by Pamela Clare
She warned, “You waste time. When your people die, it will be your fault.”
Tanner grabbed her by the throat, keeping her back to his chest. “If you’ve set us up, I’ll kill anyone responsible for harming my men.” He squeezed his fingers.
She struggled against him. “Stop. I … came … to help.”
He eased his grip. “Why?”
Her words rushed out wrapped in fear. “I am part of the network that is helping Pang and Har escape. I came to warn them and show you the way out of the city, but if you do not hurry your men will die … if they have not been caught already.”
Was she telling the truth?
He put her down and yanked her arms behind her back, holding them with one hand, and keyed his throat mic to transmit to his team. “The package has a leak. I repeat, package has a leak. Hold position.”
Dingo’s voice came back. “What’s wrong, mate?”
“They might be expecting us. Where are you?”
“Sixty yards from wheels. We haven’t seen any movement around it.”
Tanner considered her words and told Dingo. “Send someone to recon, but don’t touch it.”
“Stand by.” Dingo and the rest of the team were half a kilometer away.
Tanner itched to move out, get out of the center of the damn city, but the op had major flaws right now. The minute he left this building, he had to know for sure where he was going and what he was doing with this captive. There was still time to make the transport, if it hadn’t been compromised.
Could he unload this woman somewhere between here and meeting up with his team without leaving her in a vulnerable position and without leaving a leak that would sink his mission?
She’d spill her guts to the soldiers the minute she was caught. Why? Because she was a woman and a scientist.
That combination had already screwed him once. Literally and figuratively.
“Where are your men?” she asked just loud enough for the sound to have substance.
“Where do you think they are?” he countered.
She drew in a breath and released it in the long, exasperated sigh someone used when counting to ten. “I heard that a truck is waiting for you next to the metro station where Kyonghung crosses Ponghwa.”
She was right, which didn’t weigh in her favor since only a few people back home were supposed to know that detail.
Tanner hadn’t liked the setup for traveling hidden in a transport truck since hearing about it, but the only way out of Pyongyang was through a smuggling operation.
He asked, “How do you know so much about what’s going on?”
“Pang and Har belong to a secret underground group working to smuggle our people out of here. I help by passing messages that are in code, but …”
“You broke the code,” Tanner finished.
“Yes. Their boss was dragged from his office at our lab an hour ago. Soldiers demanded that he tell them where Pang and Har were. I did not know if he knew, but he started crying and said Pang and Har wanted to defect. He offered to tell them everything. One of the soldiers bragged that he had better tell what he knew and they would compare it to the information they already had. He made it sound as if he knew more about this escape than Pang and Har’s boss. Someone has betrayed them.”
That could be you, darlin’.
She twisted to look over her shoulder and Tanner finally saw the face his ninja hid inside a hooded shirt. This was no kid. She had to be in her mid-twenties. The face turned up to his was more oval and narrow than the rounder shape he’d expected. She had a wide mouth instead of a puckered one, a narrow nose and sharp cheeks. In fact, the only thing that hinted at Korean in her blood was her exotic gaze that was too light to be brown.
Amerasian. A beauty.
But now he understood why she’d said US military as if she’d been sucking on a lemon. US soldiers had fathered a lot of kids in Asian countries. In Korea, mixed blood with other Asians was a step down from pure blood, but Amerasians? They weren’t even considered part of the Korean population. She hadn’t been simply abandoned by her father.
He’d marked her as an outcast in a country where she’d have no human rights.
How had she ended up working in a laboratory? And why take a risk to come here and help a Korean?
She must have sensed his suspicion and pressed her case. “What are we waiting for?”
“To hear back from my man.”
Seconds were ticking away with every thump of his heart. He had to decide which way to roll with her, because the minute he stepped from here all discussion would end. “Why are you here?”
“You need me.”
Like hell. “How do you figure that?”
“I know the city.”
“I do, too, darlin’. If that’s all you have, I don’t need you.”
“You know all the ways to leave Pyongyang?” she challenged with a gutsy load of irritation for someone in her situation.
Dingo reported, “Bad news, mate. Sandman got to our guide and the engine’s gonna blow.”
Shit. That meant their driver was dead and the truck was rigged with explosives.
Gunfire rattled in the distance. Maybe a few hundred yards away.
Dingo’s voice shouted in Tanner’s comm unit. “Shit. Taking fire. We’re moving.”
Decision made and he hoped he wasn’t wrong. Tanner yanked the woman around. “What’s the quickest way out of the city?”
“I will show you.” She told him where to send his men a kilometer north of their current position. “Tell them to wait for us next to a sculpture of a lion your size.”
More gunfire popped, sounding closer this time.
Heading toward the hotel.
Tanner relayed her directions to Dingo, changing her instructions at the end. “Wait for me somewhere you can see the lion sculpture. If I give you the go sign when I show up, then come out to join me. If not, you know what to do.” Get out of this city any way you can, Tanner finished silently in his mind.
“Roger.”
