Kill Chain (29 page)

A meek, “You’re welcome”,
the response.

Followed by something in
Korean he was certain he didn’t want translated.

Operations
Center 1
CIA
Headquarters, Langley, Virginia

“There’s a
second shipment. We need to find out where it went.”

Leroux turned to Child
who was already furiously running the new intel from Kane. Child muttered a
curse.

“He’s right! I have a
second shipment originating at the factory.”

“What’s supposed to be in
it?”

Child shook his head.
“It’s labeled as miscellaneous spare parts.”

Leroux knew spare parts wouldn’t
excite Kane. “What aren’t you telling us, Dylan?”

“It’s automated weapons
systems.”

Leroux’s chin dropped.
“Are you kidding me?” He snapped his fingers at Child. “Where did they go?”

Child hit a few keys then
shoved back from his desk. “You’re not going to believe this.”

Leroux motioned for the
info, impatient. “Quickly.”

“They were shipped to the
same private security company that received the large payment.”

Leroux dropped into his
chair. “That can’t be good.”

Kane’s voice came in over
the speaker. “Didn’t you just say that Delta is heading to that second rental
address now?”

Leroux’s chest tightened.
“Yes. ETA less than five minutes. The Koreans are providing choppers to bypass
the gridlock and the hostiles on the streets. Ground troops are moving into
Seoul from the southern districts to secure the city, but until then, ground
travel isn’t safe.”

“Well, you better warn
Delta that they may be about to drop into a world of hurt.”

Leroux motioned to Tong
to relay the info, she immediately activating her comms. Leroux stared up at
the ceiling. “Do you need evac?”

“Negative, there’s no way
I’m getting into Seoul, not with what’s going on. I’ll use my contacts here to
get out on my own.”

Leroux felt his chest
tighten, though Kane was right. He was probably safer stuck in China than South
Korea right now. “Are you sure?”

“Don’t worry about me,
buddy, but tell the boss he might not hear from me for a couple of weeks,
especially if a beach gets in my way.”

Leroux smiled.
“Understood. Good luck.”

“You too, old friend.”

Unknown
Location
Seoul,
Republic of Korea

Niner was
draped over Nancy, protecting her with his body should their makeshift shelter
give way, Kim on the opposite side, her arm around the youngest victim. Niner’s
hand rested on the back of Kim’s neck, he instinctively including her, the
pounding outside eliciting yelps and cries from the others as he and Kim merely
stared at each other, Nancy noticing and grinning at him.

He ignored her.

My God, she’s
beautiful.

He didn’t know what it
was attracting him to this woman he had just met. Perhaps it was the hormones
raging through his system from the constant adrenaline rush, or maybe it was
that he was painfully lonely, but there was something about Kim that he found
irresistible.

You should find
yourself a good Korean girl!

He smiled slightly at the
memory of his mother’s advice at a recent family visit, repeated by his
grandmother earlier today.

Maybe I’ll do just
that.

Something caught his
attention and he lifted his head slightly. “Everyone quiet!”

Cries turned into
whimpers, it enough of an improvement for him to realize what he was hearing.

Drones.

Niner turned to peer
through the cracks between the couches and cursed. He could see dozens of
drones swarming over the walls of their Potemkin oasis, the barrels of their
mounted weaponry painfully obvious.

They mean to end this.

“Everybody get as flat to
the ground as you can, with your heads in the center, your legs toward the
outside.”

“Why?” asked someone,
others grumbling in protest at the apparently unreasonable request.

“Because if you get shot
in the foot, it hurts, get shot in the head, you’re dead.”

Whimpers turned into sobs
again, but the shuffle began in earnest, he once again draping himself over
Nancy, his arm around Kim. She reached behind her and took his hand,
interlacing their fingers together.

“I’ve been on worse first
dates,” she said in Korean, smiling.

He squeezed her hand.
“Definitely.”

The first shot fired and
Kim squeezed her eyes shut.

And he kept staring at
her.

