Rhee then looked around and saw many of his men were wounded, but the latest charge had been beaten back. He glanced at his watch, and then yelled at the top of his lungs, “EVERYONE DOWN!”
Then the ground started shaking.
The bombs fell in such a rapid interval that it seemed like one big, long explosion. The 2,000-pound penetrators tore into the mountainside and ripped the walls apart, causing a landslide. Bodies, living and dead, bounced off the ground as the shock traveled for kilometers. Then the high-explosive bombs hit the launch pads. The fuel and oxidizer tanks of the KN-08 missiles were shredded. Freed from their containment, the hypergolic chemicals poured onto the ground and mixed, enhancing the explosive effects many times over. Rhee felt the intense concussive blast and heat from the exploding missiles, even though they were over five hundred meters away, and shielded by over a meter of hard rock. No one on the other side of that wall could have survived. After what seemed like an eternity, the ground stopped shaking.
Tony snapped his head hard right and saw six sets of blue flames below him. The fighters were coming up fast, at full afterburner. “All flights, tally on bogeys, four o’clock low.”
Reaching over to the control panel, Tony dumped his empty drop tanks and pulled his ship into a hard right bank. He was the farthest away from the approaching enemy aircraft and had to quickly get back into position. He watched in horror as two of the bogeys flew right into the trailing element of Jaguar flight. The other four kept on coming, right toward him. They had no intention of running, or returning alive.
“Stick with me, Wookie,” exclaimed Tony as he continued his right bank and pushed his nose down. His maneuver threw off the approaching pilot, who tried to pull a steep turn while at afterburner.
“Saint! You have a bogey slipping into your six o’clock!”
Oh shit! Tony thought to himself. I’m being double-teamed! “I could use a little help here, Wookie!” he said.
“Rog. I’m engaging!” Soon after, Tony heard “Fox Two!” indicating a heat-seeking missile had just been launched. The sudden bright flash told him Wookie had got a kill. “Splash one!”
Tony finished his barrel roll and found himself just off the bogey’s port quarter; the pilot had overshot his target. Lining up the target in his HUD, Tony selected an infrared-guided missile and waited for the loud growl that told him his AIM-9X had locked on to the target. As soon as the welcome noise filled his headphones, Tony pulled the trigger and announced, “Fox Two!”
The missile leapt off the rail and flew a straight path to the hostile aircraft, aided by the concentrated heat from the afterburners. Tony watched as the bright plume of the missile’s exhaust merged with the target, disappeared, and then exploded, shredding the enemy fighter. “Splash two!” he called out.
Lynx and Leopard flights soon reported the downing of the remaining two aircraft. His body loaded with adrenaline, Tony did a full search of the night skies, looking for any more hostile aircraft.
“Puma lead, this is Lighthouse. All bogeys have been splashed. Repeat, all bogeys have been splashed.”
“Roger, Lighthouse. Thanks for the update. Where did those jokers come from?”
“Dog Pound picked them up before we did. Looks like they used a highway as a runway. They didn’t come from any of the nearby air bases.”
“Sneaky little bastards,” grumbled Tony as his blood pressure finally began to drop.
“That they were, Puma lead. Oh, and congratulations on number eighteen, Saint!”
Tony shook his head; it hadn’t even sunk in yet that he’d scored another kill. “Oh, yeah, right,” he mumbled. “I must be getting old.” Then keying his mike, Tony ordered, “All flights, this is Puma lead, return to base.”
A huge mushroom cloud erupted from the mountain ahead of him — a monstrous pillar of bright orange and red flames. A thundering roar soon followed, the sound echoing off the surrounding hills. At first, Tae could only look on in utter despair. He feared the Chinese had carried out their threat and used a nuclear weapon to destroy the missile site. Disheartened, he waited for the shock wave and wall of fire to put an end to his life. And he kept on waiting.
But as he watched the cloud dissipate, he realized that blast wasn’t a nuclear device, but the exploding remains of the Kim nightmare. In a most unprofessional manner, Tae let out a shout of joy and gave Ryeon a bear hug.
There would still be some more fighting, but it was all a mop-up campaign now. The new United Han Republic would survive. His land would survive. With a light heart, he started walking back up the road.
Epilogue
She hadn’t been waiting for him, not exactly. There was more than enough to keep her mind occupied. With the final defeat of the Kim holdouts, the army had started talking about repatriating the Northern citizens, which was good news, but this had added “travel agent” to her job description. The army wanted her input on who should go home first, and where they wanted to go, and didn’t understand why it was such a difficult question to answer.
She’d shifted her chair a little so she had a clearer view of the door. And she checked her phone more often than before, although she knew he didn’t even have one. He could borrow someone’s cell phone, after all.
Late in the afternoon, absorbed in a file that was supposed to list the home provinces of everyone in each camp, and didn’t, she noticed a shadow across her keyboard and looked back over her shoulder. It was Cho.
Startled, she shrieked “Eep! How long have you been standing there?” Then happiness replaced surprise, and she quickly stood and welcomed him back with a hug. He pecked her on the cheek, which felt completely normal, and only made her happier.
Taking a step back, she looked him up and down while he stood, smiling broadly. “You’re all right?”
He shrugged. “I’m here, still breathing. I would like to get off my feet, though.”
“Oh, of course,” she said and let go.
He gratefully plopped into a chair next to her desk. “I’m exhausted. My cot in tent six actually looked homey.”
“Well, don’t get too settled. The army will start moving people out of here in the next few days.” She gestured toward her laptop. “There’s a lot to do.”
“And I’ll be glad to help.” He smiled warmly.
When he didn’t say anything else, she prompted, “So? What happened? You’ve been gone for three days.”
He sighed. “They debriefed me in this stuffy, windowless van. I got very little sleep. They said my information was very useful. And as soon as they were done with me, I came back here, as quickly as I could.”
She reached over and squeezed his hand. “I’m proud of you for speaking up. I know you didn’t want to.”
Cho nodded, agreeing. “Absolutely. We former spies still like to keep a low profile.”