why did you suspect us?’
‘Because I saw you and the other two outside the fifth floor. One of your friends, Lukas – he was wearing the shoes that divers wear. That’s all I told my secret police contact.’
Lili shook her head. ‘I don’t get it, Hwan,’ she said. ‘I thought we all got on okay. You could have just kept quiet.’
Hwan made a cynical, dismissive sound. ‘You do not understand,’ he said.
‘Then make me understand. My friends are in danger. I’ll do anything to help them. Right now, none of my ideas end too well for you. So seriously, make me understand.’
‘I was in trouble! First when those officers scolded me outside the Tower of the Juche Ideology because your friend was being disrespectful. Then when I was seen accepting food from Max. These things are not allowed.’
‘And you were afraid you were going to be punished?’
Hwan rolled his eyes, as if that were a ridiculous suggestion. ‘No,’ he said quietly. ‘I was not worried that I would be punished.’
‘Then …’
‘You’ve heard of the camps?’ Hwan said.
‘The concentration camps? Yes.’
‘We are not supposed to know about them. The authorities deny that they exist. But we do know about them. They do exist. Countless people have been sent to these camps for the smallest offences.’ He paused. ‘Including my parents.’
He glanced down. Suddenly Lili didn’t know what to say. All she managed was, ‘Why?’
‘Because that is what happens in my country.’
‘What did they do?’
‘My father stole a bag of rice. We were starving and we had no money.’ He hesitated. ‘Do you know what it is like to be starving?’
Lili shook her head.
‘You will eat anything. Grass. Weeds. Shoes. But it’s not proper food and your body knows it. You waste away. Your eyeballs look as if they are bulging from their sockets. It’s just your face growing thin, but that is what it looks like. People fight over the smallest scraps of food. They kill for it. It’s that, or die of starvation. My father stole the rice without hesitation. There was nothing else he could do. But he was caught.’ Hwan paused. ‘He and my mother were sentenced to death.’
&
nbsp; Lili stared at him. ‘For a bag of rice?’
‘In my country, people are killed for smaller crimes than that. Especially if they are the wrong songbun.’
‘So …’
‘They were to be executed in public,’ Hwan continued. ‘This was four years ago, when I was still at school. The execution was to take place in the school grounds.’
‘What?’ Lili whispered.
‘It is normal,’ Hwan said. ‘Children from the age of seven are forced to watch public executions, so they understand what happens if they do bad things. I was to watch my parents die, along with all my friends.’
Lili didn’t know what to say. She suddenly felt very cold.
‘My uncle – my father’s brother – is a major in the Korean People’s Army. The day before my parents were to be executed, I travelled to his house in Pyongyang. He was not pleased to see me. I begged him to do something, to speak to someone. He sent me away, told me never to return to his house. I understood. He did not want his family to be in danger because of me. But perhaps he did something. Perhaps he bribed the right person. Because the next day it was announced that my parents would not be executed after all. Instead they would be sent to a hard labour camp. They disappeared. I have not seen them since.’
‘Are they still …?’
‘Alive? I do not know. But I think perhaps they are. Six months ago, a neighbour returned from the prison camp. It is very unusual that this happens. But he did, and he told me my parents were still there. Very frail. But alive.’ He gave Lili an intense stare. ‘You asked me if I was afraid of being punished. No. I am not afraid for myself. I am afraid for my mother and father. If I do something wrong, there is a chance that they will be punished.’ He swallowed hard. ‘And if I do something right …’
‘There’s a chance that they will be released,’ Lili said.
Hwan nodded.
‘That’s why you did it,’ Lili said quietly. ‘That’s why you told your contact that you had seen us on the fifth floor. Because informing on us means rewards for you. It means your parents might be released.’
He nodded again. ‘But now,’ he said, ‘there is no hope. They will say I helped you escape.’
‘No,’ Lili said. ‘I had you at gunpoint!’
Hwan gave a cynical laugh. ‘You think they will care about that?’
‘What were you supposed to do when I was waving a pistol in your face?’
‘That’s easy,’ said Hwan. ‘I was supposed to die. For the party and the motherland. Now, if I’m lucky, they will send me to a prison camp. And if I’m unlucky …’ He didn’t finish the sentence.
Lili was enraged. Her blood burned with injustice. And with shame. She had misunderstood Hwan. Misunderstood his motives. Misunderstood everything about him. She stared at the satellite phone in her hand. Her duty was clear. Her friends were in danger. She had to do everything possible to rescue them. That meant making contact with the Watchers – and she knew what their instruction would be. Trust nobody. Especially Hwan. He had betrayed them once. Given the opportunity, he would betray them again. What would they instruct Lili to do? Tie him up here by the railway track? Worse? Would they make her punish this young North Korean man for no crime other than trying to save his own parents?
Not if Lili had her way. A determined expression crossed her face.
‘We’re going to get them out,’ she said.
Hwan blinked at her. ‘What?’
‘Your mum and dad. We’re going to get them out of that prison camp.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Hwan said. ‘It is hundreds of miles away. I don’t even know the exact location.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said. ‘I’ve got a plan. But we need to work together, Hwan. And we need to trust each other. Can we manage that, do you think?’
‘How can I trust you?’ Hwan said. ‘I don’t even know who you are. You are not ordinary tourists. I knew that from the moment I saw you. But why are the secret police chasing you? What are you doing here?’
