“And we’ve put together an estimate on your strategy should you pull off the coup,” Dahn concluded.
“Go on,” Yulim prompted.
“First I want to know if we’re going to make some kind of a deal,” Dahn said.
“We still hold all the cards here,” Yulim reminded the sergeant. Then he repeated, “Go on.”
“You’re going to follow the Khadafi model,” Dahn speculated. “Once you take over, you’ll wave the olive branch and say that North Korea’s days as a rogue nation are over. You’ll tell the West that you want us to end our isolation and join the world community. You’ll say you’ll wash your hands of any nuclear or biochemical activity in exchange for certain concessions. You’ll say you’ll turn over all your missiles, too, but my guess is the count won’t be accurate.”
“Meaning what?” Jin asked.
Dahn responded, “I think the existence of the missiles and warheads kept here will be kept secret because of the price they can earn on the black market. We know that you and a few others in the conspiracy have been regularly dealing with parties in the Middle East. I’d say that will go on regardless of how peace-loving you try to sell yourselves to the West. And even if the U.S. and its allies are suspicious, you probably figure they’ll be willing to look the other way as long as it looks like you’re making good on your overtures.”
The room fell silent for a moment as Jin and Yulim weighed the implications of Dahn’s disclosure. It was clear to both men that Operation Guillotine was every bit as doomed to failure as its first incarnation earlier the year. And, like it or not, killing Dahn wasn’t going to change matters. The only matter to be determined was how tightly the noose had been drawn around their own necks.
“How firmly have we been implicated with the plot?” Yulim finally asked.
Dahn hesitated. MII had already made up its mind that Yulim and Jin were involved in the conspiracy, and his bugging assignment had been merely a formality, a way of providing irrefutable proof for the court-martial that would precede their execution. But Dahn figured his best chance of survival was to put a different spin on matters.
“You’re both under suspicion,” Dahn said. “But if, say, I were to return to Kaesong saying that you’d checked out clean, it might wash with them.”
Yulim seized on Dahn’s proposal and ran with it. “The strongest evidence linking me to the conspiracy is the fact that the kidnapping victims were brought here for detainment,” he said. “The appearance must be that I was in collusion with General Chine and helped with the kidnapping to raise money for the coup. I need a way to throw off suspicion.”
Dahn thought it over and responded, “It’s simple. Just forego the ransom.”
Despite the gravity of the situation, Yulim found himself grinning. Unwittingly, he’d already set into motion the best means of saving himself.
“I already postponed exchanging the prisoners for the ransom,” he told Dahn. “I said it was because we suspected Lim might be a spy. But what if it were to come out that the real reason was that I suspected General Chine’s motives for the kidnapping? I could make it look as if I wound up helping you make your case against him.”
“One problem with that,” Major Jin interjected. “You’ve already told me that you yourself negotiated the ransom terms with Lim. He’ll refute your story.”
“Not if he’s dead,” Yulim countered. “Give me a few moments and I’ll figure out a pretext for killing him and his family so they can’t talk.”
“Lim is not the only one who needs to be silenced,” Dahn said. “I spoke with General Oh when I first arrived, and unfortunately I briefed him too much on what I was up to. Now he’s in a position to shoot holes through whatever story I might try to tell my superiors.”
Yulim glanced at Major Jin. “Is Oh still here?”
Jin shook his head. “He was just leaving as I was on the way over. He’s already on his way back to Kaesong.”
“I could probably overtake him on my motorcycle,” Dahn offered.
Jin eyed Dahn skeptically. “Nice try, but I don’t think we can trust you that much yet.” The major extended his hand, palm up. “Why don’t you just give me the keys?”
The sergeant surrendered the keys and was about to further plead his case when Jin suddenly grabbed a whiskey bottle resting atop the commandant’s wet bar and turned on Dahn, swinging it like a club. The undercover agent tried to duck, but his reflexes were too slow and the bottle caught him squarely across the bridge of the nose. He reeled backward, falling over the corner of Yulim’s desk. Unconscious, he landed on the floor with a loud thump.