Red Phoenix (23 page)

She whistled softly under her breath. “Two thousand years! I’ll bet our ancestors were still wearing skins and running from Roman soldiers back then. How much of this place is still standing?”

Things went easier from that point, and they passed the rest of the forty-five-minute drive exchanging tidbits of history on Korea in general, and their destination in particular. Tony was delighted to find something that both he and Anne could talk about—an interest they shared. Could share, he corrected himself.

In any event, the drive from Seoul seemed much too short. It was a clear winter day, and the road led southeast, climbing slowly. It took half the trip just to get clear of Seoul. The sprawling city had grown to within a few miles of their destination.

As they left the city behind, they started to see Namhan Mountain rising on the left. There were regular shapes visible on the top, which from this distance meant an impressive size.

Luckily the road didn’t end at the base of the mountain but instead wound up and around toward the summit. As they climbed, Anne could look back and see the Seoul skyline spreading out behind them. She described it to Tony, who dutifully kept his eyes on the road through the long drive to the top.

They pulled into a parking lot and got out of the car. Although it was a cool day, they were lucky. There wasn’t much wind. What there was, was just nippy enough to make them hurry toward the monolithic walls rising ahead.

The sign said “Namhan Castle,” or “Namhansan-song” in Korean. It wasn’t a castle in the European sense, with turreted battlements and a drawbridge. Instead, high stone walls stretched to the left or right. In some places they were twenty feet or more high.

“Fortress” was a much more suitable word, with all its connotations of immense size and strength. Namhansan-song reminded Tony of the Great Wall of China, wrapped around a single hilltop.

A cozily warm visitors’ center supplied them with pamphlets, and they took turns reading aloud the most interesting portions and picking out where to go first.

Tony was a little appalled at the size of the place. The guidebook said there were over eight kilometers of wall, and Anne sounded as if she wanted to see all of it. Her enthusiasm pulled him along, though. And as they started out on the path, he reached out and she took his hand. It happened without either of them thinking much about it. They walked that way toward the gate.

The old gates were open, and as they neared them, Anne pulled him off to study the wall. It was made of dressed stone, well weathered, but it was possible for their inexpert eyes to tell whether it was two hundred or two thousand years old.

There were, however, some modern-looking pockmarks on the surface. Anne looked at him questioningly, and Tony tried to puzzle out their meaning. It came to him suddenly.

“They’ve got to be from the Korean War, Anne. This place was probably used by both sides during the battles for Seoul.”

“Such a shame.” She sighed. “Imagine this place, thousands of years old, defaced with bullets.”

“I don’t think the fortress minds, Anne.” He smiled. “Remember, it was never built as a monument. It was built for war.” He patted the stones. “Thirty years is just an eyeblink for this place.”

He took her hand again and they walked inside.

The first thing they did was climb up to a point on the wall that overlooked Seoul. The guidebook had stressed Namhansan-song’s view, and
it hadn’t been exaggerating. From their vantage point, Tony and Anne could see the entire Han River valley.

Looking to the northwest, Seoul’s skyscrapers, bridges, and sprawling suburbs spread out before them. The Han River entered their view from the right, the northeast, and then snaked its way through the city and off over the western horizon. There was a slight haze over the city itself, charcoal smoke from the hundreds of thousands of households. Some of the taller buildings seemed to thrust right through it.

They stood together, drinking in the view. Neither wanted to leave, so they stood and quietly pointed out various landmarks to each other. As the cold mountain air started to work its way into them, helped by a slight breeze, Tony stood close to Anne and then put his arm around her. She smiled and leaned into him a little.

They started following the walls, walking quickly to warm up. Marveling at the exhibits, they read the plaques describing various aspects of the wall’s history and construction. Tony’s disastrous attempts to read the Korean side of the plaques became a running joke as they proceeded.

Suddenly they were back at their starting point, and Tony realized he was very tired. Arm in arm they trudged back to his car.

As he started it up and pulled out of the parking lot, Tony looked over at Anne. “I’m glad we could see the fortress together. It was a great morning.”

