“Copy. Cobra’s on the way now.” After a couple of minutes, Danielle said, “Looks like half-a-dozen suspects still on the second floor.”
Vessler’s head dropped. “Striker to Ramrod.”
“Ramrod here.”
“I need your Bradleys to rake HEDGEHOG’s second floor. We’ve lost good people taking the ground floor. I don’t want to lose any more.”
“Any prisoners?”
“Zero. They fought to the death. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I have. I still say my boys should have gone in. They have experience fighting fanatics.”
“Not like this, Ramrod.”
Mulkerin snorted. “Stand by, Striker. My boys will show these shitheads the meaning of firepower.”
“Striker to alclass="underline" Ramrod’s going to air-condition the second floor. Stay low and be ready.”
The heavy hammering of two M242s was accompanied by the sound of breaking glass, tearing wood and shattering plaster. After ten seconds a high-pitch whine started up and what sounded like a swarm of angry bees ripped through the walls. Vessler watched as the railing on the second floor landing was chewed apart as if it was being eaten by a swarm of invisible termites, and the walls were shredded to almost the point of non-existence. There were a couple of screams from upstairs, short bursts of gunfire, but neither lasted long.
After thirty seconds of intense fire, it stopped, and the silence was as intense as the noise had been.
“Ramrod to Striker. That’s it. Any more and we risk collapsing the house. I doubt anyone up there survived that.”
“Thanks. Striker to all Sun elements: Take it upstairs.”
They crept up the stairs slowly, senses wide open to the first sign of trouble. At the head of the stairs, the team split up and swept each room. Most of the rooms were horror scenes, torn bodies on the floor with blood and gore everywhere.
“Striker,” an agent called out. “We have a live one! Front bedroom at the end of the hall.”
Vessler dashed from the main bedroom to the other side of the house. One of the task force members met her at the door. “He won’t last long. Hell, as shot up as he is, I’m surprised he isn’t dead already.”
The man lay in the middle of a pile of bodies. His clothes, a flannel shirt and jeans, were soaked in blood — both his and that of the others around him. One arm lay across his body. He slowly turned his head to look at Vessler with hate-filled eyes. Vessler walked over to him, staying out beyond his arm’s reach despite his wounds. “You’re under arrest.”
He spat at her, the bloodied saliva making it only a few inches before striking the blood-soaked floor. “Americans,” he said in accented English. “You will lose.”
“We won this round, buddy,” one of the agents in the room said.
The North Korean chuckled, then coughed and his breathing became labored. “D-do you think so?”
Alarm bells rang through Vessler’s mind. “Everyone out! Now!”
Her tone garnered an instant response and the three men raced for the door. As Vessler turned to follow, she saw the man relax in death and the grenade he’d been holding close to his body rolled free. She yelled, “Grenade!” and then threw herself across the hall and into another bedroom, sliding across the floor to put a dresser between her and the explosion. There was the crack of the grenade and she felt everything shudder. She waited a few seconds, then raised her head.
“Everyone okay?”
A chorus of affirmative replies greeted her still-ringing ears, and she got up slowly. “Ramrod, this is Striker: I need your medics in here ASAP. Gandolf, leave half your men at HAYBALE and bring the rest of them over here. Someone check the basement, while the rest of you check the bodies. Watch for booby-traps.”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
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.