"Yes, Mike. However any other information is just not available. We really need someone on the inside and here's hoping that this Mr. Park can be of assistance."
The table turned quiet as all were within their own thoughts. Mike wanted to get the show on the road; father wanted to ship out with the helicopters and Brad wanted to run on the beach.
Chapter 9
As promised, Brad, back in the Round House, sat with his wife Sujin and her sister. He said, "The test went fine. Father is going to ship out with the Navy aboard a small carrier. We'll go to Seoul for Christmas along with our new friend Mr. Park. What we need now is some paper work for you to enter North Korea. This will be risky as all get out. With your photography reputation, they can arrange for you to visit the capital. While there, Mr. Park will have gleaned some pertinent information for you to bring back to Seoul. Now what are your thoughts on our Mr. Park?"
"My husband. I think all will be okay. Mr. Park doesn't hold any hard feeling towards the North Korean Leader, but wants his country to be democratic. He feels with the demise of a military government, his fellow Koreans could build an economic economy like in South Korea. He wants to repay the Americans for their help with his family. I believe him when he says he'll sacrifice himself for the good of his country."
"Thanks my lovely wife. However, talk is cheap and action speaks louder than words. He'll get his chance to prove himself very soon. I need to go talk to Agent Jones and Wendy. They need to arrange a concert in Manila for one of the sons. I fear no one will miss the poor boy, but sometimes life is just not fair."
Downstairs, Agent Jones and Wendy were putting the final touches on the stealth coffins. They'd been working with the designers of the stealth helicopters to make sure they were stealth designed. Brad found they huddled over a computer working hard. He rapped his knuckles on the door so as not to startle both of them. He said, "When you are finished and satisfied with the results, go home for the Christmas holidays and then meet me in Manila two days after Christmas. We need to make a plan for the second son Kim, Jong Chul. I was thinking that we would comp him a room at a five star hotel, compliments of the concert promoter."
"I like that idea," said Wendy. "The SEAL team is packing up and leaving soon. Those guys are unbelievable. They work so hard and if there's one glitch, do it again and again."
****
Brad and team, minus Billy and Nancy, gave the SEAL guys a rousing send off. Brad had abalone flown up from Northern California and fresh razor clams from Washington State sent down by express delivery. The local bakery provided a special order of garlic bread. Wine was the drink of choice.
A good time was had as a big fire burned the chilly winter air devoid of any rain for a change. Brad sat with Rocky and prayed that each member of the team, both his and the SEALs, would all return safe and sound. Sujin felt his heart go out to each member there and squeezed his arm in response. He smiled at her and Sandy wormed her way in the middle of them making darn sure Rocky didn't hog all the loving going on.
The next morning, after both a run on the beach and a wave to the SEALs, Brad called Nancy and Billy to see how things were coming along. It appeared that all was well and as the Christmas season was coming closer, Washington DC was losing its congressmen and senators leaving for home. The holidays were in full swing and Brad sent Mr. Park to Seoul ahead of them. The Seoul CIA and the South Korean equivalent would take good care of Mr. Park.
Brad and family, plus two shepherds, went to Palm Springs for a pre-Christmas get together with his parents. He instructed the pilots to pick him up the eighteenth for a flight to Seoul. They would pickup Sujin's sister on the way.
Palm Springs is not the weather one would expect of Christmas. The temperature during the day was in the seventies and nice and sunny out. However, mother had the house decorated nicely and it felt like Christmas inside. Little Brian loved the water. He and Brad spent a lot of time playing in the pool while grandpa sat at the poolside chatting away on the laptop or phone with his cronies.
Sitting with her feet and legs in the water, Sujin and Brad talked about the coming trip to Seoul. She said, "Husband, as you know Koreans don't do much for Christmas season. What do you say we take my parents to some tropical island where we can enjoy the sea water? We can stay in a bamboo hut. What do you think?"
I'm all for it. Why don’t we take my parents too?"
"I never thought of that husband. Why not?"
"I think it's time for all four of Brain's grandparents to meet and spend a few days together," Brad said.
Chapter 10
The first of the year had come and gone. General Pratt was aboard a mini-carrier on its way to China. Mike was with the SEAL team on the same ship. Billy had flown to Seoul and was in one of South Koreans underground bunkers surrounded by computers.
Mr. Park had entered North Korea via a fishing boat. Sujin had he paperwork and was granted a two week special photograph tour of certain places. A leading magazine was used as a cover. Her sister was an assistant to the leading editor who spoke no Korean. The cover was a good one. A man such as Mr. Park should have no trouble find her in the only decent hotel in the capital Pyongyang. The only downside was the weather. It was bitterly cold, but the North wanted to show off its production in winter.
Brad had gone to China to meet the Master. The Master would take out the first born son, Kim, Jong nam. He was in exile in northern China somewhere. The Master resided in the mountains near Chung du. He would choose his own method of transportation and Brad would meet him in Dalian on a date arranged later.
It was no surprise when on board the ship, Brad was talking to his father when the Master silently came in, sat down and licked his lips indicating he wanted some green tea. Brad greeted him formally while Brad's fathers sat with his mouth slightly open wondering how the hell this guy got on board without an escort.
