The Expediter Read Online Free PDF Page B

has been,” Sue said. “The time went fast.”
    Mr. Tae nodded his appreciation even though it was obvious Sue was lying. “Maybe you will come back someday.”
    Sue nodded. “Maybe.”
    Kim forced a smile and nodded. She felt stupid, as if everything she was thinking was showing on her face. But Mr. Tae merely smiled at her, and walked back to the head of the line to make sure no one in his group was running into a problem.
    “Guys like that have got to wonder why people like us come here,” Sue said. “I mean I can understand why you’re here but the only reason I came was because of the thesis I’m writing on the two Koreas.”
    “Did coming here help?” Kim asked, for something to say.
    “Not really. I could have gotten almost everything I needed from the Internet, except for the feel of the place.”
    After their names were checked against the passenger manifest they were issued boarding passes and Mr. Tae led them through a gate where they surrendered their bags and were given claim checks. Before the luggage was loaded aboard the plane every piece would be opened and searched by an army of men, then sealed with customs tape.
    Just before immigration, Mr. Tae handed back their passports from which the North Korean visas had been removed. “As you have seenfor yourselves, we are a peaceful nation of humble people. My sincere wish is for you to take that message home with you.”
    “Thank you,” someone from the group said, and everyone else nodded their assent. He’d been a pleasant guide, not as strict or demanding as they’d been told some of the others could be.
    The airport was going to be the most difficult time, Soon had warned her back in Seoul. “You’ll have to keep yourself together, no matter what’s happened to that point. They’ll know that a Chinese general was gunned down in front of his embassy, but we’ll be okay if they haven’t found the dead cops.”
    “What if they do?” Kim had asked. “They’ll know that it’s someone from the hotel.”
    “In that case the airport will be locked down, probably all morning while they check us out. But our papers are legitimate, we’ll leave no fingerprints or DNA, and if no one spots us swimming across the river there’ll be no way for them to single us out.”
    “What about the cameras at the embassy?”
    “Pyongyang is dark at night. Depending on the situation in the street it’s doubtful they’ll pick out much more than the fact that we’re wearing police uniforms.” He took her in his arms. “They won’t see our faces, I’ll make sure of it.”
    “I’m frightened,” she admitted.
    “You’d be a fool if you weren’t,” he said. “One step at a time, babe. One step at a time.”
    Kim looked up out of her thoughts in time to see her husband heading down the hall right behind his roommate to the door out to the bus that would take them to the Russian-built Tupolev jetliner, and her heart soared. They were actually going to make it. She forced herself to remain calm.
    Sue presented her passport, boarding pass, and baggage claim check to the uniformed immigration official, a pinch-faced little man with round steel-framed glasses and a scowl. He studied the documents and then looked up several times from the passport photo to intently studySue’s face. Finally he checked something against a list, and handed her paperwork back.
    “See you on the bus,” Sue said over her shoulder and headed down the corridor.
    Kim laid her papers on the counter and fought the urge to hold her breath. Armed soldiers were stationed in the airport, so if something went wrong there would be no possibility for her to run. Without Soon she felt alone and vulnerable.
    The immigration agent took a long time comparing the information in Kim’s passport to a list on a clipboard. She had developed an urge to use the bathroom on the way out to the airport, and now the pressure was almost overwhelming.
    “Have you been to Chosun before?” the