Brink of Chaos (2 page)

Joshua and Ethan walked down a corridor that led to the back parking lot of the church. Ethan walked a step ahead, checking corners and intersecting hallways as they went. He told his mentor, “The back exit’s coming up.”

From behind a voice called out. A security guard trotted up. “Colonel Jordan, let me escort you.”

Ethan turned and cut in. “Not necessary, thanks. I got it covered.”

The security guard stopped, still looking at Joshua, who had a cautious look on his face.

Ethan lowered his voice and flashed a grin. “Josh, really, I got this. I know we’re in South Korea,” he said with the mock cadence of a school teacher, “which is right below North Korea, and I know you’ve got some nasty history with the North Koreans. But I’m your security guy on this trip. I’ve checked the route. Let me earn my salary here, okay?”

Joshua studied his assistant for a moment. Then he nodded to the security guard. “Thanks so much for your help. We’ll take it from here. God bless.”

The security guard smiled, waved, turned, and headed out of sight.

As the two men continued down the hallway, Ethan thought of something. It had been on his mind for a while, but it was touchy. Now seemed like a good time.

“So, Josh, I was going to mention something. I’ve got this friend back in the States. He knew pretty much everything that had gone on, you know, how I’d been interested in your daughter, and about the
fact that Debbie eventually gave me the heave-ho, telling me that she didn’t think it would work out between us. Well, when I told him I’d been hired as your personal assistant, he thought I was crazy. He told me this kind of arrangement would never work. He said, ‘How can you ever hope to impress your boss, when your boss knows his daughter told you to buzz off?’ Which got me thinking …”

“About what?”

“My working for you. You have to admit we have a pretty unusual working relationship.”

Joshua stopped in the hallway and studied Ethan’s face. Then he said, “Actually I think you’re missing something.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“After Debbie told you that it wouldn’t work out between the two of you, I wondered why in the world you would still want to work for her dad.”

“That’s easy,” Ethan responded. “Despite everything, you’re still one of my heroes. I always wanted to work for the best. You’re it.”

“You’re giving me a big head,” Joshua said, giving Ethan a pat on the shoulder. “Let’s get moving.”

Ethan picked up the pace and trotted ahead. He came to an exit door, pushed down the bar handle, and swung it open. Ethan was now out in a private parking area that was blocked off from the public lot by a toll gate at the other end. He had the plastic pass key to swipe at the gate, and he craned his neck to survey the area, first looking to his left. The parking lot that was empty except for their rental car. Then he turned to the right but jumped a little to see two men standing against the church building, next to the open exit door.

Han Suk Yong was standing off to the side, a little behind the Australian.

“Sorry,” Ethan barked, “this area’s restricted. You both have to leave.”

The Australian journalist lifted up his press badge, which was hanging around his neck. “Aw, now, that’s not friendly. I’m a reporter. International press corps. I always thought you Americans believed in freedom of the press.”

“In case you didn’t notice,” Ethan snapped back, “we’re not in America. Maybe you ought to find an Outback somewhere and have them grill you some shrimp on the barbie —”

But a voice stopped him. “Ethan,” Joshua said as he put his hand on his assistant’s shoulder. “It’s okay. I’ll give them a few minutes. Then we’ll be on our way.”

“Thanks much, Mr. Jordan,” the Aussie said. “You’re a true gentleman.” Then he snatched his tiny notepad from his pocket. “Just wondering, sir, whether you have any regrets —”

“About what?”

“About designing the Return-to-Sender anti-missile system, which ended up dropping two nuclear warheads onto a North Korean Navy vessel and incinerating it, evaporating every sailor on board.”

Joshua had heard that one before. Different approach, but with the same sharp point at the end of the stick. He said, “I don’t regret the fact that my RTS stopped those nukes from detonating in New York City where they were heading at the time, no. And yes, I know that my RTS system — my missile-defense shield — took the trajectory of those nukes and reversed them, sending them back to the vessel that launched them. I’d always hoped that my RTS laser defense would be a deterrent to war. Saving lives. And protecting nonaggressors, my country in this case, from the hasty actions of despots who fire missiles first and think later.”

From where Joshua stood, the Aussie was blocking Han Suk Yong from view. So Joshua could not see the eyes of the North Korean, which were so intense they looked like they had been lit on fire.

“And then,” the Australian continued, “there is the matter of the criminal charges pending against you in the American court. Charges of treason. Your group, the so-called Roundtable, was blamed for botching a vigilante attempt to stop some unidentified individuals with a portable nuke. As the leader of that group, of course, you must take some responsibility. So how do you feel knowing that as a result, thousands died in New Jersey when the bomb went off?”