Trust nobody. The words echoed in Lili’s mind. But if she was asking Hwan to trust her, she had to trust him in return. ‘There is a British agent being held prisoner in a boat on the river. We’re here to rescue him.’
‘But you are just … just children.’
‘Go figure,’ Lili muttered. ‘I think Max and Lukas have been caught. I don’t know what’s happened to Abby and Sami. But I do know this: I’m going to do everything necessary to get them to safety. And you’re in luck, because my plan includes getting your mum and dad to safety too.’
‘It’s too dangerous,’ Hwan whispered.
‘Sure, it’s dangerous. It’s also the only chance they have. Hwan, if my plan works, I’ll be reunited with my friends and you’ll be reunited with your parents. When you think about the alternative, are you telling me that’s not worth a try?’ She held out her hand. Hwan stared at it. Then he took Lili’s hand in his, and they shook.
‘What do you want me to do?’ he asked quietly.
‘First things first,’ said Lili. She held up the sat phone and started dialling an access code. ‘I’ve got a call to make,’ she said.
There was enough fuel in Abi and Sami’s outboard motor to propel them a good distance downstream, past another island in the river and into the unpopulated waters beyond. Then it spluttered and died. But that was okay, because they could see the prison barge.
It was anchored in the middle of the river. There were lights on board, but not many, and no searchlights. No other vessels surrounded it. It was alone and out of the way.
Here, further from the centre of Pyongyang, the river bank was not so high. They were able to exit their boat and drag it on to a narrow stretch of sludgy shingle which led to a tree-lined area. They were shivering with cold. The prospect of entering the water again was not inviting.
‘Do you think Max and Lukas are still alive?’ Abby asked quietly as they crouched by the boat.
‘I am certain of it,’ Sami said fiercely. He did not admit that he had been wondering the same thing. ‘And we are going to rescue them. Check your sat phone. Maybe you can get a signal now.’
Abby pulled out her handset and powered it up. ‘Bingo,’ she said. ‘Who do I call? Lili or the Watchers?’
‘The Watchers,’ Sami said firmly. ‘And quickly.’
But Abby was already dialling, keying in her access code with a stiff, trembling index finger. Once she had entered it, she put the sat phone to her ear.
A voice answered almost immediately.
15
The New Deal
The operations room was a small concrete building two miles from the border between North Korea and South Korea. On its roof was a communications satellite dish. Nearby was a helicopter landing zone. Inside the ops room were a number of glowing laptops, cables snaking across the floor, a digital clock on the wall showing the local time and GMT, detailed maps of Pyongyang and North Korea in general, and five people. Two were South Korean military personnel. The other three were British.
Hector, Woody and Angel sat at separate laptops. They wore earpieces and boom mics. Since arriving here from Beijing they had been in constant communication with the military authorities in charge of South Korean airspace. And with a Royal Navy frigate patrolling the waters off the west coast of the Korean peninsula. And with their faceless superiors in Whitehall.
But above all, they were waiting for a call from the Special Forces Cadets. A call to tell them the operation had been a success, that the prison ship had been scuppered and the cadets were safely back in their hotel rooms.
They knew, when two calls came in at the same time from separate sat phones, that this was not what had happened. They exchanged anxious glances and checked the clock: 02:15 hours. Hector tapped his keyboard to accept both calls and patch them in to a three-way conversation.
‘Go ahead,’ he said curtly.
The Watchers heard two voices at the same time. Abby and Lili talked maniacally
over each other, clearly panicked.
‘Quiet,’ Hector barked. And when they fell silent, ‘Abby, you first.’
– They’ve got Max and Lukas! They were waiting for us! They knew we were coming!
Woody swore. Angel pinched the bridge of her noise.
‘Where are they now?’ Hector said.
– On the barge, we think.
‘What is your current position?’
– We’re on the northern river bank. The barge moved downriver and we followed it. We still have one underwater welding kit. We’re preparing to make our approach and scuttle the barge.
‘Keep your position for now.’
– But what if Max and Sami are—
‘Keep your position! Lili, go ahead.’
The Watchers listened intently as Lili explained the events of the last hour. The escape from the hotel. The blockade on the bridge. The railway track. Hwan. As she started to explain about Hwan’s parents and the prison camp, Hector interrupted.
‘I’m sorry for the guy,’ he said, ‘but you’re not there to right every injustice you come across. Our priority is to get Max and Lukas out of there safely. Our next priority is Prospero. I’m afraid Hwan and his parents don’t come into it.’
– Yes, they do. You have to hear me out, Hector. I’m not going to let this go.
Angel made a ‘let her speak’ gesture.
‘Go ahead …’ Hector said carefully.
– Don’t you see? Hwan is our best chance. The North Koreans don’t know where Abby and Sami are. We need to get Hwan to call his secret police contact and say that he’s been kidnapped by me, Abby and Sami – the three of us – and we’re taking him to a pick-up location on the northern edge of Pyongyang. They’ll send their forces to that location and wait for us to turn up. Only we won’t be coming. Hwan and I will make our way to the real pick-up location – you said it was a deserted football stadium, right? – while Abby and Sami rescue Max, Lukas and Prospero. We all rendezvous at the football stadium and meet the stealth chopper there. Then we get out of here.