Chapter 23 - Rendevouz
November 16
10:00 am
Air strip
Las Cruzes, Mexico
"So this is how cold it gets during the holidays" Declan said as he was bouncing a tennis ball against the wall, he was inside an office that was inside the hangar. Kira and Amanda were looking at a map and talking about what the next move would be. Dalton just walked out of a locker room after changing clothes from his flight gear to just a pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt.
"What's the next move?" Dalton asked Kira who was wearing black business pants and a white blouse, her hair was loose.
"We need to get to L.A. soon... and we also need weapons and equipment" Kira responded.
"And we need to wait for Jack and Izumi, they have important intel" Amanda said, she was wearing a black mini skirt and a turtle neck sleeveless blouse.
Dalton sat down and looked at both Kira and Amanda "I just wonder about if it's true that Jae Kwan is Izumi's brother"
"He is" Amanda responded.
"That's not good" Dalton lamented. Declan walked in the room and tossed the ball to Dalton, the latter caught it.
"That's why we can't trust whatever information Izumi claims to have" Declan said.
Kira rolled her eyes "You seem to like Izumi and that's why you talk like you can't stand her"
"I've seen that look in her eyes, she can compromise the mission... hell, probably the bitch would join them if given the chance" Declan scoffed.
"All jokes aside, Declan has a point... I woudn't go as far as saying Izumi could betray us but she could do whatever is in her power to let Jae Kwan go. She doesn't realize the kind of mad man Jae Kwan is" Dalton said.
"Agreed" Amanda responded.
"You know lads... this place is really bleeding boring... I'm heading into town" Declan said.
"Las Cruzes is only twenty miles from here" Kira answered.
From the distance a plane's propellers could be heard.
"What's that?" Dalton got up from his seat.
The hydroplane incoming from Cuba was making it's final approach to the landing strip, from it's floaters the landing gears came out and it landed.
"Let me guess" Declan said.
"We'll see what we're up against" Amanda replied.
Inside the cockpit of the plane was Seung Mi who was flying the aircraft with Jack and Izumi seating next to her.
"They made it" Jack said as he looked at both the C-17 and the SU-48. The plane came to a final stop and the door opened with a ladder that unfolded from the bottom. Dalton and Kira were the first to walk towards the plane. Izumi jumped from the plane to the ground.
"Look what the cat dragged in" Kira said.
"You have no idea" Izumi replied.
"What's with the soldier uniform?" Dalton took notice of Izumi's oufit which consisted of green cargo pants, a black tank top, a pair of boots and her hair in a low pony tail.
"It's a long story" Izumi answered.
Jack slowly made his way down from the ladder due to his injuries, even though he was already healing, he was still in pain. Izumi and Dalton helped him to dessend the ladder.
"What happened to you?" Dalton asked.
"An old buddy of mine" Jack replied.
Suddenly Seung Mi jumped from the plane as well.
"Who's that?" Kira asked.
"She's with us" Izumi said.
"The name's Seung Mi, I'm here to help out" Seung Mi extended her hand and shook Kira's hand.
"Looking at the way things are shaping up, we need all the help we can get... but who are you with?" Dalton asked.
"I'm a mercenary... that's all you need to know" Seung Mi replied.
Izumi reached into her pocket and pulled the chip McLeod gave her earlier "A friend of mine said this would unlock certain functions in the fighter jet of yours"
"A friend of yours?" Dalton looked at the chip.
Izumi rolled her eyes "the friend who helped me two years ago in Rockport"
"I see... THE mercenary... Well thank you, this is a module chip that unlocks a railgun concealed in the jet... I thought the Russians had it since they created it" Dalton said.
"So you're the legendary Reaper, your legend preceeds you" Seung Mi said.
Amanda approached the group "You made it alright... let's go inside, there's much we need to talk"
"First I'm taking a shower... I hope my suitcase is still in your plane" Izumi said dismissebly as she walked towards the hangar. After the events from the previous night plus the new information about herself made it tough for Izumi to contemplate what was next.
Meanwhile...
Mount Heavenly, California
Deep in the Californian mountains near lake Tahoe, was a private mansion. The place was guarded by armed guards in black suits. This was one of the many properties that acted as bases or gathering houses for members of the Consortium. Jae Kwan was seating in an office with his laptop, he was scrolling down the information from the thumb drive he got from Izumi.
"Project Trojan Horse" was the label on one of the files, Jae Kwan clicked on it. The original file was writen in Korean with the English translation right next to it.
"The People's Ministry of Intelligence of the DPRK has reinstated the re-eductation of civilians into our Great Leader's service. The goal is to gather the sons and daughters of wealthy families from around the world so they can use their sphere of influence to our nation once they become of age" Jae Kwan mumbled, then he looked at another file that said "First subject"
Name of Subject: Eiji De Sauza
Birthplace: Boston, Massachusets.
Nationality: American/Japanese
Date of Birth: August 8
Subject was born to a wealthy family and founders of Taelon Corporation, with given time and training the subject will be able to infiltrate higher positions within the international corporate world and thus our Great Leader will gain the upper hand over the Americans, Japanese, Europeans and even our Chinese allies.
"This can't be..." Jae Kwan scrolled down further.
The De Souza family believes the subject was abducted by disgrunted executives from Taelon Corp. However, now he's recieving training as an operative. From this day forward he'll be known as Jae Kwan and the the code name for this operation is Project Trojan Horse.
"Damn... so it's true" Jae Kwan said, then he clicked on a video with a scientist explaining about the brainwashing process.
"The subject is strapped and subjected to electroshock therapy" the scientist said as a young girl on her late teens was getting shocked. The latter was screaming in pain. Jae Kwan started to remember parts of the shock therapy he went thru, he also remembered a very creepy, demonic even song playing in the background... something straight out of a horror film.
"I'm... I'm really a pawn... I can't remember all..." Jae Kwan mumbled as he felt a throbbing headache.
Outside the room was Viktor listening "You better not get in my way... your sister will die"