“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about that — the loss of life,” Joshua replied. “But one clarification. In point of fact, the
allegations technically refer to my supposed conspiracy to interfere with the operations of the United States government. False charges, I might add”.

“If that’s true, rather than avoiding extradition, which you’ve been doing, why not return to America and fight the case like the hero that some folks think you are?”

Ethan intervened. “Okay. Interview’s over …”

“No, Ethan, I want to answer,” Joshua snapped back. Then he stared the reporter down and threw him a cocked eyebrow. “You see, sir, I’ve been given advice from Abigail Jordan to remain out of the jurisdiction of the U.S. until I can get a fair trial for those wrongful, politically motivated criminal charges brought against me by the current administration in Washington. Now, the thing about Abigail is this — she’s not only my lawyer, she’s also my wife. So right there,” he said, breaking into a grin, “I’ve given you two good reasons I ought to listen to her. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have to be on our way.”

The Australian scratched a few notes on his pad, nodded and then trotted off.

Han Suk Yong approached Joshua.

“Sorry, no more interviews,” Ethan said.

“But Colonel Jordan,” Han said, “I am great admirer.”

“Thanks,” Joshua said.

“I am with, uh … a very small news office.” Han lifted his phony press badge. “But I have something very, very personal. Need to ask you. Just take a minute. Please sir, could we just walk to quiet place. Here in parking lot?”

“It’s okay,” Joshua said to Ethan. “It’ll just be a minute.”

The two men walked across the parking lot to a point about thirty feet away and stopped.

Han’s back was to Ethan, who was at the exit door, studying him and nervously rolling the baseball that he still had in his hand. Ethan glanced down at his watch and muttered to himself, “Come on, Josh, don’t do this to me. Let’s get out of here.”

Han Suk Yong was struggling to keep a tight-lipped smile, as if his face had been fashioned out of metal. “You don’t know me, do you?”

Joshua noticed that Han’s right hand had now been slipped into his right coat pocket.

“No, I’m afraid I don’t,” Joshua replied.

“I am the man who will be the hero of my country.”

“South Korea?” Joshua asked.

The metallic smile vanished from Han’s face. “No, not this nation of dogs.” Then he spit on the ground in disgust. “No, I speak of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. North Korea, Mr. Jordan. The honorable nation whose ship you blasted into a ball of fire with your RTS device”.

Joshua glanced down at the man’s press badge. It read “Han Suk Yong.” As he thought about the name, he flashed back to the Pentagon briefing after the unsuccessful missile attempt by North Korea. Though it was three years ago, he still remembered. How could he forget?

Afterward, he had been given the classified details of the ship that had launched the nukes at New York City. That vessel,
The Daedong
, and its entire crew were vaporized when the guidance systems of the missiles it launched were reversed by Joshua’s RTS system and the nukes were looped back to the ship. Joshua recalled the name of the captain of that ill-fated vessel.
Han Suk
.

“You are related to the captain,” Joshua began to ask, “who was —”

That is when Han pulled out his handgun and pointed it at Joshua’s chest. “You will not speak the name of my father. You are not worthy to have my honorable, departed father’s name on your filthy American lips”.

From his position at the exit door, thirty feet away, Ethan could see the look on Joshua’s face. Ethan could see he was in trouble. Ethan moved quickly to one side to get a better look. He saw something in Han’s hand. Joshua tried to shake his head no, warning Ethan not to get closer, but Han caught that. He whispered to Joshua in a guttural voice, “Tell him not to come any closer.”

“Stay there,” Joshua shouted to Ethan who could now see something shaped like a clip-loaded revolver in Han’s hand. His mind was whirling. He had to figure out a plan. In milliseconds.
If I rush this guy, he’ll get off a shot, point-blank. Right into Josh
.

Thirty feet away, Han grunted to Joshua, “You’re going to die like the coward you are.” Han lifted his gun to the left quadrant of Joshua’s chest, directly at Joshua’s heart.

Ethan muttered a single, desperate hope.

Strike zone
.

He gripped the seams of the baseball in his right hand, all one-hundred and eight red, double stitches. Ethan did a pitcher’s wind-up, kicked his leg up, and let fly with a ninety-four-mile-per-hour fastball. Han’s eyes darted to the side momentarily, as if he had noticed something. But it was too late. Ethan’s fastball buried itself with burning speed into the assassin’s left shoulder.

