“Yes sir. We are leaving now.”
“Do not let me down.” The connection went dead and Muhn pocketed the phone while addressing Hyoung. “Tell the men we are done here.”
Hyoung nodded. “What about the agent and his family? He and his daughter are still alive.”
“Kill them. Make it look like the Colombians did it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Seonwoo Hun-Jai frowned as the truck he was riding in slowed to make a turn into Pace Farming Supply’s parking lot. There was a pickup truck parked in front of their target, and Seonwoo didn’t know if people were inside it or not. He raised his handheld radio to his lips. “Yoon, when we stop, we need to make a security sweep. We may have someone in the truck.”
“Yes, sir.”
The business consisted of a main store and four closely grouped warehouses next to it. The steel buildings were painted a grass green with white trim, featuring the company name on the sides. Inventory included garbage cans, bags of dirt, paving stones and other landscaping and farming supplies lying around in neat stacks.
Two of Myung’s unit had visited the business, picked up a few bags of fertilizer and marked the location of the ammonia nitrate. It was now up to Seonwoo and his team to grab as much as they could, as quickly as they could. Seonwoo’s driver, Rang, had been one of those recon operators.
Seonwoo pulled out his Baek Du San and threaded a suppressor onto the muzzle. With Interstate 80 only fifty meters from the parking lot in back, the last thing they needed was for anyone passing to hear gunshots. Like his men, he was dressed in all black and wore gloves and a ski mask, currently pulled up so that his face was exposed.
“Rang, stop here. Once we’re out, head for the warehouse.”
“Yes, sir.”
As soon as the truck stopped, Seonwoo pulled his ski mask down over his face, climbed out of the truck’s cab and dropped to the ground. From the rear of the truck, Yoon and the other two members of the team appeared, each carrying their own silenced Baek Du San pistols, also wearing ski masks. The truck rolled past the building and headed for the warehouse.
“Ready sir,” Sergeant Yoon said softly. Under the ski mask, he was moon-faced, with a shaven head and wide brown eyes that had fooled more than a few people into thinking he was naive. Many never lived long enough to realize it was a mistake.
“You and Dae check the warehouses. Ryeon and I will check the truck and the store. Be alert for alarms and cameras. Leave no witnesses.” The pairs split up and moved off in different directions.
Seonwoo lead the way, Ryeon behind and six steps to his captain’s left. They reached the building’s shorter side and flattened themselves against the wall as a car passed on the main street only twenty meters away. The pair was concealed in darkness and in shadow, but Seonwoo watched the car until it drove out of sight. He counted to ten, sidestepped to the corner and leaned around to take a look at the pickup parked in front of the store. He could see two figures inside, neither moving.
He pulled back and signaled to Ryeon with his free hand. The corporal nodded and the two threw themselves around the corner and charged the truck. Seonwoo took the driver’s side, Ryeon the passenger’s. There was still no movement from the vehicle’s occupants. With a nod from the captain, the pair grabbed the door handles with their free hands, their pistols pointing into the pickup’s cab. They yanked the unlocked doors opened.
The strong aroma of alcohol hit Seonwoo like a slap. The driver — overweight, thinning hair and red face — was asleep. Seonwoo fired twice, the two 9mm rounds striking the drunk driver in the head and spraying blood over the back window. On the other side, Ryeon killed the sleeping passenger in similar fashion. They closed the doors and continued along the storefront, checking the front door but finding it locked.
They turned and headed for the warehouses. Seonwoo brought his radio to his mouth. “Yoon, we found two drunks and eliminated them. Any problems?”
“None. We found no one.”
“Get to the nearest warehouse. We are behind schedule.”
By the time he reached the warehouse, Dae had already picked the lock and opened the doors.
“Get the truck inside.” Seonwoo said.
Rang backed the truck far enough into the warehouse so that the doors could be closed. Seonwoo ignored the earthy smell of the fertilizer stacks and watched his men work. As Rang guided the truck deeper into the warehouse, Yoon was showing Dae where the ammonia nitrate was, in a chicken wire and wood enclosure twenty meters from the door. They made short work of the padlock and opened the doors.
Seonwoo considered the dozen pallets inside the enclosure. “Rang, get the forklift. Yoon, stand by to secure the cargo. Ryeon, locate the fuel oil. Move!”
In less than five minutes the first pallet of ammonia nitrate was on the truck. Ryeon returned with several cans of fuel oil and joined his captain and sergeant in shoving the next three ammonia nitrate pallets into the truck.
In twenty-five minutes, the truck was crammed full of ammonium nitrate. Seonwoo pulled out a knife and motioned to the remaining bags “Open them and spread it around. Ryeon, spread the fuel oil around, including that wood. Yoon, find the sprinkler system and disable it.”
It took them a few more minutes to carry out these steps, at the end of which Seonwoo surveyed the handiwork. Satisfied, he nodded. “Let’s go.”
Rang eased the truck out of the warehouse and stopped. Seonwoo climbed out of the vehicle and walked back to the warehouse, a road flare in one hand. As he reached the now-nearly closed doors, he lit the flare. He stepped up to the opening and threw it inside. He watched it fly end over end until it landed in a patch of fuel oil, instantly setting it alight. He turned and walked away as Dae closed the doors and locked them again. The truck left the business without anyone noticing them.
Seonwoo waited until they had merged onto Interstate 80 before he used his phone.
“Yes?”
“Job’s completed, a couple of minor problems taken care of.”
“Good. After you deliver your cargo, I have a new task for your team for tomorrow. I will explain when you arrive.”
“Yes, sir.”
The line went dead and Seonwoo settled back to watch the road ahead.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The third objective of OUTCAST’s busy night was a warehouse in South San Francisco, a separate town south of the major city. According to Danielle, the warehouse was a shipping point for weapons and contraband. The building, a massive one-story affair with a brick front emblazoned with the name Kopen Brothers Shipping, was less than a mile from Interstate 101 to the west and San Francisco International Airport to the south.
Dante, driving a dirty white delivery truck with no logo or other identification anywhere on it, turned onto the cul-de-sac where the warehouse was located. His Colt Command/M-203 combo was under a blanket next to him, and wore his SIG-Sauer P229 under his coat. He spoke into his radio transmitter as he approached the target.
“Objective in sight. One guard at the gate, armed with an AK.”
“Copy, Five.” Tanner occupied the rear of the truck, along with the rest of the team. They were dressed in black and wore NVGs. “Base: Ready for blackout.”
Danielle’s reply was instantaneous. “Copy, Prime. Blackout will commence in five…four…three…two…one. Blackout in effect.”