It fell in open countryside, causing a huge explosion and an enormous crater, but no casualties and little damage other than sending tremors through a dozen nearby peasant cottages just north of Beijing. But Chinese defensive radar systems had been alerted and countermeasures moved to code red. In his office inside the Forbidden City in Beijing, President Xi was informed both of the alert and the rapid false alarm.
By coincidence, that morning riots broke out in three provincial cities of North Korea. Desperately hungry citizens raided the food stores of officialdom and the privileged few. The praetorian inner army intervened with brutal reprisals, but several generals ordered their commands to stay in barracks. This was reported to Beijing. Among the reports were allegations that for some weeks the people had been drenched with pamphlets borne by helium balloons on the autumn south-to-north winds.
President Kim withdrew to his fortified luxury compound on Wonsan Bay on the east coast. A whole division of ultra-loyal presidential guards was posted at all access points.
A week after the missile fell, elite Chinese amphibious troops landed on the west coast of Korea Bay. The landings were not opposed. Most of the North Korean Army, advised by repeated messages in fluent Korean on all the airwaves they used to remain in barracks for their own safety, did so.
For the dictator of North Korea, the Ceauşescu moment referred to by his late father in conversation with Condoleezza Rice, had arrived: the moment when the ranks of brainwashed serfs finally ceased cheering and began to boo.
A week later he emerged from his Wonsan Bay fortress under close arrest. Photographic drones operating off two US Navy warships close to the South Korean coast broadcast the events to the world.
Near a castle in the Scottish Highlands, a cottage in Dorset and close to the SAS base at Hereford, walkers heard frequent gunfire. The pheasant season was in full swing.
List of Characters and Organizations
UK
Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, academic and specialist in mental fragility
Lucinda Berry, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police
Sir Richard Dearlove, Head of MI5 until his retirement in 2004
Professor Martin Dixon, Royal United Services Institute
Mrs Marjory Graham, Prime Minister
Dr Jeremy Hendricks, GCHQ computer scientist and mentor to Luke Jennings
The Jennings family: Harold, Sue, and their two sons, Luke (18) and Marcus (13)
Dr Bob Langley, International Institute for Strategic Studies
Julian Marshall, Assistant Cabinet Secretary
Mr Ciaran Martin, Director of the NCSC
Jessica Thompson, Robert Thompson’s daughter (10)
Robert Thompson, Personal Private Secretary to Home Secretary
Sir Adrian Weston, Security Adviser to PM
Captain Harry Williams, CO SAS bodyguard team
British National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), based in Victoria
Cabinet Office Briefing Room (COBRA)
Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), based at Cheltenham
International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)
Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Strategic Studies (RUSI)
Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), or MI6, based at Vauxhall Cross
Security Service, or MI5
Special Air Service (SAS)
Special Boat Service (SBS)
Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR)
Europe
Herr Ludwig Fritsch, banker at Vaduz Bank, Liechtenstein
USA
Graydon Bennett, State Department
Wesley Carter III, US Ambassador in London
Detective Sean Devlin of the NYPD
John Owen, Legal Attaché (FBI representative)
President of the United States of America (the POTUS)
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Department of Homeland Security
Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau (FBI)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
National Security Agency (NSA), based at Fort Meade
Special Activities Division (SAD)
Russia
Captain Pyotr Denisovich, captain of the Admiral Nakhimov
Yevgeni Krilov, head of the SVR at Yasenevo
Stepan Kukushkin, head of station of Krilov’s SVR unit in the Russian embassy in London
Oleg Politovski, deputy to Kukushkin
Ilya Stepanovich, former high-ranker in the Russian underworld, now billionaire
Viktor Ulyanov, Russian criminal in New York
Vladimir Vinogradov, former gang boss and professional criminal, now oligarch and billionaire living in London
Dmitri Volkov (Mr Burke), leader of Russian sleeper network in the UK
President of Russia (the Vozhd)
Yakovenko, Russian ambassador to UK
Bujar Zogu, Albanian killer contacted by Vinogradov
Department V, or Otdel Mokrie Dela, trained killers, formerly Department 13
FSB, renamed Second Chief Directorate of the KGB
KGB, USSR security agency (1954–91)
Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation, or SVR, based at Yasenevo
Night Wolves, attackers and killers
Spetsnaz, Special Forces soldiers
SVR, foreign intelligence arm of the Russian Federation, based at Yasenevo
Vory v Zakone, or ‘thieves in law’, organized criminal underworld
Energomash, manufacturers of the RD250 rocket engine
Israel
Avigdor (Avi) Hirsch, Israeli ambassador in London
Meyer Ben-Avi (codename Cufflinks), Director of Mossad
Duvdevan, infiltrators of enemy countries
Kidon (‘Bayonet’ or ‘Speartip’), overseas assassins
Mossad LeAliyah Bet, former name of Mossad
Sayanim (‘the Helpers’)
Sayeret Matkal, Special Forces unit
Shmone Matayim, or Unit 8200, cyber-brain think tank
Iran
Ali Fadavi, head of the Pasdaran Navy
Colonel Mohammed Khalq, Taeb’s head of operations
Ayatollah Khamenei, Supreme Leader
Hossein Taeb, head of intelligence for the Pasdaran
Al-Quds Brigade, inner kernel of the Pasdaran
Basij, Pasdaran volunteer reserve
FEDAT, nuclear weapons research and development HQ, operating under the Defence Ministry
Pasdaran, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
SAVAMA, secret police
VAJA, Iranian Ministry of Intelligence
Fordow, uranium processing plant
Korea
Song Ji-wei, founder of No Chain movement
Jang Song Thaek, uncle and mentor of Kim Jong-un
The Kim dynasty: Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un
General Li Song-Rhee, four-star army general, defector to South Korea/USA
Koryolink, nationalized mobile phone network
Paektu, sacred mountain, supposed birthplace of Kim Jong-il
Punggye-ri, nuclear testing site, now destroyed
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Former RAF pilot and investigative journalist Frederick Forsyth defined the modern thriller when he wrote The Day of the Jackal, described by Lee Child as ‘the book that broke the mould’, with its lightning-paced storytelling, effortlessly cool reality and unique insider information. Since then he has written twelve novels which have been bestsellers around the world: The Odessa File, The Dogs of War, The Devil’s Alternative, The Fourth Protocol, The Negotiator, The Deceiver, The Fist of God, Icon, Avenger, The Afghan, The Cobra and, most recently, The Kill List. He recently published his autobiography, The Outsider.
He lives in Buckinghamshire, England.
Also by Frederick Forsyth
THE DAY OF THE JACKAL
THE ODESSA FILE
THE DOGS OF WAR
THE SHEPHERD
THE DEVIL’S ALTERNATIVE
NO COMEBACKS
THE FOURTH PROTOCOL
THE DECEIVER
THE FIST OF GOD
ICON
THE PHANTOM OF MANHATTAN
THE VETERAN
AVENGER
THE AFGHAN
THE COBRA
THE KILL LIST
THE OUTSIDER
Non-fiction
THE BIAFRA STORY
EMEKA
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First published in Great Britain in 2018 by Bantam Press
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Copyright © Frederick Forsyth 2018
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Frederick Forsyth has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781473560130
ISBN 9780593080580
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