North Korea Undercover E-Book

Sharela Koch

• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

 When Tom started work at ProjMos, a top-secret, non-governmental organization, he left memories of his old self behind; his friends, family, and his past life. With a new identity and a professional cover as an analyst, Tom was amped and prepared for his first mission as a spy, giving him a new perspective on life. The trip will take him through the most oppressive state of our time: North Korea! But little does Tom know, he's not the only one with a delicate secret on this highly covert mission.     The book is part 2 of the series "ProjMos-Adventure". In this series, all the stories interweave. However, you can read the books separately and out of order. 

Leseprobe

Sharela Koch

North Korea Undercover

A ProjMos Adventure

BookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 Munich

Blurb

When Tom started work at ProjMos, a top-secret, non-governmental organization, he left memories of his old self behind; his friends, family, and his past life. With a new identity and a professional cover as an analyst, Tom was amped and prepared for his first mission as a spy, giving him a new perspective on life. The trip will take him through the most oppressive state of our time: North Korea! But little does Tom know, he’s not the only one with a delicate secret on this highly covert mission.

The book is part 2 of the series “ProjMos-Adventure”. In this series, all the stories interweave. However, you can read the books separately and out of order.

Chapter 1

Out of all times to be intrenched into rush hour traffic. Why call it TRAFFIC at all? In stop and go movement, he crept through the city. His car stalled a lot more than it drove. A shame for his 180 horses under the hood. He looked nervously at the glowing digital clock on his dashboard. It displayed in orange digits: 18:55. Five minutes until the church service began. He didn't want to be late. He generally hated being unpunctual. Especially when it was himself, who was late.

I only have two months to get everything ready, he thought.

Two months sounded like an eternity. But he knew he had no leeway for dawdling. He couldn't afford too make any mistakes. Everything had to be planned down to the finest detail. There was no room for error. That would be fatal. That is why he now also went to church on weekdays, not just on Sundays.

A little extra help from above can't hurt this risky plan.

“It doesn't get any greener. Finally step on the gas!”, Tom scolded angrily punched it and drummed his fingers on his steering wheel.

At last, the old lady, four cars ahead had put into the right gear and jerked off. Tom hoped to make it through the intersection this time. He took a deep breath and turned on the indicator. He nervously saw the light above him turn yellow.

That's okay; he thought and pressed his right foot on the accelerator while his fingers were drumming on the handlebars.

Rumble. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a green ball smack hard against his passenger window. Then it rattled. Horrified, Tom stomped on the brakes. Today wasn't his day.

Fuck cyclists.

He swung open the door.

Tom hadn't seen the cyclist in the blind spot.

Or had he forgotten to look around? Passers-by turned to look at the fallen person.

He jumped out of his Audi and came to help the stranger.

“I'm so sorry. I really hadn't seen you. Are you okay?”

He could forget today's church service now anyway. Why had he left so late?

The woman with the olive-green bicycle helmet stood up, staggering, and grimaced.

“Today is probably not my day!”

She said with a shrug and brushed the dust from her pants. Then she forced a grin:

“I'm fine. I'm still whole.”

She wanted to bend down for her bike, but Tom hurried up and got ahead of her. He looked at her fingers. They trembled with shock.

“Honestly. I am so sorry. ”

“I think the bike is still whole. And so am I. We both had a guardian angel, didn’t we?”

A stone relieved Tom.

“Let me make it up to you. May I invite you for coffee as an excuse?”

He asked out of politeness. He secretly hoped she would refuse. The first cars began to honk behind him. The woman stared down. At her hands and legs. They were shaking like pudding.

“A little pause to calm down can't hurt,” she said and nodded. Then she pointed to the popular café two doors down.

“Right there?”

“I'm just parking my car quickly,” Tom said.

He swung himself into the Audi and made way for the following traffic. Now that's what he got from his stupid agitation. He was very lucky that nothing worse had happened. He knew that for sure. Suddenly he was no longer in a hurry. Now his plans for tonight were crashed anyway. In contrition, he entered the café in which the stranger had already taken a seat.

“My name is Tom”, he introduced himself and sat down.

“Order what you want. I’ll pay.”, he said contrite and forced a smile.

“I'm Lisa”, the cyclist introduced herself and reached for the menu.

You could still clearly see her shock. She wasn't in control of her hand yet. The pages of the menu wobbled back and forth. She would have loved to jump up and cycle home as quickly as possible. A warm bathtub would have relaxed her far more than the forced enjoyment of coffee. But she saw serious remorse in the eyes of her counterpart. Pretty eyes. Watchful eyes, with a lot of depth lurking behind them. So she didn't want to refuse him the invitation in reparation.

This guy certainly had imagined his Friday evening differently as well.

And what was she missing at home? The warm bathtub and the sofa in her one-room apartment did not run away. She sighed and forced a smile. Lisa watched the man curiously. His broad shoulders indicated that he exercised regularly. While ordering a cup of coffee, she thought:

Not like I usually do. If only I had stayed on the couch today, as usual. Under normal circumstances, the guy would certainly not have looked at me at all. I know he is out of my league...

