North Korean Blowup (8 page)

Hunter awoke twice during the night. It was too quiet. The house seemed like a tomb. Each time he unlocked the door and looked down the stair. He saw only two dim night lights and no sounds what so ever. He went back to sleep.

In the morning, Hunter opened the door slowly and heard noises from downstairs. They were normal getting up and breakfast sounds. He closed the door and locked it.

They found breakfast bars in the food box.

“Granola and Coke for breakfast,” Tran said. “The breakfast of champions.”

Chang scowled. “She said one of the workers here is a spy for the secret police. Why don’t we just put down both of them? We’ll be sure to nail the bad guy.”

“Can’t,” Hunter said. “We don’t know their report schedule. If they don’t respond when they are supposed to, there would be a dozen cops out here in an hour. No, we have to sit here and wait. When Sung gets back we’ll check him out, radio Quinn with the news and try to figure out how to get his family out of here.”

“That seaside vacation sounded good,” Tran said.

“If they can wrangle it. I’m sure they’ll have to get permission to take the whole family.”

“This guy must have more clout now that he’s made them the bombs,” Tran said.

“True, but they’ll still watch him like a flight risk,” Hunter said.

The three SEALs sat on the bed in one room and looked at each other. Tran said what they were all thinking.

“So, here we are. What the hell are we supposed to do for the next twelve to sixteen hours?”

“We make plans,” Hunter said. “Say Sung is the genuine item. He will get permission for a family reunion at the seaside house. How do we get from here to there?”

“Twelve of them,” Tran said. “That’s going to take at least three of these little bitsy cars they have or a bus. Maybe one of us can stow away in each car.”

“The cars won’t all come from here,” Chang said.

“If we know in advance, Sung can take us out the night before and stash us in some hiding spot along the road, then pick us up when they drive by,” Hunter suggested.

“Might work,” Tran said. “Will the household help go along on the reunion?”

They looked at each other.

“Let’s get a notebook from our packs and write some of this down,” Hunter said. We’re just starting to do the planning.”

CHAPTER SIX

K-16 ROK Air Base, Songham, Korea

Quinn had been busy. He and Lieutenant (j.g.) Bancroft had the rest of the SEALs fitted out with their two sets of North Korean civilian clothes. They had taken two more lectures by the professor on the culture and mores of the North Korean people. They had been on a training march and taken target practice on the base rifle range.

That first afternoon, Commanders Vuylsteke and Wells met with Quinn and Bancroft for some pre-op planning.

“Their off shore radar is going to pick us up as soon as we get anywhere near the twelve mile limit,” Vuylsteke said.

“It has to be timing,” Wells said. “We launch our bird well at sea and keep in radio contact. When they get their people on board, we turn toward shore and meet them at the twelve mile limit.”

“Can we get any air cover?” Quinn asked.

“No Navy air assets in the area,” Vuylsteke said. “Nearest carrier is down around Taiwan and China.”

“We have the Seventh Air Force here,” Wells said. “I know they have at least two fighter squadrons with the F-16 Falcons. One group is based at Osan Air Base. They could fly COP for us and meet any fighters the Koreans scramble. Would the North Korean fighters have time to get to us? They probably won’t catch the choppers on their way in. They would come out to see us at the twelve.”

“By then it should almost be over,” Vuylsteke said. “We land our two birds and haul ass out to sea.”

“Sounds good to me,” Quinn said.

Quinn made some notes in his perpetual notebook. “I’ll get in contact with the Air Force and get one of their men in on our planning.”

“How many people are we transporting?” Vuylsteke asked.

“Three SEALs and twelve civilians. That’s fifteen if the SEALs decide they need to come out. Can you do it in one trip?”

“We have to,” Vuylsteke said. “If we tried to go back in a second time they would be waiting for us with their fighter aircraft and a battalion on the ground. We strip out the torpedoes and everything that will move except the door guns from the SH-60s and we should be okay weight wise. These Koreans are small people, and there should be half of them children. We should be fine.”

“Before Hunter went in, we talked about getting the civilians out to the coast somehow. If he can do that it will cut down on your travel time and time in the danger zone.”

