By the time Colonel Lee got his men back under control, Chang’s column was a tangled mass of wrecked and burning vehicles and dead and dying men.
Chang’s coup attempt was over. But the retribution had just begun.
CHAPTER 18
Reactions
“Attention!” The sergeant major’s roar echoed over the snow-covered parade ground. One thousand men snapped to attention, their shoulders thrown back and posture ramrod straight. For a moment the sergeant major studied them, his narrowed eyes looking for any weakness or imperfection.
Satisfied, he wheeled and threw a rigid salute to the group of officers facing the assembled troops. “Battalion present and ready for inspection, sir!”
General Bae returned his salute casually. “Very good, Sergeant Major. We’ll begin now.”
The man dropped his salute and fell in behind Bae as he walked along the ranks, checking uniforms and weapons at random. Occasionally he stopped to have a name taken either for commendation or for punishment. But only occasionally.
Bae smiled thinly to himself. The battalion was in good fighting trim. Ready for anything. The phrase echoed in his mind: ready for anything. This was the unit he had planned to take to Seoul to reinforce Chang’s coup attempt if necessary.
The general continued his inspection but his mind was far away, concentrating on a more urgent problem. What had gone wrong with Chang’s plan?
Chang was dead. That was certain. Bae had heard the news from a friend in the Defense Ministry. But there’d been a complete security clampdown on exactly what had happened along the MSR north of Seoul. All Bae knew for sure was that a five-kilometer stretch of the highway was still closed — forcing supply convoys coming north to detour around it. And the 4th Infantry Division’s camp was quarantined, surrounded by a thick cordon of heavily armed Black Berets.
The general had avoided making any contact with the other plotters since the abortive coup, feeling certain that the DSC’s spies would be watching combat officers even more closely now. In a few days, perhaps, it might be safe to arrange a meeting to try to pick up the pieces. Bae shook his head slowly. Chang had been their inspiration. He wasn’t sure how many of the others would have the stomach to try again now that the Iron Man was gone.
Behind him, the sergeant major frowned as Bae walked right by a private with traces of weapons lubrication oil staining his tunic. He stopped, gave the man a ferocious glare, and then hurried on after his general. Something was bothering the Old Man all right.
Bae finished his walk-around and started moving toward the small cluster of officers nervously waiting for his verdict on their troops. Then he stopped.
Two black staff cars had just driven through the main gate. They were followed by three canvas-sided trucks. The car lurched off the camp’s main road and turned toward the parade ground. The rest followed it, their tires crunching over the compacted surface of snow and ice.
Bae started moving again but one hand dropped, almost unconsciously, to rest on the pistol holster at his right side. The sergeant major followed suit.
He rejoined his officers as the staff car pulled up and slid to a stop in a spray of snow and gravel. The trucks stopped right behind it, and Black Berets carrying submachine guns jumped down off them, fanning out to cover the little group of officers.
Once they were in position, the staff car’s doors popped open. Bae’s eyes narrowed. There could only be one reason for all of this, but surely they were making an unnecessarily large production out of what should be a simple procedure. Why hadn’t they simply waited until his inspection was over?
A small, nervous man wearing a thick officer’s overcoat and carrying a swagger stick levered himself out of the rear door of the staff car. He shivered in the cold air and pulled the overcoat tighter around him. Then he flipped open a file and studied it for a moment. Bae’s officers clustered around the general, waiting for him to take the lead.
Finally the man walked over to them, followed closely by two submachine gun-toting guards with DSC collar tabs. He stopped, facing Bae. “General Bae?”
Bae stood silent for a moment and then nodded.
One side of the thin man’s mouth curled upward and he reached into his pocket for a single, folded piece of paper. He handed it to Bae. “I’m General Kim of the DSC. Those orders come from General Park himself, and they authorize me to take command of your division.”
Bae studied them and then looked up sharply. “For what reason has General Park done this?”
Kim smiled. “For a very good reason, General Bae.” The smile disappeared. “You’re under arrest for treason.”
Even though he’d been half-expecting arrest since the failure of Chang’s coup, the words still shook Bae and he stepped back a pace.
One of the DSC troopers with him stepped forward and yanked Bae’s pistol out of its holster. The other kept Bae’s officers covered with his SMG.
Bae stood rigidly still as the guard frisked him for other weapons. Kim smiled pleasantly again. “What? No protestations of innocence and wronged honor? You disappoint me, General.”
Bae said nothing. How had they known? Chang had told them he’d never kept written notes, so someone must have talked. But who? Chang was dead. Who had betrayed him?
Kim nodded to the DSC guard who now had his SMG trained directly on Bae. “Take this traitor to the car.”
Bae swallowed, trying to clear his throat. “May I have a moment to inform my family of what has happened? I give you my word as an officer that I shall not attempt to escape.”
The DSC general laughed, a harsh, braying sound. “Don’t worry yourself. They’ll be informed of your fate. And your word means nothing to me.” He nodded to his guards. “Take this dog away. The sight of him sickens me.”
Bae was stripped of his coat and hustled away into a waiting car. As it drove off, Kim turned back to face the shocked officers. “Very well, gentlemen. Now that this unpleasantness is behind us, we can get on with my other business here today.”
He looked at the battalion commander. “We will start with your battalion. Have your companies return their weapons to the armory. The entire division is confined to quarters until I’ve had time to sort out this mess to my satisfaction. Clear?”
The battalion commander nodded quickly. Kim was satisfied to see the man’s hands trembling. Good, it was time to throw fear into these soldiers. Fear would keep them in line until he’d had the chance to purge this unit of every traitor and malcontent.
He stood back to watch as the process was begun.
McLaren waited while the uniformed aide cleared away the tea and then looked hard at General Park. “You do realize how goddamned stupid your government’s behavior is right now, don’t you?”
Park spread his hands. “I’m not quite sure what you’re referring to, General.”
“Come off it, Park. I’m talking about the mass arrests made by your security forces. I’m talking about the way your DSC goons are ripping the guts out of your command structure.”
“There have been arrests, yes.” Park laced his fingers together and sat back in his chair. “But surely that is an internal matter, General McLaren. It does not concern you or come under your authority.”
“Bullshit!” McLaren’s fist crashed down on the low table between them. “You’ve thrown half the best officers in your Army, Navy, and Air Force into detention camps, and the rest are too busy looking over their shoulders to run their units properly.”