“Do we have any sea assets near there?” Hail asked.
“We still have the Hail Laser located in the Bohai Sea, right here,” Renner said, putting the mouse pointer on the other side of North Korea. “Unless the trawler decides to loop around South Korea, then we are assuming it would dock on the east coast of North Korea. The Laser is on opposite side of North Korea, but we could reduce that distance by moving the Laser into the Yellow Sea.”
Renner dragged the cursor lower on the screen. “That move would take about twenty-four hours. If we better the Lasers’ position in the Yellow Sea, then we would still have to traverse the North Korean land mass by air, which is only about two hundred miles wide.”
“That’s do-able, right?” Hail asked.
“It really depends on what we are supposed to do with this trawler,” Renner said, looking confused.
Kara spoke up.
“The trawler is carrying a large ICBM section headed to North Korea. The mission at hand is to track the large missile part that is on the Huan Yue to its final destination on land. At that point, we would like to set up some sort of surveillance that will let us know when the majority of the parts have arrived. And then at that point, we want them all blown up.”
Renner actually started laughing.
“Is that all?” he asked. “Maybe we should just overthrow the country while we’re there?”
Kara ignored Renner and said, “I don’t think I have to explain to anyone in this room why North Korea would like an ICBM.”
Renner’s smile faded and Kara continued.
“If we all think that The Five was a disaster, then just wait until North Korea has the discretion of lobbing nuclear bombs at the other side of the planet. And to tell you the truth, my agency doesn’t believe that your… your… company,” Kara decided on, “has the means to interdict this shipment, especially in the narrow time frame we have. But short of an overt action on the part of the US, we don’t have much of a choice in the matter. It’s you guys or nothing and nothing is the worst choice.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere,” Hail said, trying to lighten up the mood. “Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. Let’s get some ideas flowing on the initial contact with the Huan Yue.”
Mercier asked, “Do we know where the ship will dock in North Korea?”
“No we don’t,” Kara said. “But it will take a big crane to remove the section of the missile from the Huan Yue, so we would expect it to dock at one of the major ports in Rajin, Chongjin, Wonsan or Hamhung. We currently have AWACS tracking the vessel and when it turns toward land we will have a much better idea of where it’s going to dock.”
“What time frame are we looking at?” Hail asked.
“Like I said,” Renner replied, “That depends on exactly where the Huan Yue is right now.”
Hail looked at Kara.
“I think it’s time to make a call,” Hail told Kara.
“I agree,” Kara said. “Where’s my phone?”
Hail ignored the question and asked her, “Do you know the number?”
“Sure,” Kara replied. “Where’s my phone and I will make the call?”
Hail took his own phone out of his pocket and handed it to Kara.
“It doesn’t matter if you have your phone. We are surrounded by iron and steel. My phone is routed via Voice over Internet Protocol to the cell phone transmitter on deck that links to the satellite. Just use it for now,” Hail requested.
It was apparent that Kara didn’t want to use Hail’s phone, but she couldn’t think of an excuse to avoid the request.
She took Hail’s phone from his hand and pressed some numbers and waited for her boss, Jarret Pepper, to answer.
“Put it on the speaker,” Hail told Renner.
Renner intercepted the VOIP signal and routed it to the conference room’s ceiling speakers.
Kara was surprised when she heard Pepper’s voice fill the room.
“This is Pepper,” the man said.
Kara composed herself and started the conversation with, “Jarret, this is Kara. For reasons I can’t go into right now, I am speaking on an unsecured phone that belongs to Marshall Hail. You should also know that we are coming over the speakers in the conference room right now, and Mr. Hail has his mission planning staff in attendance.”
There was a long pause as the Director of the CIA considered the information.
Then he said, “OK, where are we? What do you need? How are things going?”
Kara got right to the point.
“Everything here is shipshape. But we need to know the current position of the Huan Yue.”
“Give me a minute,” Pepper said and his phone was muted.
Less than thirty seconds later he came back on the line and said, “The Huan Yue is in the Sakhalin Gulf.” Pepper then read off a long string of latitude and longitude numbers and directions. Renner typed the position into the computer.
Pepper added, “It’s currently moving at twelve knots and should enter the Nevelskoy Strait in about six and a half hours, if it maintains its current speed.”
Renner started plotting red graphical dots on the map on the big screen.
Kara asked, “Do we have any further information on where the ship might dock?”
“I’ll have to check on the latest intercepts and see if they give us any new insights,” Pepper said.
To Hail, the man’s voice sounded upbeat and positive. This was a very different man than the one Hail had met in Washington.
Renner got Hail’s attention and made a cutting signal under his neck.
Hail whispered into Kara’s ear. We need to mute the phone for a moment.
Kara said, “Sure. Jarret, we will be back in just a second,” she told her boss and Hail watched her mute the phone. Kara lowered the phone to her waist and then she pressed the mute button a second time, quietly unmuting the phone.
“We need to get steaming,” Renner said to the group, but his suggestion was directed at Hail.
Renner pointed at the dots on the big screen above them. “If the trawler stays at twelve knots, it would be possible to pour on some steam we could be in theater by the time the Huan Yue docks.”
“That’s if it docks in the southern part of North Korea,” Kara informed everyone.
“It doesn’t matter,” Renner said. “We don’t need to be on top of the action, but if we are within five hundred miles, then we can become more tactical than we are right now.”
Renner looked back up at the computer display. The crew watched as he ran the mouse up from Indonesia to just below South Korea, while making mental calculations.
“I think we can be somewhere here in the East China Sea by show time. If the Hail Laser has any issues, then being close is a great back up plan.” Renner said.
“I’d rather run the operation from the Nucleus,” Hail stated. “Let’s do it.”
Since Kara was using Hail’s phone and still had Pepper on hold, Hail walked over to a phone that was bolted into the iron wall and removed the receiver.
“This is Hail. Let’s leave port immediately and precede toward the East China Sea at best speed.”
Hail waited for a response and said, “Very good,” and hung up the phone.
Hail told Kara, “Alright, we are ready to get Pepper back on the call.”
Kara pretended to press the mute key again.
“Hi Jarret, are you there?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m back,” Pepper played along.
“Does anyone have any more questions for the CIA?”
“Yeah, what type of fishing trawler is the Huan Yue?” Renner asked.
“Checking,” Pepper said.
Ten seconds later he reported, “The Huan Yue is a double-rig beam trawler used primarily in the flatfish and shrimp fisheries. It is a medium-sized high-powered vessel. It can tow gear at speeds up to 8 knots with 2000 horsepower. Do you want me to send a photo of the trawler to this phone?” Pepper asked.