Girl Takes Up Her Sword (13 page)

“What are we waiting for?” Danny asked.

She smiled back wanly. When Rhee Sung finally noticed her, he cringed, then forced a smile.

Though it was clearly very polite, Danny didn’t understand anything the woman in the booth was asking them, and it looked like Emily didn’t either.

“Do you speak English, or perhaps Japanese?”

“Yes, a little,” Rhee Sung’s cousin replied.

“I’m here for him.”

Lee Kyung-hae turned to her cousin. Seeing his face frozen in fear seemed to unsettle her. When she turned back, her face was ashen.

“You are... you are the girl...”

Emily stepped forward and reached out her hand. When she touched him, he looked into her face and finally came to himself. He bowed and turned to his cousin. In a huddle, they spoke quickly and quietly. Most of it was unintelligible, except for a phrase that sounded like Tenno-san. The woman repeated it, trying out the sound in her mouth.

“Tenno-san,” she said to Emily, bowing deeply. “Thank you for bringing my cousin home.”

Rhee Sung was busy filling a plastic bag, with his back to them. Before Emily could respond to her, he turned and gestured to them to follow him. Emily turned to the cousin quizzically.

“He will show you upstairs, please. You are hungry. After you eat, we can talk.”

Emily smiled. It was impossible to refuse this small gesture of hospitality without being rude. They followed the little man through the warren of stalls. The second floor was filled with little grill stands, each one ready to prepare a meal out of your purchase from downstairs. Rhee Sung led them to a seating area overlooking the main floor near one of the smaller stands. He spoke quickly to the cook behind one of the counters and handed him the bag. He bowed to Emily, smiled through the sorrow and fear etched into his face, and scurried back downstairs.

“He doesn’t look happy to see us,” Danny observed.

“I’m not surprised. He knows we aren’t bringing good news.”

A moment later, the man at the counter brought several plates of food: rice, steamed scallops and crabs, some sort of stew made from the crab broth and something that looked like chopped octopus tentacles. It turned out to be much better tasting than Danny expected, or even could have imagined. Emily watched as he proceeded to inhale most of it.

“You know, I wouldn’t have taken you for a tentacle man.”

“Me neither, until now. Man, this stuff is fantastic,” he replied through a mouthful of octopus.

“I’m not looking forward to telling them.”

“What exactly is the bad news, Em?”

“Dangerous, unscrupulous people, like the ones who kidnapped Anthony, might have an unhealthy interest in him.”

“But what can you do about that?”

“I don’t know. But I have to do something. I mean, look at them. I can’t just leave them to the wolves.”

Danny felt the urgency in her voice. But he just couldn’t see how a couple of teenagers were going to be able to help people living on the other side of the world. Maybe she knew what to do, but he was completely at a loss. If only there was some bold stroke he could perform, something to show her he wasn’t as hapless as he often felt around her.

As they made their way back to the stall, he could see the crowds had thinned out. The floor was wet in most places, freshly hosed down now the crush of business had subsided. In the relative calm, he was able to see his surroundings more clearly. The stalls were carefully set off from their neighbors on each side. Lots of fish displayed on trays of ice. Living creatures were kept in tubs and buckets, with air hoses bubbling here and there, keeping things alive. Something tried to pull itself out of a nearby bucket by a tentacle. A stall lady pushed it back in as the water turned inky dark.

The environment felt somehow different, he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was. Emily had stopped, obviously on high alert. Maybe he just felt her change of mood. That was a reassuring thought—he was beginning to be attuned to her. It slowly dawned on him: instead of reveling in his newfound attunement, maybe he ought to see what had caught her attention.

She was watching three men, no doubt locals, in business suits, heads trimmed close on the sides with a tuft on top. And the suits were a little too stylish for business. They were talking to Rhee Sung and his cousin, one of them leaning across the counter aggressively. It didn’t feel quite right.

“Who the hell are those guys?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “But I don’t like the look of it.”

Three quick strides brought her almost to the front of the stall. One of the men stepped out to intercept her, keeping her a few feet away. The other two knocked over the main display table, sending fish, trays and ice across the concrete floor. Some orange fish roe splashed onto Emily’s shoes.

“Hey!” Danny yelled and shoved the first man away from her. Before she could stop him, he punched the second man in the chest, driving him to the floor. The other two moved toward Danny with knives drawn. A quick rush of adrenalin made him feel like he could take on the world.

Until, that is, he caught a glimpse of Emily’s face. Her expression seemed to say it all: “What have you gotten us into now?” Rhee Sung was frozen in fear, and his cousin stood next to him shrieking. Emily smiled and let Danny stand in front, shielding her from the two men.

