By the time McCarter turned, Li was yards in front, her slim form racing ahead, with Manning not far behind now, Pak following on hard. McCarter dug in his heels and headed to catch up.
Figures flitted through the shadows to one side. Rain glistened on rain capes. Bounced off steel helmets.
“Incoming,” Li yelled.
She turned and raised her Type 68 autorifle, loosing short bursts that caught the North Korean soldiers as they broke cover. She hit the closest man in the chest, sending him to the sodden ground, then crouched and fired again. The second soldier took the burst in the stomach, screaming once as he stumbled and dropped to his knees, clutching his body. Li fired a finishing burst that took away half his skull and the punctured helmet.
“You okay?” McCarter asked as he urged her on.
The young woman simply nodded, unable to speak in the aftermath of the sudden encounter. She stayed by McCarter’s side as they kept moving.
The rainfall became heavier and even the overhead canopy of leafy branches couldn’t halt the fall.
The only good thing McCarter saw in the rain was the fact it might hinder the pursuing North Koreans a little. On the negative side, the fact was, it would also slow Phoenix Force.
A moving figure caught McCarter’s eye.
Then a voice came over his comm set.
“I see you, boss.”
It was Hawkins. Seconds later he emerged from the gloom of the trees and fell in step beside McCarter.
“You okay?” he asked the younger man.
“Hell, yes,” Hawkins said. “I think I lost the bunch chasin’ me. They ain’t so fit.”
“That you firing at them?”
“Yeah, but I laid an egg on them, as well. Scattered them real fast.”
Up ahead Li had stopped, waiting for them to catch up. She was indicating something ahead, cradling her weapon to her chest.
“Where the trees end,” she said. “Beyond that is an open slope down to the harbor. A wooden jetty where the patrol boats moor.”
She led them forward. While McCarter stayed with her, Hawkins took up a rear position, watching for the other Phoenix Force members and the North Koreans.
As McCarter, Manning, Li and Pak edged clear of the trees and took in the scene overlooking the harbor, Hawkins picked up the sound of someone approaching through the undergrowth to his right. He drifted into the foliage and watched as uniformed figures eased from cover.
He made out the features of the newcomers and saw immediately they were not his teammates. Hawkins didn’t hesitate. He swung his P90 into position and laid down a concentrated autoburst, catching the North Koreans before they were able to make their own target acquisitions. Despite the urgency of the confrontation, Hawkins held his ground, tracking in his weapon with almost deceptive calm.
The suppressed weapon jacked out a killing stream of 5.7 mm slugs that found their targets and sent the Koreans stumbling back. Three went down while a fourth struggled to stay on his feet in spite of his wounds. A second burst from Hawkins hit high, punching in through the man’s throat and lower jaw. He fell screaming, hugging his bloody throat, the lower part of his face a disfigured mass.
Off to the left Encizo and James rushed into view, weapons up.
“Best not to hang around here,” Hawkins said. “Choi’s best and brightest are coming up fast.”
McCarter waved an arm downslope. “The harbor,” he said. “We move fast we might pick ourselves a ride.”
“There will be soldiers down there,” Li said.
“You reckon they hire out the boats by the hour?” James asked.
“Let’s check it out,” McCarter said. “We’ll be in trouble if they don’t take Visa.”
Encizo neared the group. “Give me a couple extra grenades,” Encizo said.
Each Phoenix warrior passed over one of their grenades. Encizo followed them over the lip of the slope, then crouched, laying out the frag grenades in a line. He placed his P90 on the ground.
“Go,” he said. “Just remember to reserve a seat for me.”
Movement in the trees behind their position alerted the Cuban, and he picked up his first grenade.
“Don’t hang about,” Hawkins said, moving to join the others.
As the team headed down the slope, Encizo pulled the pin and lobbed the grenade with a powerful throw. It blew with a harsh sound and a flash of light. As the explosion faded, Encizo heard a man scream. He quickly followed with a second grenade, the hard crack of sound throwing a geyser of muddy soil and splintered timber into the air.
An autoweapon opened up to Encizo’s far right. A ragged line of bullet hits traversed the area just short of his place of concealment.
“Fine by me, cabron,” Encizo said and hurled a third grenade at the spot where the autofire came from.
As the grenade detonated, he caught a glimpse of a shrieking figure spinning through the air.
Over his shoulder Encizo saw his partners had reached the base of the slope and were engaged in a firefight as the harbor sentries resisted their appearance. He pushed his remaining grenades into his pockets, snatched up his P90 and headed downslope to join them.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
PHOENIX AT SEA
The jetty comprised a timbered section that jutted out into the deep water. It was here two old wooden patrol boats were tethered. There was a fuel dump on the landward end of the jetty. A stack of steel and plastic fuel drums. A little way from the fuel was a large sprawling wooden hut. A sagging tin chimney stack issued smoke that was instantly whipped away by the rain and wind.
The rainfall obscured vision down to a couple hundred yards. Beyond the jetty the water rose and fell in choppy waves that swung the patrol boats back and forth on their mooring lines.
