Kill Chain (12 page)

Niner cursed. “There’s no
way in hell we’re going to find out who did it, then. Thousands of people could
have had access at some point.”

The tech shook his head.
“Not necessarily true.”

“Excuse me?”

“These are brand new
vehicles, delivered for the G20 meeting.”

“How new?” asked Kim.

“Less than two weeks. And
because they were for a government client, additional security precautions were
taken. The access might be more limited than you think.”

Kim clasped her hands
behind her back. “We’re going to need a list of every single person who might
have laid a finger on both these vehicles. Now.”

Seoripul
Park
Seoul,
Republic of Korea

Byung-ho
lay on his back, enjoying the heat from the sun as it beat down on his face and
bare arms. It was an incredible day. A perfect day. He started a new job
tomorrow, his new girlfriend had told him she loved him last night, and he
simply couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

Life was good.

The sound of the city
beyond the park was unavoidable, though nature was making its presence felt, the
sound of birds surrounding him something he would never tire of, something he
missed dearly. He had left the family farm for the excitement of the city, a
friend getting him the job he began tomorrow, and a room in his apartment. It
was small, much smaller than he was used to, but he didn’t care—he didn’t plan
to spend much time there. It had only been two weeks and he had met a girl,
fallen in love, got a new job at an electronics factory, and made more friends
than he could possibly have imagined.

The only thing he missed
was his mother’s cooking and the smell of his father’s corncob pipe, handed
down from his grandfather who had fought with the Americans and worshiped MacArthur.
He thought it rather ridiculous, though he could never imagine his father on
the porch after a long day’s work without it.

He sighed, pulling out
his phone and firing a quick text message to his young sister.

Tell mom and dad I
love them.

The phone immediately
vibrated.

What, you don’t love
me?

He chuckled.

Tell yourself I love
you too.

Smiley faces and heart-shaped
emoticons were the response.

Someone whimpered near
him.

He turned his head toward
the sound, seeing no one, and was about to chalk it up to an overly sentimental
imagination when he heard it again.

He sat up.

Cocking an ear, he tried
to find the source. There were others in the park, though no one alone, at
least not within earshot, and no one that he could see crying.

Again a whimper.

He stood, brushing off
his slacks, then slowly walked toward where he thought he heard the sound.
There was a thatch of trees nearby, the traffic of the city on the other side,
another whimper confirming without a doubt the sounds were coming from within.

“Hello?”

Nothing.

He continued toward the
trees, the whimpering now constant, it no longer a stray sound carried by the
wind to his ears.

“Are you okay? Do you
need help?”

He reached the trees and
pushed through, the light traffic on the other side getting louder, the
whimpers now sounding like they were from either a woman or a child. He broke
through and gasped.

An older woman,
impeccably dressed, stood pressed against the trees, shaking in fear as four
drones hovered in front of her.

“What the—!”

One of the drones turned
toward him and his jaw dropped as he recognized the barrel of a gun pointing
toward him. He leaped back into the trees as the sound of gunfire erupted, bark
splintering in all directions as the shots missed, blasting apart the tree
trunks. He crawled on his hands and knees as he scrambled deeper into the trees
when the shooting stopped. Glancing over his shoulder, he had a view of the
woman, still standing, thankfully not hit, and the four drones.

Suddenly they darted away
and out of sight.

He tentatively climbed to
his feet, gingerly stepping forward and back into the open, all the while
scanning the skies, the drones nowhere to be seen. He turned to the woman.

“What just happened?”

Noksapyeong
Road
Seoul,
Republic of Korea

“They’ve
found the Chinese President’s wife!”

Dawson’s eyebrows rose
slightly, it no competition for Spock’s jacked-up single entry. “Where?” he
asked their new liaison, Senior Inspector Kim still off with Niner and Jimmy.

“Not far from here. Do
you wish to attend?”

“Does a bear shit in the
woods?”

The man stared at him,
puzzled. “I don’t know. I assume so.”

Dawson suppressed a
smile. “The answer is yes.”

The man’s head slowly
bobbed then he smiled, his eyes widening as his translation buffer finally
caught up with the conversation. “Ahh, I understand!” He smiled, pointing
toward their vehicle. “Follow us. We are leaving now.”

Dawson climbed in the
passenger seat as he jacked into Langley, their embassy driver taking the wheel.
“Control, Zero-One. Do you copy, over?”

“Zero-One, Control
Actual. Go ahead, over.”

“We’ve just been notified
they found the Chinese President’s wife. Do you have any additional
information?”

