by Gary Paulsen
“It doesn’t make sense.” Dunc was sitting at the desk writing on his notepad. He stopped and stared at his notes.
“Sure it does. If we leave right now, we’ll have thirty minutes. That’s just about enough time for me to wipe out everyone else’s score in Kamikaze Kickboxer and put my initials at the top.”
“I’m talking about Kim. Why would she go to all the trouble of getting that note to us if she didn’t plan a time to meet us?”
Amos shrugged. He sat up and tried to straighten his tie. It was a clip-on, but he still couldn’t get it to hang straight. The knot was in the center but the bottom part kept flopping sideways. “Maybe she’ll show up at the party. Hey, can you help me with this?”
“I already thought of that.” Dunc stood up and checked his suit for wrinkles. “If she’s there, she’ll be surrounded by government people and bodyguards. We won’t be able to get within ten feet of her. Unless …”
Amos yanked on the end of the tie, and the bottom part came off in his hand. “Shoot. You got any tape?” He glanced up and noticed Dunc looking at him the way a cat looks at a goldfish in a bowl. “What?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking that if you kept Kim’s bodyguards busy at the party, I could get her alone and ask her what this is all about.”
Amos shook his head. “I don’t do bodyguards. How about a stapler? Maybe glue?”
Dunc snatched the end of Amos’s tie and stuffed it up under the knot. “There. Just don’t pull on it. By the way, did I tell you about the roll of quarters I packed in my suitcase by accident?”
“You have quarters?”
“A whole roll.”
“What are we waiting for?” Amos grabbed his coat. “Video Games Paradise, here we come!”
Dunc looked at his watch. “We can’t go now, Amos. We’ll be late to the party. And besides, I just wouldn’t feel right playing games while somebody’s in trouble and needs our help.”
Amos thought about it. For about two seconds. “All right. We’ll go to the party and I’ll help you with the bodyguards. But you have to promise that right after you talk to her, we go play video games. Okay?”
Dunc held the door open for him. “Whatever you say, Amos.”
•6
The Canadian hockey team waved from across the room. One of the older boys motioned for Dunc and Amos to join them.
Amos waved back. “Did you bring your camera?” he whispered. “Melissa’s gonna love this.”
“No, I didn’t. We’re not here to have fun. We’re on a mission.”
“Stop talking like a junior detective. It’s your fault that I’m here instead of at her party tonight. She’s probably crying her eyes out by now and you won’t even take a few crummy pictures to help cheer her up. That’s cold, Dunc.”
“Oh, all right. I don’t see the North Koreans yet, anyway. I’ll run up and get the camera. Keep an eye on things while I’m gone.”
“Take your time.” Amos headed for the buffet.
Dunc rushed out of the room to the lobby elevator. Impatiently he pushed the third-floor button.
“Pssst.”
Dunc looked behind him but didn’t see anything. He hit the button again.
“Pssst. American boy. Over here.”
He scanned the lobby. From behind a potted palm tree he saw a small hand waving to get his attention. Cautiously he moved across the room to the plant. Kim Su-Yong was crouched behind it. Her hair was pulled back with exotic combs and she was wearing a dark-green sequined dress. She pulled him down beside her.
“I must speak to you. Did you get my note?”
Dunc nodded. “What’s it all about? Why go to so much trouble?”
“Shhh. Not here. There is no time. Meet me in twenty minutes in room 502.” The girl straightened her long dress and stepped from behind the plant. She didn’t make it ten steps before two North Korean secret service men swooped down on her. Dunc couldn’t tell what they were saying, but it sounded a lot like she was being chewed out for something.
Dunc checked the time. There was no way he’d be able to get the camera to the party and be back in twenty minutes. Amos would just have to wait. Dunc peeked through the leaves and made sure no one was watching, then stepped out from behind the palm tree and walked to the elevator.
The doors were open. He raced inside and pushed the fifth-floor button. The elevator lurched upward. When it stopped, he stuck his head out and looked both ways. The hall was empty. He walked to one end, looked out the window, and checked his watch again. Fifteen minutes.
Two Swedish girls came up the stairs. When they saw Dunc sitting on the window ledge, they stopped and stared. The smaller one spoke to him in English. “Do you know that this is an all-female floor?”
Dunc’s face changed colors. He cleared his throat. “It’s okay. I’m meeting someone here.”
“Oh?” The girl’s eyebrows went up. “I see.” She said something in Swedish to her friend, and they walked down the hall laughing and glancing back at him.
“Pssst. American boy.”
Dunc turned toward the sound. Kim was standing in the door of room 502. He tried to walk nonchalantly to the room and then quickly ducked inside.
One glance told him the room was not being occupied by any of the athletes. There were no clothes, suitcases, or personal items cluttering it up.
Kim watched him and then spoke in perfect English. “You are right. This is not my room. I found out from the desk clerk that it is not in use at this time. I thought it might be a perfect place for us to talk, so I borrowed the key.”
Dunc shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. “You said in your note that you needed help. Are you in trouble? Is someone bothering you?”
“Please sit down.” Kim gracefully lowered herself into one of the chairs at the small table and waited for him to take the other. “We only have a modest amount of time before I will be missed, so I must be brief.”
