Mark Greaney - Full Force and Effect

Hwang bowed. “ Foreign intelligence? What can I do for you?” He shrugged. “I’ve never even been out of the country.”

Ri smiled a little, but Hwang thought the man looked either tired or sad. “I am not here to hire you on as an agent. May I sit down?”

“I will call for some tea.”

“No. Let us just talk.” Ri took the chair in front of the desk, and Hwang sat slowly in his own chair. This brash general with the sad face seemed to have taken charge here in Hwang’s office. This was not the way meetings were held, and Hwang was utterly confused.

When both men were seated General Ri said, “I congratulate you on your recent appointment. I, too, only took the reins at RGB two weeks ago.”

“I extend to you my congratulations and best wishes, comrade. May you bring honor to the Dae Wonsu.”

“I am aware of your predicament,” Ri said abruptly.

Hwang looked around the room. “My predicament ?”

“Yes. You have been given eighteen months to turn a slag pit in the mountains north of Chongju into the largest high-tech mineral mine in the world. The Chinese, the only business partner with the ability to make this happen, have been thrown out of the mine because the Dae Wonsu’s demand that they provide us with ICBMs was rejected out of hand. You cannot work with Western businesses in this endeavor in any legal sense because the nations with the technology and expertise we need have restrictions imposed on business travel and high-tech exports, and there is great risk that the crippling sanctions against our nation will only squeeze you tighter.”

Hwang just looked back at the man. It was all true, but it was not the Juche way to complain or to even bring up the hardships.

Ri continued, “You will not succeed, and you saw what happened to your predecessor, so you are aware of the ramifications of failure.”

Hwang puffed his chest out a little. “I am working diligently to ensure the mine reaches full output in the required time.”

“Work all you want. In fact, work up until the minute they drag you from behind that desk in chains. It will not happen without a lot of help.”

“What is it I can do for you, General?”

Somehow, the already stiff and stern-looking general managed to sit up even more erect. “You and I have something in common, Hwang. We both have a countdown clock in our heads. I have been ordered to secure for the DPRK both the hardware and the know-how to produce a successful and working ICBM. I have been given three years, so . . . twice as long as you. I would feel lucky if my task were not even more difficult than yours.”

Hwang was both confused and nervous now. “What you are telling me is not in my normal purview. There are security concerns in telling this to—”

“I don’t care about that. You aren’t going to violate security. I’ve read every word of your personnel and intelligence file. You are no risk to anyone.”

“Yes. Of course not. Go on, please, General Ri.”

“We have something else in common. A wife who is good, and two children who rely on us. If the only result of my failure would be my own demise, it would be a small worry.”

Hwang said, “My own life is not important. I live to bring strength and prosperity to the Dae Wonsu.” It was official party doctrine. Communist ideology and personality cult.

And General Ri did not disagree with it, but he did deflect it. “Well, Hwang, if we succeed, we will both bring strength and prosperity to the Dae Wonsu and save our families. Certainly you agree that would be a suitable outcome.”

Hwang just nodded.

“You have a year and a half to produce, process, and market rare earth metal. I have three years to acquire an operational ICBM.” He smiled thinly. “As it stands now, we will both fail. Which means I will live exactly one and a half years longer than you.”

Hwang shrugged. “If I fail, I fail. There are things worse than being shot by firing squad.”

Ri leapt to his feet, a wild look in his eyes. “You are right about that! And I have seen those worse things. They fed my predecessor, General Gang, to starving dogs. It took him two minutes and forty seconds before he stopped resisting and they ripped out his throat. Which means that for two minutes and thirty-nine seconds he saw and felt and knew his fate. I have executed hundreds of men in my career. I will oversee an execution tomorrow morning, in fact. But what happened to General Gang was truly a horror no man should ever endure.”

Hwang’s face blanched.

“And that’s not all. His family paid for his failure with their lives.”

Hwang knew the families of traitors were often put to death. It wasn’t a hidden practice. On the contrary, the military wanted it to be known that the ramifications for defying the state extended past the life of the culprit. It was a way to encourage families to inform on members who were a threat to the society as a whole.

Ri continued, “Fail Choi as spectacularly as Gang did, and you will suffer the same fate. I might even be ordered to witness your fate. And you should hope I am there, because while the dogs are ripping your flesh, you will have the small comfort of knowing I will be there in the pen eighteen months after you.”

“Are you just here to commiserate with me?”

“No. I am telling you all this so you know that the two of us need one another.”

“What are you proposing?”

Ri smiled at Hwang. “I am proposing a partnership between our organizations. Between ourselves, in fact.”

“A partnership? I do not understand.”

“Your efforts are doomed to fail without outside help. I can get you that help. That which you need is all outside our borders, and I am the man who can go out and get it, and bring it back. You need foreign partnership. Not from China, but someone else. Someone who can acquire the goods and know-how and get them here, and someone who can take the metal and sell it quietly on the world market.”

“What do you want in return?”

“Twenty percent.”

“Twenty percent of what?”

“Twenty percent of everything. Direct into the coffers of the Ministry of Intelligence. Within one year this will triple my budget. With such monies I will be able to attain the technology we need.”

Hwang cracked a smile. “The Chinese say the mine is worth twelve trillion U.S. dollars. You think I have authority to divert twenty percent of twelve trillion dollars?”

“I think you can figure out a way if it keeps you out of the labor camps and your children alive. I have access to a network of international bank accounts. I can help you divert payments. And twelve trillion will be over the life of the mine. I only need to use the promise of your mine to generate foreign investment, which I can use for my ICBM operation.”

“You are going to buy a missile?”

“No. I am going to buy a missile industry .”

The smile on Hwang’s face returned. “You don’t lack for confidence.”

“It is not confidence. It is inspiration.” Ri leaned forward. “Nothing so inspiring as watching your predecessor being eaten alive by hunger-crazed animals.”

Hwang cringed. Then said, “Just tell me what you want, Ri.”

“No. You tell me what you want. And I will make it happen. I will use as much of my budget on this project as necessary, I’ll shut down desks, departments, stations, and move resources, I will task foreign operatives, I will devote all my energies into this operation.”

“Operation? I’m sorry, Ri. I don’t understand what you think you can do to help me mine and process rare earth minerals in Chongju.”

“Let me give you some examples of what I can do. I can bribe UN officials to loosen sanctions on banks and trade, I will hire armies of Western spies to infiltrate rare earth facilities all over the globe to learn that which you need to know. I will make deals with mining companies abroad to bring them on board in a clandestine fashion to help you with their expertise. I will offer secret employment contracts to chemists, geologists, engineers . . . you hand-pick the people you want and I will go out and get them, at gunpoint if necessary. I will organize deliveries of the goods you need and see that they make it past sanctions and embargo enforcement ships in the Yellow Sea. I will work with allies in Russia who can hack the computer systems of relevant industry to help you with blueprints. I will fund public relations initiatives around the world to make sure the market is accepting of your product once it’s ready to export.”