After all, she was the local military attaché.
He also saw her as the CIA liaison to his unit. Understood she had a high clearance and thus shouldn't be suspicious if she talked shop occasionally. "I heard Sam had a run-in about his team's report."
She began by passing a bit of juicy gossip to him, even if it was info he'd already known, so he felt like he needed to volunteer more information to top it in response.
"Yes, ma'am. Bishop asked us all to lay off a him. I reckon he'll be gone next week, anyway. Let's not talk about the geek squad. Ah'd rather hear about you. Where ya from?"
Gone?
Sam's run-in with the CO must've been more serious than she thought. Maybe that's why he'd been so distracted when he walked away. She'd have to call him later and drag the full story out of him.
Right now, she needed to find out Schnier's schedule. Kept her hand on his upper arm. "Oh, Berkeley as a kid, then we moved to San Diego. Went back to Berkeley for school. Stayed with an aunt. How 'bout you?" She tried to subtly match his accent, make him even more comfortable. Was from Podunk east Texas. Former football linebacker, a Texas A&M Aggie.
She'd read his military file and his background checks.
"Oh, my family has a ranch in the Lone Star State, ma'am. We're all built bigger there, if you know what I mean." He flexed his arm a little under her hand.
Wow. This guy laid it on thick. Did that actually work?
Maybe on a blonde college coed with too much to drink and unable to see past his Ranger status and his admittedly thick shoulders. "Oh, you don't want to know what I know." She giggled. "I want to know what your plans are. Going to be busy next week?"
She felt Schnier's muscles shift. He reached out a massive paw. Tapped the shoulder of a passing barmaid.
Ordered a Drone Strike in fluent Korean, then paused, "What do you want?"
Annoyed at the inopportune interruption, Michele forced a giggle and fiddled with her shell necklace.
This required more casual flirting. "Oh, I'll take an Irish Car Bomb."
He grinned and added her drink to his order.
The waitress moved on through the crowd. He turned back to her.
Leaned in so she could hear. "Like ah said, Rangers always keep busy. Volunteered just for all the experiences while I'm still young." He glanced around the room. "Maybe someday I'll show you my ranch." Paused. "Play darts? Gimme a game."
Michelle sighed. Schnier conveyed an infuriating lack of detail in his responses.
She pulled a trio of darts from the target above the red skull as her answer to his question.
This might take longer than she'd first thought.
* * *
I watched the movements of the People's Army soldiers on the stack of security feed monitors.
Sitting down would mean moving the dead guard's body, so I stood inside the tiny room.
None of the bad guys roamed near Doctor Yang Hyo-jin. On a blue zone hallway monitor, she returned from a janitorial closet across from the data center entrance.
Walked past the loading dock mantrap door, long steps, legs churning, lab coat flapping behind her.
Seconds later, she arrived with rolls of black plastic trash bags and silver duct tape.
After using the first one to retch in, she helped me wrap the body inside two others. We sealed them together with tape.
This place needed a better ventilation system.
Grabbing the dead guard's legs through the plastic, I twisted him around. Dragged the body outside the security office.
The bags would help with the smell, as well as preserve most forensic evidence.
I showed her the North Koreans on the displays. Summarized their movement pattern for her. "I'll call the primary security office. When they've checked out the truck out back and are ready to hit both mantraps at the same time, we'll go out the emergency exit next to the rear mantrap. Watch the fireworks from safely across the street."
She nodded, not ready to speak yet.
Instead, she stared at the monitors. Watched the North Koreans move from the orange zone to the blue and begin clearing offices.
Not much time left now.
I rang up the primary security office on the console's land-line phone. Could see a guard answer via one of the security cameras. "Captain Rhee Yun-seok, please."
"Who is calling?"
"Lieutenant Sam Harper, 75th RRC."
"One moment."
On the monitor, the senior Sergeant of the Guard held his hand over the phone. Called Rhee over.
