"Great. The President gave us the go-ahead. According to Kingsley Marshall, South Korea has confirmed our worst suspicions. They expanded the danger zone for their missile test. It will involve a powerful new explosive, according to their warning."
"Yeah," Burke said. "You can translate that 'nuclear.'"
"Right. Meanwhile, the President is dispatching a courier by Air Force jet. You're to pick up an envelope from Ambassador Shearing first thing in the morning. Good luck with it."
"I damned sure hope we're luckier than Rudy vanRoden and Brad Gore," Burke said.
"What's happened?"
Burke told him about the snow delays.
"They won't be there until tonight?" Nate said in disbelief.
"Fortunately, we haven't had any problems so far."
Afterward, he reflected for a moment on good fortune and good luck. They made about as unreliable a pair of bedfellows as he could imagine. The plain facts were that you made your own breaks, and you made your own mistakes. And in this business, you weren't allowed too many of the latter.
He received another call late that afternoon that sounded like a definite break.
"Mr. Hill," said a Korean-accented voice, "I must remain anonymous for the present, but I have some information I think you would find highly beneficial."
"What kind of information?" Burke asked.
"About a project called Pok Su and Captain Yun Yu-sop's investigation."
Who the hell was this guy and where did he get my name, Burke wondered? Could it be some kind of probing operation? An attempt to get him to throw a little light on something better kept in the shadows? Or was it the man Captain Yun was chasing, Hwang Sang-sol? "I don't know what you're talking about," he said, stalling.
"Don't worry, Mr. Hill. I'm no government spy. I know you have been working with Captain Yun. I have some details he was unable to purchase from his informer."
If it were bait, it was too juicy for Burke to avoid biting at. "What sort of details?"
"Things like who was responsible for several murders and who is running Pok Su."
"What about who murdered Captain Yun?" Burke asked.
"Yes, not only who did it, but who hired the man who did it."
Burke remained skeptical. "How do you know these things, and why tell me?" he asked.
"Ah, yes. What do I get out of it? I'm close to one of the prime organs of power in this country, Mr. Hill, and I am increasingly unhappy with actions of the Kwak regime. Let's just say I owe them a payback. That's what poksu means in Koean. For Dr. Lee, for Yun Yu-sop, for Ahn Wi-Jong."
To know all this, the man definitely had to be on the inside. He even knew about Ahn. Had they managed to track down Ahn Wi-jong at Wat Prathat Doi Suthep?
"I will meet you tonight at eight o'clock," the man added.
"No need for that,"Burke said. "Just tell me now."
"I have documents to show you, also, and I cannot be seen in public. Come to the Namyong Iron and Metal Company. The gate will be unlocked. Come around to the back entrance to the building."
Burke jotted down the address. "And how do I know this isn't some sort of ambush?"
The man's voice became agitated. "You Americans, always suspicious, always looking for the dark side. It is I who will be at your mercy. How do I know who you might bring with you? It would be better for me if you came alone, but… " His voice trailed off.
"All right," Burke said. "Eight o'clock."
He would not be alone. He would have Duane Elliston in reserve. Rudy vanRoden and Brad Gore also, if they arrived in time, though he wasn't counting on it. The information promised would give him a measure of insurance for tomorrow's showdown. There was, of course, one troubling aspect. He would be taking a big risk, walking blind into the Namyong Iron and Metal Company. He'd prefer to check the place out, but there wasn't time for that. He wondered again if the caller could have been Hwang? That didn't seem likely, though, when he considered the circumstances. Hired guns were not usually briefed on the inside workings of an operation. Anyway, with Duane backing him up and with the gun he had picked up from Lieutenant Yun in his pocket, it made the risks a bit more acceptable.
Burke called Duane and Brittany into the office and told them about the mysterious caller.
"I want you to drive us over there," he told Brittany. "We'll let Duane out down the block and you can drop me off at the company gate. Then you go straight home and wait for us to call."
"How long will you be there?" she asked.
"Thirty… forty-five minutes, I'd think."
"What if I don't hear from you, like in an hour?"
Burke rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Call Lieutenant Yun Se-jin, tell him what happened. I'll give you his number." Burke had managed to clutter up Jerry's desk a little more to his liking, and he toyed for a moment with a round plastic container filled with paperclips. He looked up at Duane. "It might be a good idea to bring the Lieutenant into this thing ahead of time, see if he would provide us a little reinforcement. Just in case Rudy and Brad don't make it in time."
Duane frowned, shaking his head. "We can handle it without any outside interference. I'll check the area carefully as I move in, then make sure you're having no problems."
Burke reacted physically as well as verbally, giving the container a savage twist, spilling paperclips onto the desk. "Damn it, Duane, we don't need any heroics. The more safeguards we can build into this situation, the better."
"Heroics, hell. Be practical. Nate warned us to protect our cover. Ask some Korean cop to help us move in on this guy like the charge of the Light Brigade and you think he's going to believe we're just a PR agency? Tell me another joke, man."
The look on his face reflected the simmering inside as Burke jammed the paperclips back into the plastic cylinder. There was no use arguing with Duane Elliston. If he didn't have all the answers, he'd damn sure make you think he did.
"All right," he said, spitting out the words like darts. "I'll meet you two at the Chosun at seven-thirty."
After they left, Burke closed the door and called Lieutenant Yun. He got his answering machine. Burke left a message about the caller and the plan to meet at the Namyong Iron and Metal Company. He asked Se-jin to call him if he got the message before seven-thirty.
This would be the closest Brittany had come to being involved in a real covert operation. She had never said anything, but she had secretly dreamed of taking part in some kind of cloak-and-dagger deal. Now that it was about to happen, she found herself concerned enough about the disagreement between her co-conspirators that she detoured by the hospital on her way home and asked Jerry's advice.
"Duane's headstrong, but he's competent," Jerry said. "Just remember, Burke's in charge. Whatever he says goes. But you're not trained for operations. As soon as you let them out, get the hell out of there in a hurry and wait for the phone call. Good luck."
Chapter 67
As it turned out, the maverick snowfall ended in Seoul about the time Rudy vanRoden and Brad Gore boarded the Blue Train in Pusan. Had they waited another hour, they could have taken a flight that would have put them in the capital the latter part of the afternoon. VanRoden, a veteran of long, endless days and nights spent on stake-outs, possessed a patience worthy of a microbiologist who stared for hours at the infinitesimal movements that took place under the lens of a microscope. His partner was the opposite. A tall, ugly, muscular man whose appearance was enough to discourage most people from tangling with him, Gore had an overactive thyroid, or some such imbalance, that encouraged activity on a grand scale. He had convinced vanRoden they would be better off moving toward Seoul by some means rather than sitting around the Kimhae Airport terminal hoping things would change for the better.