Prodigy Effect by Don Pendleton

Author:Don Pendleton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Worldwide Library
Published: 2013-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

When Chin Nam awoke for about the fifth time since losing consciousness, he was sure the fever had at last left him. Pain still coursed through parts of his body until it set some of his very nerve endings on fire. For a time he wished to return to his fever-induced delirium.

As the fog cleared from his consciousness and reality took hold, Nam considered his predicament. He turned his head slowly toward the windows and saw the brightness of midday bleed around the edges of the curtains drawn closed. This wasn’t the place he last remembered being in. Yes, they had been at the bed-and-breakfast, and he did remember the bitter chill of an early morning ride in a vehicle. Where had they gotten the vehicle? He willed his mind to focus and then he remembered that it must’ve been rented by Ju Young-Soon. She had finally decided to move them, and probably not too soon. Then where had she gone? Nam vaguely recalled her mentioning something about taking care of the one loose end that could compromise them. That meant Se-Hong Yu—she should’ve returned hours ago from that.

How long have I actually been unconscious?

A steady thump at the door interrupted his train of thought and gave him pause. Nam stared long at the door, waiting through an unknown span of time. Another series of thumps told him the knocker was persistent, almost as if he knew the place was occupied beyond any doubt. Nam could feel the sudden hammer of his heart in his chest. He looked out on the window and felt his gut sink when he saw he was five stories up. Too far to jump—that much was certain now.

Nam remembered his pack and searched furiously, finding it by the time the third hammering series at the door resounded—this time with much more insistence behind it—so he could locate and pull his loaded pistol from the pack. Nam padded quietly to the door, his bare feet a whisper on the carpet, and softly replied, “Yes?”

“Open up,” a heavily accented voice replied. “It’s me.”

“And who is ‘me’ supposed to be?”

“It’s me, Wee Hum Han.”

Nam’s face twisted with an involuntary scowl. He knew why Han had arrived—the guy was a fixer. Their handlers would only send in somebody like Han if either the mission had gotten screwed up or... Nam felt a catch in his throat. Cleanup crews like this would only step in under two circumstances: original mission operatives were all dead or the mission leader was dead and time had run out or was in very short resource. So that’s why Ju Young-Soon hadn’t returned.

Nam tucked the pistol into the waistband of his pants at the small of his back and then unbolted and unchained the door to permit the entry of Wee Hum Han and two other men Nam didn’t recognize. Once they were inside he resecured the door and then turned to face them. This team was known as a dong maeng seung moo won, or an alliance crew.

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