abcnovels
Chapter 34
Chapter 34
Chapter 34
December 23rd, 2016 17:00
Sejong-si Government office building Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport.
At 6 in the afternoon, Chief Secretary Kang Man-ho rushed to the underground parking lot, got in his car, and drove off from the building as if he had an urgent appointment. A man in a parked car across from the road quietly reported it through his headset.
“This is pepper field. Kang Man-ho has just left the underground parking lot, over.”
“This is farmer. Stand by pepper field. Melon field, confirm Minister Ahn Sang-Tae’s location, over.”
Lee Ja-sung, who was in charge of bodyguarding, heard his codename in the secretary’s office. He glanced at the staff and whispered so no one would hear him speaking into his communication device inside his ear.
“This is lettuce field. Minister Ahn Sang-Tae is currently in the Minister’s office, over.
“This is farmer. Lettuce field, can you find out why Chief Secretary Kang Man-ho left the building, over?”
“This is lettuce field. He is leaving from work early for some urgent business in Seoul, over.”
“This is farmer. Pepper field will tail him covertly, cabbage field will wait in the underground parking lot, lettuce field will continue bodyguarding and keep watch on the Minister Ahn Sang-Tae.
“This is pepper field. Understood, over.”
“This is cabbage field. Understood, over.”
“This is lettuce field. Understood, over.”
“Chief Ahn, let’s follow them quietly.”
Under the codename “pepper field”, Team 1’s manager Lee Dong-Gyu of Information collection unit 1 tailed Kang Man-ho’s white sedan while keeping distance.
* * *
December 23rd, 2016 17:10
Seoul Kangnam-Ku NIS Intelligence Collection Department Situation and Control room.
Director Woo Hyung-sung of the intelligence collection department was monitoring the operation with the Manager of unit 1 in the room and ordered Manager Youn Soo-Gil, “Team 2, report on the situation.”
“This is farmer. Watermelon field, what is your status, over?”
“This is watermelon field. No movement, over”.
“This is farmer. Then keep watch and report back if you notice any suspicious activity, over.”
“This is watermelon field. Confirmed, over.”
2 hours later.
“This is watermelon field. A black van with American embassy plates exited the parking lot, over.”
“This is farmer. Is it one vehicle? Watermelon field is to covertly tail it. Melon field, keep watch, over.”
“This is watermelon field. Confirmed, over.”
“This is melon field. Confirmed, over.”
The black van with American embassy plates entered Yang Hwa road, then crossed Yang Hwa bridge to enter the Jam-sil via Olympic Way.
“This is watermelon field. The black van is approaching Olympic Way in the Jam-sil direction, over.”
“This is farmer. Keep tailing them without them catching on, over.”
“This is watermelon field. Confirmed, over.”
The black van followed Olympic Way and entered the Seoul Suburb Highway by taking the Kang-il Interchange, then went straight to the Midway Highway.
“This is watermelon field. The van is currently on the Seoul Suburb Highway and now on Midway Highway on the move, over.”
“This is farmer. Do not let them out of your sight and tail them to their destination, over.”
-This is watermelon field. Confirmed, over.
* * *
December 23rd, 2016 20:00
Seoul Mapo-gu Hapjeong-dong CIA Korean branch building.
Director Arnold was reading a newspaper. He glanced at his watch and muttered, “It’s almost time, how about we head out? Robin, let’s go.”
“Yes, Director. I will prepare the car.”
A few minutes later, a black sedan slowly pulled out from the Hapjeong-dong CIA Korean branch parking lot.
“This is melon field. A black sedan with American embassy plates pulled out from the parking lot, over.
“This is farmer. Follow it, over.”
“This is melon field. Confirmed, over.”
The black sedan Arnold entered Yang Hwa road and then began heading towards the entrance to Hongik University 20 minutes before the next radio message arrived.
“This is melon field. The black sedan entered the American embassy over.”
“This is farmer. Stand by in your current location, over.”
“This is melon field. Confirmed, over.
* * *
December 23rd, 2016 20:20
Seoul Kangnam-Ku NIS Intelligence Collection Department Situation and Control room.
“This is farmer. Pepper field, what’s your location? Over.”
“This is pepper field. I’m currently entering Riverside North Way and approaching the Han River, over”.
“This is farmer. Traffic is currently hectic, so be vigilant in tailing, over.”
“This is pepper field. Confirmed, over.”
As he monitored the map tracking the car’s location, Manager Youn Gil-soo muttered to himself, “Is that car also headed to the American embassy?”
“Manager Youn, what are you talking about?”
“Ah! Sorry, Director. Currently, the car pepper field is tailing seems to be also headed to the American embassy. If you look at the GPS, you will arrive at the American embassy in another few kilometers.”
“What? If the meeting point is the American embassy, then this could be a problem. It seems they intentionally selected the American embassy that is out of our jurisdiction. Damn it!”
“Director, should we apprehend Kang Man-ho now sir?”
“If we arrest him without any evidence, we may face backlash. Let’s keep an eye on them for now.”
“Yes, sir.”
10 minutes later, Kang Man-ho’s vehicle entered the American embassy building without any restrictions as Manager Youn Gil-soo predicted.
“This is pepper field. Chief Secretary Kang Man-ho entered the American embassy, over.”