A pair of armed guards, glistening capes over their uniforms, had been alerted by the gunfire from beyond their area. They were turned in the direction of the long slope, weapons up and firing as they made eye contact with Phoenix Force. Muddy geysers sprouted as slugs struck the slope.
Hawkins plucked a grenade from his harness and tossed it in the direction of the guards. It fell short, but the blast radius was wide enough to inflict minor damage. The aggressive fire faltered as the pair of guards stepped back, giving the Stony Man commandos the opportunity to return fire. The combination of rapid fire from their weapons put the Koreans down hard.
“Watch that hut,” McCarter said, waving a hand in the building’s direction.
Almost on cue a door opened and uniformed figures spilled out, weapons in their hands. The crackle of autofire sounded.
Phoenix Force split apart, offering single targets, and firing as they reached the base of the slope.
Kayo Pak went down on one knee, his SMG braced against his shoulder as he aimed and fired, aimed and fired. He put one man down with his first burst.
Calvin James yelled, “Cover me,” as he skirted the base of the slope. His P90 dangled by its strap as he pulled a pair of grenades from his harness. He ran full tilt, weaving an erratic pattern, until he reached the end of the hut. Pulling the pins, he jabbed an elbow through the end wall’s window glass and tossed both grenades inside the hut, then turned and pressed his back against the exterior wall. The grenades exploded with a solid sound, blowing out every pane of glass at the front of the hut. Any Koreans still inside would stay there, bodies bloodied and shredded by the concentrated grenade bursts.
The shock of the blast and the flying glass fragments caught the Koreans who had exited the hut off guard for a few seconds, and those seconds cost them dearly as McCarter and the rest of his team unleashed their full ordnance. More autofire peppered the air, slugs cleaving flesh and bone, and the five North Koreans, alive when they had emerged from the hut, were driven to the ground in lifeless sprawls.
Thick smoke began curling from the windows of the hut, and as James moved to rejoin the rest of the team, he caught a glimpse of rising flames through the window.
McCarter scanned the top of the slope. “No hanging about,” he said. “Choi isn’t done with us yet. Pick the best boat and check the fuel. If we need any, get one of those barrels off the stack. Rankin, Fredo, you stand watch over that slope. Anything shows up there, shoot it.”
Kayo Pak made his way along the jetty, checking out the patrol boats. He picked the one that looked marginally sounder than its sister boat and raised an arm. Then he jumped on board and went to the aft section where the diesel tank was situated. He unscrewed the cap and assessed the fuel level.
“Full,” he shouted.
McCarter acknowledged the call.
“Okay, let’s get aboard the Jolly Roger and steam out of here, before Major Choi catches up.”
He told Encizo and Hawkins to fall in line. As Manning went to join the others, McCarter caught his sleeve and flicked a thumb at the stacked fuel drums.
“Anything left in your backpack?”
“Always keep something in reserve,” the Canadian said.
He produced a couple of Thermite canisters and showed them to McCarter.
“Nice,” the Briton said.
“Go and get that tub fired up,” Manning said. “I’ll plant one here and one on that other boat. Be ready to shove off, because when this fuel goes up, they’ll see it in Pyongyang.”
McCarter took Manning’s backpack and P90 and headed along the jetty. As he jumped the gap and landed on the deck, he heard the patrol boat’s diesel engine rumble into life.
“Get ready to cast off those lines,” he said. “It could get hot round here any minute.”
Hawkins and James stood ready to free the lines fore and aft. Li stood at the stern, her autorifle steady and aimed at the hill, should any enemy soldiers show.
Manning moved away from the fuel dump, running down the jetty. As he passed the second patrol boat, moored on the opposite side of the jetty, he paused briefly to drop the remaining Thermite canister onto the wooden deck. He sprinted forward and jumped on board as McCarter gave the command to free the lines. As soon as they fell free, Pak, at the helm of the boat, gunned the power and the forty-foot vessel pulled away from the jetty.
They had cleared the end of the jetty when the first Thermite canister blew, the tremendous heat from the burning chemical mix flaring quickly. The high temperature of the Thermite reaction, reaching around 4000 degrees Fahrenheit, easily melted plastic and metal. It took all of twenty seconds before the fuel ignited, bursting apart the stacked containers and sending a massive fireball skyward. Flaming fuel spilled out along the wooden jetty. The canister Manning had dropped into the second boat was burning by this time, the intense heat igniting the timber and spreading rapidly.
Having no need of the bulky suppressors attached to their P90 barrels, the Phoenix pros removed them and secured them inside their backpacks. The team took time to check and reload all their weapons.
McCarter stepped inside the covered wheelhouse to where Li Kam was unrolling charts on the navigation table. He held one side down as she indicated their current position.
“If Major Choi makes contact, he can call for help from the North Korean navy. There may be a coastal patrol vessel that could respond. If that happens, we could really be in trouble.”
James, standing close by, said, “As opposed to what?”
The young woman glanced at him, seeing the faint smile on his lips.
“The navy patrol boats are better vessels than the one we are on. They are of steel construction and will be much faster.”
