"We have a visual of the target's location" Greer mutters into the comms over to Seong Min whom is waiting impatiently on the other side. "OK everyone, this is go time. Remember, they want her alive and we need to get those shackles on, that's our number one priority. I don't care if you break her arm if you have to, just get the shackles on."
Isnt that to agresive for just capturing a women
Greers voice disappears from the earpiece.
As they stay at one spot for a moment.
Im starting to dislike Greer and his aproche of the mision. Why coudnt we just make a home visit or inteviev in the day. Why do we need all this for one women.
Well i know shes strong but this all is not nesecery.
Hes awakened from hes thoughts by the skinny agent touching his elbow, silently telling him to get into position. Chan Jeol grips the sword that he keept on his side, not taking it out just yet. Chan jeol looks around himself and sees all of the men looking stoic and getting their gear ready to go. A sudden calm has descended upon the group. He looks out onto the lake and take a steadying breath.
This is what i'm good at. I tell myself there's a reason I have been selected for this mission.
Hes done hundreds of missions extricating hostages, and this is technically no different, he lies to himself.
I have a bad feeling about this whole thing.
"I want myself, Bill, Hebl, and you-" Greer points at Chan Jeol. "to go in the front. Farringdon, Kely, Lourde, and other guys, you circle around back." We rearrange ourselves into smaller groups with no further talking.
Chan Jeol makes eye contact with the skinny agent, silently reassuring each other. Then he cast a look at the small cabin, but there seems to be no movement; it's as still as ever, and he almost doubting Hwangs is there. It all looks so insignificant with the huge mountain towering over them. "Jons, you take the lead. I want the back secured, she's not getting out under any means, ok? We don't have a chance if we let her out in the open, the element of surprise is all we got. Once the back is secured, agents and Jons stay back and the other join and we get these shackles on, copy?"
"Copy." Everyone mumble, afraid to break the eery silence of the valley.
"OK. Move out." Greer says and the group moves as one along the edge of the tree line towards the cabin.
The moon makes an occasional reappearance, lighting the valley up in a misty glow, but they keep out of sight, staying under the covers of trees he gather must be hundreds of years old. Chan Jeol feels a shiver run up his back, the hairs standing up on the back of his neck.
We are unwelcome here.
Soon, they have reached the side of the cabin. It's very small, there can't be more than two or three rooms in there.
Greer gives them the go sign, and they half run-half walk-half squat towards the side of the cabin. The ground seems frozen beneath his boots, the frozen grass breaking under there weight. There is a small window on the side of the cabin with curtains drawn. It looks dark inside. He remind himself to breathe in through his nose and out through his mouth in a bid to calm his racing nerves. The closer they get the less confident he feels about this whole plan.
She's asleep, he tells himelf. She's asleep and we'll get her easily.
They part around the cabin like water parting around a rock in a stream. He follow along up onto a dark porch, thankful for his night vision goggles; without them they'd be blind as bats. There is an old rocking chair on one side of the porch, and a little workbench on the other side with an empty mug placed on top. Otherwise, the cabin could just as well have been abandoned.
Greer shuffles for a short amount of time, and the door suddenly swings open with an ominous creak. Greer walks in first, followed by two other agents, and Chan Jeol form the rear. Well inside, the air is warm, and it smells faintly of smoke and pine. There is a small round table in the middle of the cabin, a small, tidy kitchen and he gets a sudden rush of memories that take him back to childhood summers spent at grandparents. He didn't have time to study anything else in more detail before Greer's voice sounds through the earpiece.
"Clear." Greer states, and signals to the only other room the cabin.
The door to the room is closed, and no light comes through the cracks. The silence is roaring loud in his ears and he can practically hear his heart race and his amazed the sound of it hasn't woken Hwang up along with the rest of the forest. Chan Jeol hear's a sudden shuffle behind him and there around swiftly, raising his sword to face the opponent.
But it is not Hwang, but the other agent who makes a steadying motion with his hands. Chan Jeol lowers his sword and turns back around towards the door and the other agents.
