A Corpse in the Koryo

I had that table all of these years, and now this." He looked at the knife in my hand, then at the fish. "Train's due at midnight, one o'clock more likely."

"Can I use the phone?" He stared at me dumbly. "The phone." I shook his shoulder, not too hard. "I need to make a call."

"Railroad connection, not for outside."

"I know, I know, but I can use it anyway."

He peered at me as if I were far away, or maybe he was. "That's a Military Security knife."

"They hanging around? You seen any of them?"

He glanced down at the fish. "Don't be here when I get back," was all he said, and then he was out the door.

As soon as I picked up the phone, I got an operator. It was the same one I'd had in Kanggye.

"You again," she said.

"Get me Pyongyang."

"How's the weather in Manpo?"

"About to storm. Look, this is urgent."

"Sure, I know. You guys are all alike. I thought we were going to have dinner."

"Yeah, a good meal. Bet you know some nice places, too."

The line was bad, but not so bad she couldn't catch my tone of voice.

"Funny thing," she said. "I can lose this connection real easy. Happens all the time. Oops. I hear static. That could mean a system failure.

My orders are to disconnect and shut down. That way we don't cascade."

"You don't what?"

"I don't know. That was what they told us last Saturday. One girl had to admit she'd been talking to her boyfriend, a Colonel Yun in Haeju or something, and next thing you know, wham, a cascade. Is she ever in trouble."

I didn't say anything.

"You're not mad at me, are you?"

I coughed lightly.

"Listen, I'm sorry. There is really a lot of pressure around here.

They scream at you when you lose a connection, as if this crummy equipment can ever work two calls in a row. It's Russian, you know what I mean? Built like those old Soviet ladies. Not like those Russian girls today, so pretty. I saw one on TV the other night. They seem to be doing okay these days, if you know what I mean."

I gave her a number.

"That same police line."

"I need to report a crime."

She whooped. "From Manpo? Man, I'd never get a free minute if people reported every crime in Manpo. Hang on, here we go."

There was a faint click, a moment of silence when I thought she had cut me off, then Pak's voice nice and calm on the other end.

"You're late, you're absent without leave, you're missing in action, where the hell are you, and why the hell are you still on the border?"

"More important, did you have any idea what is going on up here, before you packed me off? Military Security just sent me a message. I think it was a death threat."

"A what?"

"A fish with a goat knife stuck in its guts."

"Very subtle, those guys." It was silent for a moment, and I thought we'd been disconnected. Then Pak said, "Spare me the details right now. Put a full report on my desk when you get here. You can write it on the train. You'll have plenty of time, and nothing else to do."

"If we ever get a train. It's all locked up."

"Some Comrade Big or another." Pak was normally more discreet than this on the phone. "Anyway, it's not your concern. Your business is here. I have a dead body, a foreigner, a Finn from the looks of it. I'll tell you when I see you, and it better be soon." A series of clicks, a dead space, then a buzz.

The operator got back on the line. "That was a cascade."

"Somebody's boyfriend somewhere."

"You're not a colonel, are you?" There was a note of alarm in her voice.

I laughed. "Not even close."

"Dinner. Don't forget."

There was no sense replying because the phone started buzzing and then a new, tinny voice on the other end shouted that this was railway communications equipment, reserved for railway business, it was a breach of security to use it for personal business.

"We need a train," I barked.

A pause, then a suspicious "Who is this?"

"Never mind who this is, friend. Military Security says the train to Pyongyang better be here in three hours, or files start getting pulled."

The other end wasn't cowed. "The province is locked up top to bottom.

No trains move without authorization. Those are my orders, so don't threaten me."

"Don't worry, friend, this isn't a threat. This is Senior Colonel Kim, Military Security, acting on direct and personal instructions of Colonel Yun, Haeju Field Headquarters. Get a train up here on the double, or I'll see you tomorrow-say, about midnight?"

Nobody in his right mind would follow an order like that.

Nobody did.