"Alright team," Kennedy started.
It was dusk, the sunlight still barely filtering in from the trees in the small clearing they had found. There were a few lanterns to light their surroundings as they ate their MRE's, Eggsy resting against a fallen down tree with his stomach now bandaged. The rest of them were sitting around the digital hologram map, DHM, which Kennedy had control of – a small gizmo that with a push of a button would show a 3D map area of where they were and where their target was, using satellite images.
"Here's the deal. The First Daughter is here," he pointed to the red 'X', "Ch'Angdo-Up. We don't know where she is held or how much security there is... basically zero intel."
"Great pep talk, mate," Eggsy muttered, and Ana felt the corner of her mouth twitch.
Kennedy sighed, but continued.
"We won't know details about anything until we reach our destination. Right now, we're discussing about how we get out. Once we acquire our target, it's ten miles straight to the nearest South Korean border. But as we know and even saw on our descent is that Ch'Angdo-Up is near a large body of water that breaks off into many rivers… some we can cross and some we probably can't. It'll turn the ten miles into an unknown distance, through unknown territory and an official demilitarized zone that is unofficially militarized, since this is North Korea we're talking about."
"What's the other option?" Ana asked, folding the empty packaging of her MRE over and over again until it became a small square, watching Kennedy closely. This was the first time she had witnessed him talk more than one or two sentences at a time.
"Approximately fourteen miles to the coast, give or take unknown bodies of water we come across. We reach the shore and swim, with a prisoner of war in tow, for three miles, to reach South Korean waters where we will be safe."
"Three miles ain't much," Eggsy said.
"With salt water in that wound, sure, mate, it's not a lot."
"We used the medi-glue, it should hold."
"Territorial Waters?" Roxy asked pointedly.
"In those three miles of swimming, we swim like hell cause if we're caught…" she faded off, tapping the small hidden pocket in her collar that held the cyanide pills.
There was a beat of silence.
"No option three, then?" Eggsy asked, also fidgeting with his MRE packaging, rolling it into a tight coil.
"Unless you can find us Wonder Woman's invisible jet, nope."
This remark was met with silence.
"Did…" Ana began, "Kennedy, did you just make joke?"
Kennedy shifted his weight from one foot to the other, and shrugged.
"My C.O. used to mess around, said it was…" he shook his head and turned away, "forget it."
He walked away, disappearing into the trees.
Silence reigned again. Ana stood up, thrown for a loop.
"Excuse us for a sec," she said, grabbing one of the lanterns to take along with her. With all of the enigma surrounding Kennedy, she wouldn't doubt that he could see in the dark since he'd taken no form of light with him – but she was only human.
She caught up to him quickly; he was still just walking – however she noticed the moment he heard her approach – his body tensed as he stopped and put his hands on his hips.
She took slow steps forward and reached out to rest a hand on his shoulder, but he moved quickly, taking her off guard.
He grabbed her wrist at his turn and twisted her arm – away from her body, her hand opening in reflex to drop the lantern, her entire body turning around so as not to dislocate her shoulder. She immediately threw her free arm back, bending her elbow to hit his neck – which he pulled back to dodge, so she stomped her foot on his boot.
Since he still held her wrist, she bent under her arm in his grasp to turn back around and face him to throw a jab at his Adams Apple. It did the trick and he choked as he took a step back.
She stood there, a little out of breath and a whole lot little pissed.
"What the hell was that?" she started to yell but then turned to a whisper, walking towards the discarded lantern and picking it up, thankful it was still working.
"Just making sure you've got your wits about you. After that stranger, I wasn't sure-"
"Jesus Christ, Ken, I had it under control!"
"Your first mission back with real bullets and you refrain to use them when the time calls."
Without warning – from herself or for Kennedy - she lashed out, slapping his cheek with one hand, her other, still with the lantern in hand, moving forward to a well placed punch to his gut – an area that had him grunt and keel over.
He cleared his throat as he stood up straight again, unbothered, as though expecting that reaction.
"That has fuck all to do with it, Kennedy. And you're a piece of shit for insinuating that."
"Then what? What was it, Lincoln?"
"Like I said, leaving a body behind would've-"
"He shot you down from the sky, immediately becoming an enemy combatant. You were falling to your death and once you hit the ground, somehow alive, you wanted to save him?"