Before any of them quite knew what had happened, they were surrounded by several men in much less stylish black suits with guns drawn. Kim was there, barking some command in Korean at the three men. He gestured with his head to the side and sneered at them. They put the knives away and hurried off, trying to look as defiant as they could manage in the face of superior numbers.

Connie and Ethan were there a moment later. Kim’s men helped Rhee Sung put the stall back together, while Connie had a quick, quiet word with Kim as he conferred with Lee Kyung-hae.

“Who were those guys?” Emily asked.

“Collectors for a local loan shark,” Kim replied. “The Lees are behind on a payment.”

“How much do they owe altogether?” Connie asked.

“About fifteen million won.”

“Holy crap,” Danny blurted out.

“What’s that in dollars?” Emily asked.

“About twelve thousand.”

“Do we have enough to cover that?” she asked, turning to Ethan. He nodded.

“We’re gonna have to do something,” Kim said. “The loan shark isn’t gonna take something like this lightly. It could go badly for them”

Emily went over to Rhee Sung and his cousin, who seemed a bit calmer by this point.

“I’m sorry to intrude on your lives like this, but I have troubling news.”

She handed them the photo of Kusnetsov.

“Who is he?” she asked nervously, trying not to look too closely at the face in the photo.

“He helped us escape from Kamchatka.”

Rhee Sung’s hands trembled as he held the photo. He looked imploringly at Emily.

“He is in danger. So are you.”

Danny listened to her explanation of what happened to the old man in the photo and was as shocked as anyone, though not nearly as frightened as some.

“I can keep you safe, but not in Seoul.”

Lee Kyung-hae was speechless. Emily gestured to her to translate for her cousin, as if she’d forgotten why they were here.

“People think he knows something, dangerous people. They think he knows about me. They will hurt him, and you, to find out.”

“What does he know?”

“He doesn’t know anything. But that won’t keep you safe. Come home with me. I can protect you in the United States. I can’t protect you here.”

“We can’t just leave. This is our home. Our business is here. Everything we love.”

“I apologize for making trouble for you just now, with the collectors. Please allow me to make it right with the loan shark.”

Lee Kyung-hae shook her head vigorously.

“No. Please no. There’s nothing you can do with such men.”

“Trust me,” Emily said, in a calm, confident voice. “I promise I won’t make things worse.”

Rhee Sung and his cousin nodded warily, clearly uncertain what her intervention might do to their already precarious circumstances.

“May we visit you this evening?” Emily asked.

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Chapter
17

A Meeting at the Chosun Seoul

It only took Kim a few phone calls to find the address of the loan shark, a large compound on a toney block in Gangnam-gu, a high white stone wall with a wrought iron gate. 

“Jo Tae Chang, he’s the head of the Han Dragons,” Connie said, once they were settled in their hotel suite. “The one you ran into at the fish market is his nephew, and a bit of a hothead. Goes by the name Tommy Kang. He’s gonna want some satisfaction, if you know what I mean.”

“Not exactly,” Emily replied.

“Guns are strictly controlled here,” Kim said. “As a result, the gangs have developed a taste for knives and clubs. They’re probably gonna want to cut him up a bit,” he said with a nod toward Danny. “After that, they could also throw him in a hole and shovel dirt on him. If he manages to crawl out, they might accept an apology.”

“Okay, then.”

“So maybe we can rethink this notion of going to see them?” Connie asked.

Emily said nothing, which usually meant she wouldn’t budge. Connie rolled her eyes, like the exasperated mother of a teenager.

“Why do you want to go through with this?”

“If Jo can’t find us, he might take it out on the Lees. And anyway, they owe these guys more money than they can manage to repay. It’s the least I can do to help them out.”

Connie mulled over the reasonableness of Emily’s grasp of the matter.

“Kim and I can take care of this without you.”

Kim looked less than enthusiastic about this suggestion.

“No. It’s not your problem. It’s mine.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t let a friend help you with it.”

Emily again said nothing.

“Fine. But you don’t have to bring Danny along. He can wait here with Ethan, while Kim and I have your back.”

“No,” Emily said with a shake of the head. “He needs to come with me. I don’t think you understand how important this is to me.”

“I guess not,” Connie said.

“The Dragons are dangerous people,” Kim said. “They take losing face very seriously.”

“So do I. That’s why I have to go.”

“They won’t hesitate to kill him if they think their honor is at stake.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll see to it that doesn’t happen.”

