The men behind the first two teams went to the stairs that were straight ahead of the door. The point man took a quick look up and aimed his rifle at a 45 degree angle in front of him. He started slowly placing foot ahead of foot on the steps. The men behind him followed.
The room to the right had filled up with black uniformed men at this point. They started walking towards the back of the house. There was a door at the back of the room. They approached the sides of it, rifles raised. After they were all positioned, they leapt one by one through the door into the room on the other side. As they moved into the back room, they each walked to the corners at the right and left side, checking the rest of the room once their corners were clear. After they had cleared the empty room, they realized where they were. It was a kitchen. As they looked into the adjacent room on the other side of the house, they saw the other team of shadows flooding it. It was empty as well. Now the entire first floor was clear. The men turned back and walked towards the stairs at the front of the house. The other team was ascending them now.
The team on the stairs had reached the first landing by now. As the point man turned on it to continue up he saw something move at the top. He did not have time to react — whatever it was had disappeared. The point man took a step up and then some kind of round object started bouncing down the stairs. The rugged shell and the clank it made on each step revealed its identity immediately. A grenade was approaching them. The point man turned around and pointed a finger back. The men behind him started backing down the stairs. The point man backed around the landing and tried to take a couple steps down the stairs. The grenade exploded as it neared the landing. The team on the stairs felt the shock. A fiery explosion shot through the stairwell, going up to where the grenade came from and downwards too. The team on the stairs, bent down and covering their heads, managed to withstand the blast as it shot above them. As they came around, they heard shouting at the top of the stairs. Someone up there seemed to be willing to put up a fight. The person at the top was warning his comrades. The point man looked back and saw that the men behind him were ready. He made a step onto the landing. As he turned on the landing he saw a man’s face at the top of the stairs. The man’s face was a little too relaxed given the situation, the point man thought. Then the man at the top pulled out a gun — a small pistol. He took a few shots down the stairs. His firing was slightly wild and aimless. The man at the top then disappeared. The point man and his team were lying prone on the steps. A bullet flying past one’s head had the stopping power of one that hit its target.
Soon the man at the top reappeared. He stuck his pistol out again and began firing repeatedly. This time the point man and his colleague behind him returned fire. Several shots flew at the man at the top, but he hid himself too quickly.
A grenade started plopping down from the top of the steps again. The game continued. The shadows on the stairs realized that their night was going to be longer than they had hoped.
CHAPTER 44
Jiyeon had heard the commotion start with what sounded like a book being dropped on the first floor. Actually it sounded like two books falling. She had thought nothing of it at first. But she soon heard one of her captors running on her floor.
What is going on?
Now she heard voices on her floor yelling. She could not make out what the voices were saying. She suddenly had an urge to break free of her handcuffs. She wanted the freedom to move her arms and legs more than anything. She wanted to be in control of her limbs. A terror took hold in her chest as she realized she could not move and was at someone else’s mercy. Jiyeon started to wiggle around. She tried to pull her arms and legs apart from each other. She knew it would be fruitless, but doing so was the only thing that temporarily relieved the sensation she was experiencing. But at the same time it made her realize how confined she was. She felt even worse terror cut into her chest.
When she grew tired, she stopped and tried to look out of the window. She now heard an explosion. She could almost feel a hand grab and squeeze her abdomen. Then she heard gunshots. The small pops of the gunshots snapped her into reality. She felt the claw on her abdomen tighten.
She mouthed Tom’s name. She wondered if it was he who was downstairs trying to save her. He would know exactly what to do, she thought. When he was in the military, this was exactly what his job was. Maybe he had wrapped up his mission quickly and had come in for her. She wanted to get out of this room so that she could call Mr. Park and tell him all about Mr. Kim. She wanted to get back to that dinner with Tom and tell him more about herself.
She suddenly heard a second explosion. She knew now that fifteen minutes from now she would either be dead or alive and free. That was no different than each moment during the rest of her life, she realized. But it seemed so tangible and palpable now, for some reason. It seemed like the chance of death was more real than ever.
She stared at the door in the opposite corner. Something was going to come through it in the next few moments and it was going to decide her fate. Through the wall she heard more yelling and the snaps of some more gunfire. She noticed that the doorknob started turning. She sat up straight. Her feet were sticking out in front of her and her hands were on her lap. The door opened. The young girl who had been wearing an old lady’s outfit entered the room, without looking at Jiyeon. Now she was wearing a dark outfit. Her hair was out and flowing down her back.
Jiyeon watched as the girl closed the door in a rush and bent down to make sure it was locked.
Jiyeon knew now that Tom was not there. Tom was not coming. Maybe he had been captured as well, she thought. She wondered if there was some interrogator closing the door to his cell now as well.
If two close souls die at the same time, would they get to be with each other right after?
Now the girl fixed her attention on Jiyeon. She looked directly at her as she walked towards her. Jiyeon wondered if in another life, they might have been friends. What was the ultimate purpose of all this, she thought. What was the point?
The girl stopped right in front of Jiyeon. More gunshots rang outside the walls of the room. The girl pulled out a pistol and aimed it straight at Jiyeon’s face. Jiyeon stared into her eyes.
CHAPTER 45
“He’s almost there. Let’s all get ready,” Anderson told the Command Room.
Tom had passed Waypoint 3 almost fifteen minutes ago and was now getting close to the target. Everyone in the Command Room rapidly looked between the large screen and smaller screens at the desks. The analysts took frequent sips of coffee.
As Sara stared at the screen she imagined that Tom could already be running on top of the target facility, given that much of it was underground. Despite the images still being trees flying past, everyone was waiting for the moment when an open space would appear.
Sara looked around at the other analysts. Matt was on the phone, talking to someone on the George Washington. He had been updating them for most of the night. The George Washington in turn had been updating the Virginia, which was patiently standing by and waiting for Tom to return. It was still sitting submerged three miles off the coast. It had only broken radio silence once, when it informed the George Washington that Tom had left for shore. Lucky for them, it did not seem that the North Koreans had noticed.