Authors: Shawn Kupfer
The first three days had been easy enough—Nathan and G Company had already mapped out a route clear of Chinese patrols, so Nick and his crew didn’t see another soul as they rolled toward the new North Korean border. There seemed to be nothing but time to kill. Nick spent it reading, helping Anthony monitor comm channels, and getting to know the new members of his unit.
Thankfully, Christopher had managed to scam an MP3 player, and Mary had wired it into the Razor’s system, so they didn’t have to make the drive in silence this time. Nick quickly realized he’d have to implement a time-sharing policy on the music, however—the tastes of his crew ran from Mecho Thrashcore to late 1970s punk rock.
As they approached their extraction point, Peter’s selection of classic hip-hop was on. Nick cut off the music as Daniel attempted to locate the other two Razors on camera.
“Got anything yet?” Nick asked, looking over Daniel’s shoulder at the screen.
“Negative. Sure we can’t just call them?”
“Can’t take the chance on our transmissions getting picked up. We’ve got approximate coordinates that Lieutenant Nathan took from the satellite photos of the area—if you haven’t found them by the time we reach those, we can try signal lights.”
“Roger that. I’ll see if I can’t track ‘em down before then.”
“Chris? How much time before daylight?”
“An hour and ten,” Christopher replied.
“If you can locate our boys before then, that’d be helpful.” Nick smirked, clapping Daniel on the shoulder.
Nick walked to the back of the Razor, careful not to disturb Martin, Gabriel, Michael and Ryan, who were passed out on the collapsible racks. Mary was sitting at the stealth station, keeping one eye on its status screens while keeping the other on an open netbook.
“How’s our power consumption looking, kiddo?” Nick asked quietly.
Mary slipped the earbuds out of her ears. “Sorry, sir. What?”
“Jesus, kid. Start calling me Nick. I asked how our power consumption was looking.”
“Not too bad. Solar batteries are down sixty percent, which means we have maybe three, three and a half hours left under full stealth. Solid fuel’s barely below the top line.”
“Whatcha got going on the netbook?”
“Not a lot,” Mary said, turning the small computer’s screen to face him. Nick saw she was playing a game of Solitaire.
“Gotta respect the classics.” Nick grinned. “How you holding up? I know this is a little different to what you’re used to.”
“I’m used to sitting at a desk looking at a screen. I’m sitting at a desk now, looking at a screen. Just, this desk moves,” she said, miming the moving Razor with her hand through the air. “Not bad so far. Just not looking forward to when the bullets start flying.”
“Hopefully, we won’t have to deal with that.”
“You really believe that?”
Nick shook his head.
“Boss!” Daniel hissed from the front of the Razor. Nick winked at Mary and made his way up to the passenger seat.
“What’s up?”
“Think we’ve got ‘em. Four-story office building with an underground parking level. No energy signature, but that’s where I’d hide a Razor or three.”
“Bryce?”
“Gotta agree with my man. Better than average chance that’s where they’re holed up.”
“Take us in. Flash the signals as soon as we clear the entrance—don’t want them firing on us.”
“Right on.” Bryce smoothly turned the huge vehicle toward the office building. As they slid underground, Daniel flashed the signal lights on the front of the Razor. Almost immediately, Nick saw the return signals flash on camera, coming from the dark at the far end of the garage.
“All right, Bryce. Find the valet and park this big bitch. I could use a good leg-stretch.” Nick smiled.
Bryce nodded and headed for the signals. On the cameras, they saw a single man with glowsticks leading them in to a parking space. When he held the glowsticks straight up, Bryce stopped the Razor, its hybrid engine idling silently. Thirty seconds later, someone knocked on the passenger door. Nick opened it and saw Gunnery Sergeant Mendel standing there, shoving the glowsticks into his cargo pockets.
“Welcome to the Las Vegas Hilton, folks. I’m your casino host, Gunny Mendel. Please completely shut down anything electronic in your Razor—we don’t want any random UAVs picking up an energy signature.”
“Do it,” Nick said as he turned to Bryce, who shut down the engine and started turning off the Razor’s systems one by one.
Mendel handed a few more glowsticks into the cabin. “We’ve got solar collectors camo’d outside—my guys will hook up your Razor, and I’ll get a couple of extra men on guard duty down here.”
“Appreciate it.” Nick cracked his glowstick and hopped out of the passenger door, landing solidly on his feet in the pitch-black parking garage. “Where’s your CO?”
