Hadn't totally dazzled my CO, but he was coming around, "Harper, I'm canceling your return to Benning. You're not off the hook, you stand relieved of your platoon command. Sergeant Lee will take charge there for now, but I need you here in Seoul for the investigation and court-martial, if it comes to that. Get patched up. I trust you can handle light duties in the meantime."
"Yes, sir."
Perhaps I could convince the Doc to go on a real date. I'd saved her life, after all, although she probably wasn't happy about the damage to her lab. If they docked my pay at all, I couldn't afford a date.
Hoped no one thought to wonder if my use of makeshift mustard gas was a war crimes violation. Besides, the fumes were already pretty much dispersed.
I sniffed the air. Only a slight garlic and onion scent remained. Maybe no one would notice.
PART III: Blue Team
Chapter Twenty: Keeping It Real
Most of the time hanging with Korean volleyball players doesn't end in shots fired, but after nearly dying, I needed a nap.
The Major left Bishop and Schnier with me and the late-arriving MPs to wrap things up and give statements.
MPs secured the prisoners, including Rhee. Carted them off to wherever they store captured enemy special forces the North will be sure to deny existed.
We stood around the lab area to discuss what happened, careful not to disturb the investigation scene cordoned off behind yellow tape.
Hyo-jin kept wanting to pick the experiment up and set it right, but the MPs stopped her.
Lee volunteered to coordinate with the local security team.
They were all ROK Army together, after all.
Actions of acceptance and betrayal reveal who is truly on your side. Almost all of my foster siblings failed that test regularly, deflecting consequences for their actions or blame for their transgressions toward anyone nearby.
Better to avoid official attention, but somehow I became the next center of unwanted scrutiny.
Innocently enough, my new friend Hyo-jin, the Doc, wasn't a medical doctor, but still wanted to see my shoulder to ensure I was okay. "You didn't do it right. Shouldn't put that dirty, smelly shirt back on after bandaging it. You'll get infected. Need to go to a hospital. Doesn't the American base have a hospital?"
Dude! "I filled the wound with antibiotics. Be fine until I can get it properly cleaned out. Besides, mostly missed anything important."
The gouge in my shoulder would leave a nice scar, though, even if it stayed uninfected. Was more concerned about my ability to stay on my feet.
My knee hurt, despite morphine making it tough to think straight.
Michelle came over, shell necklace clacking, to do her own reconnaissance in force.
She edged between Hyo-jin and me, without even a look at the Doc, who was actually taller than her. Stood there staring at me with her hands on her slender hips. "Sam Harper. How much trouble have you gotten yourself into now?"
Hyo-jin said something sharp in Korean under her breath as she stepped around Michelle, but I didn't catch it. "Who are you?"
I held up a hand to forestall Hyo-jin's question, "I'm fine, Michelle. Just a little gunshot wound and woozy from the morphine." Didn't mention the knee, but maybe I could sit on the edge of a nearby steel lab table, which would otherwise just hold up paperwork. "Doc, this is Michelle, an old friend from the American embassy."
Pain shooting in my knee, I took a deep breath. Leaned up against the table's edge. Took the weight off my knee. "Michelle, this is Doctor Yang Hyo-jin, lab administrator."
Hyo-jin stuck her hands in the wide pockets of her lab coat. "Scientist, thank you. I am the director of the metallurgical lab, but I lead the scientific efforts, not the paper ones."
Michelle turned. Looked her up and down. Mostly up. "Good to meet you. I've kept Sam out of trouble since he got kicked out of his third foster home."
More like getting me into trouble, but I wouldn't quibble. "Doctor Yang was tremendously helpful with taking care of the enemy soldiers. My angel in the sky. My singing voice in the clouds, watching over me and guiding my every action."
Hyo-jin flipped her pony-tail around like I was embarrassing her and she was upset at my description, but then paused and laughed. "The morphine is getting to you, lieutenant."