"What the fuck does it mean to you, Kennedy?" she shouted. "If I told you that he looked exactly how I felt on V-Day - would that have made any difference?!"
He stood there for a moment, and then stepped forward.
"You had no control over that situation - it was you or them-"
"And a recluse man alone for a year saw strangers falling from the sky, what kind of response is warranted to that, in your opinion?"
Kennedy let out a breath, and gave a single nod.
"Good talk."
She let out a laugh.
"Indeed, Kennedy. Let's head back."
"Right, don't want the others thinking there's any drama."
"Drama?" she said exasperatedly, "what ever do you mean?"
"Shut it, Lincoln."
The next morning Kennedy shook them each awake without a word. They ate their breakfast MRE's without a word, and continued their trek towards Ch'Angdo-Up without a word.
When night fell they stopped and set up a small camp. Roxy and Eggsy whispered to each other as she applied a new bandage while Kennedy and Ana brought out the sleeping bags and dinners, setting up noise traps around the perimeter in the rare case of any patrols.
Kennedy brought up the DHM so they could track their movement.
"I'd gather we reach our target tomorrow midday, if we wake up early," he said.
"Let's get to sleep then," Roxy said, tossing her MRE into the the small pile of trash they made – they would dig a hole and cover it up before they left.
"I'll take the first watch," Ana said sharply, daring anyone to contradict. It was better that way… she always had a hard time falling asleep anyways. The later into the night it got, she had a better chance of dozing off after her watch ended.
Nobody objected, and silently the others got ready to sleep. Pillows and sleeping bags would've brought unnecessary weight, so they used their jump suits and parachutes as pillows and sheets - but had to find or make a soft spot on the ground to lay on.
Ana sat cross-legged on the ground – her parachute was god knows where from when she'd disengaged during her fateful fall – watching the others as they settled in to sleep.
Kennedy used his jump suit as a pillow as he laid down and closed his eyes. Roxy used the parachute to her advantage, rolling it in a certain way as to create a make-shift sleeping bag which she tucked into, laying her head on her jump suit as she stared up at the trees above them, but then closed her eyes. Eggsy – also sans parachute – hit his fist on his folded jumpsuit a few times before lying down, somewhat careful in his movements and only wincing once, his gaze meeting hers as he rest his head.
She raised an eyebrow at him and he only grinned back, closing his eyes – the grin staying in place.
She listened to the others breathing and relaxed when they evened out.
She crawled towards the DHM and brought it back to her spot, turning it on again.
Instead of focusing on their destination, she searched the surrounding areas.
If they were successful in rescuing the First Daughter – it didn't mean they'd be as successful in their escape. She shook her head as she roughly navigated the hologram – finding no good news. Just as Kennedy had said, their only bets after their hypothetical rescue of the first daughter, were to book it down south to hopefully reach the border in time, or to reach the coast and swim down. They didn't know what would be there once they got to their location. She only hoped there were vehicles that they could hijack successfully, cutting down on a lot of time and uncertainty.
She took a deep breath and shut the hologram down, hugging her knees tight as she stared at the soft light of the LED lanterns they'd put in the middle of their camp. When her eyes got tired she took another breath and looked up to the sky, the trees blocking most of her view – but in such a country where artificial light was scarce – it looked different.
The spots of purple fogginess in the sky she suspected were galaxies. The bright spots near the moon she figured as planets. If she had her phone, she'd use her night sky app and know what those galaxies and stars and planets were… but she couldn't.
She shook her head at the odd feeling, her nerves creeping up on her. She shouldn't be thinking of any of that… but instead what was in front of her; a hostile country she was currently invading, on a mission to save one of the most important daughters in her country.
She heard a rustle and jumped, swinging a leg underneath so she was kneeling as she brought up her pistol, scanning her surroundings.
"Just me," she heard a soft whisper and she turned to Eggsy, sitting up, hands raised as he met her gaze.
She shook her head and holstered her weapon as he stood up, barely making noise as he crept towards her, settling down a foot or two away.
They sat in silence, staring at the lanterns before he spoke.
"Why were ya so intent on savin' that man?"
She didn't know it until she let out a breath and her muscles relaxed that she'd been holding her body tight.
