Page 253 of Never

‘I understand.’

The conversation went on in the same vein, Chen being reassuring and Ishikawa being non-committal, until they hung up.

Kai thought again about the sentenceWhat makes you say that?Neil had used the same words. It was evasive, a way of not responding, a sign that the speaker was being guarded, usually because he had something to hide. Both Neil and Ishikawa had expressed little surprise on learning that the Pyongyang regime was about to be overthrown. It was almost as if they already knew that Pyongyang was doomed. But how was that possible? Pak himself had not made his decision until a few hours ago.

Both the CIA and the government of Japan knew something that Kai did not know. That was very bad for an intelligence chief. What could it be?

A possibility occurred to Kai, one that was so surprising that he could hardly formulate it.

General Huang was speaking but Kai was not listening. He stood up and moved away – an act of discourtesy to Huang that caused eyebrows to be raised around the table – and stepped down from the stage. He called his office and spoke to Jin. ‘Look at the latest satellite pictures over North Korea,’ he said, speaking in a low voice as he walked away from the stage. ‘The skies should be clear; they were a few hours ago when I was there. I want to see from Pyongyang south across the border to Seoul just the other side. What I’m really interested in is what lies between the two cities, the road they call the Reunification Highway. When you’ve got a good picture, put it up on a screen here in the Situation Room. Make sure it’s aligned with north at the top.’

‘You got it.’

Kai returned to the big table on the stage. Huang was still speaking. Kai watched the screens. After a couple of minutes, one of them showed a night-time picture. The black was relieved by two clusters of lights, one in the south and one in the north, Korea’s two capitals. Between the two was darkness.

Mostly.

Looking more carefully, Kai saw four narrow streaks of light, far too long to be any kind of natural phenomenon. They had to be caused by lines of traffic. He calculated that each stretched for twenty to thirty miles. That meant hundreds of vehicles.

Thousands.

There it was, the explanation of why Neil and Ishikawa had not been surprised. They had not somehow found out about Pak’s intention to attack Pyongyang, but they had known that another force was intending to destroy the regime tonight.

Others around the table followed Kai’s gaze, one by one losing interest in Huang’s speech. Even the president looked.

At last Huang dried up.

Chen said: ‘What am I looking at?’

‘North Korea,’ said Kai. ‘The streaks of light are convoys, four of them. Those vehicles are heading for Pyongyang.’

Defence Minister Kong Zhao said: ‘Based on just this photograph, I’d say there are two divisions, each moving in two columns, for a total of about twenty-five thousand troops and several thousand vehicles. The demilitarized zone between North and South Korea is a minefield two to three kilometres in depth, but they’re past that, so they must have swept broad channels through that barrier – an operation planned long ago, I feel sure. At the same time, I’d guess there are airborne forces dropping right now to seize bridgeheads and choke points in advance of the main army, plus beach landings on the coast; we can try to confirm that.’

Chen said: ‘You haven’t said whose troops these are.’

‘I assume they’re South Korean.’

Chen said: ‘So it’s an invasion.’

‘Yes, Mr President,’ said Kong. ‘It’s an invasion.’

***

Kai finally slid into bed beside Ting a little after one o’clock in the morning. She rolled over and put her arms around him and kissed him passionately then immediately went back to sleep.

He closed his eyes and ran over the last few hours. There had been a furious argument in the Situation Room over how they should respond to the South Korean invasion. Kai’s negotiations with Pak had instantly become an irrelevance. A ceasefire was now out of the question.

China’s defence treaty with North Korea left several options open. Kai’s father, Chang Jianjun, and General Huang had proposed a Chinese invasion to protect North Korea from the south. Cooler heads had pointed out that once Chinese troops were there, American troops would swiftly follow, and the Chinese and American armies would meet in battle. To Kai’s great relief this danger was recognized, by the majority around the table, as a price too high to pay.

The Supreme Leader was fatally weakened but Pak and his rebels were strong and were already in the field. With the agreement of the group, Huang personally phoned Pak, told him everything that was known about the invasion, and encouraged him to bomb the approaching South Korean convoys. Radar showed that Pak did so immediately, while continuing his attack on Pyongyang.

The rebels had used few of their missiles so far, and they had plenty; the convoys were halted.

That was a good first step.

Chinese troops would not get involved but, starting at dawn, China was going to give the ultras everything else: missiles, drones, helicopters, jet fighters, artillery, rifles and unlimited ammunition. The ultras already controlled half the country and could probably take over more in the next few hours. However, the key clash would be the battle for Pyongyang.

This seemed the least bad outcome. If the Japanese were reasonable, the war would remain confined to Korea.