With the Executor's permission granted, McKinley and Dyson were ruthless. The stronger a ball is thrown at a wall, the stronger it bounces back. But if a steel ball is thrown at the wall, it will crumble down. Even the FDLR rebels and Maimai who were as tenacious as cockroaches couldn't withstand the overwhelming firepower including Predators and retreated to the outer Ituri.
The secret intelligence team from China's Ministry of State Security that operated in Kibimbi couldn't escape harm, either. The ATACMS that flew into their hideout turned the intelligence team that included 50 martial arts masters into a group of ghosts that haunted the jungle. Even the martial arts masters that could rip an iron sheet apart with a bare hand were torn to pieces by the rain of metal debris of 200 meters around and a pressure wave of 3,000 meters per second.
They had established forces against their enemies but that was it. Oparts was still missing and the Executor's nagging intensified every day. The Navy search dogs found the rotten rose but all that remained of her was blonde hair and bones.
"Oparts is still within the red line."
That was McKinley's hunch and wish. With Ngpanwaza in the center, keyholes, Black Birds, wiretapping bugs, surveillance cameras, Predators, Shadow agents, and marines surrounded the area 100 kilometers around with many layers. If the thief could still escape, that meant she was a god, not a human.
* * *
"You haven't found the clue?"
McKinley's booze-red face wrinkled into a deep frown. Professor Samuel, who discovered Tridentem, was considered a hero. At this rate, Professor Samuel would be the regional director of California while he would be abandoned by both the agency and the military.
"Yes, sir!"
"Is Oparts in the hands of the Japanese already?"
"No. Surveillance cam footage shows that Helen was dead two days before the Japanese arrived. Psychic haunters' reading was the same. They said Windrunner, Living Death paid her a visit.
"I will have to trust Adam's word on this."
McKinley looked sullen. Adam claimed that Black Mamba appeared, who was considered to be a Baphomet. But he hadn't believed it so far.
McKinley picked up the receiver.
"Did you have any luck, General?"
"His trails faded in Ngai. The Haunter chaser got scared."
"Are you tracking the Japanese too?"
"They are capable of strange spells that threw off the Haunters. They are quite an adversary too."
"Don't you think we should search outer Ituri too?"
"Grendel is quite troublesome. The areas with villages should be done by you with the Shadow agents and marines."
"I got it."
McKinley hurled the phone which crashed into a wall. His head felt like it was about to crack open. The psychic Haunters that were sensitive to interference fields were discouraged from tracking him down. Then this so-called Black Mamba was clearly quite a hassle.
"Windrunner? Fuck!" McKinley spat out.
The Spetsnaz who protected Helen was all eliminated. So were all the Maimai special squads. The ninjas who chased the Spetsnaz also disappeared. Dyson, whom McKinley had put his trust in, was struggling too.
"That Korean woman ruined the entire project. She committed treason. She deserves the death penalty, don't you think?"
"Commander, her fate is up to Security."
His subordinate evaded the subject.
"She fucked over the United States and ruined my future. I am the final decision maker of Gamma 1," McKinley blabbered on angrily.
"I'm out of ideas!" the subordinate said his mind.
The subordinate sighed. Lieutenant Colonel Michell, who strictly followed the rules, would not yield the woman to them easily. Also, the woman did not commit any heinous crime, either.
"To persuade Lieutenant Colonel Michell..."
"Shut up! He is my subordinate too." McKinley cut him off.
The subordinate shook his head and exited the room. The bottle of straight Bourbon whiskey was almost empty. A drunk boss was as difficult to handle as a hungry lion.
The subordinate reappeared in his office two hours later. After disputing with Lieutenant Colonel Michell, he seemed very exhausted.
"Richard, give us some privacy!"
The subordinate glanced at the woman. She was shivering like a baby deer caught by a grizzly bear. Even after three months in sunless jail, she still looked beautiful. Her starved features aroused pity but there was nothing he could do. The camp was established for one singular goal and it didn't discriminate against any means to get there.