"You too?"
"C'mon, Linc. He shot at ya parachute, then tried to kill the both of us again… I mean ya said it yourself in the Dinin' Room, we're in the most volatile land in history and yet the first stranger who tries to kill us - ya end up sparin' his life?"
"He looked like me."
"I… what? I dunno what you mean."
She turned her head to look at him.
"When the SIM cards went offline, you were at the compound… you were there during V-Day."
Eggsy only nodded.
"You got to celebrate that you'd defeated… killed… Valentine. That you'd saved the world."
His cheeks turned pink but he shrugged.
"Well, yeah…"
"But you didn't see what happened after you'd saved it. Immediately after."
She heard her voice break and cleared her throat to cover it, choosing her next words wisely as to not give anything too personal away.
"Millions of people were stirring from a literal waking dream… only to find out they were in a nightmare. They came back to a reality where they'd killed innocent people in the name of… digitized rage."
"Linc-"
"That look in his eyes… seeing us… he was mindless. He's been out here alone for more than a year and he saw us falling from the sky. He was just as out of control as the rest of the world when those SIM cards were turned into weapons."
Eggsy didn't reply, didn't say anything – he just scooted closer to her, moving his knee to rest gently against hers.
She took in a deep breath.
"We're in a country that never experienced V-Day. And with a Dictatorship that controls the media – the people probably don't even know it ever happened. Kind of funny if you think about it."
"Shit…" Eggsy said, "Ya think that's why this is happening now? Why we're here?"
"We can really only speculate. There's no way to know what their dictator knows about us, it's just the same for them to not know what we know about them."
"So's the way for such a closed off country."
She hummed in agreement and they met a comfortable silence.
She took in a deep breath, knowing the words, wanting to say the words, but having no idea as to why the words were so hard to say.
She felt the weight of his knee against hers, taking unintended comfort in his touch. She almost laughed out loud. Things had started so fast and changed just as quickly. She almost felt whiplash from it all.
"So," Eggsy started, then cleared his throat, "Apollo seems like-"
"Thank you," she whispered her interruption, but then stopped.
Eggsy stopped talking.
She turned her head to meet his gaze.
"You saved my life, Eggsy," she said, reaching out her hand to grasp his. He immediately adjusted their grip and squeezed hers in return, "and I never said thank you."
"Ya don't need to-"
"But I do, Eggsy. And I know it's fucked up of me to say this when only our future is uncertain but…" she faded away, not sure what to say… more so not sure if what she wanted to say is what she should…
He gripped her hand tight and pulled, making her face him head on.
"I'm glad you're here," she said.
He didn't reply, instead just squeezed her hand.
They fell into another comfortable silence, it lingering for a good moment or two before he moved his knee to nudge against hers.
"I think its time ya got some sleep, I got next watch"
She was about to protest when a yawn fought its way out of her. She smiled and shook her head.
"Fine, fine," she muttered sleepily.
"Atta girl," he said, and she turned to glare at him. His eyes widened.
"I didn't mean… I meant it not like… I jus' meant…"
She looked at him, his face so vulnerable when flustered, and couldn't help herself as she leant forward and rested her lips against his cheek, twitching into a smile at how his body froze, a breath leaving him. His skin felt softer than she anticipated and therefore she lingered… but she pulled back nonetheless.
"G'night, Eggsy.
"G'night, Ana," he said softly. She turned away and smiled at herself as she crawled a few feet away, turning her back to him as she lay down and tucked her arm under her head as a pillow before closing her eyes, sleep soon overcoming her.
"Fuckin' hell," Eggsy was the first to say something.
They had all woken up early and just as Kennedy had predicted; they'd reached Ch'angdo-Up by midday.
The four of them lied on the grass at the end of a cliff, binoculars at their eyes, overlooking the sight before them.
From the DHM they knew it had to be a very small base of some kind. However the satellite images had been updated two months before their use. It seemed that within that span of time the base had grown a bit bigger, with many more men accounted for. It seemed kidnapping the First Daughter called for bigger security - something Ana felt stupid to not assume. It must've been her own pre-conceived notion of the nation being behind the times.
"I'm counting eighteen, tops," Roxy said, her voice strained.
"Not counting those inside," Ana added.
