Techno Ranger

by Thomas Sewell

  My phone dinged in my remaining earpiece.

  By monitoring the packets transmitted over the air between devices, Aircrack stole the WiFi network's encryption key.

  Didn't have the time it would've taken to break a state-of-the-art wireless network, but outlying DPRK units get crappy outdated electronics which they then tend to misuse.

  All the experts are in Pyongyang, stealing hard currency for the regime from the rest of the world.

  My phone connected to the local WiFi. Ran a quick network discovery search while I walked back to the river.

  A file server. Perfect.

  Hadn't separated whatever they used this wireless network for from their hardwired network. Left to the end users, convenience trumps security every time.

  No trace of the stolen data, but a bunch of paperwork and orders.

  I compressed and slurped any text-based documents down to my phone and then deleted them.

  Might have backups, but would at least lead to a little confusion as they dealt with their missing paperwork. Even more than most, the People's Army runs on forms.

  If the data I needed to recover had been here, it wasn't any longer, but I had a more urgent problem.

  Any minute now, someone on the other side of that door would get a bright idea, like cutting through the steel with a blowtorch. Guaranteed to set off the explosives on this side as the metal heated up.

  Really didn't want to be here when that happened.

  The river swept out of the cavern on the side opposite the one I'd arrived from.

  No tire to provide air.

  No extra equipment from my ruck.

  No carbine, even, unless I wanted to figure out a way to drag the river bottom for it.

  No way to know how much farther underground the freezing river went before emerging into the light.

  Maybe no air.

  Just a claustrophobic hole through the cavern wall.

  Heavy water ahead.

  I took a few deep breaths to build up my oxygen supply. Then a few more.

  Stood on the stone riverbank.

  Dove.

  Once more into the cold, cold breach.

  * * *

  Meon leaned back in his desk chair and closed his eyes. Rubbed peppermint oil into his temples.

  After that call from Supreme Leader, his headache from last Friday was bound to return soon.

  If he returned to Pyongyang, it was possible he'd be given a reminder of why failure wasn't to be contemplated.

  Might be survivable.

  On the other hand, might be stripped of his rank as an example and sent to a labor battalion or the re-education camps to die of slow starvation.

  Not pleasant.

  Last year, the Party Chairman ordered the Minister of Education shot for his bad attitude after he failed to maintain the proper posture during a publicity event.

  The embarrassment and loss of face from the recent news stories would most likely sentence Meon to an imaginative form of execution.

  What could he do to save himself?

  Did he have any alternatives, except to send Kwon and make a deal?

  Meon tapped his desk seven times for luck.

  If he made a good enough deal, he might even come out with a better material life in retirement, although it would be difficult to improve upon holding the life and death of so many people in his hands.

  No self-illusions. He enjoyed wealth, but power over others thrilled him deep within.

  Perhaps he could engineer a minor coup somewhere with his new wealth and take over a small island?

  Probably best not to call that much attention to himself for a while.

  What else could he do, except depart in style?

  An efficient rap at the door.

  That would be Kwon. Perfect timing. "Enter."

  Kwon took up a stiff posture and saluted. "Reporting as ordered, General."

  Meon screwed the dropper back into his peppermint bottle and placed it in his desk drawer. "Relax, nephew."

  Kwon bowed to a respectful degree.

  "Yes, uncle. I've delivered the data to the train station. The device is outside with Pahk's men in the truck."

  "Good work. Your new mission requires the utmost secrecy. The data will be safe enough heading north while you're gone. Tell no one; the Imperialists can't sniff out a scent which isn't there."

  "It shall be done as you command, uncle."

  "We've reached a delicate stage of my negotiations for peace with the South. We need hostages, as many as possible.

  "You will lead the greatest hostage taking the world has ever seen. Capture an entire city of ten million inhabitants, including tens of thousands of enemy soldiers. Historians will record your role in the key event which unified Korea."

  Kwon bowed briefly. "A great honor, uncle. Thank you for your trust."

  "My secretary has a mobile phone for you to use. She's pre-programmed my direct number into it. It will work here and across the border. No cutouts, we can't risk betrayal.

  "Except for local tactical communication, your team will maintain complete radio silence. Ensure Pahk knows this is my specific order.

  "There is too much at stake. I will communicate with you via that phone. You are to negotiate with no one; accept orders from no one else."

  "Roger, sir."

  Kwon stared at the red phone on the desk. He shook his head. "If I may clarify, General, I presume you mean no one but you and our Supreme Leader? As a hypothetical?"

  Meon considered saying no, but if the issue ever arose, it would be too late, anyway. "Don't be an idiot, lieutenant, if you receive a direct order from his Supreme Greatness, you will of course obey it. But no one else, not even the Defense Minister himself. The risk is too great."

  The risk to Meon's skin was too great, but Kwon didn't need to know that.

  "My apologies, sir."

  Meon removed from his desk a button on a thin stem. The stem attached to a set of wires and a box of electronics. Handed the contraption to Kwon.

  "The technicians have prepared a dead-man's switch for the device. You will take it with you. Install it after you settle into position. The weak bastards in the South won't dare attack you. You will return victorious with Pahk's men after I negotiate our great victory."

