Page 32 of The Bait

Asher sat down beside him. “Why would they cover it up?”

“To protect us,” Harry said. “Me, anyway. While Parrish’s case is still pending. They were happy for my Harrigan identity to be announced killed in action with that fake record Yunho provided. They can’t have me turning up alive in the middle of the biggest espionage cases in Australia’s history. It’d derail the whole thing.”

Asher thought about that for a while.

“Do you think they knew it was Yunho who provided that false record?”

Harry considered it. “No. There’d be no way to trace it back to him anyway. Even if someone did wonder where it came from.” Then he frowned. “Do you think whoever took him has something to do with Parrish’s case?”

Asher sighed. “Not really. But we can’t rule out anything.”

The more he thought about it, about Yunho, the bleaker it all looked. “We need to find him, Harry.”

Harry slid his hand over Asher’s. “I know. And we will. Why don’t you try unlocking the tablet,” he suggested. “You haven’t tried any passwords yet. You just keep staring at it.”

“I know,” he whispered. “I don’t... I don’t know what it would be. It’s alphanumerical, seven digits. It could be letters or numbers, both. Knowing him, none. I don’t even know.”

The truth was, all Asher could think of, after wondering what this password could be, was just how much he didn’t know Yunho at all.

Harry looked at the tablet and shrugged. “Try his birthdate.”

“Jesus Christ, Harry.” Asher couldn’t believe Harry just suggested that. “Please tell me you don’t use your birthdate as a password for anything.”

He winced. “Well, I might have Harry’s birthdate, but considering all my ID is now Michael Hill, his birthday isn’t mine.”

Asher sighed. That was probably true.

“What about something from his old life,” Harry then suggested.

Asher almost smiled. “He always did have a warpedsense of humour. And it’s seven digits.” Then he added in a passcode, C3S1A63, but didn’t hit Enter.

“What’s that?” Harry asked.

“North Korea law code,” Asher replied. “What they’d charged him with. Chapter three, section one, article sixty-three: treason against the state. He’d probably use that as a code because he’d think it was funny.”

Because evading death by firing squad was hilarious, according to Yunho.

“Well try it,” Harry said, nodding to the tablet.

Asher hit Enter.

Incorrect password.

Shit.

“What else,” Harry wondered out loud. “Something that means a lot to him.”

“Lucas,” Asher replied. “Me.” This was so stupid. “He could have used the word parrot because a bird was in the garden at the time. He could have used some random syntax code that changes every twelve hours for all I know.”

Harry stared out the window, scowling into the distance. “What if it was a message? Something he’d use that only you would know. Something that only you would guess because he knew you’d come looking for him.”

Asher thought about that, hating that it might be right. He thought about all the significant things. The date they’d met, dates they’d escaped, the names of aliases, fake IDs, fake passport numbers, his old North Korean ID number, his military ID number.

“If you get it wrong, we’ll just take it to someone to hack into,” Harry said. “Not like we aren’t resigned to doing that anyway.”

Asher waved off at Harry’s phone. “You do your thing. Let me think.”

So Harry went back to his phone, making some notes, and Asher let his mind wander back over the years, to the time he’d spent with Yunho. The things he’d said, what he’d divulged, the things from his past he’d let slip.

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