Black wind

inoculated. A release of the smallpox virus might create a minor panic, at best. Certainly, there’s not much risk of creating an epidemic.”
    “Certainly a release of Variola major, or common smallpox, would register only a small nuisance. But your vaccinations would be useless against a chimera.”
    “A ‘chimera’? Of Greek lore? A monster-part lion, part goat, and part serpent?”
    “Indeed. Another monster, if you will, would be a hybrid mix of virulent agents combined into a single organism that maintains the lethal components of each element. A biological weapon against which your vaccinations would be laughably impotent.”
    “But, in God’s name, why?” Summer cried.
    Kang calmly finished his meal and set his napkin on the table, folding it into neat thirds before speaking.
    “You see, my country has been divided against itself since your incursion in the fifties. What you Americans fail to understand is that all Koreans dream of the day when our peninsula is united as one nation. Constant interference from outside meddlers will keep us from achieving that dream. Just as the presence of foreign military forces on our soil creates an impediment to the day when unification becomes a reality.”
    “The American military presence in South Korea ensures that the dream of unification will not be realized at the point of a North Korean bayonet,” Dirk replied.
    “South Korea no longer has the stomach for a fight, and the military power of North Korea offers the leadership and stabilizing force necessary to restore order during reunification.”
    “I don’t believe it,” Summer muttered to Dirk. “We’re having lunch with a cross between Typhoid Mary and Joseph Stalin.”
    Kang, not understanding the remark, continued speaking. “The young people of South Korea today have had their fill of your military occupation and abuses to the citizenry. They are not fearful of unification and will help pave the way for a speedy resolution.”
    “In other words, once the U.S. military is removed the forces of North Korea will march south and unify the country by force.”
    “Absent the U.S. defensive forces, military estimates suggest that eighty percent of the South Korean Peninsula can be overrun within seventy-two hours. Casualties will be necessary, but the country will be unified under Workers’ Party rule before the United States, Japan, or any other outside interfering force has the opportunity to react.”
    Dirk and Summer sat in stunned silence. Their fears of a terrorist plot using the Japanese smallpox had been well founded, but they had no suspicion of the magnitude at stake: no less than the overthrow or the Republic of Korea in conjunction with the wholesale death of millions of Americans.
    “I think you may be underestimating the resolve of the United
    States, particularly in the face of a terrorist attack. Our president has shown no hesitation in applying swift and fearsome retribution,” Dirk said.
    “Perhaps. But retribution against whom? The pattern of events all still points to a Japanese source …”
    “The Japanese Red Army again,” Dirk interjected.
    “The Japanese Red Army. You see, there simply are no other likelihoods. Your military, intelligence, and political resources will be focused entirely on Japan while, at the same time, we will be mandating through our government the removal of all U.S. military personnel from the Korean Peninsula within thirty days. Your country’s knee-jerk media will be in a frenzy over the epidemic casualties and so focused on finding a culprit in Japan that the American military expulsion from Korea will be a minor news item until well after the fact.”
    “The intelligence community will ultimately see past the Red Army facade and trace the actions back to you and your communist pals up north.”
    “Perhaps. But how long will that take? How long has it been for your government to solve the 2001 anthrax killings in your own capital? When and if that day should come, emotions will no longer be running high. It will all be a ‘moot point,” as you say.”
    “Killing millions of people and calling it ‘moot’?” Summer injected. “You are sick.”
    “How many of my countrymen did you kill in the fifties?” Kang retorted with a flash of anger in his eyes.
    “We left plenty of our own blood on your soil,” Summer replied, glaring back at Kang.
    Dirk peered across the table at Tongju, whose dark eyes were narrowly focused on Summer.