“He took us in that day and we’ve been together since,” Sam said. “My parents just celebrated their twentieth anniversary. They also gave me a younger brother and sister.”
Crocker tried to focus, but he kept returning to the long checklist in his head-comms, weapons, medical kits, et cetera. “Tell me about your father,” he said, reminding himself that his men would be arriving in an hour and his first task would be to talk to Suarez about the CL-20.
“Supersolid; never complains. My mother is my inspiration. She started working in rice paddies at the age of five, where she had to slice leeches off her leg with a machete. At sixteen she was discovered one night making out in the backseat of a rich boy’s car, which caused her to be shunned by her family and kicked out of school.”
Crocker flashed back to his own high school in Massachusetts and one of several times he’d been expelled-for punching the captain of the football team and breaking his nose.
“The only way she could support herself was by working as a prostitute at a nearby U.S. Navy base. At eighteen she met a young American ensign who fell in love with her and took her back home with him to Pensacola. That’s where they married and where I was born. But my dad’s parents shunned their Korean daughter-in-law, and my mother had big dreams. She wanted to go to college, so she started her own business, which was selling cosmetics door-to-door.
“My father imagined a more traditional role for her. They fought and separated. She met another man, who moved us up to Winston-Salem and then abandoned us. Today she’s a successful businesswoman with a college degree and a dozen stores throughout Southern California. Next year she’s planning on running for mayor of Newport Beach.”
“Sounds like an amazing lady,” Crocker said.
“Thanks.”
“I’d like to meet them when we get back.”
“Absolutely, chief. Where are we going?”
“The mission is top secret. I’ll tell you later. After we run back to our vehicles, grab your gear and meet me at NAB Coronado. Be there at 2100.”
“Yes, sir.”
Nan sat in the bedroom of her temporary apartment Google-mapping the island of Ung-do, North Korea. A rough gray oval surrounded by light blue appeared on the screen of her laptop. Shifting to “Earth” mode, she saw the shape turn green and the water surrounding it dark blue. When she zoomed in closer, a few concrete structures became visible in the middle of the island.
She wondered if James was living in one of them and what he was doing. For a few seconds she felt close to him, as though they were communicating telepathically and focusing on him had caused him to think of her.
The FBI agents she’d met that afternoon had told her that the United States was taking steps to get her husband back. But they wouldn’t specify what that meant, nor would they give her a timetable. She’d heard about American prisoners held in captivity in the jungles of South America for a dozen or more years before a rescue or exchange, or until the guerrillas holding them got tired of doing so and let them go.
How long would it be before she saw James again?
Knowing he was alive made waiting more difficult. Part of her had been preparing for a life without him. Now she understood that the story of their lives together, as intricately woven as it was already, would continue and grow more complex.
It was natural to idealize those who had died. The living were far more challenging. In the past she’d respected James more than she had loved him. But the grim reality of what they were both going through had changed her. She sensed that it wouldn’t be enough for either of them to comfortably coexist the way they had before. They had to either love each other honestly and completely, or move on. It scared her, but it excited her, too.
Chapter Sixteen
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.
– Abraham Lincoln
Crocker’s head hurt as he sat in the operations room of the USS Carl Vinson 340 miles west of the Japanese island of Sado in the Sea of Japan. He wasn’t sure if the source of his discomfort was lack of sleep, dehydration, or the massive amount of information he’d been trying to cram into his brain.
The logistics of an op this complex and difficult were daunting to say the least, and because the new moon was three nights away and the threat was that some sort of nuclear test or strike might be imminent, they wanted to launch soon. Five men-Davis, Suarez, Sam, Akil, and himself-would be entering enemy territory to perform a sabotage mission. Everything they carried had to be impossible to trace. Since they would be infiltrating in a very tight SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV), the amount of gear they could carry was severely restricted. Additionally, they would be traveling in what was essentially an open-water underwater vehicle, so all comms, weapons, ammo, medical equipment, electronic devices, and explosives had to be sealed in waterproof bags.
Crocker hated the very cramped SDVs. He would have much preferred to parachute in or swim. But given the parameters of the mission, the fact that they expected a high level of security on and around Ung-do, any other type of boat, scuba, or air insertion seemed out of the question.
For what seemed like the hundredth time in the past several hours, Crocker pored over the hand-drawn layouts of the complex and satellite photos of the island that Akil and the ship’s operations officers had blown up and marked with colored stickers and pins. The real issue was whether they should drive the SDV to the more desolate and less fortified Ryo-do, about three-quarters of a mile south, and swim from there, or infil directly to the southeastern shore of Ung-do itself.
Ung-do, sometimes referred to as Ungdo-ri, was one of the smaller islands in the Pansong Archipelago, located off the coast of Cholsan county. It had an average elevation of fifty-six feet and stood at 36º16'77" north latitude and 127°37'23" east longitude. Given the probability that they would be dealing with cold water and strong currents between the two islands, Crocker chose a direct landing as the preferred option.
How they would proceed once they got on the island was more problematic. Based on the intel he had at his disposal, it was impossible to tell how well fortified the underground facility was and what kind of resistance they would meet when they got there. Heat signature profiles indicated that there were armed guards stationed at the main entrance and around all four corners of the complex 24/7. Also, the road that ran up the middle of the island and along the western shore was patrolled by armed vehicles at least every half hour.
Crocker marked a small cove and beach on the eastern side, almost due east of the facility. “I propose that we land here.”
Min, who sat to Crocker’s right, unwrapped a piece of chewing gum and popped it through the hole in his white hockey mask. He seemed distracted by the framed photos of F-15s on the walls.
“Min?”
He slowly turned to Crocker like a character in a horror movie.
“Sam, ask him how far this is from the complex,” Crocker said, pointing at the proposed landing site. Min leaned forward and frowned as though he were seeing the map for the first time. He said something in Korean and groaned.
Crocker was starting to worry about Min’s state of mind. He’d already decided not to take the North Korean defector on the mission, but he still had to rely on him for critical information. The U.S. intelligence community hadn’t been able to locate a single other individual who had visited Ung-do.