“Lieutenant Nathan’s sacked out, sir. He’s been running day watch, I’m on night watch. He’ll be up in an hour or so. We’ve got some quarters set up on the second level of the building, away from the windows. Your men who need to sack out can rest up there. I’m sure you and the L.T. will want to convo—he’s set up on the fourth level.”
“Right. Okay, kids. Follow Gunny Mendel—he’ll get you set up with a place to sack out. Chris, come with me—we’re going to chat with Lieutenant Nathan.”
“Coming, boss.”
As Christopher hopped out of the Razor, Mendel tossed him a lit glowstick, which he caught in his left hand. Mendel pointed to the stairwell with another glowstick, and Nick and Christopher set about to climbing the darkened stairs to the fourth floor.
“So where are we, exactly?” Christopher asked.
“Just across the North Korean border. Still another few days from our destination.”
“And that is?”
“Just outside of Pyongyang.”
“Shit. The Lion’s Den.”
“And then some.”
“Well, look at the bright side. At least we’re not in the Razor. Michael snores.”
Nick passed his glowstick over the wall as they climbed yet another flight of stairs. He saw the number four and gestured to the door with his glowstick.
“Wish they could turn some lights on in here.” Christopher shook his head, passing his glowstick over the door, looking for the handle.
“Power might be off in the building. Even if it’s still connected, they wouldn’t want the Chinese or the Koreans to track them through the grid,” Nick said as Christopher found the handle and opened the door. The two of them stepped into a long hallway dimly lit by a single crank-powered lamp.
“G’morning, Lieutenant. Glad you found us.” A young Marine smiled at Nick.
“Good morning, Corporal. Your L.T. up and around yet?”
“Rousing for day watch now, sir. Can we offer you gentlemen a bit of breakfast? MREs, I’m afraid, but better than nothing.”
“Appreciate it.”
The young Corporal—Parker, by his name tag—led Nick and Christopher down the hallway and through a door that opened up onto a large, open office floor crammed with cubicles. Corporal Parker dropped into a crouch, gesturing for Nick and Christopher to do the same. They followed suit, and the three of them crept along the base of one of the cube walls. They stopped at a cubicle set up with four chairs.
“So what’s with the crawling around?”
“Gotta stay off the windows. Chinese see movement up here, we’re 138,” Parker said, a half-grin creeping onto his face.
“What’s 138?” Christopher asked, nodding as Parker handed him an MRE.
“You guys didn’t hear? You’re not the first unit to get sent into North Korea. About two weeks ago, an Air Force AWACS was shot down. Command at Zulu sent in a detachment of the 138th Rangers to go for the pilot and the data.”
“And?” Nick asked, opening his MRE.
“Poof. Gone. Never heard from again.”
“Well, that’s encouraging.”
“They were Army. What do you expect?” Parker chuckled, spooning some dehydrated fruit into his mouth.
“Lock it up, Parker,” Lieutenant Nathan snapped as he appeared in the cubicle’s entryway. “Report?”
“Scopes were clear all night, sir. The tech geeks at Rock Island’ll be glad to know we didn’t see the Razor coming under stealth.”
“Excellent. You’re dismissed, Corporal. Head on down to three and get some rack time.”
“Yes, sir.”
Parker gathered up his MRE and crept to the door. Seconds later, he was gone.
“Sorry about Parker, Lieutenant Morrow. He’s kind of an idiot,” Nathan said, glaring after the vanished Corporal.
“It’s Nick. And no worries.”
“Right. I’m Wyatt.”
“So, Wyatt—was it true what he said about the Ranger unit?”
“Hundred and thirty-eighth Rangers, Operational Detachment Alpha? Sadly, yeah. Twelve men, sent into NK sixteen days ago. Haven’t heard thing one.”
“Expect to?”
“No. Not really. Though I suppose it’s possible. Command hasn’t picked up any traffic saying the Chinks or the Koreans captured them. Like I said, haven’t heard anything.”
“Where was the AWACS reported lost?”
“Couple hundred kliks off your route. Don’t expect you’ll be the ones to solve that particular mystery. Besides, they’ve already been listed MIA. Command’s not gonna risk another unit to go out and find a dozen corpses.”
“Nope. They’ll just risk ours on a rumor,” Christopher mumbled.
“He’s a cheerful one, isn’t he?” Nathan grinned, ripping open another MRE.
“So what have you seen so far? We looking at much resistance?” Nick asked.
