“Not ‘just’ buying on the black market,” the nuclear analyst replied. “You don’t ‘just’ buy nuclear weapons on the black market. Every country around the world takes a lot of care to make sure its nuclear weapons are safe and secure. The North Koreans must have moved in when the Soviet Union collapsed and bought these. Or maybe they paid off a Chinese general to get them. I don’t know how they bought it but it was not easy.”
Anderson jumped in, “But, Sara, you’re right that this means Room 39 must be funding the purchase of nuclear weapons. They must not be doing research. I don’t know which is more startling: that they can’t produce nuclear bombs themselves, or that they somehow bought these from others. They are a threat because they have nuclear weapons. But they may be less of a threat because they cannot produce them.”
Mr. Park, who had been quiet for some time, said, “This is what Officer 1414 meant by ‘error in how we think about jewels’. We only gave him codewords for the various stages of nuclear research. He wanted to say that he found no evidence that North Korea was performing serious research, but at the same time they seem to have acquired nuclear bombs with drug money. We were indeed all thinking about their nuclear program incorrectly. The real question for us is whether this is really it. Are they really not capable of developing nuclear weapons systems on their own?”
Tom listened to the conversation in the Command Room as he stood motionless in front of the door to the bunker. He wondered how everyone could have misread the situation. Going into this mission, the CIA and NIS were focused on figuring out what stage of the production process North Korea had reached and it turned out they had no production process, yet they had nuclear bombs. He wondered how North Korea was able to dupe everyone. Then Tom’s focus returned, and he realized the mission was not over yet.
“Should I set charges next to the bombs? Do we want to destroy them?”
“I don’t think this bunker is deep enough,” the nuclear analyst began slowly. “The bunker floor is about fifty feet underground and those are two bombs of probably fifteen kilotons each. They would need to be thousands of feet underground in order not to have any impact on the surface. At this level, there would certainly be a blast on the surface and nuclear fallout.”
“But we can’t leave these weapons in the hands of this regime,” Matt said hurriedly. Tom had not heard his voice until now. “They could start a nuclear war. It doesn’t matter if there’s nuclear fallout in North Korea. If destroying these weapons can save the world later on we must do it.”
“Think about this,” the nuclear analyst replied. “If these two bombs go off, they will throw radioactive material into the atmosphere. There are two large cities nearby where probably close to a million people will get radiation poisoning. If there are any winds, the radiation will travel — possibly to Japan and definitely to China and Russia where countless more could die. This is not the way to prevent nuclear war — by creating a nuclear disaster.”
“It’s better to take the risk of some civilian casualties now than to risk the lives of millions of people later. Imagine if because of this regime and these nuclear weapons, we get an escalation to a global nuclear war — involving China, Russia, and us. I think we must put explosives there and destroy these weapons.”
“That’s the other point I wanted to make. Detonating an explosive next to those bombs might not necessarily destroy them. For one of those bombs to go off, a nuclear fission process needs to take place. You might not necessarily set that off with an explosion.”
“Can we guide Tom in disarming them?” Sara asked.
“He would have been able to disable the circuitry on a modern weapon, but he does not have the tools to disarm that iron football,” Anderson responded. “The Director is briefing the President right now. They are probably having this discussion too and need our recommendation. Tom, how solid is that bunker?”
“It looks several feet thick. From the doorway I can tell it is made of layers of concrete and steel or iron. The room is also several more stories underground. It is deep.”
“I think we should be able to set charges to destroy the warehouse without disturbing those bombs. I will recommend this to the Director. I am calling him now. There is no good option here.”
The radio was silent as the team waited for a decision. Tom took another look at the bunker door and the structure of the walls around it. Soon he heard someone in the Command Room say that the White House was on the phone with the decision.
“The decision is to detonate the warehouse but not the bombs,” Anderson said. “They say we have the coordinates and can monitor this facility with satellites. When we detonate the facility, it will collapse on the bunker, burying it, and it will be very difficult for the North Koreans to access those weapons. If war ever breaks out, we can launch a strike on this bunker but right now we cannot risk setting off those bombs. Tom, seal that door and set charges in the rest of the warehouse.”
“Roger,” Tom replied.
Tom started pushing the large door back to shut it. The heavy door required a lot of strength but after some effort, it was closed. He listened to the conversation that was developing back in the Command Room.
“I just feel that this is not right,” Sara said.
“I agree,” Anderson replied. “But the question is whether you would have that same bad feeling if we went down the other path. I know I would. I hope you would too.”
“We should not have let it come to this point,” Sara said quietly.
By now Tom had managed to shut the door and turned the wheel to lock it in place.
Suddenly Tom heard a noise. It was a faint scratching sound. The warehouse and the side rooms had been completely quiet. He quickly shut off his helmet light and turned on his night vision goggles.
He whispered into his radio, “Yankee Main, I think someone’s in the warehouse. Over.”
“Roger.” The Command Room went silent.
Tom raised his M4 and turned towards the doorway to the warehouse. He did not see anything.
He kneeled down next to the imported goods and tried to listen more. He heard several distinct steps, but steps that sounded like they were trying to be quiet. Tom did not see anyone through the open door into the warehouse. He moved closer to the entrance. He tried to see as much of the warehouse as he could. Straight ahead of him were the assembly line tables. He could see the far side of the warehouse well. What he could not see was his near corner, or along the wall that the door was on. On the far side it looked like there was no movement. But Tom still heard the distinct scratching or stepping sound. Tom did not want to poke his head out and look. From his days in DEVGRU he knew that poking your head out was the best way to give away your position. He also knew that moving targets were very difficult to hit and the warehouse’s pitch-black darkness would help him. He looked again at one of the assembly line tables. They were long and extended all the way to the ground. He could hide behind one of them, he thought.
In a split second, Tom was running. He felt like a sprinter darting off from a still, kneeling position. He aimed himself for the long tables ahead. As he crossed the threshold, he looked to his right along the wall he could not see before. He had been right for not poking his head out earlier. He saw in his nightvision goggles several KPA soldiers about fifty feet away, walking towards him. Right away he heard it. The sound of gunfire awakened the silent warehouse. The KPA soldiers were shooting at him. He heard bullets snapping and cracking as they whizzed near him. But within seconds, he was behind one of the tables, kneeling safely. In the Command Room, he heard Sara say in a whisper, “Tom be careful”. He wished Anderson had muted the main microphone in that room.