Kim shook his head in disbelief. Connie smiled at him and shrugged her shoulders. After a moment, Kim offered some advice.

“A few of the Seoul gangs, like the Dragons, operate under the influence of Japanese
yakuza
. Maybe there’s some way you can take advantage of that.”

Emily nodded.

“Okay, guys, give us a minute,” Connie said, as she shooed the others into the next room. “Now how about you tell me what’s really going on here,” she said once they were alone. “What is so damn important that you’ll dangle your friend like this?”

Emily rummaged through the luggage, looking for something, but also trying to avoid eye contact. Finally she extracted some sort of harness, like the shoulder straps for a backpack, but without the pack.

“Help me get this thing on.”

“What exactly is it for?”

“To hold this,” Emily replied, brandishing what looked like a sword.

“Well, aren’t you full of surprises. How’d you manage to get that through airport security?”

“It wasn’t so hard, really. I’m gonna need to borrow your jacket.”

“What for?”

“To conceal this rig, of course. You didn’t think I was planning to meet Jo and Kang unarmed, did you?”

The thought of Emily, armed with a wicked little blade, set loose among the gangsters brought a sneaky smile to Connie’s face.

“Okay. I see now that your plan is not entirely without merit. But what’s the point of bringing Danny along? Why risk it?”

“It’s something Sensei told me once, something a Buddhist monk said a few centuries ago about sword masters. The true master has no friends.” She paused for a moment, clearly upset by the thought. “Don’t you see? That’s me. Walker thinks it’s you, too. And him.”

“Don’t listen to him, honey. He’s just trying to manipulate you.”

“No. He’s right. It is true. There’s no room in my life
for friends. Not unless I make room for them. I’ve got to make room for Danny. He needs to understand what my life really is, if only to see if he really wants any part of it. If I don’t try, how I am I not like Walker?”

As reckless as it sounded to her protective, almost maternal side, Connie couldn’t fail to recognize the depth of Emily’s feelings on the subject. Perhaps they reminded her of sentiments she had felt once herself. She was going to have to let her have her own way.

“And you won’t let us help?”

“No, you guys having my back sounds like a good idea. Just let Danny and me go in by ourselves first. If things get hairy, then definitely bring the heat.”

Connie breathed a sigh of relief.

“In the meantime,” she continued, “I want to see Berea. Set it up with Kim, won’t you? And I’ll need a few minutes alone with Danny.”

~~~~~~~

“I’m going to pay a visit to Berea, but before I do that, there’s something I think you ought to see.”

“You’re gonna go see him,” Danny squawked. “Aren’t we trying to avoid guys like that?” He caught himself, perhaps thinking of the episode with Luther, and sought a different tone. “Are you sure that’s wise?” he asked. “How will it help Rhee Sung?”

“Burzynski’s people are watching Rhee Sung in order to find me. Well, maybe it’s time they found me.”

“But they’re not gonna leave it at that. Berea’s gonna want to take you into custody, or something, isn’t he?”

“He can try. I’m hoping it won’t come to that. Besides, I have something he wants.”

“What’s that?” he asked, cringing in anticipation of the answer.

Emily pushed a flashdrive into a port on the side of her security handset and handed it to him.

“I’m going public with this when we get back home. And I’m giving it to Berea today. But you should see it first.”

She went into the bathroom to splash water on her face while he watched a video of the events in Kamchatka. She’d told him what happened there in general terms a few weeks ago. But as for the concrete reality of it, in all its visceral gruesomeness, she was certain he had no clear notion of that. What would he think of her after he’d seen it? When she came out a few minutes later, the ashen cast of his face seemed to confirm what she feared. Or did it?

“Oh, Em…” he began to say, until words failed him. “I’m so…”

“That big guy, the one who protected me at the end…”

“Protected you! You mean the guy who almost killed you?”

“No. That’s not really who he was. You have to understand, once he recognized me, he gave his life to keep me safe.”

“What do you mean, he
recognized
you?”

“That’s hard to explain,” she said, thinking the whole time that Danny would not gladly hear what she thought Ba We’s recognition might mean. “But he is what all the fuss is about. People like Berea are willing to kill to find out anything they can about him.”

“And you think he’ll be satisfied with this video? Won’t it just convince him to keep looking, and to keep plaguing you?”

“Maybe, but keeping it hidden isn’t doing much to discourage him.”

~~~~~~~

“Berea’s people have a suite at the Chosun Seoul,” Kim said. “It’s not far.”

“I think I should pay him a visit. Alone.” Emily looked at Danny as she said this.