“We’re not seeing much, really, but we’re limited to traditional optics. I don’t want to risk cameras or drones. About three miles from here, though, is where the electronic frontier kicks in. Anything sends up a signal that’s not supposed to be there, the Koreans will lock onto it and send everything they’ve got handy.”
“Which is a lot, according to the last UAV flyover we got. Chinese have armed them up good, and they weren’t even hurting for weapons before.” Christopher shook his head.
“Yeah. In addition to the North Korean armor and air cover that was patrolling the border last year, the Chinese have given ‘em CDMs, armed UAVs, electronic counterintrusion tech, cameras, listening posts…really, it’ll be amazing if you make it twenty miles from here.” Nathan shrugged.
“What about our stealth? Any idea how it’ll hold up to all of this?” Christopher asked.
“The cameras’ll be a breeze. Silent running should keep the listening posts from picking you up. It’ll all depend on how good their electronics-detection technology is—it shouldn’t be able to penetrate the Razor’s skin, but there’s no guarantee there.”
“And you wonder why Chris is so cheerful.” Nick smirked.
“Only thing I can say for sure is that you can’t, under any circumstances, use anything electronic during the day when the Razor’s powered down. Your solar collectors won’t show up on their scans, but anything else—a computer, a cell phone—and they’ll have you. Hand radios in short range should be okay, though.”
Nick nodded. “About that…what about comms? Any safe frequency you know of?”
“There’s one we’re pretty sure the Chinese haven’t broken the encryption on, but I wouldn’t risk it unless it’s absolutely necessary. Channel Victor 1-9 in your comm system. We’re monitoring it at night, so if you need to get to us, that’s the one to use. It’s low-freq, though, so it’ll be useless for calling us after a day or two.”
“Thanks for the info, Lieutenant. I’m going to go down and catch some rack time. Mind getting me up in five hours or so? A few things I’ll want to check out before we get rolling.”
“Yeah. Offices down on level two have been set up for you and your crew. Ain’t the Vegas Hilton, but it’s a damn sight better than the drop-downs in the Razors. I’d suggest sleeping with your gun by your rack—we get raided, and you’ll know it. All the power in the building will kick on.”
“Thanks for the hospitality, Lieutenant.”
“
Me
captured office building
es su
captured office building,” Nathan said, waving his hand to indicate the empty office around them.
On the second level of the building, Nick found that individual small offices had been set up for each of his crew. He found an empty office, kicked off his boots and settled on the cot on the floor. After a second’s thought, he grabbed his M4, thumbed the safety off, and set it on the floor next to him.
To keep everyone on a rotation, Nick had four of his men keep day watch with Nathan’s crew. Those four, unfortunately, didn’t get to crash out in the makeshift apartments on the building’s second level—quite a lot more comfortable than the Razor’s drop-down racks, which were little better than canvas stretchers. Still, to their credit, Martin, Gabriel, Michael and Ryan didn’t complain one bit. Ryan, in fact, still looked mostly confused about what he was doing hanging out with a bunch of convict Marines. He didn’t say much at all.
Nick and the rest of 47 Echo were loaded up and ready to roll by twilight. Before they started up the Razor’s systems, Nick, Bryce and Christopher studied the satellite photos and planned out their route. There was only recent UAV data for about two thirds of the trip. The last AWACS data they had came from the last transmission of the downed Air Force plane, and was dated from early October. That made it more than two weeks old, and horribly out of date. Past about three in the morning, Nick realized, they’d be on their own as far as recent intel.
“What time’s sunrise projected?” Christopher asked as they looked over the printouts.
“A little after 0730.”
“Bryce? How far’ll we get by then?”
“On power-saving speed, I’d say about…” Bryce pointed at a small cluster of buildings on one of the satellite photos, “…here. Should make it by around 0600 or so. Oughta give us time to scout a spot to hide the truck.”
Nick waved Anthony over.
“What up, boss?” Anthony asked, looking down at the satellite photos.
“Channel Victor 1-9,” Nick said.
“Yeah. Special Ops low-freq channel. Encryption’s supposed to be unbreakable.”
“We’re gonna need you to keep your ears on that one, as well as scanning for Chinese and North Korean traffic. Can you handle it?”
“Sure. I can program that one in hardline without sending up any flags.”
“Good man. You get anything on that channel, you come get me.”
“Roger that, boss.”
“Prep the rest of the guys. We go stealth in ten minutes.”
Anthony nodded and headed back to the Razor. Nick confirmed the route with Christopher and Bryce then loaded his men up. Bryce and Daniel were in the front two seats. Nick walked up to stand behind them.