Han screamed out in pain, his body went limp, and he began to crumple to the pavement. Joshua grabbed the gun out of Han’s hand and moved away from Han, who was now kneeling on the asphalt. In two seconds Ethan sprinted to the scene and jumped on the gunman, pinning him to the ground. He put him in a wrestler’s full nelson. “Josh!” he yelled. “Get security and have them call the cops. I’ll keep this guy quiet here.”

Joshua glanced at the gun in his hand, then began to run back to the church building. As he did, he called back, “Nice pitching. You just earned your salary.”

Ethan, still pinning Han down, shouted, “Actually, high and outside. And I was aiming for his right shoulder, not his left.”

Joshua slowed down just slightly. “I’m the umpire here … a solid strike!”

It took the officers from the Seoul Metro Police Agency only six minutes to arrive and take Han into custody. The SMPA investigators took statements from Joshua and Ethan and headed back to the station with the assailant. Back in the church, Joshua said his good-byes to the pastor and his staff, assuring them that he would be safe, and receiving their extended, heartfelt apologies for the attack.

“You must let us make this right,” Pastor Lee Ko-po said, bowing with tears in his eyes.

Joshua grabbed the pastor by the shoulders and smiled. “By your
kindness to me, you already have.” Then Joshua climbed into the rental car with Ethan at the wheel.

When they were within three blocks of the hotel, Joshua checked the Allfone watch on his wrist. He then pointed to a side street that ran alongside a large park. “Ethan, turn off the boulevard right here.”

“That’s not the route we took from the hotel earlier today.”

“I know. Just take it.”

Ethan turned off the boulevard and down the quiet tree-lined street. A black limousine was parked along the curb.

“Pull behind the limo,” Joshua said.

Ethan followed orders but shook his head as he did. “Josh, what’s going on?”

Joshua gave only a cryptic reply. “Now for the second reason we came to South Korea.”

Ethan wasn’t going to wait for an explanation. “Whatever this is, why didn’t you let me in? Why am I always on the outside?” But before he could continue, he noticed a military star on the license plate of the limo in front. He lowered his voice. “Okay. I’m starting to get the drift … sort of.”

“You’ll find out shortly,” Joshua said and nodded toward the South Korean military attaché who had just climbed out of the limo and was coming their way.

Ethan kept talking, and there was anticipation in his voice. “Looks like things are beginning to get interesting.”

“And dangerous,” Joshua added.

“You mean an attempt to assassinate you doesn’t qualify?” Ethan shot back.

Joshua smiled but didn’t respond. At the side of the car, the South Korean officer saluted Joshua and then reached through the open passenger window to shake his hand. “Colonel Jordan, it is a great honor to meet you.”

“Likewise, Lieutenant Colonel Quan.” Then Joshua introduced Ethan to the officer.

“Well, gentlemen,” Quan said with a placid expression that belied his next comment. “Are you ready to make history?”

Ethan glanced around the room, which was occupied by several special-ops professionals. The place was windowless with thick sound-deadening walls, located deep within the tactical operations sector of the South Korean Army headquarters. It was impervious to outside surveillance. The participants around the conference table included a Middle Eastern – looking couple with International Red Cross ID tags hanging from their necks. The man, known as Gavi, was affable and had an easy smile, shaved head, and a muscular neck and torso. His partner, Rivka, was a slender woman with dark, intense eyes, who wore a short-sleeved shirt that revealed tight biceps. Ethan figured out they were more than humanitarian-aid workers.

The head honcho, the implacable Brigadier General Liu, sat at the head of the table and welcomed the attendees, identifying them by name, and called the meeting to order. Next to him was Lieutenant Colonel Quan, who had met them at the car earlier, and to his right was Major Chung, who would lead the briefing. The only other person was a young Asian man in blue jeans named Yung Tao.

Chung began with an intriguing question. “How many people, outside this bunker, even remember Captain Jimmy Louder of the United States Air Force?”

In an instant, the pieces fell into place for Ethan. As a former pilot, he knew the story well. Three years earlier, Louder had been flying a Navy Prowler along the DMZ between South and North Korea. Louder’s jet was shot down in a skirmish with a sortie from the North. It rapidly escalated into a military crisis with the United States. No one
could have foreseen the cyclone of geopolitical events that followed. A misinterpreted message was bulleted from Pyongyang to a North Korean nuke-armed ship on maneuvers in the Atlantic. That scrambled digital telex to the nuclear destroyer caused it to launch a retaliatory strike against America. The two nukes launched from that ship were aimed at New York City but were diverted when the Pentagon chain-of-command ordered the use of Joshua’s brilliantly designed RTS anti-missile system. The warheads turned back like twin boomerangs and returned to the North Korean ship that had launched them, liquidating the ship and its captain, the father of the gun-toting Han Suk Yong.