  Kwon turned the switch over in his hands to gaze at each side.

  Straightened his back. "Sir."

  "The first decision point will be after you, Pahk, and his team transport the Goshawk device. Call me when you're secure on the other side of the DMZ and I'll deliver further instructions."

  Kwon hesitated for a moment.

  "It shall be as you command, General. I'll be right back with the mission orders for you to sign authorizing our departure across the DMZ."

  Meon waved his hand at the door in dismissal. "Conquer the Dominionists with great dispatch!"

  "Sir!" Kwon pivoted and then strode out of the room.

  Surely even the Imperialists won't risk the destruction of Seoul?

  It'll all work out for Meon, even if Kwon is required to make the ultimate sacrifice.

  No turning back from destiny now.

  Chapter Thirty-Four: Learning from Failure

  I rode the fade, the most powerful part of the current, making minimal movements to conserve oxygen.

  Icy water surrounded me inside the black hole exit channel. Periodically ran my hand over the rough stone above me.

  Needed the river to reach a point where the cave roof climbed enough to clear the water.

  Hunted for open air.

  Flash of a glow from behind lit up the water. Two seconds later a shock-wave reverberated in the enclosed river.

  Caught me.

  Tightened muscles for impact.

  Waves broke around me. Reflected. Put me through the dishwasher.

  Shoved me into the ceiling. Scraped my left shoulder along the rocks.

  Stabbing shoulder pain outbid my aching knee for attention.

  Ene
my soldier must've opened the door back in the cavern.

  No time to rub my shoulder.

  Relaxed my muscles to consume less air.

  All my oxygen-fed energy must go to sustaining life and maintaining forward progress as the current ragdolled me through the underwater cave system.

  Dark thoughts filled the shadowy river hollow.

  Didn't set the trap the soldiers in the cavern triggered, but I bore at least partial responsibility. Might as well have been the one to move the data away, also.

  Meon must've warned them. Warned them after I let him live.

  If I'd brought Schnier and his team in, maybe there would've been another way.

  Could've left someone to guard Meon and his chauffeur. Clean up our trail at the main base.

  Ensure this visit wasn't noticed in time for them to escape with the data and leave booby-trapped explosives in their place.

  Maybe there'd be something in the orders database I recovered to tell me where the data went. Some way to gain victory out of this disaster.

  Light ahead grew stronger.

  Probably not just oxygen deprivation, playing tricks on my mind. Actual sunlight through the water.

  I cut through the water with more purpose. Could literally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

  Broke the surface with a gasp.

  Clean, clear, crisp winter air. Pure as the snow driven into my face by the early morning wind.

  At least the cold hadn't frozen the river's surface. Gossamer snow melted as fast as it hit.

  Running water takes longer to freeze.

  Wasn't in any condition to bash my way out through a layer of ice.

  Dumped myself onto a strip of sandy beach between two rocky cliffs. Not much vegetation, but my fire starters went down with my pack, anyway.

  The horizon lit up with early morning light. A stark difference to inside underwater caves.

  Sunlight caught one cliff-top, but didn't yet light all the deep shadows here at the crevice bottom.

  The Army designed my clothing to wick moisture to the exterior. All I had to do was get enough internal warmth to make it work.

  Needed to walk fast enough to generate heat, but not so fast I began to sweat and created new moisture.

  Could use something to eat and something warm to drink to up my body temperature, but the few scraggly bushes along the cliffs here wouldn't be very appetizing and my packed-in meals were riding the river somewhere.

  Climbed along the bank until the dirt widened out. The opposed cliffs were narrowest where the river emerged to create this fissure, but broadened the farther I traveled.

  Water carved a higher and wider path. Left room to hike.

  Used my phone to check my position.

  Need to preserve it's life; spare batteries drowned along with rations and rifle.

  Not much signal from the closest mobile tower penetrated the rocky cleft, but I forwarded the files I'd taken from the mountain base to Lee with a note to let me know if there was anything related to the missing data in there.

  My email would get through eventually.

  Crack!

  Bullet whined off the cliff-face in front of me.

  Too many echos to find the enemy.

  Smooth is fast.

  Slipped my phone into a pocket. Slid back into the freezing water. Floated away on the current.

  No telltale splashing.

  Three more shots. Nowhere close to me.

  The shooters gave up on their lack of targets in the shadows.

  Enemy guards, some kind of lookouts, on top of the cliffs.

  Some idiot turned on an artificial light source at the bottom of the cliff and then lost all situational awareness by staring down at it, oblivious to the possibility of an enemy in the area.

  Firing almost straight down without a ranging shot is tough, but I was still lucky to be alive.

  Needed to figure out exactly where I was to know where to go, but I couldn't risk my phone screen again without concealment for the light.

  Not until I left the shadows, at least.

  They'd be either radioing ahead or running along the tops of the cliffs to intercept me at the only exit, wherever this river led out of the mountain.

  Or both.

  I needed to fix this.

  All of it, not just the part where I wouldn't make it out of the DPRK alive, but also losing the data. Of course, I no longer knew where the data was located.