She paused and looked directly into his eyes.
“I need your help … to defect.”
•7
“What took you so long?” Amos had just finished his fifth trip to the buffet table. His plate was piled high with desserts and threatened to topple over. “Most of the athletes have left already.”
“Keep your voice down.” Dunc took a small doughnut off the top of Amos’s pile. “We’ve got a real problem. I’ve been talking to Kim Su-Yong. You’ll never guess what she wants us to do.”
“If I have to keep my voice down, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know. Did you bring the camera?”
“I didn’t have time to get it. Will you listen to me? This is important. Kim wants us to help her defect. She wants to leave her country.”
Amos popped a cream puff into his mouth. “Why?”
“She says it’s too oppressive there. Kim never really wanted to be a skater. The North Korean government made her do it. She wants to quit and come to the United States.”
“She’s already here.”
“To live. She wants to become a United States citizen.”
“Why does she need us? We’re not imitation. We’re not even with the government.”
“That’s immigration, Amos. And she knows that. She wants us to help smuggle her away from the sports complex. After that she’ll go to the authorities on her own.”
“What’d you tell her?”
“I told her we’d think about it and get back to her.”
Amos wiped the frosting off his mouth with his sleeve. “I’ve thought about it and I say we stay out of it. The last time we got involved with foreigners, we got chased by spies, I nearly got eaten alive by piranhas, and you almost married some sheik’s granddaughter.”
“I didn’t almost marry anybody and that piranha barely ripped a hole in your shirt. Nobody really got hurt and we probably helped stop an international incident.”
Amos licked chocolate off the back of his hand. “I don’t know why Kim wants to defect so badly. She looked happy
enough at the party tonight.”
“I told you. She needs us to—what did you say?”
“Clean out your ears. I said she was having a blast at the party. Laughing and dancing. She didn’t look too oppressed to me.”
“Amos, Kim wasn’t at the party. She couldn’t have been. She was with me until just a few minutes ago.”
“I don’t know who was with you. But Kim Su-Yong, the champion ice-skater, along with three North Korean secret service people, were here having a good time most of the night.”
•8
“How do I look?” Amos waddled out of the bathroom dressed in a bulky red ski suit complete with cap and goggles.
“That depends.” Dunc looked up from his notes. “What are you supposed to be?”
“I’m not supposed to be anything. I have my free ice-skating lesson this morning. Don’t you remember?”
Dunc nodded. “Aren’t you a little overdressed for skating?”
“Nope. I’ve seen some of those guys fall down out there and I’m not taking any chances.” Amos took one of the pillows from the bed and stuffed it down the back of his suit. “There. I’m ready. Are you coming?”
Dunc put his notes down. “I wouldn’t miss this for anything. Besides, maybe I’ll get another chance to talk to Kim. I need to get a few things straight before we agree to help her.”
“Yeah, like how she can be in two places at the same time.” Amos reached for another pillow. “Just in case.”
“You already look like Santa Claus.”
Amos headed out the door. “Better safe than sorry. Melissa wouldn’t like it if I came back with a broken leg.”
Dunc thought about telling him that Melissa Hansen wouldn’t care if he came back in a body cast. But he didn’t. Instead he quietly followed his overstuffed friend out the door to the skating rink.
The security guard at the rink looked at his clipboard. “We’ve got him on the list”—he pointed at Amos—“but not you.” The man looked at Dunc. “Sorry, kid, but we gotta follow rules.”
“That’s okay, Officer.” Dunc leaned close to Amos. “If you see you-know-who, tell her I need to talk to her soon. I’ll be upstairs watching.”
A tall Finnish boy led Amos down the hall to be fitted with a pair of skates. After they found the right size, the boy took Amos to the ice and told him to wait on a bench for his instructor.
Amos waited. Two whole seconds. Then he moved to the edge of the rink. Gingerly he put one foot on the ice. “So far, so good.” He held on to the rail and put his other foot on the ice. “Hey, this is a piece of cake.”
He looked up to wave at Dunc. When he did, his left foot shot out from underneath him and his right followed, leaving him flat on his back. Amos struggled to stand, but he was too far from the rail to pull himself up. He looked like a giant red turtle that had landed upside down on its shell.
A giggle came from the bench. It was Kim Su-Yong.
Amos rolled onto his stomach and used the toes of his skates to push and scoot off the ice. He rolled over on the floor and got to his knees.
Kim helped him to his feet and smiled. “I am teacher. Remember, before skate, always remove guards.” She pointed to the black guards on the blades of Amos’s skates.
“Oh, right. I knew that. Listen, before we get started here, I’m supposed to tell you that Dunc needs to talk to you. He says it’s important.”
Kim frowned. “Who is this … Donc?”
“Donc, I mean Dunc, is my best friend. You know, the guy you were with last night.”
Kim raised her eyebrows and stepped back. “I was no with guy last night. Who dares say this?”
Amos scratched his head. “You mean you didn’t talk to my friend last night about defecting and moving to the United States permanently? I know Dunc’s kind of boring, especially when he starts talking about computers. But still, I’d think you’d at least remember the part where you wanted him to risk his life and help you escape.”
