“We had a small problem,” Hong finally explained. Gesturing at Ok-Hwa, he added, “Jackie Chan here got carried away when Yong-Im wouldn’t cooperate.”
“I figured as much,” Bryn said. “And I understand that wasn’t your only problem.”
“What are you talking about?” Hong demanded.
Bryn stared at Hong, surprised. “You didn’t hear?”
Hong frowned. “Hear about what?”
“There was a raid on your safehouse in Koreatown,” Bryn said. “First thing this morning, probably around the same time you were going after Yong-Im.”
Hong swore. Ok-Hwa, however, was more alarmed than angry.
“Was anyone hurt?” he asked.
“Hurt?” Bryn laughed bitterly. “They killed everybody except one.”
“My brother,” Ok-Hwa said, his voice strained. “Was he the one—”
“I don’t know who was killed and who wasn’t,” Bryn interrupted. “I don’t know anything except what we heard on the news.”
Ok-Hwa seemed dazed. He wandered over to one of the chairs and plopped down, raising a cloud of dust. Hong, meanwhile, asked Bryn for more details, and as he listened, he frisked his pockets for the list of defectors he and the other REDI agents had been sent to retrieve. It was a pointless gesture, though, because he knew all too well that he’d left the list back at the safehouse when he’d changed into his cable company uniform.
“But for us it doesn’t change anything,” Bryn concluded. “If they treat the raid as nothing more than a drug bust, we haven’t been compromised. We can still see our mission through.”
Hong nodded. He wasn’t about to tell Bryn about the list. They would just have to take their chances and hope the authorities wouldn’t know what to make of the sheet of paper if they found it.
Bryn led Hong into the rear bedroom. There, yet another REDI agent was standing guard over Li-Roo Kohb, the defector they’d just snatched from the Laughlin Shores Casino. The scientist was unconscious, lying on an unmade bed, his wrists and ankles bound with duct tape.
“Did you get him to talk?” Hong asked.
“Not yet,” Bryn conceded. “But at least he’s still alive, so we can try again when he comes to.”
Hong ignored the dig. “We can try sodium pentothal,” he suggested. “We didn’t get a chance to use ours.”
“So I gathered,” Bryn said. “We still have our supply and, yes, we’ll try it on him. In the meantime, we still have Kang Moo-Hyun to deal with.”
“I’ll take care of him,” Hong volunteered.
“The same way you took care of Yong-Im?”
Hong bristled. “I already told you, that was Ok-Hwa’s doing.”
“You were in charge,” Bryn countered.
“Yes,” Hong retorted, “and because you asked to borrow my team so you could cover both Laughlin and Las Vegas, I was left to rely on the local product. My mistake. It won’t happen again.”
Bryn met Hong’s gaze and replied, “Your point is taken. Go ahead and take Las Vegas if you want. I understand your desire to save face.”
Hong was about to snap at Bryn but caught himself. There was nothing to be gained by any more petty bickering. Forcing himself to calm down, he told Bryn, “I want to leave Ok-Hwa here. I’ll borrow back a couple of my own men for the job, if that’s all right with you.”
Bryn shrugged. “Help yourself,” he said.
“I’ll take Woo-Ki,” Hong said, gesturing at the man guarding Li-Roo Kohb. “And Cho Il-Tok.”
“Cho might be a problem,” Bryn responded. “He’s not here.”
“Where is he?”
“After we got our hands on Li-Roo, he decided to stay behind.”
“In Laughlin?” Hong couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Why? To do what? Gamble?”
Bryn smiled. “I think it was another vice he had in mind. You know Cho. Give him a chance and he’ll do his thinking with the brain between his legs.”
“You should have ordered him to come back with you,” Hong said. “He has no business staying behind. It’s too risky.”
“I told him as much,” Bryn replied. “But, as you say, he’s your man. Apparently he listens to you more than he does me.”
“How can I reach him?”
Bryn shrugged. “You know we don’t carry phones.” Smirking, he quickly added, “It’s too risky.”
“Are you mocking me?”
“Relax,” Bryn told his fellow operative. “Once he’s had his fun, I’m sure Cho will be back.”