“Thank you for asking me, Tony.” She smiled coquettishly. “Now, where should we go next?”

They spent the drive back deciding.

NOVEMBER 20—SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

General Chang stubbed his cigarette out in an ashtray and looked slowly around the crowded room, seeking out the eyes of every officer present. None avoided his gaze. He nodded to himself. They were committed and he could trust them.

The conspirators were meeting in the back room of the Han Chung Kak
kisaeng
house again. It was a good cover. No one would question an officer who chose to avail himself of the company of Seoul’s most charming women. And if internal security had noticed Chang’s frequent visits here, it might even lead them to write him off as nothing more than a middle-aged womanizer. If so, he thought, that would be an impression they would soon regret.

But General Hahn had assured him that the government knew nothing of his plans. Oh, the bureaucrats were nervous enough, jumping at shadows on every side. But they didn’t have the detailed information needed to break up his coup attempt. And with General Hahn busy laundering Defense Security
Command reports before they reached the higher echelons, they never would.

Chang brought his thoughts back to the matter at hand. The final brief for Operation Purify—the code name he’d selected for the coup. Almost everything was in place. The ten other officers in the room represented the merest tip of the cadre he’d organized. They would be responsible for briefing other groups of supporters at each of their duty stations. Chang was proud of his efforts. In a little over a month he’d managed to recruit middle-grade officers in nearly every major command of the South Korean Armed Forces. That had required a lot of hard work and a lot of risk, and now the payoff was at hand. Within the next few weeks the Republic of Korea would wake to find itself with a new group of political and military leaders—leaders who would rescue the nation from its turmoil.

“The time for action is nearly at hand, gentlemen.” That startled them. He could see the surprise on their faces.

Colonel Min spoke first. “General? Are you sure we are ready? After all, we’ve been meeting for just a month. Can we afford to risk failure with a hasty throw of the dice?”

Others around the room nodded. Chang had caught them off guard. They’d anticipated a more leisurely planning process.

Chang snorted, “Gentlemen, the risks are greater the longer we wait.”

He waved a hand at General Hahn. “Friend Hahn here has kept the government’s lapdogs off our trail so far, but every passing day brings another chance for them to pick up the scent.” Hahn nodded at that.

Chang continued, “Besides, gentlemen, our nation is fast approaching the edge. If we wait much longer, we may not have a country left to save.”

That was something of an exaggeration, but only just. Every officer in the room had been appalled by the speed with which South Korea’s economy and its political stability were unraveling. Most of the nation’s industrial conglomerates, the
chaebol,
had already been brought to their knees by a combination of strikes and foreign trade sanctions. Skilled and unskilled workers of every description had been turned out of their idle factories, ready for exploitation by radical students. Rioting had flared across the peninsula, and the Combat Police seemed unable to contain the growing civil disorder. Hundreds had been killed, thousands injured, and thousands more were in “protective detention.” There were even rumors that many of the conscripts who made up the Combat Police force were deserting, taking their skills and weapons over to the rioters.

And now South Korean coalition government seemed on the brink of collapse. Opposition leaders were demanding more power from the ruling party—power they hadn’t won at the polls and power the ruling party wasn’t willing to surrender. The National Assembly had been deadlocked in petty political maneuvering for weeks while the crisis outside built steadily.

Chang reminded them of all of that and asked, “Is there any man here who can doubt the need for swift action?”

He turned to Min. “Isn’t it better to throw the dice quickly than to be caught with them in hand?”

Min, still uncertain, looked at the others around the room and then down at his locked hands for a moment before replying. “You’re right, Chang. We have no choice.”

The others muttered their agreement.

Chang spoke slowly. “Thank you, gentlemen. I know that this is a tremendous gamble for us all, but you all know my reputation as a gambler.” There were smiles at that. Chang had been known throughout the Academy as a risk-taker, but he’d also been known as a winner.

Chang pulled a map out of his briefcase and unfolded it across the table. The other officers leaned forward to get a better look.

