2nd Infantry Division
Camp Casey, 15 km from the DMZ
Army Intelligence Detachment Under-Eye
Near Dongducheon, South Korea
0830 hours Sierra
Comment of the Moment: Mungo stiffened and said, “Sir I can neither confirm nor deny that information.”
Aleumdaun stood in the semi-darkness of the tunnel. She was using her NVGs to observe the tunnel toward Seoul. The only lighting toward Seoul came from behind her. It was the bare bulb lighting toward Kaesong. The lights shining behind her lighted the way toward the DMZ rather starkly. Their influence faded with distance.
She had crawled through the small muddy hole at the bottom of the larger hole. Her uniform was soaked in mud. She cleaned it off her holster and cleaned her service pistol.
She looked at the broken junction box. She could see that the weight of the wet earth collapsing against the tunnel wall had been sufficient to tear apart the metal box. She verified the wiring for computers. She verified the wiring for lighting. She saw another wire whose purpose she could not discern.
Looking around at the tunnel, she determined that she would learn the size of the tunnel. She walked across the tunnel in carefully measured steps to determine its width. She marked it on a piece of paper. Then she stood in the exact center of the tunnel and imagined a ninety-degree angle straight up from where she stood.
She measured the distance from the middle to the far wall and wrote it down. She went to the far wall and measured the angle from the base of the wall to the center of the tunnel ceiling. She wrote it down. Taking out her cell phone and using the tangent formula for right triangles, on her scientific calculator which was on her cell phone, she determined the height of the semi-circular tunnel roof. Putting all her numbers together, she determined that the tunnel was 60 feet wide and approximately 20 feet high.
She turned westward and carefully walked toward the DMZ end of the tunnel. She was looking for laser beams and the related reflectors. As she walked, she pushed her NVGs upon her helmet. She carefully shined her flashlight on the walls of the tunnel.
As she walked watching the wiring conduit, she arrived at the next junction box. She noticed a conduit coming out of the bottom of a junction box. She stopped about 20 feet from the box and played her flashlight down the vertical conduit. The conduit ended in a white plastic box with a round aperture facing outward toward the tunnel.
As she gazed at it, she went over in her memory all the laser sensors she could remember seeing. She could not see any beams coming out of it with her NVGs. She looked to the opposite side of the tunnel, but was unable to see any reflectors or wiring that would indicate laser beam reflectors.
She stood momentarily assessing what she was seeing. Then she considered what she was not seeing. She arrived at a conclusion: she believed she was looking at a motion sensor.
Her heart jumped in her chest. She did not know how sensitive the sensor was. She stood in the middle of the tunnel. She was at the edge of most motion sensors detection range. The device might have detected her movement into its range, or it might not have.
She had stood still since she had first seen it. She slowly began to back up. She moved her feet centimeters at a time. First, she moved one foot. Then she moved the other. After three minutes, she felt secure enough to turn from the sensor and walk back to the hole she had entered through.
She walked back to the center of the tunnel. She looked at her compass, adjusted her NVGs, and began walking southwest toward Seoul. She had gone only forty feet when she saw a small tunnel to her right. She marked it on her map. She estimated it to be directly under where the administrative building of Camp Casey might be.
She lifted her NVGs and shined her flashlight at the small tunnel entrance. She noted numerous footprints packing the earth. As she walked, she continued mentally cataloging what she saw.
She continued through the main tunnel for another two hundred yards before checking her watch. She determined that she needed to start back.
As she walked back she turned off her NVGs. She shined her flashlight on the conduit on the tunnel wall. She traced it to the small tunnel she had seen earlier. She saw another junction box on the Seoul side of the little tunnel entrance. She saw the vertical line dropping out of it to the tunnel floor. At the bottom, she saw the same type sensor box she had seen in the DMZ side of the small tunnel opening. Because she knew the power supply to it had been broken, she stopped to examine it. She determined that it was, indeed, a motion sensor, not a high quality one, but just an average one. She marked its location on her map.
Then, she very cautiously entered the smaller tunnel. She had entered a small rounded earthen chamber. A crate was in the middle of the chamber. She shined her flashlight on the wooden crate. On top of the crate was a computer. The computer was wrapped in EMP protection material. She knew instantly it was hardened.
On the sides of the wooden crate below the computer were the glyphic markings in the Korean language. The crate had the internationally recognized radioactive symbol on two exterior sides.
She gasped, “Oh, my god!”
She turned immediately and left the chamber. She went directly to the small opening of the mud slide. She slid through the mud. She placed a thumb and a forefinger in her mouth and whistled loudly.
