CHAPTER 15
UNIT: The Team Reliant and Olaedoen
SITUATION: Mission Debriefing
LOCATION: Ready Room/Team Reliant
TIME: 0800 hours Local Time, Current Date
Spence addressed the assembled team. "All right, let's hear your After-Action Report because our communication was not good through radio earbuds, I have no idea about what happened last night."
Harvey stood with his assembled notes. "I could give you the long version, but I will keep it short and succinct. We had no joy. We were groped by several Madame's. We went through all the number of halls looking past the screens, but we saw not one familiar face and heard not one familiar voice."
Spence hesitated. "So, you found no clues indicating where he might be hiding out?"
"Absolutely none, sir."
Spence looked at each member of the group hoping for some visual signal but found none. " He intoned, "The absence of clues should be a clue itself. We may need to discuss that later. Okay, let's see if we can work our way around this. You didn't find him first in the tunnels. Then, secondly, you didn't find him in what we assumed was his type of favorite hangout. So where would a man like him hide out?" His glance settled on Harvey. “Mr. Harvey?
Harvey shrugged an uneasy shrug, "I am clueless on this issue."
Spencer's eyes roved over the group. Mister Slover?"
Slover rubbed the top of his head. "I think he is probably somewhere that we haven't looked. Somewhere, possibly with other Communists. Probably somewhere that he would feel safe."
Spence nodded twice. "I would say your first thought is a given. The second thought as well. But I think he would feel safe only in North Korea. We can't get to him there."
Cowboy raised his hand.
Spence leaned his head toward cowboy.
"I agree with the first thought, but where in Seoul, South Korea, would he feel safe?"
Olaedoen muttered in Korean.
Spence ordered, "Let's have that in English."
Olaedoen raised his head with an unfocused look. I said an old Korean saying, "One should not waste energy looking for something that is not lost."
Spence looked at Harvey, "Do you know what he means?"
Harvey shook his head.
Spence looked at Slover, "Do you?"
Slover pursed his lips. "Hmm. We lost him in the tunnels. Or he was not there when we went looking for him. Even if he had been there, it appears he did not feel safe because he had left a body double there."
Olaedoen added, "We don't know that he wasn't somewhere nearby. We didn't see him. But where would a criminal like him feel safe if he was not found where he was supposed to be?"
Slover leaned forward against the table. "How about this. He might feel safe. If he believed that the location where we had been looking for him would not be a place that we would expect him to be, would he feel safe?? Or would it be a place that we had marked off our list? Since we’ve already looked in the tunnel, might not he think that we will not look for him there again?"
Spence leaned toward Slover. "Are you saying that he might actually be hiding in the tunnels, again, now?"
"Well, remember that Sherlock Holmes said, ‘If you eliminate all possibilities where he should, be, and you don’t find him, you should come up with something that tells you where he could be,’ or maybe it was something like that. Then, where he is becomes obvious. Sir, as devious as he is, he could be any place on the planet. But since we think he wants to get back to North Korea, we think, he has made this feint maneuver, perhaps to throw us off, and now he could be back in the tunnel believing he is safe."
Spence raised his eyebrows. " It's hard to follow your mangled logic, but I like what you are thinking about General Jagwi. Because he could be hiding somewhere, we should check it out no matter how slim possibility is. We know how to get there now. Pearly's device can defeat the motion sensors. We still have the electric scooters. It's worth a try. Harvey, set up the mission, and brief me when you think you have it ready."
UNIT: Harvey Explains the Mission
TIME: 2030 hours Local Time, Current Date
Harvey stood at the table as he looked at Spence. "Sir, we have named this mission "Ambulance." The password will be "Fire." The countersigned will be "Truck."
Spence raised his eyebrows, "Why Ambulance"?
"Sir, in case he has tapped our radio signals, we don't want him to guess that we are still looking for him. We don't know if he tapped us, but we don't want to take a chance. The only place he can intercept our radio traffic is above ground. He can't do that in the tunnel. We didn't want to say anything that would indicate the subject like mining, or digging, or searching, or tunnels, or darkness. We didn't want to provide any verbal clues."
Spence sighed, "That's good. That's what I want to hear. All right, what about communications?"
"Sir, we will be using the same communications equipment as before, but we will be using a different frequency. My call sign will be, Hound dog. Dawn
will be Pack Leader. Mungo will be Tale Wagger One. Olaedoen will be Wagger Two. Cowboy and Dude will be Team One and Team Two, in order. Cruz will be Facilitator." Pearly has modified his instruments, and they are now portable and improved. He will be Technology One. Sir, you, of course, will be Control."
Spence summed up the issue, "We will again be using the quiet electric scooters.”
Harvey added, “As far as food and drink go, we do not intend to be there in the tunnels long enough to need any of that."
"Weapons? What about weapons?"
"This time, we will be carrying pistols. We will be using the 9 mm Beretta's. Only this time, we will be having noise suppressors on them in order to prevent the tunnel from collapsing from sonic shock."
"If you are able to take him this time, how will you subdue him and transport him?"
"Oh yeah, we are taking with us a pair of handcuffs. Also, we will be taking one tandem hookup."
"What about enemy forces?"
"When we were down there the first time, we saw three men dressed in civilian attire who were armed with pistols for two of them and one had a rifle. We saw no other enemy forces arrayed against us, and none in the tunnels. In case we run into an enemy force, Mungo will be carrying a SAW."
Spence smiled, "Ah! An automatic rifle. I like the sound of that."
"Yes sir. He knows how to handle it."
"Okay, so when do you plan to execute this mission?"
"Sir, that would depend upon when Jagwi is most likely to be there. Because we have seen him out and about during the daylight hours, we expect that he has been busy during the days. We believe that he will be there late into the night. Therefore, we plan to execute this mission starting at 0100 hours."
"Are we talking about tonight?"
"Yes sir, tonight."
"Then you had better get your practice runs over with before that time."
"Yes sir. We are on our way now."