Soo-jin did not take me to a police station.<\/p>\n
She took me to a print shop.<\/p>\n
It occupied the second floor of an old commercial building, squeezed between a pharmacy and a store selling office furniture. The metal shutter was halfway down when we arrived, but Soo-jin knocked four times, paused, then knocked twice more.<\/p>\n
A man opened the door.<\/p>\n
He was perhaps seventy, thin, with silver hair and reading glasses hanging from a cord around his neck. He looked at Soo-jin, then at me, then at the gray backpack.<\/p>\n
He said something in Korean.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin answered.<\/p>\n
The man stepped aside.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is this place?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomewhere Choi doesn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sound certain.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI stopped being certain about anything involving Choi years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
That did not comfort me.<\/p>\n
The old man locked the door behind us and led us through shelves stacked with paper, ink cartridges, and cardboard boxes. At the back was a cramped office containing two computers and a scanner large enough for architectural drawings.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin pointed at the backpack.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything out.\u201d<\/p>\n
I placed it on the desk.<\/p>\n
The photograph came first.<\/p>\n
Then Kang Jun\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n
The paper files.<\/p>\n
The two flash drives.<\/p>\n
The external hard drive.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin stopped when she saw the drives.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose weren\u2019t there before.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve seen this bag?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. I knew Kang Jun had prepared something, but not where.\u201d<\/p>\n
I held up his letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew I might find it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her eyes moved toward my name on the envelope.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew about this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Mary?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI doubt it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the letter again.<\/p>\n
Kang Jun had prepared for possibilities nobody else understood.<\/p>\n
It made me angry.<\/p>\n
It also made me afraid that we were still following instructions from a man dead nine years.<\/p>\n
The old man powered on a computer that was not connected to the internet.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin explained that his name was Mr. Kim and that he had once handled technical document work for Kang Jun\u2019s legitimate import business.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes he know what\u2019s happening?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows enough not to ask questions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim looked over.<\/p>\n
In English, he said, \u201cI ask many questions.\u201d<\/p>\n
I blinked.<\/p>\n
He smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI simply do not ask them aloud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under different circumstances, I might have liked him immediately.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin inserted the first flash drive.<\/p>\n
A password prompt appeared.<\/p>\n
She tried a sequence of numbers.<\/p>\n
Rejected.<\/p>\n
Another.<\/p>\n
Rejected.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cToo many attempts might erase it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her expression sharpened.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t. That\u2019s what happens in movies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim chuckled.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin did not.<\/p>\n
She removed the drive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe password may be in the transfer sequence.\u201d<\/p>\n
I pulled out the page containing the twelve numbered groups.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe twelfth has no check mark.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin examined it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese aren\u2019t ordinary account numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are they?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRouting fragments. Dates. Branch identifiers.\u201d<\/p>\n
She pointed to the first eleven.<\/p>\n
\u201cKang Jun built layers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the twelfth?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe Mary was supposed to finish it.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe went to the warehouse for the ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOr for the final key.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin looked at the clock.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou had missed another check-in.<\/p>\n
No message.<\/p>\n
No call.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
I picked up the disposable phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we contact her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Choi has her phone, we contact him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe didn\u2019t take a phone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen there is nothing to contact.\u201d<\/p>\n
I hated the helplessness of that sentence.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim began scanning the paper records.<\/p>\n
Each page appeared on the computer screen.<\/p>\n
Invoices.<\/p>\n
Company registrations.<\/p>\n
Lists of transactions.<\/p>\n
Photographs of handwritten accounting books.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin copied everything onto three separate drives.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne for me,\u201d she said. \u201cOne for you. One stays here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happens if they find this place?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim spoke without looking up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will be disappointed by our prices.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
Then a photograph appeared on the scanner.<\/p>\n
A road.<\/p>\n
Guardrail.<\/p>\n
A crushed car.<\/p>\n
I stopped breathing.<\/p>\n
\u201cKang Jun\u2019s crash?\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin nodded.<\/p>\n
There were more.<\/p>\n
The truck.<\/p>\n
Tire marks.<\/p>\n
A damaged sedan.<\/p>\n
A man standing in the background.<\/p>\n