"Only three armored trucks, three shipment containers of what we can only assume are weaponry… and one main base building – the rest seem sturdy but those are tents, notice the pointed tops, and they have a radio tower – we should disable that as well," Kennedy said. They all assessed what he had pointed out and then let out hums of agreement.
"She's gotta be in there somewhere," Eggsy said, "security like this isn't to just guard some artillery."
Kennedy dropped his binoculars and scooted back into the brush before standing up and walking back to their base camp. The others soon followed, and Kennedy brought up the DHM again. This time he pressed a few buttons on the base of the map and moved his hands around, adding the tents and armored cars, providing a detailed and up to date situation.
"My question is how did they get shipping containers?!" Ana asked.
Roxy shrugged, as did Kennedy.
"North Korea is at the helm of the black market," Kennedy started.
"Cliché as it sounds, he's right," Roxy said, moving a hand forward into the map, her fingers disrupting the projection, "such a country has more to gain from black market trading, therefore they have the means to move such goods."
"That explains the two semi's on the edge of the base," Eggsy said, pointing to a spot on the map. Kennedy looked at him with a raised eyebrow of almost approval, and added the details.
They all sat in front of the map; the seemingly impossible mission they all signed up for now directly in front of them. It sounded crazy but dropping out of the sky and traveling for days in silence seemed like a normal mission... but now they were facing the truth; this wasn't a normal type of mission. If they were caught - it wasn't as if they could wait for back-up or escape themselves. If any of them were discovered, North Korea would consider it an act of war, and chaos would ensue.
"We can do this," Ana said, breaking the silence, "we've got stealth on our side."
"How so?" Kennedy asked, not questioning as much as asking for further explanation.
Ana looked towards the edge they were just laying on.
"We study their guards, the perimeter checks, everything; should take just another day. Once we have that, we can plan to take out the perimeter guards one by one. When they don't answer, more will be sent out to check the situation. Then we take them out…"
"And thin the herd," Eggsy said, "that's brilliant."
Ana hated herself as she felt her cheeks heat up.
"Once they stop sending out men, that's when we attack. We destroy the vehicles first – disable any means of their escape, and then the towers," Ana said, pointing at the two protruding antennas from the tents in the base, "for means of communication."
"We should keep a vehicle on hand, just unclip the battery – a quick getaway is best," Roxy chimed in.
"Seconded," Kennedy chimed in.
"And we'll need to move fast - they will call for back-up before the second wave is sent out," Eggsy said.
Ana nodded.
"Hey, we're all a team here, no leader, no commander, no Arthur or Washington or Adams. This is just us, guys."
She watched them, almost smiling that the realization of the fact had just hit them now.
"I know we're used to the main control, and I'm not instigating anything different from it – but our mission was clear: once we landed on the ground we were on our own. It's up to us to make it out of here, with the First Daughter in tow. So we all have to agree to this, we all have to agree on one plan and work together to make it happen, and if things take a turn."
The four of them looked at each other in silence and Ana sighed.
"C'mon people!" she said sternly and Kennedy pulled back with a raised eyebrow.
"Alright, alright. We watch them for a day, get to know their patterns," he said.
"Then we take out the perimeter guards first, closing in as they send out more men to investigate the radio silence," Roxy continued.
"We disable the radio tower after they send out the first group of replacements. Knowin' somethin' is off, they rest will stay inside to protect our target. We get close enough to use our thermal vision," Eggsy said, taking his Kingsman specs out of his shirt pocket and putting them on, "and then breach."
Kennedy and Roxy both brought out their specs as well, putting them on. The three of them turned to Ana, who pointed at her eyes.
"Oh, I've got the contacts. Glasses make my head look big."
"You guys have contacts?" Roxy implored, leaning forward to stare up close at Ana's eyes.
"How do they work?" Eggsy asked, tilting his head.
"Blinking patterns. So if she looks like an idiot during the mission, you'll know why," Kennedy muttered.
Ana smiled brightly as Roxy and Eggsy let out disbelieving laughs.
"Another joke, Kennedy!"
Guys, some of the other drafts had so much cheese you'd think I was from Wisconsin. That's why editing a million times works!
Nonetheless, let me know what you think about this story.
Loose Ends by Imogen Heap