The Farm’s Pigs (4)
It had already been several weeks since I’d joined the January class’s training.
By now, more than eleven weeks had passed since I’d stepped into Camp Peary.
There were only a handful of training sessions left.
At first, I’d had a rough time adjusting to the newly added drills and the overall atmosphere.
Still, once I got the hang of it and learned to roll with the punches, they ended up teaching me quite a lot.
Today’s exercise was a nighttime mock operation.
We were divided into teams to attack and defend, with the goal of seizing an asset hidden inside the building.
The weapons were paint rounds, and if you got hit, fluorescent marks would stain your clothes.
“Attention.”
After dinner, we had a brief operational briefing.
The instructor read through the team roster and then added one final note.
“The operation ends by 0600 tomorrow. The attacking team may initiate at their own discretion. If you fail to secure the asset within the time limit, the defending team wins.”
The attack team for tonight consisted of five trainees, including me.
On the defensive side were two people I’d bumped into on day one by pure coincidence: Coleman and Ramirez.
At the end, the instructor looked over the trainees and added, “The results of today’s exercise will be reflected in your final evaluation. Keep that in mind.”
It was welcome news.
***
2:00 a.m.
I lay pressed against the edge of the woods, watching the building ahead of me.
There was a mock structure about two hundred meters in front of us. The outside lights, including the emergency lamps, were all switched off.
Tonight the clouds had swallowed the moon completely, so thickly that you couldn’t see a hand in front of your face.
Tik. Tik.
All around me, I heard one night-vision goggle after another being lowered into place.
Following the other trainees, I dropped mine and tried them on.
Through the narrow lens, the world turned a murky green.
Mm...
The surroundings were certainly clearer.
But in exchange, my peripheral vision felt absurdly constricted.
For someone like me, who didn’t have much trouble in the dark to begin with, they were useless.
Clack.
I lifted the goggles right back up and instead settled my breathing.
The energy rising slowly from my dantian spread through my senses.
When I opened my eyes again, the world looked just a little sharper than before.
And then I began to read the presence of everything around me.
This is it.
The dry smell of grass carried on the wind from the left. The chirring of cicadas rising from the ground.
And the faint presence of a person leaking from the corner of the building.
Three outer guards.
Beside me, the team leader gave my shoulder a silent tap.
It was the signal to move.
I got up first and started forward.
Keeping my breathing thin, as Dark Shadow Step required, I erased the sound of my footsteps.
As my inner force settled into my feet, I could feel my speed building even when I moved in short, careful bursts.
Swish—
The four team members trailed after me.
At first there was no problem, but after a while I heard rough breathing from behind.
Shit.
I turned, and sure enough, the teammate right behind me was panting as he hurried to keep up.
Even through the night-vision lens, his thoughts were written all over his face.
This monster bastard.
That was roughly the feeling.
It was the same look I’d been getting ever since coming to this camp.
I signaled them to slow down, then moved out again.
The closer we got to the building, the clearer the guards’ presence became.
Two were patrolling the opposite side, while one was taking cover at the right corner of the structure.
They were watching the area with rifles ready, exchanging radio chatter as they scanned for movement. Not a gap in sight.
Flick.
I raised a fist thirty meters ahead. Stop.
Once I confirmed the others had halted, I moved out alone.
Then, the moment the guard turned his head to the left, I stepped forward.
Shaaa—!
I was running through the grass, but I made no sound at all.
I slipped in behind the guard, my footsteps buried under the rustle of leaves in the wind.
It happened so fast that “in a blink” was almost the right expression.
“Mmph—!”
My right hand clamped over the guard’s mouth.
With my left, I seized the wrist holding the rifle and pinned it, then dragged him backward and forced him to the ground.
Pressing the muzzle to his back, I whispered, “Out.”
The guard lay flat on the ground, motionless.
Through the night-vision lens, I could see his eyes blown wide open.
“...Damn it.”
I ignored the low mutter and motioned to the others behind me.
The team moved in. They paused for a beat when they saw the guard was already subdued, but immediately shifted to the next step.
Tap.
We all pressed our backs against the wall of the building.
The leader checked the windows, then gave instructions with hand signals.
Two of us, including me, were to take the windows. The rest would enter through the front door.
The window team goes in after thirty seconds. We’ll circle to the front.
I nodded at the leader’s signal and slipped quickly to the window.
When I tested the frame with my hand, I was relieved to find it wasn’t locked.
I waited, counting the seconds in my head. Twenty-eight, twenty-nine...
When the time came, I checked for presence inside, then gently pushed the window up.
I’m going in.
At my signal, one teammate entered first, silently and with his eyes on the surroundings.
Once he was fully in and had marked the area, I followed.
Tap.
The instant my foot touched the floor, I read the presences around me.
