The Target by David Baldacci

The third novel in the Will Robie series.  Jessica Reel is his partner in this volume.  The plot is more complicated than before.  The first story is about Jessica’s father and the Neo-Nazi who raped and impregnated her.  When she was young, her father abused her and turned her over to a group of white supremacists and misogynists who also abused her.  But she turned the tables and was able to get the group busted.  This put her into witness protection and from there she was recruited by the CIA.  Her father, on death row, and finagles getting a message sent to her, asking to see her before he dies.

A North Korean, General Pak, has a secret plan with the President to take-out his supreme leader and take his place.  The President gives his word to back him up.

Another character, Chung Cha Yien, is in a similar role to Robie and Reel in North Korea.  She grew-up in a concentration camp because her father spoke out against the regime.  She has never forgotten how she was treated or what she had to do to escape the camp and get trained to be an assassin.  She is sent to kill an English envoy who has been spying on the country.  In that act, she finds his phone and re-dials the last number he spoke to and discovers it is a highly placed North Korean general.  The general flees to France for a medical procedure.

Robie and Reel are tasked with taking-out the general so the U.S. involvement will be kept secret.  But when they get there, the General asked that his family (an adopted son and daughter) be kept from going to the camps, then shoots himself.

The North Koreans decide they must strike back and assign Chung Cha to kill the first lady and her children.

Robie and Reel are tasked with getting General Pak’s children out of a concentration camp.  They do this with the help of a man who escaped the same camp.  Robie is wounded, but manages to escape holding onto a helicopter skid.

The first lady introduces Robie and Reel to her children, her son is having a hard time adjusting to the White House but is very impressed with the two agents.  They are going to vacation for a week on Nantucket during Halloween week and have asked the two agents to accompany them.

Chung Cha takes a young girl who reminds her of herself from the same camp she was in.  Her proposal is to use her to allay suspicion from the Americans.  They travel to New York, posing as South Koreans and then to Nantucket.  The girl, Min, is awestruck.

Chung Cha teaches Min a few words in English.  My name is Min.  I am ten.  Please help me.

When the attack happens, the first family and Robie and Reel are trapped in a basement.  One of the Koreans announces what is to happen, then Chung Cha turns on her comrades and kills them.  Robie and Reel are impressed.  They ask why just as another police officer enters the basement and kills Chung Cha.

They take Min to live with their friend Julie, who will be Min’s big sister.  Then they visit the grave of Chung Cha.