Devil's Fork (7 page)

“
Will they really believe
that I’m that boy?”

“
Don’t worry. This works
well. And remember the foundation of your training: make your new
family feel important. If you knock on the door and emotionally say
‘it’s me’ and ‘I love you and missed you all these years,’ they
will react emotionally and welcome you almost without rational
thought. People believe in what they want to believe.”

That is exactly what 2135 did when he
arrived. Part of him expected to be arrested, but he was surprised
at how easily the “reunion” worked. Before he knew it, 2135 was a
yard worker at the railroad terminal in Chongjin. He began creating
his network of assets a few years later.

Officer 2135 was now steps away from the
port. He slowed his pace and tapped his pocket to make sure he had
his cigarette carton. The port was large and one of the only places
where 2135 usually saw a concentration of vehicles. There were
cranes to load and unload containers from ships. More than one
truck drove the cargo around. The port was loud, as what machinery
could not be mustered was replaced with human labor. Men walked
around in all directions. Their hungry bodies looked worn in their
dulled work uniforms. 2135 looked up at several enormous cargo
ships docked. They were taller than the buildings around. He saw
what looked like small people running around on the deck.
Containers were being loaded and unloaded from the various ships.
He sometimes wondered how this could be, given the sanctions placed
on North Korea.

Choi spotted him as he was walking by a
truck. They slipped into a nook of a building to have a
cigarette.

“
You guys are working
hard,” 2135 initiated.

“
Yes, same as it has been
all week.”

“
So when are you getting
promoted? Or am I already talking to the boss?”

Choi smiled, “Look,” he pointed to a ship on
the far right with his cigarette between his fingers. “That’s the
interesting ship I was telling you about.”

“
Oh yeah? I can’t see
anyone around it.”

“
They are sitting inside.
They don’t seem to come out that much.”

“
Have you talked to them
today? I bet they would be friendly to an important person like
you.”

“
No, I have not done their
inventory count yet.”

They stood, smoked, and watched the port for
some time. 2135 prided himself on being able to maintain a
conversation while focusing on an object he was watching. Talking
provided excellent cover. Today, he did not take his eyes off the
ship. He carefully directed the conversation to unrelated topics,
as he was trained, so as not to appear too interested in
anything.

“
How is your daughter’s
singing?”

“
It’s great. Whenever she
practices at home I’m surprised by how good she sounds.”

“
Maybe she can get serious
training?”

“
That would make us very
proud.”

“
You know I heard that not
all children can be taught to sing well. I heard that a lot of it
has to do with the parents.”

“
Really? You heard
that?”

“
Absolutely. Hey who’s that
guy?” 2135 pointed to a man in a suit standing out among the
uniformed dock workers.

“
That’s the port manager.
He’s actually probably walking over to that ship now to talk to
them. He’s been jumpy since they arrived.”

“
Why do you think he’s been
acting like that?”

“
One of the other
dockworkers said some of the local government bosses were getting
on his back about the cargo those men are carrying.”

2135 watched as some men came out of the
ship and started walking down the railing onto the dock. They
converged around the suited man and stood in conversation.

“
Oh, those were the men I
was telling you about.”

2135 stared, but not too hard. The men were
definitely not from the peninsula. But he could not place his
finger on where they could be from. One moment he thought they
could be Middle Eastern. At another moment he suspected they were
European, but after staring, he realized he would not be able to
figure out where they were from.

“
Do you think any more
trucks with those guys in the protective suits will
come?”

“
I don’t know. I haven’t
seen any more today. They were only here yesterday.”

“
Were they carrying a
container from that ship?”

“
They were wheeling a bunch
of small containers from their truck onto the ship.”

“
But it was going
onto
the ship right? Not
coming
off
the
ship?”

“
Yes that’s what it looked
like.”

“
And you said they took
their protective gear off? They did not load the containers onto
the ship with their protective suits?”

“
I – don’t remember. I’m
not sure. Why are you so curious about them?”

That was a bad question to receive. 2135 got
these once in a while and deflecting them required a delicate
touch. One’s heart could skip a beat but a cool head was
required.

“
I’m helping
you
figure it out. I’m
just hoping that when you become the local Workers party boss, you
remember me and I can be an assistant.”

Choi laughed, “If I could be a local party
leader that would be great.”

“
You will. Look at you.
I’ve never seen anyone so dedicated to his work, his community, or
his country. There’s no way anyone is missing it.”

“
You really think
so?”

“
Absolutely. Just listen to
what I’m predicting now. You will rise high.” 2135 looked at his
watch. “I had better head back to work,” he said.

Choi’s facial expression changed completely
as he asked, “Let’s do this again. Or how about if you come to my
house? You can hear my daughter sing.”

2135 threw his cigarette on the ground and
stepped on it. “I would love to. I’m not sure if my ears are used
to hearing singing as good as hers though.” They shook hands and
2135 started walking out of the port.

As he walked through the
quiet city towards his apartment, instead of work, his mind went
through what he had just seen. It was not enough to make him feel
that he had accomplished a task. He had not been able to figure out
what exactly was going on that ship. Additionally, a key question
he had was why this material was being loaded
onto
the ship. He thought North Korea
would want to keep whatever nuclear materials it had created. In
fact, he imagined that other countries would be sending nuclear
materials to North Korea. He expected to see containers coming off
the ship. It did not seem logical that North Korea would be sending
out something that was so difficult to make. He wished he saw one
of the men in the protective suits.

