The Runners: Chapter 22
Chapter 22
It has been a terrific first day for the four friends in Cancun, Mexico. The wonders of the simulated world, the fresh water, wind, sun, scent of nature, along with the many guests excited their senses more than the real world has ever stimulated them. They took in leisurely swim in the hotel pool, walked on the beach, and challenged to surfing for the first time in their lives. They were visibly exhausted by early evening. So, after prime rib eye steak dinner, accompanied by soothing wine, they said good night to each other and retired to their rooms. They planned to explore more of Mexico tomorrow and set for the 7 AM breakfast rendezvous at the lobby restaurant.
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‘Beep’ ‘Beep’ ‘Beep’, the alarm clock struck 6 AM. Jacob awoke on the first alert. He reached out and hit the snooze button on the alarm clock that was sitting on the lamp stand next to his bed. Interlocking his fingers, Jacob placed his head into his hands and lied down on his back. His hands and his head sank slowly into the plush pillow as he relaxed and breathed out. He stared at the ceiling for a moment then closed his eyes. Being in a tropical paradise and spending time with Jane, whom he had developed special feelings and cared for, was simply unimaginable just several years ago. He felt blessed and wanted to ensure that everything would go right.
At age 31, Jacob Park was not a typical graduate student. He came from a long line of military family that had shaped his honor code. His great, great grandfather served in the Great North American Conflict of 2070 as a colonel in the US Army, during the US and Mexican War. The war broke out as the two nations disputed with respect to the sovereignty over the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico. Mexico had regained its economic power from the booming new oil industry while US suffered major setbacks with the economic turmoil caused by miscalculated monetary policies of the Federal Banks. This gave Mexico an opportunity to challenge the results of the War of 1846 and unilaterally rejected Mexican Cession of 1848.
Even at the UN’s calls for calm and restraint, the two nations collided in a major territorial war. The war dragged on nearly 20 years, hitting both nations hard. It wasn’t until the UN had finally taken control over the entire world through political process that the war had ended. Such territorial wars had become obsolete and meaningless under the system of the Unitarian world government. Unfortunately, his great, great grandfather became a casualty of that war.
Finally, both nations had decided to become UN states as part of the North American Region, which effectively ended the long war that was simply draining all resources from both sides. Jacob’s grandfather served as an officer in the UN Army that was newly established as the UN became the new global government. Finally, his father had served as an officer in the UN Security Department, thus carrying on the military tradition of the Park family.
Jacob was a bright young man, who has graduated with a degree in world history from The University of Nice in France. But, his long time exposure to military and its corresponding honor system moved him to join the UN Special Forces when he turned twenty-two. He had signed up with the most elite and secretive unit called the ‘Shadow One’ within the UN’s Special Forces. The very few members, who were able to complete the rigorous training program, were the most physically and intellectually fit among all the UN Special Forces.
Some of their missions included posing as undercover double agents, carrying out industrial and political assassinations, and initiating new grass root movements to stir up tidal waves of public opinions for the benefit of the UN. Whatever their superior had asked to do, they would execute the mission without questioning its purpose.
The work was deadly and mentally draining to the members. So, there were very few in the world who would qualify to join that unit. In order to retain their secrecy, all the members of the unit must discard all of their lives’ history or identities of who they were prior to earning the membership. They removed Jacob’s birth bio-electronic chip and gave him a new identity. This was done as a precautionary measure. They needed to ensure zero possibility of anyone from being able to trace back to the ‘Shadow One’ unit, should their missions be sabotaged or compromised.
Jacob had given up his life to serve the UN. He, himself, had volunteered to become a ‘runner’. It had suited Jacob fine as he was on the road to the honor system that he had become accustomed to from an early age.
Although, major threats and challenges to the UN authority was obliterated during Woodson’s tenure at the UN Security Office, there were always a small younger generation of dissidents who occasionally challenged the UN. Few years earlier, Jacob was sent on a mission to incapacitate a small militant insurgency with strong anti-UN propaganda. Three of his colleagues went undercover in Seoul in 2183. Two of his colleagues lost their lives due to carelessness and loss of discipline. But, through the two years of intelligence operations that had included blending into the local culture and customs, he was able to penetrate in to the organization’s information trail.
