Devil's Fork

CHAPTER 8

  TUESDAY

  Chongjin, North Korea

  Officer 2135 made sure his face did not look too eager as he approached the port. He needed to look uninterested in his surroundings. Anyone curious about anything in this country, he thought, was suspected of something. He was walking past several industrial concrete apartment blocks. The streets were empty – cars were a luxury almost nobody had. In fact cars signified authority. 2135 preferred to walk. Other forms of exercise were hard to come by.

  As the manager of the railway terminal in town, he had some freedom during his day. He could leave in the middle of the day and say he needed to check something in his apartment or run some other errand. It had taken him some time to rise to the position of manager at the terminal. Fifteen years ago he never would have expected that he would be working as he was now in North Korea.

  After the man in the suit said the NIS had a way to place someone right into North Korean society, including with a family history and ideological background, 2135 could not stop wondering how they did this. How is it possible to infiltrate the most closed society in the world? He had thought about potential methods before going off to training, but could not come up with a technique to infiltrate North Korean society. He wanted to ask as soon as he arrived at the compound, but held himself back.

  Finally during one of his many one-on-one training sessions he asked the NIS instructor what was on his mind.

  “Can you tell me how we place illegals over there?” He had asked.

  “The process follows one general theme, but it varies case by case. For you we’ve already figured out what we are going to do.” The NIS instructor had begun. “We usually try to find a child who was real. This child had to have been living with a family and family history in the country. However, this child has to have died many years ago. We then give our illegals the identity.”

  “So how will it work for me?”

  “One of our officers found a family of four – father, mother, daughter, son, who died twelve years ago when their home caught fire. The son was ten years old. We have all of his information such as birth record and school information. We also have figured out everything about his extended family. He had an aunt and uncle who lived in a different town who we assume this family occasionally saw before dying. You will go into North Korea with this boy’s identity. You will find his aunt and uncle and tell them that you had actually survived the accident and had been living as an orphan. We will give you some specific details you can mention to prove your identity, so to speak. Once they have accepted you, they can vouch for you as your family. The catch is that they will not be lying when they do vouch for you. They will likely help you find a job, and you can start working and developing your network of assets. This is how your legend will begin. Once you are inside, you will settle down and you will only start developing your network a few years later.”

  “Will they really believe that I’m that boy?”

  “Don’t worry. This works well. And remember the foundation of your training: make your new family feel important. If you knock on the door and emotionally say ‘it’s me’ and ‘I love you and missed you all these years,’ they will react emotionally and welcome you almost without rational thought. People believe in what they want to believe.”

  That is exactly what 2135 did when he arrived. Part of him expected to be arrested, but he was surprised at how easily the “reunion” worked. Before he knew it, 2135 was a yard worker at the railroad terminal in Chongjin. He began creating his network of assets a few years later.

  Officer 2135 was now steps away from the port. He slowed his pace and tapped his pocket to make sure he had his cigarette carton. The port was large and one of the only places where 2135 usually saw a concentration of vehicles. There were cranes to load and unload containers from ships. More than one truck drove the cargo around. The port was loud, as what machinery could not be mustered was replaced with human labor. Men walked around in all directions. Their hungry bodies looked worn in their dulled work uniforms. 2135 looked up at several enormous cargo ships docked. They were taller than the buildings around. He saw what looked like small people running around on the deck. Containers were being loaded and unloaded from the various ships. He sometimes wondered how this could be, given the sanctions placed on North Korea.

  Choi spotted him as he was walking by a truck. They slipped into a nook of a building to have a cigarette.

  “You guys are working hard,” 2135 initiated.

  “Yes, same as it has been all week.”

  “So when are you getting promoted? Or am I already talking to the boss?”

  Choi smiled, “Look,” he pointed to a ship on the far right with his cigarette between his fingers. “That’s the interesting ship I was telling you about.”

  “Oh yeah? I can’t see anyone around it.”

  “They are sitting inside. They don’t seem to come out that much.”

  “Have you talked to them today? I bet they would be friendly to an important person like you.”

  “No, I have not done their inventory count yet.”

  They stood, smoked, and watched the port for some time. 2135 prided himself on being able to maintain a conversation while focusing on an object he was watching. Talking provided excellent cover. Today, he did not take his eyes off the ship. He carefully directed the conversation to unrelated topics, as he was trained, so as not to appear too interested in anything.

