fingers inside it, trying to close the struck artery, but she couldn’t get the bleeding to stop. She tore off her shirtsleeve and pressed the cloth over the wound, trying to stanch the bleeding.
“Come on, stay with me. Come on, Chung-Cha, look at me. Focus right on me.” She turned and screamed, “Robie, we need an ambulance. And we need it now!”
Robie had already hit 911 on his phone. And this time the call went through. But as he ordered the ambulance he looked over at Chung-Cha and knew that it was too late.
She was already chalk white and covered in blood.
Reel looked down at her, cradling her head with one hand while keeping the cloth pressed against the wound with the other.
Chung-Cha lifted her hand and touched Reel’s face. In a voice that grew weaker with each word she said, “Her name is Min. She is ten. Please help her.”
“I will, I promise I will. Min will be fine. But just don’t give up. Help is coming. You’re going to be okay. Don’t leave. You’re going to make it. I know you can do it. You’re…you’re the best I’ve ever seen.”
Chung-Cha did not seem to be able to hear her. She was now mouthing the words over and over. Her name is Min. She is ten. Please help her.
And then she said quite clearly with her last bit of breath and a final burst of fire, “I am Chung-Cha. I am young but very old. Please help me.”
Then her mouth stopped moving and her eyes became fixed.
Reel just sat there frozen for a long moment, and then gently laid the dead woman’s head down on the floor. She looked up at Robie, tears in her eyes. She shook her head once. Then she rose, shoved the deputy out of her way, and walked up the stairs.
Chapter
76
THE ATTACK ON THE FIRST family had driven the two countries nearly to war, but a diplomatic stalemate was reached that allowed the North Koreans to save face and kept the administration from having to reveal potentially embarrassing and politically damaging facts about the planned coup on the North Korean regime. The Nantucket attack was blamed on rogue elements within North Korea, their actions denounced by the leadership.
There the matter was laid to rest. At least for now.
The North Korean team had infiltrated the town hall by virtue of their Halloween costumes. They had killed a guard near the rear door, entered that way, and then sealed off the building, killing the inner cordon of guards as they went along. The lone deputy who had shot Chung-Cha had finally gotten into the building, seen what had happened, and followed the sounds to the cellar, where his shaky aim had still proved lethal, unfortunately for Chung-Cha.
Robie and Reel had received the heartfelt thanks of the president and his wife, and their children. They were told that they had earned the status of unofficial members of the first family. Tommy was more hero-struck than ever. But both he and his sister were being given counseling to help them cope with what they had seen and endured. Claire was clearly not herself, her brashness struck clean from her. Now it seemed that her brother was supporting her, which might actually have been a good thing for both of them.
Eleanor had warmly embraced Robie and Reel as they were leaving the White House.
“My children and I owe you our lives,” she said.
“No,” replied Reel firmly. “We all owe our lives to Yie Chung-Cha.”
After the White House meeting, Robie and Reel sat in Robie’s apartment. They had learned a lot about Yie Chung-Cha, through the information pipeline that was the CIA. What they learned had made Reel even more depressed than she already was.
“She survived all that. All those years at Yodok, having to kill her own family to get out of that hellhole? Starvation, torture, killing on behalf of that rogue nation. And then saving our lives. For what? To take a bullet from an overzealous cop?”
“He didn’t know, Jess,” said Robie. “He thought she was the enemy.”
“Well, she wasn’t,” snapped Reel.
“You know Pyongyang wanted her body returned there,” said Robie.
She nodded. “But we didn’t do it. She’s buried here.”
“Why do you think she did it?” asked Robie. “I mean really?”
“I took her at her word. She was tired of it all, Robie. Just like I am.”
“I guess.”
“She was better than us, you know that, don’t you?”
“She probably was,” agreed Robie. “I’ve certainly never seen anyone take out five opponents the way she did.”
“When she pulled out her knives and looked at us I knew she wasn’t going to attack us,” said Reel.
“Why? I mean, I thought she looked conflicted, but she told us she was sorry about it.”