Jacob had acquainted a local girl who was the only daughter to the leader and the brain of the insurgents. Eventually, he had obtained a passage, deep into the organization and gained intels on the secret locations, where the group’s leaders would meet and make key operational decisions.
On a hot August evening, he determined the perfect chance to capture his target. The insurgent’s leadership team was scheduled to meet in a back room of an underground drinking establishment run by the leader’s uncle. It was a legitimate business and the local law enforcement did not suspect that it was used for such secret meetings. Some kickbacks to the local police also helped keep its usage secret. The building was located in the center of the vibrant Gangnam area in Seoul. It was a room in the basement of a building, which was categorized as a three star hotel. External visitors frequented the hotel due to its affordability with respect to the comfortable accommodations that it had offered.
The hotel building was 3 stories high with about 20 yard frontage to the street. There were a dozen of similar sized buildings within the 2 block span on its side and another dozen more on its opposite side of the street. The street accommodated 6 car lanes. There were restaurants on the ground level in the two buildings directly opposite to the hideout location. Above the restaurants were after schools learning facilities, where kids of all ages came to take advantage of many academic curricular programs.
There were tall street lamps throughout the length of the sidewalks at fixed intervals. They, along with the emanating lights from various establishments, which lit the area brightly, allowed people to see as clearly as day even at night. The corridor was a heavily populated part of the city. Even at this late hour, there were many people, thanks to the numerous after school teaching establishments within that district.
Although, the street accommodated 6 lanes, the 2 curb lanes were occupied by parked vehicles. Most vehicles were owned by those who came out to enjoy the night out or parents waiting to pick up their kids to take them back home. Many private school busses, waiting to take the children back to their respective neighborhoods, were parked by the curbs as well.
Jacob had secured an intel that after this evening, the insurgent’s leader was to be relocated to Singapore for the purpose of establishing a new operations center for the organization. This forced Jacob to take action sooner than he had wanted to. A day earlier, he had contacted the ‘Shadow One’ HQ for operations team support. This evening, Jacob had 10 of his undercover colleagues strategically placed outside the front and back of the target building. There were 3 on the ground with him, 3 with sniper rifles on the roof tops on the other side of the buildings, and 4 men covering the back of the building to block off any escape routes.
The insurgents’ meeting ended late in the night. Then, one by one, the leader’s entourage walked up from the underground as the ‘Shadow One’ members were waiting anxiously. Unfortunately, it was also around this same time that the after school classes ended. Unexpectedly, the kids began pouring out onto the sidewalks from the nearby buildings. Seeing the imminent risks to the children, Jacob sent in an urgent request to call off the operation.
Jacob called in with urgency. “Shadow One-777535, request to purge operation. Code: 5115. Private Citizens! Private Citizens!” He repeated pressingly.
“Negative. Engage!” came back the message from the control center at the HQ, denying his request. Before he could think of what to do next, the first gunshot was fired by one of his colleagues, manning the rooftops, downing the first man who came up to the ground level. Immediately, a full fire fight erupted. The targets re-submerged back under the ground. It was 11 against 20 men and both sides were heavily armed. But, Jacob knew that his team had the upper hand. His concern was with the children and the other unsuspecting civilians who were, now, exposed to cross gun fires.
As bullets flew in every direction, some stray and some not, Jacob saw young children falling all around him. He witnessed several high school aged male students providing themselves as cover for their counterparts. Holding their female classmates while falling to the ground, they remained on top of them, continuing to shield them from the stray bullets. He saw a group of students screaming and taking cover behind plastic trash cans, covering their heads with their arms and some heading back into the buildings where they had just exited. But, he saw more and more children falling and drowning in blood. Red liquid splashed all around and began to color the grounds crimson red.