At first he tried to explain, then he just handed him the phone.
"Harper? How did you get this number? Not more of your tricks, I hope."
"No, sir. I'm inside the facility. Calling you from the other security room. The one which monitors the lab spaces and the emergency exits."
"What! How did you get in there?" He paused to fume, then shouted into the phone, "I'll call your CO. Have you thrown out of Korea immediately."
The last thing I needed was another argument with the locals. "Let's discuss that later. The important thing is that if you'll switch over to viewing the inside of the lab, you'll see six North Korean operatives have infiltrated the facility."
He paused again. Deep thinker. "Are you sure they are from the North?"
"Can't be 100%, but I'm sure enough to call you and ask you to get your men in here to bail me out. Also have one of your scientists here with me."
"Thank you for your call. I shall hang up and arrange for a rescue. Stay there."
He ended the call without waiting for a response. Guess he didn't feel the need for a lot of heavy coordination.
We watched Rhee on the security monitor.
Rather than alerting the guards he was with, Rhee stepped away from them. Unlocked his cell phone. Dialed a number.
Spoke urgently. Jabbed his finger at the floor.
Without audio, it was difficult to tell what he said, but he certainly appeared emphatic.
On a different monitor, one of the North Koreans guarding the personnel mantrap door also spoke on a mobile phone.
I tapped Yang on the shoulder. Pointed at the second conversation. "Can you read lips?" She shrugged and began watching them both with me.
The enemy soldier and Rhee hung up at the same time. The two North Korean soldiers chatted for a moment and then turned and headed away from the primary mantrap.
Yang spoke aloud my thought, "They're working together."
I rubbed the back of my neck. "No kidding." From her file, she was single with no kids, no one to leave behind her, but I didn't want my new favorite scientist to become collateral damage for these dudes.
The head of security for the lab just betrayed us all.
Shouldn't be surprised.
Bitter experience has taught me you can't always trust people who're supposed to be on your side.
Two minutes tops to do something about Rhee and the enemy soldiers.
Chapter Sixteen: Help! I Need Somebody
Blinking light overload. Kwon stood in the data center between two rows of racks full of servers, network devices, and storage. He'd never seen so many computer-like things in one place.
He'd passed the land navigation course using the stars at night with no problem, but this was like seeing the constellations in an unfamiliar hemisphere. There must be a pattern to the colored LEDs, but they baffled his unfamiliar eyes.
Maybe similar to the equipment the elite hacking teams in Pyongyang used?
He'd memorized instructions on how to figure out what to take. They even showed his team pictures of how storage device hard drive trays appeared. After that, he hadn't expected overloaded confusion.
A tangle of colored plastic cables ran everywhere, even blocking access to a few pieces of equipment.
And the fans. Whirring fans blew hot air out of each device.
He pushed his tactical radio earplugs in tighter to block out a bit of the white noise.
Start sm
all.
He began at the top right of the racks.
Carefully scanned, row by row.
Pushed cables out of the way as needed for a better look.
Found a rack of metal shelves. Each held fourteen of the shiny gray hard drive trays set vertically.
A pair of LEDs blinked rapidly on each.
He exhaled deliberately. Must be the information storage.
His radio crackled to life. "Goshawk two to one." The data center's metal racks interfered a bit with the electronic signal, but he could understand Stro well enough.
"Goshawk one. I've located the package. Status?"
"Word from our contact is we have an unarmed soldier, apparently a kind of technical officer, and a scientist in the auxiliary security room. They've reported us to him, but that's contained, as long as we contain them."
Kwon minutely shook his head. "Don't scatter ashes on cooked rice. Take care of it."
Working together as a team requires figuring out how to do your part. With this data center puzzle in front of him, Kwon didn't have time to babysit a group of experienced noncoms.
"Roger. Four and Six, continue your sweep of orange, then flank via blue. Five and seven, finish setting your charges. We'll join you in three at most so we can move on the Imperialists. Keep your eyes open."
