Authors: Craig Reed Jr
Red Ice (25 page)
Rhee strode into the meth lab. “You three are coming with me!”
Ryuk was shaking. “W-what is happening, Major?”
“The Americans have found us. We need to leave
now
.”
“How did they find us?” Chang asked.
“That does not matter now. What matters is the escape tunnel is still secure.”
Mori turned toward him, her expression mocking. “Aw, the poor major,” she said in a sarcastic tone. “The ‘stupid Americans’ seem to have found us so quickly. I guess they aren’t as stupid as you believed?”
“We are leaving.” Rhee looked at all three chemists. “Leave everything where it is.”
Ryuk stared at Rhee in fear. “But the Americans will kill us!”
Rhee took out his pistol and pointed it at Ryuk. “
I
will kill you if you do not start moving!”
Mori smirked and folded her arms. “So much for your clever plan.”
“Enough.” He looked at the two guards standing in the corners of the lab. “Report to Captain P’il. There are intruders in the complex. Kill them.” The men snapped to attention and left the lab at a run.
Rhee motioned to Muhn. “Bring Dr. Mori.”
He addressed Ryuk and Chang. “Go to the door.”
Muhn walked over to Mori, who waited until the man was within reach before launching herself at him. He slipped her punch, twisted so that her knee was aimed at his crotch and struck him in the thigh. He slapped her hard across the face, hard enough to stun her. Before she could recover, Muhn had kicked her feet out from under her, rolled her over, and handcuffed her arms behind her back.
Rhee walked to the door. “Bring her. We need to–”
Rhee was interrupted by a pair of explosions, muffled but loud.
#
The OUTCAST team ran through the tunnel just as a trio of soldiers appeared from around a bend. Tanner and Naomi fired their M-203s, the buckshot rounds filling the tunnel with a cloud of steel balls that tore into all three guards. The North Koreans went down as if they’d struck an invisible wall. The team barreled down the tunnel, hurtling over the bloody bodies, speed and surprise replacing stealth and silence.
Around the bend, the tunnel was longer and well-lit. Shouts could be heard up ahead and more armed men appeared in the tunnel. The team threw themselves against the wall as the enemy opened fire, filling the passage with scores of bullets. Liam grunted and spun as he reached the wall.
“You okay?” Tanner yelled.
“Grazed along the ribs,” Liam replied with a grimace. “The armor took the impact, but still hurts like a son of a bitch.”
The team opened fire, both Stephen and Dante firing HE rounds from their M203s into the enemy group. The tunnel seemed to heave as both 40mm rounds exploded in the middle of the defenders. Tanner leapt up and ran into the dust and smoke, followed by the rest of the team. Overhead, the rock groaned dangerously.
They ran through where the North Koreans had been, hopping over rocks and what had been parts of a fanatical enemy a few seconds ago. As they ran, the tunnel roof cracked and small rocks and rock dust started to fall. Twenty yards behind them, the tunnel roof gave way and began collapsing in earnest.
The team ran harder as more of the tunnel filled in.
#
The rumbling was distant but loud enough for Vessler and the other members of Task Force Sun to hear. “What is that, an earthquake?”
Gary Daniels, standing a few feet away, shook his head. “That’s a tunnel collapsing. I’ve heard a few of them in my time.”
They were standing in what was left of the ranch house’s kitchen. Shattered glass and spent shells were everywhere. The bodies of the North Koreans littered the floor, covered with plaster dust pieces of wallboard and wood splinters. The dead and wounded agents had already been carried outside where army medics were working on saving lives and preparing them for transport. Agents moved through the wreckage, picking up rifles and piling them in one corner of the dining room.
“Vess!” Phil Brock called from the basement.
Vessler went over to the doorway and saw her fellow DEA agent at the bottom. “What?”
“There was a tunnel down here, but it collapsed before we made entry. We’re not getting through there.”
“All right, haul your ass up here.” Vessler tapped her radio “Striker to Ramrod. Anything from your boys?”
“My EOD boys say the barn is secured and the detonators had been disassembled. The perimeter guards report everything’s quiet. No sign of anyone trying to escape.”
Any word from OUTCAST?”
“Negative. I’m not hopeful.”
