Dangerous Secrets (52 page)

Morgan stopped fidgeting with the sugar packet
and stared at Jack.

‶
The gist of the message on the
paper names Pak Chang as having an affair with the daughter of his
father′s prime minister. It says he is the father of her illegitimate
child. The scandal following the rumor drove the prime minister to commit
suicide. In Korea, scandal causes a major loss of face. When it involves a high-ranking
family it can bring shame to everyone associated with the family. In the United
States an illegitimate child would cause only a few heads to turn.″

Morgan felt as if a knife had been plunged into
her heart. Her body went still. Jack noticed. She′d nearly forgotten
about Hart Lewiston and his declaration only a couple of days ago. She was the
illegitimate daughter of a presidential candidate.

‶
I didn′t mean—″

‶
It′s all right.″
She waved his protests away.
‶
I know what you meant. I understand the sociology
and mores of foreign countries are different from the culture we live in. Here
a child out of wedlock means little in the way of keeping a man from advancing
in his career.″ She thought of Hart. His standings weren′t as high
as they had been a few days ago, but he would pull through. His kind always
did.
‶
In
Korea it is a major dishonor. Since Pak Chang comes from a family that traces
its roots back to the dynasties of Korean aristocracy, the dishonor would be
major to that family and enough to dislodge him as a viable candidate.
He′d be lucky if they didn′t tar and feather him in a public
square. And with that, he′d be getting off light. Only a few years ago,
he′d have had to kill himself to restore honor to his family.″

‶
The child isn′t all of
it,″ Jack continued.
‶
The newspaper recounted the story of a man who came
forward and stated he was the father of the child. He subsequently married the
mother. This quieted the rumors about the relationship of Pak and Youn-Jung,
the prime minister′s daughter.″

‶
This paper proves Pak Chang is
the father?″ she questioned.

‶
No, it proves the man who said
he was the father, was not.″

Chapter 14

Jan′s hug made Morgan feel as if her
friend held her in a hammerlock. She squeezed her so tightly Morgan felt as if
her ribs would be bruised.
‶
I′m scared, Morgan,″ she whispered.

Morgan took a deep breath.
‶
The
two agents will still be here. Jack promised me. You′ll be perfectly
safe.″

‶
Morgan,″ she stretched
her name out, squeezing her arms again.
‶
I′m not scared for me. It′s
you.″

‶
We′re going ninety miles
away, not to the moon. I′ll call you when we get there.″

‶
Morgan, Allie and I are
serious.″ Jan lowered her voice.
‶
That guy yesterday scared years
off my life. And Jack and Max wouldn′t be arguing if this wasn′t
something serious.″

James Burton stood between Jack and Max Tilden
several steps away. Morgan glanced at them. They were disagreeing over
something. Morgan couldn′t hear what they were saying. Their voices were
too low for her to hear, but it looked as if Max and Jim were on one side of an
issue and Jack stood alone on the other. Morgan took a step toward them when
Allie ran up.

‶
Morgan, I was afraid I′d
missed you. I just wanted to say good-bye again.″ She hugged her again
and stepped back.
‶
Don′t forget to call us.″

‶
I won′t.″

The three women approached the three men.
‶
What′s
going on?″ Morgan asked. They all stopped talking at once.

‶
We were discussing the route
and had a difference of opinion,″ Jim Burton said.

‶
It appeared to be more than
disagreement over a route,″ Jan said.
‶
This is mountainous territory.
We don′t have a lot of routes. You either take the interstate or you use
the back road, not roads. There is only one other way and I don′t
recommend it. It′s ninety miles on I-79. Otherwise, you go up to Millstone
and take old Route 33 to Route 19. All that does is make the trip
longer.″

Jack opened the door of the dark green Lexus
sport utility vehicle that had been secured for their trip. Morgan didn′t
know how or where the vehicle came from. She also didn′t know what
happened to the one they had arrived in. Jack told her a vehicle would be
secured and it stood in front of the camp office, physically present. He
commanded and his wishes were made real. The vehicle had enough supplies for a
week in a Colombian jungle, not on an interstate highway in the United States.
There was a first-aid kit fit for a surgeon and a virtual arsenal of weapons
Morgan refused to mention.

She turned to her friends, exchanging hugs one
more time and again promising to call the moment they got to the FBI in
Clarksburg. Climbing into the passenger seat, she pulled the arm rests down and
Jack closed the door. Morgan wanted to open the window but the engine needed to
be on for the controls to work. She smiled, watching Jack saying good-bye as
her friends hugged him too. She could tell both Allie and Jan were whispering
things in his ear. She assumed Jan was extracting promises from him to make
sure Morgan called the moment they arrived and Allie was giving orders that he
take care of her.