Greer manages to open the door silently, and Chan Jeol grabs onto the sword in his hand tighter. Greer enters and the two other agents follow him swiftly.
Then, everything unfolds in slow-motion, it seems like. Chan Jeol manages to catch a glimpse of a floating, white silhouette shimmering with white light, before a sudden force like a brick wall hits them all straight in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and flinging everyone backward back into the main room of the cabin.
He hits the floor with a thud, his head bouncing on the floor, but his helmet softens the blow. Chan Jeol struggles for a second to catch his breath, feeling like hes sucking in water instead of air. On his left, Greer is already getting up, just to be hit with a shimmering ball of white square in the chest over his kevlar, sending him tumbling back again.
"You should not have come." An icy voice breaks the silence. Chan Jeol hear's the voice everywhere on his body, inside hes head.
Hes suddenly back on his feet, dodging the ball of white he's expecting to come flying at him. Chan Jeol rolls out of his dive and gos to stand with his back against the wall next to the door to what he assuming is Hwang's bedroom
The rest of the agents are back on their feet too by now. Everyone assumes defensive positions, and Chan Jeol sees the shackles and collar being readied.
I still feel pressure on my chest. Why dose it hurt so bad.
"I do not want to hurt you all. Please leave." The bodiless voice sounds in his head again.
"Go, go go!" Greer shouts and the agents rush back into the room.
Chan Jeol try's to follow, but as soon as hes in the doorway hes hit by a body flying out of the room. This time, he feel the back of the table hit him square in the back, the impact of his body and the big agent's body on top of his is too heavy for the old table to take and it shatters loudly under him. Again, the wind is knocked out of him as he struggle to push the man off of him. The man curses and slowly rolls off. Chan Jeol stand's up, wheezing. The other agents have been sent flying out of the room too, and he sees one of them is unconscious, a bloody trickle coming down his face.
"Last warning." The voice sounds again. It's icy, and he feel the blood in his veins go cold from the sound of it.
Chan Jeol holds his side as it burns and assumes his position by the door again. He quickly peaks around, catching glimpse of the dark shadow floating in the back of the room again before he has to duck back out, forced by a white ball flying past him, missing his face by inches. The feel of hotness emirate from it as it zooms by.
"I'm going in, you two follow me and get those shackles on!" Greer says through gritted teeth. "Agents, back us up."
Chan Jeol takes a shallow breath to prepare himself, and just as the men roar past him into the room, he hears a sound so faint It could easily have missed it from his left further in the room. He turns his head in the direction of the sound and almost screams out loud as he see a pale face framed by long hair look back at him from the shadows beside a huge cupboard. Two white eyes stare back at him. Without thinking, he instinctively point his sword at the figure, aiming for her right shoulder.
He feels the blade touch somthing inside the other room as well and shouting and swearing. There royally screwed, he has the time to think before registering that hes sword never reached their intended target. The figure moves out of the darkness, her hands now matching the white glow in her eyes, a hateful expression marring her face. He trys to move, but frozen in place. All he can do is fearfully watch whom he now recognize as Hwang move towards him silently, her chest rising and falling rapidly. She cocks her head to one side, and hes suddenly pushed back with such force he swears he felt a rib or two break under his silver vest, and as his back and head hit the opposite wall, his vision goes black.
He slowly opens his eyes and instantly feels a barrage of pain everywhere. He blinks lazily, confused about where he is for a second, before hes brought back to reality by the same voice he heard earlier echo in his head. This time, the voice is not coming from the inside of his head, but more precisely, from behind his head.
"-I said enough." The thick unknown accent makes the words sound fuller, but the voice itself sounds frailer than earlier. "I will do it. And then you are next."
He suddenly realizes hes not lying on the floor as expected, but hes suspended vertically a few inches above the floor. He looks down, seeing his sword laying just out of reach below him. Then, he realizes there's a faint, but white-light white swirl around his neck, tightening in on him by the second. He feels his throat constricting.