“I need some of your guys to secure the building. I’m taking Sun to PYRITE to find out what’s happening down there.”
“Copy, give me ten minutes. Ramrod out.”
“Vess,” Daniels said. She turned to see him hold up a plastic bag with skin patches on a strip of paper. “These look familiar?”
“Hell yes! Bag it into evidence, but don’t let out of DEA sight!”
She tapped her radio. “Striker to all Sun elements. Bag your evidence, put it into the lockers. I want one member from each agency assigned to guard them until we can get them transported off-site. The rest of you, gear up, we’re going underground.”
The rumbling echoed through the underground base and the vibrations greeted Rhee as he exited the lab. The reverberations became louder and changed to a low roar, the deep grinding of rocks on rocks. Rhee recognized the noise of a tunnel collapsing and his grimace deepened. “Stand your ground!” he hollered at the dozen guards standing around the central area.
The eight members of Rhee’s group — Rhee, Muhn, Sergeant Hyoung, the three chemists and two soldiers — started toward the passage leading to the escape tunnel. The tunnel that led to the prisoners was filled with dust and smoke. Rhee took out a handkerchief and held it over his mouth.
“Where’s Captain P’il?”
“He went down the tunnel.” one of the guards replied.
Rhee motioned to his scar-faced subordinate. When Muhn leaned closer, Rhee said quietly, “Set the detonator for three minutes. It won’t destroy the prison pens, but it will bring down everything else.” Muhn nodded and went to the security chamber.
“Warriors of the Fatherland!” Rhee said. “Hold this position for ten minutes, then follow us. The Americans will pay for this setback.”
“Sir,” the same guard said. “There’s no way—”
Gunfire exploded from the collapsed tunnel. More guards were cut apart by the storm of bullets. Rhee pulled his pistol and grabbed Mori by the arm. “Muhn, hurry! Ryuk, Chang—follow me.” Rhee dragged Mori into the tunnel.
They failed to notice the stalking figures emerge from the dust and smoke spewing from the collapsed tunnel.
#
It was kill or be killed, and the OUTCASTs had the advantage of surprise and cover. Half the North Koreans in the chamber died in the first exchange. Through the thinning dust clouds, Tanner saw Rhee dragging a woman matching Dr. Mori’s description into a tunnel at the far end of the chamber. Three soldiers and two men in lab coats followed Rhee.
The remaining North Koreans recovered from their surprise and opened fire. The team darted into safety behind several stalagmites, the rock shielding them from the gunfire. Tanner leaned out and fired another buckshot round from his M-203, the blast butchering two North Koreans. He pulled back, changed magazines on his MP5, reloaded the M-203 and alerted his team. “Rhee’s escaping!”
Liam leaned out and fired two short bursts, killing one North Korean and forcing another to find cover. “What’s the plan?”
“CS rounds. Two, you and Three hit the Tangos on the left, Four and I will hit the ones on the right. Five, drop both your rounds into the tunnel at the far end. Masks on, then load CS!”
They prepared their equipment accordingly and then, just as they started to lean out, a tall and muscular scar-faced man stepped out into another opening, his weapon spitting out lead at the OUTCASTs, forcing them to retreat behind their cover. After a few seconds, the gunfire faded, most of the soldiers swapping out magazines at the same time.
“Now!” Tanner shouted, stepping out from behind his stalagmite cover just enough so he could fire his M-203. In the span of three seconds, the other four also fired.
The five grenades flew across the cavern and exploded, filling half the space with roiling white smoke. Dante reloaded and sent his second CS round after his first, into the tunnel where Rhee and the others had fled. They heard the choking and shouts of anger and frustration as the enemy was hit with the full effect. Tanner reloaded the buckshot round. “On three…”
The team darted out from the columns and raced toward the sounds of suffering. Tanner marked an area to his right where several people coughed and cursed breathlessly. He pulled the 203’s trigger. The load of double buckshot cut through the gas and the enemy gunmen with brutal efficiency, three men catching the brunt of the blast. To Tanner’s left, one of the gunmen charged out of the white cloud, eyes swollen shut, wildly swinging his AK-47 like a club. Tanner cut him down with a short burst. Stephen, a few feet behind them to Tanner’s left, dropped two more North Koreans who staggered out of the CS fog with paired 9mm volleys.