“Just like that, you’re going to see him?” Ethan asked.

“Just like that.”

“No backup?”

“You guys can come along for the ride. But I’m going in alone.”

“Unless you’re planning on killing him, I can’t imagine what this visit will accomplish,” Connie said. “What could you possibly tell him that will change anything?”

“I’m going to give him the Kamchatka video.”

Connie and Ethan looked at each other in amazement.

“What video is this?” Kim asked.

Emily handed another flashdrive to Ethan.

“Show it to him later. And let him keep it.”

A short ride across town in the black sedans the NIS favors brought a tall granite building with a triple-parabolic footprint into view. The valet hovered by the entrance until Kim flashed him an ID.

“What’s your plan?” he asked.

“I’m gonna knock on his door.”

“His contractors may just try to grab you right there.”

“I’m not worried.”

“Are you just going to let her do this?” he asked Connie.

“Let’s watch from security,” she said to assuage his anxieties. “They must have cameras on every floor. Heck, they may even have one in his suite.”

“How many guys do you think he has up there?” Ethan asked.

“Two, maybe three. The others are watching her friends’ house.”

As they walked through the automatic doors, Kim sent men to watch the garage exits and the stairwells. Just past the marble fountain that dominated the inner lobby, a short, rotund man intercepted them. In clearly deferential tones, he spoke a quiet word in Kim’s ear before muttering into a microphone concealed in his jacket cuff. A moment later, the hotel security chief arrived and, after paying some very formal respects, ushered the entire party into an office behind the concierge desk. In a large room in the back, two uniformed men seated at computer terminals watched a bank of closed circuit monitors cycle through images of corridors throughout the hotel.

“Keep this monitor on this view,” said the security chief. “That’s Berea’s door. Lock out the elevators from this floor after the girl arrives.”

A moment later, Emily walked into view on the monitor and they all watched as she knocked on the door.

“She’s got a lot of nerve,” Kim observed.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Ethan said with a snort.

~~~~~~~

“You expecting anything?” Berea asked. “Check it out.”

“It’s just a girl, looks like a local,” Tice said, squinting through the peephole. “Parfitt, you call for a hooker?”

“Shut up, and see what she wants.”

Tice yanked the door open. A large man with big hands, he towered over her.

“What can I do for you, Princess?” he said with a sneer.

“I want to see Berea.”

“Never heard of him.”

When she didn’t move, he swung the door closed and snarled “Get lost.”

She pushed through and stepped inside.

“Uh, uh, Honey.”

He put out a hand and tried to turn her back through the door. Before he quite understood what was happening, she had already grabbed his wrist and twisted it down, and then up. The stress on his elbow and shoulder extorted a loud groan from him as he felt himself tumbling forward. He hit the wall in the corridor opposite the door upside down and slid to the floor. Lying in a confused heap, he spent a moment wondering why he hadn’t suffered any major injury. The girl got lucky, catching him by surprise. If he’d been on his guard, there’s no way….

“You! What the…”

Berea knows her. At least that much is clear from the quiver in his voice. Who is she?

“I’m glad to see you remember,” she said in an insouciant tone. “So much has happened since that day in Deerfield.”

By the time Tice had untangled himself, he could see the girl holding Parfitt’s arm at an awkward angle as he lay on the floor, face pressed into the carpet. She was poised to strike him just below the base of his skull. This isn’t going to end well for him, he thought. Of course, Berea was next to useless.

“Tell your boys to give it a rest, so I don’t have to hurt them in a serious way.”

“Fine. Take five, guys.”

With huge owl eyes, she glowered as he helped Parfitt up, grumbling through his mortification.

“I understand you’re looking for me,” she said. “Well, here I am. What do you want?”

Her voice sounded strangely incongruous in that room, which was practically a black ops base, all sorts of weapons and electronic surveillance gear scattered about. And her, barely more than a girl, she spoke to a trained operative as she might to a mall clerk. Still, it really wasn’t clear how to answer her question. They
were
looking for her, to be sure, but they hadn’t expected to find her
here
. And now that they had, he had no idea what to do with her. Seize her? Talk to her, maybe negotiate a surrender? Hers? Could they smuggle her out of the country, even if they managed to subdue her?

Deep down, he knew she hadn’t merely gotten lucky before. It was an embarrassing reflection, and he’d rather not focus on it. She swatted him aside like a bug, and Parfitt, too. What would it really take to capture her?

“What happened in Kamchatka?” Berea finally managed to ask.

“Is that why you’re here, to find out what happened? And is that why you’re stalking the Lees?”