I leaned closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is that?\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin enlarged the image.<\/p>\n
The face was grainy but recognizable.<\/p>\n
Han Jae.<\/p>\n
The younger man who had searched Mary Lou\u2019s house.<\/p>\n
He was standing beside the wreck before emergency workers had secured the scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat puts him there,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIsn\u2019t that enough?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo prove he was present. Not why.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut combined with the payment record\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have the payment record.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMary went for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin looked away.<\/p>\n
I understood.<\/p>\n
If Mary Lou failed to bring it out, the strongest connection remained missing.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim inserted the external hard drive.<\/p>\n
Encrypted.<\/p>\n
Another password prompt.<\/p>\n
He studied the label.<\/p>\n
There was no writing except a small scratched symbol near one corner.<\/p>\n
A circle divided by three lines.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin leaned closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKang Jun used it on shipping documents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did it mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThree destinations.\u201d<\/p>\n
She opened one of the scanned invoices and searched through it.<\/p>\n
After several minutes she found the same symbol beside a shipment entry.<\/p>\n
Three destination codes appeared beneath it.<\/p>\n
BUS.<\/p>\n
LAX.<\/p>\n
SEL.<\/p>\n
\u201cBusan,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cLos Angeles. Seoul.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy Los Angeles?\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did Mary meet Kang Jun?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCalifornia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd your bank?\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cCalifornia.\u201d<\/p>\n
She began writing numbers from the invoice.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim shook his head.<\/p>\n
He pointed toward the photograph of Mary Lou and Kang Jun on the beach.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
He tapped the background.<\/p>\n
A pier extended behind them.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you recognize it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I did.<\/p>\n
Not the pier itself.<\/p>\n
The sweatshirt Mary Lou was wearing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat picture was taken before they moved.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI bought her that sweatshirt for college.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin flipped the photograph over.<\/p>\n
There was writing on the back.<\/p>\n
I had not noticed it in the restroom.<\/p>\n
Three numbers.<\/p>\n
21.<\/p>\n
22.<\/p>\n
23.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer age,\u201d I said. \u201cShe was twenty-one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin considered the other numbers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAugust third?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Something surfaced in my memory.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou as a child, sitting at our kitchen table while my husband taught her a simple number game.<\/p>\n
Three numbers.<\/p>\n
A word.<\/p>\n
He used it to help her remember combinations.<\/p>\n
\u201cEight-three,\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband\u2019s birthday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd twenty-one?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe year Mary Lou met Kang Jun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim typed 2183.<\/p>\n
Rejected.<\/p>\n
He tried 8321.<\/p>\n
Rejected.<\/p>\n
I shook my head.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband always put the largest number in the middle when he made combinations for her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat seems arbitrary.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was. Mary hated it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim typed 8213.<\/p>\n
The hard drive opened.<\/p>\n
For a moment nobody spoke.<\/p>\n
Then folders filled the screen.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of them.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin sat down slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy God.\u201d<\/p>\n
I leaned closer.<\/p>\n
Company names.<\/p>\n
Dates.<\/p>\n
Scanned passports.<\/p>\n
Bank records.<\/p>\n
Audio files.<\/p>\n
Videos.<\/p>\n
One folder was labeled MARY.<\/p>\n
Another was labeled T.<\/p>\n
My skin prickled.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpen T.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inside were photographs of me.<\/p>\n
Leaving the hardware store.<\/p>\n
Buying groceries.<\/p>\n
Walking from my house to Susan\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Sitting in church.<\/p>\n
Taken from a distance.<\/p>\n
Years of photographs.<\/p>\n
Not every day.<\/p>\n
Not every month.<\/p>\n
Enough to prove surveillance had continued.<\/p>\n
I covered my mouth.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou had known.<\/p>\n
For nine years she had known strangers periodically photographed me.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin opened another file.<\/p>\n
A spreadsheet listed dates beside my name.<\/p>\n
Some corresponded with Mary Lou\u2019s calls.<\/p>\n
Some corresponded with the annual transfers.<\/p>\n
The organization had been verifying that I was alive and still where they expected me to be.<\/p>\n
I felt violated in a way I had never experienced.<\/p>\n
My ordinary life had not been private.<\/p>\n
It had been collateral.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin closed the folder.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t waste time being sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
I pointed to MARY.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpen hers.\u201d<\/p>\n
That folder was worse.<\/p>\n
Photographs of Mary Lou leaving shops.<\/p>\n
Entering offices.<\/p>\n
Meeting Soo-jin.<\/p>\n
Sitting alone beside the river.<\/p>\n
Visiting Kang Jun\u2019s grave.<\/p>\n
Choi had monitored her far more closely than she realized.<\/p>\n
Then Mr. Kim made a sound.<\/p>\n
He had found another folder.<\/p>\n
AUDIO.<\/p>\n
The files were dated.<\/p>\n
One date was September twenty-fourth, nine years earlier.<\/p>\n
Kang Jun\u2019s crash.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin clicked.<\/p>\n
