passing a number of test suites and arriving at a loading dock at the rear of the building. No one gave her a second look.
Thera slipped down off the loading area and walked around, spotting the two Hyundai transports and looking over the employee cars parked nearby. Then she circled back around to the front of the building, returning to her car to get satellite tracking devices and gamma tabs to put in the trucks.
As she pulled her car around the back, she saw two employees come out on the loading dock for a smoking break. She kept going, passing around the back of the building and following the road to the right, killing time until they were done.
Seven Sisters Medical Treatment Corporation was situated at the front of a commercial park. A long open field sat behind it. Beyond the field, four cement-block buildings were arrayed one after the other. In contrast to the medical testing center, they were old and appeared abandoned, with weeds growing in the lots that surrounded them.
Thera pulled into the second lot to turn around and go back; as she did, she saw there was a large truck parked next to the back of the building. Curious, she continued toward it, realizing as she got closer that it was the same make as the trucks Ferguson had been interested in in Daejeon.
Thera parked at the far end of the lot and got out. The building was definitely abandoned: The rear windows were boarded up, and a pile of scrap wood sat near a rusted steel fire door.
The truck didn’t have a license plate, but it looked drivable. The interior was clean, and the gas gauge read full.
The back roll-up door was secured by a combination padlock. Armed with a pen and pad, Thera began working on cracking the combination lock, a ten-gate device only a little more complicated than the locks high school kids used on their gym lockers. She found the gates, then began working through a list of likely combination sequences based on usual lock patterns. It took her about ten minutes to snap the lock open.
The truck was empty. She stuffed the tab near the door the same way Ferguson had, closed it up and returned the lock to its place.
She’d just climbed down when she heard a car approaching. Thera reached beneath her coat for one of her pistols and started to walk back toward her car.
A white sedan pulled alongside her. She resisted the urge to pull the gun.
“Hi, nice to meet you.” A pickup line.
Thera glanced at the man sitting in the passenger seat. He looked about twenty. So did the driver.
“Far away,” said Thera in Korean.
“You’re on your own?”
Thera smirked and resumed walking.
The car stayed alongside her.
“You cute,” said the kid, this time using English.
“Yeah,” muttered Thera under her breath.
She walked a few more steps, trying to ignore them. The car slowed, and the passenger jumped from the car.
Thera spun around to face him.
“Get lost,” she said sharply.
The young man laughed.
“I’m warning you,” she told him.
He took a step toward her. Thera, her patience gone and her heart starting to thump, dropped into a combat crouch, pointing her gun at his head.
The man’s grin faded. He put up his hands and began backing toward the car.
“That’s it,” she told him. “Go.”
He made a mad dash for the vehicle as his friend began backing up. Once he was inside, the driver spun the car around and sped away.
Thera ran to her car and got in, driving away as deliberately as she could. When she stopped in the city a short time later, her hands started to shake.
She pulled her things out, wiped down the interior and the door, then left the car in the lot, walking several blocks to rent a new one.
Were they kids or security or what?” asked Corrigan when she checked in.
“Probably ‘or what.’ They seemed pretty young, twenties, like they were cruising and saw somebody they could hit on. Macho shit. You know men.”
Corrigan didn’t say anything.
“I’ll go back tonight and check out the building once it’s dark,” added Thera. “See if you can find out who owns it.”
“Ten bucks says it’s Park.”
“Probably.” Thera looked around the mall where she was sitting.
“We have some good news,” said Corrigan. “Ferg’s OK.”
“He is?”
Thera felt tears coming to her eyes. She brushed them back, took a long breath.
She was sitting on a bench in a park. A little boy and his parents were walking nearby. She waited while they walked to the swings, well out of earshot.
“You there?” asked Corrigan.
“People playing on the swing.”
“Can you talk?”
“Go ahead.”
“When you were with Park, did he say anything about a General Namgung?” continued Corrigan. “According to Ferguson, they had a secret meeting.”
The little boy jumped from the swing, a big smile on his face. Proud of himself, he waved at her. Thera waved back.
“Thera? Are you there?”
“I’m here,” she told him. “What general were you talking about?”
“Namgung. I think I have the pronunciation right. He’s in charge of all North Korean forces in the capital region.”
Hadn’t Tak Ch’o mentioned that he worked with him?
“Corrigan, can you hook me into Rankin on the
“Why?”
“Because Ch’o worked with Namgung and did some shielding for air transport.”
“The containers the university truck moved!”
“Just get me Rankin.”
9
Jimenez had already finished the morning session with Tak Ch’o and was about to leave when Rankin arrived, fresh off the phone with Thera.
“I have a couple of questions for you,” Rankin told the scientist. “If you don’t mind.”
Ch’o nodded and lay back on his bed. Not only was it more comfortable to rest while he talked, but it was also practical, since the cabin was so small.
“You helped a general named Namgung on a project recently,” said
