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.”
EPILOGUE
Kwan’s office was quiet. Darkness had fallen again, the third night after the Day of Fire. Despite being the acting Mayor, Kwan remained in his office, taking comfort in its familiar surroundings and quality stock of liquor. Only a couple of dim lights stayed on; this was a meeting to be conducted in the shadows.
He stood at the window, a glass of scotch in hand, staring out at the city, his city. Well, his city for a little longer, anyway. There was a knock at the door.
“Come in.”
The door opened and John Casey walked in. “Mayor Kwan.”
“Have a seat please.”
Casey walked over to a chair in front of the desk and sat. “How is Mayor Pagliei?”
“Dying. Slowly, but still dying.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
Kwan was silent for a moment. “I never wanted this. I never wanted to be mayor. I was happy where I was.”
“I take it Pyongyang wants more out of you.”
Kwan tensed, then relaxed. “So you know.”
“Rhee left enough intact intel behind. We also found two phones on Rhee’s body—”
“He’s dead?”
“You don’t sound too depressed over it.”
“Quite the opposite. You found my private cell phone number on one of his phones?”
“We did.”
Kwan sipped his scotch. “I never wanted to be part of Rhee’s plans. I still have family back in North Korea, and Rhee threatened to hurt both them and my family here.”
“Is that why you wanted to see me?”
“No, I want to confess and surrender myself to the United States as the agent of an enemy power.”
Casey got up and walked over to the wet bar. “When we discovered the connection between you and Rhee, we looked into your background. Talked to a number of people. There’s word that powerful people want you to run for Senate in two years.”
Kwan snorted. “That group includes Pyongyang. They think I am suitable for the position.” He turned and looked at Casey, who poured his drink. “That’s over. Not even California will elect a North Korean agent to the U.S. Senate.”
“I would dispute that, considering the senators currently in office.”
Kwan downed the last of his scotch. “I’m ready to surrender.”
“I’m not ready to accept it. Have a seat.”
Kwan walked over to his chair and sat. “What else do you wish to know?”
“We’ll explore that later.” Casey walked over to his chair and sat again. “Do you feel remorse?”
“About being a spy? Yes. About being caught up in Rhee’s scheme? I found out about most of it the same time as everyone else. The terrorist attacks were as much a gut punch to me as they were to the rest of the world. I knew many people who were killed in the attacks, and my soul will be scarred by that until the day I die.” He leaned back before continuing. “I have no love for the government of North Korea. It’s my homeland, but no longer my home.” He smiled, mirthless. “Besides, the worse prison here in the U.S. is light years ahead of the ones in North Korea.” The smile vanished. “Won’t do my brother or his family any good.”
“Suppose there was a way to avoid any public scandal?”
“You want me to commit suicide? Buried with honor, but the fact that I’m a spy for a belligerent country swept under the rug?”
“Please, nothing as final as that.” Casey swished his liquor around in the glass while staring at it. “Good stuff. No, I was thinking of something that doesn’t involve you getting arrested, committing suicide, or resigning. In fact, you could even run for that senate seat with a halfway decent chance of winning.”
“You want me to become a double agent.”
“Unless you want to be arrested, dragged into court and your family put through hell, that’s what we have to offer. I would much prefer you said yes, but I can’t force your hand either way.”
Kwan sighed. “I suppose it would help repair the damage that son of a bitch Rhee did.” He quaffed the last of his drink and set the glass on his desk with a resounding clack before making direct eye contact with Casey. “When do I start?”