“It sounds interesting.” They all started repeating it.
They had some more coffee and thought to themselves in silence. “I should probably get back to the Command Room.” Sara eventually said. Mark and J.D. nodded in agreement and they all left the kitchen. They walked down the hall quietly pronouncing Sara’s new word. Before entering the Command Room, Sara looked down the other side of the hall. Mr. Park was standing outside the conference room occupied by his analysts. His hands were on his hips and he was looking down.
What are they doing?
Then Anderson walked out of the same conference room, looking down. His hands were on his hips as well. Sara approached them slowly, with Mark and J.D. behind her. Anderson looked over as they got close.
“Guys, we have something new that came up in Seoul,” Anderson said. His shirt’s top button was undone and his tie was loosened so that the knot sat lower than where it usually did.
“What is it?” Sara asked as she came to a stop by them.
Mr. Park began speaking in his systematic tone, “I believe one of my analysts has been kidnapped.”
“Kidnapped?” Sara, Mark, and J.D. said together.
“After hearing that you traced a phone call from that phone in Pyongyang to a number in Seoul, I looked into it. One of my analysts — one of the two people that briefed Tom yesterday — was working late in the office. She was almost in her own apartment building when a group of three or four people took her and carried her into a car.”
“Oh my God, that’s terrifying,” Sara said with her hand over her mouth. “How did you figure that out?”
“The concierge at her apartment building saw part of it happen. He ran outside as they were driving away, and then called the police. He seemed to recognize her. I was just on the phone with the police and they are trying to find the car.”
“Did he get the license plate number of the car before it drove away?” Mark asked.
“He did not. It was too dark and he ran out too late.”
“Did he see anything that could help identify them? Even if he saw the type of car, it can help.” Mark sounded like he knew what he was talking about, Sara thought.
“He did not see anything like that. Nevertheless, all police stations in Korea have been alerted.”
Sara prided herself on getting to the point fast. “Do you suspect this was done by North Koreans?” she asked.
Mr. Park thought for a moment before giving his answer. “A kidnapping done this way, with a team, highly organized, and few clues left behind, has the markings of a North Korean kidnapping operation. This is the one area of foreign subversion they have developed to a high level.”
Anderson looked up and put into words what everyone was thinking. “If they have her, they might be able to get her to tell them mission details. For now they still don’t know that our target is that base. If they interrogate her, they could figure that out, as well as Tom’s planned route and his exfiltration plan. They could even go into the water and look for his parked SDV.”
Mr. Park picked up the thought, “Aside from this mission, they could learn about the entire network of illegals we have in North Korea.”
“What is clear is we need to act fast. What can we do?” Anderson said.
J.D. jumped in, “Let me see if I can trace that phone. Whoever received that call from Pyongyang is probably still carrying that phone around.” He ran into the Command Room to get on his laptop.
“Let me make a phone call,” Mr. Park said as he walked back into his conference room with Anderson behind him.
Sara peeked inside. There were several NIS analysts working on laptops. Piles of paper were stacked on the table around them. They looked like various documents, files, and printed emails. Some of the analysts were paging through the files, while others were working on their laptops. In the short time they had been there, they had created a small mess. Used paper coffee cups were stacked randomly throughout the table.
“Who are they?” Mark whispered to Sara.
“They are analysts from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service,” Sara whispered back.
“What are they doing? Are they helping with the mission?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out. I have no idea what they are doing. They have not been involved in the mission planning from what I can tell. Only Mr. Park comes out and talks to us.”
“That’s strange. I wonder why they even needed to come with him over here.”
“I know. It’s bizarre. And now this poor girl has been kidnapped. What is going on over there?”
“Let’s step inside. Maybe we can help them think through it. Maybe I can think of some way we can trace something other than that phone.”
Sara and Mark walked into the conference room. The analysts inside barely looked up. They looked disheveled to Sara. Their hair was messy and their clothes looked worn. They seemed to be working fast. The ones on laptops were typing as fast as they possibly could, their eyes never looking away from the screen. The ones going through documents were reading a page every fifteen seconds. Sara wondered how they kept such a pace after their all-nighter.
Mr. Park got off the phone and looked at them. “I just called the Minister of National Defense at his home. I explained to him what happened. He is readying the White Tiger battalion. We need to find her and send them in to rescue her as soon as possible. Before they can figure anything out.”
Anderson answered Sara’s question before she asked it. “White Tiger is their SEAL Team 6. They have a few Toms of their own.”
Just then J.D. burst into the conference room with his laptop. “I just checked. Whoever received that call from Pyongyang turned his phone off. I can’t trace that person now.”
“Can you set it so that as soon as he powers it back on we get alerted?” Mark asked.
“Sure. I’ll do that now. But we have to find this girl another way.”
“Mr. Park, one question I have is how they knew to kidnap her. The NIS has thousands of employees and your group, I’m guessing, is small. How did they know to target her?” Sara said.
“I am trying to figure that out,” he said, nodding.
“Is there anything else we can do?” Anderson asked.
“The Minister of National Defense is also calling the Chief of Naval Operations. Our navy will send gunboats to patrol the west cost.”
“Why the west coast?” Sara asked.
“The western coast of South Korea is much closer to Seoul than the eastern coast. They could drive there quickly. Additionally, their navy is more active on that side. So if they wanted to grab someone and quickly get them to the North, that would be the fastest way to do it.”
“If they can make sure no boats leave the west coast tonight, and Mark and J.D. can trace that cell phone as soon as it’s turned on, we might be able to keep them in South Korea. Maybe she can be rescued before they get a chance to move her anywhere,” Anderson said, his tone hopeful.
“We should tell Tom,” Sara interjected, “He should know that his mission has potentially been compromised further.”
CHAPTER 37
Tom slowed down. He had been moving at a brisk speed for some time. He had moved to the edge of the forest by the road. He found it easier to navigate this way. The ground near the road was easier to move through as well. He had seen no patrols on the road. As he looked at his GPS reader he saw that he was at Waypoint 2. This was the spot where the road lined up with a ridge that cut between two small mountains. At the end of the ridge he would be able to find a path that led straight to the underground facility’s entrance.