East

Chapter 19

Ryu Ji-Mun was running out of ideas, out of his depth, or both.

The three suspects had evaded capture, killed and injured his men, were nowhere to be found, and  had basically embarrassed him thoroughly. Of course, he spun this to his advantage, reporting that they were highly skilled and dangerous.

This worked to some degree with those who did not know the suspects, such as the local police. But for those within the NIS who knew both him and Jung Rae-Won, it only served to solidify their opinion of Ryu Ji-Mun's abilities. And this was also the opinion of his bosses. Although they had selected him because they believed he would be easy to mold to their point-of-view, they also needed him to get results.

Ryu Ji-Mun was in a conference room with three subordinates.

"Our resources are limited, so how can be best use them to capture these three?" He looked around, hoping for a genius to present himself.

"Why are your resources so limited?" asked one of the men, idly stroking his cup of coffee.

"Yes," said another, "this is a little unusual."

Ryu Ji-Mun felt the meeting was going in the wrong direction. "We're limited because of the status of the original operation. We have to keep a lid on this as much as possible. We can use local police, but other NIS assets are not available. So let's be positive and see what we can do rather than what we can't."

They all nodded and a quiet settled on the group.

The lone woman in the group spoke up. "Will they try to leave the country? Or stay domestic?"

The second man said, "Domestic."

"Why?"

"These are not hardened terrorists. Two of them are former NIS, and only one was a field agent. The third is new to us with no record at all. There are no known ties to foreign interests, no record of recent international travel; nothing that indicates overseas assets. Where would they go and how would they pay for it."

"Jung Rae-Won was a field agent, he would have escape plans. That would be a matter of course for him."

"But he has been out of the NIS for a while. He may have got soft."

"They did shoot and kill several agents tonight," Ryu Ji-Mun reminded them. "I don't think any of them is soft."

"But I'm not even sure how they found out about the helicopter or what their goal was. Can we get more background?" said the first man.

"That is need-to-know only. Look, someone told them or they wouldn't have been waiting with a rifle," said Ryu Ji-Mun, re-writing history to his own ends. "I think we can assume that they were being paid to perform the kill and whoever is paying could be offering sanctuary."

The first man decided to speak up. "It seems very messy. One person on the roof and the other two rush in to rescue her? Something doesn't seem right."

A silence descended again.

Ryu Ji-Mun took the initiative. "We will have to stretch our capabilities. We'll assume that both domestic and international travel are a possibility. They might even split up. We will need to cover the airports, rail, and bus terminals. Obviously we can't cover every way of getting there, so we'll put static teams on site."

People were nodding in agreement.

"Pass their descriptions to local police and have them distribute the information to taxi, car rental companies, and hotels," he continued. "Any word from hospitals about a gunshot victim being treated?" Everyone shook their heads. "Keep monitoring that and let's get this information to the police now."

Everybody started gathering their papers and heading for the door. Soon Ryu Ji-Mun was left alone. He was very nervous about the way this mission was heading and he wasn't sure that he could bring it back on course.

***

The sound and lights of the police car quickly lessened as it disappeared down the road from which Sora had just emerged. The bus continued along the road and Sora pulled out her phone to get some idea of where she was going and how long the bus would take to get there. She stared at the screen. Forty minutes. Was this feeling of being trapped ever going to disappear, she wondered, or was it something that people on the run just got used to? She reminded herself that once she got to England everything would be okay, but would it? How could those people she had never met fix all her problems? On the other hand perhaps this aircraft that would take her away was sent by them?

She hadn't really thought about it, but how had Rae-Won found a flight so quickly? And what kind of flight departed from a military airbase at midnight? 

She had a lot of questions about what was about to happen. But no answers. Her uncle would have had the answers, he was that kind of man, she was sure. She remembered their last meeting in Hong Kong and regretted that she had not confided his identity to Rae-Won and Ye-Jin. She was alone again, at least until she reached England.

Sora was no stranger to her life being different than that of others around her and resolved that if this was her future, she would make the best of it. Although some people might have felt depressed at such a prospect, Sora was able to go with the flow and stubborn enough to think that she would get something positive from the experience.

As the bus passed over the river it made her feel better to imagine that all that water was between her and the scene of the crime. Just a little, not a lot. 

As the journey progressed, people got on and people got off. The bus pushed its way through the traffic and Sora didn't see any more police cars or passengers who looked like they worked for the NIS. A couple of young guys got on and gave her a few glances, but as they did the same to other girls on the bus she decided not to worry about it.

The bus made a left turn and Sora knew she would need to get off soon. She checked the time; there was enough for her to be able to exercise some caution. One stop past the station, according to her phone, she got off and walked in to a store. She browsed for snacks, realizing how hungry she was. She took several chocolate bars and drinks. After she had paid, they were added to the camera equipment, radio, and gun in the backpack.

Was this normal stuff to carry around for the new person on the run, she thought? Probably so.

At the store entrance, she carefully looked around for the usual suspicious people and confident there was no one that meant to do her harm, she stepped outside and started walking back toward the subway station entrance.

Then she felt a hand on her shoulder.

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