Static filled the speakers.<\/p>\n
Then a male voice.<\/p>\n
Kang Jun.<\/p>\n
I recognized him immediately despite the years.<\/p>\n
He sounded breathless.<\/p>\n
A second voice answered.<\/p>\n
Choi.<\/p>\n
The recording was short.<\/p>\n
Kang Jun said something in Korean.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin translated quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says, \u2018Mary has nothing to do with this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Choi responded.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says, \u2018Then you should have kept her away from it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Another sound.<\/p>\n
Car door.<\/p>\n
Wind.<\/p>\n
Kang Jun spoke again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin\u2019s face had gone pale.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says, \u2018If anything happens to me, the records leave Korea.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Choi laughed.<\/p>\n
Then came a sentence I did not need translated because one word was in English.<\/p>\n
Mother.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says, \u2018Your wife has a mother. Remember that before you make threats.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The recording ended.<\/p>\n
I stared at the speakers.<\/p>\n
Kang Jun had recorded Choi at the crash.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe his phone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t police have this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause this copy was hidden.\u201d<\/p>\n
I leaned toward the screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cReal evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEnough?\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin did not answer.<\/p>\n
I slammed my palm against the desk.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnough for what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor an investigation, certainly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo arrest Choi?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot necessarily.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe admits threatening Mary.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t admit ordering the crash.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHis lawyer could say he arrived afterward.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHan was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSame problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wanted to throw the computer through the window.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim clicked another file.<\/p>\n
A video.<\/p>\n
The timestamp was two days before the crash.<\/p>\n
Kang Jun appeared on screen.<\/p>\n
Alone.<\/p>\n
He sat in what looked like the office from Mary Lou\u2019s house, although the room had more furniture then.<\/p>\n
He looked directly at the camera.<\/p>\n
He spoke Korean first.<\/p>\n
Then English.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Theresa sees this, the plan has failed.\u201d<\/p>\n
My chest tightened.<\/p>\n
He continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am recording instructions because I may not be able to give them myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin leaned forward.<\/p>\n
Kang Jun explained that the annual transfer route was designed to create a chain of financial evidence outside Choi\u2019s immediate control.<\/p>\n
But there was another purpose.<\/p>\n
Each transfer reference contained a fragment of an encryption key.<\/p>\n
Eleven fragments would be useless.<\/p>\n
Twelve would unlock the master archive.<\/p>\n
I looked at the page.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe twelfth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin nodded.<\/p>\n
Kang Jun continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Mary completes the sequence, she must not keep the final fragment.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at the screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe must send it to Theresa.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin and I looked at each other.<\/p>\n
Kang Jun spoke again.<\/p>\n
\u201cChoi will watch Mary. He will watch me. He may watch Soo-jin. He will underestimate Theresa because she is far away and because he believes distance makes people irrelevant.\u201d<\/p>\n
A strange anger rose in me.<\/p>\n
Even dead, Kang Jun had understood Choi better than I had.<\/p>\n
Then he said something unexpected.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe final fragment is not a number.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin leaned closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a question only Mary\u2019s mother can answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The video stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat question?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim checked the file.<\/p>\n
Nothing else.<\/p>\n
I stared at the frozen image of Kang Jun.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat man always did like making simple things difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin searched the folder.<\/p>\n
A text document appeared beside the video.<\/p>\n
One line.<\/p>\n
WHAT DID SHE TAKE WHEN SHE LEFT HOME?<\/p>\n
I read it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the question?\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Mary take when she moved to Korea?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClothes. Books. Everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt must be specific.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
Airport.<\/p>\n
Suitcases.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou crying.<\/p>\n
Her backpack.<\/p>\n
Something my husband had given her.<\/p>\n
Then I remembered.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe took his watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had an old wristwatch. Cheap thing. Mary kept it after he died. She packed it in her carry-on because she was afraid the airline would lose it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim typed WATCH.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
FATHERWATCH.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
I shook my head.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe never called him Father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did she call him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDad.\u201d<\/p>\n
DADWATCH.<\/p>\n
The screen changed.<\/p>\n
A prompt appeared.<\/p>\n
TWELFTH FRAGMENT REQUIRED.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still need Mary\u2019s piece.\u201d<\/p>\n
