Hwang Sok-Yong - The Shadow of Arms

“That’s why I came here, to ask you to talk my brother into finding a job for me.”

“I’ve got an idea. There’s a merchant named Cuong. He has dealings with Quyen, and maybe you can go there and help with your brother’s trading, right?”

“Is it Nguyen Cuong?”

“You know him?”

“Ah, no. He’s one of the richest merchants in Da Nang. My father used to be one, too.”

“I heard he was in the medicinal herb business. Anyway, don’t worry. Major Pham listens attentively to my advice. You’ll have no problem working for Cuong. What do you say, does that kind of work suit you?”

“Yes, sure.”

“Consider it done.”

Mimi laughed, cracking the joints of her fingers. Minh laughed as well.

“Stay for dinner, won’t you? I’ll call the office right away.”

“Ah, please don’t. Brother will be angry. Don’t even mention my visit to him, please.”

“Well, then how can I bring up the subject of getting a job for you?”

“You can say Lei came by and asked for my sake, and please make it something I was unaware of.”

“Are you afraid of your brother?”

“It’s not that exactly, but he used to get awfully mad if somebody ever went into his room and took a book off the shelf. He’s greedy, you know.”

“True, he’s greedy. Then we’ll keep this as a secret between us,” Mimi whispered with her finger over her mouth.

“Is your country at war now, too?”

Pham Minh’s question came from out of the blue. Startled, Mimi said, “I beg your pardon?”

“I asked if Korea is going through a war now?”

“Oh, it’s subsided now, but it’s not over.”

“Aren’t you ever going back there?”

Mimi shook her head violently. “Never again.”

Ahn Yong Kyu was sitting in the Dragon Palace Restaurant waiting for the captain and the sergeant. Three civilian technicians were at another table eating Korean-style bulgogi and drinking beer. The air was stale. As soon as he walked in Yong Kyu identified what the customers were eating. That particular aroma of garlic-marinated roast beef was to be found only one place in the whole city of Da Nang.

He had left Toi behind at Thach’s office in the old market and come alone. They were having an operations conference. Tomorrow was the weekend, so they had to move this very day. Unless they could get the Hong Kong Group safely in their grip, relations with the US forces would deteriorate from bad to worse. The Americans had demanded that the dealings of the Hong Kong Group be cut down to a minimum and that all ties with third countries be severed. But Lukas had tipped off Yong Kyu that in actuality the biggest source of annoyance to the Americans was the growing quantities of Korean beer that had been leaking into the market. In any event, to tighten the screws on the Hong Kong Group was no less urgent for Yong Kyu’s own group. A rundown Jeep with Philco markings pulled up outside and the captain and the sergeant got out and went inside.

The captain was in a casual suit and the sergeant was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and sunglasses. They looked like tourists.

“Waiting long?”

“No, just got here, sir.”

The captain scanned the room and then peered over at the inside rooms.

“Let’s go on in and have a talk.”

“It’s hot in there,” grumbled the head sergeant, who had already sat down and was getting comfortable.

“You, take off those glasses,” the captain barked in a taut voice. “It’s all thanks to you that we’re in this mess.”

The sergeant was noticeably gloomy and immediately removed his sunglasses. They went into one of the back rooms. The fat proprietress came back and fussily greeted the captain. She and her drowsy-looking sister ran the restaurant with the help of two Vietnamese women.

“What’ll it be, Captain? Try the beef ribs, excellent quality, you can be sure.”

“Hey, you buy lunch,” the captain ordered the sergeant.

“Yes, sir. Bring us ribs for three, ma’am,” the latter replied in a dispirited voice.

“Will that be enough for you? I don’t think so. You should order six portions at least to feel like you’ve eaten something.”

“Right, since you’ll be out on a stakeout all day with the boys, better fill up now. Bring us five, ma’am, and another order of five to take out when we go.”

As if disgusted at the mere sight of the sergeant, the captain turned aside and just stared at the wall calendar’s picture of a smiling Korean movie actress.

“Did you see the lieutenant colonel this morning?” Yong Kyu asked.

The sergeant nodded and then the captain said, “I hear we have two operations today — one at the PX and the other down at the pier.”

“Then we need to be fully mobilized?”

“Looks that way. That’s why I’m asking for plenty of beef. Hey, Sarge, I’m not going to come down on you so hard for the fix you’ve got us into. Still, if this is how we act within the family, how the hell are we going to get on with our duties? You’ve gone too far, so far you’ve got the big noses dropping hints to us. Dumb bastard, it would serve you right if I sent you straight to the stockade.”

The sergeant kept puffing on his cigarette, his head hanging. Yong Kyu asked him, “The ship hasn’t docked at the pier yet. . as for the PX, there’ll be a pickup right after lunch. What’s your plan?”

“After finishing their work, they’ll take the goods home.”

“Instead of to the supply corps detachment for warehousing?”

“They’ll probably cut through downtown with the ID I loaned them.”

“Hear that? He loaned his ID? You idiot! If they do anything more with that, we’re finished in Da Nang.”

“All right, is it that same house?”

“Yeah, you know, don’t you?”

Yong Kyu was familiar with the house on Puohung Street rented by the Hong Kong Group as well as with the checkpoint on the corner nearby.

“We can send Toi to retrieve the ID, and we’ll have the police let the truck pass on through.”

Before they got down to business, the captain and Yong Kyu had to calm the sergeant down. With only a little over two months left before shipping home, they said, why should he waste time helping them out with his ID? Why not get a grip on the PX himself, and then he could sock away something for after he got home and help the boys make some money besides. Those civilians came here empty-handed and now, thanks to us they were getting fat at the cost of others’ blood. Worse, by disrupting the market circulation networks in Da Nang, they were muddying up the black market channels — it’s our job to keep a watch on those channels.

The sergeant owned up to what he’d been doing. The Hong Kong Group had turned cigarettes and beer into major lines of dealing. They’d secured regular customers in the entertainment business. Colonel Cao, the police superintendent, and Colonel Thanbat, the military mayor of Da Nang, must be extremely upset. As far as the investigation headquarters was concerned, fancy foods and big-ticket luxury items from the PX were another source of profit. As for Colonel Cao, headquarters had some information indicating he was trading with American soldiers.

“The problem is the pier,” Yong Kyu said to the captain. “It falls outside military jurisdiction. For practical purposes it’s off-limits. Even we are using their conex box, aren’t we? They nominally demarcate the civilian from the military area, but there are rows and rows of container storehouses and only one exit through which both civilians and soldiers come and go as they please. If those guys dump goods from containers into their conex and take out a little at a time in that station wagon, there’s no way to catch them. Who knows, this deal may be done already. If they pay the price, they can use any conex they choose — they just move the pallets from the ship and hide them there and then swap the money for the key.”