Chapter 169: Elimination of Possible Variables

The following afternoon.

Accompanied by Director Lee Menghong, Chief Secretary Kang Inhan and I toured Dandong's major landmarks.

After boarding a sightseeing boat that drifted leisurely along the Yalu River separating China and North Korea, we gazed across at Sinuiju.

"Director Lee, what's that round building over there that looks like the sun?"

"That's a residential complex built to glorify Kim Ilsung. People call it the Sun House."

"I see. Do people actually live there?"

"Ordinary citizens can't afford it because the price is astronomical. The residents are wealthy businessmen, scientists, educators, and North Korean Party officials."

"Just how expensive is it for you to say that?"

"Fifty thousand dollars."

Considering North Korea's per capita GDP was around 1.5 million won, a person would have to work for forty-five years without spending a single won to afford an apartment in the Sun House.

"That's certainly expensive."

"I recently met a North Korean businessman who lives on the twenty-fifth floor of the Sun House. He bitterly regretted buying it."

"I'm guessing there's a good reason for that."

"North Korea's power supply is terrible, with constant blackouts. As a result, he has to climb up and down the stairs every single day."

Listening to our conversation, Chief Secretary Kang Inhan joked dryly.

"Well, at least the people living on the upper floors will have strong legs."

"Hahaha! That's true."

Bzzz.

As we shared a light laugh, Chief Secretary Kang Inhan's phone rang. As though he already knew who was calling, he immediately answered.

The moment I heard him say, "Team Leader Lee," I knew who was on the other end. After exchanging a few brief words with Lee Hyeonsol, he ended the call.

"Managing Director, that was Team Leader Lee. He has just arrived at the hotel."

"Tell him to join our emergency meeting."

After getting off the boat, we went to a North Korean restaurant that Lee Menghong frequented for dinner. Used to rich and spicy flavors, I found North Korean cuisine rather bland. Chief Secretary Kang Inhan didn't seem to enjoy it either. He poked at the food a few times before setting his spoon down.

Satisfied with simply having sampled North Korean dishes, we finished dinner, returned to Dandong Palace Hotel, and took a short break.

"Chief Secretary Kang, when will Saho and the American special forces arrive?"

"I spoke with Team Leader Seo Donghun, who's bringing Saho. They're planning to arrive around one in the morning."

"I can only imagine how furious Saho must be, being cooped up in such a cramped space."

"Hahaha! I'm sure he is."

Ding-dong.

As Chief Secretary Kang Inhan chuckled quietly, the doorbell rang. The moment we opened the suite, the meeting participants began arriving one after another, led by Vice Chairman Wei Chen. Once Vice President Neil Cayman entered last, we moved into the conference room.

I took a sip from the bottle of mineral water on the table to moisten my throat before speaking as the host of the meeting.

"We've gathered here to accomplish an extremely important objective. Keep this in mind: if the contents of today's discussion leak outside this room, the consequences will be catastrophic."

"Yes, understood!"

The participants answered loudly, their voices filling the room. Nodding in satisfaction, I turned toward Lee Hyeonsol.

"Team Leader Lee, did you encounter any problems entering China?"

"Our entry went smoothly, but judging by your tone, Managing Director, it sounds like you had some trouble."

"Chief Secretary Kang and I were subjected to an unusually thorough immigration inspection. We barely made it through."

"Why would they scrutinize you so closely?" Lee Hyeonsol asked curiously.

"Director Lee Menghong explained that it was because we'd returned to China only ten days after our previous visit."

"Hmm, that does make sense."

"By the way, has everyone assigned to the operation arrived?"

"Only five of us, including myself, arrived today. The others will come tomorrow."

"Won't fifteen people arriving at once attract suspicion?"

"To avoid that, ten of them will come through Shenyang Airport."

Lee Menghong immediately clarified.

"Managing Director Cha, Shenyang is about a five-hour drive from here."

"I see. What about the kamikaze drone factory in Fengcheng? Were you able to secure the drones?"

"This afternoon our NIS operatives infiltrated the facility and successfully removed ten units."

Originally, I'd instructed Director Lee Menghong to obtain only a single kamikaze drone so we could study its control system. Instead, he'd exceeded my instructions and taken ten.

"Why did you take so many?"

"The finished goods warehouse is covered with alarm sensors. The operatives believed a nighttime infiltration would inevitably trigger the alarms, so they acted during the day while the security system was switched off."

The kamikaze drone measured one meter in length, half a meter in width with its wings folded, and weighed fifteen kilograms. Since each complete package also included a control unit, every shipping box was fairly large. Even so, the NIS operatives had managed to remove ten of those boxes from the warehouse.

"Director Lee, won't they notice the missing drones?"

"The warehouse contains an enormous stockpile of them. No one will even notice that ten are gone. In fact, the warehouse supervisors still have no idea."

"That makes sense. But how did you manage to carry out ten boxes that size?"

"Our operatives took advantage of a moment when the guards became distracted and temporarily abandoned their posts."

"I understand. Still, to reduce the factory to rubble, we'll need at least twenty kamikaze drones, correct?"

"We'll retrieve the remaining ten tomorrow."

"You got away with it today, but won't twenty missing drones definitely attract attention tomorrow?"

"The factory produces roughly three hundred drones every day, and the warehouses already contain an enormous surplus, so I doubt anyone will suspect anything. Just to be safe, though, we've already embedded one of our operatives inside the facility to keep the warehouse under continuous surveillance."