My relief vanished.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe went to get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim pointed to the transfer page.<\/p>\n
The unchecked twelfth line contained blank spaces.<\/p>\n
Then the disposable phone rang.<\/p>\n
All three of us froze.<\/p>\n
Only one person should have had the number.<\/p>\n
I answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cMary?\u201d<\/p>\n
No response.<\/p>\n
Then breathing.<\/p>\n
\u201cMary Lou?\u201d<\/p>\n
A man spoke.<\/p>\n
English.<\/p>\n
Choi.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheresa.\u201d<\/p>\n
My entire body went cold.<\/p>\n
Across the desk, Soo-jin closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
Choi continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have not been properly introduced.\u201d<\/p>\n
I said nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour daughter is here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me speak to her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
Then I heard movement.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou\u2019s voice came faintly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom?\u201d<\/p>\n
I gripped the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t give them anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Someone struck her.<\/p>\n
I heard it.<\/p>\n
\u201cMary!\u201d<\/p>\n
Choi returned to the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was unnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou touch her again and\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what?\u201d<\/p>\n
I stopped.<\/p>\n
He wanted anger.<\/p>\n
He wanted me to reveal what I had.<\/p>\n
I forced myself to breathe.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe backpack.\u201d<\/p>\n
He knew.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin wrote something on paper and pushed it toward me.<\/p>\n
MAKE HIM PROVE MARY IS ALIVE.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to see her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou heard her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVideo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen you get nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Choi had not expected that.<\/p>\n
Good.<\/p>\n
He spoke more quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI raised Mary Lou.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Something in his tone made my stomach turn.<\/p>\n
\u201cBring the backpack to the warehouse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen your daughter dies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin wrote again.<\/p>\n
STALL.<\/p>\n
I looked at the encrypted drive.<\/p>\n
At Kang Jun\u2019s frozen face.<\/p>\n
At the unfinished twelfth fragment.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need something from Mary,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Choi went silent.<\/p>\n
I knew I had hit something.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you only wanted the backpack, you wouldn\u2019t still need her alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
No answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Choi\u2019s voice returned colder.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me what you need from her.\u201d<\/p>\n
He laughed softly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are not negotiating from strength.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen hang up.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost could not believe I said it.<\/p>\n
Neither could Soo-jin.<\/p>\n
Choi did not hang up.<\/p>\n
That told us everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have one hour,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The call ended.<\/p>\n
My hand shook so violently that Soo-jin took the phone from me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe needs the final fragment,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Mary has it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOr knows where it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the question on the screen.<\/p>\n
DADWATCH.<\/p>\n
Kang Jun had divided the key deliberately.<\/p>\n
Mary knew one part.<\/p>\n
I knew another.<\/p>\n
Neither could open the archive alone.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim suddenly pointed toward the files.<\/p>\n
A new folder had appeared after the password entry.<\/p>\n
FINAL.<\/p>\n
Inside was one encrypted document.<\/p>\n
Its filename was a date.<\/p>\n
The day Mary Lou left America.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat now?\u201d<\/p>\n
I picked up Kang Jun\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n
Then I looked at the disposable phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe stop doing what Choi expects.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does he expect?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA frightened mother to trade everything for her daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin\u2019s expression tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are a frightened mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I folded the letter and put it in my pocket.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019m also the only person in this mess he never bothered to learn anything about.\u201d<\/p>\n
I pointed toward the three copies Mr. Kim had made.<\/p>\n
\u201cSend the evidence in three directions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne to whoever you trust most outside Korea. One to American authorities. One somewhere public that Choi cannot erase.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin stared at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the original?\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed the backpack.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m taking it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the warehouse?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is exactly what he wants.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the empty drive slot.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wants what\u2019s inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
I handed one flash drive to Mr. Kim.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m bringing him a bag.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin did not take me to a police station. She took me to a print shop. It occupied the second floor of an old commercial building, squeezed between a pharmacy … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16970"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16997,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16970\/revisions\/16997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}