Rhee’s smile was cold. “Your younger brother just became head of the biology department at Kim Il-sung University. It would be a pity if he was to lose that position because of your failure. He’s married and has three children, two of them grown and married. The prison camps are poor places to bring children and grandchildren up in.”
Rhee walked toward the door. For a moment, Kwan considered throwing the white noise generator at him, but decided not to.
After Rhee left, Kwan sunk into his chair. He hadn’t thought about his brother in years, didn’t even know if what Rhee had said was true. But he couldn’t take the chance. During his training, he had been taken to one of the camps and shown the fate of those who did not follow the Kim family’s vision.
He reached over and pressed the intercom button. “Georgina, please continue holding my calls for the time being.”
“Yes sir.”
He released the intercom switch and picked up the phone, dialing a number from memory.
He had to find Casey.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The pier’s gates were blocked by a pair of SFPD vehicles and a contingent of officers. Choi slowed the U.S. government Suburban to a stop as a cop walked up to them, rolled down his window and displayed a DEA badge to the officer. He motioned to the three men with him. “They’re from Homeland Security. Who’s in charge?”
“Captain Montague and FBI Special Agent Harris.”
“Good. We’ll check in with them.”
They drove onto the pier. Choi slowed as he passed the two shattered hulks that had been Suburbans but were now part of a wide-area crime scene. “I never thanked you guys for saving our asses, did I?”
Liam, who was in the front passenger seat, put a hand on Choi’s shoulder. “Consider it said.”
“I knew most of those guys longer than I’ve known Vess. We drank together, bitched about women and the job together, attended each other’s birthdays, weddings, all that.” He shook his head. “I want these guys to pay.”
“They will,” Liam promised.
They parked with a dozen other vehicles next to a large mobile command truck and climbed out. There were two dozen people in sight, some wearing overalls, others wearing police uniforms, while still others wore suits like Choi and the three OUTCAST members. Evidence markers were everywhere and police tape wrapped around the destroyed vehicles and a few crates near the cargo ship.
Dante looked around slowly, gauging the surroundings. “Nowhere to hide.”
“Yeah,” Liam said. “Where were the sniper and observation teams stationed?”
Choi pointed to the office building Team Two had invaded eight hours before. “Second floor, near the end closest to the ship.” He turned and pointed at a long building with a steel roof perpendicular to the office building. “Sniper team was on the roof there, nearer the bay.”
Liam looked around. “According to the autopsy, both police officers were killed with single shots from distance.”
Choi frowned. “How did you see—”
“Dani retrieved them for us from the morgue’s computer system. Opinion, Dante?”
Dante was also looking around. “There’s no way someone could have killed them from the ground, so whoever took out the sniper team had be higher, which means they had to be firing from that office building, the warehouse near the ship or from the ship itself.”
Liam nodded. “I would bet on the ship.” He pointed to the cargo ship’s superstructure. “From there, I could dominate the entire pier.”
Dante nodded. “Two snipers. No way could both men have been killed by a single sniper quickly enough to prevent one of them from sounding an alarm.”
“Can I help you, gentlemen?”
The four turned at the sound of the voice. Two men were walking toward them. One was sliding into middle age, while the other was younger, taller and built like a linebacker. The older man focused his attention on Choi and scowled. “Come to see your handy work?”
“Captain,” Choi said with an edge in his voice.
The younger man focused on the other three. “Who are you?”
“I’m Reilly.” Liam displayed a federal ID badge. “Homeland Security. These are agents Shah and Alvarez.”
“Special Agent Ray Harris, FBI. I wasn’t told you were coming.”
“We didn’t know ourselves until this morning. Director Casey asked us to look around.”
“John Casey? I know he’s in town.”
Liam nodded. “He’s staying at the Trans-Continental Marsh Hotel if you want to call and confirm.”
“I will.”
The older man folded his arms. “What’s Homeland doing here?”
Choi motioned toward him. “Gentlemen, Captain Al Montague, SFPD.”
Liam stepped up to Montague. “We’re not here to take over your investigation, sir,” he said. “Director Casey asked us to look around. Once we do that, we’ll be out of your hair. Fair enough?”
“I suppose,” Montague growled.
Stephen motioned toward the ship. “Did the ship’s crew tell you anything?”
Montague snorted. “Most of the crew can’t speak English, and those who can didn’t see a thing. There’s a Customs and Immigration team onboard looking for any illegal goods, but I’m not counting on them finding any.”
Harris motioned with his head. “I suppose we can let you look at the evidence we’ve collected so far. In the spirit of cooperation.”
Liam nodded. “Of course.”
They walked over to an area next to the mobile command vehicle. A pair of cargo trucks sat guarded by a pair of police officers.
“What do you have so far in the way of evidence?” Liam asked
Montague climbed into one of the trucks. “Five dead Asians in the office building and parts of four more on a rooftop over on Chavez. Six of them have been IDed as petty criminals, the rest, we’re still working on.”
Liam climbed into the truck. The truck’s walls were lined with shelves, and on one of them he spotted an evidence bag with spent shells in it.
“Captain?” He motioned to the bag. “May I take a look?”
“Knock yourself out. We think they’re Chinese.”
Liam picked up the bag and examined the shells carefully without touching them. “Not Chinese. North Korean. These are 7.62 x 54mm shells, probably from the Type 73 light machine guns.”
Montague frowned but motioned for Liam to continue. The former SEAL held one of the shells between his fingers so that he and the captain could see the base. “See the ‘93’ and the symbol stamped here? That a Korean character. Did you recover any of the weapons?”
“A couple of machine guns from the office roof, a couple of AKs and the remains of a rocket launcher.”
“I’m betting they’re all North Korean-made weapons.”
Harris raised an eyebrow. “You think the North Koreans are invading the U.S.?”
“There are intel reports that they’re expanding arms sales.” Liam placed the evidence bag back on the shelf and climbed out of the truck. “We’re going to look around.”
“Suit yourself,” the captain replied.
Liam nodded. “Steven, Dante, check the office building.”
“Right,” Dante replied.
“Come on, Dan,” Liam said to Choi.
They walked away from the awning and toward the ship. “Where are we going?” Choi asked.
“To look at the ship.”
It took a couple of minutes to reach the vessel. Agents wearing FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) jackets were on deck, along with a few surly-looking Asians dressed as deckhands. Liam walked astern until he came to a set of stairs going up. “Come on.”
They climbed two sets of stairs before Liam was satisfied they were high enough. From there, they had a good view of the pier and its surroundings. A line of crates was visible on the pier near the ship, now being swarmed by evidence techs and law officers. Across a thousand feet of open pavement, the pair could see the warehouse roof where the sniper team had been killed. Beyond the warehouse, they could make out a dirt lot acting as a storage facility for several dozen trailers. They could also easily distinguish the office building roof where the ambushers had been located.