At her beautiful,
terrified face.

Come on guys, where
the hell are you?

Operations
Center 1
CIA
Headquarters, Langley, Virginia

“Umm,
sir, you’re going to want to hear this.”

Leroux looked up from his
display at Child. “What is it?”

“The switchboard just put
some kid through. He’s claiming he’s Nancy Starling’s boyfriend. He says he has
information on who’s behind all this.”

Leroux’s eyes widened,
the entire room coming to a halt. “Crank?”

Child motioned at the
display at the front of the room, a bad high school photo ID appearing along
with tombstone data and what appeared to be his life history. “His name is Jeffrey
Crawford.”

Leroux’s eyes narrowed.
“Why do we have so much intel on a fifteen-year-old kid?”

“He was vetted by the
Secret Service a few months ago.”

Leroux leaned back. “Huh.
So he
does
know her.”

“It would appear so.”

“And we’re sure it’s
him?”

“Can’t say for sure, but
the Secret Service is heading to his address now.”

Leroux rose. “Then we
better talk to him before they get there. Put him on speaker.”

Child tapped a few keys.

“Hello, is this Jeffrey?”

“Umm, yeah, Jeff. Is this
the CIA?”

“Yes. Where do you go to
school, Jeff.”

“Sidwell.”

Child gave a thumbs up.

“Okay, what information
do you have for us?”

“Well, me and my friends
found out where the original video was uploaded from and pinged the address.”

Leroux and the others
exchanged excited glances. “Can you send us that information?”

“I already did. I used the
contact form on your website but decided I better call in case that thing isn’t
checked, you know, on a regular basis, like.”

Tong’s fingers flew over
her keyboard and moments later she stuck her chin out toward the display, the
online submission appearing.

Leroux smiled at the
batch of four sets of digits. “Okay, thank you, Jeff, we’ll take it from here.”

“Umm, can I ask a
question?”

“Sure.”

“D-did we start a war?”

Probably, kid.

“No, son, you didn’t. But
thanks to you, you might have just helped stop one.”

Seocho District
Seoul,
Republic of Korea

Red
peered around the corner, four hostiles at the far end of the block. He checked
the opposite direction, finding it clear. He turned to the others.

“We need to cross, but we
can’t risk it from here.” He pointed at Wings. “Go back a block, fire two
rounds, then double back. That might get their attention.”

“Roger that.” Wings sprinted
toward the street they had just crossed and fired the two rounds. Red watched
as two of the four North Koreans broke off, rushing north, using the street one
block over from them.

He smiled.

“That’s two down.”

The other two began to
run toward their position, in an apparent attempt to cut off from two
directions whoever had fired the shots.

Perfect.

He motioned for everyone
to move back as he held his position, listening for the approaching footfalls,
the streets mostly devoid of people now, the artillery barrage waning.

Twenty feet?

He stepped out, spraying
them with gunfire, the two surprised men grabbing their stomachs as they
stumbled, their momentum carrying their dying bodies forward.

He turned to the others.
“Let’s go!”

Yangcheon
District
Seoul,
Republic of Korea

“There it
is!”

Dawson leaned forward in
the chopper, the Korean pilot pointing toward a steel-frame warehouse surrounded
by a large paved area, the industrial zone apparently designed to deal with
large rigs, none in evidence around their destination.

“Keep your eyes peeled
for automated defenses!” he shouted over the roar of the rotors. “You know how
I hate that shit!”

“Copy that!” shouted
Atlas, chuckling. After their experience in Iceland recently, they had all had
enough of automated weapons systems with a mind of their own.

Dawson checked the area,
no civilians in evidence, several buildings smoldering from damage, others
fully involved, the south side parking lot of their destination showing signs
of a near miss, a large crater torn in the middle of the asphalt. He surveyed
the roof of the building as they approached, but saw nothing out of the
ordinary, just a lot of broken windows. There were several large garbage cans,
and what appeared to be utility boxes, probably electrical or telecom, dotting
the area.