That’s right, tear yourself apart, he thought grimly. Fewer DPRK soldiers for us to deal with. He took one last look, trying to note losses, and turned to help Ma and Oh with the packing. He told Guk, “Keep a sharp lookout all round.”
Even as he packed, his mind tried to find a solution to their impossible orders. It was a little more than thirty kilometers to the spot on the coast where they’d cached their swim gear. He’d planned to use twilight and all night to cover that distance, swimming out to the submarine just before dawn. It would have been a hard march, but possible.
Now, they had to cover that same distance in seven hours, in full daylight, and the clock was already ticking. Softly but triumphantly, Master Sergeant Oh announced, “Finished!” He looked expectantly at the colonel.
By rights, Rhee should have huddled with the team to go over the plan. Instead, he asked Guk, “Anything moving to the northwest?” That was the direction they’d come in from earlier that morning. The battle raged to the east. Guk answered, “It’s clear.”
“Then let’s go. I’ll lead.” The grove from where they’d observed the battle extended around the side of the hill and touched a gully on the other side. Moving in daylight without the night vision gear was easier and faster, but they had to pause more frequently to check for observers. Their North Korean uniforms might prevent them from getting shot at on sight, but it was better not to be seen at all.
A road behind the hill they’d used forked both north and west. They’d come in along the north fork last night. This time they’d head west, toward the coast.
It had taken fifteen minutes to get down the hill, and behind him, he could almost watch the others doing the math. This was taking too long. They reached the edge of a copse of trees, and Rhee knelt to check the terrain ahead. Master Sergeant Oh knelt close behind him and whispered, “Sir, what’s the plan?”
“Don’t get seen, don’t get shot,” Rhee answered, and scanned the road ahead with binoculars. There. That’s the plan. “There’s a vehicle at the crossroads ahead. That’s our ride. Pistols ready.”
Rhee stood, straightened his uniform and cap, and walked out of the copse toward the crossroads. The others followed in column, rifles slung.
The junction between the northern and western roads was garrisoned by three soldiers and a political commissar, a lieutenant, who spotted the approaching party and saluted crisply.
“Report,” ordered Rhee in his best command voice, as he returned the lieutenant’s salute.
“Lieutenant Kang Yong-suk, on post as ordered at 1100, no traffic, one deserter captured.” The lieutenant gestured with an expression of disgust toward the back of the vehicle. A single corporal, dirty and bruised, sat in the back of a UAZ-469 utility truck, gagged, with his hands tied. “He’s from the Second,” the lieutenant explained, indicating the regiment that was attacking. “He was trying to slip past the checkpoint.”
Rhee nodded and turned, but instead of approaching the prisoner, used the movement to conceal drawing a knife. He suddenly turned back and buried it in the lieutenant’s side, just under the rib cage, and angled up. The young officer collapsed. The other scouts were farther away from their targets, and fired their silenced pistols almost simultaneously. None of the North Koreans even had a chance to ready their weapons, much less get a shot off.
After they’d searched the corpses for documents, Rhee ordered, “Put the bodies in the back.” All four then climbed aboard, and with Guk at the wheel, drove over to a clump of trees and dumped the bodies.
With the evidence of their crime concealed, Guk turned the vehicle around and took the western fork in the road. Rhee navigated, while Corporal Ma and Master Sergeant Oh sat on one side in the open back of the truck, facing the astonished prisoner. They’d ignored the deserter the entire time; still bound and gagged, he had watched the team’s actions with horror and fascination. He stared wide-eyed at the commandos.
Oh finished checking his pistol and met the prisoner’s gaze. “Shut up.”
“There’s probably another checkpoint at the next junction, about seven kilometers ahead,” Rhee said. “Be ready to shoot, but I’ll use the lieutenant’s orders and see if we can bluff our way through.” After Guk nodded his understanding, Rhee repeated his instructions to the two in the back.
Rhee sat in the cab, feeling the warm air flow past him, and compared it to their covert progress before. They were covering much more ground, although at greater risk. He’d hoped to find a checkpoint and hijack a vehicle. He just hadn’t expected to do it so quickly. But that had created a new question. What to do with the deserter? To Rhee, the answer was obvious.
“We’re taking the prisoner with us,” Rhee announced suddenly. Surprised, Guk let up on the accelerator pedal for an instant, then refocused on his task. The lieutenant paused for a moment before saying anything, which Rhee thought showed both wisdom and self-control. Rhee added, “We use the same flotation bladders we had on the equipment when we brought that ashore. We don’t even have to untie his hands.” Although they probably would, Rhee thought.
“And there’s room on the submarine,” Guk added, tacitly concurring. The vessel that had brought them to the coast, and would be waiting for them tonight, had room for over a dozen commandos, although a dozen would find it cramped. Five instead of four would not be a problem.
The local road, a two-lane graveled track, headed west. It was rough enough to keep their speed down, perhaps forty kilometers and hour, but it was much, much faster than walking. It crossed another road where Rhee had predicted they might run into trouble, but the junction was unoccupied, and they sped on. The next junction did have a checkpoint, but when they spotted Rhee’s uniform and rank, the soldiers braced and saluted, then waved them through.
They were almost halfway to their objective. The next road junction was near the coast, and Rhee enjoyed a quiet moment as they drove. The fields in this area were tilled, and the crop of potato plants was nearing maturity. Rhee couldn’t see anyone working them, though. He wondered if the farmers had fled or had been killed. He couldn’t believe the crop would be wasted in this starving country. But by the time it’s ready to harvest, Rhee reminded himself, the South will be able to help. Things were about to change.
A thump on the cab’s roof was followed by Master Sergeant Oh’s warning. “Movement on the left ahead. In the field.”
“Keep up your speed,” Rhee ordered, and scanned the low plants. There. He saw long shapes that might be soldiers lying in the rows of green leaves. Guk faced straight ahead as Rhee used binoculars, not only to check the left side of the road, but the right as well. Were they driving into an ambush?
He knew Oh and Ma in the back were ready for anything, but was also conscious of how exposed those two were, although the sheet metal cab offered little protection. Rhee searched the right side again. Nothing. “Be ready to floor it,” he ordered.
“Understood,” Guk answered. He had both hands on the wheel and was braced. They entered what Rhee thought was the kill zone, fifty meters away, and then they were past the spot.