By now Tom had slipped on his night vision goggles. He was now using his main technological advantage. He would be able to see anyone around him. Even in these woods, which Tom assessed were not too thick.
Tom looked around. He did not see any patrols. He looked behind him. Nothing.
Finally.
The twenty minutes he spent moving through the woods were really spent walking, then dropping down and lying prone, then walking again. He had seen several patrols in the woods to his left and his right. He got down to avoid being seen and had to crawl to something that could give him some cover. Then as the patrols passed by or turned around, he would get up and move again. This was quite the opposite of what he expected. Coming in, he thought he would be able to continuously move towards the underground base.
It doesn’t matter. At least I’m past those patrols.
Tom removed his Draeger unit and his flippers, which were hanging on his back. He typically removed his diving gear once ashore, as it added unnecessary weight. He pulled out his knife and used it to dig up the ground next to him. He used his hand as a shovel and soon had a small pit next to him. He threw in a bag with his rebreather and his flippers and covered it up with dirt. After two minutes he was satisfied that his gear was buried safely, and the ground above did not look disturbed. Tom marked his location on his GPS unit, so he could retrieve his gear at the end of the operation.
Tom decided that now he could radio in. He knew this was much later than they had planned. But he had no choice — he was surrounded by the KPA. He knew Anderson, Sara, and the other analysts would still be in the Command Room. They were probably scared to death that he had not radioed in, he thought. “Well, now I can tell them that there was something wrong with that satellite imagery we looked at. They probably think I’m taking some kind of vacation,” he mouthed to himself just below a whisper.
Tom clicked his radio on. He gave it a couple seconds to get loaded. Then finally he spoke.
“Yankee Main, this is Yankee Actual. Come in. Over.”
There was a pause, then suddenly Tom heard Anderson’s voice.
“Yankee Actual, this is Yankee Main. Reading you five. What is your status and position? Over.”
Tom nodded at the successful radio check. “Reading you five” is radiospeak that means the other person can hear you well and clearly.
“Infiltration successful. I am one klick inland. I am on course. Kilo patrols very heavy. Many more than expected. I could not perform radiocheck until I got past them. I am turning on my headcam now. Over.”
That’s good, they should know now he thought. “Kilo” was the term they used for the KPA or KPA soldiers, since “K” was the first letter in “Korean People’s Army” and the military phonetic alphabet for “K” was “Kilo”. A “klick” was a military term for “Kilometer.” In each case, it was easier to say one syllable.
“Yankee Actual. Abort Devil’s Fork. Repeat Abort Devil’s Fork. Mission is compromised. They know you are there. They hacked our messaging system. They are looking for you. Over.”
Tom dropped his head forward and closed his eyes for several seconds.
You’re kidding me.
Tom quickly thought through the six elements of successful special operations. He always had them in mind as it helped him evaluate a mission’s progress in real time.
“Let’s see,” he thought to himself, “Simplicity: gone. There is nothing simple about this anymore. Now I have to maneuver through all of these KPA patrols.
“Security: Gone. They somehow hacked us and know about the mission.
“Repetition: Still have that one. Good thing I practiced with that ADS before launch.
“Surprise: absolutely gone. These patrols all around are looking for me.
“Speed: gone. Now I have to slow down. It took me 20 minutes to get one klick inland.
“Sense of purpose—“ Tom stopped and thought. He remembered that dinner he had with Jiyeon the previous night. He got back on his radio.
“Do they know what the target is? Over.”
“Negative. The message they hacked only revealed your drop point and time. Not the target. But they are looking for you. Over.”
“Yankee Main. Negative on aborting the mission. I am already past the heavy patrols. It is easier to go to target now. Going back would risk capture as much as going forward. Negative on that. Request Devil’s Fork continue as planned. Over.”
“Tom, I repeat. You are instructed to abort Devil’s Fork. Kilo units are patrolling up ahead of you too. You will get captured or killed. Abort now. Over.”
Tom looked around the dark woods. Insects were singing all around him. He closed his eyes. He thought about that cold Pacific Ocean swim on three days no sleep back at BUD/S. That felt like ages ago.
“Negative. I might as well try to get into target and look around. At least we will know what is in there, whatever happens afterwards. Over.”
“Yankee Actual. Wait three. Over.”
Tom looked around. “Wait three” was radiospeak for “wait for me to respond to you. I need to think or check something. Expect my response in three minutes.”
Tom was checking all sides as he waited for a response from Anderson.
Suddenly when he looked behind him he thought he saw several soldiers not far away. It was difficult to see but Tom’s night vision goggles helped. The soldiers also helped by shining a flashlight all over the place, he thought as he smirked. The soldiers were walking straight towards him and were fanned out in a line formation. This allowed the team to observe as much as they could.
Tom needed to get moving. He could not wait for Anderson to respond, he thought. The only way to go was forward. He did not even have time to make sure he was not leaving any traces behind. He slowly rose from his kneeled position and started walking away from the soldiers at a measured pace.
CHAPTER 30
Sara looked around the packed Command Room. Now Mark and J.D. were in the back trying to figure something out on their laptops. Most of the analysts in the room were shifting their eyes between the screen in front and Anderson, as if they were watching tennis. The screen ahead showed the view through Tom’s helmet camera. Anderson was standing in the middle of the room with his arms crossed. Sara turned around. Mr. Park was sitting in the last row of desks. She studied his face. For some reason it looked calm but serious as he stared into the screen ahead. He had been quiet the whole time.
The screen showed that Tom was moving further inland. They all had seen why. When he looked back, there was a flashlight in the distance, moving around. A KPA fireteam was behind him.
Anderson looked like he was holding a heavy weight.
“John, what do you think?” Sara asked.
He looked back, “Tom has a point. Going back a kilometer through heavy patrols is probably as dangerous as going forward. From this satellite imagery though, it looks like there is a large group of KPA guarding the entrance to that base. I don’t know how he’s going to get in. But then again, they don’t know for sure that he is trying to get to that base. The message only said he was being inserted into this area.”