Michelle rolled her eyes. "I'm sure he's fine." She stared back at me. "You dodged my earlier question. What happened?"
"Is that an official inquiry? I'm not really in a condition to answer official inquiries, but I'm sure I'll think of something later."
"Oh, leave the poor man alone. You have no idea what he's gone through, stopping these men from blowing up my lab."
"Blow up the lab? They brought explosives?"
"My lab is extremely valuable. Destroying it would set back our research for years."
I tried to get a few words in, "How'd you end up here with the Rangers, anyway?"
Michelle looked around, craning her neck like she could see the demolished part of the warehouse area. "I happened to be near Lieutenant Schnier when the alert went out. Just trying to look out for you."
Sergeant Lee and the lab security SFC approached Schnier, Bishop, and Captain James D. Grant. Grant was a tall, gangly fellow. Pointed at things with his nose, like Ichabod Crane. Nice enough fella. Commanded the local MP detachment.
The officers didn't look happy about whatever he reported to them.
The SFC pointed at Yang. In response, they all turned and headed straight over to our friendly little group.
"Incoming," I muttered.
Michelle wasn't paying as much attention to our surroundings. "What?"
"Captain Grant," I said as they approached, "is going to be a bummer."
The two women turned away from me in time to provide a welcoming committee for the troops.
Hyo-jin squished her eyebrows together as they approached. Charmingly cute. "Sergeant?"
The SFC nodded to Hyo-jin. "Bad news, director. They've looted the data center; stolen the storage arrays."
Lee chimed in, "And I don't think the backups will work. That was in our report."
The report no one paid attention to.
Well, no one but Rhee. He probably read it pretty closely and passed the details on to the North.
My heart sunk into my stomach. Had I contributed even more to this disaster?
Hyo-jin put her left hand over her mouth in a half-fist and propped her elbow on her chest. She said nothing, but I was sure she remembered telling me about the extra enemy soldier.
Schnier smiled at Michelle. "Honey, we'll have to finish our date later. Sorting this stuff out will take all night, if not all week."
Michelle came because they were on a date? While I fought an enemy special forces team with only a civilian to help me?
On a date?
Bishop had his hands tucked together behind his back, standing at a relaxed mix of attention and at ease, uniform crisp, looking like he'd just gotten into the office on a normal day. "Lieutenant Harper, may we speak privately, sir?"
All the exhaustion hit me at once. "Sorry, I'll have to catch up with the rest of you in a while. Captain Grant, you'll have my statement later. I'll answer any questions, but right now I need a hospital bed. Top, if you'll drive me to the base hospital, we can talk on the way. Not so bad off I want to ride in an ambulance."
Grant gave Bishop a look that informed him of his responsibilities to monitor me until I answered the MP's questions, but otherwise they were content to let me go for now.
How much more trouble could I cause from a hospital bed?
* * *
The snow forced non-emergency traffic off the roads.
Kwon's driving wasn't perfect, but the all-terrain military truck's weight and tires churned slush into a twin-path of dirty ice.
Falling crystals lit up in hazy patterns from the signs for the shops he passed.
Would've been beautiful, if he hadn't just watched Stro strangle a man and then ran for his li
fe.
With no one knowing his path, no one stopped him.
After consulting a map, Kwon found his way back across the river bridge and on to the side roads Stro drove in the other direction. He hoped Stro and his men were fine, but he didn't like not hearing from them.
Not knowing.
He was responsible for them. He'd led them on the mission.
Had the data, the mission successful, but kept playing back the limited briefing he'd given them repeatedly in his head.
What could they have done better?
The toughest burden ever was to lead this team and then leave them. Sometimes it's easier to tackle a mission on your own.
What might've made the difference?
Another week to plan, to train, to review the mission details, to analyze the lab's organization better?
May have helped, but Meon ordered them in a week early.
Meon had good reasons.
