Hollow Point

by Rawlin Cash

  "That's a big risk," Kim said.

  "It's the only option we've got."

  "He's right," Yong said. "Trust him."

  "Alright," Kim said.

  "Follow me," Hunter said. He guided Kim out of the surveillance room. They ran through hallway after hallways. Up stairwell after stairwell. They met their first bit of resistance in the dining hall.

  "There are three men standing guard at the west exit," Hunter said to Kim.

  Kim looked at the table he was using as cover. He briefly marveled at the beauty and richness of everything around him. He'd never seen cutlery so clean, plates so beautifully painted.

  "I'll get the two on the left. You get the one on the right."

  Kim nodded and followed Hunter's instructions perfectly. Once the guards dropped, their blood oozing out of the holes in their heads, Hunter and Kim continued their pursuit.

  Hunter was relying on the fact that Yong was watching them navigate through the installation. If anything happened to Yong, it would be game over.

  As Hunter and Kim made their way through the sleeping quarters, the lights suddenly went dark.

  Hunter knew what that meant. Yong had turned out the lights because it was the only way Hunter and Kim were going to make it through alive. The place must have been crowded with KPA.

  Voices of confused guards echoed through the quarters.

  "What are they saying?" Hunter whispered to Kim.

  "They think it's a power outage."

  Hunter smirked. He pulled out his combat knife. Kim did the same. They stalked through the darkened shadows of the living quarters and made their way to the exit.

  Kim bumped into a guard standing at the door.

  The guard didn't have time to respond, however.

  Hunter slit the guard's throat before he had a chance to call for help.

  "Be careful," Hunter said.

  "I'm sorry," Kim said.

  The two men continued to move through the complex without too many problems. Once they got to the prison cells, they slowed down. They quickly took care of the guard, manning the hall that housed the President's cell, and grabbed the cell keys from his pocket.

  "He was in this cell," Hunter said. "Just up here."

  They both ran to the cell.

  Hunter opened the cell door.

  Hillcock opened his eyes.

  "What the hell?" he said.

  Sixty-Three

  Woo finished his third bottle of Japanese Whiskey and pulled out his pistol. He fired it into the ceiling.

  "Those fucking Liberators," he said. "This country is rotting from the inside, and it's all because of the Supreme Leaders' contempt for our culture, his inability to see what makes us great. I am trying to save Korea. I am…"

  Woo was beyond drunk.

  Bong-hak was sat with the general. He nodded silently. He turned to the general. "Sir, perhaps you should let our troops perform the execution."

  "No," Woo shouted. "He's a world leader. I want to be the one who takes the final shot. This is my time to shine. This is my moment in history. This is for…" He stopped, stood up on his chair, and screamed, "Korea!"

  Bong-hak shook his head.

  The situation was getting out of control.

  A soldier entered the room and whispered into Bong-hak's ear. There were reports of power outages in the lower levels of the installation.

  "I need to leave," Bong-hak said to Woo. "Make sure you kill the President quickly. I'll report to Beijing when it's done."

  "Whatever," Woo said. He pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Bong-hak. "If I find out that you're working with China… I will skin your family alive."

  Bong-hak shook his head and followed the soldier out of the conference room. Before leaving, he said, "Just put a bullet in the President's head. That's all that matters!"

  Woo threw a bottle of Whiskey at Bong-hak and then gave him the middle finger.

  "I'll kill him! And then, when you're back, I'll kill you!"

  Woo cackled with laughter as Bong-Hak left.

  Sixty-Four

  "What's your name?" Hunter asked.

  "Clarence Hillcock. I was a pilot for the United States Air Force. Who are you?"

  Hunter looked at the poor asshole. "How long have you been here? I didn't know there was any US military personnel being held hostage by the KPA."

  "Since ninety-four," Hillcock said. "The American military thought I was dead, I guess."

  "Why the hell did they keep you alive?" Hunter asked. "Why didn't they use you as a bargaining chip?"

  "Because of General Woo…"

  "What about him?" Hunter asked.

