completely.
Kevin stared at Rhee’s slumped shoulders and felt his irritation vanish. He pulled the chair away from the desk and sat facing his liaison officer. “Look, Rhee, you’ve got to snap out of this funk. Just what the hell is wrong?”
“General Chang’s coup attempt …”
Kevin felt cold. They’d all heard the scuttlebutt about the slaughter outside Seoul and the DSC’s ongoing wave of mass arrests. “Jesus Christ, Rhee, you weren’t involved in that, were you?”
“No.” Rhee shook his head slowly. “I was too junior to be involved. I had no hand in it.”
“Well, then, you haven’t got anything to worry about.” Kevin forced a cheerful note into his voice. “This’ll all blow over in a few more days and things’ll get back to normal.” He winced. That sounded fatuous even to him.
Rhee locked his fingers together and stared at his clasped hands. “I do not think so, Lieutenant. My country being destroyed from within before my eyes, and I can do nothing. My friends and relatives are being thrown out of work in the midst of the winter. And I can do nothing for them. Now the Army, our last bulwark against the enemy, is being broken on the wheel.” He raised his bloodshot eyes to Kevin’s face in a mute appeal. “And what can I do to prevent this? Nothing.” His eyes strayed toward the Soju bottle.
Kevin stared at him for a second, framing his reply carefully. He had to find a way to rouse Rhee from his depression. If Matuchek found the South Korean in this state, there’d be hell to pay — both by Rhee and by Kevin. Another thought crossed his mind and chilled him further. If any of the DSC men in the area heard about this reaction to Chang’s coup, Rhee would probably find himself on a short ride to a long prison term, guilty or not guilty. Kevin shook his head. He really didn’t have any choice. He had to get Rhee back to some semblance of normal, and fast.
He spoke slowly, emphasizing each word as he thought of it. “Look at me, Lieutenant.” Rhee’s eyes swung back toward him. “Neither one of us is in a position to do much about the big things that are going wrong over here. I’m not the president, so I can’t undo that stupid trade bill. And you’re not a general, so you can’t call off this DSC witch-hunt. Right?”
Kevin saw the South Korean starting to pay attention to him. Encouraged, he continued, “But that’s not what they’re paying us for. They’re paying us to soldier. And you’re a damned good soldier, Lieutenant Rhee. You’re a hell of a lot better at this game than I am.” He narrowed his own eyes and stared hard at the Korean. “Or at least you are when you’re not drunk.”
Rhee hung his head in shame again.
Kevin softened his voice. “C’mon, Rhee. Everybody screws up once or twice. But you can’t let it grind you down.”
The South Korean slowly lifted his head. He stared back at Kevin for a moment in silence and then answered, “You are right, Lieutenant Little, I should concentrate my energies on the things that I can affect. On the platoon and on my own preparedness.” He shook his head in disgust. “I’ve been indulging in nothing more than weak self- pity. That was foolish and wrong.”
Rhee stood abruptly.
Kevin followed suit.
“If you’ll allow it, I’ll get cleaned up and join you for the rest of the day’s schedule.” Rhee suddenly bowed slightly to him. “I must apologize for my behavior today, Lieutenant. And I must thank you for your kindness.”
Embarrassed now, Kevin awkwardly sketched a return bob of the head. “Ah hell, Rhee. No need for that.”
He turned toward the door and then turned back with a sudden grin. “After all, I didn’t want to get left facing Sergeant Pierce and Captain Matuchek on my own.”
Slowly Rhee returned his smile. “I see. Well, that is understandable. They are indeed a formidable pair. But perhaps they will meet their match in us.” He reached out and recapped the bottle of Soju.
The South Korean lieutenant was a soldier once again.
Blake Fowler slid General McLaren’s telex across the desk to the President and sat back in his chair. He waited while the President skimmed through it.
“You’re sure this general knows what he’s talking about?”
Admiral Simpson answered, “I’ve known Jack for a long time, Mr. President. He’s not a genius at spotting political trends, but he’s a damned fine soldier. And if he says that South Korea’s turning its army into mush, well, I believe him.”
The President turned to Fowler. “What do you think, Blake?
“I’ve got to concur with the general’s assessment. The reports we’ve picked up show a complete government overreaction to this coup attempt. They’ve already arrested everyone fingered by some internal security chief who was in on it, and now it seems that they’re hauling off any officer who’s shown any signs of competence — just on general principles.
“The results out in the field aren’t good. Morale in most units has hit rock bottom. There are even unconfirmed reports that some battalions have refused to obey orders from their new officers. The government’s Special Forces are supposed to have come down very hard on them.”
The President shook his head. “Why are they doing this? Hasn’t the South Korean government got enough trouble in its streets without looking for even more by wrecking its armed forces?”
“That’s just it, Mr. President. That’s exactly why they’ve reacted so badly. The government has always counted on the military as its bulwark against the mobs. Now that’s gone. I’d say that South Korea’s leaders are feeling increasingly isolated and increasingly paranoid — with some justification, of course, because there are people out to get them.”
Simpson nodded. “That’s why I agree with General McLaren that we’ve got to find a way to calm the government over there down. Maybe it’s time we sent someone over there to assure them that we’re not pulling out anytime soon.”
“Damn.” The President picked up a letter from his desk and flipped it so that Blake and the admiral could see the congressional seal embossed at the top. “I got this from our fine friend, the Speaker, this morning.” His tone made it clear that he considered the Speaker of the House anything but a friend.
“He writes that the congressional leadership is, quote, gravely concerned by the continuing turmoil in South Korea, unquote. He goes on to say that they’re most concerned that American troops still in the country might get caught up in this ‘cycle of violence.’ And they’re asking for an immediate troop pull-out, with every last American soldier to be out of South Korea by the end of January.”
“That’s impossible.” Blake looked at the admiral for confirmation of what he’d said.
“Blake’s right, Mr. President. Even if we hadn’t been holding things up, there’d be no way to meet that kind of timetable. It’ll take months alone just to ship our heavy equipment back across the Pacific.”
The President nodded. “They know that. The letter goes on to propose leaving the equipment there in storage until it can be moved. But they want our people out as fast as possible.” He tossed the letter back onto his desk. “Naturally this ‘private’ letter has already been released to the press.”
Goddamn all congressmen. Blake knew that the Speaker’s letter had probably been dreamed up by some congressional staffer as the ideal way to exploit South Korea’s troubles to get some TV time for the Speaker and his favorites. Congressmen were always looking for a way to stay in the public eye when the House and Senate weren’t in session. All right, that was understandable. But their publicity stunt had just drastically narrowed the President’s options.
Blake looked across the desk. “So I suppose we can’t take the chance that our reassurances to the South Korean government might leak?”
The President nodded again. “Dead on, Dr. Fowler. If the leadership hears that I’m delaying the pull-out after they’ve publicly asked me to expedite it, they’ll have no choice but to seek legislation setting an explicit timetable. And that’s something we can’t risk, true?”
“Yeah.” There wasn’t anything else Blake could say.
“Okay, then. We’ll just have to hope that the government over there comes to its senses soon. Maybe the North Koreans will do us a favor and try some kind of commando raid — something that’d bring the military back into favor.”
Admiral Simpson shrugged. “Anything’s possible with those sons of bitches, Mr. President. I know Jack’s got