Two more North Koreans ran into the central area from another tunnel. One went down when Dante stitched him from naval to chin, while the other dove into cover behind a stalagmite.
Another soldier, eyes red but still able to see, charged out of the gas. He’d lost his rifle, but tried to gut Naomi with a fixed blade knife. Too close to aim and fire, the former ATF agent stepped back and slammed her MP5 down on the knife arm hard enough to break his wrist. As the soldier grunted in pain, Naomi stepped to the right and kicked him hard in the knee, her steel-tipped boot shattering his kneecap. His strangled snarl ended when she fired a four-shot burst into his head as he fell.
Stephen saw movement behind the stalagmite where the North Korean had taken cover after his partner was shot. He spun and raised his MP5 just as the soldier stepped out, AK raised. Stephen fired first, his 9mm rounds striking the rock formation with most of his long burst, but a few struck flesh and the soldier fell over backwards.
Sudden silence fell over the cavern. The tear gas thinned out as the chemical radiated into the side tunnels off of the chamber, and the team could see that they were the only people in the cavern still on their feet.
“We need to get after Rhee,” Liam said.
“Three,” Tanner said. “You and Four check the entrances on the right. Two, you and Five check the ones on the left.”
“But Rhee—”
“Is the type to leave surprises. Quick check, people, then we go after Rhee.”
“What sort of surprises are we looking for?” Liam asked.
“The explosive type.”
It took Naomi and Stephen fifteen seconds to find the surprise. The cigar box-sized detonator sat on a table in a small chamber with a dozen closed-circuit screens, chalkboards with Korean characters on them, and a map of the installation on one wall. A digital timer counted down, little more than thirty seconds left. Sets of wires ran from the box up the wall and to a series of plastic explosive blocks mounted on the chamber walls.
“Found the detonator!” Naomi called out. She unsheathed a fighting dagger — one of the few tangible things she had left of her dead fiancé, ‘Chance’ Zanetti — and with a few swift cuts, separated the wire bundles from the box. She tossed the box onto the floor, drew her pistol and put four shots into it, mangling the internal components beyond repair.
Meanwhile, Stephen was looking at the screens and the map on the wall. He studied the map until movement caught his eye on one of the screens. He watched a closed circuit video feed as Rhee and his group jogged through a cavern. His eyes narrowed as they flicked back to the map.
“Four to Prime,” he said into his radio. “I know where Rhee’s going.” He looked back at the monitors and saw the group pass a heavy machine gun pointing in the direction they had come from.
“And we have a problem.”
#
Rhee, still holding Dr. Mori by the arm, stopped and looked back in the direction from which they’d come. The escape tunnel was a narrow, twisting affair, rough-cut rock designed for one thing only — to evacuate the base in case of an attack.
Muhn turned and also looked. “Gunfire stopped.”
Rhee glared. “How much time is left on the detonators?”
“Less than twenty seconds.”
“Keep moving.”
They trotted on until Rhee stopped and consulted his wristwatch, his face contorting into a mask of confusion as his gaze bored into the watch’s second hand. “What happened? The explosives didn’t go off.”
“They must have found the detonator,” Muhn said.
Rhee’s expression became cold and dark. “Captain, take two soldiers and stay here with the rest of the guards. Eliminate the enemy, then destroy that lab. Meet us at the safehouse in Sacramento.”
Muhn nodded, the scar-faced man’s expression stony with resolve.
Except for the detonator, the map, and the video monitor showing Rhee’s escape, the OUTCAST team found nothing in their hasty search. The laboratory, a near duplicate of the one in the warehouse, was empty, though it was clear to Tanner that methamphetamine was the lab’s main product.
The team reassembled in the central chamber and Stephen summarized what they knew. “It looks like Rhee is heading for an escape tunnel that leads to the barn a mile and a half west of this complex. The good news is that the escape tunnel is not far from here — right through that tunnel there.” He pointed at the entrance through which Rhee had vanished.
