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“It’s not about meeting on the battlefield. Look at what the Children of Darwin accomplished. A tiny offshoot of his organization, maybe thirty people in total. And yet they managed to seal off three cities, shut down the grid, and turn normal people against each other. Civilization is fragile. They’re just now getting food into Tulsa and Fresno, and Cleveland burned to the ground. And that was just a stage in Smith’s master plan.”

Quinn finished his whiskey, set the glass on the bar. For a moment they sat in silence punctuated only by the clacking of pool balls and the mutter of the tri-d. The man had always been Cooper’s planner, the strategist to his tactician, and Cooper let him think.

Finally, Quinn said, “It wouldn’t take very much right now. People are hoarding food, fleeing the cities. And we’re heading into winter.”

“Whatever Smith has planned is going to make that all worse. Confusion and disarray are his favorite weapons. He wants America to slide into chaos. Wants every neighborhood to become its own nation-state. He can’t face us directly, but if things get bad enough, if there’s looting, riots, tribalism, local warlords, mass starvation, rampant disease . . .”

“Then he doesn’t have to. He can pick off one target at a time.” Quinn made a sound that wasn’t a laugh. “Even if you’re right, there’s nothing the DAR can do about it. We’ll happily take a shot at Smith if he wanders into our sights, but the department—hell, the country—is focused on the Holdfast. Like I said, the whole world’s on fire.”

“I know,” Cooper said. “But I may ask you for some help.”

“Doing what?”

“Finishing what I started.” He set his drink on the bar and stood up. “I’m going to find John Smith. And I’m going to kill him.”

Dear comrades!

As we continue to demonstrate the spirit and might of the great Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in our eternal advance to the confident light of glorious victory, we offer a message of hope to the oppressed supermen of the world.

In the darkness of the failed systems in which you were born, your gifts are held against you, as always when dogs govern tigers. And so it is in the corrupt nations that the mighty of soul and purpose are mistreated, shamed, scorned.

Thus I extend an invitation overflowing with love for those who wish only to dwell in the sunlight of revolution. Come to us, our gifted friends, come to us, our brilliant compatriots. Come home and join your people, who live pure in purpose and clear in mind.

For the moment has come to reveal a secret long held—the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is composed entirely of gifted. Every man, woman, and child here is brilliant. Indeed, it was through the wise, benevolent, and self-sacrificing struggle of the Party that so-called “abnorms” came into being, developed by our scientists, who lead the world and are one of many reasons our magnificent land shines as a beacon.

Thus we invite all our brothers and sisters to renounce the failed ways of their corrupt hosts and return home to join the forward march along the road of destiny. The glorious present of our people can be the bright prosperous future of all as we extend our immortal nation on the path of eternity . . .

—EXCERPTED FROM THE DECEMBER 3RD SPEECH OF SUPREME LEADER KIM JONG UN, FIRST SECRETARY OF THE WORKERS’ PARTY OF KOREA, FIRST CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL DEFENSE COMMISSION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA, AND SUPREME COMMANDER OF THE KOREAN PEOPLE’S ARMY

CHAPTER 8