“Did you ever tell someone you were sorry before you killed them?”
Robie sat back in his chair and thought about this, and then finally shook his head. “No.”
“She did it for Min.”
Robie nodded again. “For Min.”
“Pretty ingenious the way she got the girl out of the country like that.”
“Well, if she thought the way she fought she would have made one hell of a chess player.”
“Six steps ahead,” said Reel thoughtfully.
“Right.”
“Blue Man seems to think that tensions will simmer down between us and North Korea.”
Robie said, “Until they start to boil again.”
“I’ll take a little peace and quiet for now.”
“Won’t we all.”
“Which brings us to Min.”
“Yeah, it does.”
“Do you think they’ll go for it?” Reel asked.
“Well, everything is in place, so now all we can do is ask, Jess.”
“Then let’s go ask.”
“You sure?” he said.
“As sure as I am of anything these days.”
Robie grabbed his car keys and they set out.
They had had to jump quite a few hurdles and work their way through various agencies, but then an opportunity had presented itself. They had recruited Kim Sook to help them and he had readily agreed.
They made two stops on the way and then completed the drive to the big town house in northern Virginia. Robie had phoned first and they were waiting for them.
Julie Getty opened the door. Standing opposite her were Robie, Reel, and Sook.
And Min.
The little girl was dressed in tights and a long shirt with sneakers. She had a yellow ribbon in her hair. She was well scrubbed but her face was red for another reason.
She had been crying.
For the loss of Chung-Cha.
And she was scared.
“Hey, guys, come on in,” said Julie warmly.
Her guardian, Jerome Cassidy, had recovered from his injuries at the hands of Leon Dikes’s men and was waiting for them in the family room. He was middle-aged and lean, with long grayish hair neatly tied back.
He greeted Robie, whom he knew, and was introduced to Reel.
“Julie’s told me a lot about you,” said Jerome.
“Just the unclassified parts,” amended Julie with a smile.
Julie sat next to Min and said, “I’m Julie, Min.” Then she said a few words in Korean, some of which Min understood.
Sook laughed. “Not bad. But you need practice.”
“I know,” said Julie with a wry grin.
Min said, “I am Min. I am ten.”
“I’m fifteen, five more than you,” replied Julie.
Min smiled but did not seem to understand this.
Julie took one of her hands and counted off the fingers. “Five, this many.”
Min nodded and counted to five in Korean.
“That’s right,” said Sook. “Very good.”
Jerome said, “So, Robie, you filled me in a little bit on this. But I’d like to hear more.”
Robie explained what he could about where Min had come from. And then what they had come here to ask. Could Min live with them?
“S
he can’t go back to North Korea,” said Reel.
“And traditional foster care can get a little tricky with her situation,” explained Robie. “I know it’s asking a lot, but you two were the first ones I thought of. Min can’t understand English really. Hell, she can’t understand a lot of things. So if you can’t do it, she’ll never know we even asked you.”
Julie said, “I’ve always wanted a sibling. And being a big sister would be really cool.” She looked at Jerome. “What do you think?”
“I think what with all this little girl has been through she deserves some friends. And maybe we’re a good place to start.”
Reel looked at Robie in relief and then turned back to Jerome. “I can’t tell you what this means.”
“I think I know. Wasn’t too long ago that yours truly needed a helping hand, or I might not even be here.”
As they were leaving, they had to explain to Min that she would be coming to live with Jerome and Julie. Sook had agreed to help out until Min’s language skills were strong enough. At first Min clung to Sook, but Julie kept delicately enticing Min away from him until the little girl finally took Julie’s hand and walked off with her.
They told Jerome that all the paperwork would be completed and then he would officially become Min’s guardian.
“Surprised the government is making it this easy,” said Jerome. “I thought their motto was the more paperwork the better.”
“Well, the government wants to put all this behind them as fast as they can,” explained Robie.
On the way back Reel drove, and when she made a turn that would take them away from Robie’s apartment, he instinctively knew where she was going.
