She needed another way.
9:25 P.M.
Over the rumble of his motorcycle, Gray heard gunfire erupt to his left, along with shouts and hollered orders. He headed for the commotion, hoping for the best.
As he raced between a narrow squeeze of barracks, a figure popped into view ahead of him, wearing a muddy set of prison garb. It took him an extra breath to recognize Seichan.
Thank God . . .
Relief flooded through him, along with something deeper that warmed his heart.
She lifted her arm toward him, as if beckoning him to her side.
Only then did he see the pistol in her hand.
She centered her aim and fired.
9:26 P.M.
Seichan needed that motorcycle.
A second ago, she had heard the throaty whine of its engine and headed toward it, knowing it could be her only means of escape. With one bullet left in her pistol, she dared not fail. As she stepped into the open, she aimed for a center-mass shot and pulled the trigger.
The rider flew backward with the impact, spinning off the bike.
The motorcycle twisted and crashed into the side of a barrack. Tossing her pistol aside, she sprinted to the bike. She hauled it off the ground, mounted it, and kicked the stalled engine into roaring glory. With a goose of power, she spun the bike around.
The rider rose to an elbow and reached for his assault rifle.
I could use that, too, she realized.
She gunned forward, leaning her arm out, ready to scoop the weapon off the ground.
The rider lifted his pained face toward her.
She gasped with recognition, blinded to everything but those storm-blue eyes.
Gray . . .
She braked hard as she reached him, skidding sideways.
He stood, with a hand pressed to his bloody shoulder. “You really have to stop shooting me,” he mumbled, retrieving the rifle with his good arm. “A simple hello will do next time.”
She pulled him to her and kissed his lips.
“Okay, that’s a little better . . . but we’ll have to practice it some more.”
She heard the growl of the jeep stalking along a neighboring row.
Shouts closed in behind her.
“Hop on!” she urged.
Despite the pain, Gray quickly swung a leg over. He circled her waist with one arm, while firing behind her with the other.
In the rearview mirror, she watched soldiers scatter out of view.
“Go!” he said.
She gunned the engine, and the bike took off like a jackrabbit.
Gray tightened his arm around her.
She didn’t know if they would make it to freedom, but she knew one thing for sure. She never wanted him to let go.
9:28 P.M.
Gray’s shoulder burned with each bump. Blood flowed in hot streams across his chest. If he hadn’t shifted to the side at the last moment after seeing Seichan’s pistol, she would have struck him square in the chest.
He clung to her with his bad arm, twisted half around, his rifle gripped one-handed. He took potshots whenever he spotted anyone in a North Korean uniform.
Then thirty yards back, a jeep skidded into view, its one remaining headlamp shining toward them. A soldier on the passenger side was on his feet, leveling a rifle on the frame of the windshield.
Gray strafed the front of the jeep, taking out the other headlamp.
The impact swerved the vehicle, ruining the soldier’s aim. Rounds tore into the wooden stairs of a barrack to the left. Screams of panic echoed from inside.
“Veer right!” he hollered to Seichan.
She juked the bike in that direction, so fast that he almost lost his grip on her. With his thighs clenched to the seat, he leaned out and returned fire, concentrating on the jeep’s right front tire, unloading a full spray, tearing apart the rubber.
“Left!” he yelled.
The bike swung to the other side, as rounds blasted past his ear. Aiming at the left front tire, he fired another burst, shredding it to black confetti.
The trajectory of the jeep, already shaky after losing the first tire, became unruly as the rims drilled into the mud, miring the front end.
As the jeep slowed to a crawl behind them, Seichan sped away, aiming for the gates a hundred yards ahead. Gray kept his rifle pointed back, plinking a few shots to discourage any retaliation.
Suddenly Seichan hit the brakes hard, nosing the bike up on one wheel.
Gray swung around in time to see a tank burst into view ahead of them, treads churning mud in a fast turn toward the prison entrance. It was a forty-ton Chonma-ho battle tank. The behemoth filled the road ahead of them, trundling between a row of barracks and a line of cement-block administration buildings.
The monster ignored them or maybe assumed they were allies. Either way, its long 115 mm gun was pointed toward the gate, ready to put an end to their brief insurgency.
“Get around it!” Gray yelled in Seichan’s ear.
Their only hope of escape was to outrace that beast of steel and fire, to reach that main gate ahead of the tank and get everyone moving.
Seichan bent low over the bike’s handles and took the first left turn into the narrow space between the barracks. With a scream of the engine, she slipped past the first barrack and skidded into the smaller lane that paralleled the main road. Opening the throttle, they flew down this new track.
Gray stared to the right as barracks flashed past, catching glimpses of the tank churning up the neighboring road.
We’ll never make it.
Even if the tank didn’t fire its big gun, they would be hard-pressed to clear the gate ahead of that trundling Goliath.
That is, until David appeared.
A smaller shape shot out of the smoke by the gate and raced toward the tank. It was Kowalski on his bike. Gray had radioed his partner earlier to pull back after he found Seichan. The big man must have reached the gates ahead of them—and plainly had his own solution to the problem of the battle tank.
Letting go of his motorcycle’s handlebars, Kowalski lifted his RPG-29 launcher to his shoulder and fired. The rocket flew the remaining distance and struck the tank head-on.
The explosion sounded like the earth cracking, accompanied by fire, smoke, and a rain of scorched steel.
Kowalski lost control of his bike, dropped it on its side, and skidded toward the burning tank, which continued to roll forward on its own, about to crush him.
Pushing the bike harder, Seichan got ahead of the slowing tank, turned at the next barrack, and swept to the main road. She plainly meant to go to Kowalski’s aid, but as their bike shot through a wall of smoke, they found the big man already on his feet, sprinting for the gate.
The guy was indestructible.
A glance back showed the front of the tank, blast charred and smoking. It was no longer a threat, but they were far from safe.