No they have not, nor should they expect to receive such an apology in the future. North Korea has never, and never will, admit its mistakes, if indeed this was a mistake rather than a politically motivated demonstration of imagined strength. That is why, if America wishes to maintain its position as leader of the free world, the generals in Pyongyang must be called upon to account for their actions and why, if they are not stopped now, North Korea will become an increasingly serious threat to our nation and to the establishment of global peace.
Survivors of this shameful tragedy, some of whom report coming under machine-gun fire while they were still in the water, say that a single radio communication was transmitted by the Korean vessel instructing Commander Ritchie to change course. When he chose not to do so — having no reason to — without further warning, two SS-N Styx missiles were launched at the Sandpiper with a predictably fatal outcome.
To many Americans this incident is little less than an act of war — unwarranted aggression that our military leaders appear to be incapable of either understanding or opposing.
Has the Pentagon forgotten that as recently as last month the Russian supertanker Rybinsk was found to have been transporting radioactive material destined for North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme which Pyongyang claims to have abandoned? Does the US Administration care?
There is a time for diplomacy. This is not one of them. Committed though our forces are in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Free America League calls upon the government of this country to…
Busy thinking now the full significance had hit home, Coburn removed his hand from the keyboard and stepped away.
O’Halloran had taken longer to realize the implications, but now he too had reached the same conclusion he quickly brought the map back up on the screen. ‘Jesus,’ he said. ‘What’s the date today?’
‘July 24th. Why?’
The American pointed at the red line. ‘August 9th — the day when the Sandpiper will be closest to the Demarkation Line. That’s twelve days from now.’
Coburn said nothing, still coming to grips with the ambitiousness of the plan. The Rybinsk had shown him what the FAL were capable of, but not once had he imagined them attempting something on a scale like this. Except it wasn’t just an attempt, he realized, not when arrangements were already so advanced that Shriver was preparing a statement for the media.
O’Halloran leaned back in his chair. ‘So here we go again,’ he said. ‘Another excuse for the world to blame North Korea for something they didn’t do. I can see the headlines now. Sickening death toll after North Korea launches unprovoked attacks on US warship. If Washington’s searching for a reason to lose their temper, this might just do it — assuming the FAL can pull off their trick, of course. They might have trouble getting themselves a North Korean patrol boat.’
‘Is that all you have to say?’ Coburn looked at him.
‘What do you want me to say?’
‘We’ve got enough evidence here to indict Shriver for treason. Show this stuff to the right people and the FAL are history.’
O’Halloran shook his head. ‘Wrong. Think about it. We’ve got a newspaper clipping, a map of the Yellow Sea, specifications for a ship and a boat, and a press statement that could’ve been written by anybody with a grudge again Shriver. You could’ve written it; so could I. This stuff isn’t proof of anything, and it sure as hell doesn’t prove the FAL are going to be hijacking a North Korean patrol boat so they can use it to launch missiles at a US minehunter.’
‘Is that what you think — that they’re going to hijack one of those Osa attack boats?’
‘Don’t ask me. When you’re not working undercover for the International Marine Bureau, you’re they guy who’s the pirate. Stealing boats is more in your line of business than it is mine. How hard would it be?’
Not very, Coburn thought. Give Hari the job and he’d have it organized in an afternoon. ‘Forget about how the FAL are going to get the boat,’ he said. ‘That’s not the problem, is it? If you’re saying we haven’t got enough proof, how do we get more?’
‘I don’t know.’ O’Halloran stood up. ‘And right now I don’t care. I’ve done enough thinking for one night. I’m going to bed. If you want to stick around and play with my computer, help yourself.’
Coburn didn’t take up the offer. Instead he went to his room, kicking off his shoes before he slumped down in a chair, not yet certain that O’Halloran was right about having insufficient proof and even less certain of what, if anything, they were going to do about it.
By three o’clock, grappling with a new set of problems to add to all his others, and with no obvious solutions to any of them, he made himself think about Heather, wondering if he should phone her, but falling asleep before he’d decided whether to or not.
It was late in the morning when he was awoken by O’Halloran banging on his door.
The American was unshaven and looked as though he was either suffering from a lack of sleep, or worried about something. ‘Trouble,’ he said.
‘Like what?’
Pushing his way inside, O’Halloran tossed an envelope on to the table. ‘One of the maids just brought that round. She said it was delivered by hand, but she didn’t say who by. Have a read.’
The envelope contained a note, dated today and typed on FAL-headed notepaper:
Dear Mr O’Halloran
Since it would appear we have a conflict of interest, I believe a meeting may allow us to resolve our differences.
The diner in John Day where you had lunch on Wednesday would, I think, be a suitably public place. So, unless you are otherwise engaged, I shall look forward to seeing you and your colleague there at midday.
Until this morning, I was under the impression that Mr Coburn had met with an accident in Singapore, but now see that I was misinformed.
Should you prefer to meet elsewhere or at another time, my telephone number is in the local directory.
George W. Shriver
Brig. Gen. G.W. Shriver (retd)
‘Shit.’ This was the last thing Coburn had been expecting, made worse by it coming so closely on the heels of last night.
‘So much for us not screwing up,’ O’Halloran said. ‘The bastard knows we’re staying here, he knows where we had lunch the other day, and you can bet your fucking life he knows we’ve been out at his ranch.’
‘That doesn’t mean he knows you’ve downloaded nine of his files.’
‘If he doesn’t, why would he want a meeting?’ O’Halloran took back the note. ‘Good job we’re not overseas. From what you’ve said about the way Yegorov operates, if the pair of us were back in Bangladesh, we’d have been lucky to make it through the night.’
Luck had nothing to do with it, Coburn thought. It was because Shriver had something else in mind. And whether they liked the idea or not, in a couple of hours from now, they were going to have to find out what that was.
CHAPTER 16
Shriver was seated in a booth facing the open door of the diner. He wasn’t alone. His companion was Jüri Yegorov, the ex-marine who had been hunting Coburn down, and who on three occasions in the last three weeks had tried to have him killed.