Four clicks answered Stro's updated orders to the men. Kwon'd been right to rely on the experienced sergeant. "Also, seven, find me a forklift on your way. It'll be faster to transport our target that way."
He analyzed the room.
Officers weren't expected to do menial labor, but these were exigent circumstances.
Could at least begin the job of hauling and stacking just inside the door into the data center. A pair of finger-tight thumbscrews held each shelf into the rack.
He pulled off a glove to get a better grip.
Unscrewed the highest shelf.
Rather than attempt to manage each storage drive individually, he'd just take a shelf full of drives at a time. Collective solutions were the best.
After his team converged on and destroyed the two Dominationists, they could move the shelves full of data out to the truck quickly enough.
* * *
I pulled another pair of trash bags off the roll Doctor Yang Hyo-jin brought from the janitor's closet. Tucked it over the camera hanging from the ceiling of the backup security center.
Now we had a little privacy.
Rhee must be actively keeping his men in the primary security office from monitoring the cameras in the lab portion of the building, but no point in taking more risks than required.
Doctor Yang sat heavily on the dead guard's rolling chair. Probably needed a minute to deal with recent events.
I've heard home is where they have to take you in, even after you've screwed up.
Mostly didn't have much of a home, myself, but I was willing to give the theory a try.
Would take time for them to arrive, but I was ready for reinforcements.
Hit three on my speed dial to call Bishop's issue mobile phone. Luckily, he was the after hours Duty Sergeant this week, required to be available on call to summon the rest of the Company in case of an alert.
I needed a Ranger who could make things happen.
"75th RRC, Sergeant Bishop."
He sounded bored. I could fix that.
"This is Lieutenant Harper. I authenticate Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot, one-three."
My pre-arranged emergency code. Just stoked to talk to a friendly at this point in the evening.
"What can I do for you, sir?"
Knowing I was on my way out Monday morning, he probably wondered why I called in an emergency after hours.
"Top, need you to roundup a few operators in full tactical gear with live ammo and get them over to the metallurgical lab immediately. Inform Major Williams. North Korean spec ops infiltrated the lab. Captain Rhee Yun-seok, head of lab security, is actively working with them."
"North Koreans, Lieutenant?"
"Get firepower over here ASAP. Can either arrest the Captain or arrest me once you arrive. Also, call the Seoul police. Have them cordon off a two-block radius around the lab. We'll need ambulances and the coroner's van. Probably MPs as well. Understood?"
"Sir, is this a prank, sir? Because I have to say, sir, a lieutenant who has gone out by the numbers can still be in even more trouble before his departure, sir."
"The dead ROK guard at my feet and six NKPA I'm watching on the security monitors here are no joke, sergeant. Have to go. Text me when the cavalry arrives, my phone is on silent. Confirm."
"Roger that. Six Tangos plus Rhee, police cordon, ambulances, coroner, and MPs. Wilco. Your funeral, sir."
"Hope not. Harper out." No more time to waste, I disconnected the call.
Let him have Lee GPS locate my issue phone if the CO wanted verification of my location.
Bishop could command attention from the bureaucracy when he desired, but even if he expedited the red tape, it'd take Military Police and Rangers time just to drive here through the crowded city streets.
Maybe the metro police would arrive outside sooner, but I didn't expect them to actually break into a secure government facility, especially with the dude officially in charge of security refusing entry.
Rhee'd have plenty of time to use his authority to make his escape and then slip across the DMZ to the North.
"Stay here for now." I told Doctor Yang.
Was now in giving orders mode. No time for Korean politeness.
"Will the Army come soon?"
Too many questions. Must be worried. With good cause.
I shook my head. "Maybe twenty, thirty minutes. Until then, we're on our own. Need more supplies, whatever I can scrounge. You'll be fine here." I pointed at the enemy soldiers on the monitors. "Keep an eye on them. I'll be back well before they can arrive."
