“Big break in our favor,” Tokaido said. “If we can erase all the sentries, we might not have to bother clipping through the fence. We can just storm the main entrance or circle around and join the guys coming down from the mountains.”
“You’re probably right,” Stevens said, “but first things first. We’ve got to wait for the convoy before we make a move or we throw away our advantage.”
Tokaido nodded. “I’ll jockey a little closer to the tower.”
He moved away from Stevens, crouching low as he crept through the vegetation. Once he reached a point that gave him a clear shot at the two guards posted in the tower, he stopped. As he began to wait, he allowed his gaze to stray to the barracks situated in the middle of the old mining camp. Provided the intel was correct, there was a good chance Lim Seung-Whan and the other kidnap victims were being held in one of the enclosures.
“Hang tight, cuz,” Tokaido whispered. “Help’s on the way.”
WHEN LIM Seung-Whan awoke on the barracks floor, his first thought was one of wonderment. He couldn’t believe he’d actually fallen asleep. Given his anxiety over the pending prison uprising and the impact it would have on his family’s chance for freedom, the businessman had been certain that he would be up the entire night, but apparently his second straight day of slaving away in the mines had given his body other ideas. His body still ached and there was a crick in his neck from the way he’d slept, but he quickly dismissed these discomforts as he opened his eyes and waited for them to accustom themselves to the darkness. He could feel his wife’s breath on his shoulder and he turned slightly, putting his arm around both her and his daughter, Na-Li. Both women stirred slightly but remained asleep. Lim kissed each of them gently; once he was better able to make out his daughter’s features, he was moved to tears. Curled in a fetal position, clutching her mother’s hand to her chest, Na-Li so looked innocent and angelic that Lim was engulfed by a renewed sense of shame for the way he’d placed them in harm’s way. If they managed to escape from this nightmare alive, he vowed he would spend the rest of his life making it up to them as well as to his good friend Ji Pho-Hwa and his family.
It was only after Lim sat up and looked around the barracks that he became aware of the other prisoners, a surprising thing given the near rumbling of their labored snores and the vaguely fetid smell of their comingling breath. When he saw Prync GilSu and several other men crouched together near the middle of the barracks, his thoughts promptly turned back to the matter of the planned insurrection. Slowly rising to his feet, he carefully negotiated his way around the men sleeping closest to him and joined the conspirators. Besides Prync, there was Vae Jae-Bong, Reir Jin-Tack and the deposed military officer who’d been cast in with the other prisoners the night before. Sergeant Dahn was helping Prync pry loose one of the floorboards leading to the crawl space beneath the barracks.
“What time is it?” Lim asked the men, whispering low.
“A little before sunrise,” Prync whispered back. “Time to start making our move.”
“How will we know when the guards have been sedated?” Lim wondered nervously.
“We can see two of the watchtowers through slats in the outer walls,” Vae Jae-Bong explained. “They change guards at sunup, and the new sentries will have just eaten before they take their stations. We’ll be able to tell when the drugs start to take effect, and that’s when we’ll go on the offensive.”
“How?” Lim wondered. “Even if they’re drugged, I don’t think we can just walk right up and overpower them with our bare hands.”
“Who said anything about bare hands?”
Once he’d set aside two of the floor planks, Prync reached into the cavity and pulled out a few small weapons: three of the cutting tools used in the poppy fields, several scavenged lengths of pipe and some wooden posts whose ends had been honed into sharp points.
“We’ve been storing up,” Reir Jin-Tack told Lim. “I know it’s not much of an arsenal, but it should be enough to help us overpower a few guards and get our hands on some carbines and automatics. If all goes well…”
Reir’s voice trailed off, and he glanced over his shoulder with a look of sudden apprehension. It was then that Lim first heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps heading toward the barracks. And whoever was approaching, it didn’t sound as if they were dragging their feet. If anything, it sounded to Lim as if they were running at full speed.
“Quick!” Prync whispered, grabbing back the wooden stake Reir was holding. “We need to put everything back!”