‘They’re buying their way out? But North Korea’s virtually bankrupt.’
‘I know, so I guess they’ll just increase their production of hard drugs for a few years to cover the cost. The problem we have is that if we did decide to eliminate that psychopathic dwarf in Pyongyang, we’d either have to use nukes ourselves or get dug in for another Vietnam, and neither option’s politically acceptable in the present climate.’
‘So we wait for the next brilliant plan the little shit comes up with?’
‘I guess so,’ Hicks said, ‘but maybe next time we’ll be better placed to take him down.’
Camp 22, Haengyong, North Hamgyong Province, North Korea
North Korea isn’t a particularly big country, and the flight took only just over an hour. Both helicopters landed a few minutes apart on the square that lies between the armoury and the office of the Camp Director.
Once the rotors had stopped, the prisoners were hustled into the torture and detention centre on the west side of the square. Preparations had been made for their reception, and the order of their arrival had been specified. Pak Je-San was already gagged and strapped to a chair bolted to the floor in front of the clear glass wall of the gas chamber when his wife and two children were led towards the killing room.
The moment he saw them he began pulling at his bonds, but the soldiers who had secured him knew their trade, and his struggles were completely ineffective.
Kim Yong-Su smiled pleasantly at the woman, who was clearly terrified, her hands clutching at her children’s shoulders, and opened the airtight door to usher her inside the chamber. He looked, bizarrely, like a doorman at a good hotel welcoming a favoured guest, and within moments the three of them – Pak Je-San’s wife and his two sons, aged ten and eight – had stepped inside. There was, after all, no other option for them.
The door was sealed and the internal pressure checked. Pak moaned in anguish as his wife stared helplessly at him through the armoured glass, and his eyes filled with tears.
Kim Yong-Su ordered the cameras to start recording – although it was an execution, useful data could still be obtained – then walked across and took the chair beside him. He settled himself comfortably, then nodded to the chief scientist, who started a stopwatch and opened the valve that allowed the gas to flow down the injection tube and into the chamber.
‘We’re using soman,’ Kim remarked in a conversational tone to Pak, who’d closed his eyes and bowed his head as he heard the rush of the injected gas. ‘It shouldn’t take long.’
The gas chamber wasn’t soundproofed, but the thick glass wall served to muffle any sounds from the inside.
When his wife screamed, Pak looked up and stared at her for what he knew would be the last time. His sons had already collapsed, their slight frames twitching involuntarily as the agent wreaked havoc on their nervous systems. Urine and faeces stained their clothes and the grubby metal plates that formed the floor. Then his wife fell backwards and Pak closed his eyes again. That he couldn’t bear to watch.
Four minutes later the gas flow was switched off and the pumps began purging the chamber. Pak looked up again, at the three pathetic bundles that had once been his family, as strong hands began releasing the straps that held him in the chair. Anger burned inside him, but he knew resistance was completely futile.
Three prisoners wearing grey overalls and gas masks opened the door of the chamber and dragged out the bodies. A sharp command brought Pak to his feet, and he shuffled round to the chamber entrance, Kim walking beside him.
‘For you, we’re going to use tabun,’ he explained. ‘It’s not quite as fast-acting as soman, so you’ll have a little more time to suffer.’
Pak Je-San stepped into the chamber and waited for the door to be closed. He’d resolved to simply sit down close to the injection pipe and inhale as deeply as he could, to finish his life quickly.
Behind him he heard a sudden commotion, and looked round in surprise. The door had slammed shut, but Kim Yong-Su was inside the chamber. The government official was yelling and banging on the door, but the smiles on the faces of the men outside told their own story.
And despite himself, Pak began to laugh.
HMS Illustrious, Yellow Sea
The mood in the Wardroom was subdued. Most officers who weren’t on duty were there, standing or sitting in small groups as they discussed the events of the last few hours. Richter was sitting in one corner, half a cup of coffee on the table in front of him, and still wearing flying overalls, a technical breach of etiquette that no one appeared too concerned about. He was wondering if he could be bothered to change before lunch. Or even to eat lunch. All he really wanted to do was sleep.
When the communications rating appeared in the doorway, Richter knew almost instinctively that he was the addressee on the signal the man was holding. He got up, walked over towards him, signed the Classified Documents Register, and ripped open the envelope. The message was short and to the point, and Richter knew immediately that he wasn’t going to be getting much sleep in the near future. Or, at least, not on this ship.
RICHTER, ILLUSTRIOUS. RETURN LONDON IMMEDIATE. OVERRIDE PRIORITY FRANTIC. SIMPSON, FOE.
Thirty minutes later Richter was escorted onto the flight deck by the duty SE rating. They stopped just abeam the Merlin’s cargo door and waited for the pilot, Craig Howe, to give permission for him to board the aircraft. The moment the marshaller waved him forward, he walked across, ducking as he moved under the rotor disk.
As he strapped himself into the seat, about to lift off for Seoul, Richter wondered just what the hell Simpson had got them involved in now. He’d only heard the ‘FRANTIC’ priority code-word used once since he’d been at FOE, and had hoped he’d never hear it again. But, he reflected, leaning back and finally closing his eyes, he supposed he’d find out soon enough.