Kwon touched his jacket pocket with the photograph of his family. If his team was a sacrifice, he'd honor them. He knew how.
Complete the mission.
The truck slid a little once his tires turned off pavement and snow to instead churn mud and ice together, but it was only a short stretch to the rice farm near Dorasan Peace Park. Reaching the abandoned greenhouse, he turned and backed the truck up to the entrance.
Needed to be as close as possible to unload the drive shelves, because he was all alone. Without his team to use the wooden carts, he could load the drives on the carts instead, but he'd pull them back with only his own muscles.
Already been an exhausting day. He could leave the drives behind in the truck, then return with more manpower to haul them back.
No, couldn't risk the Dominionists recovering the data while he was away.
He considered if the border guards they'd tied up had been freed yet. Probably better if they hadn't, because that would mean their relief was coming soon.
Kwon would need the relief's truck to get the data back to base. Wouldn't be hiking back out the way they'd hiked in with it all on his back.
Kwon's team had struck a blow against the Imperialists.
Now to finish the task.
* * *
The morphine hit hard. I felt a sudden urge to convince Bishop that he should really take up surfing.
He led me out to his blue minivan parked diagonally in front of the lab's main entrance. His bumper carried two stickers, My Ranger is My Hero written on the left and Mormon Assault Vehicle on the right.
Bishop hit a key-fob button. The doors unlocked. I picked a doll with oversized button eyes off the passenger seat and climbed in. "Nice ride. Not as nice as a surfboard, though."
"Sorry about the mess, sir. Borrowed it from my wife. Needed more seats and it's lower profile than a military vehicle in the city. Didn't know what kinda kerfuffle we all'd be walkin' into here. No time to stop at the motor-pool, anyway."
I yawned. Set the doll into the center console next to an empty Cherry 7-UP bottle. "Glad nothing happened to it."
"You and me both. The paperwork from the Army for replacing a POV if destroyed in combat within a non-combat-zone would probably be harder than just gettin' a part-time job to pay for another one."
I pulled out my phone and texted Lee, "Suggest you check KCIA traffic cam footage to track military truck."
Technically, he didn't currently work for me anymore, but unless he disagreed with my suggestions, didn't see him ignoring an officer who might be back in charge of his MI platoon again, especially if I kept to suggestions.
Bishop started his minivan. Cold air rushed out of the vents. "Take a minute to warm up."
A quick reply from Lee, "Metro police report seeing truck before and after lab incident. Tracking backward and forward from known sightings."
Bishop put his minivan into drive. Picked his way through the light snow covering the lot. "Yongsan Hospital?"
I wanted to close my eyes and pass out. "You can take me back to the BOQ. Just need rest. Shoulder'll be fine, but my knee is killing me, even with the morphine."
"Sure, sir? Believe the Major would want you to get checked out by a professional nut examiner. Need paperwork for your service record. Maybe even a purple heart, assumin' they don't court-martial you."
Had a point about the paperwork. "I defer to your extensive experience. Never been shot in the Army before. Guess there's more forms than when you just have a gang war."
"Ah wouldn't know, sir. Didn't exactly grow up in the hood. Poppa taught at VMI, Mama stayed home."
"More the barrio, for me. Least for a few years here and there, if I got a Latino foster family. You go to VMI?"
Why wasn't Bishop an officer?
"Long story. Had a scholarship, but after 9/11, enlisted right away. Rather work for a living, anyway."
A little later, but I also joined the Army to protect and get justice for people like my parents. People killed in a terrorist attack.
Gave us an experience in common.
Bishop would get to the point soon enough, but it was always more effective to gently ream out a soldier you had important things in common with. Still had at least one big difference, though. "I had lots of parents, and none at all."
Bishop rubbed the scar on his cheek. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"
I stared out the window. Watched the deserted icy sidewalks stream past. "Of course."
Might as well get it over with.