Sliding outside the security office, I stepped around the sealed body. The smell began to clear as the local air mixed with the far larger volume of air in the adjoining brown zone warehouse.
Glancing down the nearby palletized aisles, I confirmed what I'd seen in the security monitors.
No enemy in sight.
Still, not much time until we had unwelcome visitors.
I slung another black bag over the lone camera in the red zone loading dock area.
Ran to the janitor's closet.
The data center door near the blue zone hallway was closed.
Inside the closet, I found industrial sized cleaning supplies, plus a push broom, mop, and wheeled mop bucket. Light aluminum formed the broom and mop handles.
Despite looking exactly like every other set of warehouse cleaning supplies I'd ever seen, this stuff was probably all custom ordered for government facilities via an exclusive procurement contract.
Grabbed a heavy ten gallon plastic container of bleach. Dropped it still capped into the bucket for transport.
Bleach always comes in handy.
Unscrewed the mop handle to take with me. Left the mop head on the closet floor.
Rolling the mop bucket along the corridor outside, I stared at the emergency exit door next to the loading dock mantrap.
It would be so easy to just grab the doctor and head out the emergency exit. Get ourselves lost in a crowded shop until the police arrived.
Even jump on the subway to go home and re-pack my things, letting the proper authorities sort it all out.
But then where was the proof Rhee was involved?
A few ambiguous actions on security cameras he controlled and could erase or edit at will?
The dead body of a guard and the missing materials and technology from the metallurgical lab?
He could explain all that.
In fact, I bet Rhee was already working on his story.
About how crazy American Lieutenant Harper, the guy with an unreasonable grudge against him, broke into his lab to frame him. Stole the materials, killed a guard when he was caught and took a scientist as
a hostage, who unfortunately became a heroic martyr to the cause.
All very plausible if the security system only showed me following Rhee into the lab. I broke in, then disabled the camera feeds somehow, losing most of the rest of the footage.
I'd go to Leavenworth on a murder rap, he'd get off scot-free.
The enemy would achieve everything they'd planned.
Not tonight.
Time to drop in on the uninvited.
* * *
Michelle formed a pyramid on their table with her third overturned Irish Car Bomb glass.
She'd let Schnier win two out of three games of darts, keeping just enough pressure on to not make it obvious she had no intentions of defeating him.
Now, settled into a cozy table in the corner away from the deafening K-pop, with a few drinks under their belts, she was sure his tongue would loosen.
She kicked off her shoes and prepared to create an accidental encounter.
So of course, his mobile phone rang. "You don't have to answer that, do you? We just started to relax."
Schnier shrugged. "Sorry. Issue phone. Duty calls." He grinned. "Sometimes, literal-like."
Michelle frowned. At this rate, she'd never see a promotion. Couldn't even squeeze useful info out of a horny drunken soldier.
"75th RRC, Lieutenant Schnier." Stiffened up a little just to answer the phone.
She focused her hearing, but couldn't quite make out what whoever it was on the other end of the call was saying.
"Roger." He slurred his words a little. "Call the rest of my platoon. Meet at the base fer outfittin'."
The voice on the phone grew louder, but more distorted. She'd make him feel guilty for the interruption of their date and hopefully Schnier would tell her what this was all about.
"No, I'm fine. For this job, at least, or will be by the time we're ready. Call the platoon."
The voice on the phone said something about Sergeant Lee, police, ambulance, coroner.
Whatever it was, it sounded deadly.
Her internal priorities shifted to finding out more on this situation.
"Good. Relay to the CO I agree. Should keep this mess inside the Company. Deal with the uppity sumbitch ourselves. ETA 10 to the equipment bays."
He disconnected the call.
"Who was that?"
Gazing toward the ceiling rather than at her, where his eyes had remained focused all night long, Schnier's attention was a million miles away. "Oh, just Bishop. Unexpected alert. Sorry, gotta go."
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