The gesture didn’t stop Jake. His momentum carried him into Park, knocking the older man to the ground. The FBI agent, breathing hard, placed his right knee on the North Korean’s neck, painfully establishing alpha-dog superiority, and pointed his Glock at the crime boss’s head.
“I brought back your granddaughter and you were going to kill me?” He cracked the barrel of the weapon across the back of Park’s head. “I ought to spread your brains across the grass.”
“Jake, don’t do it,” said Trey, racing up behind them.
“No, Trey, I’m going to close this case tonight with one nine-millimeter slug in the back of this commie bastard’s head.”
“Jake, we need him.”
Park moaned, “Please let me live.”
“Come on, Trey. This piece of garbage doesn’t deserve to live.”
“Please, don’t kill me. I can help you!” the Korean managed to croak.
“What can you do for us?” Jake asked, easing some of his weight off Park’s neck.
“I can help your country. I can tell you about the Iranians and the centrifuges and how they are making nuclear weapons.”
“Jake, he’s right. He can help,” said Trey.
Jake eased up on the trigger of his Glock and asked in a whisper, “Do you believe in God?”
“What?” said Park.
Jake cracked the crime boss across the back of the head one more time before he repeated the question.
Park wasn’t sure how to answer, so he told the truth. “No.”
“Too bad. The God you don’t believe in just saved your life. He determined your days but I guess tonight your number wasn’t up.”
Trey tossed his handcuffs to Jake, who double-locked the cuffs on Park while telling the Korean crime boss, “As usual, you and your Stalinist buddies have it wrong. The pregnant woman I had lunch with isn’t my wife. Katie died a year ago. The woman I met for lunch was her closest friend. Someone she loved, the wife of my best friend. Do you know the meaning of those words, love or friend, you miserable example of humanity?”
Park, clearly confounded by all that was happening and still fearful for his life, replied, “Yes.” Then, as Trey and Jake helped him to his feet, he said, “These are hurting my wrists.”
Jake looked at them in the dark and said, “They’re a little tight but they’ll stretch after you wear ’em awhile.” He then ratcheted each cuff close to the skin, bringing on additional pain with the slightest movement. “I hope they fit okay. Sizing is always so difficult for me to estimate, but I’d recommend you not wiggle too much. These things leave scars.”
As they walked Park back to the front of the house, Jake asked Trey, “How’d you know to come here?”
“After you left with the little girl, I watched you out the window of the hotel room. Hafner was strutting around on the phone, taking credit for the Supernote success once Brian showed him the contents of the toolboxes. I saw Park’s two goons come out of the little deli across the street. When they followed you toward your car, I figured you would need some help and sent you a text message.”
“I never saw it.”
“Well, I came anyway.”
“Thanks for having my back,” said Jake.
“I’ll always have your six. Isn’t that what you Marines call it?” Then, as they heard the sounds of sirens wailing in the distance, Trey added with a smile, “Maybe we should get everything prepped for Hafner’s press conference.”
“We didn’t leave many witnesses,” said Jake.
“Doesn’t matter, there’s not much left to prosecute. I think he’s on our side now,” said Trey, referring to Park.
“I guess that means Hafner gets that psych eval he was pushing,” said Jake with a grimace.
“I bet he does but my money’s on you. Somehow you’ll pass.”
Jake’s cell phone chirped. He fished it out of his back pocket. The text message read, “IT’S TIME!!!!”
“Trey, it’s Natasha, Joe’s wife! I have to get to the hospital. Their baby’s coming.”
“Go! I’ll clean up here.”
As he ran toward his car in the moonlight, he was grateful to be alive but still not sure why God allowed people like Park to exist. Jake had survived another series of near-death encounters and concluded he must have more to do before completing the days his Creator allotted. The birth of his best friend’s son was yet another reason to live.
“Thanks, God,” he whispered as he headed to the hospital.
EPILOGUE
No one was ever prosecuted for the espionage, murders, and other crimes committed during the course of what the CIA and FBI called “Operation Counterfeit Lies.”
The Department of Justice and the Director of National Intelligence declared all the activities and events that took place during the undercover operation to be part of a Foreign Intelligence Activity. The DNI classified all files, debriefs, and audiovisual surveillance recordings as Top Secret.
The undercover recording devices and associated memory chips worn by Gabe Chong and Jake Kruse during the operation were placed in an FBI evidence container and transferred to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. They subsequently disappeared.
All U.S. government participants in Operation Counterfeit Lies were compelled to sign nondisclosure agreements pledging to never reveal what they knew of the operation or the DPRK-Iran nuclear weapons deal.
Park Soon Yong agreed to become an undercover asset of the CIA and the FBI. To maintain his cover, the $2.9 million in Supernotes was replaced with real currency and he continues to operate a global import-export business from Los Angeles. His case officer is named Wilson.
Olivia Knox was promoted and assigned to head the National Counterterrorism Center under the Director of National Intelligence.
Charles Hafner has been named Special Agent in Charge of the FBI office in Anchorage, Alaska.
H. Daniel Reid and three of his former clients were arrested in Hawaii and charged with “possession with the intent to distribute cocaine.”
Trey Bennett and Brian Carter are still assigned to the Los Angeles Field Office of the FBI.
The DPRK continues to refine fissile material and build nuclear warheads for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Gabe Chong, “Cheech” to his Marine Corps buddies, will never be publicly recognized for his valor. Retired Marine Major General Peter Newman and FBI Special Agent James “Jake” Kruse were the only “outsiders” invited to the closed ceremony when Gabe’s sacrifice was honored by an anonymous star on the wall at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. The tiny device hidden in Gabe’s clothing recorded what happened to him. A portion of the classified citation for his National Intelligence Medal cites Gabe for “extraordinary bravery and devotion to duty. Despite brutal and prolonged torture that led to his death, National Clandestine Service officer Chong never revealed the identity of another U.S. Agent who likely would have been killed.”
Jake Kruse remains undercover and knows he is the other “U.S. Agent” mentioned in the classified citation. He also knows that had it not been for Gabe’s courage, his best friend’s son would never call him “Uncle Jake.”
FREEDOM ALLIANCE
The Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund honors American military personnel who have been killed or permanently disabled in service to our nation by providing educational scholarships for their dependent children.
Since 1990, Freedom Alliance has awarded millions of dollars in college scholarships to the sons and daughters of U.S. Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Guardsmen, and Marines. These grants further education and remind all that their parents’ sacrifice will never be forgotten by a grateful nation.