Vector || An Ryeji Adventure

Final Mission: Overlord I

"Vector, I've just landed in London. Where do you want to meet? I can be there in fifteen minutes."

"Meet me in the park in front of the Four Seasons, on the bench by the fountain."

"On my way," Radius said tersely.

Yeji's head spun as she packed. This is your fault. You put her in harm's way. If anything happens to her...

Then there was the letter. Perhaps it was misinformation, an attempt to lure her out into the open. In that case, Ryujin was completely disposable to whoever took her. She might already be...

But Yeji's instincts told her that Allam's note was genuine. That would mean that there were immense powers at work, nation states, forces that a lone assassin couldn't handle. So she had to protect Allam at the same time she was trying to rescue the most important person in her life.

Her thoughts started racing, and her hands were trembling again. You're a professional. Start acting like one, and execute this mission.

She ran the four blocks to the park. Ahead, Yeji saw the familiar white hair pulled into a ponytail.

Dropping her bag on the ground, she sat next to Radius and asked her "Talk quickly. I'm about to lose my mind. What do you know?"

"We think she's been taken to Brazil."

"Brazil? Who took her?"

"A former American US Army general. He was dismissed three years ago because his strategic philosophy began to look more like genocide."

"Why Ryujin? Why target me?"

Radius exhaled. "She's just collateral damage, I'm afraid. Targeting one of our operatives will demonstrate to the world that we're nothing but paper tigers, make him look like a tactical genius, and he'll gain support from some of the west's fringe military officers. It will also set us off on the biggest mole hunt in history - and that's already started. We're at each other's throats."

"Where exactly is she being held?"

"We think his compound is about 20 miles outside of Rio, up in the jungle. We can't bring a standard military ground force in because the foliage is so dense that our troops couldn't march, and our vehicles couldn't move. And I thought that you would want to do this. I don't think I could talk you out of it anyway."

Radius continued. "The full resources of our agency are at your disposal. We can operate missile-equipped drones, give you satellite intel, munitions, as well as signal intercepts."

Yeji stared straight ahead. "I'll take all of it. Plus, 12 SAS operators for extraction, and a C-130 to get us there. We can't HALO into the facility because of the forest canopy, so we'll need to find the nearest open space, land there, and then hike."

"You want SAS? I thought you'd want to do this alone."

"The extraction will be tricky. I can't risk it. I can't risk Ryujin." She looked into Radius' eyes. "I need one more thing."

"What?"

"Winter."

. . . . .

An hour later Yeji let Winter into her room at the Four Seasons.

Winter sat on the bed, bouncing up and down. Yeji paced back and forth like a caged animal.

"What's wrong?" Winter asked, concerned.

"Ryujin's been taken."

Winter took a deep breath and held it for a moment. "Tell me what you need, Yeji."

Still pacing, Yeji laid out the plan she had developed with Radius.

Winter raised an eyebrow. "Planes? Operators? Satellites? They've opened the toy cabinet for us."

"We're wheels-up at 9:15pm."

"Got it."

"But we're not going to be there," Yeji muttered.

"What? Why?"

"I think MI6 has Ryujin, and I think she's being kept here in London."

Winter became more agitated. "Why? I'm so confused. Do you know how it will look if we don't show up? They're going to assume we've gone rogue, and then they'll send two people like us to kill us. Then how have we helped Ryujin? I'm sorry, Yeji, one of us needs to think clearly. I love Ryujin, but you know you shouldn't be making the decisions right now!"

Yeji handed her David Allam's note. Winter read it and dropped it on the floor.

"I know this guy," she said.

"How?"

"I'm supposed to kill him... and his family."

"Why does he think I'm the one who will kill him?" Yeji asked.

"If someone at MI6 told him it would be you, maybe they were counting on someone with his resources to kill you first. Then it wouldn't be operator-on-operator, which would look bad. They could clean up his family, and you're blamed for everything, and they can wrap it up nice and tidy and be done with Vector."

"What about the family?" Yeji asked.

"I never planned on killing them. I do have a line I won't cross, but it is blurry. I have a full package of identity papers for them."

Yeji smiled. "I think Karina's getting through that tough skin of yours."

"She has, Yeji. She has. This is my last mission."

"Mine, too. I told Ryujin about what I do and she's stopped talking to me. We're supposed to get married in a week."

Winter laughed. "Of course she didn't take it well! That's Ryujin's temper."

Yeji smiled. "So we have two missions. Get Allam and his family to safety. And rescue Ryujin."

"I'll take care of Allam and his family."

"I'll go after Ryujin. This isn't going to be like the other missions."

"You're right. It's time to put some hate in our hearts and kill these people."

"All of them," Yeji whispered.