Amid all the racket at the top of the hole, Cowboy shouted down the hole, “Captain Dawn, is that you?”
She shouted, “Yes! Please pull me up.” She grabbed the rope, and Cowboy and Dude pulled her from the hole.
As she came up out of the hole, she saw the large pile of loose dirt that Mungo had stacked up. He drove back and forth between his supply of dirt and the mound of dirt he was building. Slover and a crew of two, Corporals Smith and Rider, were hammering away on the two by four wooden structure intended to serve as a barrier to prevent personnel from falling into the hole.
As Mungo dropped his last load, Aleumdaun signaled that she wanted to talk to him. He cut the motor on his borrowed front-end loader, and stepped down to hear her.
She put her hand on his shoulder and pulled him around so that their faces were away from the others. She softly said, “I have been about two hundred yards in the tunnel towards Seoul. I could not see the end of that part of the tunnel, but it went on beyond the light of my flashlight.”
Mungo nodded.
She continued, “I was able to go only a few meters toward the DMZ. The North Koreans have installed motion sensors, not laser detection beams. That means we can’t easily explore in the direction of the DMZ. I don’t know of any sure way to defeat the motion sensors. They are only average, maybe we could walk on the far side of the tunnel.”
Mungo nodded. He asked, “Why are we facing away from everyone?”
Aleumdaun took a deep breath. She explained, “There is a crate underneath where I estimate the camp administration building to be. A computer is sitting on top of it and is connected to the inside of the crate. The crate has radioactive symbols on the outside of it.”
He quickly gasped and asked, “A nuclear device?”
She nodded and said, “Very likely. I did not take the time to try and open it.”
“Probably a good thing. We need to get down there and get a good look at it.”
“Well, if the DPRK are sending a detachment to check out the cave-in, then they are not likely to push the button on the bomb! True?”
He nodded. Then he said, “If they are aware of the cave-in because of the broken connection, then they can’t blow the device because they can’t get power to it, and are most likely hurrying this way to correct the problem.
“We’ve already lost sixty minutes. We’re running short of time for exploration.
“Okay, I think we need...”
He was interrupted by a solidly built man with greying hair. On the man’s rank tab was the black eagle.
Mungo turned and said, “Oh shit, Camp Commander, Colonel Bessemer!”
“Yeah, Sergeant Major Mungo. Just what the hell is going on here? Why are you tearing up my parking area?”
Mungo stammered, “Uh...um...Sir...Give me just a minute to square my people away, and I’ll answer as many of you questions as I can.”
The camp commander looked at him with raised eyebrows.
Mungo said, “With your permission, sir?”
The Colonel nodded with impatience.
Mungo turned to Aleumdaun. He quickly said, “Go get Slover and take him, cowboy and dude to the underground chamber. Get Dude and Cowboy to ride the scooters as far toward Seoul as they can, marking everything. Tell him I want Rider and Smith to stand guard over the hole. I’ll...be back as soon as the Colonel allows me.” He turned to the Colonel and said, “Sir, we have a top-secret situation here.”
The Colonel growled, “Bullshit! It can’t be very top secret. I mean half the damned camp must have walked past here.”
Aleumdaun moved quickly away from the two men and walked purposefully toward Slover.
Mungo explained, “Sir, can we go into your office to discuss this?”
Bessemer said, “I think that would be a good idea Sergeant Major.”
They turned together and walked toward the administration building. Mungo slung his weapon across his back. As they walked, Mungo’s mind raced as he tried to think of an explanation he could give that would not violate the instructions given to him by Lieutenant Colonel Spence.
At the hole in the parking area, Slover told Rider and Smith to keep all other personnel away from the hole. He told them if anyone asked what had happened, they were to say a sinkhole had developed, and it was going to be filled in and covered up.
He and cowboy and Dude signaled the A-frame to maneuver closer in order to lower the scooters into the hole. After the scooters were lowered, he and Cowboy grabbed the ladder he had brought, fitted it together to its forty-foot length, and inserted it in the hole where Dude was waiting. The party of three went down the ladder, and Aleumdaun led them to the earthen chamber.
While they were in the tunnel, up in Colonel Bessemer’s office, Mungo asked the Colonel, “Sir, has your office been swept? I mean, are conversations in here secure?”
“I suppose so Sergeant Major Mungo. This room is about as secure as any room in the camp.”
“Sir, could I get you to unplug your desk phone?”
Bessemer’s forehead wrinkled in disbelief. He asked, “Really, Sergeant Major? Are you serious?”
