Korean Tiger by Dave Barraclough - HTML preview

Chapter twenty-nine

Na Sang-wha surveyed me benevolently from behind his ornate desk. He said: ‘Well, that’s  that. Everything seems to have wound up very nicely. Though I’m afraid you had rather a troublesome time’. He might have been the managing director of a big business house commiserating with an executive who had been involved in a tricky deal.

‘There were certainly some tight corners’, I agreed.

‘In this department’, said Na in measured tones, ‘we know only too well that appearances can be cruelly deceptive; things are hardly ever what they seem. That applies to people as well’. He put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it with a desk lighter. ‘Choi certainly looked the part of a meek little man whose sole interest in life was military history.

‘He had me fooled at first’, I admitted ruefully.

‘Naturally’, said Na. ‘he had studied his part for quite a long time and he deceived almost everyone. He was also indirectly responsible for the deaths of Jo Yun-je and Seong Jeong- ryong. Incidentally, did Choi find out about that note his wife sent you? Is that why he tried to kill her?’

‘No’, I said. ‘He heard her talking to me on the telephone, and thought I was doing a private deal with her over the micro SD card’.

‘I see’, said Na thoughtfully. He blew a ruminative cloud of smoke towards the ceiling. ‘Then he thought you had the plans?’

‘Yes, he jumped to the conclusion that Park might have passed it on to me. The irony of the situation is that I actually did have it when I had the photo, but I didn’t know it’.

Na nodded. ‘Obviously, Choi didn’t know which way to turn. First he thought it might be in Park Song-yong’s car; then concentrated on the tobacco tin …’

‘That’s why they wanted the photograph so badly’, I broke in. ‘When they found that the SD card wasn’t in Park’s tin they thought there might be a clue they had missed. A photograph would have allowed Choi to check for anything they had missed, such as something hidden in the inside of the lid’.

‘I understand you saw Mrs Choi this morning?’

‘Yes’, I said. ‘She explained about the note. Apparently two men came over from Cuba on behalf of the North Koreans’.

‘Arsenio and Martinez’, said Na. ‘Arsenio was known to be the important man on the mission and Martinez his assistant. In case of any funny business they changed names and identities. It was Martinez who died’.

‘And Arsenio?’

‘He left for Havana this morning’. ‘You mean – you let him go?’

‘Yes’.

‘Why?’

Na got up from his desk and walked over to the mantelpiece. He stood with his back to the fireplace, smoking composedly. ‘If we’d picked him up’. He said, ‘there would have been complications. We like to avoid complications as much as possible. Our job was to see that when Arsenio did leave he left empty handed. He did’.

‘And what happens to Park Song-yong?’ I asked.

‘Frankly, I don’t know about that’, said Na. ‘You see, it’s out of my hands. Park Song-yong is the Interior Minister’s headache now. I’m very much more concerned with what happens to you’.

‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

‘What are you going to do, now that this business is over?’

I shrugged. ‘I don’t know’, I said vaguely. ‘I’d half decided to go abroad – Australia or somewhere’.

Na looked at me keenly. ‘How would you like to work for me?’

‘You mean permanently? Join your department?’

‘That’s just what I mean. I’m offering you Jo Yun-je’s job’.

There was a brief silence between us. Na continued to eye me speculatively.

For the first time since I had known him Na’s voice sounded faintly hesitant. He said: ‘This is all slightly embarrassing. I’m not trying to influence you, one way or the other. But the fact remains that you’ve done a damned fine job. There’ll be other assignments; possibly easier than this one, possibly even more difficult. It’s entirely up to you’. He looked out of the window.

After a long pause I said: ‘tell me about the next job, Mr Na Sang-wha ...’