Ballistic Force(86)
When Lim’s executive secretary finally picked up the phone at the captive businessman’s Seoul headquarters, Yulim brusquely told the woman there had been a change in plans to have Lim released the following morning. He claimed Lim was now suspected of spying and would be detained further while he underwent more thorough interrogation. Yulim refused to answer the questions prompted by his announcement and hung up without offering a revised timetable for Lim’s release. In truth, he still wasn’t sure how he was going to play out the hand. It would have to wait.
The commandant called the guards over and told them how they were to deal with Sergeant Dahn. Once he felt sure they understood the instructions, he told them to go ahead and bring the man in. As he waited, Yulim lit a cigarette and forced himself to calm down. It’s under control, he assured himself. Everything is under control.
As Dahn was led into the bungalow, Yulim circled his desk and greeted the MII agent cordially. He apologized for having kept the man waiting, then said, “Major Jin tells me you’re looking for a little recreation.”
Dahn nodded, then gestured over his shoulder. “Yes, and I think I just had a look at the woman I’d like to ‘recreate’ with.”
Yulim chuckled, “She’s a nice one, all right. I think we can arrange something.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
“First, however,” Yulim said, “we need to clarify a few things.”
Yulim stubbed out his cigarette in the same ashtray he’d earlier hurled at the television screen. It was the signal the guards were waiting for. One of them suddenly stepped forward and aimed his carbine at Dahn’s face. The sergeant was clearly caught off guard, and he was equally unprepared to prevent the other guard from stripping him of his instrument kit.
“What’s the meaning of this?” he protested, staring past the carbine at Yulim.
“Put your hands in the air,” Yulim ordered.
When Dahn was hesitant to comply, the guard with the instrument kit pulled his service revolver and pressed the barrel to the base of the sergeant’s skull.
“I’ll say it one last time,” Yulim said. “Put your hands in the air.”
Dahn warily complied. When the second guard turned the instrument kit over to Yulim, the MII agent protested, “Those are just engineering tools.”
Yulim laughed contemptuously. “Of course they are. And you’re just an engineer, is that it?”
“I’m with the Corps of Engineers,” Dahn said. “I was sent here to inspect—”
“Save your breath!” Yulim interjected as he began to inspect the instrument kit. “We know who you are and we know the real reason for your visit.”
Yulim was checking the kit’s side compartments when the front door to the bungalow opened. Major Jin entered and nodded at Yulim, then grinned at Dahn as he held out the bugging devices the MII agent had planted in his office.
“I believe these are yours, Sergeant.”
“And look here,” Yulim added, removing another pair of similar devices from the instrument kit. “He had a couple of them for me, too.”
Dahn paled. He wasn’t sure how his cover had been blown, but he knew that he’d just been turned from hunter into prey. He knew, too, that there was no longer any point in trying to lie his way out of the situation. He’d been caught red-handed, and now his only option was to try to cut some kind of deal to save himself from the fate he assumed the other two men had in store for him.
“All right,” he confessed. “I also work for the Ministry of Intelligence.”
“Tell us something we don’t already know,” Yulim said.
“In exchange for what?” Dahn said, trying his best to sound calm.
Major Jin pulled a chair over and then grabbed Dahn from behind, yanking him hard. The sergeant reeled backward and landed hard in the chair. Jin grabbed his right arm and twisted it behind the chair until Dahn let out a pained cry.
“What makes you think you’re in any position to negotiate?” he demanded.
“I can tell you what we know,” Dahn offered. “I could turn double-agent for you.”
Jin released Dahn’s arm and exchanged a glance with Yulim. The commandant, in turn, took the carbine from the guard and told him to leave the bungalow along with his colleague. He waited until both men were gone, then, keeping the rifle trained on Dahn, he said, “One step at a time. First give us a reason to think you’re valuable enough to keep alive. Then we can take it from there.”
Dahn inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly, then began to divulge what he knew of the Ministry of Internal Intelligence’s efforts to deal with a suspected revival of Operation Guillotine. He touched on the same information he’d discussed with General Oh earlier but provided more details. He named names, including that of the general who’d absconded with Lim Seung-Whan’s yacht after the kidnapping in the Yellow Sea. Yulim and Jin listened intently as Dahn laid it all out, and though they tried to conceal their emotions, the sergeant could tell they were unnerved by the extent of the information MII had managed to gather on their supposedly clandestine plot.