"She's just unlucky," Major Richard said in his mind.
Major Richard shook his head and exited the room.
"Yellow lady, there are two paths. The first is death by hanging." McKinley snapped his head to the side and bit his tongue, imitating someone who died by hanging.
"And the other is..."
McKinley glared at Hae Young. Her tired expression and contrastingly red lips reminded him of a delicious steak.
"Sleazy racist pervert!" Hae Young said in her mind.
Hae Young stared at McKinley with clear eyes. The sleazy gaze of the hairy, large man was making her nauseous. She could see what he was thinking right that moment.
"I need a lawyer."
"What? A lawyer?"
McKinley's face was full of confusion as if he had just been slapped by a passer-by.
"Hahaha!"
McKinley laughed maniacally. He looked at Hae Young as if she was Charlie Chaplin.
"That was the best joke I've ever heard. In this camp, I am the prosecutor and lawyer. I am also the judge and the jury. I am in charge of the prosecution, defense, and judgment. Yellow lady, I am your lawyer. Speak."
McKinley grinned. It was funny to see the bug struggling in a spiderweb.
"What is the other path?"
"You will be my concubine."
"Ugh!"
She almost threw up. Her esophagus trembled, stung by the acidic gastric juice. How did she end up like this? She pitied herself now that she had to withstand listening to his filthy words.
"The first. I will never breathe the same air with you."
McKinley's eyes glinted. That was not the answer he expected. A woman needed to be servile. His twisted sexual taste emerged.
"You answered too hastily. Mule it over some more."
"There is no need. You can shoot me or hang me. Whatever."
Hae Young didn't hesitate. Robert could sometimes act without foresight; yet, this man wasn't a human being but an animal. She already made one mistake. She would rather die than get her body soiled.
"Lady, I will bend the rules for you this time and let you choose again. Will you undress here or in the barracks?"
McKinley's eyes glinted with lust. He could bang a truckful of hardheaded, lousy women and be left with nothing but remorse. His life's ultimate joy and goal were to see a beautiful, intelligent, and elegant woman get wrecked.
"You wretched eunuch. It is ridiculous that you call yourself a general. Was your mother happy after giving birth to a pile of turd that is you?"
Hae Young exploded and swore in Korean without intending to. She didn't care that the American was not able to understand it.
A meaty hand slapped her mercilessly. When one swore, one's exploding emotions could be felt. Even if he couldn't understand it, he knew she was cursing him just by her tone and face.
"Aargh!"
Hae Young was flung around and fell. Her body was too small and frail for her to defend herself against a well-trained man who weighed twice hers.
"Your fate is sealed. If you serve me diligently, I may show you some mercy and send you to federal prison."
"And you call yourself a soldier? Kill me."
Hae Young gritted her bloody teeth and glared.
"Yeah, resist. That's the way I like it."
McKinley lifted Hae Young and put her on a table. She wriggled and squirmed.
"Hahaha!"
His tremendous force subdued her frail body. Her blouse was torn off and her panties were clumped up into a ball that was pushed into her mouth. Her master's degree in geology, superb brain, and cutting intelligence couldn't defend her.
The man reeked of booze and old sweat. His face right in front of hers was flushed with sadistic pleasure.
Hae Young spat the blood mixed with saliva and flung her punch. Mu Ssang had told her that she should aim for the base of the nose or poke the eyes in an urgent situation like this.
"Oh shit!"
McKinley raised his face. The blood from his nose ran down his face with what Hae Young spat.
"God damn!"
McKinley slapped with all of his rages. The impact dislodged the ball of panties in her mouth.
"Aargh!"
Hae Young rolled on the floor. Her skirt was rolled up, revealing the lush bush inside.
"I will let you taste a real Freemason."
McKinley lifted her and hurled her onto a sofa. His broad-shouldered body forced itself upon hers.
"No! Mu Ssang will tear you apart."
"Do you feel good? Haha."
McKinley's lips turned upward in a smirk. He was feeling a firm pressure in his pants. His nose felt numb but even that added to the pleasure.
