CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Pyongyang, North Korea

"Where is my daughter and granddaughter?" asked General Park, gently rubbing his fingers along the top of his desk.

"She wouldn't come with me. She refused, and I didn't have time to find her," said William in a panicked voice.

"Didn't have time? No time to find your wife and daughter? That doesn't sound like a man devoted to the care of his family."

"Look, those men that came on the ship weren't just any men. They were legends in the SEAL community, and I know that they were looking for me. I had to leave fast. I'm here now, so just tell me what you need."

"I need my daughter and granddaughter."

"I-I tried. I told you! They didn't want to come." The General slammed his hand against the desk, leaning over the man.

"You make them come. That's what a real man would do. A man controls his family and doesn't take no for an answer."

"Says the man whose wife ran away with his daughter." The minute he said it, he knew it was wrong.

William realized he was in serious trouble and looked around for a possible escape route. Even if he made it to the door, past the two guards on the inside, he'd have two more on the outside and dozens more after that. Maybe he should have taken his chances on the Yosemite.

"I am trying to become the greatest leader my nation has ever known, but our people have become soft. They desire a man with a family, a wife, children. At my age, grandchildren. I'm playing up the whole widower side, but they know my daughter and granddaughter live. I need them here to complete the scene."

"I don't know where she is. I tried calling her during my layover in Tokyo, and her phone went to voicemail. She's never done that to me before."

"You idiot! She's free of you now. She no longer needs to answer your calls. You're gone, and she's free to fuck any American she likes. To allow another man to be a father to your daughter." Park stared at the man, then cocked his head. William wasn't reacting to his last statement at all.

"So it's true. You don't want children. You like producing them, but you want nothing to do with them."

"I never said I wanted kids. That was your idea to get her pregnant so she had to marry me. I did what you asked of me. I don't like children." Park walked around the desk several times, pacing like a caged tiger. William was getting more and more nervous.

"What have you done with all the money I've sent you?"

"What?" frowned William, confused by the question. "Why? It's my money, and I earned it. What I've done with it is none of your business."

"It's very much my business. But I asked this question hoping for honesty. You've spent it on extravagant items. Houses, cars, electronics, clothing. Clothing for yourself, not for your children. I can see your banking. Did you know that?"

William swallowed, shaking his head. There was a pit growing in his stomach as he stared at the man before him. He wasn't large. In fact, he was quite small, but he knew that viciousness and evil came in small packages. He tapped a key on his computer, and his banking appeared on the screen behind them.

"What are you doing?" asked William.

"I'm making things right." There was a little more than two hundred thousand in his accounts. Park moved it all into his checking, then divided it amongst the three women he'd been sending small sums to.

"You can't do that. It's my money! I earned it!"

"Those women earned it. They earned it by allowing you to ruin their lives. Now, my traitorous daughter will have to live without any money, but once I have her, she'll be taken care of. Until she suddenly becomes ill, and I become the doting grandfather."

"You're going to kill your own daughter?" Park laughed, shaking his head.

"What did you think I was going to do? Sympathies are what build leaders. Your own FDR was pathetically handicapped, yet you elected him four times. Four! JFK had numerous health issues, and despite his philandering ways, you would have reelected him. Sympathies win. I will be the poor, lonely widower. My wife dead, my daughter dead, and only my precious granddaughter to raise and keep away from the public eye. Far away."

"You can't do that. She's just a baby," he said.

"Oh, so you do like children," smirked Park. "That's too bad. You won't live to see her grow up. You won't live to see her suffer, to be forced into the toughest academic school in my country. The school that will mold her mind to do great things in our nation. Not play some stupid instrument like her mother. You will not see it."

"I can still help you," pleaded William, realizing he was going to die. Maybe he could get Park to give him one last chance.

"Help me? No, you've done enough." Nodding to the men behind him, they gripped his arms, dragging him from the room as he screamed at him. When the echoes of his cries faded, he turned to his assistant.

"Get me the president of the United States."