Ethan had always wondered why President Tulrude had never publicly addressed the outrage of North Korea’s keeping Captain Louder hostage — she had seemingly forgotten about his plight — but clearly the South Koreans hadn’t. Nor had Joshua. Ethan had even heard rumors from his flier buddies that the Department of Defense was, under the radar of course, supporting some kind of effort to get Louder out. It now looked like it was coming together.

Chung continued, “Those of us in the South Korean military remember Captain Louder, who provided courageous service by monitoring the border with our enemies to the North. We do not forget his bravery. And neither do you, Colonel Jordan. Thank you for playing your part.”

Joshua nodded and said, “Captain Louder’s a good man. I’m glad we’re going to get him a ‘furlough’ from that North Korean prison.”

A glimmer of a smile broke over the face of Brigadier General Liu.

Ethan’s heart rate jumped.
Whatever this is, I want in
, he thought.

“We have a double agent inside the North Korean prison,” Chung continued, “and he has processed the request by the International Red Cross to inspect the conditions of Captain Louder’s confinement. And at the same time our source in the prison slipped a message to Louder, suggesting that he ask for a personal visit from Colonel Jordan. It was thought that the North Koreans would jump at the chance to get Joshua Jordan, their public enemy number one, within their reach and would do anything to accomplish that, including allowing the
International Red Cross to gain access to their prison. And of course, we were right. But our intelligence also indicates that they won’t arrest Colonel Jordan until he has made face-to-face contact with Captain Louder. The North Koreans plan to have guards posted in the meeting room at first, but then a short time later they will be called out of the room. The North Koreans have bugged the room and are hoping that Colonel Jordan or Captain Louder might get sloppy when they think they’re alone and reveal some useful information before Jordan is taken into custody. But our plan should short-circuit all of that. Literally. It will happen quickly, within just a few minutes of Colonel Jordan and our ‘Red Cross’ workers entering the room.”

Everything was clear to Ethan now. The mission needed an entry to the communist north and then into the prison where Louder was being held — and Joshua was their ticket in. It didn’t take much imagination for Ethan to guess what the North Koreans had planned for Joshua once they had him within their borders. He began to raise his finger to ask a couple of pointed questions about Joshua’s safety, but Joshua gave him a disapproving shake of the head. Ethan didn’t like it, but he knew how to take orders — mostly. And Joshua was the boss. So Ethan complied and put his hand back down as Chung explained the plan.

“Gavi and Rivka will play the part of International Red Cross workers and will escort Colonel Jordan to the security facility where they are holding Captain Louder. There, the prisoner meeting will take place. Afterward, the three of them — Gavi, Rivka, and Colonel Jordan — will exit the building.”

Ethan wasn’t going to stay quiet. He didn’t know why Joshua had volunteered for this mission, though knowing his boss the way he did, he wasn’t surprised. Ethan whispered his concerns to Joshua. “You’re a hated guy up in the north. Case in point — they tried to kill you today at the church. Once you’re inside North Korea, they’ll never let you go.”

Joshua quietly replied, “They won’t need to.” Then he motioned for Ethan to pay attention to the rest of the briefing. Chung described the operation. He finished by saying, “If the operation is successful, then
Captain Louder will be walking out with our two friends posing as Red Cross workers and Colonel Jordan.”

Gavi had a question. “What about the timing of the shut-down of the security grid?”

“Satellite telemetry will direct the overcharging of the system. The timing will be accurate within a tenth of a second — occurring when you are five minutes into the meeting with Captain Louder. We should be able to override their software and shut down their security codes, their door lock-downs, and their information systems, and then insert our own command codes.”

“And the backup software?” Rivka asked.

“That’s where Yung Tao comes in,” Major Chung said and nodded to the young man in blue jeans, who picked up the explanation from there.

“The North Koreans have a secondary software backup, of course, which is engaged instantly when there is a power loss. We will input our data and codes, which I can manipulate at will. I know all their algorithms and the codes for changing the data in that backup program.” Yung Tao flashed a grin. “My software company in North Korea installed their systems.” Then he added, “Obviously, by this time tomorrow, my company’s small staff will have relocated to new offices outside North Korea.”