It was obvious that this was the man who thwarted the assassination attempt of the Secretary of Defense on Brad's last case. He'd seen the video in slow motion of the Chinese Master flying through the air clapping his hands on the projectile from the assassins blow pipe. After that, he viewed the video of his daughter in law in hand –to- hand combat with the assassin. He'd never have believed it had it been anyone else. Now this ancient bag of bones, with a scraggly white beard, sat like an orphan waiting for something to eat.
Before the eating event took place, a physical examination of Brad was next. The Master had him stick out his tongue while he examined it with careful attention. Next he struck a stick match and viewed the inside of his ear. The last thing he did was have Brad do breathing exercises as the Master held his hand to feel the escaping air from his lungs. Apparently satisfied, he waited for his noodles and green tea.
General Pratt said, "How could he get in here past the guards?"
Brad laughed and then with a serious face, "If the Master doesn't want you to see him, his movements are almost undetectable. His role in life is to take care of his people that live in the mountains outside of Chengdu in Sichuan Province. Gold is their medium of exchange and our government exchanges gold for his services. We pay well for what he does for us. After our last mission, if you recall, I was absent for a few months. I was having PSTD from Afghanistan. By using Chinese ways and medicine I was healed once and for all. Now excuse me father, I must find him some tea and noodles before he is offended and leaves."
General Pratt, scratched his head as he looked at the old Chinese Master wondering how old he really was. The Master looked up into the general's eyes and with a long finger and a very long finger nail, in big numbers wrote his age on top of the table. He sucked in a big gasp of air when he saw 122 scratched on the table top. The Master smiled with a toothless grin and laid his chin back down on his chest.
Brad came back with a steaming bowl of noodles and a pot of green tea. The Master licked his lips and with a slurping noise, ate the noodles ignoring the just finished boiling water they were cooked in.
Mike came in and when he saw the Master, stopped and bowed low before him. The Master acknowledged his greeting and sipped his tea. From Brad's pocket he produced a not very good picture of the oldest son. He passed it to the Master who never didn't look at it but stuffed into his dragon dress. General Pratt blinked and when he looked up the Master was nowhere to be seen. Mike sat down and they began discussing the upcoming mission.
Mike asked, "What do you hear from the North?"
"Good news, by tomorrow we hope to have a departure time and date. As we speak, two trains are sitting keeping twelve cars warm waiting for a go signal. Our contact sends his confidence in a bona fide schedule very soon."
"Our boys are ready and there's nothing worse than sitting around doing nothing. Oh, by the way, isn't the music concert tonight?"
Brad smiled and said, "Yes, and we expect the bird in the cage later tonight or early morning. For the time being he'll wake up in Guantanamo."
Brad sat back thinking as both Mike and his father left alone. He thought about his wife up north in a very hostile environment. If caught as a spy, connected to him, she was as good as dead; including her sister. However, he didn't want to underestimate the security of North Korea, but it was doubtful they had an inkling who he was. Her trip was for only three days and after tonight, come morning they would be on their way back to South Korea. The timing was critical. Park had to supply the information within the next twenty hours or they'd come up empty. If they received no confirmed schedule, they would have to wing it. Lucky it was winter and the forecast was cold and clear for the next week or so.
Sujin was inside nervous and outside optimistic that Park would soon come with good solid information. She and her sister sat in a fairly decorative restaurant having dinner with her group of tour folks. The food was good but spare. The people waiting on the guests wished they would eat but a small portion so they finish the plate off in the back kitchen. But knowing the stingy North Koreans, a boss man would be there to scrape the residual into his own doggy bag.
It was always about this time when the government official would bring their cameras back after downloading the contents onto their own computers for security. However, tonight a different official carried all of the cameras in a bag. Sujin showed no emotion when Mr. Park placed her camera on the table. Sujin slowly put her camera in her camera bag and continued drinking her tea.
Early the next morning they rode a bus to the airport where they flew to China. From there, each took their own connecting flights home. Sujin and her sister flew to Seoul. She never took her camera out of the bag until she was safe and home in her parent's apartment. However, she had called Brad and he was on his way to Seoul to meet her.
This year's spring festival in China would be January 22nd. Brad assumed the Dear One would leave early to be on site for the celebration he was invited to attend. When Sujin opened her camera, she found the date of Jan 15th, at 5pm departure Pyongyang.
There were risking all on a small piece of paper that could not be confirmed. Such was the case for the decision to go or not to go that only Brad Pratt could make. Well, throwing caution to the wind, he would run with what he had to work with. Brad had five days to change his mind, but he gave his wife a hug, kissed his son and flew to Dalian.
Agent Jones and Wendy were both there waiting for him to arrive aboard ship. The Manila job complete; the middle son would wake up among those folks who prayed to the east in Cuba. Brad greeted them with a job well done and asked how it went. Agent Jones said, "Like clockwork. He gratefully accepted the comp room. We let him enjoy the concert. Afterwards he had some champagne that really kicked his butt. We flew him to Guam. After that, the Air Force took him to Cuba."
"Good job team. Now we have the tough one ahead of us. Mike, bring up the pilots and the rest of the team to the board room. Let's make sure we are all on the same page for day after tomorrow."