“This is farmer. You are to stand by at the location, over.”
“Manager Youn, get an update on Watermelon field’s location.”
“Yes, sir.”
“This is farmer. Watermelon field, where are you now?”
“This is wateremelon field. I’m currently entering downtown Chung Joo, over.”
“Chung Joo?”
“What are those bastards up to?”
Director Woo Hyung-sung seemed to have felt stuffy and undid his tie off his neck. Standing at his side, Manager Youn Soo-Gil quietly whispered in his ear. “Sir, could this be related to the 17th Fighter Wing?”
“What? Are you suggesting these bastards already know about the underground research facility in the 17th Fighter Wing?”
“That is the only place that we can be suspicious about.”
“My, this problem is more serious than we first thought.”
At that moment, Manager Oh Yeon-ho of unit 4 rushed into the Situation and Control room.
“Sir, we have just finished deciphering the wiretapping recordings.”
Director Woo Hyung-sung almost swiped the deciphered recording file from Manager Oh Yeon-ho’s hands and began quickly read through the contents. A moment after he finished reading the files, he handed them back to Manager Youn Soo-Gil, sighed in disbelief, and began speaking.
“We finally solved the mystery. Ahn Sang-Tae, that son of a bitch.”
Manager Youn Soo-Gil received the document. When he finished reading it, he realized how serious the situation was; he got on the microphone and called in all the managers.
* * *
December 23rd, 2016 21:00
Seoul Jong-ro Ku Sejong-ro U.S embassy conference room.
“Welcome. Thank you for coming.”
Director Arnold, who was already waiting in the conference room, greeted Kang Man-ho happily.
“How do you do? I am Chief Secretary Kang Man-ho, serving Minister Ahn Sang-Tae.”
“I am already aware of that. Please, have a seat.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Did you bring the documents we requested?”
“Yes, but there is an additional request I would like to make.”
“What would that be?”
“I too am deeply involved in this matter. Speaking of which, I would also like the same terms you offered to Minister Ahn.”
Director did not seem to have a problem with this, so he answered after laughing heartily.
“Of course we’ll offer them to you. Wasn’t it obvious? No need to worry.”
“Thank you, director. These are the files.”
Chief Secretary Kang Man-ho pulled out a small USB drive with an encryption feature from his bag.
“This USB drive has the blueprints for the underground research facility within the 17th Fighter Wing.”
“Is that all? Wasn’t one of the requested items I asked for was the various policies the Korean government was secretly enacting?”
“Yes, I know that. Minister Ahn said the rest of the documents are still not organized fully, so I was instructed to give you this for now and hand over the rest when it is completely organized.”
“Hmm, in that case, then I have no choice. I understand.”
Director Arnold handed the USB drive from Kang Man-ho to one of his agents standing by him. The agent immediately left the room.
“You must have not even had a chance to grab a bite before coming here. Please, let’s have dinner together that we have prepared and share our thoughts on the future of our business. Let’s head to the dining room.”
“Thank you. Director.”
The agent with the USB drive handed off from Director Arnold took it to the computer room next door and opened the files in it. After he typed on the keyboard a couple of times, he made a phone call.
“Louie! I just sent you the blueprints so take a look.”
“All right, Johnny Depp.”
“Keep up the good work then, Louie.”
* * *
December 23rd, 2016 21:30
Choongbook Chungju-si Downtown, down an alleyway.
Louie, Steven, and Walter Johnson from team 4 had been waiting in the alleyway in their parked car for 30 minutes. They were to operate the spy drone from there. As soon as the required files from Johnny Depp arrived, the three agents uploaded the data to the spy drone.
“Upload is complete. Manager Louie, sir.”
“Good work, Walter.”
“Steven? Let’s get moving.”
“Okay.”
The black van started up and began moving slowly. The vehicle code-named watermelon field, that was watching from afar, slowly began following them.
After 20 minutes of driving, the black van arrived at a road shoulder 200 meters away from the 17th Fighter Wing.
“Louie, how about it? Should we start here?”
Looking out the window upon hearing Steven’s question, Louie answered him after seeing how the area was darker than other spots and close to the underground research facility they needed to infiltrate.
“Not bad.”
“All right! It is currently 22:05, let’s get moving, shall we? Walter, fire up the drone!”
“Yes, sir,” Walter Johnson curtly answered Louie and opened a small case. Inside it was a small spying drone the size of a child’s fingernail in the form of an insect. The spy drone’s official name was SPY-X, which had a 5km range and could fly silently. Additionally, it was equipped with a high definition camera that could both record video and audio. It was a high-tech spy drone that could instantly find the best possible route when the blueprints of the building to be infiltrated were uploaded.
“We are ready to deploy, sir!”
“Great! Send it in.”
“All right.”
When Walter Johnson turned on the spy drone and moved the lever on the control panel, the drone made a very quiet noise, flew through the open car window and rose 20 meters into the sky. Walter checked to see if the camera was working properly with a few tests, then sent the drone into the 17th Fighter Wing Airforce base.
As the size of a bee, the spy drone infiltrated the 17th Fighter Wing based on the optimal route from the input. It avoided all the sentry towers and views from security cameras and arrived at the connected main hall of the building. After circling the building a couple of times it entered into the vents and headed into the main building’s interior.