Mark Greaney - Full Force and Effect

Adam’s study wouldn’t end when he left Virginia for California. Instead, he would travel to Valley Floor with his instructor, Myun, and she would play the role of his wife so they could spend the evenings studying together.

He expected to be in Valley Floor no more than a week and a half, but another ten days of language study might just make the difference between success and failure on the operation.

And it didn’t bother Adam Yao at all that Myun was an attractive woman. Unfortunately for him, she was married, and her husband, a blond-haired, blue-eyed CIA analyst from Boston, had popped in on them in the language lab a couple times. He seemed to Yao to be a nice enough guy, and although he didn’t know the nature of Yao’s operation or where Yao and his wife would be heading, overall he projected an air of support.

It was going to be weird to live in an apartment for a week and a half with a married woman, but Adam knew this wasn’t the weirdest thing he’d done working as a spy.

Normal rules did not apply in this life.

It was late afternoon now; he closed up one briefing book and reached for another. Just as he started to settle into some reading on ore processing, Mary Pat Foley knocked on the glass door to the conference room.

Adam waved her in and stood.

“Sorry to bother you, Adam.”

“Not at all,” Adam said. “It’s nice to see you again.”

She paused for a moment, then said, “Acrid Herald is a go. You leave in the morning.”

“Outstanding.”

She and Yao both sat down.

“They’re working you hard?”

“I’ve got the legend memorized. I’ve got the codes and commo tech down cold. I’ve boned up on the processing of ore and the mechanics of the crushing systems in place there, but I’ll learn the actual computer software in California. I’ll keep working on my language.” He nodded. “I’ll do my part in Acrid Herald.”

Mary Pat said, “And I’ll do mine, and see that others do theirs. I won’t micromanage this op, but I’ll be getting twice-daily updates from your control officers. I recognize the risks. I know I won’t be in the field with you . . . but—”

“Madame Director, I know you’ve spent a good part of your career in the field. Trust me, the fact you know what it’s like is very much appreciated at a time like this.”

Foley smiled.

Adam gave her a moment to reply, but when he realized she was holding back, he added, “And although I appreciate you coming to see me off, I am wondering if there is something specific you wanted to tell me.”

She looked out the window and over the trees. “I lost a good friend recently. An operative, not too unlike yourself, although much older. He was one hell of a foot soldier during the Cold War and even beyond.”

Adam cleared his throat uncomfortably. “You lost him?”

“Murdered,” she acknowledged. “He was out of the Agency, but he did die in the field. We don’t know for sure, but it’s quite possible North Korean assets killed him.”

“I’m a little curious as to why I didn’t hear anything about this in my workup for the op.”

“He wasn’t on official Agency work. He freelanced for a corporate intelligence firm. There is no known relationship between him and what is going on here. Not yet, anyway.”

Yao said nothing.

“In my job it doesn’t pay to be sentimental, but I look at it like this. The moment I become something other than a human being, I need to get out of this line of work.”

“Understandable.”

“I know about everything that happened in China last year.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said.

She leaned forward a little. “And I know about Jack Junior.”

Yao had met the son of the President of the United States in Hong Kong. Ryan had claimed to be working for a private investment company at the time, but soon enough Yao figured out that was a cover story for an intelligence mission Ryan was working. POTUS’s kid wasn’t CIA, that much was clear, but it was also clear that Ryan Junior was in direct comms with Director of National Intelligence Mary Pat Foley. Yao had thought it almost comically surreal at the time when he and the President’s son snuck over the border and onto the Chinese mainland, but the joke ended quickly when the shooting war started.

Yao and Ryan had accomplished their mission, and Ryan had kept quiet about who, exactly, he was working for. Yao had been told once, upon his return to the States, to keep Jack Ryan, Jr., out of his reports. No other mention had been made of the President’s son, and Yao had certainly told no one.

He knew that Mary Pat was aware of Ryan’s involvement in the Chinese operation, but he certainly did not expect her to talk to him about it, so this moment was a little awkward.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said.

“That’s a complicated issue, and one that does not affect your work on this operation, but I do make mention of it to say I know you are going into harm’s way with some specific knowledge that must not fall into enemy hands.”

Yao wondered if Foley was going to give him a cyanide pill. Holy shit, that happens only in the movies, right?

“Yes, ma’am,” he said again. With a nervous chuckle he said, “I certainly won’t mention it.” He worried that comment sounded sarcastic, so he was pleased to see Foley shrug, as if the matter was put to bed.

She then said, “I am sure your control talked to you about in extremis extraction options.” She was talking about his ability to escape in an emergency.

“You mean the lack thereof?”

Foley nodded. “Yes. Your best bet is to head for the Chinese border if compromised. It’s guarded and patrolled, but the natural impediments to getting across, mountains and rivers and such, are relied on by both sides to some degree. It would be hard to get into China, but in an emergency, attempting it is your best course of action.”

“Yes, I’ve been briefed and I’ve memorized the routes.”

She added, “It’s also important you realize that even if you do make it over the border, you are not safe. We could get you back if you are picked up by the Chinese, but North Korean agents also patrol inside the Chinese border, looking for defectors and spies. If they catch you they will pull you back over the Yalu River and into the DPRK.”

Adam blew out a sigh. He knew this, but it was hard to take. “Right. That does complicate an extraction via China.” He and his control officers had considered sewing forged papers into his clothing to help him in the event of an overland escape into China. They went as far as creating an identity card that claimed him to be a resident of Liaoning Province, which bordered North Korea.

But ultimately they decided against it. As much as Yao would have liked to know he had a way out of North Korea in the case of emergency, the possibility the North Koreans would find the ID card and identify him as a spy had been too great. So in the end, he decided to go in “naked.”

If he was caught in China by the Chinese, he would be thrown into prison. If he was caught on either side of the border by the DPRK, he would be executed.

Foley said, “There is another option to get you out of the country. It would be in a worst-case scenario.”

Adam hadn’t been told of other options. “I’m all ears.”

“Actually, this is something from a code-word access program that you don’t need to know about.” She paused. “Unless, of course, you do. I’m asking you to trust me on this one. Trust me that we will do our best to get to you if something unforeseen happens.”

Adam had no idea what she was talking about, or why she’d even mentioned it, but he thanked her anyway.

After a time Mary Pat stood, shook Adam’s hand, and said, “Good luck, Avalanche. Remember, we need that intelligence, but we need men like you even more. Err on the side of personal safety.”