OUTCAST Ops: Red Ice

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

The rumbling echoed through the underground base and the vibrations greeted Rhee as he exited the lab. The reverberations became louder and changed to a low roar, the deep grinding of rocks on rocks. Rhee recognized the noise of a tunnel collapsing and his grimace deepened. “Stand your ground!” he hollered at the dozen guards standing around the central area.

The eight members of Rhee’s group — Rhee, Muhn, Sergeant Hyoung, the three chemists and two soldiers — started toward the passage leading to the escape tunnel. The tunnel that led to the prisoners was filled with dust and smoke. Rhee took out a handkerchief and held it over his mouth.

“Where’s Captain P’il?”

“He went down the tunnel.” one of the guards replied.

Rhee motioned to his scar-faced subordinate. When Muhn leaned closer, Rhee said quietly, “Set the detonator for three minutes. It won’t destroy the prison pens, but it will bring down everything else.” Muhn nodded and went to the security chamber.

“Warriors of the Fatherland!” Rhee said. “Hold this position for ten minutes, then follow us. The Americans will pay for this setback.”

“Sir,” the same guard said. “There’s no way—”

Gunfire exploded from the collapsed tunnel. More guards were cut apart by the storm of bullets. Rhee pulled his pistol and grabbed Mori by the arm. “Muhn, hurry! Ryuk, Chang — follow me.” Rhee dragged Mori into the tunnel.

They failed to notice the stalking figures emerge from the dust and smoke spewing from the collapsed tunnel.

It was kill or be killed, and the OUTCASTs had the advantage of surprise and cover. Half the North Koreans in the chamber died in the first exchange. Through the thinning dust clouds, Tanner saw Rhee dragging a woman matching Dr. Mori’s description into a tunnel at the far end of the chamber. Three soldiers and two men in lab coats followed Rhee.

The remaining North Koreans recovered from their surprise and opened fire. The team darted into safety behind several stalagmites, the rock shielding them from the gunfire. Tanner leaned out and fired another buckshot round from his M-203, the blast butchering two North Koreans. He pulled back, changed magazines on his MP5, reloaded the M-203 and alerted his team. “Rhee’s escaping!”

Liam leaned out and fired two short bursts, killing one North Korean and forcing another to find cover. “What’s the plan?”

“CS rounds. Two, you and Three hit the Tangos on the left, Four and I will hit the ones on the right. Five, drop both your rounds into the tunnel at the far end. Masks on, then load CS!”

They prepared their equipment accordingly and then, just as they started to lean out, a tall and muscular scar-faced man stepped out into another opening, his weapon spitting out lead at the OUTCASTs, forcing them to retreat behind their cover. After a few seconds, the gunfire faded, most of the soldiers swapping out magazines at the same time.

“Now!” Tanner shouted, stepping out from behind his stalagmite cover just enough so he could fire his M-203. In the span of three seconds, the other four also fired.

The five grenades flew across the cavern and exploded, filling half the space with roiling white smoke. Dante reloaded and sent his second CS round after his first, into the tunnel where Rhee and the others had fled. They heard the choking and shouts of anger and frustration as the enemy was hit with the full effect. Tanner reloaded the buckshot round. “On three…”

The team darted out from the columns and raced toward the sounds of suffering. Tanner marked an area to his right where several people coughed and cursed breathlessly. He pulled the 203’s trigger. The load of double buckshot cut through the gas and the enemy gunmen with brutal efficiency, three men catching the brunt of the blast. To Tanner’s left, one of the gunmen charged out of the white cloud, eyes swollen shut, wildly swinging his AK-47 like a club. Tanner cut him down with a short burst. Stephen, a few feet behind them to Tanner’s left, dropped two more North Koreans who staggered out of the CS fog with paired 9mm volleys.

Two more North Koreans ran into the central area from another tunnel. One went down when Dante stitched him from naval to chin, while the other dove into cover behind a stalagmite.

Another soldier, eyes red but still able to see, charged out of the gas. He’d lost his rifle, but tried to gut Naomi with a fixed blade knife. Too close to aim and fire, the former ATF agent stepped back and slammed her MP5 down on the knife arm hard enough to break his wrist. As the soldier grunted in pain, Naomi stepped to the right and kicked him hard in the knee, her steel-tipped boot shattering his kneecap. His strangled snarl ended when she fired a four-shot burst into his head as he fell.

Stephen saw movement behind the stalagmite where the North Korean had taken cover after his partner was shot. He spun and raised his MP5 just as the soldier stepped out, AK raised. Stephen fired first, his 9mm rounds striking the rock formation with most of his long burst, but a few struck flesh and the soldier fell over backwards.

Sudden silence fell over the cavern. The tear gas thinned out as the chemical radiated into the side tunnels off of the chamber, and the team could see that they were the only people in the cavern still on their feet.

“We need to get after Rhee,” Liam said.

“Three,” Tanner said. “You and Four check the entrances on the right. Two, you and Five check the ones on the left.”

“But Rhee—”

“Is the type to leave surprises. Quick check, people, then we go after Rhee.”

“What sort of surprises are we looking for?” Liam asked.

“The explosive type.”

It took Naomi and Stephen fifteen seconds to find the surprise. The cigar box-sized detonator sat on a table in a small chamber with a dozen closed-circuit screens, chalkboards with Korean characters on them, and a map of the installation on one wall. A digital timer counted down, little more than thirty seconds left. Sets of wires ran from the box up the wall and to a series of plastic explosive blocks mounted on the chamber walls.

“Found the detonator!” Naomi called out. She unsheathed a fighting dagger — one of the few tangible things she had left of her dead fiancé, ‘Chance’ Zanetti — and with a few swift cuts, separated the wire bundles from the box. She tossed the box onto the floor, drew her pistol and put four shots into it, mangling the internal components beyond repair.

Meanwhile, Stephen was looking at the screens and the map on the wall. He studied the map until movement caught his eye on one of the screens. He watched a closed circuit video feed as Rhee and his group jogged through a cavern. His eyes narrowed as they flicked back to the map.

“Four to Prime,” he said into his radio. “I know where Rhee’s going.” He looked back at the monitors and saw the group pass a heavy machine gun pointing in the direction they had come from.

“And we have a problem.”

Rhee, still holding Dr. Mori by the arm, stopped and looked back in the direction from which they’d come. The escape tunnel was a narrow, twisting affair, rough-cut rock designed for one thing only — to evacuate the base in case of an attack.

Muhn turned and also looked. “Gunfire stopped.”

Rhee glared. “How much time is left on the detonators?”

“Less than twenty seconds.”

“Keep moving.”

They trotted on until Rhee stopped and consulted his wristwatch, his face contorting into a mask of confusion as his gaze bored into the watch’s second hand. “What happened? The explosives didn’t go off.”

“They must have found the detonator,” Muhn said.

Rhee’s expression became cold and dark. “Captain, take two soldiers and stay here with the rest of the guards. Eliminate the enemy, then destroy that lab. Meet us at the safehouse in Sacramento.”

Muhn nodded, the scar-faced man’s expression stony with resolve.