“The bad news is that there is a group of fanatical North Koreans and a DShK machine gun waiting at the other end of that tunnel. There’s enough of a curve so that you can’t see one end from the other. It’s not very wide, though, and we’d be shredded before we got close enough to shoot.”
“We don’t have any time to waste,” Tanner said.
Liam nodded. “I have an idea.”
#
“Sir! Smoke!”
Muhn spun toward the machine gun. Smoke drifted out of the tunnel. “Open fire,” he roared.
The machine gunners followed orders and the DShK sparked to life, sending scores of 12.7mm rounds into the tunnel, the assistant gunner struggling to attach the next fifty-round belt to keep up a continuous fire. The sound of the DShK echoed throughout the cavern, making it sound like a dozen machine guns firing simultaneously.
After a minute, Muhn bellowed, “Cease fire!”
Silence settled in the tunnel as the echoes died away. Smoke still wafted out of the tunnel, but there was no noise beyond the soft scraping of the guards’ boots as they shifted uneasily.
“Reload!” Muhn spat. “Cho, Ryeon, throw grenades into the tunnel.”
The two North Korean Special Forces soldiers advanced, staying out of the DShK’s line of fire, each man gripping a hand grenade. They pulled the pins, but before they could throw them, something careened out of the smoke-filled tunnel and exploded against the heavy machine gun’s shield.
The gun plate was twisted apart by twin explosions, fragments spinning in a wide arc, slicing into the machine gunner and assistant like a swarm of steel hornets. The DShK’s barrel was bent and thrown back onto the bloody bodies of its crew. The blast knocked down both grenade throwers and one of them dropped his mini-bomb. He scrambled to grab it but it detonated, shredding him and his fellow soldier, whose grenade exploded in turn, producing another wave of shrapnel.
Before Muhn could shout a command, another round of grenades sailed out of the tunnel, these ones spewing thick white smoke that sent the survivors into coughing fits.
“Tear gas!” Muhn managed to gasp. “Get back!”
#
The plan cost the team four smoke canisters, their last two HE grenades for their M-203s, and their last four CS grenades.
They had used the smoke canisters to fill the tunnel with smoke, waited for the machine gun to stop firing, then fired the HE rounds and CS rounds. On Tanner’s go, they had blitzed around the turn and into the cavern, shooting at any target.
Movement to Tanner’s right made him spin toward it. One of the defenders, his face bloody, but his expression twisted in fury as he tried to raise his Type 56. Tanner triggered a short burst into the man’s chest and the now-dead North Korean flopped backwards.
To the left, Dante and Naomi caught movement in the smoke and they both fired. The North Korean solider staggered, but raised his Type 56, only to go down for good when Dante squeezed his grenade launcher and the buckshot gutted the soldier from neck to groin.
Stephen moved past the machine gun tripod when a North Korean soldier stepped out of the smoke, grabbed the MP5 with one hand and tried to slice the former CIA agent with a knife in the other. Stephen released his weapon, putting the knife-wielder, who had expected more resistance, off-balance. As the knife flashed in, Stephen used an inside scoop-block to redirect it to his left. He then executed a tiger’s mouth strike to crush the man’s throat, throwing his weight into the strike with a snapping twist of his hips. Unable to breathe, the man dropped to his knees, then onto his face.
Liam killed two enemy soldiers with short bursts as soon as he saw them. The third fanatic tried rushing Liam, firing his AK from his hip, only to be cut down by Dante.
A boot flashed out of the fog and smashed into Liam’s left shoulder hard enough to stagger him. Liam turned just as another kick struck him in the middle of his chest and knocked him off his feet.
Liam tucked his head and fired a long burst into the cloud as he hit the hard rock floor. The large, scar-faced North Korean dodged the burst and charged Liam. His eyes were red-rimmed and watery, but wide open. He threw a rock at Stephen just as he drew and aimed his pistol, the heavy chunk of granite striking the ex-CIA man in the shoulder before he could open fire.
Liam’s left arm went numb. Still flat on his back, he tried raising his MP5 to shoot the attacker one-handed, only to have his assailant kick the submachine gun away and follow it with a stomp to Liam’s head. The former SEAL yanked his head to the side, the toe of the North Korean’s shoe scraping the side of Liam’s face. Liam’s hand yanked his combat knife free of its sheath and he slashed at the man’s leg, scoring a shallow cut along his calf.