The place was in rural Virginia. It was small and out of the way. But it had beautiful views of the foothills of the Blue Ridge. It was only about seventy miles from D.C., but it could have been seven hundred.
Reel parked the car and she and Robie got out. The sun was dipping low into the horizon, burning the sky red. The wind was picking up and the temperature was dropping. Rain was coming in and it would soon turn wet and miserable. Yet, for now, right this very minute, there was a simple beauty here that was bone-deep and undeniable.
They opened the rusted wrought-iron gate and made their way down the uneven grass path. They passed mostly old tombstones and grave markers. Some leaned at precarious angles; others were ramrod straight.
Near the end of the path and on the left was the newest gravestone here. It was white and resembled those at Arlington National Cemetery.
It was simple in design but powerful in its inspiration.
The inscription matched the design’s simplicity:
YIE CHUNG-CHA, WHO FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT UNTIL THE END
No one knew when she had been born or where. And no one knew how old she was. And while they knew the exact date of her death, there did not seem to be a good reason to mark her grave with that violent fact.
Reel stared down at the white stone and the hump of dirt. “That could be us down there.”
“It would have been, but for her.”
“We are like her, you know that.”
“There are similarities,” Robie admitted.
“How do you think she feels, being so far from home?”
“I’m not sure the dead are really concerned with that. And for her, North Korea wasn’t much of a home, was it?”
“I’m glad they didn’t send her body back. She belongs…well, I think she belongs here. It’s sort of just…right.”
“It’s peaceful enough. And after all she’d been through the lady deserved some peace.”
“Like you and me.”
“Yes,” agreed Robie.
“I didn’t know her, though I wish I could have had the chance. But I know beyond doubt that I will never forget her.”
“She’s left a piece of herself here. In Min.”
“And now she’s given Min the chance to have a life. We can help her with that life.”
“We have helped her.”
“I mean more than giving her to Jerome and Julie.”
Robie looked surprised. “Do you want to do that?”
“Yes. And not just because we owe it to Chung-Cha.”
Reel knelt down next to the grave and brushed a few leaves off the freshly turned dirt.
“It’s because, well…”
She rose and placed a hand over Robie’s. “It’s because it’s something people should do.” She paused. “Even people like us.”
“Even people like us,” agreed Robie.
They turned and walked off together as the light gave way fully to the dark.
Acknowledgments
To Michelle, for more reasons than I can list.
To Mitch Hoffman, for being a great editor and an even better friend.
To Michael Pietsch, Jamie Raab, Lindsey Rose, Sonya Cheuse, Emi Battaglia, Tom Maciag, Martha Otis, Karen Torres, Anthony Goff, Bob Castillo, Michele McGonigle, Erica Warren, and everyone at Grand Central Publishing for doing your job so well.
To Aaron and Arleen Priest, Lucy Childs Baker, Lisa Erbach Vance, Frances Jalet-Miller, John Richmond, and Melissa Edwards, for supporting me in every way.
To Nicole James, best of luck in your new adventure!
To Anthony Forbes Watson, Jeremy Trevathan, Maria Rejt, Trisha Jackson, Katie James, Natasha Harding, Lee Dibble, Stuart Dwyer, Stacey Hamilton, James Long, Anna Bond, Sarah Willcox, Geoff Duffield, and Jonathan Atkins at Pan Macmillan, for continuing to keep me at number one in the UK and being so bloody good!
To Praveen Naidoo and his team at Pan Macmillan in Australia.
To Arabella Stein, Sandy Violette, and Caspian Dennis, for taking care of me so well.
To Ron McLarty and Orlagh Cassidy, for your outstanding audio performances.
To Steven Maat, Joop Boezeman, and the Bruna team, for keeping me at the top in Holland.
To Bob Schule, for always being there for me.
To auction winners Linda Spitzer and Andrew Viola, I hope you like your characters.
To Roland Ottewell, for a great copyediting job.
And to Kristen, Natasha, and Lynette, for keeping me reasonably sane!