He took a breath. Paused, as if considering how to express his thoughts. "From what you all've told us about the lab incident, if you'd had a team with ya'll, done proper preparations, even just involved me, or Lee, or Schnier… They wouldn't have escaped with the data. Place might not be a disaster zone."
"Twenty-twenty hindsight, sure, but I didn't have that option. Had to ride this wave alone."
"Roger that. What I'm saying, sir, is perhaps in the future you might oughta consider involving more folks. Need a team to succeed as an individual. Sure you heard that enough in RASP."
"I'm supposed to lead the team. Responsible for my platoon's success, but sometimes I have to rely on myself. No offense, but I've always trusted myself to get things done."
"I get it, sir. I married into a pre-built family. Guy I replaced was a drunken, abusive loser. Useless as a screen door on a submarine. My two stepdaughters used to not want to even talk to me. Just stood there and stared, when they didn't run and hide. Said I wasn't their real dad."
He took another deep breath. "At first, was gone too much on deployment, didn't get to truly be around for a while. Had a tough time trusting me. Trusting anyone, really."
Would've been nice to have a stepfather like Bishop. A man to look up to. "Nothing wrong with my parents, except a tango's choice to bomb them. Their replacements just didn't live up to the same standards. A few kids get lucky in foster care, but not older boys. Not if they're the least bit stubborn."
"From what I see, you're like a mule. What I'm saying is, eventually, after a few years, the girls came around. They're fifteen and thirteen now. Few years ago on Father's Day, gave me the greatest gift ever. Got adoption certificates and legally changed their last name to Bishop. Now think if they'd known how it would end up from the start. How much sooner we could've been more of a family. Sure, part of that's my fault. Isn't an easy job on wives and kids."
Was Bishop worried about the DPRK escalation threatening his family? He lived in an off-base apartment with his wife and kids, much better than the limited on-base married housing. "What's your point?"
"You have a future in the Rangers. Eventually, you'll work better with the operators and others as a team, but it'll all be a lot easier for everyone if you burn through the learning curve. Rangers are your family now. Gotta accept 'em, that's all."
I shook my head. Easy for him to say. Guys in the Company listened to Bishop.
I'd just gotten relieved of duty and practically kicked out of the Company just for doing my job and turning in a report which
accurately described how vulnerable the lab was.
Kicked out based on the complaints of a traitor. "I hear you, Bishop, and I'd like to work that out, but don't seem to be able to prove myself to the Major and the shooters like Schnier."
We arrived at Yongsan. Bishop handed his military ID over to the gate guard, "Schnier will come around, but you've got to show everyone you trust them, you rely on them, not just that they can rely on you."
Trust Schnier. The guy dating Michelle while I fought for my life.
Not Bishop's fault. Maybe he just didn't see the whole picture. Seemed genuine, at least. "Appreciate your advice. Could've caught the last guy if I'd been able to involve the team earlier. That's partially on me. I'll get it figured out. Is that everything, Top?"
After the quick security theater of passing a mirror on a stick under the minivan, the gate guard raised the metal barrier and waved us through.
"Almost to the base hospital, anyway. Think about it, that's all."
"I'm always up for continuous self-improvement, but right now I'll take a bed and a good nights sleep."
"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll come wake you up every few hours to give you medicine or something else as much fun as a rooster sparkin' a weasel."
"Good to know the military hospitals for gunshot wounds are just like the civilian ones."
Chapter Twenty-One: Rebels
Bishop's two girls won the genetic lottery compared to the local soccer talent. He loved to watch them give-n-go, running circles around the other kids.
He adjusted the picture frame on the corner of his desk with a photo of their team, his wife beaming as their coach.
This wasn't the first time he'd missed their soccer games for work. Stuck sitting at Company HQ making sure the required incident reports about Harper's mess last night were ready for Major Williams to sign and file later.
Done his best to maintain at least stability for his family. With tensions between North and South running high, he hoped his decision to move them to live near him in Seoul didn't come back to haunt them.
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