Kill Chain (26 page)

“Your wife sent me to
check up on you.”

The girls yelped and the
man sat bolt upright, his eyes wide with shock. “Who are you?” A flash of anger
immediately replaced the surprise, as if in his arrogance he thought he was too
powerful to kill.

Kane ignored the
question, continuing in perfect Mandarin. “Ladies, if you’ll please excuse us?”
They sat, unmoving.

He flicked his weapon.

And they jumped, rushing
inside the house, Kane’s eyes following their slippery forms with appreciation.

They’ve got nothing on
Fang.

Kane aimed the weapon
casually at the man’s nether regions. “You know why I’m here.”

Hang’s eyes narrowed. “
Did
my wife send you?”

He actually appeared
slightly worried.

Must be a formidable
woman.

“No, but if you survive
the night, she just might find out about your little party here.”

Hang flicked the water,
dismissing the threat. “She won’t care. I’ll just buy her another necklace.
She’s a tramp from the farm who has forgotten her place.”

Kane’s smile disappeared.
“I think
you’ve
forgotten your place.”

His stomach flipped again
and a wave of nausea swept over him, a cold sweat breaking out over his entire
body.

“You look like shit. Are
you okay? Don’t you dare throw up in my hot tub.”

Kane debated doing it
just to spite the man. “I think you should be worrying about yourself.”

“I am. I don’t want to
catch whatever you’ve got.”

Kane flicked his weapon,
reminding the man of his predicament. “I’ve got bullets with your name on them.
These
are what you should be worried about catching.” Kane knelt in
front of the man, tapping the stonework with the suppressor. “Someone placed a
large order for drones recently.”

The man’s eyes narrowed,
still not taking his situation seriously. “So. We make thousands of drones. Go
to Walmart if you want one.”

Kane smiled slightly, Hang
evidently figuring out he was American. “These were special drones. Weaponized
drones.”

The man paled slightly. “I
don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He knows
exactly
what I’m talking about.

“Each was fitted with a
Riker WX handgun, then the shipment was sent to South Korea, arriving
yesterday.”

Hang remained quiet,
though his earlier bravado had disappeared, he apparently finally clueing into
the fact he might be about to die.

If I could see through
those bubbles, I bet your balls just ran back to their pre-teen home.

“Are we really going to
play this game?”

Again nothing.

Kane raised his weapon,
shooting the man in the shoulder. Hang screamed out in pain, his good hand
slapping over the wound as blood oozed out over the clenched fingers. Kane
nodded toward the wound. “You’ll live, but not long. That hot water has your
heart pumping faster than normal. Your clotting agents aren’t going to work as
well. Tell me what you know, you live. Play games, you die.” Kane raised his
weapon, aiming at the other shoulder.

“Wait!” cried Hang,
holding out his bloodstained hand. “Y-you’re right.” He winced, pressing his
hand against his shoulder once again. “We got the order and shipped them.”

“And the guns? Where did
you get them?”

Hang shook his head. “I-I
don’t know.” Kane raised his gun, Hang’s eyes bulging. “No! Wait! It’s the
truth! It was an anonymous shipment.”

“Why did you do it? You
had to know it was wrong.”

The man’s shoulders
sagged, he wincing from the involuntary motion. “Money.”

“Money?”

“Yes. A
lot
of
money.”

“How much?”

“I cleared over one
million American dollars.”

“How many drones?”

“Five hundred.”

Kane cursed. “How many
were weaponized?”

“All of them. We
programmed the weapons as per the instructions given, then mounted them to the
drones. We were told to stack them in the container, fully charged and unboxed,
with the weapons loaded with the magazines provided in the shipment that
arrived two months ago.”

“And you have no idea who
you’re dealing with?”

“None, I swear!”

Kane aimed his weapon at
the man’s kibbles ’n bits, both hands quickly moving to cover Hang’s favorite
body part.

“I swear to you, I have
no idea! It was all done through emails and wire transfers.”

Kane eyed the man. There
was genuine fear there, of that there was no doubt, though he couldn’t tell if Hang
was telling the truth.

It’s this damned food
poisoning.

It was throwing him off
his game.

The man’s eyes darted
away.

Kane smiled.

I
knew
there
was something else.

“What aren’t you telling
me?”

 Hang’s eyes cast toward
the rippling water, as if ashamed to answer.

Kane rose, extending his
arm, aiming directly at the man’s crotch. “Out with it, or I split the family
jewels.”

Hang’s eyes bulged. “Umm,
did you find the second shipment?”

Seodaemun
District
Seoul,
Republic of Korea

“So, how’s
everything going with Vanessa?”

Atlas shrugged. “Better.”

“Just better? I thought
you two had patched everything up?”

“Yeah, I guess so. I
mean, it’s a lot better than when she wigged out. Now that she knows the truth,
I think she’s happy, but she’s still getting used to it, you know, the entire
security aspect.”

“She’s been able to keep
the secret?”

“Yup. Her mom still hates
me.”

Spock slapped him on the
back. “There you go!”

Atlas chuckled. “Yeah, I
guess that’s something.” He became serious. “Vanessa still worries every time I
have to leave. When I get home, she has a hard time letting me go.”

