Traffic was a mess. People were running and screaming in all directions. A drugstore had been hit by one of the missiles. A shell of the building was left, and the apartment complex next to it had caught fire.
They drove for what seemed an eternity, although it was more like an hour. Tetsuo drove on to the sidewalk in some cases to get around crashes and traffic jams. The heavily populated Korean towns were a mix of untouched urban areas and smoking rubble.
“Where are we going?”
The CIA operative said, “To another base. One farther south. I think you’ll be able to get a flight out of there.”
More helicopters flew overhead now. Dozens of them, all heading north. Chase caught sight of the words United States Army in black lettering on the side of one.
Rockets shot up into the air ahead of them. Bright yellow flashes in rapid succession, white trails of smoke following the rockets as they angled into the sky.
“What are those?”
“I think they’re surface-to-air missiles.”
“They’re trying to shoot down the North Korean Scuds.”
Chase said, “Are we going to be able to get out of here in this?”
“I don’t know.”
They took another turn, and then Chase saw that they were about to enter another base.
“What base is this? Will they fly us out in this?”
“Desiderio Army Airfield. It’s one of the largest bases around. I’ve only been here once, but it was for a flight to Japan. So I know they do that here.”
Chase could see smoke coming up from the ground near the runway. At least one missile had hit the base, although being this far south, they were far better off than Osan had been. Dark green helicopters were spinning on the pads everywhere he looked. Blackhawks. Apaches. Chinooks.
Every so often, a column of soldiers would jog into one of the helicopters. After several of the helicopters were filled with troops, a formation of them would take off and fly away to the north.
One of the base guards pointed his rifle at the car while they scanned their IDs. Behind a sandbag bunker, another gate guard, his eyes cold, aimed a heavy machine gun at them. Then the gate guard nodded and cleared them to enter. A minute later, they drove up to a white building in the center of the base.
A moment later, they stood in the air transfer office waiting area, trying to figure out if they would be able to get to Japan.
“That’s the last flight. They have a high-priority passenger going to Yokota, but we haven’t been able to clear them for takeoff with the Koreans. For obvious reasons.” The man behind the counter at the base ops building kept looking out the window as he spoke. “Most of our electronics are fried. We think they used cyberattacks. Shit, I hope my wife is okay. I haven’t been able to reach her. By the way, did you guys pass by…”
More rumbles as explosions went off outside and Chase couldn’t hear the end of the man’s sentence. His face was white, eyes wide.
“Look, the pilots are getting ready to go in case they get clearance. There’s seats available. You talk to them if you want to get on. There’s nothing else I can do here.” He closed his window and headed back to the phone.
Chase and Tetsuo walked outside and over to a gray Army C-12 aircraft. Two big propellers on each side, with enough seats for about eight people, stuffed in like sardines. The doors were open and it looked like they were making preparations to start it up. Air crew and maintenance personnel ran around, removing tags and conducting preflight inspections.
Tetsuo and Chase jogged over to them. “Where are you guys headed?”
Another boom, and the group ducked. They looked over at the airfield tower, which had been hit with blast fragments. The windows were shattered, and no one was standing up inside. Medics and uniformed personnel ran towards the tower to help the wounded.
One of the pilots of the C-12 said, “We’re headed to Yokota Air Base.”
“Do you have room for two more?”
“Yeah, but that’s all.”
Tetsuo said, “We’ll take it.”
The pilot said, “Normally I would say you need a safety brief and to get your names on the manifest, but I think today’s an exception. Just strap in. We’re not waiting for clearance.”
They did as instructed. Chase walked down the narrow airplane corridor as the cabin door was shut behind him. Nervous eyes of the other passengers watched him as he made his way in. Most of them wore Army fatigues. A few were in civilian clothing. Chase was still buckling his seat belt when they began rolling down the taxiway for takeoff.
Every few seconds, he heard another explosion outside, followed a gasp from the passengers. He closed his eyes and said a quick prayer that the runway stayed clear long enough for them to take off safely. A prayer never hurt, he told himself.
Someone in a flight suit sitting in the forward-most seat yelled back to the passengers, “The pilots are going to fly low to the ground to stay out of trouble. Everyone, make sure you stay buckled in tight the whole time.”
The small twin-engine prop plane taxied as fast as Chase could remember, practically getting airborne as they made their way to the runway. Then the familiar whine of the engines, the surge of power pushing Chase back into the cushions of his seat, and they were barreling down the runway.
The aircraft lifted off, flying over the Korean peninsula. Below, everywhere Chase looked were signs of a massive war beginning. There was hardly a street that didn’t have a burning building or car.
“Look at that,” someone said. “Dogfight.”
Outside Chase’s window, a twin-engine fighter jet was chasing another, turning hard and spewing yellow tracer rounds towards its prey. A second later, the wing came off the lead aircraft, and then the fuselage erupted in flames. The fireball fell towards the ground, trailing the thick black smoke of ignited jet fuel. No chute.
“Was that ours or theirs?” someone asked.
“Theirs. It was an F-15 that shot it down. I think that was a MIG-29.”
The remains of the shot-down aircraft crashed into a cluster of one-story homes below. The last thing Chase saw before the image was no longer in view was a woman running out of the home next door, clutching her baby to her chest.
It took them thirty minutes before their aircraft was over water. Chase could feel his stomach flutter as the plane jolted up and down in the low altitude turbulence.
Tetsuo looked out the window in the seat ahead of him. “What is wrong with that ship?”
Chase saw what he was looking at. A cargo vessel maybe five miles away. There was something funny about the angle it was sitting on the water. As they got closer, he realized that its bow was much closer to the waterline than it should have been.
“They must have gotten that one.”
“Yeah, it’s sinking alright. I don’t see any obvious damage up top. Must be a big hole below the waterline. Maybe a contact mine?” An orange lifeboat ejected into the sea behind it.
“There they go. Good luck, boys.”
Their voices sounded detached. Like they were analyzing a sports team that they had no interest in.
The passengers shouted as the aircraft suddenly banked hard left. Chase felt his head being pressed back into his seat as a strong G-force came over them. Then the aircraft rolled wings level, and Chase felt a flutter in his stomach as the nose aimed down and they began diving towards the water. A white trail of smoke shot underneath them and continued on off the right side of the aircraft.
“Holy shit, was that a SAM?”
“Yup,” replied a disinterested voice.
Chase looked at the man who’d said it. Army uniform. Ranger patch. Chase recognized the look of a man who’d been in combat before. The eyes of a man resigned to whatever fate might come, knowing that up here, he couldn’t control it.