Tommy let go of his parents and stood up. He spun around and stared hard at Han-Jae. “So let us go. You have what you want. The sword is yours. We can’t stop you.”
“Yes… well… I can’t risk having you interfere with our mission anymore. So unfortunately, you all have to die now.”
“No. What if you get there and you don’t know where to look. Or what if there’s something you need translated and you can’t figure it out. We could still be of use to you.”
Sean didn’t care for his friend’s begging, although he understood it. He was in no hurry to die either. Sean, however, had one more card to play.
He eased his hands behind his back and waited.
Han-Jae seemed to consider Tommy’s offer, if that’s what it was.
“You know,” he said after a moment’s thought, “I think you might be right. We could end up needing someone with your expertise in case we have any trouble figuring out how to get to the sword.”
Tommy nodded, seeing a sliver of hope in the man’s eyes.
That hope was squelched almost immediately.
“Then again, men like you probably take advantage of situations like that. An old proverb says it’s better to kill the few rats now than deal with an infestation later.” He motioned to Sean, June, and Adriana. “You three, get over there by the wall with the others.”
Sean knew what was about to happen. It was an execution. He’d witnessed a few just like this one before, haunting images that he’d tried to wash away with years of good deeds. He’d been unable to stop them from happening. But in this case, he wasn’t entirely helpless.
June moved closer to Tommy, who wrapped his arms around her.
“Mom, Dad, this is June. I never thought I’d actually be introducing a girl to you.”
Adriana shuffled near Sean and waited for him to make his move. If there was a move to be made.
“Please,” Han-Jae said, “don’t draw this out longer than necessary. If you just do what we say, we’ll make sure you all die quickly. We’d prefer it that way. Fewer bullets, less screaming and moaning. Just a few shots to the chest and head, and it’s all over. You won’t feel a thing. Well, you won’t feel it for long. Unless, of course, you want to.”
“Tell me something,” Sean said as he stepped between Adriana and the gunmen. “What are you going to do when you find that sword and there’s nothing special to it?”
“What?”
“What if it’s just a blade, an ancient weapon with no magical properties? What if what you’ve been searching for turns out to be nothing? What then? Your little revolution goes away. Your general goes away. And you return home to a pathetic country and an even more pathetic leader.”
Sean could tell his words were getting to the man. Han-Jae’s eyes blazed with fury, and he had to force himself to remain calm.
“You doubt the power of the sword?” he asked. “I don’t think so. You wouldn’t come all this way just to find something unimportant.”
“Oh, I didn’t say it was unimportant. I just said it might not have any sort of weird powers.”
“Then you are a fool, Wyatt. You and your friends. And you are unfit to wield such a weapon. Not that it matters. Soon we will possess Excalibur, and the armies of the world will bow to us.” He lifted his weapon, aiming it at Sean’s chest. “Unfortunately, you won’t be around to see it all burn. If you have any last—”
The lights overhead exploded and plunged the room into darkness before Han-Jae could finish his monologue. One of the other weapons fired, sending a bullet ricocheting off the hard walls, the sparks provided the only light until it stopped.
Sean charged forward toward the spot where Han-Jae had been standing. After three steps and grabbing nothing but air, he knew the man had moved.
Sean swept his leg around. Still nothing.
“Sean?”
“Yeah, over here. Everybody okay?”
One after the other, everyone else in the room chimed in that they were unhurt.
They were surrounded by a pitch-black, cave-like darkness. Sean put both hands out in front of him and felt his way over to the wall.
“I think our captors took off,” he said.
“What?”
“He’s right,” Adriana chimed in as she also felt her way around. “They ran off.”
“What caused the lights to blow out?” June asked.
The sound of shuffling feet echoed down through the stairwell and into the darkened basement. It was soon followed by lights dancing around on the walls on the stairs.
“Someone’s coming,” Sean said. The residual light coming from above gave him a minimal field of vision, enough to let him see his way over to the corner just behind the doorframe. If whoever was coming through that door had ill intentions, Sean was going to get the drop on them.
He waited with his back pressed against the wall. His breathing slowed, instincts from years of experience calming his nerves as he focused on the ambush. The sounds of multiple footsteps told him that there was more than one person coming. Was it the police? He doubted it. It was either the North Koreans or the Brotherhood. Either way, Sean wanted to get an advantage.
Always let the first guy go through, he thought, recalling training scenarios and real-life experience. By letting one enemy come through the door first, it prevented him from being attacked from behind. That tactic also placed him behind the first person, giving options to either take them out from behind or clear the door with any other enemies coming through.
The flashlights grew brighter and more intense. Sean kept his fingers loose as he continued drawing in slow, even breaths. He watched the bright circles shaking along the bottom wall of the stairwell.
One of the lights turned and pointed into the room. Sean’s muscles tensed. The first person stepped through. He waited for a moment until the second appeared in the doorway.
Sean sidestepped silently behind the person and wrapped his arm around their neck, ready to snap it if necessary.
“No, wait!” the man shouted. The voice was oddly familiar.
Sean let go and spun the man around. The first person turned and looked back, aiming a pistol at both of them.
“Mac?” Sean said, confused.
The man lowered his weapon. “Sean. Thank goodness it’s you. I thought you were one of the North Koreans about to snap my neck.”
“You were half right.”
Helen flashed her light around the room and found Tommy and June huddled next to his parents by the back wall. Adriana was close to the door, ready to help Sean with defense.
“How did you know where to find us?” Tommy asked as he stood up.
Helen smirked. “Let’s just say we had a little help.”
More footsteps thundered down the steps accompanied by several beams of light. Baldwin and his men stepped into the room, shining their lights everywhere.
Tommy took a step back, getting between June, his parents, and the Brotherhood.
“What are they doing here?” he asked.
“Who do you think helped us find you?” Mac said.
Baldwin slowed to a stop just inches from Sean’s face. “You broke our bargain, Sean. You were supposed to drop this mission and go home.”
Sean rolled his shoulders. “We had to get his parents back. Getting the sword was the best way.”
“Except you don’t have the sword.”
One of Baldwin’s men came from a side door on the opposite end of the room. “They’re gone, sir. No trace of them.”
“They couldn’t have just vanished,” Baldwin said. “Sweep the area. They have to be here.”
“I know where they went,” Sean said. “But you’re not going to find them here.”