  "I killed his father."

  "What?"

  "My helicopter went down in the DMZ. My co-pilot was killed by approaching KPA when we crash-landed. I tried to fight back. I killed a few men—one of them was Woo's father."

  Kim laughed. "You're a national hero!"

  "Don't," Hunter said, turning to Kim. The psyche of a prisoner of war was fragile. The slightest thing could throw them off. They had to be gentle.

  "There was a prisoner just in here with you," Hunter said. "Where did they take him?"

  Hillcock laughed. "To the main chamber."

  "Where's that?"

  "It's at the top of the building."

  "How do you know?" Hunter asked.

  "Because that is where I've been tortured by General Woo," Hillcock said. "That's where they took your President."

  Hunter clenched his jaw. "So, you know he was the President?"

  "I just learned it," Hillcock said.

  "If I set you free, will you help us? Will you take us to the main chamber?"

  "I'll kill Woo," Hillcock said. "He's kept me here for years. He's stolen everything from me."

  "Good," Hunter said. He unshackled Hillcock and handed him his M9.

  Hillcock smiled as he took hold of the weapon. "It's been too long since I've felt like I've had some control over my destiny—my end."

  Hunter looked at the poor bastard and felt immense sympathy for him. The poor guy had lost his mind. He was barely holding on.

  Kim was resting up against the door. "I hear voices," he said. "People are running down the halls."

  "Do you remember how to use that thing?" Hunter asked Hillcock.

  Hillcock smiled. It was a suicidal crazed smile. "Of course," he said.

  Sixty-Five

  Bong-hak felt something was off the whole day. He was worried about Park's death just like Woo was, but he suspected that it wasn't just the result of some rebel faction in the country. He suspected that it was the result of some other force.

  Something far sinister.

  Still, Bong-hak did what he'd been told to do. He'd been told by his Chinese handlers to keep Woo on measure. The Chinese needed the President dead. The Vice President of the United States refused to sign the document okaying the invasion until then. For Bong-hak's help, the Chinese military would reward him with the equivalent of millions of dollars.

  "I haven't heard from the warden in the cells," the soldier said to Bong-hak. "And I just got word about bodies in the lower levels. I think we're being attacked."

  Bong-hak gritted his teeth. "I'll take care of it," he said.

  They walked through the prison cells slowly. They knew which level of cells the attackers would be checking. It would be the level that housed the US President for four days.

  Bong-hak ran close to the soldier and pulled out a small pistol. They were close to the President's cell. Very close.

  "The door looks open," the soldier in front of him shouted.

  "Don't give our position away, you idiot…"

  It was too late.

  The soldier in front of him ate most of the bullets, but Bong-hak took a couple as well. He dropped to the floor. He could feel the warmth of his blood cradle his head on the cold floor.

  Hillcock ran out of the shadows and was about to finish the job, but Hunter stopped him.

  "Y
ou'll get Woo," he said. "This one is mine."

  Hillcock mumbled something unintelligible but seemed to get the hint. Hunter turned to Bong-hak.

  "He's Bong-hak," Kim said to Hunter. "He's Woo's intelligence officer."

  Bong-hak smirked. An American. Of course, he thought. He was stupid to doubt that the Americans would send nobody. The Chinese were too confident in their control.

  Hunter turned to Bong-hak. "Not very intelligent of you to give your position away like that?"

  "Fuck you."

  "Is the President in the main chamber?"

  "I'm telling you nothing," Bong-hak said.

  Hunter bent down. He looked into Bong-hak's eyes. He shrugged and pulled the trigger, splattering what was left of Bong-hak across the floor of the prison cell.

  "Why did you do that?" Kim asked.

  "He wasn't going to tell us a thing. We're running out of time."

  Hillcock chuckled. "Follow me. I'll show you where they are!"

  Sixty-Six

  Six soldiers dragged the President into the main chamber. They threw him onto the ground and spit on him. "He's yours," one of them said to General Woo.

