by Pamela Clare
“Where are you now?” Dingo asked.
“We’re close to Sterling, Colorado. I think we’ve found the location. I’ll check it out, then I’ll touch base with you.”
“Give me two hours and I’ll be there by daylight.”
Tanner glanced over for an instant at Jin who was listening intently to his half of the conversation.
Eyes back on the road, he said, “Can’t wait that long. We’ll be there in forty minutes. If we have the right aircraft and Pang is there, they’ll have to take off before daylight to interact with the storm coming in. Based on the weather report we’ve been monitoring, they may have to take off even sooner.”
“You’re talking an hour window of time to get there, find Pang and let Sabrina know to bring everyone in on them. I don’t like you doing it with just Jin, mate.”
Tanner didn’t like any of this either, but that hadn’t stopped the universe from throwing crap in his way since Pyongyang. “All I have to do is a quick recon to confirm we’ve found the right place. Sabrina won’t have as much time to chew on my ass. She’ll bring in everyone from Homeland to the FBI and they’ll love her for it. Maybe that’ll get her out of the hot seat with the State Department.”
Maybe that would buy Tanner enough points to gain Sabrina’s help with keeping Jin and her sister from being sucked into the system where they’d be targets of Orion Hunters hidden within the government.
Tanner would never cross Sabrina, but neither would he just hand Jin over. Not now. Not ever.
“I heard from Sabrina, too,” Dingo said, letting that sit between them for a moment. “I hate it for you, but I don’t see any way to get out of taking Jin in.”
Tanner knew she was listening carefully to his side. He didn’t want to argue this in front of her so he said, “I’ll let tomorrow take care of itself.”
“Call me as soon as you have word on that plane.”
“Will do.”
Tanner pulled the Bluetooth off and dropped it in the cup holder. Headlights approached then dimmed just long enough to pass them.
Then another stretch of nothing.
Jin said, “Please do not treat me as a fool or a child.”
That opening could go nowhere but down. “Meaning?”
“You are going to call in an army of people when you know you have the right location and if Pang is there.”
Some lines couldn’t be crossed. “I have to, Jin.”
“But my sister.”
“If I can find her and get her away from the others, I’ll take her with us, but she’ll be in my custody at that point and she’ll have to prove that she wasn’t voluntarily helping them.”
“She isn’t. Give me a chance to prove she’s innocent in all this.”
He’d avoided this question for two days and the time had come to face it. “What if she’s not?”
“She is!”
“She’s an Orion Hunter.”
Jin whispered, “So am I.”
“No, you’re a rebel who will not go along with anything you consider morally wrong.”
“She is the same,” Jin argued.
“How can you be so sure? You haven’t seen her in three years. Your sister could have been brainwashed in that time.”
Jin was shaking her head, refusing to accept anything other than what she believed. “Patty was sweet and would never hurt anyone. She understood that we had to go along with the Orion Hunters, because we had no choice. Those were her words the last time we were together. She said, ‘Do what you must to survive, Jin. Pretend to be who they want you to be so that we can be together again at some point.’ I had to pretend that I liked studying ancient languages and testing artifacts.”
Jin paused, staring out at the dark night as she finished explaining. “I had to excel at my studies and my fighting skills, but I would not harm someone for them. And neither would she.” She turned to Tanner and swallowed hard. “I fear for what they have planned for her. The night I learned of this mission, one of the Orion Hunters said that my sister would die and she would never see it coming. I have no idea how they plan to kill her, but I will find a way to stop them.”
Tanner admired her loyalty. Jin was an all-in woman when it came to family and love.
She would love without limits. She cared for him. Given some time, she might even love him.
He wanted that. Wanted her. But he wasn’t sold on her sister. In fairness to Jin, arguing would only upset her when neither one of them had any hard evidence. “Okay, we’ll do our best to find Patty and keep the Hunters from unleashing that toxin.”
With only a few hours to do it.
Why hadn’t he promised world peace as long as he was making ridiculous commitments?
“I have a confession to make.”
Jin had spoken so softly he did a double take. “What confession?”
“It was not intentional, but the problems you had leaving North Korea were my fault.”
He’d learned to wait for everything from Jin. Information came in small pieces that had to be snapped together for a complete picture. “What did you do?”
“Do you remember me telling you about Pang’s boss, Myong?” When Tanner nodded, she continued. “He had raped a young married woman and she took her life rather than face her husband. Myong hated children, but when an accident—that I do not believe was an accident—killed his sister who was a single mother, he petitioned to bring his thirteen-year-old niece to live with him even though the mother left specific instructions requesting that a close female friend should raise her.”
That was fucked up. “What’d you do?”
“I could not leave knowing what he would do to his niece. I left evidence pointing a finger at Myong as a traitor and having knowledge about Pang and Har’s escape. The DPRK is full of spies and someone found the information too soon. That is why the soldiers arrested his boss. So, your problems were my fault, but I was afraid to tell you when we were escaping and other times with your men close by.” Her words fell off at the end.