Jim and Max didn′t look happy, but they
didn′t have the blank stares they usually assumed either. Jack shook
hands with them before getting in beside her. Morgan waved as they drove away.
She lowered me window and craned her neck, keeping them in view as long as
possible.

Her heart was happy. For the first time in her
life, she was leaving somewhere and not feeling as if she was escaping, running
away and leaving behind people who wanted her gone. Jan and Allie clearly
wanted her to stay. They were concerned about her. Friends, she thought. And a
warm feeling washed over her.

***

Ninety miles, an hour and a half to freedom.
Morgan thought of old movie titles.
Thirty
Seconds Over Tokyo, Thirty-Six Hours of Hell, The Eighty-First Blow, Eight
Million Ways to Die, Thousand Mile Escort
and the song A
Hundred Miles of Bad Road.
She sat next
to Jack. Their other SUV had been comfortable, but its replacement was sheer
comfort.

Morgan wondered what Jan and Allie had said to
Jack, but more she wanted to know why Max Tilden and James Burton had had an
argument with him. Max and Jim had been exemplary in their protection. Maybe
they were concerned about the two of them leaving. They could have waited for
the FBI to come and get them, although she knew Jack would never have sat still
for that. Maybe they thought there was more that could happen.

Morgan tried to hold onto the glow that had
accompanied her exit, but eventually her mind went back to the story Jack was
telling her before Jan had brought the basket of food from the cafeteria
kitchen and interrupted them sitting at the coaches′ table. She wanted to
understand the rest of the story. Jack left Clay and drove along the Elk River.
He entered the interstate at Exit 40, six miles south of Servia.

When they appeared to be heading north, she
turned the radio off. Jack had tuned it to a country station. She knew he did
it for her.

‶
Jack, you were telling me about
Pak Chang before we left.″ Morgan shifted in her seat, bringing his
profile into view. His face was almost patrician, a straight nose, his
cheekbones angular and hard, his chin strong, and she could see the shadow of a
dimple in his left cheek. She′d never noticed it before. It was so faint
it looked as if he′d tried to rub it away, like a child, viewing the dimple
as an imperfection, would try to get rid of it.

‶
You said the man who claimed to
be the father of the prime minister′s daughter′s child could not
have been telling the truth when he claimed he was.″ She waited for him
to continue.

‶
His name was Robert Rhee,
educated, but from a poor family. The paper states there are medical records
proving the man had a very severe case of the measles at age thirteen. As a
result he was left sterile and could not possibly have fathered a child.″

‶
That takes us back to Pak.″

‶
It does,″ Jack confirmed.
‶
And
Pak Chang is running for president of South Korea.″

‶
The paper only says that Pak is
the father. It′s not a medical report. Not proof.″ Morgan had never
seen a Korean medical report, but she was sure they didn′t look anything
like the newspaper and the writing on it.

‶
Proof isn′t necessary in
this instance. The scandal would be enough to kill his chances of winning. The
opposition would demand the truth. Pak received the ring from his mother and it
was inside a prison. I′m sure there is someone just waiting to
authenticate that. I don’t know whose handwriting is on that paper, but it
states the man who claimed to be the father of the child swears Pak gave the
ring to his wife. Someone else knew that, someone at the prison. Rhee was in
that prison too. He died there. It would be made public. There′s probably
more. This is only a piece, but it′s not the crucial piece. Once they get
it, however, Pak would have no choice but to pull out of the race. His family would
be disgraced.″

‶
What about the child and the
mother? Where are they?″

‶
I don′t know. But for
their sakes I hope it′s someplace safe.″

***

Morgan and Jack lapsed into silence. The
countryside rolled by them in a blur of blue sky and green mountains. The road
ahead was a bright black ribbon that disappeared around and through the majesty
of the Appalachians. Morgan wished she could turn the clock back to twelve
years ago. She wouldn′t have let them take Hart Lewiston so fast, rush
her into the other car and speed away so quickly that she forgot she′d
stuffed the ring and papers in her pocket. When she changed clothes in the car
to get back into her uniform she discovered the ring. She slipped it on her
finger to give it a place to be and pushed the papers into her gym bag with her
other clothes.

