The Chase II (Dal-Geon)
He cursed under his breath, counting on the mighty roar of the engine to drown the low sound of his voice. They bikes were quickly closing the gap, it couldn't be long before they were on his tail. He thought they would have more time, that maybe they could make it to the exit and hopefully manage to disappear and avoid a confrontation altogether, but Black Sun lived up to their name. Quick, efficient and deadly, just like their reputation. He could hear the faint cry of the bikes' motors as they started to close the distance. Looking in his side mirror, he thought what he saw were dirt bikes, three or four of them. That could explain how they got there so quickly. They probably took a shortcut through the mountains and unpaved roads, much like he did. It couldn't hurt, of course, that Black Suns' motorbikes were also upgraded for tactical use, packing a monstrous engine.
Taking a deep breath, preparing himself, pressed the cruise control button on the steering wheel and took his foot off the gas pedal. The road ahead was completely straight until the next curve, which was a couple of kilometers away. seeing as the road was completely empty, he decided to trust the lane centering system of the car and turned on the autosteering function, left the wheel and unzipped the duffle bag that was next to him.
[English] "What the hell are you doing?!", a panicked shout came from behind him. Ignoring her, he looked through the rear windshield and saw the approaching pack of bikes would soon be upon them.
[English] "Get down," he ordered in an urgent, commanding voice. Whether she recognized his voice or not was of no consequence right now, all that mattered was her safety. She turned around, trying to see what he was seeing, when the car was hit. Luckily, it didn't sway.
[Korean] "Down!" he shouted, trying to disguise his voice as best as he could, and this time she did get down, squeezing in behind the back of the passenger's seat, hanging her head as low as she could with her wrists still attached to the door. Seeing her struggle, Dal-Geon cursed himself for tying her up. He shook off the guilt and pulled his gun out of his belt, then flicked a button near the rearview mirror to retract the sunroof while he monitored the approaching threat through the mirrors.
He stood up in his seat and threw his hat over to the dashboard before he popped his head out of the sunroof to assess the situation. The wind was harsh at this speed, hurting his ears, making his hair whip in every direction, turning his eyes dry and teary. He could see one bike was a little closer than the other two. Luckily, there were only three of them, and currently, all were too far away for accurate shooting. Seeing as they haven't used one yet, he assumed the bikers didn't carry an automatic weapon, and lucky if they didn't. With a machine gun, they could just shoot in the general direction of the target and be satisfied even if "only" 50 or 20 or 5 percent of the fired bullets hit the mark. With a common handgun, they had to take aim, which worked for Dal-Geon's favor. Even on this straight road, with only one free arm at any given time and a massive helmet, aiming accurately was quite the challenge from this distance. The previous bullet must have been a fluke, and by the hand of god it didn't penetrate the cabin. The car was not bullet proof, engineered to prioritize speed. Bulletproofing a car made it so much heavier that even a powerful engine struggled with maintaining high speed for long, heating up and burning gas like it was nothing even on a leveled road, not to mention while going uphill.
Dal-Geon aimed his gun and took a shot at the closest biker, but the biker caught on and managed to dodge, repaying the kindness with several shots of his own, at least two hitting the car, but fortunately the autosteering function kept them from being thrown off the road. Dal-Geon quickly ducked into the car to make sure Hae-Ri was alright, and was relieved to see that she was still crouching low, and didn't seem hurt. He popped out of the sunroof again and took one, two, three shots. He landed at least one on the closest biker, who was probably wearing a bulletproof vest, but he held on, the bike didn't even sway. It would take a lot more than just a bullet to make those guys back down. Black Sun soldiers did not give up so easily, each was persistent like a dog with a bone. Being shot was nothing much, death was never feared, completing the mission was top priority.
He took another shot and hit the leading bike again, which only made him fall back a little, allowing the other two to close the gap between them. Once the duo was in range he shot again. The trio fall behind a little, maybe because they were hit, or maybe they were just trying to dodge. Even so, that was enough for him. He couldn't allow them to execute their obvious tactic and surround the car in all direction, which would make it extremely difficult to fight them off and get out of this unharmed. With no one on the wheel to dodge while he fought back made such scenario almost impossible, knowing their level of skill, so he decided preemptive measures were a better approach.
He finally had them where he wanted, about two-three seconds behind, close together in a tight enough triangle. He ducked inside and discarded the gun on the packed passenger seat, extracted a hand grenade out of the duffle bag, and pulled out the pin.
One, two, three… he counted the seconds, adrenaline making him almost high, heart racing hard and loud in his ears. He stood up once again, emerging out of the sunroof, and accurately launched the grenade just in time for it to exploded in the midst of the trio.