The windows on the hotel began shattering by the bullets fired by his unit while the windows of the restaurant opposite the hotel burst into pieces at the insurgent’s blazing gunfire. The patrons ducked under the tables. Tragically, many were hit with shattered glasses and ricocheting bullets off hard surfaces. Diners lied on the ground as Jacob looked back from where he was positioned. Cars’ windshields blew up. Many parents who were waiting for their children simply sat in their cars were killed, not knowing what had hit them. Some were attempting to move their vehicles away from the lines of fire, but to no avail.
Anything within 180 degree angle in all directions from the hotel’s basement was a fair game and stood in the line of fire. Trunks of cars popped open and tires blew up everywhere. Smoke began filling the streets as the windows in all the buildings, suddenly, went dark. Only lights were coming from the street lamps and the moon which was partially covered by the smoke, rising from the ground.
Screams hit Jacob’s ears and he knew that he had to do something quickly or there will be more innocent casualties. Signaling to Tim Toms, who had joined the unit with him at the same time, Jacob called Tim to cover him. Indiscriminately, Tim began firing his automatic rifle into the basement where the insurgents had re-submerged. Ducking low, Jacob fired a smoke bomb and began running across the street. The tear gas bomb exploded as he made across the street. He entered the hotel through the first floor main entrance. David yelled, instructing the people in the hotel to duck, as he went directly to the emergency stairway. A second ‘Shadow One’ man followed Jacob, securing Jacob’s trail from behind. Then, he stood next to the elevator for a moment before advancing to follow Jacob.
Jacob ran down a number of flights of stairs then turned right. He opened one metal door and entered an area where, to his left, there was a service elevator and another door ahead that led into the basement hallway. He leaned against the door, took a quick peek into the hallway. Seeing no one, Jacob looked up at the elevator light. The elevator was in motion. Someone appeared to be inside the elevator as the floor indicator transitioned from level 2 to level 3.
Suddenly, the door behind him opened with a big ‘THUNG’. He turned towards the door and pointed his gun in that direction. Jacob and the 2nd man who had followed him, now, stood pointing the guns at each other. Realizing that it was his comrade, Jacob lowered his gun immediately, and pointed his finger at the elevator light to draw his colleague’s attention to it. Through the communication devices embedded in their visors, they informed others that some targets might be on the upper levels of the hotel.
As it was dark in the hotel, Jacob and his colleague activated the night-vision on their visors. Quickly, they entered the basement hallway, opening several doors, checking for signs of their targets, as they moved down the hallway. Securing several rooms, they reached one last door in the right at the end of the hallway. The door was made of large pieces of pine wood and it was decorated in such a way that anyone would be able to tell that it was a watering hole. Jacob and the other soldier, Jonathan, stood on either side of the door. Jacob cautiously pushed in the door and opened it about halfway when he felt a barrage of bullets bombarding the door.
Both men ducked instinctively and slid back out to the hallway. Jacob signaled to Jonathan to turn off the night vision. Then, through the large cracked opening on the door, freshly created by the barrage of the bullets from inside, he threw in a hand grenade to the middle of the room. As Jacob’s targets sensed his motion, perhaps, through night vision glasses of their own, or by the sound of an object hitting the floor, the insurgents began firing again. Then, the explosive went off inside the bar, generating thick white smoke which filled the entire room up to chest high. This prompted the insurgents in the room to stand up above the smoke in order to locate and shoot at their enemies.
After the initial explosion, which spread thick smoke, the same grenade launched a secondary device into the air. Once that device was airborne, it lit up the room as bright as high noon with clear skies. Then, as fast as the light illuminated from the device, Jacob and Jonathan entered the room and began unleashing their guns in the direction of the insurgents. Jacob took the right half of the room while Jonathan took the other half. Glasses popped and were being littered everywhere. As the bottles of booze shattered, they spewed liquor and broken glasses in every which way. The mirror behind the bar shattered as it fell onto the floor of the bar.
The insurgent members were temporarily blinded by the light as they did not get the chance to deactivate the night-vision in their visual wear equipment. Some stood up covering their eyes while some were shooting their guns in the general direction of the back door through which both Jacob and Jonathan had entered.