“Not much,” replied
Leroux. “Reports are just coming in now. Apparently she was found on the side
of the road about twenty minutes ago.”

Dawson exchanged a look
with Spock, suppressing his desire to curse. “Why did it take so long to notify
us?”

“A civilian found her and
called it in. The police didn’t know who they were dealing with. I guess they
thought it was just some old woman having mental issues. They just put two and
two together a few minutes ago.”

“Christ!” muttered
Dawson. “Any luck on finding a possible destination for the bus?”

“Still working on it, but
she might be able to tell you something that could help.”

“Copy that.”

Spock pointed ahead as
they rapidly approached half a dozen emergency vehicles.

“Control, we’re arriving
at the scene now. I’ll contact you with an update shortly. Zero-One, out.”

The driver pulled to the
curb behind a police car and they all piled out. An ambulance stood nearby, its
green lights flashing, the rear doors opened, the Chinese President’s wife,
Mrs. Cheng, sitting on the rear step, a blood pressure cuff on one arm. Their
liaison was already in a huddle with those on the scene. Dawson walked toward
them when something was shouted in Korean, their contact clearly surprised by
something.

“What is it?” Everyone
turned toward him. “Did she say who kidnapped her?”

Their liaison nodded, for
some reason struggling with the answer.

“Who?”

He looked at Dawson,
almost ashamed to reply. He sucked in a breath, the single word bursting forth.

“Drones.”

Operations
Center 1
CIA
Headquarters, Langley, Virginia

“Drones?”

Leroux exchanged a glance
with Tong who appeared equally surprised. Dawson’s update was good news in that
it most likely meant the other hostages were probably alive, though the
question was why they let this particular one go.

“Yeah, that’s what she’s
claiming. From what we can piece together, the bus’s automated system was taken
over and a voice over the speaker told them to stay put and do nothing or
explosives attached to the bus would be detonated.”

Leroux frowned at the
mention of explosives. “We’ll have to work that into any rescue strategy
obviously, but I find it hard to believe.”

“Yeah, me too. That bus
was swept front to back, top to bottom, before they boarded, and was under
constant guard. The only way explosives got under the bus is if they were
attached after they left, and you’d think the security team would have spotted
that.”

Child spun in his chair.
“Could’ve done it from underneath. At a traffic light or something, when they
stopped.”

Leroux agreed. “Possible.
But they would have had to know they were going to stop in a particular place.”
He tossed his head back, closing his eyes. “Just like they knew the fuel truck
would be where it was.” He drew a breath then exhaled quickly. “Which means
it’s totally possible. I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the possibility, Zero-One.”

“Copy that.”

“Did she have any intel
on where they went?”

“Not much. She doesn’t
know the city at all, and she said most people were keeping their head down.
They apparently went into some sort of warehouse where they ordered the guards
and the German Chancellor’s husband off the bus. They were shot by drones the
moment they stepped down.”

Leroux’s eyebrows shot
up. “What kind of drones?”

“Small Radio Shack type
things from what she described. We’re not talking Predators here.”

“Is that even possible?”
asked Child.

Leroux nodded. “Yeah. Some
guy did it a couple of years ago and posted it on YouTube. Definitely
possible.” He glanced up at the ceiling, toward the speakers. “How many drones
are we dealing with?”

“She and the witness
suggest there were four to six drones holding her, plus another couple of dozen
apparently at the warehouse where they were offloaded and put in a
semi-trailer.”

“Why was she let go?”

“That’s the sixty-four-thousand-dollar
question, isn’t it? If it’s the North Koreans behind this, it does make sense.
China is their ally, after all. Now they’ve got no reason to get involved.”

“That’s exactly what I
was thinking.” Leroux checked his watch. “When will she be given a full
debriefing?”

“She won’t.”

“Excuse me?”

“The Chinese have already
arrived and taken her.”

Leroux could hear the
frustration in Dawson’s voice, his own chest tightening in anger. This woman
was their only lead to the others. Lives depended on what she might remember,
perhaps something she didn’t even realize she knew. Experts needed to debrief
her, and they needed to do it
now.
“Where’d they take her?”

“No idea, they’re not
talking. She could be able to provide us with valuable intel, though, so
someone above my pay grade needs to get on this right away. Zero-Two’s asking
the President if there’s anything he can do, so that’s about as high as you can
go.”

Child leaned forward in
his chair. “Could the Chinese be involved?”

Leroux shook his head.
“Doubt it. They’re Communist, not crazy.”

Tong cleared her throat.
“Why not just leave her at the warehouse?”

Leroux looked at her, his
lips pursed. “That’s exactly what I was wondering myself.”