Dal-Geon sat back down and took control over the car again. He could see the fire of the explosion and the black cloud of smoke that accompanied it rising behind through the mirrors. Thinking it was over, Dal-Geon sighed in relief just when the left window of the back door took a hit. Dal-Geon's heart skipped a beat, then restarted like a marching drum. Ears ringing and mouth instantly dry with panic that was already grazing the surface, he turned around, fearing the worst, praying to all the gods of the world that his worst fear didn't just realize. Finding Hae-Ri still hidden, low on the floor behind the passenger's seat, just as he left her, he quickly thanked them all. He turned his head back to the front at once and looked in his side mirror, only to discover one of the bikers made it out of the explosion safe.
Damn it all, Dal-Geon thought as he watched the biker come on strong, somehow faster than before, quickly reaching the back of the jeep. He stepped on the brakes, leaving the biker to race forward erratically, almost losing control, after just barely managing to avoid crashing into the back of the jeep. The biker turned around in his seat and released several shots, Dal-Geon ducked and turned the wheel to the left. Some of the bullets made contact with the hood, one of them left a neat hole in the top right corner of windshield, leaving the vicinity of the cabin through the roof.
Fortunately, the engine seemed fine as Dal-Geon took his turn to race forward with no sign of mechanical problems. He sharply turned the wheel, trying to knock the bike off the road, but the bastard dodged to the other side. Dal-Geon gave it another try, but missed him again. Not taking his eyes off the biker that was now slightly ahead of them, he reached his right hand into the duffle bag and took out an automatic submachine gun. He opened his window while maneuvering the car, frantically trying to prevent the biker from riding along the right side the jeep on the shoulder, wanting to keep him away from where Hae-Ri was hiding. It worked, and the biker stayed to his left.
Dal-Geon grabbed the gun in his left hand and placed it out the window, foot heavy on the gas, right hand steady on the wheel, he aimed as best as he could, squeezed the trigger, and released several rounds. The biker was hit, and so was the bike, but he didn't give up and managed to stay on, rebalancing himself, falling back to get out of Dal-Geon's range. Though he seemed to be injured, he successfully managed to ride parallel to the jeep, next to the left back door. Seeing as at this angle it was practically useless, Dal-Geon discarded the submachine, picked up his gun and chambered a round as the biker made contact with the car, gloved fingers holding on to Dal-Geon's door through the open window, probably in an attempt to climb inside. Seeing the biker changed his approach, in addition to the fact that it's been a while since he used his gun, Dal-Geon assumed he either lost his weapon or was out of ammunition. He sharply turned the wheel to the left, forcing the biker to let go of the door. Almost knocked off the bike, he replaced his hand on the handle and evaded the hit, and successfully got away from the jeep. Taking advantage of the brief breather, Dal-Geon hit the autosteering button and released the wheel, and all but climbed out his window, using both hands to keep the gun steady. This shot he could not afford to miss, he carefully aimed and squeezed the trigger. A perfect hit to the gas tank, the following explosion was almost immediate.
Dal-Geon sat back down, grabbed the wheel and floored the gas, he quickly assessed his surroundings. After checking all the mirrors and windows, inspecting his dead spots, he finally relaxed when he saw only black smoke from where he parted with the last biker. This round was over too, for now. And though it too felt like a long battle, they didn't even reach the curve.
After putting his cap back on his head, Dal-Geon snaked his hand around the passenger sit, and tapped Hae-Ri's shoulder. She immediately raised her head and looked around, looked at him, and quickly got up and reclaimed her seat. He glanced at her through the rearview mirror, just to verify that she was alright, and found her staring at him intently through it. Instinctively, he reached a hand to his cap and pulled it down to hide his eyes, looking away. she didn't seem to be hurt, thank heaven, but she did seem unsettled, her look speculative.
[Korean] "You're Korean?", she suddenly asked, her voice not letting on any kind of emotion. Dal-Geon froze. It was the last thing he thought she would say.
How did she know? He wondered, panicking, when suddenly he remembered.
Not for the first time today, Dal-Geon internally cursed himself. Why did he talk to her in Korean? It was a stupid thing to do, no question about it. Even so, he couldn't blame himself for losing it in this kind of situation. The only thing he cared about was her safety. As long as she was alive and well, everything else just didn't matter. Even so, unless the situation called for it, he had no intention of speaking to her again. The fact that she knew her kidnapper was Korean was bad enough and would surely make her wonder and speculate more than was strictly necessary. Thankfully, she didn't appear to recognize his voice over the mighty roar of the enhanced turbo engine, which was a blessing. He didn't plan to let her find out anything more than what she already knew. While he maintained his silence, finally, they reached the curve. He could see the exit not far after it, and couldn't wait to get off this cursed highway.
[Korean] "Who are you working for?" she asked again, this time more irritated. He didn't respond this time either, and she didn't speak again for a very long time.