The Pacific Rim Collection

by Don Brown

  “I guess you’re right,” Gunner said. He sat back down in the front of the boat and put his M-16 on the floor beside him.

  “Jung-Hoon, cut a course due west at full power. Let’s get as far away from that spotlight as possible. They might find us out here again, but no point in making it any easier on them than we have to.”

  “Got it.”

  The engine revved again, and the boat shot across rolling waves, headed in a direction that would take it across the pathway of the ship’s bow, from the left to the right, on a course straight for the North Korean coastline.

  NKN Frigate Najin

  Get the spotlight off our boat, you stupid idiot!” Petty Officer Cheong Tae-hee screamed at the junior petty officer, Kim Won-tu, who had stood there with the spotlight on the North Korean launch while bullets whizzed in from the dark. “You have made them blind sitting ducks for the Navy SEALs!”

  Cheong rushed over and pushed the junior petty officer out of the way. He retook control of the spotlight and started sweeping out over the black rolling waves. “Which way did they go, Petty Officer?”

  “I think that way.” He pointed off to the left of the bow.

  “You think that way?” He swung the light off the lifeless North Korean boat, concentrating on the black waters off the port bow.

  Nothing.

  “Why did you not follow the SEALs with the light when they got away? Why did you keep the light on our sailors and Marines?” he yelled as he moved the searchlight to the right and swept the waters right in front of the ship.

  “I … I do not know. I did not know what to do. I … I froze.”

  “You froze!” Cheong screamed. “You froze! And now they could be anywhere out there!” Still nothing. “I am the one who will get blamed by the captain for this! If the Navy does not court-martial you, I will personally shoot you.”

  He swung the light farther to the right. Then … there! Scooting across swells and now out to the right side of the ship’s path, the Zodiac sped away from the ship.

  “Petty Officer, you hold this light on that boat while I get the machine gun. If you lose that boat again, I will shoot you on the spot. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Zodiac boat

  The searchlight lit them up again, causing Jackrabbit to unleash a string of expletives.

  “Commander, get down! I’m gonna see if I can take out that spotlight!”

  Gunner went head down again, behind the inflated tube of the small rubber craft. He looked back and saw Jackrabbit crawling with his rifle to the back of the boat. Jung-Hoon moved over to the back left, hand still on the throttle of the outboard. Jackrabbit slipped into the back right and started firing multiple volleys back toward the ship.

  USS Boise

  depth 100 feet in the Sea of Japan

  Skipper, we’re now broadside to the target. Range to target, five hundred yards. Awaiting your orders.”

  “Very well,” Commander Hardison said. “Fire torp one!”

  “Fire torp one! Aye, sir.”

  Swish. The sensation of a huge air puff rocked the sub as the first Mark 48 torpedo shot from the bow of the submarine.

  “Fire torp three!”

  “Fire torp three! Aye, sir.”

  Swish … Another air puff sensation. The second torpedo raced away through the water toward the target.

  Hardison said, “Range to target.”

  “Sir, torp one range to target is three hundred fifty yards and closing. Torp two range is four hundred fifty yards and closing.”

  “Any indication that we’ve been detected?” Hardison asked.

  “Sir, there’s a Russian Yankee class out of Vladivostok in the general area, but nothing to indicate that either the North Korean frigate or the Russian sub has detected us,” the XO said.

  “Good,” Hardison said. “Let’s sit back and enjoy the fireworks.”

  NKN Frigate Najin

  Because the Zodiac had moved from the forward left of the ship, at about ten o’clock, to the forward right of the ship, now at about two o’clock, Cheong moved the machine gun onto the right forward bow. His assistant had kept the spotlight on the Zodiac.

  Ping … ping …

  What was that?

  “Aahhhhhhhhhhh? I’m hit! I’m hit! Oh, my arm!”

  Cheong glanced over at the junior petty officer, Kim Won-tu. Kim was grasping his bleeding forearm.

  Ping … ping …

  The Navy SEALs had opened fire! Cheong pulled back on the firing mechanism and aimed the powerful machine gun out toward the SEALs’ boat. He pulled the trigger. The jackhammer sound of the mighty NSV echoed at the front of the ship.