Tanner released his ninja, aka Jin. “Head out, but know that I won’t hesitate to drop you with a shot if I see anything that so much as hints of a trap.”
“You will thank me before this night is over,” she muttered as she stepped past him.
We’ll see.
Tanner kept that thought sealed behind his lips when the shouts of soldiers boomed outside the lobby entrance.
Jin was on the move, heading for the exit Tanner’s team had used.
Boots thundered over the concrete floor with soldiers entering the building just as Tanner stepped through the opening in the wall and picked up his pace.
The smell of hot oil and smoke permeated the air.
His ninja turned into a black slip of energy moving deftly past the temporary residences. She found passages Tanner had to turn sideways to get through and she changed direction every hundred steps to sweep around a building or blend into a wall of shadows.
Much as Tanner didn’t want to admit it, Jin moved with the stealth and cleverness he’d expect from someone on his team.
But she wasn’t on his team.
She pulled up short next to tires stacked in front of a rickety looking garage that faced a main highway. She tossed her arm back, waving Tanner to hide behind the tires that reeked of the stagnant water pooled inside them.
Tanner spotted what had stalled her progress.
Two soldiers stood with their backs to them, hiding behind a tuk-tuk parked along the curb on this side of the street. They used the banged-up, three-wheeled vehicle to shield their bodies and the rifles they held ready to use.
Tanner could see why she’d chosen this point to cross the two-lane street.
No lights lined either side of this stretch.
Nice and dark for making a run to the other side, if not for the soldiers waiting for someone.
Like his team.
If soldiers hid here, more would be all along this stretch of paved road
if they’d been sent to watch and hunt for defectors.
Jin turned and made hand signals that he translated as wait here for me to distract the soldiers then you run across.
That couldn’t be right.
Did she think the soldiers would just let her pass by this time of night? Not a chance.
When he didn’t move, her forehead furrowed with a question then she waved him away and mouthed the word go.
He shook his head and slowly reached for her arm, drawing her back several steps until they had returned to the rear corner of the building. Once he had a sheltered position where he could watch the soldiers, he leaned close to her to protect his words.
A faint floral scent distracted him for a split second, allowing her an opening to berate him.
“If you know this city so well, you know that is the best place to cross.”
He ground his back molars and explained, “Wait here until I deal with them then I’ll wave you forward.”
“There will be more soldiers nearby who will hear any disturbance. I can distract those two while you run across. No noise.”
He studied her eyes, searching for the lie in her words. Was she waiting for him to step out then she’d raise the alarm for the soldiers to catch him? Or did she really mean to put herself at risk to cover for him?
He wasn’t sure which possibility was more disturbing. “What if they catch you?”
“They will not,” she declared, but he picked up on a smidgen of uncertainty in her words.
“But they might,” he argued.
“Then I will no longer be your problem.”
He asked her again, “Why would you take this risk?”
She looked away and shook her head then told him, “You are so stubborn. If we reach your men safely, I will tell you why.”
His gut was working overtime with figuring this one out, but until she gave him a reason to think otherwise he was going to give her the benefit of the doubt. “Your idea is too dangerous for you. Do as I say and we’ll both go together.”
Her head cocked to one side as she took his measure with her next look.
And the results are?
She didn’t share her assessment. Instead, she said, “Your men will trust nothing I tell them if you die.”
“You’ve got a point, Jin, but we’re wasting time here so follow my lead.”
“I am not the one who retreated and lost ground,” she chastised under her breath.
Saucy little pistol.
Tanner headed back toward the tuk-tuk, but slowed when one of the soldiers listened to his radio and replied in a low voice. He whispered something to his partner who nodded then they marched off.
Were they gone for good?
Tanner gave it sixty seconds then moved in, watching from side-to-side. Coast was clear. He waited beside the tuk-tuk and kept scanning the area as he waved Jin forward.
She reached him, did her own recon of both directions, and nodded before slipping around the little vehicle to cross the road.
Tanner had taken a step to follow when he heard, “Jeongji!”
Ice ran through his veins. He did as he was told and halted, turning to find a Nork bearing down on him with another Type 56 rifle.
That must be the weapon of choice tonight.
The minute this guy called in his buddies, this game was over.
Chapter Three
Adrenaline swam through Tanner’s blood, but he took it as a good sign that the soldier hadn’t shot him yet. That only meant they wanted Tanner alive for interrogation, the kind of questioning that involved pain inflicted in creative ways.
All he needed was an opening to disarm this Nork before the soldier used his radio to call in reinforcements. This guy was young, with little experience. His arms were shaking.
The soldier growled another order at Tanner in Korean.
Tanner just stared at him, the universal sign of not understanding.
Or it should be if it wasn’t.
At that, the soldier crept closer, hands shaking on a weapon capable of cutting a man in half across the middle.
The world in Tanner’s field of vision slowed to microseconds.
His hearing sharpened and the air pulsed with energy.