Jagger grinned. “Which
can have its perks!”

Atlas laughed. “No doubt!
She had a hard time letting me go yesterday, though.”

Dawson motioned to the
dozens of heavily armed Koreans. “Well, at least you’re nice and safe in South
Korea.”

Atlas grunted. “Yeah, and
with all the press coverage, the ladies probably know exactly where we are.”

Dawson motioned toward
Atlas’ pocket. “Fire her a text, let her know you’re all right.”

Atlas shook his head.
“Better not. If I do that, then every other time I’m on an op and can’t text her,
she’ll think I’m dead.”

Dawson nodded. “You’re a
wise man.”

“Hey, I ain’t just a
pretty face.”

“Oooh, don’t worry.
You’re definitely not that.”

“Hey, I said
just
.”

“Oh, missed that part.”

“Uh huh.”

Dawson held up his hand,
cocking an ear. “Oh shit! Incoming!”

He stuck his arms out and
corralled everyone he could toward a north-facing wall, there little doubt
where the artillery he had just heard originated. As he slammed against the
metal side of the warehouse, he looked behind him at the city of ten million. A
fireball erupted to the east, then another, followed by dozens more as an
intense artillery barrage began, the ground shaking with each nearby explosion.

Sirens abruptly began
their terrifying wail, screams heard among those in the warehouse district where
they now found themselves. The South Korean in charge rushed over.

“We need to get to
shelter, now!”

Dawson watched as the
Koreans rushed to their vehicles, there apparently no shelter in the immediate
vicinity. He turned to their embassy driver. “Go with them.”

She shook her head. “No
way, I’m staying with you.”

Dawson was impressed with
her desire to stay, but she was a liability now, neither trained or equipped
for the situation. He pointed at the heavy bombardment. “This is now a war zone.
You’re not properly equipped and you’re my responsibility.” He lowered his
voice. “Please, go with them.”

She frowned, though he
caught a hint of relief in her eyes. “Fine.” She tossed him the keys. “Just
remember, you’re not bulletproof either.”

He smiled. “I’ll
remember.”

She looked at the others,
concern in her eyes, then ran over to one of the Korean vehicles and climbed
in.

Dawson activated his
comm. “Control, Zero-One. The North Koreans have begun bombarding Seoul. If we
don’t find the hostages soon, they might not live to see a rescue.”

“Copy that, Zero-One.
We’ve got something for you. We located an account that paid that kid you
found. It had several other minor transactions, but two larger ones. One to a
real estate rental company in Seoul, the other—the largest by far—to a private
security firm.”

“Have you been able to
reach them?”

“The real estate company
refused to answer any questions without a warrant, and the security firm
appears to have no way to contact it—I guess if you really need them, you
already know how.”

“Addresses?”

“Sent to your phone.”

“I’ll be in touch.
Zero-One, out.”

He glanced up as F-16
Fighting Falcons and F-22 Raptors streaked by, screaming toward the front to
unload their deadly ordnance on the North’s artillery placements. The trails of
hundreds of rockets and missiles responding to the attack filled the sky, the
thunder of counter-artillery and missile defense systems blanketing the
northern approach to the city deafening, more so as they found targets,
detonating the incoming warheads harmlessly overhead.

It was an all-out war.

And he was stuck in the
middle with his men.

He looked at the others.
“Never thought I’d be on the frontlines of the next Korean War.”

Atlas grimaced as a massive
fireball roared skyward less than a mile away. “Me neither. And there’s no
damned way I’m dying here. You got those addresses?”

Dawson checked his phone.
“Yup.”

“Then how ’bout we get a wiggle
on.”

Dawson smiled as he turned
around, the Koreans gone. “Looks like you’re navigating.”

Embassy
of the United States Seoul
32
Sejongno Street, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Red
rushed toward the Sikorsky VH-60N “WhiteHawk” helicopter, his hand planted
firmly on the small of the President’s back, urging him forward. Fortunately,
the choppers had returned from the decoy evacuation, fully fueled at Osan. The
north side of the compound was a smoldering wreck, two shells having already
hit it. Terrified cries from the civilians surrounded them, and though he
wanted to save them all, his responsibility extended to only one man.

The President of the
United States.

He pushed the most
powerful man in the world into his seat as the rest piled in.

“Go! Go! Go!”

The chopper lifted off, Sergeant
Zack “Wings” Hauser at the controls, the building holding the chopper pilots
taking a direct hit, killing or injuring half the crews. Though he trusted the
Marines who normally piloted this bird, he had ordered Wings to take over,
leaving the survivors to pilot the decoys—he wanted someone with ten years of
combat experience behind the stick.

They cleared the walls
and the nose dipped sharply as Wings picked up speed, keeping them low, barely
above the rooftops. They all sat in silence as they watched the carnage unfold underneath
them, shell upon shell slamming into the innocence below, he left to question
why they would leave their capital city so close to such insanity.

There were plans to relocate
the capital farther south, though denial prevented them from moving forward with
the logical choice. The South Korean people were strong and proud and filled
with hope that one day the two halves of their divided country would be united.
Today that possibility was either irrevocably destroyed, or if things should go
all the way, forced upon them whether they wanted it or not.