of a handful of corn and had pushed her off a cliff. They had not found her body, what was left of it, until that winter.
From that day forward Chung-Cha, the “tough little bitch,” never told the truth again.
The door opened and the man looked at her. He was also dressed in a military uniform. He was a high-ranking general. To Chung-Cha they all looked the same. Short, wiry, with small, beady eyes and cruel features. They could all be guards at Yodok. Perhaps they all had been.
He motioned her in.
She rose and followed him into the office.
He closed the door and indicated a chair. She took it. He sat behind his metal desk, put his palms together, and studied her.
“This is all quite extraordinary, Dongmu Yie,” he said.
Dongmu. That meant comrade. She was his comrade, but not really. She was no one’s comrade. Self-reliance. She was her own comrade; that was all. And he clearly did not want her as a comrade.
She said nothing in response. It was extraordinary. She could add no more to the statement. And the prison camp had taught her that it was better to say nothing than to say something that you could be beaten for.
“He is a respected man,” said the general. “He is my great friend.”
Again, she remained silent.
But she kept her gaze directly on him. Normally, a North Korean male would not like that, particularly when faced by a female. But her stare did not waver. She had long ago lost the capacity to fear men like this. She had been hurt physically and psychologically every way she could have been. There was nothing left. So there was no reason to fear.
The general pulled out the cell phone that she had taken from Lloyd Carson in Bucharest. When she had called the number last dialed by Carson, General Pak had answered.
General Pak was indeed a greatly respected man here. He was in the very inner circle of the Supreme Leader; some said he was his most trusted advisor.
Yet she had recognized the man’s voice on the other end of the phone. She had heard him speak. She had met with him once in person, though it had been many years ago. But she would never forget that meeting. It had definitely been his voice on the phone.
She was snitching once more, Chung-Cha knew. But that was her job now. The Brit Lloyd Carson had attracted the attention of the North Korean security forces. He had been seen in the company of known American agents. It was well known in North Korea that the Brits and the Americans were joined at the hip. She had been assigned to track him, search his things, and, if necessary, kill him as he traveled on his train journey.
Well, she had tracked him, searched his things, and killed him. And she had the phone. And they had her testimony, that it was General Pak, the respected one. The great friend of the man seated opposite her. It was a delicate situation, she knew. It was a potentially deadly one for her.
“The phone number is not traceable. When we called the number no one answered,” said the general. “So we only have your word, Dongmu Yie. Against that of a revered leader.” He put the phone down and looked quizzically at her.
She finally decided to speak, but chose her words with great care. “I have made my report. I have told you what I know. I have no more than that to offer.”
“And you could not be mistaken about this, about the voice you heard? Are you absolutely certain?”
Chung-Cha knew exactly what he wanted to hear. He was not, however, going to hear it from her. He was going to hear something else.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She hit a few buttons and held it up. She had turned the speaker on.
A voice could be heard clearly speaking in English.
“Hello, hello. Mr. Carson, is that you? Hello? Are you calling back? Is something wrong?”
The general jerked forward in his seat, knocking over a jar of pens sitting on his desk. He looked first at the phone and then at Chung-Cha.
“That is General Pak’s voice.”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Where did you get this?”
“I recorded it when I called the North Korean number from Bucharest.”
He banged the desk with his fists. “Why did you not show us this before?”
“I hoped that you would believe the word of a loyal agent of the Supreme Leader over that