"I thought you would," Orlov said. He put his hand on her arm and led her into the bedroom.
CHAPTER 19
Brigadier General Randolph Sanford, the man who had betrayed a hundred and sixty submariners to their death, came out of the toilet and saw two grim faced men in civilian dress going into his Pentagon office. They were accompanied by the colonel in charge of internal security. A panic surge of adrenaline stopped him in his tracks.
They know. They know it was me.
In a way, it was a relief. Without thinking, Randolph turned in the other direction and headed for the elevators. It was lucky he'd seen them. He had no doubt that if he returned to his office, he'd be arrested.
He stepped into the elevator and rode to the ground floor. His coat and hat were still in the office. The guard at the exit gave him an odd look but said nothing as he went through the security checkpoint and outside into a cold, December day. He tried not to run as he walked to his car. He got in, started it up and drove away. His exit would have been noted by the computers. It wouldn't take long for them to realize he'd left the building. There wasn't much time to do what needed to be done.
Randolph lived in a pleasant suburb of Alexandria, a setting of upscale homes and carefully tended lawns, although the lawns were currently under several inches of snow. The roads were icy. Randolph drove carefully. It would be ironic if he were killed in a stupid car accident.
They'll lock me up in maximum security and throw away the key. The best I can hope for is one hour of exercise a day in some courtyard without any sun and an eight by twelve cell without a window.
He reached his home, triggered the garage door with the remote and parked. He went into the house, remembering to shut the garage door. It felt as if he were moving in a dream. Everything looked normal, just as it had this morning when he'd left for work. The kitchen was clean. The house was a comfortable temperature. The living room rug felt the same under his feet as he walked to his study.
Somehow that didn't seem right.
His wife was not home, as he'd known she wouldn't be. He was sorry for the pain he would cause her. Worse would be the effect on his children when they learned of his treachery.
Randolph went into his study and sat down at his desk. He opened a drawer and took out the Colt .45 he'd carried before the Army switched to the Beretta. The heavy pistol was a familiar weight in his hand. It smelled of gun oil.
He'd always prided himself on keeping his weapons clean. He took out his cleaning kit, opened it and laid a bore brush, rod and patches on a cloth he spread on the desk. He screwed the brush onto the end of the rod, opened a bottle of Hoppe's No. 9 and dipped the brush in it, then dropped the brush and rod on the floor next to his chair.
He ejected the magazine, pulled the slide part way back and made sure a round was in the chamber. He set the pistol and loaded magazine on the desktop and picked up a picture of his wife and two children.
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Sorry for everything. I wish I hadn't given that bastard what he asked for. I'm a fool. If I expose him, he'll make those pictures public. He's trapped me.
With luck, it would appear to be an accident, as if the gun had gone off when he was cleaning it. That way his insurance might pay out. The government would keep his treason quiet. They'd find the money he'd hidden offshore, but they might not go after the joint IRA and the money in his wife's bank accounts. It was the best he could do for his family.
He cocked the pistol, placed it against the roof of his mouth, and pulled the trigger.
CHAPTER 20
"North Korea in winter?" Lamont said. "Are you nuts?"
"It hasn't been decided yet," Nick said.
It was late in the afternoon after the meeting with the President. As usual, the team had gathered in Harker's office. Stephanie was there. For the first time, Freddie was listening in on the discussion.
The current temperature in Pyongyang is minus four degrees Fahrenheit.
Everyone looked at the speaker in the corner of the room.
"Freddie," Stephanie said. "Please refrain from making comments until you are asked."
Of course, Stephanie.
"Rice wants us to put together a plan to get into the facility where Yun is building his bomb and make it go away," Nick said. "Like I said, it hasn't been decided to do this yet. It's not a mission, more of a feasibility study to see if it can be done."
"That include getting us out again after we blow the place up?" Ronnie asked.
"That would be a good idea," Nick said. "I'm not interested in committing suicide. Steph, would you bring up a map of North Korea?"
I can do that, Nick.
"Uh, okay, Freddie."
A map of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea appeared on the monitor.
"Where's the target?" Ronnie asked.
"Well, that's part of the problem. No one's sure, yet."
"How the hell are we going to plan a mission if we don't know where the target is?" Lamont said.
"We can't, but we can narrow potential targets down to a few possibilities," Nick said. He picked up a laser pointer.
"The main research center is at Yongbyon, here." A red point of light danced on the monitor screen. "That's where they do heavy water research and where they have their cyclotron. It's not a manufacturing facility. We can ignore that. Besides, it's an easy target for a missile."
He moved the laser North and East, toward the borders with Russia and China.
"The two main test sites that we know about are Punggye-Ri and Kilju, here and here. That's where they've been setting off their underground nuclear explosions. As you can see, they're somewhat inland. It would be a difficult penetration, and once we got there we'd run into heavy security. Everything at both sites is below ground in tunnels."
"A HAHO jump?" Ronnie asked.
"High is the only way if we fly in, but I'm not sure any air approach is an option. Their missile defenses and radar are as good as ours. I don't think we could get close enough without getting blown out of the sky, even if we drop offshore."
Lamont whistled part of the theme music for Mission Impossible.
"They wouldn't launch from those sites, would they?" Selena asked.
"It's possible they could bring a mobile launcher out of one of those tunnels," Nick said.
No movements of mobile launchers have been noted in the vicinity of Punggye-Ri and Kilju during the last eighteen months, sixteen days, four hours, three minutes and fifty-six seconds. It is unlikely that a missile would be launched from either one.
"Okay, that's good news. Thanks, Freddie."
You are welcome.
Selena continued. "If they don't use one of those sites, what's the next best bet?"
"We have to assume that they don't use a mobile launcher if we want any chance of accomplishing the mission," Nick said. "We'd never be able to pin down one of those in time. There are too many places they could hide one. That leaves these two sites on opposite sides of the country."
He moved the laser pointer west and indicated a point on a small peninsula jutting out into the Korea Bay.
"This is Tongchon-Ri. It's one of two known satellite and rocket launch sites."
He moved the pointer to a spot on the east coast, next to the Sea of Japan. "Musudan-Ri is the launch site they've been using that for their latest tests, the ones upsetting everyone because the missiles keep splashing down near Japan. The latest surveillance photos show a lot of activity there. They're getting ready for another launch."
"Can't blame the Japanese for getting nervous," Lamont said. "Yun has missiles good enough to hit Tokyo."