"I mean it!" The voice shouts behind him, and the white magic dramatically increases its pressure around his windpipe. His starting to see small spots of light dance around his field of vision.
"OK!" He can faintly see Greer hold up both of his hands in the air. "God! OK!"
"Get out." Hwang appears to Chan Jeols right, her left hand slowly moving in his direction, controlling the magic around his throat.
Suddenly, there's a yell, and she's knocked off balance- one of the agents that has snuck up behind her and harshly headbutts her with the handel of his sword. Hwang falls to the floor with a thud, just barely managing to place her hands in front of her to soften her fall. Chan Jeol falls with her, the white magic is now gone and he takes a deep breath, feeling a sharp pain on the side as he collides with the floor.
"I got-" The agent yells, but can't seem to finish his sentence.
Chan Jeols night vision goggles have been lost somewhere, and the cabin is dark. He can faintly see Hwang next to him, on her hands and knees. He looks away from her and trys to fix his flickering gaze onto the agent. Hes shocked back into a momentary feeling of clarity when he sees him shoot up into the ceiling with a sickening crunch before he falls face-first back onto the floor, where he lies still.
Chan Jeol feels heat on his side, and turns his head to see Hwang getting up, her face illuminated by the white glow in her hands. He starts struggling away from her, but his movement attracts her attention, and her head snaps in his direction. He meets her glowing white eyes and dive towards where he know his sword still lies. He knows it, and she knows it. But like a mouse between a cat's paws, He still struggles. His fingers barely graze the cool surface of the handel before he feels a pain in his arm that threatens to knock him out again. He struggles against the soft darkness creeping in from every corner as he feels his body slide across the wooden floor towards Hwang, who is now but a blurry dark figure. Hes lifted off the floor, but his too out of it to sense in what direction his hanging. The darkness is nearly over him, the white glow the only thing he can focus on. Suddenly, his fingers touch something so familiar it makes his heart jump with a flicker of joy. The knife strapped to his leg.
"He's next." Hwang's voice sounds from somewhere in his proximity, but all he can focus on is getting the knife without her noticing. There's the familiar feeling of the magic squeezing down on him again, reducing his breaths to raspy gasps.
"We'll be back, witch." Someone says from further away. And it sound like there runing awey.
"I hope not."
He focuses on his breathing again. In. Out. In Out. His head throbs painfully as blood starts pooling in it; I must be upside down. What he assume to be a broken arm dangles pitifully under him, while he keeps his other arm fighting gravity as he grabs the knife from his ankenl. He forces his eyes open and trys to locate Hwang. He finally finds her. She's turned away from him, her white hair glistening in the moonlight shining in from the open door. She's examining the agent she sent flying to the roof. He trys to move his arm and point the knife at her, but he can't move. Instead, hes left dangling in the air, hand squeezing the useless knife to his side.
His vision blacks out again, but he fights not to pass out. He bites down on his tongue, feeling the coppery taste of warm blood fill his mouth. He opens his eyes again. Everything's grey and undefined. He can't focus his vision. Only one thought fills his head. Aim at her. If I could only move my arm.
Suddenly the room is filled with the angry white glow again. He struggles to find Hwang. Then, without warning, he falls to the floor limply. He lets out a small gasp as his broken arm twists underneath him and his head once again hits the floor, causing him to see stars. He somehow manage to keep ahold of the knife, though.
He slowly, weakly pushes his upper body off the floor and force his eyelids to stay open. He sees a blur of white, and understand that Hwang is levitating the body of the agent out of the cabin. She's not facing him.
He feels blood rush down his forehead and down his face. He hears his heart pound. Chan Jeol suddenly feels calm. He can't feel anything else. His vision slowly blurs more and more and he knows it's now or never. He lifts his arm and point the knife at Hwang. He trys to steady his arm. I can't miss. He grips the knife harder, the sound making Hwang turn around. Her eyes aren't white anymore. His arm makes a swift motion. There's a slight resistance. She looks so pale in the moonlight. The knife shakes in his hand as he trew it.