  “How is your daughter’s singing?”

  “It’s great. Whenever she practices at home I’m surprised by how good she sounds.”

  “Maybe she can get serious training?”

  “That would make us very proud.”

  “You know I heard that not all children can be taught to sing well. I heard that a lot of it has to do with the parents.”

  “Really? You heard that?”

  “Absolutely. Hey who’s that guy?” 2135 pointed to a man in a suit standing out among the uniformed dock workers.

  “That’s the port manager. He’s actually probably walking over to that ship now to talk to them. He’s been jumpy since they arrived.”

  “Why do you think he’s been acting like that?”

  “One of the other dockworkers said some of the local government bosses were getting on his back about the cargo those men are carrying.”

  2135 watched as some men came out of the ship and started walking down the railing onto the dock. They converged around the suited man and stood in conversation.

  “Oh, those were the men I was telling you about.”

  2135 stared, but not too hard. The men were definitely not from the peninsula. But he could not place his finger on where they could be from. One moment he thought they could be Middle Eastern. At another moment he suspected they were European, but after staring, he realized he would not be able to figure out where they were from.

  “Do you think any more trucks with those guys in the protective suits will come?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t seen any more today. They were only here yesterday.”

  “Were they carrying a container from that ship?”

  “They were wheeling a bunch of small containers from their truck onto the ship.”

  “But it was going onto the ship right? Not coming off the ship?”

  “Yes that’s what it looked like.”

  “And you said they took their protective gear off? They did not load the containers onto the ship with their protective suits?”

  “I – don’t remember. I’m not sure. Why are you so curious about them?”

  That was a bad question to receive. 2135 got these once in a while and deflecting them required a delicate touch. One’s heart could skip a beat but a cool head was required.

  “I’m helping you figure it out. I’m just hoping that when you become the local Workers party boss, you remember me and I can be an assistant.”

  Choi laughed, “If I could be a local party leader that would be great.”
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  “You will. Look at you. I’ve never seen anyone so dedicated to his work, his community, or his country. There’s no way anyone is missing it.”

  “You really think so?”

  “Absolutely. Just listen to what I’m predicting now. You will rise high.” 2135 looked at his watch. “I had better head back to work,” he said.

  Choi’s facial expression changed completely as he asked, “Let’s do this again. Or how about if you come to my house? You can hear my daughter sing.”

  2135 threw his cigarette on the ground and stepped on it. “I would love to. I’m not sure if my ears are used to hearing singing as good as hers though.” They shook hands and 2135 started walking out of the port.

  As he walked through the quiet city towards his apartment, instead of work, his mind went through what he had just seen. It was not enough to make him feel that he had accomplished a task. He had not been able to figure out what exactly was going on that ship. Additionally, a key question he had was why this material was being loaded onto the ship. He thought North Korea would want to keep whatever nuclear materials it had created. In fact, he imagined that other countries would be sending nuclear materials to North Korea. He expected to see containers coming off the ship. It did not seem logical that North Korea would be sending out something that was so difficult to make. He wished he saw one of the men in the protective suits.

  Within fifteen minutes he arrived at his apartment building. He sometimes laughed at his own residence as he was approaching. It was crumbling. Pieces of the wall were falling off. The white, dilapidated concrete contrasted sharply with the blue roof and door. It did not look like it had been touched for repairs since it was built – however long ago that was. 2135 suspected it was probably built in the ‘60s. He assumed if this structure were in South Korea it would have been condemned. For some reason he did not mind living in his apartment though.

  After walking up the stairs, feeling his thighs aglow, he stopped before entering his apartment. He always checked if anyone was in the hallway. He also looked if there had been a disturbance on his door. If it had been opened, he would have had to assume it was the secret police and try to escape. Today, as usual, it looked normal to him. Looking around, he saw that he stood alone in the hall.

  Once inside his apartment, he followed his usual security procedure. He locked his door completely and moved his dining table in front of it. He had heard of illegals being arrested as they were in the process of sending a message and he always wanted an extra barrier between him and any unexpected guest so he could send off a last message.

  Officer 2135 walked into his bedroom and pulled out his phone from its hiding place. He thought for a moment.

  This is not enough. But they need to know something.

  He began typing a message that he thought might be helpful. Whatever they are doing here, he thought, Command seems to be on the right track. I wonder what plans they have.