“The key, my friends, is speed. The quicker we act, the less time available for the politicians to react. True?”

They nodded.

“So we must move with lightning speed to decapitate the current regime. That’s the only way to do it. Seize the reins of government here in Seoul and the country will follow.” Chang stabbed a finger at the capital as he outlined his plan.

A column made up of picked units from his own 4th Infantry Division would move from the DMZ to Seoul down the Main Supply Route. General Hahn would provide the necessary papers to take them through the rear-area checkpoints. Once in the capital, special assault troops would seize the President and his cabinet, the National Assembly building, and the Armed Forces HQ complex. Hahn and his fellow conspirators in the DSC would be responsible for making sure that the government’s “black berets,” the Special Forces, didn’t intervene before these objectives were seized.

Once ensconced in the Blue House, Chang would make a nationwide broadcast announcing the change of government and promising a swift restoration of order and prosperity. That would be the signal for the other plotters to arrest their senior officers and assume full command of their respective units. With luck and careful timing, the governing elite would never know what had hit them.

Chang finished his briefing and sat down. The others stood clustered over the map, tracing out the intricate movements needed to bring the coup off. After a moment they, too, sat down.

Hahn spoke for them all. “It can be done.”

Chang smiled. They were ready.

NOVEMBER 24—YONGSAN ARMY BASE, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

McLaren looked up from his pile of paperwork. “Come in!”

His aide stepped into the room and saluted.

“Take a pew, Doug. And spare me the formalities.”

Captain Hansen smiled and sat down. “What can I do for you, General?”

McLaren glanced out the window before asking, “How are things out there, Doug?”

“Lousy.” His aide frowned. “There are barricades up near the National University and the Combat Police aren’t even trying to go near them. Instead, they’re just trying to keep the city center operating under some semblance of normalcy.”

“Shit.”

“Amen to that, General. If things get much worse, we may have to consider moving the HQ out to the field—at least until things cool off here.”

McLaren grimaced. “I’m not even going to consider that suggestion. The South Koreans would take that as the final sign that we’re on the way out. We’re gonna stay right here in Seoul until the very last stages of this dumbshit troop withdrawal are completed.”

His aide kept a straight face with difficulty. Everyone in close proximity to the general knew that McLaren was playing fast and loose with the congressional mandate to pull out of South Korea. But nobody would admit to knowing that.

“Okay, Doug. I called you in here because I’ve got a little something I want you to do for me. And it’s gotta be done ASAP and on the sly.”

Hansen wondered what the general’s “little something” would entail this time. The last one had taken several straight twenty-four-hour shifts, a lot of computer time, and gallons of coffee to come up with. But that was the price you paid for working close to someone with stars on his shoulders. There was an old Army joke that if God told you to do one thing and your commanding general told you to do another, you’d better hope God was forgiving because the general certainly wouldn’t be.

“I want you to visit every one of our major commands up near the DMZ. Talk to the COs for me and tell them I want to know first thing, and I mean first thing, whenever a South Korean unit makes a troop move that I haven’t personally authorized.”

“Yes, sir.” Hansen was puzzled and didn’t bother to try to hide it.

“And I don’t want any of our Korean liaison officers hearing about this, okay? This is between you, me, and the people I’m sending you to talk to. Clear?”

“Clear, sir.” But Hansen’s voice made it obvious that it wasn’t at all clear.

McLaren decided to brief him more fully. The U.S. Army had never been big on unquestioning obedience. “Relax, Doug. There’s a method to my madness.”

McLaren got up from behind his desk and crossed the room to the window. “What I’m worried about is this. With all the shit flying in Seoul and the other cities, I’m convinced that it’s only a matter of time before the government tries to bring regular troops in to crush the rioters.”

He swung round to face Hansen. “Now, we can’t afford to let that happen. For a variety of reasons I don’t want to wake up one morning and read about another Seoul massacre, especially not one committed by troops nominally under my command. So I want to know what the government’s up to before anything like that happens.”