  "Good," Woo said. He'd just finished his last bottle of whiskey. He was feeling ready. He pulled up his pistol and aimed it at the President. "I was told to kill you on-sight."

  Raynor's face was bloodied. He stared at the general and said, "Go ahead."

  Woo couldn't pull the trigger.

  His hands trembled when he got close to Raynor.

  Despite his drunken mind, he was beginning to put all the pieces together. China was using him. He was a tool. He'd become exactly what his father had told him he would be. He was nothing but a conduit for a world he didn't understand.

  He just wanted to drown his mind in the pleasures of drink. He wanted to burn every memory of his father into a fire of ethanol and a bad liver.

  "You scared?" Raynor said. "Or do you realize that if you kill me, you've already lost?"

  Woo scoffed. "You know nothing," he said. "You're just a stupid American—arrogant and loud like the rest of them. Our people have never liked your people, and we've always found a way to hold you back."

  "And I admire your people for their will," Raynor said. "But the leaders of your country undermine it by exploiting them."

  Woo laughed. "You're not going to convince me of anything. I'm going to kill you. My associate wanted me to pass it off to a grunt, a soldier, but I respect you… the way you respect our people. You actually tried to help us."

  "And what do you think you're doing?" Raynor asked. "Do you really think the North Korean people will be better off for this?"

  One of the soldiers who'd brought Raynor in approached Woo and said, "Sir, do you want us to shut him up?" he said in Korean.

  Woo lifted up his pistol and shot the guard in the head. A splay of blood painted the wall behind where the soldier had stood.

  The other guards looked at the man they'd considered a shepherd—a strong, noble leader. A few wanted to raise their weapons, a couple wanted to cry. The soldiers all looked at each other and knew what they needed to do. They'd heard reports about what was going down on the lower floors. They knew that the installation was under attack.

  They'd followed Woo this far, but he'd crossed the line killing their comrade like that. They'd killed their God for him—the Supreme Leader. They felt shattered. Betrayed.

  "Where are you going?" Woo shouted at them as they left the room.

  Raynor, bloodied, weak, and bound, looked up at Woo from the floor. The general was losing control of his people, his men.

  Woo hovered over the President.

  It was time to end this.

  "In 1994, my father died after a pilot from one of your helicopters killed him," Woo said. "My father was a good man. Noble even. I was with him the day he died. He told me to shoot both Americans. He told me to make sure that they were dead before I approached. I killed one, but the other… he pleaded. He said he had a wife and two children. I was much younger then. I could not bring myself to do it. I could not kill him. I aimed my rifle at him and waited for my father and the rest of the squad to arrive. We'd just brought down a US helicopter. It was going to be a glorious day. But the soldier… the bastard whose life I spared shot my father in the heart."

  Tears swelled from Woo's eyes. He wanted to scream. It felt like he was back in the snowy field, holding his father as his father told him how useless he'd been his whole life, how much of a failure he'd been.

  "The pilot you've been torturing…" Raynor said. "The one in the cell with me. That's why you've kept him alive. He's the one who killed your father…"

  "Yes," Woo said. "And now you know…"

  "Know what?"

  "Now you know why I don't care about my country. All these years, all this suffering, all this… I did it to make your country suffer, even at North Korea's expense. It's why I made a deal with China to back this coup. It's why I let them launch a nuclear bomb close to your soil… It's why I let our nation take credit for it. I want America to pay."

  "If you kill me, you won't get anything you want," Raynor said.

  "Yes," Woo said. "Yes, I will. You were going to create peace. You came here to resolve a conflict that I don't want to be resolved. When the Chinese intelligence agents approached me, telling me that they wanted me to take advantage of your visit, I had no choice. They convinced me that half your country hates you anyway. They said I'd be doing the world a favor."

  Raynor had put the pieces together already. He'd had the time to figure it all out. It made sense the way Cosgrove was clamoring on about China and trade agreements with Asia.

  "Go ahead," Raynor said. "Kill me. If the world will burn, and this is what you need… then do me in. I've made mistakes too. I regret things, too."

  Woo placed the trigger of his gun against Raynor’s temple.

