more,” he said. He finished with his keyboard and got up. “Whatever I get I’ll download to your sat phone, so you better keep it with you at all times, kemo sabe.”
On the way out of the office, McGarvey remembered one last thing. “Send someone down to Casey Key to keep an eye on Katy. If Colonel Pak could get to me that easily, he certainly could get to her.”
“The babysitters are already in place,” Rencke said. “Nobody who doesn’t belong will get within five klicks of her even when she goes out shopping.”
“Thanks.”
“How’d they take it upstairs?”
“Not good.”
“Gee, what a surprise, and I’ll bet Howard was leading the charge.”
McGarvey had to smile despite the situation. “Do you suppose he doesn’t like me?”
Seoul
TWENTY-TWO
After descending to refuel over the Pacific, the SR-91 Aurora had climbed back up to its cruising altitude of 130,000 feet where the stars were visible and the curvature of the earth was apparent. Three and a half hours after taking off from Andrews, the pilot, Air Force Major John White, radioed back to McGarvey that they were starting their descent and were less than thirty minutes from touchdown at Oasan Air Force Base outside Seoul.
McGarvey had managed to get a little sleep, though the flight suit and bladder bag were uncomfortable. “Any reason I can’t use my sat phone?”
“Now you can,” White replied. “Just don’t mention where you are, sir.”
The aircraft’s exotic shape and fuselage covering made it even more stealthy than the F-117A, and Aurora pilots were ordered to stay as high up as possible for as long as possible, and spend the minimum of time taking off and landing, limiting the visual sightings.
Rencke answered on the first ring even though it was midnight in Washington. He’d been waiting for the call. “You should be just about there,” he said
“Half hour,” McGarvey said. “Who’d you set me up with on the ground?”
“Captain Ok-Lee Lin. She’s NIS which started out to be a problembecause they refused to deal with you unless you were coming in on Company business.”
“If word gets back to Adkins through official channels, I’ll be all but dead in the water.”
“You’re there on a black project involving the North Korean thing, I had to give them that much,” Rencke said. “But I told them there might be a leak here at a very high level, so any communication with us has to be through you. No mention of your being in the country will be made to anyone, including our embassy.”
“I’ll bet they loved that,” McGarvey said.
The South Korean National Intelligence Service had been distrustful of the CIA since two years ago, after one of its agents operating in the North had been burned. It had been strongly rumored that some of the intel that the NIS had shared with the CIA had somehow leaked.
“It was the only way I could get them to cooperate,” Rencke said. “When this is all over we can kiss and make up. In the meantime I figured this was top priority.”
Something was missing. “Has anyone from upstairs been down to see you yet?”
“Not a word,” Rencke said. “Kinda odd, don’t you think? Howard especially would have to figure that you and I had talked.”
“Has anyone tried to hack your systems?”
Rencke chuckled. “Not possible, Mac, I shit you not. Leastways not by anyone here on campus. They warned you to stay the hell out of it. Maybe Howard is giving you enough rope to hang yourself.”
But there was more to it than that, McGarvey was convinced of it. He’d seen things like this before. As soon as a national crisis hit us, like 9/11, everyone got superbusy trying to cover their own asses.
“What assets have we got trying to figure out what really happened in Pyongyang?” McGarvey asked.
“Until you showed up everyone was convinced that Kim Jong Il ordered it.”
“Just to show the Chinese that he can’t be dictated
On the way out of the office, McGarvey remembered one last thing. “Send someone down to Casey Key to keep an eye on Katy. If Colonel Pak could get to me that easily, he certainly could get to her.”
“The babysitters are already in place,” Rencke said. “Nobody who doesn’t belong will get within five klicks of her even when she goes out shopping.”
“Thanks.”
“How’d they take it upstairs?”
“Not good.”
“Gee, what a surprise, and I’ll bet Howard was leading the charge.”
McGarvey had to smile despite the situation. “Do you suppose he doesn’t like me?”
Seoul
TWENTY-TWO
After descending to refuel over the Pacific, the SR-91 Aurora had climbed back up to its cruising altitude of 130,000 feet where the stars were visible and the curvature of the earth was apparent. Three and a half hours after taking off from Andrews, the pilot, Air Force Major John White, radioed back to McGarvey that they were starting their descent and were less than thirty minutes from touchdown at Oasan Air Force Base outside Seoul.
McGarvey had managed to get a little sleep, though the flight suit and bladder bag were uncomfortable. “Any reason I can’t use my sat phone?”
“Now you can,” White replied. “Just don’t mention where you are, sir.”
The aircraft’s exotic shape and fuselage covering made it even more stealthy than the F-117A, and Aurora pilots were ordered to stay as high up as possible for as long as possible, and spend the minimum of time taking off and landing, limiting the visual sightings.
Rencke answered on the first ring even though it was midnight in Washington. He’d been waiting for the call. “You should be just about there,” he said
“Half hour,” McGarvey said. “Who’d you set me up with on the ground?”
“Captain Ok-Lee Lin. She’s NIS which started out to be a problembecause they refused to deal with you unless you were coming in on Company business.”
“If word gets back to Adkins through official channels, I’ll be all but dead in the water.”
“You’re there on a black project involving the North Korean thing, I had to give them that much,” Rencke said. “But I told them there might be a leak here at a very high level, so any communication with us has to be through you. No mention of your being in the country will be made to anyone, including our embassy.”
“I’ll bet they loved that,” McGarvey said.
The South Korean National Intelligence Service had been distrustful of the CIA since two years ago, after one of its agents operating in the North had been burned. It had been strongly rumored that some of the intel that the NIS had shared with the CIA had somehow leaked.
“It was the only way I could get them to cooperate,” Rencke said. “When this is all over we can kiss and make up. In the meantime I figured this was top priority.”
Something was missing. “Has anyone from upstairs been down to see you yet?”
“Not a word,” Rencke said. “Kinda odd, don’t you think? Howard especially would have to figure that you and I had talked.”
“Has anyone tried to hack your systems?”
Rencke chuckled. “Not possible, Mac, I shit you not. Leastways not by anyone here on campus. They warned you to stay the hell out of it. Maybe Howard is giving you enough rope to hang yourself.”
But there was more to it than that, McGarvey was convinced of it. He’d seen things like this before. As soon as a national crisis hit us, like 9/11, everyone got superbusy trying to cover their own asses.
“What assets have we got trying to figure out what really happened in Pyongyang?” McGarvey asked.
“Until you showed up everyone was convinced that Kim Jong Il ordered it.”
“Just to show the Chinese that he can’t be dictated
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