Hwang Sok-Yong - The Shadow of Arms

“Thank you, but time is short for me, so. .”

The guide took out a piece of paper from his pocket. “Would you sign this receipt here, please?”

Nguyen Thach wrote his name on the document for transfer of the recruits and the guide took it back, folded it and put it away for his report to superiors back at Atwat. Then he rose from his seat. Without even looking at the team members, he gave a nod to Nguyen Thach and quietly walked down the hall and out through the door.

“Finished with your meal? Well, then, it’s time to get to work,” Nguyen Thach said.

He led them through the kitchen of the pub, where the women cooking stood aside to let them pass. They emerged from the pub through the back door. Thach walked over to the lot where they had parked the truck and stopped at the heap of baskets and bushels full of fruit and vegetables they had unloaded.

“What are you waiting for?” he said. “You’ve been paid, so start working. Hurry and get these stored inside. Don’t dawdle.”

For an instant the team members were puzzled, but as ordered, they picked up the baskets on long bamboo poles and followed Thach. He led them not to his own place, the car service shop, but to the office of his elder brother, Cuong. He went around to the rear of the brick building where the office was and unlocked a door. The office door was on the left, and on the right was another wooden door with an aluminum-grated window set in it. Before opening the door Thach turned a switch. Inside was a storage room of about one hundred fifty square yards. There were two thirty-watt light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. All sorts of boxes, sacks, and bags were piled up. Standing at the door, in a low voice he ordered them to hurry in.

The team members carried the baskets into the warehouse. As the last of them came inside, Thach closed the outer iron gate and relocked it. They gathered around and stood there awkwardly in the warehouse. Thach removed a few papers from his pocket and took them to a small desk and sat down.

“Over there. . grab one of those boxes and have a seat. Come to me as I call your name.”

He held up some documents and read for a while before calling out a name. The person summoned would approach the desk and answer the questions posed by Thach. At the end of the interview he returned to his seat and Thach went on to the next piece of paper. Pham Minh was the last of the five to be called.

He walked up to Thach’s desk.

“Pham Minh. . so you were a medical student at Hue University?”

“Yes, I was.”

“Born in Da Nang and. . just a minute, is Major Pham Quyen of the provincial command Comrade’s elder brother?”

“Yes.”

“The chief adjutant of General Liam at the provincial government office, that Major Pham, correct?”

“Right, sir.”

Nguyen Thach frowned slightly, rubbing the tip of his nose as if absorbed in thought.

“Your brother, he must know you joined the Front. Doesn’t he?”

“Probably. . I expect he does.”

Thach went on to the next page and then nodded.

“Can you convince your brother, or hide the truth well enough, so he thinks you have no connection whatsoever with the Front and that it was just a hot-blooded youthful whim?”

“I’m not sure. .”

Then Pham Minh quietly continued: “To see two brothers, or a father and son, working one for the NLF and one for the government forces is not such an unheard of reality in Vietnam today. Sometimes they may even understand each other’s position. But in most cases, even within a family, the Front used to be able to maintain an advantage. Maybe my brother pretends to be ignorant of the fact. If I were ever captured, he himself would face danger or difficulties.”

“I can see that’s not unlikely.”

Once more Thach buried his head in the documents and remained silent for a while. Then, without raising his head, he asked, “Can you solve the problem of the draft for yourself?”

“I’ll discuss it with my brother.”

“In that case. . enlist in the air force.”

“Enlist?”

Completely shocked and unable to believe his ears, Pham Minh bent closer to Thach, gripping the desk with both hands, and repeated what Thach had said. Thach looked him straight in the eye.

“Enlist,” he said. “There are hundreds of young men in Da Nang who have joined the navy or the air force and continue to live at home with their families. It’s not a difficult thing to arrange for someone in your brother’s position. The district committee sincerely welcomes your return and has assigned you a mission as assistant agent of the 434th Special Action Group of the Third Special District. Each team needs an assistant agent. The prior comrade died in action. Comrade Pham Minh’s assignment is to inform us according to action guidelines and orders from the district committee, and you will report to me whether operational orders have been executed properly.

“In ordinary circumstances, you’ll help me to carry out supply operations. As I’ve informed the other team members already, I’m only an agent myself whose mission is to contact the teams of a company group. If a mishap occurs, this contact point will be liquidated immediately. In that case contact instructions will be given from a higher level. In the city of Da Nang there are two battalions of urban guerrillas, all acting as teams and connected on the company level only. Fighters have no knowledge of their fellow fighters.

“Always keep in mind that any cell of an organization may at any time be eliminated for the sake of the whole. This is done by trial in the name of the people of Vietnam wherever the NLF exists. Especially you, Comrade Pham Minh, should bear this in mind, for with me you’ll be undertaking the mission of supply operations as well as the task of coordinating teams on the company level. First off, this week you’ll have to deal with the draft for yourself, and then we’ll see to it that you get a job working in the office of this warehouse.”

Thach looked at his watch.

“Comrade Pham Minh, you should go home tonight. We can meet here again around lunchtime on Monday. I hope you’ll be back with a good outcome.”

“What time is the curfew?”

“Ah, with the offensive now over, the curfew has been lifted.”

The interviews of the team members were finished. Those with family in Da Nang were to go home. According to the orders of the committee, they were to take some sort of job if at all possible. One team member who could not return home was entrusted to another member who could take him along.

“The team will meet every Wednesday at a suitable place to be communicated to you by Comrade Pham Minh.”

“How about an open cafe down by the beach?”

The other four gave their assent with nods and eye signals. They did not bother with goodbyes and they scattered from the warehouse one by one. As Pham Minh was about to leave Thach stopped him.

“Let me see you for a second.”

They went back inside the warehouse and this time both sat down facing each other across the desk. Thach spoke first.

“I also attended the University of Hue. Care for a drink?”

Thach opened a drawer and took out a bottle of whiskey. He removed the cap and took a few swigs from the bottle, then handed it to Pham Minh. He swallowed a little and felt his throat burn as it went down.

“On Wednesdays the various teams will meet at different locations. You will only need to deliver my messages to them. Have any experience in business?”

“No.”

“Ah. . that should be no problem. All you’ll have to do is deliver the goods to us from across the smokestack bridge. I’ll give you a rough list of names and you can use that to promote trading.”