Rhee’s smile disappeared. “Are you questioning direct orders from the Marshal?”
“I am asking for an explanation. The federal government wants me to declare a state of emergency so they can come down on you and the triads!”
“The Triads are my concern, not yours. The mayor’s removal was for your benefit. It was decided that some time as mayor would look good when you run for the Senate.”
Kwan felt his knees go weak. He took a couple of steps back before he found a chair and sat in it. “That is the height of insanity! The feds will investigate everything! If they uncover any link between me and the Triads—”
Rhee smiled again. “Which doesn’t exist. There is no one who can place you or any Triad leader in the same place at the same time. You can honestly say you have never met any of them. You are safe.”
Kwan realized he was right, but he crushed the relief he felt. “What about the feds? If they do catch you, they’ll find out about me.”
“They will not catch me.”
“Why are you even here? To congratulate me in person?”
“I had hoped the mayor would die in the assassination attempt, but she is still alive.”
Kwan made a spitting sound. “If you can call being in a coma alive. Her spine’s shattered in three places. Her liver, stomach and large intestine are damaged and one lung has collapsed. It will be a minor miracle if she lives out the week, and she’ll never recover enough to hold political office again.”
Rhee held Kwan’s gaze. “Nevertheless, she needs to die.”
“Why are you—” Kwan stopped in mid-sentence as the realization dawned on him. “You want me to do it.”
Rhee smiled again. “Call it a loyalty test. You have been too long outside the borders of the fatherland, comrade. You might have forgotten who the real enemy is. It’s time to remind you.”
Kwan’s hands became fists, though he kept them by his side. “How am I supposed to kill her? She’s heavily guarded! How will I ever run for Senate if I’m in prison?”
“I doubt you’d be the first. But seriously…” Rhee chuckled at his own joke while he reached into a coat pocket and withdrew a small case. “With this. It contains a syringe with a fast-acting poison that the best scientists in the Democratic People’s Republic assure me will look like simple heart failure. Eject the contents into one of the IV bags. It’s colorless, tasteless and impossible to detect.”
He held it out. “Consider this as an opportunity to increase your standing in the world.”
Thoughts and emotions clashed in Kwan’s mind. The thought of taking the case and flushing the contents down the toilet in front of Rhee was on the heels of the overwhelming urge to either shout for help or punch the smug bastard. But the cold harsh reality was that Rhee had him over a barrel and they both knew it.
As if Rhee was reading his mind, the major said, “Remember your family here and back home. I don’t need to harm you to hurt you.” He raised the case so that it was in front of Kwan’s face. “Your choice.”
Kwan snatched the case of out Rhee’s hand. “Some choice.”
“Excellent. You have forty-eight hours. Remember your brother, his wife, your niece and nephews. Are they worth less than one person who is nearly dead anyway?” The major tilted his head. “Or maybe your own wife and children are more of an immediate concern.”
Kwan felt his stomach flip-flop. For a brief moment, Kwan considered attacking Rhee. If he could catch the man by surprise, he might be able to injure him, or maybe even kill him. But the idea died as fast as he thought of it. Rhee was a soldier, a highly trained killer, while Kwan was a spy — one who stayed in shape, but twenty years older than Rhee, with little fighting skill and no experience in combat. Rhee would kill him, kill his family, and then put his brother and his family into a prison camp.
“I have no choice, do I?” Kwan held the case in his hand. “I don’t know when I’ll be able to get over to the hospital again. I have a city to run.”
“It won’t take but a few minutes to administer. But she will die in the next forty-eight hours, either naturally or by your hand.”
“Fine,” Kwan snarled. Get the hell out of my house and never come back.”
Rhee’s smile was icy as he walked out of the room. Five minutes later, Kwan searched the house and found no sign that Rhee had ever been there.
Kwan sat in his home office long after Rhee left.
He kept the room’s main lights off, preferring the small desk lamp. An open bottle of scotch sat on the desktop, along with a half-filled glass. The office, like the house, was quiet and dark.
He was living a lie. It was clear the despot that ruled his homeland was living in a fantasy, too, except that people were dying for the Young Leader’s delusions, just as they had with his father and grandfather. Kwan had read everything he could to find out what he could about the American view of North Korea. He learned the Americans regarded Kims as dangerous wackos, kids with a penchant for western pop culture playing with lethal weapons, but otherwise nothing more than a minor irritation when compared to China, Russia, and the Islamic religious fanatics. To most, North Korea and the Kims were a joke, something to be made fun of.
But Kwan knew the family was not a joke. They ruled with iron fists, and there were men like Rhee who would follow their orders without hesitation, who would kill people without a second thought.
Now he was caught up in his homeland’s insane plans. He wasn’t sure why Rhee had allied himself with the Triads, but he knew it wasn’t good. But what could he do? To refuse Rhee would mean his death and that of his wife and children, as well as the imprisonment of his brother. He was trapped. He could see no way out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The next target for OUTCAST was an overnight casino fronted by a 24-hour mini-market in the Ingleside Heights section. The area was a mix of small stores and two-and-three story residences not far from Route 1 and less two miles from the Pacific Ocean. From the outside, the place looked like an ordinary small business. The only thing slightly out of ordinary was the excessive security cameras. Unlike most mom and pop shops in the neighborhood with a single lens over the front door, this establishment had multiple cameras covering all approaches to the store.
Danielle’s voice came over the radio. “Base to Prime: I’m in their network.”
Standing a block west of the store, Tanner and Naomi observed the store. Both were dressed in rough clothing different from what they’d worn when they hit the brothel. As before, both wore balaclavas on their heads and weapons under their coats. In addition to the clothes, they wore gas masks around their necks under their coats. “Copy, Base,” Tanner said. “What are we looking at?”
“I count three employees, all Asian. There’s a hallway in the back that ends at a door, one man on guard, also Asian. The door is steel, with a viewport.”
“Can you access the camera system beyond the security door?”
“Negative. The system must be internal only.”
“Two to Prime,” Liam interjected. He and Choi sat in a car parked in a driveway of a house for sale a block east from the store. “I can see a couple of guys heading toward the store coming from my direction. They should in your view right about … now.”
Tanner watched two men walk into view and go inside the store. “Base, do you have them?”