  Chit-a-chit-a — chit-a — chit-a — chit-a — chit-a — chit-a — chit.

  Zodiac boat

  Splash-slash-splash — slash-splash — slash-splash — slash-splash. “They’re banging us with machine gun fire!” Jackrabbit said, as water sprayed all around the boat.

  “Take this, sucker.” Jackrabbit, ignoring the machine gun fire, aimed his rifle back at the ship and pulled the trigger in quick succession.

  Bam-bam-bam-bam-bam.

  The fireball erupted from the forward section of the ship just as Jackrabbit fired his fourth shot. A loud booming noise rumbled across the water.

  The second fireball amidships was more blinding than the first. Then a second later another BOOM!

  The rain of deadly bullets that had peppered the sea around the Zodiac stopped. Screams from the ship could be heard against the roaring sound of crackling flames leaping into the night air.

  “Slow down, Jung-Hoon. I want to see this.”

  The Zodiac slowed to a crawl, riding the waves as its occupants witnessed the shocking, fiery display. The ship, a sudden and magnificent flaming hulk, cast a bright reflection on the rolling swells. Gunner looked through his binoculars. Multiple fireballs exploded along the deck. Against the image of the exploding fireballs, they saw silhouettes of men diving into the cold water of the Sea of Japan.

  “Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?” Gunner asked. “I think it’s breaking in half.”

  “Sure is, Commander,” Jackrabbit said. “Right down the middle.”

  The two sections of the ship, both now burning silhouettes in the water, had separated. The front two-thirds, which contained the ship’s superstructure and command center, was drifting away from the aft section.

  The aft section started rising up into the night sky, the propellers pointing up to the crescent moon like one end of a giant see-saw.

  As the aft section continued rising, the forward section, floating perhaps a hundred yards off to the right, started doing the same thing, The bow rose from the water as the other end sank. Haunting metallic groaning sounds, the eerie sounds of a ship dying, filled the air.

  “That baby’s going down fast,” Jackrabbit said. And no sooner had he said it, than the aft section slid under the surface.

  The front section, now almost vertical in the water, seemed to be pointing up at the North Star. A moment later, as if someone had opened the trapdoor to the graveyard of the sea, the front section slipped under the water and disappeared.

  Fire on the water, from oil and fuel, flickered for a while and then burned out.

  The three men stared at the empty sea where, moments before, an enemy warship had been firing at them. Even the sailors who had jumped overboard seemed to have vanished. All that was left was the Korean launch, bobbing aimlessly in the swells.

  Peace, almost a supernatural peace, enveloped the Zodiac and its occupants.

  “I wonder what hit it,” Gunner said.

  “It sure wasn’t my M-16,” Jackrabbit said. “Although I’d love to take credit for it.”

  Jung-Hoon said, “I would guess either a floating mine or possibly a missile fired by a plane over the horizon out to the east of here. Or a submarine.”

  “Whatever it was, I thank the Good Lord,” Gunner said. “That ship was a whole lot bigger than
this little boat and had a whole lot more firepower.” He exhaled as if he had been holding his breath. “I sure didn’t want to become the first American naval officer captured by those Communists since the Pueblo.”

  “You a praying man, Commander?” Jackrabbit asked.

  “Not like I should be, Jackrabbit, but I sure have been praying like crazy today.”

  “Seems like God’s in a listening mood,” Jackrabbit said. “But right now, we got work to do. The portable GPS device is in that pack over there, Commander. Can you get it for me?”

  “You got it.”

  “Jung-Hoon, give us some light over here.”

  The powerful flashlight lit up the interior of the Zodiac again. Jackrabbit turned on the GPS and pulled out a nautical chart.

  “Okay, we must assume the ship got off a distress message before she went down. This area will be crawling with search planes and other ships looking for survivors. We need to get the heck outa here.

  “Look at this nautical chart. Here is our last position when we ditched.” Jackrabbit looked at the GPS. “According to the GPS, we should be right here.” He pointed to a position on the chart. “That means our nearest landfall is twenty-five miles northwest … right about here” — he fingered a section of shoreline on the chart — “between the towns of Sinch’ang and Iwon . I know I’ve kind of taken control out here, but once we hit land, Jung-Hoon, you speak their language and you look like ‘em. So you’re in charge.”