“A nice wide sandy beach would be ideal,” Wells said.

“We’ll have Hunter work on that. Dr. Sung won’t be back home until tonight sometime. I expect to hear from Hunter after that with an okay on the extraction. It will be up to him to set the time and place. Could be a day or two before they can do it. You’ll need a six hour notice to sail, or more than that?”

“We’re in port now, so we need six hours to get ready to sail.” Vuylsteke said. “Then at least eight hours to get up there and situated about twenty miles off shore.”

“Should be no problem.”

“You’ll have a doctor on board?”

“Three of them.”

“Might need to squeeze a sawbones in the chopper going in if Hunter reports any wounded. I hope they can get away clean, but the odds are that they’ll have to shoot their way out.”

“We can have a surgeon and a nurse along without an overload if they need it.”

“I’ll want to be on board your destroyer when you sail. I’ll have the SATCOM so we can keep in touch with Hunter during the last phase of the operation.”

“Okay, Mr. Quinn,” Vuylsteke said. “What else can we work out before we get the time and place from Hunter?”

“Nothing I can think of now. Just hang loose and keep your ships ready for that fourteen hour alert.”

Sunan, North Korea

The three SEALs locked in the third floor rooms of Dr. Sung’s house did what planning they could for the rest of the morning, but soon realized that most of what they were doing was blue sky and speculation. They didn’t know enough about the what and where yet.

By eleven thirty Tran suggested they have a push up contest. They had plenty of time so they did it one at a time and the two not doing it counted.    

“This is a set up,” Chang said. “Tran you always come in second on the platoon contests. Now that Dengler isn’t here you think you’ve got a cinch.”

Chang went first and topped out at eighty six. He lay on the floor exhausted.

Tran went to the mat next and did a hundred and seven. He rolled over on his back puffing. “Best I can do, it’s an off day,” Tran said.

Hunter dropped down and they began to count. When he got to a hundred and eight, he quit. “Don’t want to show you up too much, Tran,” Hunter said. The other two both threw pillows at him.

There was still plenty of food in the box. They made sandwiches of cheese and canned tuna and had canned apricots for desert. After they ate, Hunter waved them to the beds.

“Sack time. We never know when we might need to stay up for two days running. We fill the tank right now.”

Downstairs in the big house life went on as usual. Vivian Sung had her two daughters working on their home schooling studies. She had scrounged to get text books suitable, and at last had petitioned the government to let her order school books from the States. They did and the books came through.

Stephanie was good at math and science, taking after her father. Yuan loved history and literature. Both spoke fluent Korean, and their English was as near perfect as their Mother could teach them.

Vivian caught herself looking at the clock too often. She couldn’t settle down to reading the way she usually did as the girls studied. She fussed and looked out the window and then sat down again. Stephanie noticed.

“Worried about Dad, Mom?”

“No, just unsettled. I wish somehow we could get back to America. I’ve never missed it so much as I do now.” She couldn’t chance telling them what might happen. She didn’t want to raise their hopes only to have them dashed at the last minute.

Yon Lee came in and said that lunch was ready. The woman was a good cook and took care of the house nicely. Still Vivian had chores for the girls to do daily. She didn’t want them to get used to having servants around. Perhaps soon there wouldn’t need any.

Vivian watched Yon Lee as she served. They had small cut sandwiches, a salad, and ice cream for desert. There was no hint that Yon Lee was a police spy, but Vivian knew one of them must be. The police knew everything they did, where they went, what they did, what guests they had in on occasion. There was only one other English speaking couple in the small town. They both were Korean and both   taught English at a school. They enjoyed talking English with the Americans to understand better the vernacular use of words and how slang fit in. Every time the Lonpoo couple visited, the police knew about it.

Manpo was another matter. The two were married and had no children. A totally unusual situation in North Korea. He was their driver, handyman, gardener and all around helper. Usually he had little to do. Vivian knew he gambled, she didn’t know how much or where. He also drank but somehow managed to hide it from the police. He must be the spy. She would be natural with him the next day when he came back after driving her husband to the meeting. But she also would be more cautious what she said when he was near.