“Yes, sir. There are some things I have to say that can’t be compromised.” Then he told the Colonel about the spyware discovered in the Intelligence secure rooms.
Bessemer looked startled, let out a sigh, and he unplugged his desk phone.
Mungo said, “Would you disconnect your cell phone, sir?”
“Come on, Mungo!”
“Well, sir, we can always go over to a secure room at Intelligence HQ!”
Bessemer said, “You’re serious?”
“Sir, yes I am.”
Bessemer disconnected his cell battery.
Mungo commiserated, “Sir, I understand your concern about your AO. And, I think that eventually, you and the other unit commanders will be told everything. But we’re still investigating the issue. We do not yet understand the full extent of the problem. I can’t tell you very much, and according to secrecy I was sworn to, I can’t actually tell you anything. But if you will ask the right questions, my silence on them may tell you enough to give you a peace of mind.”
Bessemer nodded, having been through such maneuvers before, He asked, “Why the weapon?”
Mungo replied, “Needed for protection!”
Bessemer grunted noncommittally.
“What’s up with the hole in my parking area.”
“Sir, Colonel Spence, via instructions from the Pentagon, has sworn us to secrecy while we work out an immediate threat from the DPRK.”
Bessemer’s jaw dropped, and he asked, “An immediate threat from the DPRK in my AO?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You gotta be shitting me. In my AO, and you’re not allowed to tell me about it? How secret is it?”
“Sir, it’s secure room, signed warrant against revealing it, and only to be discussed in the secure room.”
“What about my damned security clearance? I’m Commander.”
“It’s ‘Need To Know,’ sir.”
Bessemer cursed, “Jesus H fucking Christ. What can you tell me?”
“Nothing, sir. Why don’t you ask me some questions?”
Bessemer got up and walked back and forth behind his desk. Finally, he asked, “What’s at the bottom of the hole?”
“I can’t tell you, sir.”
“It’s a threat to my AO!” He reasoned. “Is it ordinance?”
Mungo stiffen and barked, “Sir, I can neither confirm nor deny that information. But that’s not the main problem.”
Having been down this road before, Bessemer knew he was on the right track.
He walked back and forth for a few minutes. He asked, “Is there an enemy at the bottom of the hole?”
“No, sir, at this time.”
Bessemer reasoned to himself, if an enemy is not there at this time, but could be there later, how could he get there?
He asked, “Would an enemy have to enter that hole by crossing to the hole above ground?”
“No, sir.”
Bessemer reasoned, if the enemy will not enter from above, how can he enter from below?
He asked, “Is there another hole down below?”
Mungo murmured, “I wouldn’t exactly call it that, sir.”
“Is there tunnel down there?”
Mungo stiffen and said, “Sir, I can neither confirm nor deny that information.”
“Holy shit! A tunnel? Where does it come from?”
Mungo, who was still standing at attention, shifted his eyes to the west and raised his eyebrows.
Bessemer said querulously, “From the west! From the west?” Then he asked, “Are you shitting me? From the DMZ?”
Mungo stiffen and said, “Sir, I can neither confirm nor deny that information.”
Bessemer said, “We commanders have been hearing rumors at briefings of a possible plan by the DPRK to ‘undermine’ our defenses, but we couldn’t get any hard information on what they were doing.”
Mungo interrupted him, “Sir, I’m sorry I couldn’t give you any information on what we’re doing in that hole.”
Bessemer looked at him and said, “I understand your need to honor your vow of secrecy, and you have done that. If anyone asks, you haven’t told me a thing. I’ll swear to it. As a matter of fact, as far as I’m concerned, this meeting never happened.”
Mungo said, “Thank you sir. With your permission, I’ll get back to my hole.”
“Oh, hell yes. By all means. You’re dismissed.”
“By the way, sir! You cannot change your training schedule to show that you are aware of any threat that differs from what HQ has told you to train for.”
Bessemer scowled and said, “Truly!”
Mungo hurried out of the Colonel’s command post. He went directly to the hole. He grabbed his helmet with its NVG. He grabbed his flashlight, and down the ladder he went.
At the bottom, he crawled through the mud and into the main part of the tunnel. Following Aleumdaun’s earlier explanation of what she had seen, he turned west and shining his flash light on the tunnel wall, he walked until he found the entrance to the earthen chamber. He entered and found Aleumdaun and Slover looking at a crate in the middle of the chamber.
Slover had a battery powered drill. He was unscrewing the wooden frame. On the side of the frame, Mungo could see the international symbol for radioactivity stenciled on the frame.
He shook his head, “Oh, man!”