East

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Jung Rae-Won had watched the NIS agent enter the cafe, verified that he was alone, and listened to the audio as Park Ye-Jin skillfully used the felines to her advantage and caught the agent off-guard. And while it was true that they had not learned anything that they did not already know, they did now have some better idea of what was being asked of them.

When the NIS had contacted Ye-Jin for a meeting she had immediately gone to Rae-Won to get his advice. 

It was now three years since they had both left the NIS, forced out after an operation had resulted in the death of an agent in the field. Ye-Jin had been blamed because the failure was thought to have been caused by the documents that the agent was carrying; documents that she had created. The dead agent had been someone Rae-Won had partnered with on several operations and considered a friend. But even through his grief, he had been able to see that Ye-Jin was a scapegoat. She had been forced out and the NIS lost one of their best document people. It hadn't made much sense at the time to either of them, but it did bring them closer together which was something he did not regret. Rae-Won had left a month later, partly out of loyalty to Ye-Jin, but also because he was tired of seeing people with little or no field experience being promoted to positions where they could hurt people with their lack of knowledge. And the death of his friend had seemed strange at the time. Nothing he could put his finger on, but definitely strange. 

They had kept a low profile since that time, Ye-Jin starting a photography business and Rae-Won becoming a freelancer in the corporate intelligence market. They had not attempted contact with anyone, even former friends, at the NIS and no one had made contact with them either. 

Until now.

When people who have ruined your reputation come calling for help, you have to treat it as suspicious. But Rae-Won treated everything with suspicion. This was what had made him such a good operative and certainly much better than this inexperienced junior from their past.

As Ryu Ji-Mun put the phone in his pocket and walked away, Rae-Won lowered the camera and took out his own phone to send a message to Ye-Jin: 

Leave now. I will check for a tail.

A few minutes later she left the building and stood for a moment to make sure that even an inexperienced follower could not miss her. Then she walked away. Rae-Won carefully scanned the vehicles and pedestrians for anyone taking an interest in her. There were a few; a good looking woman always attracts attention, but no one that concerned him. 

A light rain began to fall.

***

An hour later Rae-Won and Ye-Jin were sitting across from each other in the small kitchen at Ye-Jin's studio looking at video made in the cafe and listening to Ryu Ji-Mun's phone conversation about persuading her to do the job.

The recording ended. 

"I'm worried," she said.

"You should be ..."

"Well, thanks for being optimistic!" she said sarcastically.

He met her gaze. "If you're worried, you'll be ready for whatever stupid thing he has cooked up. And there are two of us. And each of us is twice as bright as he is. We'll be okay. I just wish they had left us alone."

"Do you really believe that they need me to do this work?"

Rae-Won lifted his coffee. "No, I don't, and neither do you. The whole thing smells."

"Should I do it?"

"No." Rae-Won put his coffee back on the table. "I think you want as much distance between you and this job as possible. It's just a feeling, but I think you should turn it down. Let's do that sooner rather than later and hope that they move on to someone else."

"I agree."  

While Ye-Jin dialed the number from the business card and enabled the speaker, Rae-Won started the recorder. She straightened involuntarily as the call was answered.

"Hello?"

"This is Park Ye-Jin ..."

"Yes. When should I deliver the materials?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be able to do the job for you."

A brief pause. "We'll double the fee."

Ye-Jin was surprised and looked at Rae-Won who shook his head. "No, I'm sorry," she said. "I'm out of the business."

"Ye-Jin, I'm sure you realize that we are not the kind of people you want as enemies. I strongly suggest that you reconsider."

"I don't want to do it. Please find someone else." She quickly disconnected the call and stared at the phone for a few seconds. "Sorry, I panicked for a moment. Why did he have to mention being enemies?"

Rae-Won shrugged. "I don't know, it seemed a little extreme. Of all the people they could have sent, he would be my very last choice. His negotiation skills need a little help."

"Is that what you really think?"

He grinned. "I thought you wanted me to be optimistic?"

***

Ryu Ji-Mun moved the phone away from his face but didn't put it down. Instead, he held it in mid-air with a look of bewilderment on his face. Why had she turned down a very generous offer for something that she could have done in her sleep? All that money for a few hours work. Crazy!

Of his many faults, the biggest was that he was unable to see them. Any of them. Which is why he was unable to comprehend that he had approached Ye-Jin in the wrong way. But, despite his shortcomings, he was still curious to know why they wanted to use someone who had been dismissed from the NIS because of poor performance. Like everyone else, he had heard the rumors: an error on a passport had caused the loss of an agent. Despite their bosses keeping quiet about the whole event, in the hope that people would forget and move on, it had developed in to a pervasive myth. Perhaps in part because of that other agent who had left at almost the same time. What was his name? Yes - Jung Rae-Won, an agent with his own, stellar, reputation. But why were they so insistent on using Park Ye-Jin? It made no sense, or none that he could imagine.

Oh well, orders were orders. If she was their choice then he would have to change her mind and he had a plan for that. He dialed a number.

"Hello? - - Yes, that project we discussed - - Uh huh - - Tonight. Call me when it is complete." 

He hung up.