“Nice and easy now. Soon as Mary gets our stealth up and running, bring the systems up one at a time.”
The Razor’s rear hatch clanged shut, and Mary called out from the back of the truck a few seconds later. “Stealth systems online and running.”
“Fire it up, gentlemen. We got a lot of road to cover.”
It took less than two minutes for all of the Razor’s systems to come up. Bryce zoomed the huge vehicle up the ramp and out into the night. As soon as they were safely underway, Nick settled into an empty chair and busied himself running through intel reports on North Korea.
What information he found was either out of date or unconfirmed. The last solid data they had was from the AWACS that went down more than two weeks before. Before that, they had a confirmed report back in March of a shipment of two hundred CDMs by rail from a factory in Beijing. Nick assumed that there were a lot more than two hundred CDMs in North Korea now, along with several thousand Chinese troops.
Nick wasn’t terribly worried about the CDMs. They were armed to the teeth, sure, but the Razor could outrun them in a pinch. Air cover, though, was another story. Every UAV or fighter Command sent into North Korea had been shot down without making it far inside, which meant that the Chinese had supplied their North Korean allies with some pretty impressive fighter support, anti-aircraft ordinance, or more likely both. The Razor was fast and tough—but versus a fighter wing equipped with thermobaric ordinance, Nick doubted they’d last thirty or forty seconds.
He looked up from his intel reports and noticed that four hours had passed—it was now just before midnight. Slowly, Nick stood, stretched his legs, and walked back to the stealth station. Mary was listening to her iPod again, but she pulled her headphones out as soon as she saw him approaching.
“What are you listening to there?” Nick asked, dropping himself in the seat next to her.
“Old-school stuff. You’d probably hate it.”
“Try me.”
“Ever hear of the Misfits?”
“Sure. A bit before my time, or yours for that matter. What are you, twenty?”
“Twenty-three.”
“I think they stopped recording before you were born, then. My brother was into them for a while in his teens. I remember him walking around the house with that creepy skull shirt on and rocking out with his headphones in.”
“Yeah, that’s them. My dad played in a punk band when he was a kid, so he got me into this kind of stuff.”
“Put it in the rotation on the MP3 player up front. You don’t have to hide back here with your headphones in. You’re part of the unit, kiddo.”
“Yeah, I know. But these Marines kinda creep me out. I know we’re all convicts here and everything, but it’s still weird being the only chick in the crew.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about Daniel and Bryce, anyway.”
“Yeah, but they’re all the way up there. That’s, like, walking.” Mary smiled.
Nick chuckled.
“Boss. Traffic,” Anthony called from the middle of the Razor.
“On my way,” Nick called back. As he walked toward the comm station, he shook Ryan lightly. The young airman woke quickly.
“What’s up, boss?”
“Traffic.”
“Right behind you.” Ryan hopped off his bunk and followed Nick to the comm station.
“All right. Who do you need? Me or Ryan?” Nick asked, leaning over to look at Anthony’s console.
“Uh, neither, boss. We got chatter on 1-9 Victor.”
“Put it on the speakers.”
Nick could barely make out the voice, as the transmission was full of static. Anthony made a few adjustments, and the signal cleared up a bit.
“—ond. Repeat, this is 1-3-8 Ranger, in need of assistance, transmitting on 1-9 Victor. Any friendlies, please respond.”
“Shit. I think I know that guy.” Ryan shook his head.
Christopher’s head spun around from his position at the weapons station.
“Did I just hear what I think I heard?” he asked.
“Yep. Gentlemen—it looks like we’ve found the missing 138th Rangers detachment,” Nick said.
“Can you get a location on that signal?” Ryan asked, squinting at Anthony’s screens.
“Workin’ on it,” Anthony replied, punching a few more keys.
“While you’re doing that, put me on with him,” Nick said.
Anthony handed over a headset with a mic, and Nick slipped it on.
“One-three-eight Ranger, this is 4-7 Echo. We copy. Identify, please.”
Almost thirty seconds of static passed before the voice came back on the line. “Four-seven Echo, this is 1-3-8 Ranger, Major John Evans. Ident seven-seven-Sierra-Lima-Indigo-four.”
Nick looked over at Mary, who was already up and punching the identification code into the computer. She turned to Nick and nodded—the code checked out.
“Ident confirmed, Major. This is Lieutenant Nick Morrow, Marine 4-7 Echo SRF. What’s your situation, sir?”
