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The commentary was in a language he did not recognize though he thought it sounded East Asian. Then it was faded down and replaced by a translation in Arabic, and he learned that the missiles had been fired by the South Korean army, which had made this film; and that their action was in retaliation for an attack on a naval base of theirs by missiles from North Korea.

Kiah said: ‘What do you want to eat?’

Abdul said: ‘Hush.’

Next came film of an army base, with a characteristic grid of straight roads connecting low buildings. The signs were in hieroglyphs, and the Arabic translation identified the base as Sino-ri in North Korea. There was frantic activity around what looked like surface-to-air missile launchers. The pictures might have been taken by surveillance aircraft or perhaps a drone. Suddenly there were explosions, gouts of flame followed by clouds of smoke. More explosions burst in the air near the camera: the ground forces were firing back. But the damage down there was tremendous. Clearly the assault was intended to completely wipe out the target.

Abdul was horrified. South Korea was attacking North Korea with cruise missiles, apparently in revenge for an earlier incident. What had happened to cause this disaster?

Naji said: ‘I want leben.’

Kiah said: ‘Be quiet, Daddy wants to listen to the news.’

A part of Abdul’s mind registered that he had just been called ‘Daddy’.

The television commentary then added a crucial detail: Sino-ri was the base that had launched missiles against the South Korean naval facility at Jeju.

There was a whole tit-for-tat history to this that he had missed while out of contact in the desert. But this well-made film showed that South Korea wanted the world to know that it had struck back.

How had the Americans and the Chinese allowed this to happen?

What the hell was going on?

And where would it lead?

CHAPTER 33

Chang Kai asked Ting to leave town.

He contrived to slip away from the frantically busy Guoanbu office and meet Ting and her mother, Anni, at their gym. They went whenever Ting had a free day. Anni did physiotherapy exercises for her old leg injury, and Ting ran on the treadmill. When they came out of the changing room today, he was waiting in the café with tea and lotus paste buns. As soon as they sat down and sipped their tea he said: ‘We need to talk.’

‘Oh, no!’ said Ting. ‘You’re having an affair. You’re leaving me.’

‘Don’t be silly,’ he said, smiling. ‘I’ll never leave you. But I want you to get out of town.’

‘Why?’

‘Your life is in danger. I think there’s going to be a war, and if I’m right, then Beijing will be bombed.’

Anni said: ‘There’s a lot about that on the Internet. If you know where to look.’

Kai was not surprised. A lot of Chinese people knew how to get around the government firewall and access news from the West.

Ting said: ‘Is it really that bad?’

It was. The South Korean bombardment of Sino-ri had taken Kai by surprise, he who was supposed to know everything. President No was obliged to consult the Americans before taking such action. Had the White House approved the attack? Or had President No just decided not to ask? Kai ought to know, but he did not.

However, he did have a strong sense that nobody told No Do-hui what to do. He had met her, and he called to mind a thin, hard-faced woman with iron-grey hair. She had survived an assassination attempt orchestrated by the regime in North Korea. The attempt had killed a senior advisor who – Kai and a small number of insiders knew – had been her lover. This undoubtedly contributed to her hatred of the Supreme Leader.

Sino-ri had been flattened, and President No had triumphantly announced that no more missiles would be launched by that North Korean base. She talked as if that ended the matter, but of course it did not.

Supreme Leader Kang’s ability to retaliate was limited but, in a way, that made matters worse. Half the North Korean army was already under rebel control, and the other half had now been further weakened by the destruction of Sino-ri. Two or three more strikes like that would leave the Supreme Leader almost powerless against South Korea. He had phoned President Chen and demanded reinforcements of Chinese troops, but Chen had told him to attend President Green’s peace conference instead. Kang was desperate, and desperate men were reckless.

World leaders were fearful. Russia and the UK, normally on opposite sides, had joined forces at the UN Security Council to press for a ceasefire. France had backed them up.

There was a slim chance that the Supreme Leader would accept President Green’s proposal, hold his fire, and attend the peace conference; but Kai was pessimistic. It was hard for a tyrant to de-escalate. It looked weak.

When Kai thought about all-out war, what he feared most was that some harm would come to Ting. He was responsible for the security of all China’s 1.4 billion people, but he mainly cared for just one of them.