  The distant roar of a propeller aircraft droned in the skies from the west.

  “Search parties are headed this way,” Jackrabbit said. “We better get this boat moving. The GPS is ready. I set a course for the northwest, three-one-five. Gunner, you sit up front. I’ll sit in the middle. We’ll make better time if we even out the weight. Less drag. I’ll watch our track on the GPS, Jung-Hoon, to make sure we stay on course.”

  “I’m ready,” Jung-Hoon said, his hand on the throttle of the idling outboard. Jackrabbit held up the GPS and pointed out the direction. Jung-Hoon throttled up the engine just enough to get the boat turned toward the northwest.

  “Ready, Commander?”

  “Ready.”

  “Let ‘er rip, Jung-Hoon.”

  Jung-Hoon revved the engine, and the boat picked up speed as it cut across the rolling black water, bouncing and splashing across the swells.

  Spurts of cold water sprayed Gunner as the boat moved out, running from the area of the sunken ship.

  Gunner checked his watch. In two hours, they would be approaching the North Korean coastline, with a whole host of dangers and challenges that he probably had not even contemplated. He looked back at the two men who had so willingly taken on this rescue mission. And he thanked God.

  Soon, with the hum of the engine and the splash of the waves and the sliver crescent of the moon offering a peaceful respite, Gunner closed his eyes, thought of his grandfather, and prayed for protection.

  CHAPTER 19

  Hongwon State Psychiatric Hospital

  Hongwon, North Korea

  Hongwon, a town on the east coast of North Korea, sat forty miles as the crow flies from the prison. As they drove there, Staff Sergeant Kang seemed bent on driving as fast as the jeep would go, slinging them around steep curves in the road and then pressing down hard on the accelerator again to pick up more speed, always checking the rearview to see how his passengers were reacting to the ride. Pak sensed that his anger was not only directed at her. She decided that his anger was also focused against Staff Sergeant Mang, who sat beside Pak in the back all the while glaring back at Kang via the rearview mirror.

  As they approached the outskirts of Hongwon, Kang hit the brakes, slowed the jeep, and turned off the winding, two-lane concrete road onto a long gravel drive with thick woods on both sides.

  Kang’s words reverberated in her mind — I am going to kill you.

  Did his turn down this long winding gravel road mark the beginning of the end? The jeep rounded a curve and came to a large opening in the trees.

  In the distance was a large single-story stone building. Lights shone in some of the windows, but most were dark. Parked outside were four cars and three vans. The sign over the main entrance proclaimed in large red letters on a white background “Hongwon State Psychiatric Hospital.” Next to the sign hung a side-view photographic profile of Dear Leader, Kim Jong-il.

  Kang slowed as he turned onto the circular driveway, passing by the cars parked on it. He stopped in front of the building.

  A solitary guard, dressed in an Army uniform, stood watch at the entrance. Pak decided the guard did not look like Dear Leader’s finest.

  “Wait here,” the colonel’s assistant said. She stepped out of the jeep, slammed the door behind her, and strutted past the guard, who did not even acknowledge her. She opened the door of the hospital and marched straight in.

  Silence.

  Pak could see Kang’s eyes in the rearview mirror, leering at her with hatred, ablaze with fury. But still, no words came from him.

  Slowly, carefully, he pulled his pistol out and held it up in the air.

  Chi-chink.

  He chambered a bullet into firing position. Then he turned around and glared at her. He pointed his pistol at her head. “You think you can get away with embarrassing me like this?”

  She did not respond. Instead, the words she had memorized came back to her: A soft answer turneth away wrath.

  “Do you think I am going to let you live, you everlastingly worthless female sheep?” He stuck the barrel against her forehead and pressed hard. “You think you can fool anyone with all that religious garbage about Christianity, do you?” He shoved the barrel so hard against the middle of her forehead that it knocked her back in the seat.

