Devil's Fork

by Spencer Adams

CHAPTER 42

  EARLY THURSDAY

  Northeast Coast, North Korea

  Tom slowed down as he crossed Waypoint 3. He had just found the dirt path that led directly to the base. He kneeled on the side of the path. He stared up and down the path. It appeared clear.

  “Yankee Main. I’m at Waypoint 3. Area looks clear. Moving on to target. Over.”

  “Yankee Actual. Do you think those hills around you could contain sniper hole sites to watch that path or target? Over”

  Tom knew that despite it being Anderson’s voice, that was Sara talking. A hole site was a spot where a sniper “holed up” and shot at his targets. Tom always kept in the back of his mind a reminder to check for sniper holes.

  “Those hills look too low to provide a good field of vision. I’m moving deeper into the woods but this area should be clear. Over.”

  He got up and walked carefully back into the woods but started heading in the direction of the target. He could feel he was getting close.

  He wondered what was happening in South Korea at the moment. Anderson had said that they seemed to have located Jiyeon and were sending in a team to rescue her. He guessed that White Tiger would get sent in. He remembered talking to some Delta operators back when he was a SEAL. They were comparing notes on training exercises they had done with foreign special operations units. Tom remembered mentioning that his DEVGRU unit had trained with the New Zealand Special Air Service, with whom he had been impressed. He thought one of the Delta operators had said that White Tiger was a strong unit. But Tom knew that they did not have as much experience as western units when it came to hostage rescue missions. He would have wanted his DEVGRU team to be going on the rescue mission instead. He had done hostage rescue on several of his deployments. He would have liked to lead his DEVGRU team into the building that Jiyeon was being held in. But Tom quickly got his mind back to where it belonged. In SEAL training they had learned to lock down their minds and focus only on the mission in front of them. If one’s mind wandered while on a mission it could be fatal to the entire team. Tom focused back on his task. He knew that he could do nothing from where he was. He had to focus on getting into that base and let White Tiger focus on getting Jiyeon.

  “Yankee Main. Are you able to get my ETA to target? Over.”

  “Yankee Actual. Wait one. Over.”

  He picked up his pace slightly. The trees in this area stood in thicker patches. His visibility was worse than it had been going through the ridge. There were also more rocks on the ground. They were not large, but Tom had to shift from side to side to avoid stepping on them and injuring himself.

  Then Anderson came back on the radio. “ETA 20 minutes. You are almost there. Over”

  After passing into a more open area of the woods, Tom looked around for any signs of a patrol. He saw nothing. It had been surprisingly quiet since he shot that last patrol. He would have thought that as he got closer to the base, the number of patrols would have been higher. Either way, he suspected that there would be at least a few soldiers at the entrance.