Kim’s eyes flashed in anger. Her hand made a fist and for a moment Amos thought she might hit him. Suddenly she smiled. “Oh yes. Now remembering. Please do Kim great favor. Please tell friend all was joke. Very funny, yes? Come.” She led Amos to the ice. “No talk now. We have lesson.”
•9
“Kim said what?” Dunc stopped outside the auditorium.
“She said it was all a joke and we should just forget about it.” Amos ran down the wheelchair ramp, made a wild jump in the air, and came down on one knee. He threw his arms up. “What do you think? I know it probably needs a little work, but that was my best double toe loop.”
“What are you doing?”
“Practicing. I’ve decided that maybe Junior Championship ice-skating isn’t so bad. I figure that if I work at it, I’ll be ready for the gold by next year.”
Dunc ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t get it. Last night she was desperate. She told me that her chaperons were ruthless. That they’d stop at nothing to keep her from leaving.”
Amos stood up. “Well, today she’s changed her mind. People do that. Take me, for instance. Yesterday I hated ice-skating. Today it’s my life.”
“Amos, you barely made it around the rink one time without falling.”
“You’re just crabby because your dumb case fell through.” Amos lifted his chin. “Kim told me I was a natural.”
“Yeah. A natural disaster. You better stick to video games. In the meantime, there’s something funny going on here and we’re going to find out what it is.”
“What is this we stuff? I’m due to have my picture taken with the Canadian bobsled team this afternoon.”
“I know, Amos. And you will.” Dunc patted him on the back. “Right after you help me sneak into Kim Su-Yong’s room.”
•10
“How do I let you talk me into these things?”
“Be quiet, Amos. Do you want people to know you’re under there?” Dunc straightened the white cloth on the serving cart he was pushing down the hall so that it covered the tips of Amos’s shoes. “Besides, I already did my part by bribing the waiter to let us bring Kim her lunch.”
“Well, just for the record, I think this is one of your stupider stupid ideas.”
“It’ll be a snap, Amos. All you have to do is sit under there and listen. When Kim’s alone, ask her what’s going on. When you find out, get back on the cart and she’ll push you out in the hall, where I’ll be waiting. You don’t have a thing to worry about. Trust me.”
“You had to say that.”
“We’re almost to her suite. Good luck.”
Before Amos had time to answer, he heard Dunc knock on the door and say, “Room service.” Then he heard someone thank Dunc and felt himself being rolled into the room.
The door shut. Several people were talking loudly in Korean. One of them was yelling.
Great, Amos thought. I’m stuck down here like a squished sardine and I can’t understand a word anybody’s saying.
Someone walked over to the cart, picked up the lid of one of the dishes, and slammed it back down, rattling the tray. He heard more yelling, and then the door shut and the voices stopped.
Amos listened. Nothing made a sound. “Well, since they obviously aren’t eating …” He slid his hand out from under the corner of the white cloth and felt around the top of the table for a roll.
A sharp voice broke the silence. “Who’s under there?”
Amos choked. The cloth was lifted and he saw Kim Su-Yong’s face staring down at him.
“I can explain …,” Amos started.
Kim raised her hand. “No need. I understand perfectly. Your American friend sent you to discuss my imminent defection.”
“No … I mean yes. Hey. How come you speak English so well? Earlier you were having trouble.”
A flicker of hesitation crossed the girl’s face. “Oh, that. I speak that way for the tourists and news people. I actually speak five different languages fluently. Let’s get down to business. Did your fri
end send word with you on the time of my defection?”
“But …” Amos looked confused. “I thought you told me during my skating lesson that you didn’t want to defect after all. That it was all a joke.”
The beautiful young girl put her hand to her mouth and quietly paced the room. Nervously she turned to Amos. “I had to say that. I wasn’t sure if they were listening. My government has spies everywhere.” She knelt and put one hand on his shoulder. “Please. You must tell your friend that my defection has to take place tonight.”
•11
“That girl is wacky. Too many falls on hard ice, if you ask me.” Amos sipped on a soda and leaned back in his chair.
Dunc stepped out of the shower. “Speak up a little, Amos. I can’t hear you.”
“I said, she has a screw loose.”
“I don’t know.” Dunc toweled his hair dry. “It makes sense that she’s been acting strange because she’s scared. These communist countries don’t go easy on traitors.”
The front legs of Amos’s chair hit the floor. “You’re not seriously thinking about going along with her plan, are you?”
“Why not? She’s taking care of the tough part. All we have to do is be there on time.”
“I don’t understand you. You’re usually the one who uses his head in these things. I can’t believe you’re just going to go along with this. This girl has been nothing but trouble since we met her. She can’t make up her mind about anything and you still want to help her. The two of you deserve each other. You have a screw loose too.”
Dunc pulled on his jeans and a T-shirt. “Come on, Amos. She’s not asking much. Her servant will bring her to the taxi stand at four o’clock in a duffel bag and place her in the trunk of our taxi. All we have to do is get in and tell the driver where in town we want to go. It’s a cinch.”
