"The other piece of new information impacts directly on you, I'm afraid." The DCI leveled his eyes on Burke. "I believe you met Vincent Duques at the Embassy."
Burke nodded. "I figured he was your station chief."
Marshall gave him a humorless smile. "He suspected as much. Anyway, he has turned up a new source fairly high in the bureaucracy. He's not prepared to vouch for him a hundred percent, but he considers the fellow reliable enough to pay close attention to what he says. According to this source, there's talk around the Blue House of some American PR people trying to stir up trouble for the government. He says they represent an obscure anti-nuclear group and have been in contact with dissidents."
"I'll bet they broke Dr. Shin," Burke said, "and found out about Jerry. He didn't get any indication they had penetrated our cover?"
As soon as Jerry had contacted Dr. Shin at the Hongsansa Temple, the Coalition for Nuclear Freedom had blossomed from a figment of Chan's imagination into a full-blown organization with offices, albeit small, in Washington and New York, the latter in the vicinity of the United Nations Headquarters. The Agency had called on a few friends to help legitimize the organization, and brochures were quickly printed for distribution to several UN delegations and to the New York Consulate of the Republic of Korea.
"No," said Kingsley Marshall. "Duques himself doesn't know what you are. I doubt the Koreans would have any inkling. But Vincent followed proper procedure and advised the Ambassador. When you get there, you may have a summons from the Embassy."
Nate Highsmith had listened with growing concern. He was not at all pleased with what he was hearing. "I don't like the sound of this, Kingsley. After what happened to Captain Yun, Burke could be seriously at risk. I'm not too keen about letting anyone else in on our secret, but maybe you should bring Duques into this and provide Burke some backup."
"Sorry, Nate. The President has vetoed all my efforts to expand our little circle. I get the impression that he has some definite ideas about how to handle this thing in the end, but he hasn't confided in me. I'd suggest you brief Duane Elliston as fully as possible and use him for backup. My advice to you, Burke, is to take no unnecessary chances."
Gee, thanks, Burke thought. No "unnecessary" chances. That would be drawing a pretty thin line. If they put Hwang Sang-sol on his case, it would not likely make any difference what kind of chances he took. And depending upon Duane Elliston as his backup sure didn't add much of a thrill. He was beginning to get some particularly bad vibes about this trip.
Chapter 59
It was nearly time for breakfast when Burke checked in at the Chosun. The clerk remembered him and asked if he'd like to be on the same floor as before. In his room, he debated about calling Duane, who had moved out into an apartment. He finally decided Miss Song would likely know more about Jerry's situation.
"Mr. Hill," she greeted him brightly. "I'm glad you're back. Jerry… uh, Mr. Chan was asking about you last night."
"How's he doing?"
"His heart and circulation are fine, but he is beginning to have very bad back pains."
"Back?"
"Yes. The doctors had to spread his ribs apart with some kind of clamp when they did the surgery. Apparently it caused his back to become very sore. Other than that, he seems to be fine. I told him you were coming. He wants to see you."
"I'll get by the hospital after I see where everything stands," he told her. "I'm going to grab a bite to eat and then head over to the office. I don't have a key to get in. Could you meet me there a little early?"
"Of course. Whenever you would like."
"Make it about forty-five minutes."
Song Ji-young was radiant in a dark blouse with white dots and a flowered jacket. Burke didn't wonder that Jerry had fallen for her. She was quite pretty. She let him into the manager's office.
"Let me know if you need anything," she said, walking back out to her desk.
Burke sat in Jerry's chair and looked around. Mail from the past couple of days lay in a basket at one side of the desk. Except for the fax machine, the rest of the top was clear. Burke remembered Jerry was one of those office neatness freaks. A place for everything and everything in its place. He opened the large middle drawer and looked in. Surprisingly, several pencils were scattered about haphazardly. A stack of business cards lay in a jumble at one side. He opened another drawer and found things in similar disarray. It looked like some amateur had made a hasty search.
"Miss Song," he called.
She stepped into the doorway. "Yes, sir?"
Burke looked up with a frown. "Have you noticed anyone messing around in here?"
"Messing around?" She had a puzzled expression.
"You know, going through things. Like Jerry's desk."
He caught a brief flash of alarm in her eyes. "No, sir. I haven't seen anyone going through Mr. Chan's desk."
There was an unaccustomed note of caution in her voice. He had a feeling she was holding something back. Duane would have loved to take over Jerry's position. Had he been nosing about in here? He could be pretty intimidating. Perhaps he had told her to say nothing about it. But Duane wouldn't have left such a mess.
"Are you sure nobody was in here looking for something?"
"An Kye-sun was looking for a book yesterday," she said. "He told me it was on the shelf." She pointed to a row of books and bound reports on a shelf beside the desk. "I told him to go ahead and get it."
"You didn't see what he did while he was in here?"
"No, sir," she said. "He said he would just sit in here and look up what he needed. He closed the door."
Now he was genuinely concerned. "Was anyone else around at the time?"
"No, sir. It was while the others were gone to lunch."
He had questioned many a spectator around a crime scene, and he knew a reluctant witness when he saw one. He got up and came around to sit on a corner of the desk, pointing to a chair across from him. "Sit down, Miss Song," he said.
She sat down slowly and crossed her hands in her lap. Distress clouded her eyes.
"You're not telling me the whole story," he said. "I don't think Jerry would approve."
At that, the tears welled up in her eyes. She pulled a Kleenex from her pocket and dabbed at them. "I'm sorry," she said, shaking her head. "I should have told Jerry." She made no pretense of calling him Mr. Chan. "I was afraid it might make him wonder about me."
"Tell him what?"
"Mr. An has been asking lots of questions. He wanted to know about the envelope that came from Pyongyang."
Burke took a deep breath. "What did you tell him?"
"I told him it was for you and I presumed Jerry sent it on to you. And I told him it was none of his business. I suspect he was told to do it by that investigator, Mr. Yoo Hak-sil."
"Yoo? What makes you think that?"
"He came to see me after I was hired. He said he suspected some strange things were going on around here and as a loyal Korean I should report anything I saw or heard to him. I told him I couldn't do that, it wasn't proper. He finally gave up, but he warned me if I said anything about it, my mother would be in for real trouble."
"Your mother?"
She nodded. "She was just getting her emotions straightened out after my father's death. I was afraid of what might happen." She looked down at her hands and twisted the tissue into shreds.
Yoo, the glib, sporty dresser. Evidently he had fooled Captain Yun as well. Was he spying on them that night at the Dokjo Restaurant? He was no longer a policeman. Who was he reporting to, the NSP?
"You should have told Jerry about the threat," Burke said. "He could have taken measures to guard against any problems for your mother."