  Needed to get on the move to stop that shark Meon's plans, and soon.

  Just didn't know how.

  * * *

  Prepared with the proper paperwork, Kwon's second time through the DMZ tunnel went smoother than the first.

  Of course, to be polite, he had to sit through five minutes of the border guards on duty explaining how an Imperialist special forces brigade supposedly burst through and tied up their comrades before vanishing into the night.

  Kwon tried to have sympathy, he really did, but he also remembered the hard time those guys had given him before.

  No real evidence of large numbers of troops traversing the tunnel. Lack of footprints in the mud don't lie.

  Maybe one or two guys, at most.

  He had Pahk order one of his men to clean mud off the carts, then they took their positions.

  Kwon in front, Pahk at the rear, the Goshawk device safely tucked in the middle, two men tasked to simply ride and secure it in place from both ends.

  More work for the rest of them, pulling on the ropes with their gloved hands, but this time Kwon had a good mental gauge of how far the tunnel extended.

  Cart wheels hummed. Their movements synchronized to an unheard rhythm.

  He stared at the ceiling. Blocked out the repetitive scenery. Arrived at the far end quickly.

  Time to "Achieve a Great Victory" once again.

  He staged Pahk's men after the final left turn, inside the 50 meter tunnel to the greenhouse exit.

  Left the Goshawk device behind on the carts.

  Could bring it forward once they secured the area, but if they failed, it needed to be ready to return across the DMZ.

  Taking the lead, Kwon slithered forward.

  Peered around the stack of irrigation boxes partially blocking the tunnel exit.

  One enemy soldier.

  Korean military policeman, by his uniform markings. He sat on the dirt floor and leaned his back up against the greenhouse exit.

  Kwon sighted his rifle on the MP's chest.

  The enemy soldier wasn't watching the tunnel. Instead, he devoured some sort of sandwich in a roll.

  Smacked his lips with every bite.

  Kwon signed to the soldier behind him. Single unaware enemy.

  The soldier handed his rifle to the man behind him.

  Glided past Kwon.

  Leapt out from behind the equipment.

  An alarm beeped a warning when he crossed the greenhouse.

  The MP looked up.

  Threw his sandwich to the ground

  Kwon's soldier pounced on him. The two men rolled over in the dirt.

  The MP ended up on top.

  Kwon reversed his rifle. Butt-stroked him in the back of the head.

  MP's eyes rolled up in his head. He collapsed to the dirt floor.

  No more struggle.

  Kwon moved to the edge of the steel-hoop covered fabric exit into the field.

  Another of Pahk's men smashed the box emitting the alarm.

  One annoyance gone.

  The other four spread out in the greenhouse.

  These walls wouldn't provide cover against rifle fire. With them all concealed, maybe any MPs outside would come check things out.

  False alarms from the motion sensor must be a frequent event.

  Kwon lay down just inside the opening. Bent to the side for a quick view.

  Two more MPs outside wearing plate carriers.

  One stood and leaned against their military truck's hood, smoking. The other pointed at the greenhouse
with his left arm.

  Right at Kwon.

  Drew a sidearm from a belt holster with his right hand.

  Kwon slid his scope picture over to the reacting MP's face. Ten meters. Ludicrously short range for a scoped rifle.

  Broke the shot with a double-tap.

  The second MP dropped his smoke. Snatched at his waist.

  Crack, crack, from behind him. One of Pahk's snipers took his own suppressed pair of shots.

  The second MP slumped to the group before Kwon targeted him.

  Their four bangs blurred together in one indistinct crash of destruction to their enemies. Great teamwork.

  No mercy for the enemy.

  They'd killed his last team. This trip would be different.

  He maneuvered out to the gravel parking lot. No sign of anyone else; just two broken enemy bodies near the truck.

  Kwon swallowed the trickle of bile threatening to escape his throat.

  Pahk followed the rest of his men out of the greenhouse. They secured the rice paddy farm with a quick visual search and leapfrog.

  Kwon sent Pahk to collect the enemy's identification.

  They'd become MPs, at least the three of them who rode in the truck's cab. The men in back wouldn't be readily seen, anyway.

  Pointed. Sent four men back into the tunnel.

  "Bring up the device. Load it into the truck."

  Time to call in the decision point. He unlocked the phone Meon's secretary had given him.

  Called the only saved number. "Point Greenhouse secure."

  Meon wasted no time. "Proceed to the tower. Next check-in there if no delays."

  Risky to parade through Seoul with a nuclear device, but he wouldn't let down his team and his family these noms murdered.

  "Roger. Proceeding in the guise of MPs to the tower."

  Meon disconnected.

  Namsan Tower in Seoul symbolized the strength of the enemy. On top of a hill, jutting 500 meters farther into the sky, any weapon detonated there would be the equivalent of an air-burst, multiplying its destructive potential.

  No other way to bypass the Imperialist Army's air defenses, so only Kwon and Pahk's team could ensure the threat was real. Their threat would ensure Korea finally reunited.

  Kwon's loss of his team would be the catalyst for peace.

  Besides, isolated within the highest point in that part of the city, the tower would be easy to defend.