“Let’s hope we can raise that Navy sub first, then,” McCarter said.
He fished out the signal unit from his backpack and activated the send transmission. The compact device sat silent in his hand for many long seconds. McCarter willed it to go active. When it did, the feeling of relief from everyone was palpable.
“That was scary,” Hawkins said. “Thought for a minute you’d forgotten to put the battery in.”
“Do we need to be on a specific course?” Pak asked.
“As long as it’s away from North Korea and due east, I’m not about to be too fussy,” McCarter said.
Encizo, who had stayed on deck checking out a canvas-covered shape at the stern, called out. “Hey, this might come in handy.”
He had stripped off the canvas to expose a deck-mounted .50-caliber heavy-duty cannon. It was fed from a large side-mounted box. The weapon looked powerful. Encizo gripped the twin handles at the breech end, swiveling and arcing the weapon. They all knew the tremendous power and impact such a weapon had. With an approximate length of five inches, the .50-caliber shell was a formidable piece of ordnance.
Hawkins walked around the weapon, nodding to himself.
“Hell, I really feel much safer now, knowing we have that around. You think we could sink a Korean destroyer with it?”
Encizo grinned. “We could give it a good scare at least.”
As they moved farther away from the coast the water became rougher. The comparatively small patrol boat was pitched heavily by the swell. And the unceasing rain added to the discomfort.
“How long before your submarine picks us up?” Li asked.
“Hard to say,” McCarter said. “Sooner they get a fix on us the better. You feeling uncomfortable?”
“I never was a good sailor,” Li said. “I prefer to be on land looking out to sea, not the other way round.”
“We don’t have much choice in our mode of travel.” He patted her shoulder. “Miss Li, you already proved yourself back there. You handled that gun pretty well.”
Li smiled briefly. “I was conscripted into the army in my early twenties. Figures for the much vaunted military numbers needed a boost, so more young women were admitted. In three years I went through the normal training every recruit does. That included combat and weapons training. I learned martial arts and became proficient in those. So, yes, I can use a gun and defend myself, as well.”
“So how did you end up in the physics game?”
“Female recruits could transfer to a noncombat unit after a period of time. I had shown interest in physics, and it seemed I had a natural aptitude for the science. I was eventually removed from my military service and sent to a science college where I was placed in the program. Anyone who showed a degree of talent was pushed forward. I was a lucky one. Physics held no mysteries for me, so I moved up in qualifications. I gravitated toward the weapons division, and it was from there I was offered a working position here under Absalom. He had asked for me personally after he had read a paper I wrote on pulse technology.”
“But things had changed for you by then?”
“Yes. My parents had been singled out as traitors to the state and imprisoned in a camp. It was all fabrication. They never came out of the camp alive. I was lucky that I did not become tainted by their arrest. But I was forced to stand in front of a committee and denounce them.”
Li paused, memories of that time still strong enough to affect her. “I must have convinced the committee of my loyalty. I was allowed to carry on with my studies as a way of proving my loyalty to the state. I was lucky that my work skills in physics were of a high standard. I had always been at the top of my classes, and my experience with pulse technology made me valuable.
“During free time in the city, I had been involved in small discussion groups and had met an undercover agent for the South. He knew what had happened to my parents and encouraged me to consider becoming an undercover agent.
“I found I wanted to do it. To hit back at the government who had taken my family from me. After I wrote t
he paper on Absalom, it raised my status. Next thing I knew, Absalom had recommended that I be attached to his team at the research site.
“The man I met in the city told me I would meet Kayo Pak. He was already established in the local village, observing what was happening in the research lab. When I was sent there, it was an opportunity for us to learn more.
“The lab workers were allowed visits to the nearby village, where we could buy fresh food to bring back to the site. It was a small reward given to us by Major Choi. A tiny acknowledgment of our work, and a break from the extremely long hours we spent inside the lab. Each time I visited the village and bought fish from his stall, I would pass over the handwritten data I had gathered to Pak.”
“A bloody risky business,” McCarter said. “If you had been caught...”
“I was prepared to take the risk. Any loyalty to the state had been destroyed by what it had done to my father and mother—innocent people who wanted little more than to live their lives as best they could. They were betrayed by a corrupt official and killed because of it. Kayo Pak offered me a chance to strike back, and I was only too ready for that.”
McCarter’s admiration for the young woman went up a few more points.
Li reached inside her coat and drew out two computer data sticks. She handed them to McCarter.
“I managed to download these. More data. Look after these,” she said. “In case anything happens to me....”
“Nothing is going to happen, love,” McCarter said. He took the sticks and secured them in a zip pocket of his combat jacket.
“I hope not, too. But I’m being realistic. Things do happen.” She smiled at McCarter. “All the data on the NNEMP development is on those drives. I have more in my memory, so we have two chances of success.”
The patrol boat yawed to one side as heavy waves rolled against it, and they all had to cling onto something for support. Cold seawater surged over the side and washed across the deck. Even though McCarter and Li were under the open wheelhouse, they were soaked.
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