it was that was going on.

Besides the woman, there was Jenö. No connection between the two of them that I could see, except that they dropped into my life more or less at the same time. Jenö had an inordinate interest in missiles. The woman might have been killed in Pakistan. I didn’t know if there were tabs and slots in all that, but it was worth bearing in mind.

As long as there was nothing else to do, it would have been good to make a few notes, but there wasn’t enough room to move my arm.

Chapter Five

“There was about the place the curious and companionable silence of men at breakfast away from home.”

Pak seemed to be listening to me; I saw his head move to the side as it does when he is puzzled. But I was tired from the flight home, and he was slightly out of focus. Maybe his head hadn’t moved to one side. Maybe mine had.

“It was a plain room, like the rest of the hotel. We all ate in solitary fashion. The waitresses kept their voices low. I suppose it might seem like a funeral, but it wasn’t. It was oddly pleasant. Even though we didn’t know each other, there was a sense of unity. We frowned together when one of the tables started a conversation. Bankers, I think. They were the only ones wearing yellow sweaters and big glasses.”

This image of the breakfast room was still fresh in my brain. It was the only thing fresh in my brain. Otherwise, a brick occupied my skull, and had since I arrived back in Pyongyang around midday. The brick and I went straight to the office. “Don’t worry,” the customs official at the airport had said as he went through my bag absentmindedly, “it’s jet lag. They say it goes away sooner or later.” So far it wasn’t going away. My consciousness was still over the Pacific.

“That’s it?” Pak shook his head. “You were in New York for almost a week, and all you remember is breakfast?”

“I’ll go back to my desk and write a long trip report once I figure out what time zone I’m in.” If I went back to my desk, I could close the door and put my head down.

“No, I want to hear it from you directly, not on paper, not in your deadly prose. Come on, Inspector, I’ll buy you a beer later, or something stronger if you prefer.” He waited, but when I said nothing, he closed his eyes. If I dared do that, I’d be asleep where I stood. “It must have been amazing,” Pak said.

“It was.”

“I’m listening.” Pak’s voice had taken on a dreamy quality. He settled back in his chair, his eyes still shut. “Leave nothing out.”

“It’s just a city. A city is a city. Cities are all basically the same. They may be in better or worse states of repair, they may seem more or less orderly, but if the fundamental reality is straight in your mind, you don’t get overwhelmed.”

“The point?” Still that dreamy voice, as if he were listening to me from somewhere else. That wasn’t like Pak. Even when fully awake, I was the one who drifted; he was the anchor. If Pak began drifting, I’d float out to sea for sure, food for sharks.

“It’s a city, with buildings, streets, and noise.” I paused, irritated, sleepy, still not sure I could remember what I’d seen because I wasn’t sure I had really seen it. That reality problem again. “Lots of noise—cars, people, construction equipment. They are always tearing up streets, from what I saw, even in the dead of winter. There must be some flaw in their road construction technique. Huge holes in some of the streets.”

“There are always flaws. Maybe there’s a shortage of asphalt.”

“It is crowded during the day, but empty at night in most places.”

“Unsafe.” He stirred. “That’s what a lot of people say, it’s unsafe.”

“Could be, but I walked around a good bit and no one bothered me.”

“Were you followed?” As I should have guessed, the man was paying attention, he wasn’t dreaming.

“I thought you were going to listen.”

“Well, damn it, O, you’re wading too long through the preliminaries. I’m just interested, that’s all. So, were you followed?” He opened one eye to emphasize that this was a question that couldn’t be avoided.

“There are always a few thousand people behind you, who can tell? I think I caught sight of a tail once or twice, but there