interrupted his conversation . “We got company.”
So much for twelve minutes. It might have been eight. Tanner let go of Jin’s arm. “We’ll have to make a stand here and fight our way out.”
Jin grabbed his sleeve, tugging . “No!”
“You have no vote in this.”
“Follow me thirty meters.”
He heard exasperation, or panic, but he gave her his attention . “What happens then?”
“If you want to fight, it will be a better spot.”
“Keep moving.”
The temperature down in these tunnels felt closer to forty and the cold water about the same. As long as they kept their internal body temperature elevated by moving, he might not end up with someone dying from hypothermia. The water reached waist deep on him. That meant it was hitting the two physicists at their chests.
What about Jin?
A quick glance to his right confirmed that she was bouncing on the balls of her feet as she moved, pushing through the water.
In the next thirty meters, the tunnel split again . “Which of those tunnels goes to a higher elevation?”
“The one on the left, but we must take the one on the right.
Of course.
She slowed as the water turned her movements even more sluggish. At the fork, she said, “Come on.”
Tanner grabbed her arm. “Keep going and let you lead us deeper so all they have to do is shoot us like ducks in a barrel.”
“Have a little faith.”
“Based on what?”
“I am here, too. I am not suicidal . Can you fight hundreds of soldiers? Do you have that much ammunition?” She made a small sound that he couldn’t decipher and hushed out, “Then stay where you are and die.”
She jerked away and kept moving .
Nick was bringing up the rear. His voice came through Tanner’s comm set . “They’re getting close enough for me to hear them talking.”
“Roger,” Tanner said, then ordered his team deeper into the tunnel on the right and followed Jin . He led his group into a dark void that continued losing elevation.
When he looked up, he lost all sight of Jin.
He should be able to see the outline of her black hood with his NVG.
He lunged forward, ready to go underwater and search for her, but her head popped up into view and her oval face brightened at seeing him. Water sluiced off her. She gasped a breath and said, “Stepped in a hole looking for the cable.”
As if no more explanation was needed, she waved him forward to where she bobbed.
He didn’t want to assign a name to the sick drop his stomach had taken at thinking she’d fallen into a hole where she’d drown .
She had one arm stretched above her head, clinging to the wall.
Tanner cupped her free arm that she’d been moving back and forth in the water to stay afloat.
She said, “Everyone must grab this cable.”
His gaze tracked her other arm up to where her fingers gripped a cable bolted to the wall. The cable drooped from there to the next bolt twenty feet away where the tunnel shifted to the left.
She urged, “Quickly . We do not have much time to get out of sight.”
Tanner explained to his men who brought Pang and Har up to speed . Pang looked appalled once he understood what the plan was, but that was the same expression he’d worn pretty much all night.
He did spare a moment to sneer at Jin .
What the hell ? Shouldn’t those two men show her some appreciation for helping them escape? Didn’t Pang and Jin work together doing research?
She was an Amerasian woman, sure, but that didn’t explain his negative attitude toward someone who was risking her life to find a way for him and Har to escape.
Pang was getting under Tanner’s skin .
Could Har tell the State Department what they needed to know about the North Korean nuclear plans if, oops, Pang drowned ?
Nick reported from the rear on the Norks closing the gap behind them . “I estimate maybe a minute until the threat reaches us.”
“Get everyone up here now,” Tanner whispered to the team.
The physicists passed by and the team
So much for twelve minutes. It might have been eight. Tanner let go of Jin’s arm. “We’ll have to make a stand here and fight our way out.”
Jin grabbed his sleeve, tugging . “No!”
“You have no vote in this.”
“Follow me thirty meters.”
He heard exasperation, or panic, but he gave her his attention . “What happens then?”
“If you want to fight, it will be a better spot.”
“Keep moving.”
The temperature down in these tunnels felt closer to forty and the cold water about the same. As long as they kept their internal body temperature elevated by moving, he might not end up with someone dying from hypothermia. The water reached waist deep on him. That meant it was hitting the two physicists at their chests.
What about Jin?
A quick glance to his right confirmed that she was bouncing on the balls of her feet as she moved, pushing through the water.
In the next thirty meters, the tunnel split again . “Which of those tunnels goes to a higher elevation?”
“The one on the left, but we must take the one on the right.
Of course.
She slowed as the water turned her movements even more sluggish. At the fork, she said, “Come on.”
Tanner grabbed her arm. “Keep going and let you lead us deeper so all they have to do is shoot us like ducks in a barrel.”
“Have a little faith.”
“Based on what?”
“I am here, too. I am not suicidal . Can you fight hundreds of soldiers? Do you have that much ammunition?” She made a small sound that he couldn’t decipher and hushed out, “Then stay where you are and die.”
She jerked away and kept moving .
Nick was bringing up the rear. His voice came through Tanner’s comm set . “They’re getting close enough for me to hear them talking.”
“Roger,” Tanner said, then ordered his team deeper into the tunnel on the right and followed Jin . He led his group into a dark void that continued losing elevation.
When he looked up, he lost all sight of Jin.
He should be able to see the outline of her black hood with his NVG.
He lunged forward, ready to go underwater and search for her, but her head popped up into view and her oval face brightened at seeing him. Water sluiced off her. She gasped a breath and said, “Stepped in a hole looking for the cable.”
As if no more explanation was needed, she waved him forward to where she bobbed.
He didn’t want to assign a name to the sick drop his stomach had taken at thinking she’d fallen into a hole where she’d drown .
She had one arm stretched above her head, clinging to the wall.
Tanner cupped her free arm that she’d been moving back and forth in the water to stay afloat.
She said, “Everyone must grab this cable.”
His gaze tracked her other arm up to where her fingers gripped a cable bolted to the wall. The cable drooped from there to the next bolt twenty feet away where the tunnel shifted to the left.
She urged, “Quickly . We do not have much time to get out of sight.”
Tanner explained to his men who brought Pang and Har up to speed . Pang looked appalled once he understood what the plan was, but that was the same expression he’d worn pretty much all night.
He did spare a moment to sneer at Jin .
What the hell ? Shouldn’t those two men show her some appreciation for helping them escape? Didn’t Pang and Jin work together doing research?
She was an Amerasian woman, sure, but that didn’t explain his negative attitude toward someone who was risking her life to find a way for him and Har to escape.
Pang was getting under Tanner’s skin .
Could Har tell the State Department what they needed to know about the North Korean nuclear plans if, oops, Pang drowned ?
Nick reported from the rear on the Norks closing the gap behind them . “I estimate maybe a minute until the threat reaches us.”
“Get everyone up here now,” Tanner whispered to the team.
The physicists passed by and the team
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