Page 203 of Never
‘What do you mean?’ Kai knew exactly what Neil meant, but he had to be cautious.
‘We raided a terrorist hideout called Hufra, in Libya near the Niger border. It has a gold mine operated by slaves.’
‘Well done.’
‘We arrested al-Farabi, the man we think is the leader of Islamic State in the Greater Sahara. With him was a Korean man who told us his name is Park Jung-hoon.’
‘There must be thousands of Korean men called Park Jung-hoon. It’s like John Smith in America.’
‘We also found three truck-mounted Hwasong-5 short-range ballistic missiles.’
Kai was shocked. He knew the North Koreans sold rifles to terrorists, but ballistic missiles were something else. He concealed his surprise and said: ‘Armaments are their only successful export industry.’
‘Still…’
‘I agree. It’s crazy to sell missiles to those maniacs.’
‘So it’s not done with Beijing’s approval.’
‘Hell, no.’
The teams came back. As the game restarted, Kai shouted: ‘Go, you Ducks!’ in Mandarin.
Neil said in English: ‘You want another can of Yanjing?’
‘You bet,’ said Kai.
***
That evening there was a dinner for the visiting president of Zambia in the State Banqueting Room of the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square. China had invested millions in Zambia’s copper mines, and Zambia supported China at the UN.
Kai was not invited but he attended the pre-dinner drinks. Nursing a glass of Chandon Me, China’s answer to champagne, he spoke to Foreign Minister Wu Bai, who was the height of elegance in a midnight-blue suit.
Wu said: ‘The South Koreans are sure to retaliate against the attack on their fishing boat.’
‘And then North Korea will retaliate against their retaliation.’
Wu lowered his voice. ‘It’s probably a good thing the Supreme Leader no longer has control of nuclear weapons. He’d be tempted to use them against South Korea, and then we’d have the Americans involved in a nuclear war.’
‘It doesn’t bear thinking about,’ Kai said. ‘But remember, he has other weapons almost as fearsome as nukes.’
Wu frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘North Korea has two thousand five hundred tonnes of chemical weapons – nerve gas, blister agents and emetics – and biological weapons – anthrax, cholera and smallpox.’
Wu looked panicked. ‘Fuck, I didn’t think of that,’ he said. ‘I knew, but it slipped my mind.’
‘We probably should do something about it.’
‘We must tell them not to use those weapons.’
‘And say that if they do, we will…what?’ Kai was trying to lead Wu to the inevitable conclusion.
‘Cut off all aid, perhaps,’ said Wu. ‘Not just the emergency package, but everything.’
Kai nodded. ‘That threat would force them to take us seriously.’
‘With no aid from us, the Pyongyang regime would collapse in days.’