About the Author
James Barrington, a trained military pilot, has worked in the secretive world about which he writes. His previous Paul Richter thrillers were Overkill and Pandemic.
Also by James Barrington
OVERKILL
PANDEMIC
Acknowledgements
A substantial part of this novel is set on board Her Majesty’s Ship Illustrious, a Royal Navy aircraft carrier on which I served for some two years. Times change, memories fade, and subtle alterations are made to such vessels, and I’m indebted to Lieutenant Craig Howe, Royal Navy, a front-line pilot on 814 Squadron, both for reminding me of some things I should have remembered, and pointing out the more significant of those changes that have taken place on board this ship. Craig makes a couple of cameo appearances in this novel, and even gets to survive the experience!
I’d also like to thank Lieutenant Commander Paul Tremelling, Royal Navy, for his invaluable and expert guidance on modern Harrier operations and weapons – the GR9 is a far cry from the old FA2 version.
Finally, I must thank my good friend and wonderful agent, Luigi Bonomi, for his continued enthusiasm and encouragement, Peter Lavery for his exhaustive and talented editing, and all the rest of the team at Macmillan.
And, as ever, Sally.
James Barrington
Principality of Andorra, 2007
Author’s Note
EMP and the MiG-25 Foxbat
The existence of the electromagnetic pulse caused by the detonation of a nuclear weapon was not suspected by the American scientific community until 9 July 1962, as a direct result of a classified experiment called Starfish Prime, itself part of a series of tests code-named Operation Dominic. Utilizing a Thor launch vehicle carrying a W49 warhead, this was a high-yield – 1.4 megatons – nuclear test conducted at an altitude of around 250 miles over the Pacific Ocean, which had significant, and previously unsuspected, secondary effects.
Some one thousand miles distant in Hawaii, power lines fused; televisions, radios and other electrical equipment burnt out; and hundreds of street lamps failed. On other Pacific islands, microwave links were destroyed, cut
ting telephone connections. Only when this damage was analysed did American scientists realize the potential damage that a high-altitude nuclear blast could cause to an advanced and technology-dependent society.
The Russians, in contrast, had known about this effect for at least seven years, following their detonation on 22 November 1955 of a 1.6-megaton thermonuclear device code-named RDS-37, and possibly as early as 1953 when they exploded the comparatively low-yield (400 kilotons) Joe 4 weapon.
What is almost certain is that knowledge of the destructive effects of the EMP guided the design of the MiG-25 Foxbat interceptor’s avionics. The Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau’s use of valve technology in this cutting-edge fighter, rather than readily available solid-state electronics, only makes sense in this context.
It is also a fact that there were no existing or planned Western aircraft that could fly at anything like the speed the Foxbat could achieve: one was clocked on radar in the early 1970s by the Israelis at Mach 3.2. Despite this, the MiG-25’s Machmeter was red-lined at Mach 2.5 and, according to Viktor Belenko, if the aircraft’s speed exceeded Mach 2.8 there was a danger the engines would accelerate out of control. This was at least in part because the Tumansky R-15B-300 afterburning turbojets had originally been designed for use in a single-engined and single-use Mach 2+ reconnaissance drone, the Tupolev Tu-123 Yastreb or Hawk.
The Russians have never publicly admitted that the MiG-25 was actually intended to intercept ICBMs, but several unofficial sources have claimed that this was the case.
Camp 22
This is one of about a dozen concentration and slave-labour camps in North Korea, which together hold around 200,000 prisoners. Located near Haengyong in North Hamgyong Province and close to the borders with China and Russia, Camp 22 is the largest, and its description in this novel is accurate.
The ‘crimes’ most of these prisoners have committed would not be considered offences in any other nation. Many are there because they, or one of their relatives, are believed to be critical of the ruling regime or, equally dangerous to Pyongyang, are Christians or support Christianity. And Kim Jong-Il is absolutely determined to stamp out the ‘bad blood’ that causes citizens of his country to entertain such heretical notions: as a matter of course, three entire generations of the criminal’s family will be seized and sent to the North Korean gulag for any such infraction.
Documentary evidence exists that condemned prisoners are transported to Camp 22 by the Pyongyang regime specifically to be used in human experimentation into the effects of poisonous gases and liquids.
These ‘experiments’ range from detailed observations of the effects of newly developed substances in the gas chamber to rough-and-ready executions carried out in the most casual manner. In one reported case, some fifty women were selected at random and fed cabbage leaves laced with an unidentified poison that resulted in them vomiting blood and suffering agonizing deaths within about twenty minutes. In other instances, entire families were gassed simultaneously, the parents desperately trying to protect their children as the lethal concoction began its work.
The gas chamber itself is roughly three metres square and two metres high and primarily made of glass. This allows the ‘doctors’ and ‘scientists’ outside, who film the proceedings and take notes, to have a clear view of the experiments. In this novel I have made one small change in my description: I have described the observation as being made from the side of the gas chamber, whereas the process is normally watched from above, through the glass roof.
