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Hare continued as if he had hardly noticed the interruption. ‘Yesterday Chang flew to Yanji, a town near the border with North Korea. We know this because the CIA station in Beijing has hacked the airport computer system.’

Pauline frowned. ‘He used his own name?’

‘For the flight out, yes. However, when he came back he either used a false name or took an unscheduled flight; either way his return doesn’t appear in the system.’

‘Perhaps he didn’t come back.’

‘But he did. This morning at eight thirty Beijing time, one of our agents there called his home, posing as a friend, and Chang’s wife said he’d gone to the office.’

Pauline was interested, despite her dislike of Hare. ‘So,’ she said thoughtfully, ‘yesterday he made a trip that at first seemed routine but became either urgent or high-security or both, and he went to his office early this morning, a Sunday. Why? What else do you know?’

‘I’m getting to that.’ Again the irritation. He was like a college professor who did not like his lecture to be interrupted by students with foolish questions. Sophia looked embarrassed, but did not say anything. Hare went on: ‘Earlier today South Korean radio reported that North Korea’s elite Special Operation Force had raided an unnamed military base in an attempt to seize anti-government protestors. Later, Pyongyang announced that a number of American-controlled traitors had been arrested at a military base, again not identified.’

‘This is partly our doing,’ Pauline said.

Chess spoke for the first time. ‘Because we tightened up sanctions on North Korea, after the Chinese defeated our resolution on arms sales.’

‘Which damaged the North Korean economy.’

‘That’s the purpose of sanctions,’ Chess said defensively. It had been his idea.

‘And it worked better than we expected,’ Pauline said. ‘The North Korean economy was weak in the first place, and we made it fall off a cliff.’

‘If we didn’t want that to happen, we shouldn’t have taken the action.’

Pauline did not intend Chess to see this as an attack on him. ‘I made the decision, Chess. And I’m not saying it was a wrong move. But none of us thought it would trigger a rebellion against the Pyongyang government – if that’s what this is.’ She turned back to the CIA analyst. ‘Carry on, please, Mr Hare. You were saying that there was a conflict in the reports over whether any arrests had actually taken place.’

‘A conflict that was resolved two hours ago – late afternoon Korean time, pre-dawn here,’ said Hare. ‘A reporter for KBS1, the most important South Korean news channel, is in touch with the so-called traitors – who, by the way, are not American-controlled.’

‘More’s the pity,’ Gus interjected.

‘The station broadcast an interview, filmed over the Internet, with a North Korean army officer who claimed to be one of the rebels. He was not named, but we have since identified him as General Pak Jae-jin. He said that no one had been arrested, the Special Operation Force had been driven off, and the rebels were in control of the base.’

‘Did the report say which base?’

‘No. And there are no satellite pictures of this morning’s skirmish, because it’s winter and there’s cloud cover over the entire region. But he was filmed in the open air, with buildings behind him, so we compared what we could see with existing photographs and other information about North Korean army bases, and we were able to establish that this one is called Sangnam-ni.’

‘That name rings a bell,’ Pauline said. ‘Isn’t it a nuclear missile base?’ Enlightenment dawned. ‘Oh, Christ,’ she said. ‘The rebels have nuclear weapons.’

Gus said: ‘That’s why we’re here.’

Pauline was silent for a few moments while the news sunk in. Then she said: ‘This is very serious. Actions? I think my first move should be to speak to President Chen of China.’

The others nodded agreement.

She looked at her watch. ‘It’s not yet eight p.m. in Beijing, he won’t be asleep. Jacqueline, please book that call.’ The Chief of Staff went into the next room to make the arrangements.

Chess said: ‘What are you going to say to Chen?’

‘That’s the next big question. What do you suggest?’

‘First of all, he could give us his assessment of the danger.’

‘I’ll certainly ask. He should have more information than we do. He must have talked to Supreme Leader Kang at least once in the last twelve hours.’

Hare said scornfully: ‘He won’t have gotten much out of Kang. They hate each other. But Chen’s intelligence service has been working hard all day, just as we’ve been doing all night, and they’re just as smart as we are, so he should have learned something from his man Chang Kai. Whether he’ll share it with you is another question.’

That did not require a response from Pauline. She said: ‘What else, Chess?’