Road To Reelection : Fragile Relations

Chapter 7 : Truth hurts

Present Day

Roosevelt Room

"What makes you think I will let him go?" I asked the intelligence officer. "He is charged with the attempted assassination on the President's life."

"If we don't reach the bargain we can't do anything to get the information we need." the entire room is eerily silent as nobody was prepared about this. Nobody was prepared to discover that I have once interrogated a North Korean defector, let alone gauging out a plot to assassinate President Reagan. 

"We need the evidence about the attack on the destroyer. We'll confront the dictator with that." I said. "I don't risk anybody in this, even though the person I have once interrogated is a traitor."

"What if he had evidence about the order from Han Ki Nam himself? The defector claimed that the Supreme Leader is going to invade our country and the destroyer was just a warm up."

"You know what kind of person he is?" I asked. "He is way more dangerous than you think. He had people executed for a simple joke against him, mind you, it's death by fire in front of a group of soldiers."

"We didn't know that." the man said, blinking profusely. "How did you-"

"Because she is one of the experts on North Korea in the Counterintelligence Division." a clear voice interrupted the heated atmosphere. FBI director Julius Harkavy entered the room with DNI Catherine Eckhart in tow. "He was lucky to get a house arrest instead of a death penalty by lethal injection."

"Sir, we came as soon as we heard about the threat." Catherine reported. "Whether you like it or not, she is our only hope in uncovering what has the country had in store to wipe us out."

"Wipe us out?" President Reagan asked, puzzled. 

"The interrogation didn't just came with a plot to assassinate you sir. Han Ki Nam has advanced his nuclear program because of what Wintergreen did, he sold plutonium to our enemy." I said. "The defector told me himself, he said that he witnessed a secret meeting between Wintergreen and Han himself. The transaction's in the value of ten billion dollars."

"Christ, what are we up against?" the President reigned in a curse.

"We have evidence about that." Harkavy replied, sliding a file in front of President Reagan. "Did you retain that copy?" he asked me. 

"I don't want to mention the results." I said in plain fashion. "Our enemy wasn't dismantling their nuclear weapons, fact is they grow stronger because of the previous administration." the President's hand wasn't shaking at all when he flipped through the confidential documents. "We got lucky because Director Harkavy doesn't really trust Wintergreen. This file should be destroyed but he hid in his home from the President who appointed him director."

"Wintergreen wasn't just power hungry and corrupt, he betrayed our country by aiding a hostile nation's nuclear capabilities."

"He's been under everybody's noses Mr. President." Harkavy reported. "We can't bring him to court, because he's already dead."

"We know that we have inherited a heavily-corrupted administration but this... this is his true nature." 

"He's more corrupt. Even Richard Nixon can't hold a candle to him." I said. 

"How long is this a secret?" President Reagan asked, already starting to worry. 

"The second year of his presidency sir." Harkavy said. "The same year Ryan Carey tapped Black Bird and Andy Duncan to monitor North Korea closely." the South Korean delegates tensed in respond, they didn't know that the FBI is already one step ahead. "Duncan's still an analyst in the department."

"Does he know the same thing as the Vice President does?" SecDef Mattis asked.

"They work together, only four people share this knowledge." Harkavy replied.

"So he knows what she knows."

"How are we going to face this?" President Reagan addressed the room. "We can't sit here and argue all day."

"Outline the plan first." Mattis said. "We have to find out where did he get the plutonium, the blueprints, any intel we can get on who's on his target board and the progress of the weapons program."

"Speaking of which they fired another missile. This time it landed outside Hawaii." DNI Catherine Eckhart reported. 

"Alright, this is insane." Dominic responded. "I vote that we go to war." 

"No." Mattis responded. "We do this, we get the backlash. We have to be sure on what is he up to, gather the evidence and present it to the UNSC."

"We'll have to find the source first. If we find where the plutonium come from we might get a chance to stop this show of power." I said. "Every news channel is buzzing about it."

"Once they got their hands on this... it all goes down."

"But they deserve to know the truth Mr. President." I told him. "People will still find out if we chose to hide it from the public."

"I'll open up the information." Harkavy offered. "I deserved it. I didn't submit this as evidence in his impeachment investigation."

"I will help you wherever I can President Reagan." President Kang said. "I will not allow my people to die. You will have my full cooperation."

"Thank you President Kang." the President said. "I need to have a conversation with the Vice President in the Oval Office." he declared.