“Just for a few minutes,” she said to Min, and the girl smiled.
They walked hand in hand around the residential development, which was well lit by streetlamps. Min looked at all the parked cars and said, “Americans must have much money.”
“I suppose,” said Chung-Cha. She had been thinking the same thing. She looked at all the houses, where the lights burned bright and steady. In Pyongyang one was lucky to have an hour’s worth of light at night. And there were more cars in this one parking lot than she had seen in all of North Korea.
They watched as a man and woman and their two small children came out of their house and headed to their car. The man smiled and said, “Hello.”
Chung-Cha greeted him back.
“Are you moving into the neighborhood?” asked the woman.
“What?” asked Chung-Cha.
“We saw you arrive earlier. Are you moving in, or just visiting?”
“Just visiting,” said Chung-Cha automatically.
The woman looked at Min. “What’s your name?”
“Her name is Min,” said Chung-Cha. She added in a more polite tone, “I’m sorry, she does not speak English.”
The woman smiled and said, “I’m sure she’ll pick it up right away. I wish they taught foreign languages here sooner, like they do overseas. Most kids don’t get going on that here until middle school. Way too late in my opinion.” She looked at Min again. “She looks to be about ten. Same age as Katie here. Katie, can you say hello?”
Katie, a small girl with blonde curls, was partially hiding behind her dad.
The woman said, “Katie’s our shy one.”
“Min too,” said Chung-Cha.
“If you’re doing the touristy thing and need any help or anything, let us know,” said the man. “I work downtown. Take the Metro in. I know it like the back of my hand. Just give a shout. Glad to point you in the right direction. Definitely do the Air and Space and the National Archives. Pretty cool stuff.”
“Thank you,” replied Chung-Cha, though in truth she had no idea what he had just said.
The family got into their car and drove off while Chung-Cha and Min continued their walk.
“What did they want?” asked Min.
“Just to say hello. And see if we needed help.”
“Were they pretending? So maybe they can try and hurt us later?”
“I do not know,” said Chung-Cha. “They seemed nice.”
“What was wrong with the girl’s hair?”
“Wrong?”
“It was all bent.”
It took Chung-Cha a moment to grasp what she was referring to. “Oh, some Americans’ hair is like that. Or they use a tool to make it look like that.”
“Why?”
“I do not know. I suppose they think it looks nice.”
“I do not think it looks nice,” said Min, although her expression did not match her words. It was clear she not only thought it looked nice but was wondering how it would look on her.
They headed back to the town house and Chung-Cha put a sleepy Min to bed. Then she went back downstairs, made herself a cup of tea, and spread the documents out in front of her on the table in the kitchen. She went over every page, every note, and every photograph. These files would be her life for as long as it took.
After about three hours and two more cups of tea her eyes grew weary and she leaned back in her chair. She looked up to the ceiling where she knew Min was asleep in their room.
She rose and went to the window and stared out at all the houses. They were virtually all dark now at this late hour. She knew she should go to sleep. She was tired. She was still not acclimated to the time zone. She was under pressure like she had never been before. To do what was expected of her was nearly impossible. She might be able to succeed in the first part of the mission, but the second part, her escape, would be impossible.
And then what would become of Min?
It was two days later that Chung-Cha traveled to another place, far outside of the city. It was rural and the house she was driven to was isolated amid trees and old farm fields that had not seen a plow in a very long time.
There were a number of people waiting for her. Bae was not among them. He was embedded so deeply that care was taken not to expose his loyalties to North Korea. He had been in the United States a long time and was one of the most valuable operatives they had. His position at the White House allowed him to see and hear things that no one else could.
This was the team that Chung-Cha had been told about, composed entirely of men. They were all tough and hardened and could kill people in many different ways, Chung-Cha knew. She had read the files on all of them. Some had been here longer than others. Each was willing to die to achieve their goals. They knew that the people guarding their targets were excellent. They simply expected to be better.