She pulled in her stomach and sat up straight. Then she thought:

It doesn't matter why he drinks coffee with me. The fact is that he has a coffee with me here and now. The guy is really a smooth 10. If my friends would see me here with him ... Maybe I'll be lucky after all?

“So, Tom, what else do you do when you're not pulling girls off their bikes? ” She asked with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

If she can be so naughty, she can't feel so bad anymore.

He wondered half relieved, half offended about that. Was her question about his job or his free time?

He decided to act like the open and jovial Tom. He had practiced that many times in the past two years. “I'm an editor and work at ‘Beck’, the publishing house. How about you? ”

Right. Always play the ball back. Then you need to speak less about yourself.

“Really? You really work for a publisher? That's really exciting. I also do enjoy reading. ”

Her eyes gleamed. She seemed to like his answer. He saw no reason to explain that these were horribly boring legal texts instead of interesting books. Shortly after starting the job, Tom realized that it puzzled people when they perceived him as a bore - and that he didn't mind. That is why he had started to describe his editing job no longer quite so blandly. Then hardly anyone asked any further questions. He didn't need to explain that editors only worked part-time - his publishing house wanted it that way to keep the error rate low - and what he did the rest of the time. Or how he could afford the cute house on the outskirts and the chic Audi with a part-time job.

“So what do you do for a living?“

He asked back out of politeness. Soon he felt at ease in the presence of this stranger. He noticed that. But there was no place in his life for a woman. And in his heart? He vigorously tried to suppress the thought of Amina.

Amina.

She would have been the perfect woman for him. He swallowed. Then he forced himself to listen to what Lisa was talking to. When she laughed out loud during the conversation, he inevitably had to grin. She had an infectious, easy laugh. He hadn't heard such a laugh in a long time, so carefree. He thought of Don Bosco's quote: “The devil is afraid of happy people.”

So what spoke against a nice evening in company? The harsh reality would slap him in the face again tomorrow anyway.

Chapter 2

His mobile phone was set to loud, like every night. He had to be available. Not for the publisher. For his other job. When it vibrated, he woke up from sleep and immediately sat upright in bed. He unlocked the key lock on his Smartphone. When he looked at the display, he saw half relieved, half annoyed that it was a message from Lisa. Lisa. The nice lady from last night. How had she got him out of the reserve so that he'd revealed his mobile phone number? He felt a comforting feeling in the pit of his stomach when he thought of her. It had been a nice evening, no doubt. He opened the message and read:

“It was great yesterday. Do you fancy a sequel? Tonight in the cocktail bar C1?“

Tom sighed. He shouldn't have given her his number. He thought of Amina…

Amina?! Oh, Come on, man! Your relationship - or whatever it was - had been two years ago. Why don't you let another woman come into your heart?, a soft voice within him asked.

But his mind warned him:

A woman does not fit into your life. That would be way too complicated. Complicated and dangerous. It wouldn't end well.

Tom hesitated. He looked at the clock. The LEDs of his alarm clock shone towards him: 9:30 a.m. He hadn't got up this late in a long time. On the other hand, his guilty conscience had motivated him to do a night shift yesterday. He hadn't fallen into bed until four in the morning, dead tired. His skull buzzed. It felt like a forty-ton roller coaster in it.

I'll first take a shower and have breakfast, then we'll see.

Nothing worked for him without breakfast. As he ate, he checked his schedule on the calendar. The one in paper form. He was old-fashioned about that. Precisely because he knew exactly what the technology was capable of. He had already reached his target in the editing service for this week. However, that didn't mean a quiet weekend. There were two small points on the calendar for today. But the time they took was not to be underestimated. Point one was the daily fitness program. He had to stay in shape. And sports helped him endure the stress and not go nuts. Point two showed only two letters: P. M. As if he could have forgotten that. For over a year that had been his purpose in life. 'Project Moses', or ProjMos for short, was the code word for his main job. The job had nothing to do with pharaohs or pyramids in ancient Egypt, but the work was just as risky. Not everyone liked it when a noble hero came to help the weak. But he knew exactly what it meant if this hero didn't show up ...

Chapter 3

If I train for two hours now, and then work for ProjMos, I can afford a reward with a clear conscience, can't I? Then I could make it to the date, couldn't I?

Tom knew fully well that six hours weren’t enough for this work. But without exercise, he'd go nuts. He needed the balance. With a heavy heart he picked up his mobile phone and wrote:

“Hello Lisa, it was a beautiful evening yesterday. Unfortunately, I'm pretty busy at work and therefore can't meet you.”

After all, that was the truth. He grabbed his running shoes and the house keys and started walking. His house was out of the way, on the outskirts. Opposite there was a small, idyllic lake. It was more of a swimming pool than a lake. But since the construction of an open-air swimming pool in the neighboring town, swimmers rarely came here. Behind his house, there was a cemetery. So Tom had no nosy neighbors. Just very calm ones. He was pleased with that. Immediately after the cemetery, there was a coniferous forest. A perfect route for jogging undisturbed and clearing your mind. He knew he had to be focused again afterwards when he continued his work for ProjMos. The cold air entered his lungs and he inhaled the scent of wet moss and needles. The gravel crunched under his feet. Then he quickened his pace.