Tanner had to admit that in her shoes he would have done the same thing. He reached over and took her hand in his. When she looked up at him, he told her, “I understand why you did it and my team would, too. Besides, you got us out of there. I’m glad you protected that child.”
Her face softened. “Thank you. I will not carry that with me … any longer.”
What bothered him the most about that confession was what Jin hadn’t said just now. Her relief was palpable.
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that she wanted that off her conscience in case she died.
She had yet to realize that just as she couldn’t let that child suffer, neither would Tanner allow anything to happen to Jin. At least, not if he had the power to stop it.
He took the exit for the road to Dearborn Airfield, and five miles down the highway a ten-foot-tall, chain-link fence separating the airport from the road came into view. Security lights shone down on construction equipment parked near a slab that looked like a foundation for the next hangar, in addition to three already standing.
Four light aircraft were situated between the hangars and an impressive two-story complex for a private airport in the middle of nowhere.
Not only that, but lights were blazing inside the building at almost four in the morning.
As he slowed, he could just make out an airplane large enough to be the Gulfstream IV parked in the first hangar.
Hot damn.
And another comparable one in the next hangar.
Well, hell. He’d have to check them both out unless he found a machine for dispersing the silver iodide in the first one.
Jin put a hand on the console and pushed up to look past him, over the steering wheel. “How long will it take to get inside that fence?”
He should be flattered she had no doubt he’d get them inside, but he was too worried about taking her. “I’ll go in, check it out and come back to the truck if I see any females there.”
“I know that is not your plan. I am not going to stay here when you have no one to watch your back.”
“I can watch my own back, Jin.”
“I am the only one who can identify my sister. What if you find something written in Korean? How will you know if it is important or not?”
All valid points he wished he didn’t have to accept, but he did. Time was racing by. “Then do as I say, when I say.”
She cocked her head at him and amusement danced through her tart words. “Like when you told me to hide in the corner of that building in Chinatown? You should follow me this time.”
“Not going to happen.”
A mile past the airport, he found a rutted dirt road that turned off next to a creek with the only trees growing for miles. He parked, then loaded a backpack with ammo, a wire cutter and lock pick tools.
He held a Glock out to Jin, because that was the lightest and simplest handgun he had.
She stepped back. “No.”
“You can’t always fight your way out of a situation and you need this in case anything happens to me.”
“I will be with you.”
Yes, but what if he was dead? “You need a weapon.”
“Give me a knife.”
But would she really use it to kill someone attacking her? He handed her a switchblade she could put in her pocket.
Even with him jogging, Jin had no trouble keeping up. They reached the fence line in fifteen minutes and crept around the perimeter until Tanner found a spot to cut through the chain link. He peeled the jagged edges apart for Jin to step through, then he followed.
At the first hangar, he slipped along the side until he reached a locked door on the half-round building. He picked the lock, which took little time since it was more of a deterrent to someone nosy than actual security. This airport was not open to public traffic so the bunch who owned it probably felt they had little reason to worry about theft or vandalism this far off the beaten path. That also explained the lack of security cameras. One bit of luck amid the FUBAR.
Inside the first hangar, small lights at the rear offered enough illumination to study the details of the Gulfstream IV.
Tanner walked silently around the aircraft with his ninja close, but had her wait when he found stairs leading to the open cockpit. At the top of the steps, Tanner found a plane in the midst of having a luxury interior installed. Shit.
He returned to the ground and motioned for Jin to follow him to the next hangar.
Same thing there except that Gulfstream’s interior wasn’t as far along.
Stepping over to the last hangar, his hope was disintegrating since the aircraft in this one was smaller and the front of the hangar was open. Anyone could walk in.
This one held a Beech 99 aircraft. The kind a professional skydiving group would use.
But with one difference. This Beech had a vent poking down through the undercarriage. Tanner squatted to take a closer look. He was about ninety-nine percent sure that was not standard on a jump plane.
He stood and walked around the wing and gripped the Lexan roll-up jump door where parachutists exited the airplane. Clear horizontal strips ten inches wide were mounted to an aluminum frame that rolled up inside the canopy like the action of an overhead garage door. Once he had an opening he could fit through, Tanner climbed in and raised it the rest of the way, then stood to give Jin a hand up. The space was wide enough for two average adults to fit through.
“What is this?” she whispered.
He was trying to figure that out himself as he took in the hollow fuselage. Black cargo netting that resembled an oversized spider web hung loosely across the aft, turning the rear section into a dark hole.
That left an easy fifteen feet of forward compartment that was empty other than two parachute packs anchored with elastic cords to tie-downs on the starboard side of the floor. One was yellow and the other a drab green.
And a suspicious three-foot-wide machine mounted on the port side.
He leaned down. “This might be our airplane.”
