James Barrington - Foxbat

Monday

Cobra One and Two

Ten minutes later the two aircraft crossed the DMZ into South Korean airspace and turned west. They knew they wouldn’t make it back to the ship with what they had in their tanks, so instead landed at Seoul to refuel.

The airport was in a state of chaos, to put it mildly. The nuclear weapon in the Seersucker had detonated twenty miles away at around nineteen thousand feet, and the EMP had done considerable damage. Radars and radios weren’t working properly and, before they approached, the two Harriers had been forced to use Guard frequency, which someone in the Control Tower was monitoring on a standby radio. Fortunately, the pumps on the fuel bowsers were simple electrical devices, and so had been unaffected by the blast.

Just over four hours after they’d taken off from the Illustrious , the two aircraft landed back on board.

T’ae’tan Air Base, North Korea

When Kim Yong-Su had explained the reality of the situation to the ‘Dear Leader’, he’d received the most explicit instructions.

Clearly they couldn’t proceed with the invasion. They’d utilized almost all the plutonium in their vaults and, as two of the three EMP weapons had been destroyed, the ability of the South Korean forces to repel them was only slightly affected. To proceed would have virtually guaranteed that the Americans would land troops in South Korea, because obviously the Taep’o-dong bluff hadn’t worked. Within minutes of the attack starting, US Navy aircraft had entered North Korean airspace and destroyed fourteen of their MiG-25s and badly damaged three others, for the loss of just two of the Super Hornets.

With his plans in ruins, the ‘Dear Leader’ was looking for someone to blame, and he didn’t have to look very far. The plan had been suggested and conceived by Pak Je-San, and so its failure was clearly his fault. Which explained why Kim Yong-Su had just landed at T’ae’tan with a squad of soldiers in two Mil Mi-8 transport helicopters.

Twenty minutes after it touched down, one of the helicopters was airborne again, heading north with one extra passenger on board, the man lying bound, gagged and blindfolded on the floor. Fifteen minutes after that, the second aircraft took off and followed the first, a woman and two young children lashed together and secured to one of the fuselage side strakes.

HMS Illustrious , Yellow Sea

‘We paid a very high price, gentlemen,’ Captain Alexander Davidson said, ‘but, thanks to the two of you, I think the end result was better than we had any reason to expect in the circumstances.’ He was standing in the Main Briefing Room, with Roger Black beside him. Dick Long and Richter were slumped in the front row of seats, both looking exhausted.

‘We’ve had confirmation from Seoul,’ Black said. ‘Their patrols found the wreckage of both Harriers on the ground below the site of the airburst. The bodies of Charlie Forbes and Roger Whittard were still strapped in. The initial medical evidence suggests they were killed instantly by the blast when the weapon detonated.

‘According to the latest signals from CINCFLEET, based on American technical intelligence, North Korea’s now abandoned the invasion attempt. They’ve started withdrawing their additional troops from the area close to the DMZ, and their forces appear to be reverting to normal readiness. Despite the detonation of the North Korean nuclear weapon, it looks as if both sides are going to maintain the status quo. It’s possible that the cruise missiles they fired contained their entire supply of plutonium and, without the destructive effects of the EMP to cripple the South Korean forces, they weren’t going to risk proceeding.’

Black glanced at his watch. ‘The bar’s opened already, because of what happened to Charlie and Roger. You should both go down there. The rest of the squadron will want to talk to you about the mission, but be careful how much you tell them. Officially, neither of you ever crossed the DMZ, and all the action took place over South Korea. Sign the bar chits with “Viper”, as it’ll make accounting easier.’

An old Royal Naval tradition is that on the day an officer dies, the entire wardroom drinks on his mess bill, which is then written off.

‘Why not?’ Richter murmured, and stood up.

Office of the Associate Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Langley, Virginia

‘It looks like they’ve given up,’ Muldoon said. ‘The latest pictures show the extra troops dispersing, and there’s noticeably less activity at most of the North Korean bases.’

‘I’ve just got back from the White House, and the President’s decided we’re not going to embark on a military response,’ Hicks replied. ‘Pyongyang has sent an apology for the nuke that detonated over Seoul. They’re claiming that the release was an unauthorized act by a disaffected officer, and officially we’re buying that. They’ve already offered financial reparations for the damage caused, and that includes the two British Harriers that were lost trying to take out the Seersucker.’

‘They’re buying their way out? But North Korea’s virtually bankrupt.’

‘I know, so I guess they’ll just increase their production of hard drugs for a few years to cover the cost. The problem we have is that if we did decide to eliminate that psychopathic dwarf in Pyongyang, we’d either have to use nukes ourselves or get dug in for another Vietnam, and neither option’s politically acceptable in the present climate.’

‘So we wait for the next brilliant plan the little shit comes up with?’

‘I guess so,’ Hicks said, ‘but maybe next time we’ll be better placed to take him down.’

Camp 22, Haengyong, North Hamgyong Province, North Korea

North Korea isn’t a particularly big country, and the flight took only just over an hour. Both helicopters landed a few minutes apart on the square that lies between the armoury and the office of the Camp Director.

Once the rotors had stopped, the prisoners were hustled into the torture and detention centre on the west side of the square. Preparations had been made for their reception, and the order of their arrival had been specified. Pak Je-San was already gagged and strapped to a chair bolted to the floor in front of the clear glass wall of the gas chamber when his wife and two children were led towards the killing room.

The moment he saw them he began pulling at his bonds, but the soldiers who had secured him knew their trade, and his struggles were completely ineffective.

Kim Yong-Su smiled pleasantly at the woman, who was clearly terrified, her hands clutching at her children’s shoulders, and opened the airtight door to usher her inside the chamber. He looked, bizarrely, like a doorman at a good hotel welcoming a favoured guest, and within moments the three of them – Pak Je-San’s wife and his two sons, aged ten and eight – had stepped inside. There was, after all, no other option for them.

The door was sealed and the internal pressure checked. Pak moaned in anguish as his wife stared helplessly at him through the armoured glass, and his eyes filled with tears.

Kim Yong-Su ordered the cameras to start recording – although it was an execution, useful data could still be obtained – then walked across and took the chair beside him. He settled himself comfortably, then nodded to the chief scientist, who started a stopwatch and opened the valve that allowed the gas to flow down the injection tube and into the chamber.

‘We’re using soman,’ Kim remarked in a conversational tone to Pak, who’d closed his eyes and bowed his head as he heard the rush of the injected gas. ‘It shouldn’t take long.’