Chapter 33

Steve jerked his head towards Josh as he addressed Commander Gutches, "Sir, how do you suggest we move out with Agent Hirsch – he's in no shape to be carried miles over this terrain, even by jeep." Wade smirked, looking pleased with himself,

"As soon as I became aware of the agent's presence and his poor physical condition, I had Commander White contact a mutual friend of ours from way back. His name's Frank Bama and he's based just south of the DMZ. He's nuttier than a squirrel turd but one hell of a pilot and can get his hands on a helo−" at this Joe's snort crackled over the comms,

"Is that what you're calling Tangerine these days?" Wade gave a bigger smirk,

"If she'll get airborne then she'll do," the rest of the SEALs looked mystified at the exchange and Wade threw out a quick comment to explain himself, "Tangerine's a flying death trap – a relic from the Vietnam war but she hasn't crashed yet, so . . . ." he trailed off. Steve made an 'okaaay' face and chipped in,

"Transport is transport, whatever it looks like. Commander White, is the plane that I must've arrived in still in position? It is? Roger that. If Mr. Bama can facilitate our EXFIL and transfer us to the plane, then I can fly us out of North Korea and into more 'friendly' territory without compromising Navy assets. The North Koreans will be expecting Wo Fat to be leaving in that plane sometime soon anyway and so it won't raise any suspicion." Steve glanced at the men stood beside him, "A luxury private jet sure beats military transport, wouldn't you say?" The beaming smiles all around him answered that question.

Steve stepped back and let the CO take command. Petty Officer Samson was to remain at a safe distance from the soon-to-be-demolished compound with Agent Hirsch. It was possible that some of Wo Fat's soldiers would return to the bunker and it was imperative that they were not able to raise the alarm or deactivate the explosives. The other SEALs had made short work of dragging the bodies out of sight and removing all traces of the recent firefight, kicking dirt over any blood patches that had been left on the rough ground. Samson was to position himself back at the treeline with a clear view of the main entrance. He also had the stash of hard drives from the compound's operation room and the Champ toolbox safely with him. The body of Wo Fat was rolled into a sheet and tied securely, the men taking care not to cause any damage to his face. They would need his body to 'stage' the prisoner transportation and send the evidence to Agent Greer so she could use this to reel in the dead man's fiancée, Daiya Mei.

The intelligence officers in the command center back at JBPHH would maintain a visual on both the compound and the Dark Sun base of operations, acting as their eye in the sky and alerting the special operators to incoming threats. "Moving out, ladies," barked out Gutches and set off without a backward glance, confident in the knowledge that his Team was already merging into formation behind him to travel the short distance to the Dark Sun base with well-practiced stealth and speed.

SEAL Team 9 had already scoped out the Dark Sun camp, exactly as they had for Wo Fat's bunker. They had logged patrols and any nasty little surprises such as trip wires and motion-sensor cameras. Han Ji-Woon was suspicious and paranoid and had numerous 'security' devices rigged up around the perimeter. The members of the SEAL Team brought Steve up to speed with their findings and he in turn shared all the intel that he had gathered with Freddie the previous September. Wade was confident that his plan for the raid minimized risk to his Team; in the days that the Team had the location under surveillance, before Wo Fat had arrived in the region with Steve, they had observed Ji-Woon leaving the main camp around noon each day to walk to a small clearing nearby, where he then spent upwards of an hour practicing taekwondo - a form of martial arts revered across both North and South Korea that was almost like a religion for its followers. He was accompanied by the same man each time and they would train together before returning to the camp. Before the mission had commenced, Joe and Janderman had discussed the pros and cons of attempting to bring Ji-Woon in alive. Their final conclusion was that he was unlikely to talk even if they handed him over to the CIA for enhanced interrogation; plus neither man was a fan of the CIA's tactics to extract information, believing the validity of any resulting intel to be highly suspect. The risks were just too great and SEAL Team 9 had been given the order to destroy the camp and everyone in it, including the fanatical militia leader.

