He said: ‘You’d better give me some names.’
Ham stood still for a long moment, looking down at his feet on the newly tiled floor. After a while he said: ‘The government of North Korea is brutal and incompetent, but that’s not the problem. It’s that they lie. Everything they say is propaganda, nothing they say is true. A man can be loyal to bad leaders, but not to dishonest ones. I have betrayed the leaders of my country because they lied to me.’
Kai did not want to listen to this. He was in a hurry. But he sensed that Ham had to say it, so he remained silent.
‘A long time ago I resolved to take care of my family and myself,’ Ham said in the heavy tones of an older man reflecting on the choices that had decided the course of his life. ‘I encouraged my daughter to move here, to China. I began to spy for you and accumulate money. Eventually, I started to build my retirement home. In all of that, I did nothing that made me feel ashamed. But now . . .’
Kai said: ‘I get that. But you’re following your destiny now. As you said, you made the key decisions long ago.’
Ham ignored that. ‘Now I’m about to betray my comrades-in-arms, men who only want their country to be truly independent –’ he paused, then said sadly – ‘men who have never lied to me.’
‘I understand how you feel,’ Kai said quietly. ‘But we have to stop this coup. We can’t tell how it will end. We must not allow North Korea to spin out of control.’
Still Ham hesitated.
Kai said: ‘What was the point of telling me about the plot, if not to put a stop to it?’
‘My comrades will be executed.’
‘How many people do you think they would kill in their coup?’
‘There would be casualties, of course.’
‘You bet. Thousands. Unless you and I prevent it by taking action today.’
‘You’re right. We’re all in the army, we signed up for battle. I must be going soft in my old age.’ Ham shook himself. ‘The rebel leader is the base commander, my immediate superior, General Pak Jae-jin.’
Kai wrote the name in his phone’s clipboard.
Ham gave him six more names, and Kai noted each one.
Then Kai said: ‘You’ll return to Yeongjeo-dong today?’
‘Yes. And I probably won’t be able to come to China for the next few days at least.’
‘If you need to report to me, we may have to talk openly on the phone.’
‘I’ll take precautions.’
‘What precautions?’
‘I’ll steal someone else’s phone.’
‘And after you’ve called me?’
‘I’ll throw the phone in the river.’
‘Good enough.’ He shook Ham’s hand. ‘Be careful, my friend. Survive the emergency, then retire and come back here.’ He looked around the gleaming modern kitchen. ‘You deserve this.’
‘Thank you.’
He left the site and walked towards the supermarket. On the way he called a cab. Stored in his phone he had a list of all the taxi firms in Yanji, and he had never used one twice. No driver got the chance to notice the pattern of his movements.
He dialled the Guoanbu and spoke to Peng Yawen. ‘Call the office of the president,’ he said.
‘Yes, sir,’ she said crisply. Nothing flustered her. She probably could have done Kai’s job.
‘Say it’s vital that I speak to him today. I have extraordinary intelligence that cannot be mentioned over the phone.’
‘Extraordinary intelligence, yes.’
Kai could imagine her pencil racing across the page of her notebook. ‘Then call the air force and tell them I must have an immediate flight to Beijing. I’ll be at the air base within half an hour.’
‘Mr Chang, I’d better tell the president’s office that you need an appointment this afternoon or this evening. You won’t be back before then.’
‘Good thinking.’
‘Thank you, sir.’
‘As soon as the president’s people give you a time when he can meet me, call the Foreign Ministry and say I would like Wu Bai to attend the meeting.’
‘Yes.’
‘Keep me in touch with progress.’
‘Of course.’
Kai hung up. A minute later he arrived at the Wumart store to find a taxi waiting for him. The driver was watching a South Korean television drama on his phone.
Kai got into the back and said: ‘Longjing air base, please.’
*
The headquarters of the Chinese government was a 1,500-acre compound known as Zhongnanhai. In the old heart of Beijing, it was adjacent to the Forbidden City and had once been the emperor’s park. Kai’s driver, Monk, went in by the south entrance, called the Gate of the New China. The view from the gate to the interior was hidden from prying eyes by a screen wall with the giant slogan ‘Serve the People’ written in the distinctive calligraphy of Mao Zedong, a stylish cursive hand that was recognized by a billion people.