Now, it was an easy picking for Jacob and Jonathan. Methodically, Jacob fired and moved towards the bar to the right and jumped over it as he felt bullets whizzing by him. He saw two men aiming their rifles at them from just above the pool table located at the far right end corner of the room.
“Ah! Auk!” with loud and short bursting sounds of insurgents’ in agony, Jacob sensed that a lot less number of guns were, now, actively firing in his direction. With the light device subsided, Jacob, who was sitting underneath behind the bar, reactivated his night vision.
Jonathan, meanwhile, went under the smoke and kicked a table over then stood it up on its edge, effectively, shielding himself with it from the enemy’s bullets. The disoriented enemies kept firing their rifles in the direction of the bar. Jacob stayed low and moved towards the far end of the bar, further away from the door that he had entered the room from. He was approaching closer to the only source of the gun fire in the room. Suddenly, the gunshots stopped and all things stayed quiet inside.
All the while, Jacob heard explosions, crackling noises, faint yelling and screaming coming from the streets, and the back alleys as the engagement continued outside. “Retreat!” the insurgents shouted and Jacob, through the visor, saw more insurgents coming down from the front stairs. Two of them fell on their backs holding their chests and three more came running down the stairs.
As they ran down and entered the smoke filled space, they were hit by Jonathan’s accurate shots and plopped down on to the floor. As they hit the floor, puffs of smoke blew off the ground and sent it up higher towards the ceiling from the spots where they had fallen. Jacob crawled out from behind the bar without being seen, thanks to the thickness and the height of the smoke. Then, he slowly moved towards the pool table.
The two men who were firing at Jacob were distracted by their falling comrades. They looked in the direction of the front entrance and then quickly located the source of the gun fire. Immediately, they turned their attention to Jonathan then standing up, began unleashing with all they had. The table that Jonathan was using to shield him began to break apart as small pieces of wood debris and shrapnel flew off in all directions. The table began disintegrating and soon, Jonathan became exposed. As the two men fired at Jonathan, Jacob drew his rifle and clicked.
Unfortunately, the gun barrel was empty. Instinctively, Jacob launched himself up on to the pool table and catapulted towards the two men. He flew and side kicked one of them in the head. As he was landing onto the ground, he grabbed the 2nd gun man’s head with his right arm and drilled him to the floor. The man fell and rolled on to his back. Then, as the man tried to get up, Jacob subdued him with a single blow to the solar-plexus. Jacob had managed to leverage himself to deliver sufficient power in his punch by planting his left knee and his right foot on to the floor. With a short breath, the man fell forward hitting his knees, followed by his head to the floor. Then, Jacob quickly got on top of the 2nd man and gave him a quick chop to the head, putting him unconscious.
At that moment, Jacob saw the back door jarring to close and someone running out. As additional members of the Shadow One unit appeared down the front stairs, Jacob signaled them to attend to Jonathan who has been hit with several bullets. Then, Jacob quickly ran after the person who had just exited the room.
The trail of smoke led Jacob to a stairway way. Jacob reloaded his rifle and his pistol as he ran after the insurgent. He opened and entered the service elevator area. Quickly checking the elevator light, he saw that the elevator has not been used. Turning to the stairs, Jacob ran up the emergency stairs in pursuit. As he ran up to the first floor, he heard footsteps moving further away and higher. He increased his pace and ran after in the direction of where the thumping sound of running was coming from.
As he reached the roof top level, he saw the door slowly closing. Jacob leaned against the wall and cautiously, took a peek out the door. He saw a man running towards a large A/C unit on the roof. He was carrying a brief case in one hand and what appeared to be a firearm, in the other. Jacob opened the door and stepped outside. Standing tall, Jacob slowly walked towards the A/C unit.
Unexpected, Jacob saw a chopper, few buildings away, slowly approaching the building. The chopper had a spot light that was brightly directed onto where the man had run to, on the other side of the A/C unit. Jacob wasn’t quite sure which side the chopper belonged to, even though, it did not appear to be military grade. Jacob ran quickly and reached the A/C unit on the opposite side of where the man had hid himself. The A/C unit was sitting on top of a brick structure that stood as big as a trailer of a semi truck.
