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“You’re supposed to stay in the vehicle, sir,” Seong Hyeon answered. “It’s bulletproof.”
“No way.” Jason vigorously shook his head. “There’s no chance of that.”
Seong Hyeon aggressively grunted. “I’m not giving you a choice, sir.”
“What?” Jason scoffed. “So you’ll, what? Lock me in the car? Stand guard to make sure I stay put?”
“Yes. If I have to.”
Jason scoffed again and slumped back into his seat. “Fuck. Alright, fine. Whatever.” A voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Tae Hyun reminded him that Seong Hyeon was only doing what he thought was best and maybe he should give the man a break. Then again, his best hadn’t prevented Tae Hyun’s kidnapping, had it?
Jason glanced at Seong Woo, who only offered a shrug. The fact that Seong Woo was there at all was something of a miracle. Jason couldn’t imagine pulling off what they were planning with just Seong Hyeon and himself. If only he’d been at the designer meeting with Tae Hyun, the whole shitshow might’ve been avoided. Then again, he might’ve been the one who got shot instead of Tae Hyun or Seong Min. Hopefully, it was Seong Min. As much as he liked the youngest Song brother, it wasn’t even a choice between him and Tae Hyun. Realistically, it had to have been Seong Min, anyway. He would’ve considered it a personal insult to not take a bullet for his charge.
“We don’t know what we’re up against, sir,” Seong Hyeon continued. “Should we do any recon first?”
“We can send up a drone if we have time before the other teams arrive,” Min Kyu replied. “Otherwise, we just go in together. Time is of the essence, and these people are clearly sloppy. I don’t anticipate any difficulties.”
The unflappable Yu Min Kyu’s nearly unshakable confidence was probably the only thing keeping Jason from flat-out losing his shit. Even then, he tightly gripped the edges of his seat to keep himself from acting out. He’d spent the past few months managing his anger as best he could, but those efforts were rapidly failing. He thought back to his last movie where, as the wise-cracking sword-for-hire Kenji Shoda, he single-handedly stormed an enemy stronghold, dodging bullets and dispatching at least a dozen soldiers without suffering more than a few scratches and bruises. That’s who Jason needed to become. Of course, that scene took a week to film using carefully choreographed movement and stage fighting. But Jason had done all his own fight choreo and stunts–partly due to the film’s limited budget but mostly to take advantage of his martial arts training. He may not have been Kenji Shoda, but he was still Jason fucking Park. There was absolutely no way he was staying in the truck.
Once they exited the expressway, Min Kyu drove them a short way before spotting another pair of blacked-out SUVs idling in a buffet restaurant parking lot about a mile up the road. Jason had no idea where they were, and his surroundings gave him no helpful clues. Min Kyu parked beside the other SUVs so that he and Seong Hyeon could jump out and confer with the other teams while someone distributed radios, hard-plastic breather masks, and lightweight chest protectors from a heavy plastic storage box in the back of another truck.
Jason only caught pieces of their discussion through the open truck door and ached to get out and join them. He hated not knowing what was happening. But the essence of their rescue plan was to enter the salvage yard by force, sacrificing any finesse or stealth in exchange for the hope that Tae Hyun’s kidnappers didn’t have any weapons that could penetrate the trucks’ armor. And they still had surprise on their side.
Once they’d finished their plan-making, the groups returned to their trucks. First, one tank, then the other tore from the restaurant parking lot and sped away. Min Kyu screeched his truck’s tires as he hurriedly followed them. They passed along a full-height, corrugated metal fence that presumably marked the edges of the salvage yard and slowed as they approached a closed metal gate. Then the first truck sped up, ramming through the gate’s rusty metal as if it had only suggested that they stop. The special tires on Min Kyu’s tank shrieked as he stepped on the gas, pointing the truck’s nose at the newly created opening, and powered into the scrapyard. It took the pair of men standing guard outside a dirty, partially rusted warehouse building almost the entire time it took the three tanks to drive across the open lot before they understood that they weren’t supposed to be there. Then, they both pulled out handguns and started shooting. Thick armor dulled the sound of gunfire to muted pops, but their shots sparked where they hit the bodywork and left little spiderweb clouds where they struck the windows and windshield.
Jason thought that they might just drive right inside the warehouse. But Min Kyu and the other drivers pulled their trucks almost all the way to the giant, partly open sliding doors before skidding to a stop. Min Kyu quickly turned off his engine as he and Seong Hyeon jumped out, staying behind the doors for cover as they took shots at the guards. Between Min Kyu, Seong Hyeon, and the eight people on the other teams, it didn’t take nearly as long for the pair of kidnappers to realize they were outmanned and outgunned. They both turned tail and ran into the warehouse. Then, one of the men from the other truck lobbed a small, gray metal cylinder through the open warehouse door and quickly looked away. Jason did the same just before the stun grenade exploded with a bright flash and muffled boom. When he turned back to watch the action, he caught the last of Min Kyu’s men running into the warehouse.
“Fuckin’ A.” Jason was ready to jump out and run after them. But he anxiously counted to thirty instead, ensuring the coast was clear, before reaching for his door handle. He’d half expected Min Kyu to turn on the child locks, but it opened with no trouble.
Seong Woo gasped. “What are you doing?”
“What do you think? I’m going in.”
“They said to stay behind.”
Jason scoffed and turned the full weight of his repressed anxiety, anger, and fear on Seong Woo. “Are you serious right now? Would you really fucking stay behind if it was Yoo Mi in there?”
Seong Woo briefly pursed his lips before reaching to open his door. “Okay, yeah. I–wait.” He nodded toward the warehouse.
Jason turned just as a man dressed in all black frantically scampered out of the warehouse. He must’ve slipped past Min Kyu’s squad somehow. Or they let him escape. Well, fuck that. Just as the man was about to pass by the truck, Jason kicked his heavy, armored door open. The runner had no time to stop, slamming headlong into the unbreakable window with a sickening thud and slumping to the ground.
“There.” Jason triumphantly grinned. “I got one.” He stepped out, looming over the fallen kidnapper for a moment before gently kicking him in the side. “Yep, he’s out.”
Seong Woo frowned as he walked to Jason’s side of the truck. “We should tie him up so he doesn’t run off.”
“Do you think there’s one of those assault team boxes in this thing? I bet they have zip ties.”
Seong Woo shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. Let me check.” He walked to the back of the truck and opened the lift gate. “Yeah, there is. Hang on.”
Jason fidgeted as he waited, his hands practically shaking as adrenaline coursed through his system. He thought about asking Seong Woo to grab a pair of chest protectors when some movement on the warehouse’s far side caught his attention. Two more kidnappers had stumbled out of a small door farther up the side of the building and were awkwardly shuffling toward an old minivan parked nearby. No. One of the men had their hands tied behind their back. Then recognition hit. It wasn’t a pair of kidnappers. It was a kidnapper and Tae Hyun!
“I see him!” Jason ran around the front of the truck and grabbed the driver’s side door handle as the kidnapper shoved Tae Hyun into the minivan’s passenger seat.
“What?” Seong Woo lifted his head from the open box in the back. “Who do you see?”
“Tae Hyun. They’re fucking taking him again.” Jason frantically scanned the dashboard and found the key Min Kyu had left in the ignition slot. He pressed the start button, and the engine roared to life.
Seong Woo yelped from the back of the truck. “What the hell are you doing?”