  “Do you not know what Marx said? ‘Religion is the opiate of the people.’ Christianity is for losers! Of all religions, this Christianity of yours is the most despicable! It is more despicable than Islam! More despicable than Buddhism! Than Shintoism! You believe your claims that someone would rise from the dead? Why do you not just deny such despicable lies, and perhaps I shall let you live, you traitorous hog!”

  The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silent …

  “Your Christianity garbage. You do not fool me. It’s all a calculated ruse. All you Christians use God talk as a diversionary tactic to manipulate others to get your way! I hate you! I hate you all! Now deny your God!” He was screaming in a shrill voice she had not heard before. “Deny him or I will shoot you on the spot! Right now! I said deny!” He again rammed the gun barrel against her skull.

  Her head throbbed. Tears welled up in her eyes. In a soft voice she said, “I am sorry, but I cannot and I will not deny him.”

  Whack!

  The butt of his pistol smacked against her lips and teeth. Blood gushed from her mouth and ran down on her clothes.

  Just then the front door opened. “Kang, what are you doing?” the colonel’s assistant snapped.

  “This woman, while you were gone,” Kang said, “began a slanderous tirade against Dear Leader himself. She became recalcitrant, calling the Dear Leader a homosexual. I told her to shut up. I reminded her that insults against Dear Leader would not be tolerated. But instead of obeying me, she became more defiant. And she went on, not only to repeat the slanderous charge against Dear Leader, but said that he had received and given sexually transmitted diseases to both men and women alike!”

  A pause.

  “Yes, Kang,” the colonel’s assistant said, “I am sure that this wretched refuse of a beaten-up woman said all of these things about Dear Leader in the three or four minutes that I was gone.” She closed the door and walked around the back of the jeep. She opened the rear passenger door. “Get out, Pak.”

  Pak swung her feet down onto the rocky driveway and stood up.

  Mang closed the back door and opened the driver’s door. She leaned down to look directly at Kang. “You stay here. I will deal with you later.”

 
“You? Deal with me?” Kang screamed. “Will you deal with me by sleeping your way into greater influence with the colonel? I will remind you that I am the one who —”

  The colonel’s assistant slammed the door, cutting off Kang’s tirade and morphing his voice into a garbled mumble inside the jeep.

  “Come with me,” she said to Pak.

  They walked past the old guard and in the front door of the hospital.

  The entryway was empty. It sounded hollow. No one manned the nurse’s station up front. In fact, the whole front part of the hospital seemed abandoned. Still, Pak sensed someone’s eyes upon her.

  “This way,” the assistant said. They walked down a long abandoned-looking hallway, past two older life-sized photos of Dear Leader that adorned the walls, one on each side.

  Some of the hall lights were burned out. All of the doors they passed were closed. About halfway down the main hallway, another hallway went off to the right. “This way,” the assistant said, and they made a quick right. Over the second door on the right hung a sign that said EXAMINATION ROOM.

  Sergeant Mang delivered three sharp knocks on the door. From within the room, a female voice said, “Enter.”

  Mang opened the door and walked past an empty examination table with white sheets and restraining straps dangling down to the floor. To the right, seated at a Spartan-looking desk and wearing a long white nurse’s uniform, a nurse was bent over a clipboard writing something with a pen.

  The nurse turned and looked up with piercing eyes behind plastic, black-rimmed glasses. “This is the patient, I presume?”

  “This is the patient,” the colonel’s assistant snapped.

  “Well, well.” The nurse stood and turned toward Pak. “Looks like we’ve had a little burn on the neck.” She adjusted her glasses and came in for a closer look. “Hmm, that blister is nearly the size of a Ping Pong ball. This is one of the biggest I’ve seen in a while.” The nurse picked up her clipboard and wrote a note on it. “And what about these cuts on the mouth? They look fresh. They’re still bleeding.” She took some paper towels and dabbed the right side of Pak’s mouth, where most of the blood had collected. “I hate wasting the state’s valuable resources on such a thing as this wretch’s blood.” The nurse held the paper towel up against Pak’s lip for a few seconds. “Our records will need to reflect what happened here also, Sergeant. Regulations, you know.”