“Give up! Drop your gun! I’ll guarantee your life will be spared!” Jacob yelled at the man, who was the head of the insurgents. The man looked up at the chopper. As the chopper approached closer, several men in the chopper fired at the Shadow One members that were on the roof of the buildings on the other side of the street. Two of the Shadow One members were incapacitated instantly. Remaining one managed to duck low and stay flat against the rooftop wall. But, he wasn’t able to return fire. The shower of bullets rained down on the buildings and soon, to Jacob’s horror, they indiscriminately began targeting the civilians and the young children that were in the streets below.
It was a sheer scene of horror for all to see. Fires broke out below and black smoke began engulfing the entire block. Realizing the identity of the chopper, Jacob set his rifle at high power mode. The chopper hovered few foot off the roof of the building. Suddenly, the man hiding behind the A/C structure dashed off, running towards the chopper. As he got closer to the edge of the building, he launched himself to the opening of the chopper.
Two insurgent members in the chopper caught him in mid air and attempted to pull up their leader to safely place him inside. Seeing this, Jacob appeared from behind the A/C unit then raised his gun. Jacob aimed and fired his rifle several times. One of the bullets hit the fuel tank and another hit the pilot in his arm through the windshield. He saw another man, in the chopper, yelling something and pushing out the injured pilot away from the seat, effectively, taking control over the chopper. Seeing that there weren’t anyone free to shoot at him, Jacob ran towards the chopper while continuing to fire his rifle.
Before the insurgent’s leader was fully lodged onto the floor of the chopper, Jacob had managed to hit the two men who were pulling him up. Letting go of their leader, they fell out of the chopper and fell down to the ground\. Landing on top of a school bus, the roof of the bus caved in from the impact as their skulls cracked open. Even through the thundering sounds of the chopper’s wings, the loud ‘THUNG’ sound, originating from the point of the impact by the men hitting the bus, was heard by Jacob.
By now, the improvising pilot began taking control of the chopper. Even with the damage to the fuel tank and the smoke coming out of its sides, he was able to slowly stabilize the chopper.
Jacob ran towards the chopper. Then, he launched at the chopper and grabbed the leader, who was hanging on to the floor of the chopper. Just before the chopper flew away from the edge of the roof top, Jacob had managed to pull the insurgents’ leader off of it. Both men fell hard side by side, onto the top of the ledge. Jacob came to his senses first and quickly moved to incapacitate the man with one-two punches to the man’s cheeks in blinding speed. Then, Jacob was slowly standing up when he heard a loud gun shot.
Jacob turned to look at the chopper and saw the pilot’s head leaning forward against the control knobs. Slowly, the chopper began to descend into a tail spin. Jacob pulled the enemy’s leader off of the ledge and covered him with his body. It was his natural reflexive behavior to protect anyone that might be in danger. The chopper’s tail came around towards the building and slowly, it fell to the ground. On its way down, the chopper’s propeller made screeching contacts with the walls, creating incredible amount of sparks. As the chopper’s blades bent, the windows of the hotel shattered.
Eventually, the chopper fell to the ground with the fuel tank breaking open and releasing highly flammable fuel. As the sparks landed on and near the chopper, it caught on fire. In a moment’s time, Jacob heard a deafening ‘BOOM’ and a large fireball rising up from the ground level, reaching well above the height of the three story building.
It seemed like an eternity. But, in fact, it has been less than a minute. The human body seemed to have the capacity to minimize potential damages by slowing down one’s senses. Everything seemed to be in slow motion, the sight of the fireball, the sounds of explosions, the gun fire, and even the pace of his breathing. He saw what looked like celebratory confetti, falling all over the place from the sky. Taking a closer look, Jacob realized that they were large denominations of paper bills which were being transported out of the country.