"That's reassuring."

After replying, I turned toward Vice President Neil Cayman.

"Did Director Griffin give you a hard time?"

"Without exaggeration, I barely survived."

"Once the CIA carries out its assignment flawlessly, Director Griffin's anger will immediately turn into praise."

"I sincerely hope so."

"Have you prepared a safe house for the American special forces?"

At the mere mention of the issue, Neil Cayman rubbed his temples.

The American special forces were coming here to destroy the kamikaze drone factory and the North Korean weapons aboard the container ship Silver Crystal. The original plan had been to deploy twenty operators, but Director Griffin had insisted on sending thirty instead. The biggest problem was finding a safe house capable of concealing thirty men at once.

"We're still looking, but it hasn't been easy."

At that moment, Vice Chairman Wei Chen joined the conversation.

"Managing Director Cha, how about housing the Americans in our hotel?"

"If thirty heavily built Americans start appearing in the lobby all the time, the hotel staff will quickly become suspicious."

"Our hotel has a freight elevator on the third basement level. If they use that to go directly to the residential floors, none of the employees will even see them."

"Ah, that's an excellent solution."

"Director Pan, prepare rooms for the American special forces."

"Understood."

After replying briefly, Pan Kai took out his phone and left the conference room. Watching him leave, I continued speaking with Wei Chen.

"Half of the American special forces will need to relocate to Dalian. Please arrange transportation and accommodations for them there."

"Don't worry. I'll take care of everything."

Since Vice Chairman Wei Chen had given me his personal assurance, there was no reason to doubt him.

"Vice President Cayman, President Douglas promised to issue a written order transferring command of the American special forces to Director Lee Menghong. When will we receive that document?"

"It has already been sent through diplomatic mail. I'll make sure it's delivered no later than tomorrow morning."

"Without that official order, the operation itself will be at risk. Handle this matter personally."

"Understood. I will."

Leaving Neil Cayman's confident promise behind, I turned to Vice President George Fries.

"Have you located the Green Trading warehouse?"

"Yes. It's right next to the Choson Trading warehouse."

"I see. Were you able to get inside?"

"Last night we conducted a reconnaissance infiltration."

"There weren't any alarm systems?"

"There were sensors on the ground-floor doors and windows. Fortunately, the second-floor window next to the office area wasn't protected."

In other words, they had entered through the second-floor window.

"That was fortunate. Were the mobile launcher spare parts inside?"

"Yes. They're stacked in enormous quantities, including coolant pumps."

"I'd be interested in seeing those components."

"We filmed everything. I'll give you the USB drive later so you can see the scale for yourself."

"Excellent."

"While we were there, we also planted explosives throughout the warehouse."

Originally, destroying the launcher parts warehouse had been scheduled to coincide with the elimination of the North Korean hacker group. However, contrary to the original plan, Vice President George Fries had already planted the explosives the previous night.

I cautiously asked why he had acted so quickly.

"The FBI and the NIS are responsible for destroying the spare parts warehouse. However, the NIS operatives also have to participate alongside the American special forces in the assault on the kamikaze drone factory."

"So you planted the explosives in advance to reduce the burden on the NIS?"

"That's part of it. But the main reason was that infiltrating the facility turned out to be much more difficult than we'd expected."

"The window is on the second floor, isn't it?"

"It's about five meters above the ground, and the opening itself is quite narrow. We had to remove the entire window frame to get inside. That's why we decided to plant the charges while we had the opportunity."

Under the contract, Vice Chairman Chen Zhihui had been responsible for transporting the launcher components to North Korea. However, after Deputy Director Jo Ilcheol of North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau was captured, the coup conspiracy came to light. Once Wei Chen received my intelligence, he began dismantling the organizations loyal to Chen Zhihui. With Wei Chen's people hunting him down, Chen Zhihui had no practical way to ship the cargo to North Korea. Knowing this, Vice President George Fries had decided to move ahead and plant the explosives.

"I understand your reasoning. But is there any risk the explosives will be discovered?"

"Judging by the thick layer of dust covering the crates of spare parts, no one has entered that warehouse for a very long time. Besides, we hid the charges inside the spare parts containers themselves, so they won't be found."

"Then there shouldn't be any problems. How do you plan to detonate them?"

"The charges are equipped with receivers, so everything can be detonated remotely with a control unit."

"I understand. In that case, I have one more assignment for the FBI."

"Another assignment?"

"Capture Lee Hyeoksan, the nominal president of Choson Trading."

"Us?" George Fries asked in surprise, pointing at himself.

"That's right."

"I'm sincerely honored that you've entrusted us with such an important mission!"

"There's no need to thank me. We need President Lee Hyeoksan alive so he can be transported to Korea. Capture him during the assault on the hacker group."

"It will be done, Managing Director Cha!" George Fries answered energetically.

At that moment, Pan Kai returned to the conference room. Taking the opportunity, I addressed him.

"Director Pan, we'll need your assistance to allow the American special forces to enter the Port of Dalian without obstruction."

"I've already contacted our people working at the port."

"Excellent. Were you able to determine which containers aboard the Silver Crystal are carrying the North Korean weapons?"

"Of course."

"Excellent work. Pass all the information you've gathered to the American operators."

"Understood!" Pan Kai replied sharply, his confident voice echoing throughout the room.