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darkness. His red armbands stood out, though, making it seem like both his arms had been gashed open.
“Bring our guests in,” said Dikes.
As Reel was led past him, he smiled.
“It is good to see you, Sally.”
And then he looked at the other woman.
“And is this Eva?”
“Laura,” barked Reel.
“Is it? I wonder?” asked Dikes. “Still, it can always be confirmed. With absolute certainty.”
They were led into a small room and the door closed behind them. A man came forward holding something. Reel’s and the other woman’s mouths were forced open and swabs taken from inside their cheeks.
Dikes held up a small glass tube with a cap on it. “My DNA sample has already been collected,” he said as the man with the cotton swabs put the sample from Reel and the woman in similar glass tubes and capped them. “In twenty-four hours we will know with absolute certainty. Is she mine or not?”
He drew close and gripped Reel by the shoulder. “Is she my child or isn’t she? That is the question. If she is, wonderful.” Dikes slid his hand along the other woman’s cheek. She pulled back but his men forced her to her original position.
“If she is not,” continued Dikes, “then you die, Sally. And this imposter becomes my concubine. And Julie will become the mother of my child. It really is a win-win.”
“And if she is your child?” snapped Reel.
“Then I still win. Because you will die, as horribly as I can make you. I have my child here, who will provide me other children. And I will have Julie as a replacement when I grow bored with this one.”
Dikes gave the woman a little slap on her cheek. “And I easily grow bored. You could never command my attention, Sally. Never. It was one of your chief weaknesses.”
“So your word means nothing?” yelled Reel.
“No, my word is inviolate. When I give it to people who are my equals. You are not and will never be my equal. You are nothing. You might as well be a Jew. Or a Negro. Or heaven help us, a Mexican.”
“Well, you’re right about one thing, you’re not my equal,” said Reel. “Now, where is Julie?”
“Why should I let you see her?”
“Because you can. Because you want me to see her. You want me to know you have her and me in your power. Just admit it and get it over with.”
Dikes smiled. “You’re not stupid, I’ll give you that.”
He nodded at two of his men, who pulled Reel and the other woman from the room. They were led down a hall, another door was unlocked, and they were pushed inside so roughly that they both fell to the floor.
“Jessica?” Julie raced over to help them up.
“Julie, are you okay?” said Reel, looking at the girl’s puffy face.
“I’m okay,” she said quickly, staring at the other woman.
“Julie, this…this is my daughter, Laura.”
“Oh my God,” said Julie. “I….I…Jessica, why are you here? They’re going to kill you.”
“It’ll be okay,” said Reel as her eyes searched the walls for a listening device and found two of them within twenty seconds. “We’ll be okay.”
Julie said, “Hi, Laura, I’m Julie Getty.”
Laura tried to smile but she was clearly afraid.
Julie looked at Reel reproachfully. “Why did you bring her here?”
“I had to, Julie, otherwise they would have killed you.”
“So now they kill all three of us?”
“They won’t kill you two. Just me.”
“Correct.”
Dikes was standing in the doorway. He held out his hand. “But now it is time to get to know you.”
“No,” snapped Reel, stepping in front of Laura.
“I wasn’t talking about her,” said Dikes, smiling. “I was talking about you, Sally. Perhaps I should have said get reacquainted with you.”
Chapter
44
YIE CHUNG-CHA?”
Chung-Cha looked up from her seat and studied the man who was speaking to her. He was short and lightly built with dark hair and eyes behind square lenses.
“Yes?”
“Will you follow me, please?”
She rose and did as he had so politely asked.
As they walked the long corridor he slowed his pace so that she was walking beside him. “We all know of you, of course, Comrade Yie. You are legendary in our circle. A national hero.”
“I am not a hero, Comrade. I am simply one person who does what her country asks of her. Our Supreme Leader and his father and grandfather are the heroes. The only true heroes of our people.”
“Of course, of course,” he said hurriedly. “I did not mean to say anything that might—”
“And I do not say that you have. We will leave it at that.”
He nodded curtly, his face reddening and his eyes downcast.
She was led to a small room with wooden walls and a dull tube of fluorescent light overhead. It flickered so badly that if she were not accustomed to her country’s difficulty with maintaining a consistent flow of electricity, it would have given her a migraine.
She sat at the scarred table and placed her hands in her lap. She looked at the concrete floor beneath her feet and wondered if the cement came from one of the camps. Prisoners were good at making things like this. Hard, dangerous, unhealthy work was better performed by slaves than those who were free. Or who thought themselves so.
The door opened and two men came in. One was the same general to whom Chung-Cha had demonstrated concrete evidence of Pak’s guilt by letting him hear the man’s voice on her phone recording. She knew he had been one of Pak’s biggest supporters, which meant that suspicion had instantly focused on him. He would now do everything in his power to show his loyalty. And, Chung-Cha was aware, he would also try to punish her for bringing down his comrade. The other wore a dark suit and white shirt but no tie. The shirt was buttoned to the top button. He carried a bulky briefcase.
They sat down and spoke words of greeting.
She nodded respectfully and waited expectantly. She had long since learned to offer nothing except in response to something else. Otherwise, they might realize what she was actually thinking. And she did not want that.
The general said, “Plans are going well, Comrade Yie, for your deployment in this grand mission on behalf of your country.”
She nodded again but said nothing.
The suit took up the conversation with a nod of encouragement from the uniform.
For one second Chung-Cha allowed her mind to wander. How many meetings had she sat in with suits and uniforms? They all talked a lot but essentially said nothing she did not already know. She refocused as the suit took from his pocket three photos.
One was of a woman. She was dark-haired and pretty. Her eyes were blue and stood in considerable contrast to the color of her hair. The effect was to soften the hair and highlight the eyes and the warmth behind them.
“The First Lady of the United States of America,” said the suit.
The general added, “The evil empire which seeks to destroy us.”
Chung-Cha nodded. She knew who the woman was. She had seen her photo before while traveling overseas.
The suit continued. “Her name is Eleanor Cassion.”
She also knew this but simply nodded.
