CHAPTER 5
UNIT: Team Reliant
SITUATION: Planning the Mission
LOCATION: Team Reliant Headquarters
TIME: 1000 hours Local Time, Same Date
Sergeant Aaron Pearly knocked on the conference room door. James Harvey responded with a hearty instruction for Pearly to enter. Pearly stepped into the room, “Did someone here want to see me?”
Slover waved him to a seat, “Pearly, is it possible for you to hack into the local power company’s computer system and to operate on some of their data?”
Pearly shrugged, “Uhm, not speaking of my abilities, but it is possible for a well-trained person to hack into almost anyone’s database if it is online.”
Slover grinned at Pearly’s reluctance to admit to having that kind of skill, “Yeah, but if we asked you to do it, could you do it?”
Pearly paused, “I might be able to do it if I were
under duress. If a company allows customers to check their accounts, or if a company has even one line from its database through an outside line to allow just one person to access the server, anyone who knowd how can use that to break into the database, but why would you want me to hack into a power company’s database?”
Dude inserted himself into the conversation. “We are not asking you to change any of their stored data. The problem for us is that we have located General Jagwi. We last saw him on Yalu Street. We think he might be hiding in one of the tunnels. One he ordered, drilled under South Korea, and we believe he may have electricity delivered to his little underground cubbyhole. Also, he may be drawing electricity to power his old warning system which you are familiar with. Because of that, we think that someone’s electricity bill has probably spiked since he arrived! We would like for you to access the power company’s database to find one user’s electricity power flow by checking those addresses either side of Yalu Street for maybe 100 yards. That would not be illegal would it?”
Pearly scratched his cheek. He said, “I could probably write a search routine that looked for higher than normal power flow to an individual or business taking into consideration….”
Slover interrupted him, “Yeah, yeah! You don’t have to share the details of the process with us. We just need for you to write your search routine right now! How long will it take you to write it?”
Pearly shrugged, “I could probably write it with-
in 30 minutes, maybe an hour.”
Slover pointed at Dude, “Dude, why don’t you get with him and Mister Harvey and work out the parameters of the program!”
Pearly smiled. “I think I can do it.” He rose and
walked to the side of the table where Harvey and Dude sat writing out directions for him on a piece of paper.” They finished, and Pearly left the room.
Dawn looked at Slover and objected, “Why were you so abrupt with him, Slover?”
“Well hell, Georgia. Why fart around when time is so short?”
“Who says time is short?”
“Think about it, Georgia! We don’t know how long Jagwi will be in this area. And we don’t know if he has already gone.”
“What makes you think he would go somewhere?”
Slover made a wry face, “Well, he is from North Korea and he had come this far. What makes you think he will stop here and not continue on to North Korea?”
“Well, why didn’t you tell him that and give him the benefit of self-motivation so that he could have moved quickly on his own and maybe been more willing to put up with some of the crap you just shoved down his throat. Besides, Jagwi may have already been to North Korea and is just following orders to foment chaos leading up to a coup d’état.”
“Georgia, you’re just being a worry wart.”
With her jaw muscles bulging, she ground her teeth, “Slover, you are such a turd sometimes. I don’t know why I tried to change you. You’re such a retard.”
“Georgia, I swear. I don’t understand you sometimes.”
“That is for certain, and sure. And stop calling me Georgia. You never listen, but if you did, you might understand.” She rose from the table and walked to the other side of the table.
A half-hour later, Pearly walked back into the room and said, “I think I’ve got something we can work with. How big of a spike do you think the surge in electricity might be?”
Harvey leaned forward, “Let’s think about this for a minute. Olaedoen, Dude, Dawn and Slover said that General Jagwi was in front of a group of Communist party members. To my way of thinking, that would mean that he had been in South Korea long enough to get to know them and to work with them. However, we don’t know if he went to North Korea first and then came back to South Korea.”
Harvey leaned forward, “Let’s think about this for a minute. Olaedoen, Dude, Dawn and Slover said that General Jagwi was in front of a group of Communist party members. To my way of thinking, that would mean that he had been in South Korea long enough to get to know them and to work with them. However, we don’t know if he went to North Korea first and then came back to South Korea.”
Cruz asked, “Why would he go to North Korea
and come back here?”
Cowboy shrugged, “Maybe he went there to get instructions from his boss. He may have gone there to gather the type of supplies and devices he’d used in his tunnels. Maybe he thought that we didn’t know
about his escape and thought he could pull a fast one on us by returning to Seoul. Maybe to find us in order to take revenge on us.”
