Without Law 18 by Eric Vall (most difficult books to read .txt) 📗

and faced out into the ocean. Anna was on the left, Tara next to her, Pike after that, then Rivers, and finally Hammer.

Hammer and Anna each looked back at me, and I held up my hand to motion for them to hold steady.

“Are you ready?” I asked Minji, and I locked eyes with her once again.

The beautiful Korean woman licked her lips, took a deep breath, and pushed her chest out slightly.

“I’m ready,” she said.

“You don’t have to oversell it,” I told her. “Remain calm like you would if the situation were real. Request assistance with urgency, not fear.”

“Right.” Minji nodded.

“You’ll do great,” I told her with a small, encouraging smile, then I pointed to her, and she lifted the radio up to her lips.

I glanced back at Anna and Hammer, and I gave them the signal to shoot.

The group began to fire all at once, and if I didn’t know it, I might think we were under attack. The constant firing was just enough to sound scary while also being realistic, especially since the NK weapons were silent, so even though they weren’t shooting back, the guys on the radio would never know.

I couldn’t understand what she said, but there was definitely an urgency to Minji’s voice as she held the radio right up to her lips. She repeated it twice before she lifted her finger off the button and slammed the radio onto the table.

I could tell she was nervous, which was understandable. Not only was she having to translate, but the entire operation hung on her at the moment. If the NK soldier on the other end of that radio, even for a second, suspected she wasn’t who she said she was, it would all be over.

The entire plan hinged on them believing her.

They’d gone along with it so far, and I had to hope they would continue to do so.

The group down on deck finished emptying their mags, and I gestured for them to stay where they were at and reload. We needed to make this sound good.

Once they were reloaded, I held up the signal for them to hold steady.

My eyes were on the radio in Minji’s hand. So far, the man hadn’t responded, and the room was eerily quiet with just Minji, Paige, Bailey, and myself inside.

I could hear the girls’ breathing, and I could see Minji’s hand shaking slightly as she gripped the radio even tighter.

Come on, answer you sonofabitch.

I clenched my jaw and closed my eyes against the wait, but then I heard the familiar crackle of the radio, and I let out a breath of relief.

“He says they’ll come help,” Minji whispered, and her voice was full of awe that the plan had worked.

“Respond and ask their ETA,” I told her.

Minji nodded and held the radio close to her mouth. As soon as she pushed down on the button, I gave the signal for the group on deck to fire.

She didn’t speak long, and I cut off the group as soon as she was finished, but the man on the other end replied almost immediately.

“He said they need to refuel the MiGs, then they’ll head to us,” Minji told me.

“Ask him if all the MiGs survived,” I instructed. This was our chance to find out exactly how much fire power we were up against.

Minji did as I instructed, and the man replied quickly.

“He says no,” the Korean woman said. “But they still have three.”

Another crackle came over the radio, and once again the man spoke in Korean.

“He says their ETA is approximately six hours,” Minji said, and all the color drained out of her face. “He wants to know if we can hold out until then.”

I heard Paige suck in a breath next to me.

Six hours?

Fuck. I should’ve known it would be quick when he said they were outside of Richmond. They must not be moving quite as slowly as I thought they would be with all the military vehicles and the planes.

That didn’t give us very much time at all to get a plan in motion, but it was all we had, and we’d have to make it work.

“Tell him we can hold out until then,” I said.

Minji nodded and pushed the button to speak while I gestured for our small firing squad to let loose once more.

It only took a few seconds for the man to respond, and Minji turned to me to translate.

“He said they’ll be here as soon as they can,” she said.

“Okay.” I nodded. “I want you to tell them some of the roads are blocked. Say the Americans have stolen some plasma weapons, and they’re blocking the roads so there’s no way out, they may have to find an indirect path.”

“Alright,” Minji agreed, and she spoke into the radio again, and the man responded immediately. “He said if the roads are blocked it may take them some extra time, but they’ll get to us.”

“Tell him you’ll see them soon,” I instructed.

Minji spoke into the radio again, and just a second after she’d responded, the voice came through the radio, but Minji didn’t translate right away, she just said something else, then she set the radio down and stared at the floor.

“Minji,” Paige said, and she took a hesitant step toward the woman. “What did he say?”

“He said to stay strong for the leader,” she whispered. “That they’d be here soon.”

“And what did you say?” I asked.

“We’d be expecting them,” she said with a small shake of her head, then she looked up at me, and I could see the panic in her eyes. “Six hours? What the hell are we going to do?”

“We’re going to figure it out,” I said, and I set my jaw.

I waved for the