"But Schneider knows the truth," Lowell said, "and he can't be happy about this."

"He isn't," Hood said.

"There! And he may leak the news to the press, just to put the brakes on."

"I don't think we have to worry about that," Hood said. "He won't want to embarrass the President by exposing an organization Lawrence himself established." Hood killed the Mute. "Greg, would you put this off if I could convince someone at the Embassy to join you?"

"Please, Paul. Ambassador Hall would never agree to that without Presidential approval, and you won't get that."

"Postpone the meeting and let me try. Mike Rodgers is en route to Japan. He'll be landing in Osaka around six. Let me talk to him about joining you."

"That's an 'A' for effort, but you know if I delay even a minute, the North Koreans will feel like I'm playing games with them. They're sensitive that way, and they won't give me a second turn at bat. I'm going. The only question remains, are you for me or against me?"

Hood sat perfectly still for a moment, then looked at the faces of his associates. "I'm with you, Greg."

There was a long silence on the other end. "You caught me by surprise there, Paul. I thought you were going to shoot me down."

"So did I, for a while."

"Thanks for holding your fire."

"I hired you for your experience. Let's see if I made the right choice. If you want to talk again, I'll be here."

Hood hung up. Noticing the slice of tomato still on his fork, he ate it. Liz gave him a little thumbs-up. Ann and Lowell just stared.

Hood touched the intercom. "Bugs, please get me a progress report from Matt."

"Coming right up."

Lowell said, "Paul, this will finish off Donald and us."

"What would you have had me do? He was going anyway, and I won't leave one of my people out there alone." Hood chewed slowly. "Besides, he may pull something off. He's a good man."

"Exactly," said Ann. "And everyone knows it. When video of Donald and the North Koreans is on the late night news tonight-- video of a man who lost his wife and is still willing to forgive-- we'll all be looking for jobs."

"That's okay," Coffey said. "We can go to work for North Korea. They'll owe us one."

"Have some faith," Hood said. He waved a finger between Coffey and Ann. "And you two have a plan in place in case he does screw up."

The phone beeped and Hood picked up. It was Stoll.

"Paul," he said, "I was about to call you. You'd better come over and see what I've found."

Hood was already out of his seat. "Give me the short of it."

"The short of it is, we've been had-- big-time."

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

Wednesday, 2:35 A.M., the Diamond Mountains

The Nodong missiles were modified North Korean Scuds.

The construction was virtually identical, one stage with a payload of up to two hundred pounds and a range of five hundred miles. With a payload of seventy-five pounds of high explosives, the Nodong could fly nearly six hundred miles. It was accurate within a half-mile radius of its target.