Chapter 11
In a fairly large war room, SEAL teams from three helicopters sat for the mission's final briefing. Brad let Mike to the briefing. Each member of the team had a laptop with a website detailing both China's east coat and North Korean's west coast. Mike using his pointer on his blown up screen map said, "We'll fly due east to the middle of the sea, turn north and enter North Korea just south of Yanggunpo. From there we will fly northeast staying west of Yongchon. Just north of Yongchon a nice straight rail tract runs through these rice fields. It's winter time so the fields will be frozen. Our timing will have to be perfect. It's risky as hell to fly around in circles waiting for a train to come by. I'm not sure it wouldn't be best if we were to set down just off to the east of tracks in the rice fields and wait. Let's go around the room and see what everyone things about this idea."
Brad waited for someone to voice his opinion. No one spoke up and Brad said, "I've an idea, but not sure how to make it work. We presume the lead train will have its lights on front and rear. The Leaders' train will be dark. If his train leaves on time, we should intercept it a few minutes before it reaches our target point. We sent with our inside man in North Korea, a GPS device that he could stash somewhere on the train car or engine. Engine would be better if they swept for electronic devices, it might be discovered on a passenger car, but the engine, maybe not. We'd be taking a real risk if we attached a device to determine the train's location."
Brads father said, "Let's leave the decision up to our North Korean friend. He would know better than us. There's a lot of electrical stuff on a train engine, but not much in a rail car except the lights and communication equipment."
Brad asked, "Mike, what do you think?"
"The other option is to land and wait for the train to arrive. Farmers might have dogs and that could set off an alarm while we wait for the train to arrive. I'm with General Pratt, let the man in the north decide. If that doesn't work, then we'll park in the mountains and wait for the train to show up. I'd say we'd best take our long handles and down coats if we have to wait."
A few laughs occurred to break the tension. Of course the SEAL team would be prepared for any eventuality that might arise. Brad ended the briefing to schedule a last minute one before takeoff.
The next twenty four hours was a long wait. The normal thing would be for the SEALs to work on each individual job assigned. However, they played word games to keep their minds thinking. The daylight hours brought an overcast condition, but no rain or snow. The air was still and that was a god sent. Usually a brisk wind from Siberia turned your lips blue in a hurry. If weather conditions remained like this, the pilots would have a much easier time not bucking the winds.
Using a satellite phone Brad called his wife in Seoul. Rocky was with her and he felt lost without his master around. Sujin put the phone next to his ear. Rocky let off a small woof. Then he ran around the room looking for his master. Sujin laughed and so did Brad. He gave her and little Brian his love and hung up.
His last call was to Steve telling him all that was going on. They still hadn't heard from Park and no signal yet from the GPS. Steve wished them well and said he and the president would be watching the clock.
By five pm D-Day, a signal from a GPS came in strongly. Park was successful, at least for the moment. It was planned that around midnight the train would be close to target area. Everyone was happy, but Brad still didn't want to celebrate so early in the mission. The fireworks were schedule for eight pm to midnight. That would give the team about the right amount of time to pull off the mission.
To kill some time, Brad went down to the flight deck to see how things were going. It really wasn't necessary, but the SEAL commander gave Brad a blow by blow of the rockets and the coffins. Brad looked into the canopy area where they would all be crammed in soon. A three man team would occupy the helicopter. An extra team was standing by if Brad needed them. He walked to the back and looked out over the Yellow Sea. Even with the fireworks going off overhead, the sea looked black and foreboding.
Brad wondered if the fourth team was necessary
. While standing there his father walked up and put his arm around his shoulder. He said, "Son, what's bothering you. It's not like you to be apprehensive at the beginning of a mission. What can an old soldier like me do to help?"
"Thanks Dad. I'm debating whether or not to add the fourth team to the mission. I can't help but think of the Pakistan operation losing a helicopter due to a malfunction or accident. I'm seriously considering adding it."
"There're two ways to look at it. One is that it's nice to have a back up and the other; it's just another something to go wrong. Be that as it may, it would be hell to be the fourth team and sit here doing nothing to help your buddies. These guys are here to participate, not to warm the bench."
Brad thought about it and how to best use the fourth team. It might be wise to use team four to take out the engine and leave the other three teams to take care of the passenger cars. The final briefing would be the time to make the decision. Meanwhile, he saw the fireworks reflections off the water. Very soon, in North Korea there would be fireworks that would be seen by farmers wondering if war had broken out.
In Pyongyang, North Korea, at the same time Brad was contemplating the use or not uses of team four, the final sweep of hidden explosives was being performed on the Leaders train. Everyone was aboard, including the Leader's daughter, Kim, Sul song. Even though she was a light colonel in the army, she was still a girl in a male dominated society. Not a lot was known about her, but from inside sources, she is responsible for security and schedule arrangements for her father. One thing that didn't miss Brad's attention was the word 'intelligent'.
In case of attack on the Dear Leader, his replacement son was aboard another car. The daughter rode with her father. Brad thought correctly the youngest son was on another car.
'Dear One' Breathes Fire Page 6
