Thera’s right knee threatened to buckle as she walked with the man in the lab coat toward the administration building near the gate. She wasn’t sure what the fuss was all about. She’d never gotten the tag out of her pocket.
Had they somehow figured out she was a spy?
“What’s going on?” she asked in Greek and English, but the man didn’t answer. Four guards ran from the building.
The man in the lab coat yelled at them in Korean, “She must be detained.” The men immediately began escorting them.
Thera had studied Korean for over two months, and had become proficient enough to hold uncomplicated conversations but couldn’t understand everything the man told the guards. When they reached the building, she stopped and demanded to know what was going on.
The man in the lab coat told her to go inside.
“Why?”
He pointed at her fist, where her half-smoked cigarette continued to burn.
“This?” She held up the cigarette. “This is what you’re upset about?”
“Very important law for all. No exceptions.”
“I’ll put it out. God. It’s not a big deal.”
The man in lab coat responded by slapping her across the mouth. Stunned, Thera dropped the cigarette. Once again, it took all of her willpower to respond the way the mousy secretary would: Rather than decking him she let herself be led inside, then down a hallway to a part of the building she hadn’t seen on the tour. A door was opened, and Thera was shoved inside. The man in the lab coat ordered her to strip.
“Like hell I will,” said Thera. The mousy act had its limits.
“You will do as I say,” repeated the man. He approached her with his hand out, threatening to strike.
“I am
The man swung his hand. Thera ducked quickly out of the way. Her body poised to strike back, she yelled for Dr. Norkelus.
Thera’s speed and poise surprised the Korean. He caught hold of himself, realizing he had gone too far.
“Empty your pockets,” he told her in English.
“I want Dr. Norkelus.”
“Empty your pockets.”
“Where? There’s no table or anything.”
He said something to her in Korean that she didn’t catch, then turned and left. The others remained in the room.
“It’s just cigarettes, see?” Thera reached into her pocket and took out the pack. She showed it to the soldiers. One of the men shrugged; the others were immobile. She couldn’t tell if they spoke English or not. “I was just grabbing a smoke. Nicotine fit.”
Thera shoved her hand back into her pocket, slipping her fingers around the sensor she’d opened and trying to return it to the case. It wouldn’t quite snap together. Finally she took the pieces from her pocket, grasping them in her palm so that only the top part was visible.
One of the soldiers was watching.
“It’s just a sensor. See? Like yours?” She pointed to the somewhat larger clip-on devices on their uniform shirts. “To make sure no one’s poisoned. I have the spares. And a lighter.” She put the tag into her other hand, pushing it closed in the process. Then she took out the lighter. “See? Cigarettes. I’m addicted.”
The man smiled nervously but said nothing. Thera pulled out the rest of the tags, showing them to the men. Then she took out her pocket change and some crumpled
“See? Nothing. You think I have a gun?” She turned to the guard who had smiled. “You smoke, too, yes? I can’t say it in Korean. Smoke?”
“That’s it.
“No, no, no,” said the man, wagging his finger as if she were a child.
The door opened. A short, squat woman in a lab coat entered, scolding the men in Korean and telling them to leave. Then, still speaking Korean, she told Thera she was going to be searched.
Thera feigned ignorance.
“You must be searched,” said the woman in English. “Take off your coat.”
“I have cigarettes, a lighter, not even lipstick.”
“You must be searched.”
“Because I had a cigarette?”
“Cigarette smoking is forbidden inside the compound. Very dangerous. Any violation… this is taken very seriously. We have strict procedures. It is the country’s law, not ours.”
“I guess.”
“Please take off your coat.”
An hour later, Dr. Norkelus appeared with the facility director. He was carrying Thera’s belongings in a clear plastic bag. The extra radiation sensors were at the bottom, along with her cigarettes.
“I have to apologize for the way you were treated,” said Dr. Norkelus, “but smoking is forbidden. Strictly forbidden.”
“Yeah,” said Thera. She snatched back the bag.
Norkelus stiffened. She wasn’t acting like the mousy secretary, and he didn’t like that. He needed to feel superior, in charge.
“I’m sorry,” said Thera, trying to get back into character. “I was just having a cigarette. They made me strip.”
“Outrageous,” said Norkelus, his protective instincts kicking in. “The Koreans… they are very careful about their rules; they do not have the best attitude toward people breaking them.”
Especially when they’re women, Thera realized. She decided she wouldn’t mention the slap; it would only complicate things further.
“I’m sorry about the cigarettes. It won’t happen again.”
“Yes. That would not be good.”
Thera left her things in the plastic bag until she got to the hotel. When her roommate Lada Rahn went to dinner, she poured everything out on the table. The fact that she wasn’t allowed to smoke inside the complex took away her easiest cover for planting the bugs. Hopefully they wouldn’t be as strict or as health conscious in North Korea.
The dummy cases were intact; it didn’t seem as if any had been opened. Thera decided she would examine them anyway. She slipped her fingernail beneath the tab of the first unit, pushing gently. The top popped off and shot across the table to the floor.
As she got up to get it, she heard her roommate putting her card key into the door. Thera scooped everything into her pocket just as the door hit against the sliding dead bolt Thera had secured to keep her out.
“Sorry, I locked it,” said Thera, going over. “I was just going to take a shower.”
The roommate was a chronic giggler and reacted with one now. Thera let her in, then retreated to the bathroom to sort things out. As she was replacing the device she’d opened, she noticed that the edge of the chip had turned red.
As had all of the others.
7