The man jerked back, but before he could move, more shots rang out. Two slugs slammed into the man’s face, while two more struck him in the chest, dropping him next to Liam.
Tanner ran over, his SOCOM pistol in his hands, pointed at the slayed Tango. Naomi was behind him, her pistol also in her hands. “You okay?”
Liam sat up and sheathed his knife. “Peachy.”
“Stephen?”
“I’m all right. Shoulder hurts like a son of a bitch.”
Liam stood. “Must be one of Rhee’s Special Forces boys. I’m pretty sure this guy was in a few of those surveillance photos.”
“We need to go after Rhee,” Tanner said. “Can you fight?”
Liam flexed his left arm. “Yeah.”
“Stephen?”
“Don’t ask me to do the wave, or signal a touchdown, but otherwise, yes.”
Dante came out of the now dissipating CS cloud. “Everyone else is down.”
Tanner holstered his pistol. “Let’s go.”
#
Tanner led the way down the narrow, twisting tunnel. The light level was close to twilight, leaving plenty of shadows. The team moved at a fast walk using their NVGs, their guns at the ready. Ahead of them, they could hear footsteps and the occasional word of Korean.
As they rounded a corner, gunfire erupted ahead and two bullets flew past Tanner’s face to strike the tunnel wall behind him. Tanner dropped to one knee and aimed his MP5 down the corridor. He saw Rhee standing behind Dr. Mori, one arm around her neck, the other pointing a pistol in Tanner’s direction, using the chemist as a shield. Next to him, another man stood with an assault rifle pointed at the OUTCAST founder.
“American,” Rhee shouted in accented English. “Any farther and Dr. Mori dies!”
“You can’t win, Rhee,” Tanner shouted back. “You’ve got nowhere to run.”
“Is that so?” Rhee yanked Mori back and started to back down the tunnel, the soldier following. “Your arrogance is immense! I have more allies than you can imagine.”
“Let me take the shot,” Liam subvocalized over the radio.
“Your leaders are insane,” Tanner shouted back, lowering his MP5 until it dangled from its sling. He drew his pistol. “You can’t escape.” He glanced back at Liam, who aimed his pistol with both hands.
“Your arm?” he subvocalized.
“I can make the shot.”
The tunnel was almost dark, and Tanner doubted that Rhee could see much more than a few shadows from where he was standing. “Two,” he subvocalized, “if you get the shot, take it. I’ll keep him talking. Three, cover the other guy. Four and Five, stand by for backup if we miss.”
Rhee placed the muzzle of the pistol against Mori’s head. “You Americans are corrupt,” he shouted, continuing his retreat down the tunnel.
Liam and Tanner, joined by Naomi, kept pace, maintaining the distance between them and the enemy. Stephen and Dante followed their associates.
“I said no farther!” Rhee snapped.
“Dr. Mori,” Tanner called. “Are you all right!”
“No,” she yelled, “kill this son of a bitch!”
“Shut up,” Rhee said.
Tanner stepped forward, his pistol pointed at Rhee. “Surrender or die.”
Rhee started to bring his pistol up to aim at Tanner. “You first.”
Without warning, Mori grabbed Rhee’s controlling arm with both hands and kicked both of her feet out. The sudden deadweight pulled the major’s arm down, exposing his face. Rhee realized what was happening an instant too late. Both Tanner and Liam fired twice, all four .45 slugs ripping through his head, nearly decapitating him. Naomi fired half a heartbeat later, putting four bullets into the center mass of the soldier before he could fire his assault rifle.
As the targets collapsed, Tanner and Liam moved in. Mori wrenched the now-lifeless arm from her neck, rolled to her feet and began to savagely kick Rhee’s lifeless body. Tanner held up a hand to stop the others and they watched as the freed chemist vented herself on her captor’s body. With a final kick, she turned and looked at Tanner. Then, with a sob, she threw herself into his arms and broke down in tears.
Tanner held her, looking over at Liam. “Get those chemists.” Liam nodded and moved past them.
Naomi looked down at Rhee’s body. “Looks like he really lost his head this time.”