Camp 22 holds upwards of 50,000 prisoners. Those who aren’t put in the gas chamber, or tortured to death for the pleasure of the guards, are forced to work on the land or in the nearby Chungbong coal mine. Many there die from their regular beatings or simply through exhaustion because of the appalling conditions.
Women as well as men are sent to this concentration camp and, inevitably, some give birth whilst they are incarcerated. Caring for infants is not a part of the remit of Camp 22, and it has been reliably reported that the guards are instructed to kill all new-born children by stamping on their heads and necks.
Life is hard in the ‘Hermit Kingdom’, but death is harder still.
Glossary
203 Slang term for the American Colt M16A2 5.56mm assault rifle fitted with a 203 grenade launcher clipped under the barrel. This is the preferred weapon of the SAS, whose troopers refuse to use the clumsy and unreliable SA-80, the standard British Army rifle
AA-6 See ‘Acrid’
ACRB Aircrew Refreshment Bar. Informal snack bar where aircrew can eat and drink before or after a mission
Acrid NATO reporting name for the Russian R-40 air-to-air missile, also known as the AA-6. First constructed in the 1960s, the missile had two variants: the R-40T (infrared homing) and R-40R (semi-active radar homing), and in the late 1970s two longer-range versions, the R-40TD and R-40RD were introduced. Production was discontinued in 1991
ADD Associate Deputy Director of the CIA
Aegis Generic term for the American SPY-1F radar and associated missile launch system installed on ships from several navies. The system is optimized for engaging high-flying, high-speed targets
AEW Airborne Early Warning
AIM-9 Sidewinder. Short-range air-to-air missile
Alpha Russian hunter-killer submarine
ALR-67 Super Hornet Radar Warning Receiver
AMRAAM AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile
An-28 Antonov twin turbo-prop light transport aircraft, NATO reporting name ‘Cash’
An-72 Antonov STOL twin turbofan transport aircraft, NATO reporting name ‘Coaler’
Bagman Slang term for an AEW Sea King observer, after the shape of the inflatable fabric dome covering the modified Searchwater radar that dangles from the side of the aircraft like a large grey pustule
Bergen Standard-issue British Army rucksack
Boomer Slang term for a ballistic-missile-carrying nuclear submarine or SSBN
Brimstone Solid-fuel anti-armour missile
Bureau 39 The North Korean government department responsible for the cultivation, transport, export and sale of illegal drugs
Bus Device in the nose of an ICBM that supports the warhead
Buster Full chat, maximum speed
CAG Commander, Air Group. The officer in charge of the air wing on an American carrier
CAP Combat Air Patrol. Defensive air patrol usually mounted by pairs of fighters to protect the aircraft carrier and other vessels from air attack
CBG Carrier Battle Group. American surface group headed by an aircraft carrier
CDS Chief of the Defence Staff
CFC Combined Forces Command. The joint American/South Korean military organization
CIC Combat Information Center. The tactical nerve centre of a US Navy aircraft carrier where data is collected and collated for the command
CINCFLEET Commander-In-Chief Fleet
Claymore A directional fragmentation mine that can be triggered by trip-wires, infrared sensors, or by command detonation
COMINT Communications Intelligence
ComSat Communications Satellite
COMSEC Communications Security
Cover All American Strategic Air Command’s airborne command post. One Cover All aircraft is airborne at all times, and additional units are launched in times of crisis. See also ‘E-6B’
CRV7 Ground-attack rocket, fired from an under-wing pod
DEFCON Defense Condition. A measure of the alert state of the American military machine. The DEFCON state runs from Five – the normal peacetime state – to One, which implies that America is either at war or about to go to war
DFC Dedicated Flying Course. Course steered by a carrier when recovering aircraft
DMZ Demilitarized Zone. Buffer separating the two Korean nations
DNI Director of National Intelligence. The highest position in the American intelligence organization
DPRK Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Like most Communis
t states, it’s neither democratic nor a republic, and certainly isn’t run by or for the people
E-2C All-weather tactical airborne warning and control system aircraft flown from US carriers. Commonly known as a Hawkeye
E-4B The Nightwatch Boeing 747-200 aircraft designed as a command post for the US President and military chiefs. Known as the National Airborne Operations Center or the National Emergency Airborne Command Post – NEACP or ‘Kneecap’
E-6B A modified Boeing 707 that acts as an airborne command post. Known as Cover All, its primary task is relaying instructions from the National Command Authority
EA-6B Electronic warfare aircraft designed to suppress enemy radars and communication systems. Commonly known as a Prowler
ECM Electronic Counter-Measures. Equipment used to counter any form of electronic surveillance or tracking devices, such as radar
EMCON Emission Control. EMCON policy is a statement of intent governing the use of radios and radar
EMP Electromagnetic Pulse. Surge following the detonation of a nuclear weapon, capable of destroying unshielded solid-state electronic devices
F-5 Shenyang F-5. Chinese-built version of the Russian MiG-17 fighter
F/A-18 Twin-engine, multi-role fighter/attack aircraft that has replaced several earlier types. Commonly known as a Super Hornet
Fan Song Tracking and guidance radar for the SA-2 SAM system
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