Clay Garcia settled into his sniper's nest, after carefully fitting his rifle with a silencer. It wouldn't do to alert anyone to the fact that shots had been fired. Steve understood the need to take out Ji-Woon but wished he could have questioned him as to the location of his brother's body - he would just have to locate Freddie some other way. He scanned the camp using camouflaged binoculars, giving Bradley Jacks the all clear. The other SEAL stealthily slipped from the trees and into a nearby ramshackle shed. Steve counted to 10 and then gave him the signal to exit and a moment later the explosives expert was back in the cover of the trees and hidden from view. There was only one road to and from the camp, with guards positioned at periodic positions along the dirt track. Lt. Harrison and Commander Gutches had hidden themselves about 500 yards apart at opposite sides of the road, giving them a clear view of the entire track between them. Steve and Jacks furtively moved from their current position until they were at opposite sides of the camp. The ramshackle buildings only covered a small area, so between them they had eyes on the entire base of operations.

Each member of the Team confirmed their readiness and then they settled down to wait. After about 45 minutes Garcia's voice came over their comms, "Targets are down, I repeat, both targets are down. Kills are confirmed, moving out now." Jacks set his timer to 3 minutes and when the countdown was complete, all hell broke loose as the plastic explosives he had planted in the shed were detonated. The resulting explosion sent wood splinters and metal shards at high velocity into the men stood in the immediate vicinity, killing them instantly. Dark Sun soldiers started to pour out of the other dilapidated structures, grabbing their rifles but not knowing where the threat was coming from.

One of them radioed to the men on the road and the guards all scrabbled to get back to their nearby vehicles in order to return to the camp. Harrison and Gutches coordinated between themselves to pick them off, one by one. One soldier managed to get to his decrepit old jeep and set off down the track but as he came alongside Harrison, a well-placed M67 hand grenade lobbed from the trees exploded right in front of the jeep, spraying the vehicle with deadly shrapnel and killing its occupant. The jeep veered off the track into the ditch with the dead soldier still slumped over the steering wheel.

Steve and Jacks cut down the soldiers as they came into view with controlled bursts of gunfire, with long-range support from Garcia - who had come closer to the camp as soon as he had killed Ji-Woon and his associate. When all visible tangoes had been neutralized, both SEALs cautiously circled back to each other and Steve covered Jacks while he set a series of explosive charges at regular intervals around the camp. A soldier popped up and was about to fire in their direction, but Steve dropped him with a head shot before he got the chance. Jacks signalled that he was done and they both turned to go back into the surrounding forest, but then Steve saw a fallen man whom he recognized from his original mission with Freddie. He was sure that back in September this was the soldier who had been shooting at them from behind a rusty old jeep and had been the one to inflict the bullet wounds that had injured Freddie and prevented him from escaping with Steve. The stricken man on the ground was bleeding from a bullet to his gut, but still alive. The SEAL grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back to the trees. Jacks looked at Steve with questioning eyes, "Why do we need him?"

Steve regained his breath, a bit winded from the effort of pulling a dead weight across the uneven ground, "He was there when we extracted Anton Hesse. I want to ask him about Commander Hart," he lowered his voice so that the bleeding man on the ground couldn't hear him, "just back me up and make him believe that I'll do it . . ." and with that Steve stepped on the man's chest, cutting off his labored breathing, "Tell me now, or I promise you I'll take a sample of your DNA and use it to identify you and track down your family. Where did you bury the soldier you killed here last September?" Steve lifted his foot and allowed the man to speak. He stared at Steve, recognition in his eyes, and then defiance flashed across his face,

"I don't know." Steve stamped his foot back down,

"Do you think I'm playing around here, you sonovubitch!" His voice dropped lower and each word dripped with menace, "I. Will. Kill. Your. Family."

Bradley leaned in, his voice ice-cold, "Don't call his bluff, he's done it before to get what he wants. I'd tell the man what he wants to know if I were you."