When the briefing was over, Ethan and Joshua were the only ones who remained in the room. Ethan cornered his boss. “I’m not questioning your judgment, but why didn’t you bring me into the loop earlier?”

“I wasn’t sure this was a definite go until we arrived in Seoul.”

“And those two Red Cross workers — are they for real?”

“If you mean, are they really members of the International Red Cross … the answer is yes. If you mean, does the Red Cross know that Gavi and Rivka are also highly trained agents of an intelligence agency, the answer is no. This time the North is letting them inside — but only because I’m accompanying them.”

“Who else do Gavi and Rivka work for?” Ethan asked. Then he answered his own question. “I’m betting the Israeli Mossad.”
Yes
, Ethan
thought,
that fits
. Israel’s commandos handled most of the difficult foreign intelligence and national security work in protecting Israel. Then he wondered out loud to Joshua, “And my role?”

Joshua patted him on the shoulder. “To stay here in Seoul. You need to monitor this from headquarters.”

“You just pulled the rug out from under me,” Ethan complained. “Come on, I was Air Force too, Josh. Trained in combat. Survival skills. The whole nine yards. I’ve got a top-secret security clearance with the United States government. I can be useful somehow …”

“You will be,” Joshua said. “Back here in Seoul. This is my deal, my risk. For a long time I’ve felt a personal connection to Jimmy Louder. He and I were swept into the same tidal wave together — at opposite ends maybe — Louder being shot down over North Korea, the event that sparked the launching of those North Korean nukes in the first place — and my being back in New York as a defense contractor, working with the Pentagon to stop those missiles. As a pilot I came close to crashing behind enemy lines myself. I would have liked to know there were guys out there willing to come after me. Anyway, I made up my mind if I ever got the chance to help Louder, I would do it. Then, several months after he was shot down, I happened to be at an Air Force reception in Washington, and Louder’s wife was there. I told her the same thing — to her face, Ethan. I never really thought I’d have the chance to make good on that promise. So there it is.”

Then Ethan caught a look on Joshua’s face — but not one that expressed bravery or loyalty or even the keeping of a sacred promise. It had to do with something else. After a moment Joshua explained. “And then there’s Abigail. She doesn’t know about this, and obviously neither do Cal or Deb. To my knowledge no one back in the U.S. is aware of the plan, except for a few people in the Pentagon. If things go down bad, you have to be the one —”

“The one?”

“To explain it to Abby. You’re the only one who could. She’s the love of my life. I’ve always felt she got the short end of the stick when she married me. The least I can do is to make sure she’s told the truth. And considering my history with the current president, you can bet
that Jessica Tulrude and those in her administration wouldn’t care if Abigail ever found out. After all, this whole mission is off the Pentagon’s official ledger. The Defense Department’s support is strictly backdoor. It’s a matter of principle with the Pentagon that we get one of their fliers out of a North Korean prison camp.”

“Let me make sure I understand,” Ethan said bitterly. “I’m staying here in case I have to be one of those messengers that no wife wants to meet … knocking on her front door one day. So I can tell her how you died … and why? That’s why I’m staying behind?”

“Not a happy thought. But yes, that’s the tough duty you have. And I wouldn’t trust it to anyone else.” Joshua broke into a grin that reflected an air of confidence, but still with a weighty look in his eyes. “On the other hand, I’m trusting God in this, Ethan. Let’s leave the outcome to Him.”

There it was again — the familiar angle that Ethan couldn’t argue with. Ethan had chosen a different path from his mentor when it came to religion, and he was okay with that. Still, Ethan had to admit to himself privately that he was curious about the change in Joshua. When Ethan fell quickly for Deborah, Joshua’s daughter — too quickly, as it turned out — he soon learned that the “God-stuff” was huge in her life as well. And the same with her mother and her brother. Of the whole family, Joshua had been the last holdout — until the hostage situation in Iran nearly cost him his life. Since then he seemed preoccupied with idea of the second coming of Christ, even more, it seemed, than with his anti-missile defense system.

As Ethan broke out of his thoughts, he eyed Joshua and noticed that his boss had tapped his wrist Allfone and pulled up a small image of Abigail on the screen. After gazing at it, he waved his finger over the screen and the image disappeared.

Ethan was struck by two thoughts, both of which hit him like a punch to the chest. He knew, once again, how Joshua was willfully exposing himself to high-stakes danger for the sake of another person. But there was something else. When Ethan saw Joshua looking at the image of his wife, that impressed him even more — how much Joshua was about to lose, what he would be leaving behind — if the mission failed.