‘South Korea would immediately become a pariah nation, closed off to the outside world until the crisis was under control, during which time — in a gesture of singularity, of brotherhood — North Korea would have extended the olive branch of peace and moved in to ‘help’ their neighbors in their time of need.
‘When the smoke cleared, President Kim and the North Korean government would have all but supplanted the southern regime, and would move its own people across the border to run its factories and businesses, replacing the people who would have been killed.
‘Before long, the once divided nation would be whole again, with Kim in complete control.
‘Of course, world opinion would have been strongly against the North’s occupation if it was known that the weapon originated from there, which was why the crate was to be shipped to the Middle East for use by a terrorist proxy. This way, the world would actually have sympathy with the northern regime, and believe that they were actually helping the south. By the time anyone learnt different — if anyone ever would learn any different — it would be too late anyway.’
‘So what’s going on now that the weapon was intercepted?’ asked Catalina dos Santos.
‘The RGB decided to go ahead with their plan anyway,’ Olsen replied, ‘but instead of using the terrorist proxy to cover their involvement, they were prepared to inject prisoners from Camp Fourteen and send them covertly over the border. The likelihood of an international backlash would of course be much higher, but it would have been better than absolute failure.
‘Luckily, these injections were stopped just in time, and the situation has been temporarily contained. But the weapon is stockpiled in quantity at Camp Fourteen, and they may well try again at some stage if we do not take immediate action.’
‘Such as?’ Mason asked. ‘Surely you’re not suggesting an attack on North Korean soil?’
‘That’s exactly what we’re suggesting,’ Abrams answered, all eyes turning to her. ‘We cannot allow that weapon to exist, and I personally back the use of B2 bombers to take out the camp.’
Richards saw the heads nodding around the table, saw his own life spinning out of control.
‘Do we have a consensus?’ Abrams asked next.
Hands went up around the table, and Richards felt his own hand rising right along with them. How could he argue against it?
Abrams nodded her head. ‘Excellent.’ She picked up the phone on the table in front of her and gave the order for the B2s to start the operation. Putting the phone down, she turned to Olsen. ‘General?’ she asked.
Olsen looked around the table, smiling. ‘Good. Thank you everyone. That’s going to take care of one of our problems at least.’
‘We’ve got more?’ asked Pat Johnson, Secretary of Defense.
Olsen nodded grimly, and Richards watched, helpless. He knew what was coming.
‘You bet your ass,’ Olsen added. ‘We’ve still got to talk about who’s got that damned crate off the Fu Yu Shan, and what the hell they’re planning on doing with it.’
2
Jake Navarone watched the two PLA captains, Liu Yingchau and Xie Wei, as they walked through the side gate into the main prison compound; Major Ho Sang-ok walked between them, concealed pistols aimed at his spine.
Navarone had been impressed with the professionalism of the Chinese military officers so far; they had done everything asked of them, and more besides. He made a mental note to report on their performance to Commander Treyborne. On the one hand, they should receive a citation of some sort for their work on the mission; on the other, it would be prudent to make a study of their own training and operational capabilities, which the US military might well have underestimated.
It had been decided that Liu and Xie would be the ones to breach the main compound, due not only to their appearance — they might not have looked North Korean exactly, but they were a lot closer than any of the other men in Bravo Troop — but also because of their familiarity with the Korean language. It wasn’t perfect, but — again — it was superior to any other person that Navarone had.
Since Navarone’s radio conversation with Treyborne, the SEALs had effectively taken complete control of the secondary compound. His explosives experts had been sent back out to wreak havoc in the eastern forest, and were still keeping the guards from the main camp occupied. Also — to Navarone’s relief — there seemed to be a reluctance for anyone to approach this side of the camp anyway. Probably due to what went on here, he supposed; nobody in their right minds would have anything to do with it. The sight of the fleshless bodies being thrown into the incinerator would, Navarone knew, haunt him for a long time to come.
Navarone’s men had secured all of the buildings within the compound, subduing people where they could, killing them silently when met with resistance.
He had then set up fire bases within the buildings overlooking the main compound, strategically placing snipers and machine gunners where they could provide covering fire and protection for the next phase of the plan.
From his observation point at the second floor window of the laboratory building, Navarone watched through his high-powered Zeiss lenses as Major Ho and the two Chinese captains — now with Korean People’s Army Ground Force uniforms taken from soldiers found in the secondary compound — were stopped at the sentry post inside the side gate.
Navarone held his breath as Major Ho spoke to the guards there, hoping beyond hope that he would keep his word and allow the safe passage of Liu and Xie into the prison camp beyond.
It was fear that drove him, Ho realized with little hint of self-recrimination. It was, after all, fear that drove everything in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. It was all he had known, his entire life. Fear drove the people under him, and fear was used on him by his own superiors.
It was now several conflicting fears which would dictate his actions. His primary fear, of course, was that the two soldiers he was sandwiched between would shoot him dead if he didn’t comply with their commands.
Another, less immediate, fear was that if the American team was successful, then — even if he survived — he was as good as dead anyway. He understood that this was the last chance for the RGB — if he failed here, both he and Lieutenant General U Chun-su would likely be executed as an example to others. The price of failure in North Korea was always high.
A part of him therefore reacted against the soldiers beside him, against the Americans who had taken over the experimentation compound. If Ho could sound the alarm, perhaps he could still salvage the operation?
But he knew that it was too late anyway. The Americans already knew of the plan — to save himself from torture, he had willingly told them everything — and they had already informed their superiors back in the United States. South Korea would be notified, and the plan would be doomed to failure as a result. World opinion would turn on North Korea even more ferociously than it already was.
He knew that bombers would be on their way to destroy this place — probably the entire damned valley — which was why the American commandos were instigating this ridiculous phase of their own operation rather than just reporting back their findings and escaping. They actually wanted to rescue the prisoners before their bombers arrived, which — in more favorable circumstances — Ho would have found hilarious. He simply did not understand the attitude of the Americans at all. Why rescue the enemy? It made no sense at all to Ho.
The leader of the commandos had seemed infuriated that there were women and children here in the camp, but Ho couldn’t see what difference it made. Enemies of the state were enemies of the state, were they not? Age and sex surely made not one iota of difference.