"Kill me instead!"
She clawed and bit and struggled but the male overcome with lust didn't budge. Her resistance ceased. Her consciousness faded.
"You are as delicious as you look."
McKinley pulled up his pants and smirked. His head felt as clear as the sky after a tornado. The headache caused by Oparts and Black Mamba was completely gone.
Hae Young woke up in the jail and still couldn't gather herself. She looked up at the iron-barred window. It was filled with darkness as black as ink. Her pale face teared up.
"Mu Ssang said love is just once. My love is him. He said he would love me no matter what I end up looking like," she muttered as if she was insane. Her mind traveled from the present to the past repeatedly.
She was sent to McKinley the day after and the next day too. It was pure sadistic revenge. Hae Young's mind broke down and her will and intelligence deteriorated every day. It happened as Mu Ssang finished off Chui Do Shik in Mavivi.
* * *
"Stop there, Jeong Pil-su!"
Jeong Pil-su looked at Mu Ssang curiously.
"That's a landmine!"
Mu Ssang pointed at his right foot that he had just set.
"Oh!"
Jeong Pil-su grimaced.
"Wakil, the Americans commit all kinds of atrocities all the time when they tout themselves as the herald of human rights."
"A thug is a thug. If it is America that strikes, it's a rightful act. If it is someone else, it is terrorism."
"Quit your musings and help me!" said Jeong Pil-su in his mind.
Jeong Pil-su had enough of these men. For the last three days, he was on the verge of death many times. Thanks to his ancestors' grace or with the help of his colleagues, he got to the destination. And at the last moment, he had to step on a landmine.
"Lift your foot!"
"Sir?"
Jeong Pil-su's eyes widened.
"Didn't you hear Wakil's order? He said 'lift your foot.'"
Sun Woo-hyun glared.
"This is it for me then!" said Jeong Pil-su to himself.
Jeong Pil-su lifted his foot slowly as if it weighed 1,000 tons. Nothing happened. Mu Ssang's telekinesis was pressing the fuse with the same pressure. The fist-sized cylindrical object floated up in the air.
"A landmine!"
Jeong Pil-su stepped back.
"Let's see how dense the Agrippina shield is."
The landmine hovered toward the deeper jungle, evading dense grove of trees as if it had eyes.
Bam! There was an explosion and the sound of a machine gun firing. Debris soared and invisible micro glass fibers swirled.
"Retreat! The glass fiber is toxic."
Mu Ssang retreated 300 meters at once. The toxin didn't affect him but if Sun Woo-hyun and others were exposed, they would be vegetables within a minute.
"A display of money. Very American."
Sun Woo-hyun shook his head. The perimeter of the Americans' camp was about two kilometers. They surrounded a circle six kilometers wider than the camp with 300 meters thick layer of toxic glass fiber and installed machine guns controlled by computers. The cost must have been astronomical.
"That means this base is as important as its expensive defense measures. Fabius is here."
Mu Ssang smiled. He heard a fighting noise in the direction of the front gate 500 meters away from them.
"Hide, Lackey."
Mu Ssang disappeared without waiting for his response.
* * *
"No. We cannot allow press inside."
A military officer, with an expression of consternation, blocked a broad-shouldered filming director.
"We are from Canal+. The travel expenses alone cost us 1,000,000 francs."
"That's your problem. We never allowed you here."
The military officer glared without any room for negotiation.
"We flew for two days over 11,000 kilometers. If we go back, will you be responsible for the problems?"
"What will I ever be responsible for?"
"Did you think no one was aware that you are damaging the jungle of Ituri, which is a treasure trove of life, irresponsibly? We also know that you conduct illegal experiments on abducted Pygmies."
Fabius mixed truth with falsehood masterfully.
"What?"
The military officer frowned. They did destroy the jungle with all the digging, exfoliant spraying, and bombing, but they never touched any Pygmies.
"Don't be absurd. The United States is not sly Yellows or primitive Blacks."
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