Harvey pointed at Cowboy, and nodded.
Cruz grumped, “Yeah, you’re right. He is one devious sumbitch.”
Dawn joined the discussion, “I wonder if his being here has anything to do with the repatriation agreement that would create one Korea that the South Korean President and the North Korean leader signed recently?”
Dude leaned toward her at the table, “Why would that have something to do with his being here?”
“I don’t know. It was just thought. Maybe I should take the time to find and to read that document and see if there is something that would cause him to be here. If he has, indeed, been to see his boss in North Korea before showing up here.”
In amazement, Slover asked, “Do you really think he might have gone to North Korea first?”
Harvey shrugged, “For Jagwi, anything is possible! It might be nothing, but it would be interesting find out! But everybody, let’s hold on a minute. We haven’t answered Pearly’s question. I would bet that
Jagwi has been here for at least two weeks and
maybe for a month.”
Pearly nodded, “Okay, that gives me a starting point in order to mine the power company’s database for spikes in usage, but I have to tell you that people leave the lights on accidentally, and buy enough new furniture and new appliances that can cause spikes in electricity usage. So, all of the spikes that I might find may not be because of Jagwi. But I will mine the data for you and you a printout.”
Dude gave him a thumbs up gesture, “That’s what we’re looking for. Anything that you can do will be helpful. How long will it you take you to gather that data?”
“If I’m lucky, I can have something for you within the next 30 minutes.”
Harvey patted Pearly on the shoulder, “That’s better than anything else we could’ve hoped for. Just do the best you can!”
Twenty minutes later, Pearly walked into the room. He waved a sheath of papers in his hand. He exclaimed, “I have found about 30 locations where electric usage has spiked above normal. The addresses are all along Yalu Street, and I have caused the computer to printout a map with the street addresses printed on the face of the map.”
Slover enthused, “Pearly, you are the man of the day! With that kind of information, we can get some real investigating done!” He looked around the room for Harvey, “Who is going to tell us which one’s of us will be on the investigating team?”
He looked at Mungo for his answer.
Without expression, Mungo pointed across his chest at Harvey.
Harvey scoffed, “Hmph! Who wants to investigate the dark tunnel?”
Everyone in the room, except Mungo and Slover, raised their hands.
Slover looked around at the raised hands, “You cannot see in a perfectly dark tunnel. Night vision goggles will not work.”
Mungo nodded, “That’s right! NVG goggles alone will not work in a completely dark tunnel.”
Harvey objected, “Well, we used NVG goggles. On our last mission!”
Mungo shrugged, “On that mission, our goggles had IRI capabilities.”
Harvey asked, “Please explain?”
Mungo recalled the last mission, “You will remember that when we drove through tunnel number three, we flipped our NVGs on. As we entered the tunnel. when we did that, our NVG worked with IRI capability. IRI means Infra-Red Intensifier. That means our goggles used heat from our bodies, from the tunnel itself, from our scooters, and so on. We did not use our headlamps because they might have alerted the guards at the entrance of the tunnel on the North Korean side. On the way back from the mission. We were able to turn on our headlamps.”
Harvey asked, “Do we still have IRI on enhanced goggles available?”
“We might, but I will have to check on that!”
“How well would they work. If we have to use them?”
“You would not be able to drive a car at any speed in the tunnel.”
“We don’t have a car to drive in the tunnel.”
Mungo smiled, “No need for a car. I think we could still use those electric scooters that we rode on.” He looked at Captain Aleumdaun.
She shrugged, “Are you asking me to borrow those scooters again? The folks over at the ROK Army were upset because Sergeant Pearly did not remove the tandem hook ups from the scooters, but they had to remove them. I will have to do a little begging and pleading to get the use of them again.”
Harvey changed his mind, “Hold on a minute. Before we do anything as dangerous as going after Jagwi in the dark, I think we should consider searching for him through the addresses that Aaron Pearly has given us. You know what I mean? Besides that, do not forget that the opening to the tunnel system that we would have to use is about 24 miles from Seoul.”
Slover objected, “But none of us speak Korean, so, how would we be able to interview any of the non-English-speaking citizens whose electricity has gone up?" Harvey smiled, “Slover, you forget that two of our members do speak Korean. There are Dawn and Olaedoen, also Sergeant Kim if we can get him.”