The air gurgled from her lungs along with an almost unintelligible response. “China. Take Jin-Sang to China.”
“I will take you both,” Tang replied. “But you have to tell me. What did you hear?”
“I cannot go to China.”
He needed her to focus. “Hana, do you know what kind of attack the Chinese are training for?”
As the words struggled from her lips, Billy Tang leaned in even closer. But then he heard something else. Something close. It was the sound of the groaning hinges on the infirmary’s front door.
CHAPTER 45
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Before his mind had even fully processed what his ears had heard, Tang’s body reacted. There was no good place to hide. The bed was too small for him to crawl under and there was no other furniture to offer any concealment. If the lights came on, he was in trouble. If a flashlight was aimed at the sheets, he was in trouble. In fact, there was only one way he could possibly get out of this.
Switching to the other side of the bed, he knelt as he had done before, like a priest praying over a dying parishioner. There was more than a little truth to the metaphor, as Hana’s breathing was coming in shorter and more rapid gasps.
All of the rabbits and all of the pine needles on the Korean peninsula wouldn’t have been enough to save her now, no matter how badly Jin-Sang wanted it to be so. Little did he know, but by going out in search of what his sister needed, he himself had been provided with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—a chance for freedom and an American Special Operations team to see that he would get it.
Helping Hana get it, too, had been part of Tang’s plan; a part that he hadn’t shared with Fordyce or the other two SEALs. Had she been strong enough to be moved, he’d had every intention of moving her, even if he had to carry her himself. If any of the SEALs had guessed that was his intention, none of them had let on. No one had discouraged him. In fact, that very well could have been part of why Fordyce had agreed to the plan in the end and was waiting outside the camp’s perimeter. Why go in and talk to the girl and not share the golden ticket with her as well? Whether the team was carrying one child or two, what difference would it make?
Of course, Tang knew that Johnson and Tucker had a head start, which made a big difference. Nevertheless, he had intended to liberate Hana as well.
The DPRK’s labor camps had been around twelve times longer than the Nazi death camps, but unlike the hue and cry over why the Allies didn’t bomb German rail lines in the 1940s, no one today—not even with undeniable satellite imagery—was calling for the shutting down of North Korea’s camps. Tang had vowed that if he ever got the chance to help even one prisoner, he would take it.
But while Jin-Sang was going to make it, Hana wasn’t. She would know freedom soon enough, but it wouldn’t be of the earthly kind.
Tang now strained his ears to discern how many were headed his way. The footfalls were heavy and deliberate. That meant either guards or infirmary personnel.
He heard door handles being rattled. At first he thought it might have been someone checking to make sure everything was locked up, but the intensity was too much, desperate even, and didn’t make sense.
The footfalls drew closer and Tang readied himself for what would come next. He ran through his mind how long it would take to get from the infirmary door to the hole in the fence and then to Fordyce’s position.
Though he would never wish death on anyone, he prayed for Hana to slip away. If she survived, if he was wrong and she recovered, the torture facing her from what he was about to do would surely result in her death. Listening to her, though, he could hear the distinct sound of guppy breathing. She was definitely dying. Even if Tucker had been here, there wasn’t anything he could have done for her. Tang took selfish solace in that thought.
As the footfalls neared, Tang was able to discern that there was only one person making his way through the infirmary. Was it a parent coming to check on a sick child? Maybe a family member had waited until the staff was gone in order