A Corpse in the Koryo

8

Pak wasn't paying much attention to what he was doing. Though his hands were moving the sandpaper over the wood, all of his energy was in listening for the sound of two people, maybe three, coming up the stairs. After a while, he put down the wood. "Buy a bookcase. Save yourself a lot of time." From below, a car door slammed, the sound echoed in the courtyard. Pak and I looked at each other. His face had gone a little pale. "In a minute or so, they'll knock on the door," he said.

"They always knock. So polite all of a sudden, like lowering your voice during an interrogation: We're all gentleman, aren't we now, let's just go quietly, no fussing, down the stairs, into the car, care for a blindfold, glass of water, anything we can get for you?"

I shook my head. It wasn't like Pak to get so nervous. "Only one car door slammed. No one's coming up here. Maybe the guy got a leg cramp, sitting there all the time. You ever get cramps during a surveillance?" I started sanding again. "Relax, or you'll get the wood all riled up."

The knock on the door was like the crack of a rifle. The sound tumbled down the hall; then I couldn't hear anything but Pak's breathing.

Pak stood up slowly and nodded to me as he walked out into the hall.

For a moment I thought he was going back to his office to shoot himself.

Then I heard the door open.

"We going to get noodles or aren't we?" Kang's voice, booming into the room, sunshine after rain. I put down the wood carefully, then folded the small piece of sandpaper, thinking that if I did something with my hands, they would stop shaking. I fumbled on my desk for the piece of oak again, but it slipped out of my fingers.

Kang stuck his head into my office. "Sorry to be late. A traffic jam in front of your building." I heard a car engine start up, then a second one. As I glanced out the window, two black cars moved slowly down the street, in the direction of the river. Kang stood with arms folded, watching me. "Nice weather. The hills on the east coast are very pretty this time of year." He nodded down toward the floor near my chair.

"You dropped something."

"I'm staying, I'm not leaving town. They don't scare me." I looked down to make sure my hands were steady. "Let's get lunch. Pak thinks we should go up to the monuments afterward and drink ourselves silly."

Pak had put on a light jacket. I knew it was to cover his holster. If he was caught wearing a gun, they'd have an excuse to shoot him, but first he'd get one of them, because they'd never expect it of him. Pak didn't always play their game, but no one ever questioned his loyalty.

Kang reached into his waistband and produced a pistol. He slid it across the desk. "You might want this. You only need one shot."

I stared at it for a moment, then put it in my back pocket. "Remind me, or I'll pull it out instead of my wallet at lunch."

The noodle restaurant was half full, but it was still early. Most of the customers wouldn't come in for another hour, and they would spend the rest of the afternoon talking and enjoying the view, watching the boat full of tourists that plied up and down the river in good weather. The three of us ate in silence. The waitress tried to cheer us up with some small talk, but Kang gave her a sullen look and she slunk away. Afterward, we went out onto the balcony looking over the river and across to the tower on the other side.

"I always meant to take that boat," Pak said. "Maybe I'll write a list of things I meant to do."

Kang clucked his tongue. "Too soon to be morose. No one will make a move yet."

Maybe it was his tone of voice, but I felt a sudden surge of anger.

"You are pretty calm about this. You've been awfully damn calm the whole time, even in Manpo after you killed Chong."

Pak's right hand moved slightly. I thought he might be going for his gun. "Chong? The guy they were asking me about?"

Kang didn't change expression. "The inspector didn't tell you about our adventure?" He laughed. "Did he tell you about his Finnish girlfriend?"

Pak's hand stayed put. "It must be raining Finns. We're drowning in them. Come to think of it, I never did get a report, Inspector."

"No time for that." Kang nodded at three men who had just stepped into the restaurant. One of them was Colonel Kim. He was wearing civilian clothes; the two others were in well-fitting Military Security uniforms, fine buttons and all. Kim glanced out the window at us. He caught my eye and held it, then looked away and followed the restaurant manager to a private room off to the side. The manager, a tall man with a sad face, was sweating profusely. He did not look happy to see Kim.

Kang had already started down the steps to the parking lot, two at a time. "I'll meet you at the monuments." He flashed that smile of his, the one with the teeth. "Should be a splendid view."

Pak started his car and then turned the ignition off. "What's going on? Why didn't you tell me about Chong?"

"Chong? Arab blood? I started to, but you said you didn't want to know."

He gave me an acid look. "I didn't need to know if you two were acquainted.

That's a hell of a lot different from knowing one of my inspectors was present when Kang shot a Military Security operative. Did you at least report it to someone?"

"Ha! He didn't shoot him. It was a rock." Pak stared out the windshield.

"Kang said not to report it. He had some sort of operation under way at a compound in the hills just below where it happened, and he didn't want activity."

"What compound?"

"I don't know. He said it was run by Military Security, and he wanted me to get inside, but then you found the Finn and I had to come home."

"Did Kang seem rattled that I ordered you back here?"

"Kang? You've got to be kidding. Even when those three guys were frying in the jeep-"

"What jeep?"

I paused. "Let me give you the whole story as we drive." When I finished, Pak pulled into a narrow side street where an ice cream vendor had set up in the shade of three enormous mulberry trees. A few of the customers looked over when the car stopped next to the curb, but on a sunny afternoon, eating ice cream beats staring at a parked car. After a minute, no one looked to be paying much attention.

"You go back to the office." Pak ran his fingers through his hair.

"Take the bus, if it's running today. No one will be laying for you on a city bus. I saw the way Kim sneered at you in the restaurant. They may not be tailing us right now, but it won't take them long to locate our cars.

"This is what you meant, isn't it, about all hell breaking loose.

They're about to move in on Kang, and you think you're on the list, too. Have you been working for Kang? Military Security has no reason to get you. You weren't there when Chong was killed." Pak didn't say anything. "Does it go back farther? You and Kang?"

"What you don't know, Inspector, can't hurt you."

"I'm not worried about what I don't know. I'm worried about you.

Why don't you go back to the office? Or better yet, get over to the Ministry.

The Minister won't let Military Security into the building. I can get to the monuments from here on foot. There won't be any trouble there. I think they're still waiting for something. That look from Kim wasn't the one a snake gives before it strikes. More like an invitation to play a little longer. Come on, mouse, try to get away. Anyhow, I have some business with Kang."

Pak reached over and opened my door. "Nope. You're outvoted, comrade. The People's Committee of Ministry Unit 826 has just voted and recommends you go back to the office. Period."

"You're going to have to tell me sooner or later what this is about.

You just can't leave me dangling. Kang says you two know each other a long time." I got out and slammed the door.

Pak started the engine. "Go back to the office, straighten things up. Get to my desk. It was used by the Japanese army, probably the security people. It's not the normal junk we have. Second drawer, there's a fitted compartment. Inside is an envelope. Use it when you need it. You'll know what to do with it when the time comes. If they took apart the desk, they'd find it. Otherwise it would sit there for years, and then it would be too late. In my filing cabinet, there are transfer papers for you, a residence card, and a temporary food certificate."

"For where?"

"Not Kanggye." He smiled. Then the smile disappeared. "Stay low.

Sand your wood if that's what you need to stay sane. The unit where you're going won't ask questions. Don't raise any. And wear the fucking pin, will you?"

I started to say something, but the car pulled away. The people sitting on the curb across the street concentrated on their ice cream and pretended they hadn't heard a word.