“Situation’s all sorts of not good, Lieutenant. Might go so far as to say fucked. There are four of us left, and we’ve been evading Chinese and North Korean patrols for days. We’re out of food, and we’ve got wounded. Can you give us a hand?”
“Hold this freq, Major. Be right back with you.” Nick pulled off the headset and crouched down next to Anthony. “You got a location?”
“Yeah, boss. Thirty miles southeast of our present route. Pretty damned close.”
“Then why does the transmission sound so shitty?” Ryan asked.
“Channel 1-9 Victor is secure, but it’s low-power. Plus, I’m getting a lot of interference. I think our Asian friends have some low-level blocking and jamming going on.”
“So what are our chances of raising Lieutenant Nathan back at the extraction point?” Nick asked.
“Less than none, boss. We’re barely getting a thirty-five-mile radius as it is.”
Christopher shook his head. “Dammit. No way we can get them to roll out in one of their Razors to pick up those guys.”
“Chris, I want you and Bryce to get back on the satellite maps. Re-route us so we can grab the Rangers, then find cover before dawn.”
“You sure that’s wise, Nick?”
Nick sighed. “Nope. But we’re not gonna leave soldiers out there to die. Get back to me as soon as you have something.”
Christopher nodded and headed to the front of the truck. Ryan tapped Nick on the shoulder.
“Mind if I talk to the Rangers? I know the Major. We’re friends from back in the world.”
Nick handed him the headset. “Let him know we’re trying to figure out a way to get to him, but that we are coming.”
“Copy that, sir.” Ryan slipped on the headset. “Ranger 1-3-8, this is 4-7 Echo. Respond.”
“One-three-eight Ranger. Go ahead.”
“Johnny. This is Ryan Pak, brother.”
“Ryan! Holy fuck, what are you doing out here?”
“Bailing you out like you bailed me out back in Denver. Hold tight, buddy. We’re working a way to come get you right now.”
“That’s good news.”
Nick left Ryan to talk to the Rangers and walked up to the front of the truck, where Christopher and Bryce were looking over the satellite photos. On Bryce’s screens, Nick could see the green-and-black images of the North Korean landscape sliding by at thirty-five miles an hour.
“So how’s it look?” Nick asked.
“In a word, bad.” Christopher shook his head. “We pull off our route by more than ten miles. We’ve got nowhere to cover come daylight.”
“Shit. That’s what I hoped you wouldn’t say. Show me where we are now,” Nick said.
Christopher pointed to a spot on the map. Just ahead of the area Christopher indicated, Nick saw a small cluster of buildings.
“What have we got there?”
“Small town. Inhabited, according to the AWACS reports. We’re gonna pass within two miles of it.”
“We can make that town, or pretty close to it, without fucking up our schedule, right?” Nick said.
Bryce nodded.
“Should.”
“Right. How long until we hit it?”
“Six, seven minutes.”
“That’s where we’re headed. Get us within half a mile.”
“Roger that, boss,” Bryce said.
Nick started to walk back to the comm station, and Christopher was right behind him.
“What are you thinking, Nick?”
“Something very stupid, probably. Ryan—hand over the comms to Anthony and get your blacks on. You and I are going on a field trip.”
As the Razor neared the settlement, Nick took over the camera station and scanned the area. After a few minutes, he found what he was looking for—a small box truck. He pointed it out on the screen. “There. That’s what we’re taking. Get me to within a half-mile of that truck. Then Ryan and I are jumping out. We’ll grab the Rangers and catch up to you at the cover point.”
Christopher shook his head. “That’s…that’s not really a safe plan, Nick.”
“It’s not really a safe mission, bro. We’ll keep in radio contact as long as we can, but once daylight hits, shut down the Razor’s systems just like Gunny Mendel told you to.”
“Why are you two going?” Daniel asked. “Why not take Mike or Gabe?”
“If we get stopped, Ryan and I can pass for locals. I’d have a tough time explaining an Irishman or a Mexican. Doubly tough, being that I don’t speak Korean and all.”
“What do we do if we get traffic with no one to translate?” Anthony asked.
“Mary’s got a program that can get you the gist of what’s being said. It’ll have to do, but I don’t think you’ll get a ton. We’ll be back with you—hopefully—around daylight.”
“I still think this is a bad plan, boss.” Christopher shook his head.
“I tend to agree with you, but it’s the only one we’ve got. Ryan, you ready to go?”
Ryan nodded, slipping a portable radio set to 1-9 Victor into the pocket of his black BDU jacket.
“All right. Bryce, slow us to a stop. Here goes nothing.”