Her life wouldn′t have been this
different. She didn′t know what it would have been, but she
wouldn′t be here now running for her life and putting Jack′s in as
much danger. He wouldn′t be here either, she thought, and it saddened
her. They wouldn′t have been reunited. They would never have fought over
his plan. He wouldn′t be here to save her life and they never would have
made love. A sudden piercing in her stomach went to her core and she nearly
cried out. Jack glanced at her, but she waved him off with an,
‶
I′m
all right.″

Morgan wondered what was in store for them. If
she was watching those movies on television, it would be one adventure after
another. The strong hero saves the fair maiden who is more of a hindrance than
a help, but all ends well with a screen kiss, even if they are dirty and
bleeding. The audience cheers and everyone goes home happy, having lived
through the experience vicariously.

Morgan wondered if she would be as lucky as the
screen characters. This was real life. She′d survived trauma that should
have sent her over the edge, but Jack had been there. Jack was with her still
and he′d saved her life just twenty-four hours ago. They only had one and
a half hours to go. She prayed the trip would be uneventful.

‶
What happens now?″ she
asked as they sped along.
‶
I mean. . .what happens to that guy at the camp
yesterday?″

‶
Richard Chung will be put away
for a long time. The number of outstanding warrants against him on this
continent and others will have international police departments fighting over
the right to house him for decades.″

‶
Did you find anything out from
him? Who is after us?″

Jack shook his head.
‶
He′s a master
at not talking. Short of torturing him, I don′t think we could get
anything out of him.″

Morgan knew they got him off the campsite as
soon as possible. The police weren′t called because Jack didn′t
want any of the campers to know. He and Max took him into town and alerted the
authorities after him.

‶
Do you think it′s someone
working for Pak Chang?″

‶
It could be. Chung is a
high-priced assassin. Whoever hired him would be paid well.″

Morgan thought that over. She′d thought
her life on the street, dealing with druggies and thieves, was bad. It was
nothing compared to having to run from unknown killers. Assassins. She never
thought the word would enter her daily vocabulary, but she had to be aware of
them now. They were after her and she didn′t really understand why.

‶
What about Max and Jim?″
she asked.
‶
Your
discussion was long and it appeared strong language was being exchanged. What
happened?″

‶
Hart Lewiston. His announcement
of you as his daughter means you′re entitled to FBI protection. Max and
Jim received orders that they should keep you there until your agents arrived
from Washington to protect you.″

‶
And you said?″

‶
There wasn′t time. If
Chung found us, then others would too. We′re heading for the FBI in
Clarksburg. Until then I′m your protection.″

‶
And that satisfied them?″

‶
It appeared to.″

Morgan would have bet it didn′t.

***

There were more parks in Washington, D.C. than
anyone ever thought existed in the ten-mile-square tract of land allotted to
house the capital of the United States. They were small, some only the size of
a city block, others as large as several acres. Rock Creek Park, which ran
through the city from the Watergate complex in Southwest through to Maryland,
was the largest and best known. Second was Lafayette Square across Pennsylvania
Avenue directly in front of the White House. Lady Bird Johnson had brought it
to public notice with her beautification project in the late
‵
60s.

The park he walked in was a lovely
treed-acreage between the Washington Monument and White House called the
Ellipse. A huge circular road cut through it and was always fully populated
with late model cars, Jeeps, vans, SUV′s, and pickup trucks bringing
tourists to visit one of the major wonders of the nation’s capital.

The man he sought walked toward him, unhurried,
as if he was leisurely enjoying a warm day in the area and concerned with
nothing more than the sweet fragrance of the air.

He bowed to the man who would have been wearing
a kimono in his home of rock gardens, sliding doors and sparse amounts of
furniture. On the street, he was dressed in black slacks and a white,
open-collared shirt. His purpose might have been to appear as a businessman
enjoying the city′s offerings, but even without the kimono, he looked as
if he were wearing it. Together they fell into step.

‶
Have you located her?″ he
asked.

He was glad to respond affirmatively.
‶
She′s
in West Virginia.″

‶
The man with her?″

‶
He′s calling himself Jack
Temple. We′ve known him under many names, most notably as Case.
″The man used no last name.

The Korean smiled.
‶
We will meet with
Mr. Case again.″

‶
The plan to capture them is
taking place as we speak.″

‶
As we speak?″

‶
It′s going down
now,″ the man explained, careful to keep his distaste for the man out of
his voice.

***

Higher peaks of the Blue Ridge Mountains could
be found further to the east as the landscape and jurisdiction changed from the
state of West Virginia into the Commonwealth of Virginia. The area Jack drove
through was hilly and green, and it filled the air with the summer scent of
grass and flowers. It should be calming. Morgan wasn′t calmed. Too much
had happened in the past several days. She was keyed up, wound tight tike the
skin of a drum and ready to play her toneless song.