Jacob slowly rose up while helping the insurgent’s leader to his feet. Jacob subdued him with a pistol pointed at the back of the head of his capture. Jacob stood there with the insurgent’s leader as another black chopper, much smaller and faster, approached the building. Jacob could readily identify that it was military grade. At about five buildings away, it stopped and turned back and quickly, disappeared into the darkness of the night. At the same time, with blood gushing out from his head, the captive fell on to his knees tilting his head to one side. He did not move from that position.
Soon, Jacob found himself covered with his prisoner’s blood splashed all over his visor. It happened instantaneously, such that it came to him as surreal. At that moment, Jacob heard the muffled sirens of fire trucks, ambulances, and law enforcement vehicles approaching from a distance. The death of his prisoner left Jacob with a confused state of mind as to why he was killed and by whom. He did not mourn the death of the insurgent’s leader, yet Jacob felt distraught.
In the end, there were 30 innocent students and civilians who had died in that chaotic evening. Twenty four members of the insurgents met their final fate and seven of Jacob’s colleagues lost their lives. In addition to the loss of lives that he had sworn to protect, he felt devastating loss of sense and purpose in his life. Further, he was overwhelmed with the guilt to the girl that he had befriended for the failure to capture the leader or her father alive. Jacob had promised her father’s life to her. Jacob felt that he had failed the mission, although the desired end result was accomplished from the UN’s perspective.
When Jacob returned to the Paris HQ the next day, he had protested that the operation should not have gone forward. For the first time in his career as a Shadow One member, he had questioned his superiors. He raised his voice in protest as to why the insurgent’s leader, when he was clearly captured, had to be executed. Jacob believed that the insurgent’s leader was more valuable alive to the UN. To his queries, no clear answers would be given to this day. Jacob felt that the attack could have been delayed without jeopardizing the mission’s objective. He believed that the insurgents would have been stopped in good time as he had the inside track to the organization.
Jacob was disturbed that so many innocent children and civilians had lost their lives. The overwhelming feelings of guilt led to a severe case of post traumatic depression. Ultimately, this condition prevented him from continuing to serve as an effective member of the ‘Shadow One’ unit. He spoke to his superior and turned in his resignation. However, due to the high secret nature of the unit, Jacob did not think that he would resign on his own accord nor have a chance for a peaceful life.
Fortunately, his superiors respected Jacob more than he had thought. Jacob’s superior officer had worked the system on his behalf. He had given Jacob a clean and honorable discharge from the unit, in return for Jacob’s promise and commitment to keep his life as a ‘Shadow One’ member, forever buried. In exchange, Jacob was given enough financial compensation to live as a middle class family of three until he was to take his last breath.
Since the discharge, no one knew of Jacob, no one came after Jacob, and he did not go looking for anyone from his past. Jacob had planned for a quiet life since his resignation. He had struggled so hard to bring normalcy back to his life and his struggles have become unbearable at times.
‘Beep, Beep’. Jacob came back to the present time at the sound of his alarm clock, urging him to start another day in paradise. Shaking off the images of the gruesome experience from his last mission, he slowly headed to shower. He pressed a button that turned on the shower and waited for a few seconds for the water to reach the set temperature of 80 F. He entered the shower, allowing the warm water streams to massage his head, shoulders, and back. As the water hit him in rhythmic fashion, the nightmare that had engulfed him from those memories of the mission began to lift. He stood there under the shower for a long while letting the water keep pounding on his shoulders.
Placing his head directly under the shower Jacob shook his head. He let out a big sigh of relief as he tried to think about the next few days, here, in paradise. After all, he had left the violent life behind and he was in a breathtakingly beautiful place with the girl that he cared for deeply. Meeting someone special was the last thing that he had imagined would happen in his life. He went through so much emotional torture since the events that led him to his resignation. As a result, Jacob didn’t think that such feelings would be possible anymore. But, here he was, against all odds, a second chance at a meaningful, new life.
Feeling recharged after a refreshing shower, Jacob changed in to his holiday attire. Putting the nightmares behind him, for now, he showed a subdued smile to himself in the mirror, still in disbelief in terms of how lucky he felt. Looking forward to a great second day in paradise, he headed down to breakfast to meet his friends.