  He cried.

  He wanted to scream.

  It was at that point that the doors of the chamber burst open. Kim, Hunter, and Hillcock stormed into the room.

  Woo was so drunk that he was slow to respond.

  He tried to aim his pistol at the intruders, but he'd failed. Hillcock was sober as dried wood. He put two bullets in Woo and then jumped on top of the man who had belittled and tortured him for twenty-five years.

  Hunt and Kim untied the President.

  Hunter was beginning to feel like the way he felt in Nashville, however. His vision was blurry. Time was slowing down. He was losing touch. He was so close to the finish line, but he'd finally tripped.

  Sixty-Seven

  Woo was dead.

  The coup was over.

  Murdered by the bastard he'd been torturing for years. Hillcock kept punching the disgraced general in the face, over and over. He'd been punching so much that bits and pieces of Woo's skull had caved in. Bits of brain were seeping through the soggy bone. It was gruesome. Ugly. Cathartic.

  "You took everything from me," Hillcock screamed. "Everything! You fucking monster!"

  President Raynor looked at Hunter. "We need to get the hell out of here! There's an entire army in this installation alone."

  "No shit," Hunter said to the President.

  The shaking in his hands was getting worse. The vision in the corners of his eyes was darkening. He needed a hit of G-12 quick. He'd lose himself soon.

  He didn't know if he trusted himself with the President.

  He turned to Kim. "You need to get back to Yong," Hunter said. "Tell him to communicate with MI6. Give them our coordinates. Tell them where we are. In an hour or so, they should have a helicopter on the roof."

  "You don't look well," Kim said.

  "I'll be fine, kid," Hunter said. "Just worry about your people. It's going to get a lot harder here on out, trust me."

  Kim nodded. "Thank you," he said.

  "I had no choice," Hunter said. "Just go."

  Kim left the main chamber, and Hunter approached Hillcock. "Come on, man," Hunter
said. "He's dead. Let him go."

  Hillcock was covered in blood.

  He'd gone rabid.

  He'd given in to some primal desire in his body.

  "I'm a damn monster," he said. "Look what I've done."

  "Trust me," Hunter said. "I've seen worse. But you'll have time to deal with this later. If you want to get out of here, you'll follow me to the roof."

  "Leave me," Hillcock said. "I'll be fine. I want to die."

  Raynor approached Hunter. "Did the CIA send you?"

  Hunter chuckled. "No," he said. "US intelligence is at the mercy of your piece-of-shit Vice President, who wants to see you dead."

  "Then who sent you," Raynor asked.

  "MI6," Hunter said. "It turns out that the world outside of America isn't quite ready to hand the keys over to China just yet—only your enemies in Washington."

  Raynor smiled. "We need to get him out of here," he said, referring to Hillcock. "I'm not leaving without him."

  "Mr. President…"

  Raynor cut Hunter off. "Don't call me that."

  "And don't fucking patronize me, sir. You don't know the shit I've just been through to find you. The entire geopolitical landscape in Asia is resting on whether you live, or you die. You're coming with me."

  "And I'm not leaving until you help that man," Raynor said.

  Hunter grunted out a sound of frustration. He was beginning to like the President, but this was ridiculous. He looked at Hillcock, who was sitting beside the brutalized corpse of Woo.

  "I'll try to convince him," Hunter said to Raynor. "But, sir, you need…" Hunter stumbled to his knees. He was losing it. His senses. Everything. His vision grew dark.

  "What's wrong!?" the President shouted.

  Hunter elbowed Raynor in the head, knocking him semi-unconscious. He'd given in to his primal sense. It was over. His system was clear of G-12. His Mantis instincts had kicked in again.

  He walked up to Hillcock.

  "Kill me," Hillcock said to Hunter.

  "Are you sure?"

  Raynor watched it in a blurred state. He watched Hunter pulled out a pistol and shot Hillcock point-blank. Hunter then picked up Raynor like he was dirty laundry. He lugged him on his shoulder. He carried the President to the roof of the installation.