Robert Waggoner - John - The Senior Killer

He smiled as he took a taxi to the airport and it was almost guaranteed he would be long gone by the time the body was discovered. Two hours from the time he left strawberry nose, he landed in Chicago. No problem going through immigration and he took a flight to Boise, Idaho. He changed ID back to Clyde Walker of Wenatchee and took a flight to Spokane. From Spokane he bought a used car and drove to Arden to look it over before flying from Spokane to Seattle to pick up his SUV in long term parking.

He cruised into Arden and spotted the convenience store with a gas station attached. He walked in and right away noticed Koreans were running the place. He thought, they are everywhere, these Asians. You can’t go anywhere anymore without running into these people who can’t speak English. He gave the guy a fifty dollar bill and told him it was a fill up. Walking back out he was on full alert as he realized Arden was on the FBI list of where he might strike again. Filling his car with gas he looked around for cameras and spotted too many for an average place like this out in the country side. He finished up and slowly walked back into the store. He saw more cameras as he wandered around under the pretense of looking for snacks. He picked up a bag of chips and a bottle of juice. He was, he noticed the only one in the store and both Koreans were pretending to be busy behind the counter. Two cameras stared at him while he waited for his change. After receiving his change he winked at the camera and left the store having said nothing other than a fill up for gas.

He drove from one end of town to the other and left for Spokane. John loved this area and drove around Spokane and over in Idaho. Four hours later he drove to the airport and left his car with the keys in it for someone’s use. A short flight to Sea-Tac and he was in his SUV driving back up I-5 to the cut off to Wenatchee over the North Cascade pass down the east side to Wenatchee. Back in his little room he decided to do some letter writing and take a few months off. That last kill in Anacortes was too close for comfort, he thought. That Brad Pratt and his team were good; maybe too good. He told himself he must make a plan for Arden that will knock the socks off the FBI and the Pratt Team. Meanwhile, as summer came and the tourists flocked to the valley, he might do some fishing.

The weather in South Korea in May has nice warm days. June begins the hot and muggy weather of the Monsoon season. Sujin, having lived on the coast of Oregon for so long didn’t like the humid summers in Korea. However, her visit pleased her mother and her agent as she could finish up her collection of photos for a showing she had promised months ago. Her parents were not poor. Quite the contrary, they were well off and kept both bedrooms and her dark room at the ready in case either daughter came home. They lived in the ubiquitous apartment buildings you see in any city in South Korea. In Sujin’s father’s apartment was not just one four bedroom apartment, but it was connected to another two bedroom apartment for the future when grandkids would come stay along with their daughter’s husbands.

Brad sat with his father in law’s apartment enjoying a visit and more tasty Korean food. His father in law spoke passable English and was well connected from his government position that Brad had no idea what department he worked for. He’d found that secrecy as to what a lot of high ranking officials did or didn’t do was very complex. His father in law, Taejin, or Mr. Kim as he preferred to be called, was typical of that hierarchy. He knew what Brad’s mission was and now as they sat eating and drinking some soju, which Brad detested, some general conversation about the current events was going around the table with another government official present. After dinner the real discussion would begin. But now they enjoyed the visit of their daughter and Brad, and of course the welcome news of the baby coming.

After dinner the men retired to Taejin’s study. Sujin stayed with her mother and grandmother. Brad would tell her later what transpired at the meeting. Taejin was the first to speak. He said, “Brad we have an office in one of our buildings from which your team can operate from. Accommodations are nearby in a hotel that caters to foreigners. Now if you please, tell us your plan.”

Brad thanked them for the hospitality for his team and went on to say, “I will assume the role of a monk and my area of operation will be the border city of Dandong. If there is any intelligence to be discovered it will be there. As you know, obtaining reliable information is slim to none. However, sometimes we get lucky and maybe among the large population of North Koreans hiding out, an official might be found who has some factual information. If you have or know something I should know, now is the time to tell me. If not tomorrow I will get a haircut and see into the space you have for my team. After that, I will make my way into China through my usual contacts. The team will arrive in a few days and they know what is needed and what to do. Contact from me will be limited and through my hand phone I will stay in touch as often as I can. Do you have any questions and if you do I would be glad to answer them, but not much else I can tell you until I put myself in place.”

Both men looked at one another and Taejin said, “We don’t have any questions, but tomorrow we can have you meet our North Korean expert and maybe then some questions might arise. Thank you Brad for coming to our rescue; the world I fear doesn’t realize the dangerous situation it's in at the present time. The leader of North Korea has some funny ideas and is playing a dangerous game with half of a once great nation. We have continually given freely our aid and have promised further aid if they would only discuss rationally today’s need for a nuclear free peninsula.” Brad nodded his agreement and stood up following his father in laws rise to end the meeting. Bows and handshakes with formal manners put the final touch on a short but effective meeting.

That night, in their own room, Brad talked about the meeting expressing his doubts of much success in finding intelligence to affirm or deny the existence of nuclear weapons in North Korea. Sujin said she was happy to be home and that she missed her family. She said, “Brad I’m so scared for my family living so close to the border with the North. I want them to come to our house, but you know my father, he will not leave his beloved Korea. He and his kind, old members so conservative still believe that not even a madman like Jong il would destroy the peninsula just to prove he could do it in front of the United States. Maybe I can talk mother in coming to the States while I have our baby.”

“I’d like that,” Brad said with sincerity. “Your father and my father have never met so maybe we can put the two of them together for some past reflections of his beloved Korea.”

“I will tell mother tomorrow about what we talked about. I have a full schedule for the next couple weeks. In about a month my agent tells me we will have a showing that he says will,” and she laughed, “rock the socks off the people.”

Brad held her close and laughed with her. She thought he was so sensitive and thanked her lucky stars she met him so long ago on a rocky mountain trail not knowing whether he would live or die. Now she knew he was going back in harm’s way. Never had she met a man who cared for his fellow man like Brad did. His continuous battle against evil would one day prove his undoing, but to her, that would be all right. Meanwhile the world should pay homage to someone who gives unselfishly to others. And with those thoughts they fell asleep in each other’s arms.

The next day, after Brad called home and talked to his team, who were anxious to join him in South Korea, gave them the go ahead. Brad, once he thought about it decided it would not be unusual for a monk to have a dog. He told Mike to bring Rocky with him when they came. Not long after that sitting in a downtown office around a conference table with government officials Brad listened through a set of headphones for translation of the opening statements and introductions. His knowledge of Korean was good, but it was always a good idea to have a professional back up his hearing. Now as he listened to some bureaucrat ramble on and on about what a good sport they had been sending countless tons of rice and cement to the North he was getting a little fed up with listening to the old man with thick glasses speak. Spittle was flying and he had the bad habit of adjusting his glasses when they were perfectly level. By adjusting it made him look queer with one side higher than the other. Finally he sat down, adjusting his glasses once more and taking a long pull on bottled water.