Vivian watched her daughters. Stephanie had slightly darker skin, like her father and impressive oval eyes on a startlingly beautiful teenage face. If they were in New York or Chicago she could be a teen model. Yuan on the other hand had soft blonde hair, delicate features and lighter skin. Her oval eyes were more a distraction than an exotic beauty mark.  Vivian loved them both to pieces and now that there was a chance to get out of this prison, her hopes for them soared.  

She caught a little gasp and then steadied. Everything as usual. Ordinary. Just another day with Kim coming home late. Keep it simple and natural. Like every other day. All she had to do now was hold it together for two or three days. Really? Could it be that soon?

It could be. She set her jaw and checked on the girls. Yes, it was now or probably never.

Vivian didn’t know how she made it through the rest of the day and the evening. But then it was almost nine o’clock. The girls were in bed reading. She was reading in the living room. Then the car drove in and she heard the garage door close and steps in the back hallway. It took all of her resolve to keep reading until Kim slipped in and kissed her on the side of the neck.

“Your hero is home. Did you miss me?”

“Manpo?” she whispered the question.

He tilted up her face and kissed her. Then grinned. His voice too was low. “Someone came?”

She nodded.

“God, I wasn’t here. Where are they?”

“Third floor probably going crazy. Yon Lee had a headache. I sent her to her room. Is Manpo there by now?”

“He should be. I’ll check with him to be sure he locked the garage.”

Dr. Kim Sung was back in twenty seconds. She handed him the key to the room that had been in her hand all day.

She whispered again. “His name is Lieutenant Hunter. Two men with him. They are Navy SEALs. Go talk.”

For a moment Dr. Sung sat down beside his wife on the sofa.

“Been waiting so damn long,” he said softly. “Now that it could almost be here, my knees are shaking.”

“Prove to them who we are, who you are. He has a radio he can use on the second floor out a window. Go see him.”

Dr. Sung had slipped off his shoes the minute he came in the house. He stood. He would make no noise on the stairs. He went up them quickly and knocked softly on the door. He heard a key in the lock, and then the door edged open. He saw a big hand gun aimed at his heart, and then a face showed.

“Lieutenant Hunter? I’m Dr. Kim Suk Sung. I believe you wished to see me.”

Hunter snapped on the room lights and opened the door. He put away the Glock and held out his right hand.

“Good to meet you, Dr. Sung. We’re still in a quiet mode?”

“Yes.”

They sat down on the edge of the bed.

“I’m so relieved that you came. Evidently my badminton player got through to the FBI. Good. How can I prove who I am?”

“Who is Johnny Carson?”

Sung smiled. “The best late night talk show host ever. I used to listen to his old telecasts when I was in school. What a treat.”

“What are the three most vial components of a nuclear bomb?”

The scientist rattled them off in rapid order. Hunter listened and nodded as if he knew what the words meant. He didn’t.

“Where are the two finished bombs being stored?”

“The first one went up north a hundred miles to Kanggye. It is in a deep coal mine where even if it went off would not endanger anyone.”

“The second one?”

“They took it over to the coast near the Sea of Japan at Kilchu. There it is housed in a deep vault of concrete and steel.”

“The manufacturing plant for these bombs?”

“Close by, less than an hour’s drive north and east into the mountains. A small community has been built from empty fields. The plant itself, and housing for the engineers and worker are all new. About five hundred people live nearby and work at the plant.”

“So many people?”

“We had fifty engineers working on one small problem. There were many problems, set backs and small victories.”

Hunter looked at the two SEALs who had been watching and listening.

“Dr. Sung, this is Tran and Chang, Navy SEALs. Both men nodded at Sung. “Okay, you’ve just passed muster. I need to use that empty room on the second floor to make a radio call. Then you and I will sit down and figure out how we can get your twelve member family out of here.”

The radio call went quickly, Hunter told Quinn the extraction was a go. They just had to figure out where and when. Back safely in the third floor room with the door locked, they got down to cases.