Page 142 of Never

‘Not tonight.’ Pauline smiled. ‘Go home and sleep well.’

‘Thank you, Madam President.’

As usual, Pauline spent these quiet hours catching up on briefings that required her to concentrate without interruption for at least a few minutes. Just after 11 p.m. Gus showed up, wearing the blue cashmere sweater she liked. ‘The Japanese are going ballistic about Sangnam-ni,’ he said.

‘I’m not surprised,’ Pauline said. ‘They’re close neighbours.’

‘Three hours on the ferry from Fukuoka to Busan. Longer to North Korea, but still very close bombing range.’

Pauline left the desk and they sat on the two armchairs. In the small room their knees were close together. Pauline said: ‘Japan and Korea have a bad history.’

‘In Japan there’s a lot of hatred of Koreans. The social media are full of racist attacks.’

‘So, just like America.’

‘Different colour scheme, same abuse,’ said Gus.

Pauline found herself relaxing. She liked her occasional late-night chats with Gus. They roamed over issues randomly, and there was generally nothing they could do about them until the morning, so they did not feel pressured to act. ‘Help yourself to a drink,’ she said. ‘You know where the hooch is.’

‘Thanks.’ He went to a cupboard and took out a bottle and glass. ‘This is very good bourbon.’

‘I had no idea. I don’t even know who chose it.’

‘I chose it,’ he said with a grin. For an uncharacteristic moment he looked like a naughty schoolboy. He sat down again and poured an inch of liquor into the glass.

She said: ‘What is the Japanese government doing?’

‘The prime minister has called a meeting of their National Security Council, which will certainly order the military to some level of alert. It’s easy to imagine how Japan and China could come into conflict over this, and the Japanese commentators are already worrying about the possibility of war.’

‘China is way stronger.’

‘Not as much as you’d think. Japan has the fifth largest defence budget in the world.’

‘However, they have no nuclear weapons.’

‘But we do, and we have a military treaty with Japan that obliges us to come to their aid if they’re attacked. To back up that promise, we have fifty thousand troops there, plus the Seventh Fleet, the Third Marine Expeditionary Force, and a hundred and thirty USAF fighter planes.’

‘And back here at home we have about four thousand nuclear warheads.’

‘Half ready to use, half in reserve storage.’

‘And we’re pledged to the defence of Japan.’

‘Yes.’

The facts were not new to Pauline, but she had never seen the implications so clearly. ‘Gus,’ she said, ‘we’re as committed as hell.’

‘I couldn’t have put it better. And there’s one more thing. Have you heard of what the North Koreans call Residence Number Fifty-five?’

‘Yes. It’s the official home of the Supreme Leader, in the suburbs of Pyongyang.’

‘It’s actually a complex covering five square miles. It has a lot of high-end leisure facilities, including a pool with a waterslide, a spa, a shooting range and a horse-racing track.’

‘These Communists don’t stint themselves, do they? Why don’t I have a horse-racing track?’

‘Madam President, you have no use for leisure facilities, because you have no leisure.’

‘I should have been a dictator.’