The skinny bastard had the bony face of the underfed. He kept biting out one order after another in a squeaky voice. Tanner understood enough to know the Nork wanted Tanner down on his knees and to put his hands behind his head. Tanner continued his mute routine until the soldier finally jabbed his weapon in the direction of Tanner’s hand that rested on his rifle.
Tanner made a face he hoped conveyed understanding and released his weapon so it dangled against his chest, holding the soldier’s gaze on that hand.
He’d kept his other hand hidden next to his upper thigh where he’d been working a smoke grenade free from one of his cargo pockets. He needed both hands to activate it, but if his idea worked, actually releasing a smoke cloud wouldn’t be necessary.
There. He had it in his hand.
The Nork kept chattering orders and Tanner used his free hand to point at the ground. “Down? That what you’re saying?”
The guy nodded and jabbed his weapon toward the ground, still rattling off orders.
Tanner bent his knees as if he intended to comply. He unfolded the fingers on his shielded hand and let the impotent smoke bomb drop to the ground.
That sucker rolled toward the soldier. Hot damn.
The distraction worked like a charm, drawing the Nork’s attention down to the canister.
Or it would have worked perfectly if Jin hadn’t come out of the shadows from behind the soldier. Shit. As she darted forward, Tanner moved at the same time. Jin launched herself forward and kicked the back of the guy’s knee, as Tanner swept his arm in a quick arc, shoving the rifle muzzle to the side. He cracked a vicious blow across the soldier’s trigger hand.
Next, Tanner booted the guy in the nuts.
The Nork’s howl of pain was cut short by the crazy woman as she wrapped her hand around to grab his mouth and nose, shove his head to the left and slam him to the ground in one of the smoothest takedowns Tanner had ever seen.
But with her mixed blood, self-defense skills made sense. She’d have to be able to handle herself to keep predators at bay if she had no one else to protect her.
Jin took a step back and spun, smashing her booted foot against the back of the soldier’s head, knocking him out cold.
Damn, that was hot.
Tanner added deadly to his mental description of his ninja and snatched up his smoke grenade and the guy’s rifle. “Let’s go.” He turned to leave.
She hissed, “Wait.”
“No,” he snapped.
When he paused to see what her problem was, she’d run over and jumped on the driver’s seat of the tuk-tuk. “Get in.”
She’d fired up the engine by the time Tanner had folded his oversized body to sit on the bench seat in the sardine can three-wheeler. She made a U turn and rolled hard on the handlebar accelerator that twisted like a motorcycle control.
Bullets pinged off the metal body.
Tanner returned fire with the stolen rifle, covering their back. Might as well use their ammo instead of his.
“Stop,” she ordered.
“Why? You got a bullet proof vest under that ninja outfit?” he asked, heavy with drawl.
“Ninja? Wrong country, cowboy. We can lose them, but not if they follow your gunfire. Hold on.” She spun the oversized go-cart up on two of its wheels as she rounded a corner.
Tanner leaned over her, throwing his weight to counter balance so they didn’t flip.
She glanced at him, her face an inch from his, and she sucked in a breath he didn’t think had a thing to do with her NASCAR turn. The third wheel hit hard and Tanner’s head bounced against the top of the cab.
He muttered a curse and dropped back on the seat.
“Are you hurt?”
“What? You worried about me, ninja?”
/> She never took her eyes off the road when she said, “Of course … you are my way out of here.”
“What?”
“You asked why I am helping you. I want to leave, too.”
Did she think he could just add people like a Conga line at a party? Defecting wasn’t as simple as it looked in the movies.
But he finally had a believable reason for what she was doing.
The only problem was that he couldn’t take her with him, but he wasn’t about to admit that before he got his men and the two physicists out of here.
Chapter Four
Wind blasted Jin’s face until she cut back the speed on the tuk-tuk as she reached the point of picking her way through narrow alleys that led to rear entrances of two-story shacks where laundry hung on lines strung between buildings.
Places vehicles weren’t meant to travel.
This American might have knowledge of Pyongyang geographically, but she knew the people and the places they could pass without challenge. He said he was not military, but he had been at one time. She’d spent much of her life studying Americans and the military, trying to figure out what made a man walk away from a woman and the two children he’d made.
The cowboy watched every door and window, but no one came out. She’d called him cowboy at first because it was so American, and because he’d used a similar stereotype for Asians by calling her “ninja,” but he sounded just like the men in the two cowboy movies she’d seen—both were illegal copies she’d risked watching over the years.
Would he admit that he needed her?
Probably not. Male egos did not allow room to accept that women were of value. She didn’t care what he thought of her as long as he took her with him and his team.
But his silence had not said yes when she’d told him what she wanted.
He spoke just loud enough to be heard over the engine. “Have to hand it to you, darlin’.”
“What?”
He turned to her, that one uncovered eye staring out from enough headgear to be some alien warrior. An eyebrow arched at her terse, one-word question.
She held her breath, waiting for him to say he would definitely take her with Har and Pang.