Tanner moved up to the machine and knelt down where he could shine a tiny LED light over the top. It had lettering that looked like Chinese to him, but he’d bet it was Korean.
Jin dropped down next to him. “This machine is similar to the one on the drawings I saw in Pang’s area of the lab.” She smiled at Tanner with a cocky tilt to her head. “Now you need me to translate. Good thing you brought me.”
He liked this confident side of Jin. “Point taken. Can you open it to see if the canister has been loaded yet?”
“I should be able to, but … that does not make sense.”
“Why? What does it say?”
Jin reached for one of two metal clasps and froze.
A woman’s laughter percolated through the silence outside and was followed by a man’s voice speaking too low for Tanner to understand his words. They were entering the hangar.
Lights flipped on overhead in the giant space.
Tanner grabbed Jin and dragged her deep into the plane behind the cargo netting where the rear area was cast in dark shadows.
“Pang cut this too close,” the woman said, banging a door shut on a metal cabinet. “We should wait for a better window.”
Jin grabbed Tanner’s hand and squeezed. One look at her face was all it took to confirm that they’d found her sister, Patty.
“We can’t, doll,” the man said. “Pyongyang wants this operation shut down as soon as we’re through today. If they say we’re compromised, that’s enough for me.”
Had the Orion Hunters back in North Korea decided their operation was compromised because one of their Orion people inside the State Department tipped them off? Or was it because Har was dead?
Or because they knew Jin was here?
The sound of them moving around ceased and footsteps headed around the rear of the airplane, toward the jump door.
Tanner cursed to himself. He’d left the damn thing unlatched.
Patty spoke in a brisk tone that had not a speck of Korean accent. “The jump door is open. Who was the last one to touch this, Stan?”
“Pang and Lenny. I’m not busting on Lenny. Poor guy was probably in a hurry to get the canister packed and be done with that prima donna. Pang’s lucky that he came up with this formula or someone would have buried him by now.”
Stan climbed in through the opening, a fit man in his thirties with short brown hair. He had no accent.
Tanner placed him as Midwestern.
Patty grumbled then told Stan, “I’d be more impressed if the prima donna had developed a chemical that could be shot out like a normal cloud seeding.”
“This still works. Once it’s released it’s so fine that the particles will float, giving us a wider spread for the contamination. It really is genius, but don’t tell Pang I said that. Once this toxin is on the ground, all we need is some rain and those babies start expanding and saturating their way down to the water table. Hell, we’ll be able to do more damage this way.”
Jin covered her face with her hands. Hearing her sister so comfortable with this plan had to be breaking her heart.
Patty groused, “Yes, but I hate to see a fine aircraft abused.”
“I’ll buy you the newer model when we get settled again, doll.”
Patty dragged metal steps into place that she used to step into the fuselage. She turned toward the cockpit too quickly for Tanner to see much, but she had Jin’s same height and body shape. A trim five-foot-six, but where Jin’s dark brown hair fell to her waist, Patty’s had been cut in layers that fell loose and free.
Tanner had to tell Dingo this was not about seeding a cloud, but somehow spraying this over an area. He shielded his phone inside his jacket to text Dingo but … no tower.
Are you kidding me?
Stan went to the parachutes and started checking them over while Patty took the pilot’s seat.
Shit.
The turbo props turned over once and caught.
The motor noise covered anything he’d say, but he still whispered next to her ear. “I know you’re afraid, but he’s got a weapon and will kill both of us. Just stay here no matter what I do and don’t make a sound. Can you do that?”
She pulled his fingers from her mouth and cupped her trembling hands between her lips and his ear. “We must stop now or we will all die.”
“No, we won’t. You stay back here until we land.”
Jin kept shaking her head. Stubborn woman.
The airplane was already out of the hangar and headed toward the runway. As Stan closed the jump door and latched it for takeoff, the last blast of wind batted hair around Tanner’s face and blew Jin’s hoodie off, slapping loose strands everywhere from her ponytail.
The plane made the turn onto the runway and Patty gunned the throttle. Jin clutched at Tanner when the G force pulled her back.
Tanner hooked his arm around her, drawing her to him. With the noise of the motor, Jin’s next words were lost. Once he had her hugged up tight, she lunged back to talk next to his ear.
“I could not read all of it, but I saw the word explosive.”
Tanner wrenched around to see Stan on the port side now, holding onto a strap anchored to the cabin roof, and tinkering with the machine.
Now Patty’s conversation about abusing a fine aircraft and Stan’s reply that he’d buy her a new one clicked and made sense.
They intended to put it on autopilot, set the bomb timer and dive away while the aircraft exploded, dispersing the chemical. No one would ever figure it out.
The wind at that altitude would spread a fine mist of chemical for miles.
He had to stop them before they jumped.
Chapter Forty-Two
The aircraft had leveled off and was cruising at what Tanner estimated to be around fifteen thousand feet above the ground. But the wind ahead of the storm was beating the fuselage, causing the craft to shudder and jerk.