I’m not in danger. They are.
Now that he was behind one of the tables, Tom crawled towards tables even farther away towards the other side of the warehouse. He no longer heard any movement. The KPA soldiers had probably stopped. He heard them whispering intermittently. Within seconds he was behind the table that was on the opposite side of the warehouse from the door out of which he sprinted. He hooked around the corner of the table and crawled forward. Tom wanted to try to flank these soldiers, or attack them from the side. Tom crawled forward and was soon at the front side of the table, the side facing the shelves of heroin at the front of the warehouse. This time Tom peeked around the corner. He saw five soldiers. They were standing close to where he had originally spotted them. But they did not see him. They were looking at where he had run to. He had maneuvered around so that he was now staring at them from their right side.
Tom knew what he was going to do. He raised his M4 and aimed for the soldier in front. He squeezed the trigger. His rifle made a clicking sound from the barrel recoiling and the soldier he aimed at fell to the ground. Tom got up and started running towards the heroin shelves. Because of the suppressor on his rifle and the darkness, the soldiers were looking around for where the firing came from. As Tom was about to reach one of the glass meth labs, he took aim and let off another shot and hit the second soldier. He then ran past the meth labs and into one of the aisles. He did not hear any shooting from the KPA team. They were now down to three.
Tom now tried to run quickly to the other side of the aisle, the side of the warehouse at which the KPA soldiers had been standing. Tom thought he might be able to get the last three from behind. He almost enjoyed this game. It felt like those chess games he played in college where he would slowly dismantle the opponent’s pieces. He focused on planting his feet carefully so that he would not make a stepping sound. Soon he was on the other side of the warehouse. He paused for a moment to listen. He did not hear anything. The warehouse was back to being quiet. He looked at the shelf right next to him. These bags contained white powder, similar to the bags he remembered seeing on the first aisle.
Tom looked around the corner of the aisle. He expected to see the soldiers’ backs. But they had moved. The area where they had been standing was empty. Tom crawled out of the aisle quietly and put his back against the outer wall of the warehouse. Because of his night vision, he spotted their heads. They were now kneeling by the long tables to which Tom originally ran. He saw two heads sticking out of the space in between the tables. Tom smiled as he thought they evidently liked his hiding place. He knew they could not see him because their faces were moving left and right as if they were looking for something around them. Tom aimed his M4 at one of them, took a moment, and then gently squeezed the trigger. The soldier fell back. At the same time, the other head that had been sticking up came down and disappeared behind the table. Now there were two left, Tom thought. He guessed that the officer was probably the one hiding and refusing to look.
Tom kept his rifle aimed and took a few steps forward, keeping his back against the wall. He waited for the other head to pop back out. He watched the spot for a minute and then another minute. After what Tom guessed was two and a half minutes he saw the other soldier’s head stick back up. He had moved a bit back, but was not far from his first position. Tom took aim and squeezed the trigger again. He saw the head disappear. There was now one left.
Tom guessed that the officer who had been hiding was lying in fear. He decided to start slowly walking towards the tables where the soldiers were. He kept his rifle up and aimed forward. As he walked forward he looked for any sign of the last soldier. He could not see any body part sticking out. He also did not hear any noise. Soon Tom was close to the tables. He was bending to try to stay low. Tom thought it was clear this officer was not going to move. He was probably sitting with his rifle pointed and waiting. Tom slowly approached the tables even closer.
Suddenly he heard a loud noise. It was the sound of metal hitting the ground. He saw an AK rifle fly out of the space between the tables and land a few feet from him.
Did he just throw his rifle away?
Tom took a few more steps closer. Then he saw something. It was unmistakable. Two hands were sticking up straight out of the space between the tables. Two hands were being raised. Tom waited a moment and then stepped over to the side of the table.
He was looking at the last thing he had expected to see on a mission. A North Korean officer was on his knees. His back was straight and his hands were raised high into the air. Tom stared for a moment, trying to figure out what was the catch. Then the KPA officer started speaking. Tom was surprised to hear decent English.
“American, I want to surrender to you. I request asylum in your country. Take me out with you. I can help us leave.”
CHAPTER 49
Sara had never seen anything like this on an SAD infiltration operation. On the screen in the front of the room the group saw images of a man on his knees with his hands raised. He was asking for asylum. Sara thought to herself about all of the unexpected events of the day, starting with the news that Mark and J.D. brought over. She thought this could be added to the list. Tom’s voice was coming through on the loudspeaker. He was talking to the soldier. He was testing him to see if he was being truthful.
“What’s your name,” Tom demanded.
“Captain Kim. Army counter-intelligence.” He replied.
“Did you radio for reinforcements? Before you came in here?” Tom asked.
“No, my radio does not work. None of our radios really work. Look, here.” Sara saw the man pull out his radio and hand it to Tom. Tom was looking at it. It did not make any sound or respond as if it were on.
Anderson spoke quickly, “Tom, don’t let him know you have us on the radio. He might behave differently if he believes you are alone with him.” Anderson’s arms were crossed.
On the screen Sara could see Tom walk up closer to the soldier and start patting him down. He did not find any weapons. He stepped back. Now Mr. Park took control. He spoke with confidence, as if he had seen this before.
“Tom, ask him why he wants to defect.”
Tom asked. The man replied in a slow voice.
“I do not want to live in this country anymore. The leaders here only care about themselves. Ordinary people like me are completely unimportant. I have been living my whole life in fear.”
Mr. Park had an immediate follow up. “Ask him about his family.”
After Tom asked, Kim replied, “My father died last week. He was all that I had. I no longer have any ties to this country. My father was a general. He told me a lot about this country that many of the highest ranks in the military do not even know.” Sara could not believe that Kim was still talking to Tom as if they were the only two listening. He still did not realize an entire room of people were listening to him.