Page 64 of Soul on Fire
“That is what I thought,” Bai said. “But when I returned to Beijing, I was disciplined, shamed, and told to forget everything I saw. That there was no need for an investigation into her death. Assistant Minister Si took her laptop from me, but—” Bai let a tiny grin curl the corner of his lips. “I had removed her hard drive. Take a look at what I found.”
It was a maze of data, spreadsheets and tracking matrices and timelines linked with flight plans and export data. Pictures of planes zoomed in to their tail numbers. He blinked, and everything blurred together. It looked like a digital hoarder’s den, no pattern, no reason for the collection other than to collect. “What does it mean?”
“Like anyone would, I started close to home. I analyzed her data on China and tried to find a pattern, something to show me what she was tracking. I couldn’t find anything. I moved on, and on again. Finally, I analyzed her data on Syria and Myanmar.” He switched to a new screen, tables of diplomatic flights in and out of the two countries with flight plans and pictures of planes. Four entries were highlighted. “These flights don’t exist.”
“What do you mean? They’re right there, the flight plan, the plane, everything.”
“Everything you see was faked. The planes pictured weren’t even in the country when these flight plans were filed. Syrian diplomats did not fly to Iran, and Iranian diplomats did not fly to Syria.” He pointed to two of the four highlighted flights. “And Myanmar. They did not send or receive any diplomats from Malaysia.”
“Who was on those flights?”
More typing, and another screen came up alongside the first. It was titledNorth Korean Exports.
“North Korea has nothing of substance to export except for their expertise and manpower. They are skilled in two key areas: repairing decrepit Soviet technology to keep it functional, and building nuclear programs. Both Syria and Myanmar have nuclear programs. And both countries have hired North Korea to assist them.”
He let Elliot read the screen, the information on the countries’ nuclear programs. Myanmar was still working on their reactor, modeled after North Korea’s Yongbyon reactor, and was only a third of the way complete.
North Korea had completed building a reactor for Syria in the early 2000s, also based on the Yongbyon reactor, but Israeli fighter jets destroyed it in 2007. The North Koreans had returned, it appeared, and had helped the Syrians rebuild in secret. Their second reactor had been on the verge of operational before the Syrian civil war erupted. There it fell between the margins, disappearing into the chaos of war.
Emily had hundreds of emails, contacts with Syrian freedom fighters, government officials, rebels, aid workers, and civilians, all trying to find more information about Syria’s nuclear program and who controlled it.
He pulled up the North Korean flight records and the dates of their diplomatic travels. Over half were highlighted. “All of these, every one of these flights, did not go to their planned destination. Instead, they traveled to Syria, Myanmar, Angola, Rwanda, Cuba.” He pulled up each country’s tracking spreadsheet, found the date for one of the fraudulent North Korean flight, and scrolled.
Elliot watched as the data played out, following the record of a flight supposedly traveling from North Korea to Azerbaijan, but instead landing in Angola. There were pictures of the plane on the tarmac in Angola. The tail numbers, the dates, matched.
“North Korea has been faking flights around the world helping to build nuclear weapons programs in secret. That’s what you’re saying? And that Syria has lost a nuclear program that could be in the hands of the Islamic State or who knows what terrorist outfit right now.”
“That is part of it,” Bai said.
“That’s abigfucking part of it. Majambu traded Ebola virus for a weapon that promised to grab the world’s attention. There’s nothing bigger than a nuke for that.”
“And Syria is currently fighting off an Ebola epidemic that has swept through their capital.” Bai nodded. “The pieces line up, do they not? North Korea helps to rebuild Syria’s nuclear program. In exchange for a nuclear device, the ADF partners with Syria and gives them active Ebola virus to expand their biological weapons program.”
“That’s the theory we’re working with, yes.”
“You’re wrong,” Bai said simply. “Look again.”
Elliot glared. “We don’t have time for twenty questions or the Socratic method here.”
Bai’s lips thinned. “North Korea is also a newcomer to the global black arms market. Before, they were only an importer of weapons. Now they are happy to sell not just firearms, but personnel. Look.”
Emily’s records listed small naval craft sold to Angola, two tons of rifles to troops in Myanmar, and a contingent of workers to Cuba to repair and upkeep old Soviet technology. Officers from the North Korean army were sent to train Rwandan military soldiers.
“The leader of the ADF, Idrissa Okafor, is a black arms dealer. He came up out of Nigeria, found God, and moved to the Congo. He wants to turn central Africa into an extension of the Islamic State,” Elliot said carefully.
“And that’s where I think the North Koreans found him,” Bai said, nodding. “On the black market. They were buying and selling, as was the ADF.”
It took a moment for the pieces to fit together and for the picture to come into focus. “TheNorth Koreanstraded with Idrissa for Ebola virus?”
Instead of answering, Bai pulled up yet another file on the laptop. There were two flight plans listed. One for a flight from North Korea to Angola, a country bordering the Congo to the south, and a flight plan from North Korea to Syria. Both were from the week before.
“The flight to Angola is fake,” Bai said. “Emily tracked the flight on radar, from the moment it took off until the moment it landed.” A screenshot of the radar imagery, the plane’s filed flight plan and the actual flight overlaid on one image, came next. “Do you see where it landed?”
“Bunia Airstrip,” Ikolo said. “Ituri Province, Northern Congo. In the middle of ADF territory.”
Elliot forced his exhausted mind to work, calculating backward. Their journey tracking Majambu, Antoinette telling Peter what she’d witnessed. Her escape from the ADF camp. He used round numbers, tried to estimate as best he could, and then compared it to the flight record Emily had meticulously charted. “The dates line up. They flew in and out about two weeks ago.”
“Andthisflight isnotfake. Two days later, an official diplomatic envoy to discuss further trade deals between North Korea and Syria left Pyongyang for Damascus. North Korea is an ally of the Syrian president and is helping him keep his hold on the country.”