Within fifteen minutes he arrived at his
apartment building. He sometimes laughed at his own residence as he
was approaching. It was crumbling. Pieces of the wall were falling
off. The white, dilapidated concrete contrasted sharply with the
blue roof and door. It did not look like it had been touched for
repairs since it was built – however long ago that was. 2135
suspected it was probably built in the ‘60s. He assumed if this
structure were in South Korea it would have been condemned. For
some reason he did not mind living in his apartment though.

After walking up the stairs, feeling his
thighs aglow, he stopped before entering his apartment. He always
checked if anyone was in the hallway. He also looked if there had
been a disturbance on his door. If it had been opened, he would
have had to assume it was the secret police and try to escape.
Today, as usual, it looked normal to him. Looking around, he saw
that he stood alone in the hall.

Once inside his apartment, he followed his
usual security procedure. He locked his door completely and moved
his dining table in front of it. He had heard of illegals being
arrested as they were in the process of sending a message and he
always wanted an extra barrier between him and any unexpected guest
so he could send off a last message.

Officer 2135 walked into his bedroom and
pulled out his phone from its hiding place. He thought for a
moment.

This is not enough. But they need to know
something.

He began typing a message
that he thought might be helpful. Whatever they are doing here, he
thought, Command seems to be on the right track.
I wonder what plans they have.

CHAPTER 9

TUESDAY

Yongsan Garrison, Seoul, South Korea

“
If you take this ridge
here, it should bring you to this dirt path over here, which gives
you a direct route to the entrance to the base,” Mr. Lee said,
pointing to a map.

Tom was in a well-lit conference room at the
US base in Seoul. Mr. Lee was giving Tom the promised follow-up
briefing. Next to Tom, Kang Jiyeon sat at the table. Tom noticed
she kept looking down and then over at him.

Mr. Lee and Jiyeon were analysts in Mr.
Park’s group at the NIS. They were in charge of the NIS illegals,
or deep cover officers, in North Korea. Jiyeon had long black hair
with almost a brown hue when in the sunlight. Her arms looked like
straight lines. Her slender frame was upright in her chair, her
neck so lean Tom wondered if he could hold it completely in his
hand. Her face was made of delicate features which mystified her
age - she could have been 25 or 35. Every time Tom looked over at
her, he caught her looking at him, but she moved her eyes away,
either down or towards Mr. Lee, who continued the briefing.

“
The next topic we need to
walk you through are the army counter-intelligence units in the
area.” He continued, “The men in these units are not the typical
half-trained soldiers like the regular ground force. These guys are
smart—many of them are fluent in English and one other language.
Many of them are related to the regime directly. We believe some
are nephews and cousins of the high-ranking generals as well as
members of the Politburo. What that means is they really believe in
their system. More than that, they view themselves as the enforcers
of their system. So you can expect them to be more vigilant and
more careful than typical soldiers. They will also be better–
better shooters and better tacticians than the
regulars.”

“
Do they carry different
weapons than the rest of the army?” Tom asked. Having a sense of
what weaponry you might encounter was an important element of SAD
missions.

“
These guys have all
switched to the Type 88.” Tom knew this was another name for the
AK-74 version of the original Kalashnikov rifle. Mr. Lee continued,
“a durable weapon, its performance does not change in sand, snow,
or wet environments. It has stopping power too, but in terms of
accuracy, an M4 like you use is superior.”

“
Do you have an estimate
for their numbers in that area?” Tom looked at them
both.

Mr. Lee motioned to Jiyeon. She started
speaking with a delicate voice:

“
From what we can tell it
looks like 100 right around that area. Plus another thousand
garrisoned close to both Chongjin and Kilju.” She looked
embarrassed for having given such high numbers.

“
But the number of them
should be much smaller around the middle of the night, when you’re
going.” Mr. Lee added.

Tom loved the night. While most people got
stomach butterflies thinking about running around in a hostile
environment at night, SAD operatives appreciated the night. He
thought of it as a blindfold that blanketed a hostile territory. He
used night vision goggles while his enemies on most operations had
to use their naked eyes. Guarding anything from him at night was
like asking someone to run with his feet tied together. At night,
he simultaneously carried the power of invisibility and nocturnal
vision. He would be the only person in North Korea in a few nights,
who would be able to see in that dark country.

“
Now,” Mr. Lee continued,
“We have some additional intelligence we just recently received.
This information comes from another one of the illegals Jiyeon and
I manage for Mr. Park.”

Tom wondered how many illegals the South had
in North Korea. It must have been a difficult operation to manage,
he thought. North Korea was a feudal society. To find a good job,
you had to come from the right family – one that fought in the
Korean war, had no history of disloyalty whatsoever, and came from
the right social class. How did South Korea have these illegals in
that country living as citizens – holding jobs, receiving food
rations, without coming from a carefully tracked family? Tom smiled
as he imagined a society that claimed it was for “the people” yet
where your class determined everything about your life – your job,
where you lived, and what food you ate. A society that says its
goal is to have equality for everyone and does this by creating
inequality – what do you call that, he thought? It seemed
irrational.

“
We have a deep cover
officer—” Mr. Lee continued as he looked down at a piece of paper,
“Officer 2135, who we stationed in Chongjin several years ago. As
you know, Chongjin is the closest major coastal city to the area
you are infiltrating. It has a deep-water port, so it has ships
coming in and going out every week. I can’t say where Officer 2135
works but we sent him a message asking if he can look into whether
any potential nuclear weapon-related cargo is coming into that
port.”