One person was moving in the first-floor hallway. Three were in the lobby near the front door. Three more were on the second floor.
For now, we decided to neutralize the closest target in the hall.
I’ll lead.
After signaling the teammate, I moved.
***
First-floor hallway.
An old emergency light on the wall cast a green glow.
Beyond the corner of the corridor, I could feel an enemy moving.
Short, quick breaths and footsteps. I could even hear the faint scrape of equipment against his combat uniform.
Enemy of one near the corner.
After signaling my teammate, I carefully rounded the bend.
One defending trainee was walking down the center of the hallway with his rifle leveled.
Fortunately, his eyes and muzzle were fixed straight ahead.
Swish—
I hugged the wall, erased my footsteps, and slipped in behind him.
Only after pressing my rifle to his back did I speak.
“Out.”
The sudden sound of my voice startled him so badly that he jerked around.
“Fuck! Where the hell did you come from—”
I clamped a hand over the fool’s mouth as he screamed like his soul had left his body.
Through the night-vision lens, his eyes were bulging.
He was bigger than me, but he was a coward.
“Shh.”
I motioned toward the back.
My teammate, who had just rounded the corner to cover me, stopped in place.
Maybe realizing he had nothing to do, he shrugged and gave me a thumbs-up.
The front entrance was covered too tightly. We decided to push up to the second floor first.
At the stairwell, I caught my teammate’s eye and sent the signal again.
Once more, I’d take the lead.
One above.
At the top of the stairs, one guard was looking down, keeping watch.
I could feel his rifle muzzle pointed straight into the middle of the stairwell.
If I went up like this, I’d get caught.
I pressed myself to the wall and waited.
Thud. Rattle.
Bang! Thump-thump-thump!
At just the right moment, a loud racket came from the front entrance downstairs.
The team that had entered through the door had started exchanging fire with the defenders.
- Front entry made. Engaging.
Along with the radio report, I felt the guard at the top of the stairs waver.
His head and rifle swung away from the stairwell and toward the corridor.
Now.
I poured inner energy into the balls of my feet and moved soundlessly, reaching the top in a single burst.
By the time the guard turned back after checking the hall, my muzzle was already aimed at him.
Bang!
I planted a paint round right into his side.
Only after fluorescent marks bloomed across his combat uniform did he raise his hands.
He looked like he wanted to say something, then just let out a sigh and walked down the stairs on his own.
The teammate who followed me up met my eyes and shook his head.
He didn’t even look surprised anymore.
End room on the second floor.
I stopped in front of the door and listened to the presences inside.
Two.
One of them was right beside the door.
Deep, heavy breathing; from the feel of it, he was a big one.
He was crouched low, waiting to rush the moment the door opened.
He heard the gunfire.
The other was deeper inside the room.
He was holding his rifle steady on the door, not moving an inch.
Probably waiting to secure the firing lane and drop us the instant we entered.
I held up two fingers to the teammate behind me and signaled him to take the opposite side of the door.
Once I confirmed he was in position, I set a hand on the door.
Click.
My teammate turned the knob and pushed.
But I didn’t rush in. I waited.
One second, two...
I could feel Coleman’s presence tremble inside.
The enemy beside the door was waiting for an intruder, but the door had opened and no one had come through.
For a brief moment, a suffocating silence stretched between us.
“......”
At last, Coleman stuck the muzzle of his rifle out past the doorframe.
At that exact moment, I grabbed his wrist and yanked him into the hallway.
His body spilled out from inside as I twisted the rifle and his arm together.
The instant I felt his fingers slip from the grip, I took the weapon away.
Clack.
As I reversed the captured handgun in my hand, I pivoted back toward the room.
The final target was Ramirez.
For an instant, my inner force turned, and it felt as though time itself slowed.
I swept the room in a flash and spotted Ramirez behind a table, his muzzle already aimed at me.
He had quick reflexes—good enough that his gun was already moving toward me.
Bang! Bang!
I squeezed the trigger at once.
Two paint rounds struck Ramirez square in the chest.
I could see the fluorescent paint spreading over his combat uniform.
Clack!
I swung the muzzle around and pressed it to Coleman’s forehead.
In the darkness, Coleman was staring at my face.
His mouth hung half-open, frozen.
“You’re both out.”
From the moment Coleman got dragged out to the second I planted a paint round in Ramirez’s chest, barely an instant had passed.
They’d been taken down before either of them had time to react properly.
I moved straight to the table inside the room.
Then I picked up the document envelope that was tonight’s objective and radioed in, “Asset secured. Building clear.”
A moment later, a whistle blew outside.
The exercise was over.
“Jesus Christ.”
The teammate who’d followed me out murmured with a hollow laugh.
He bumped fists with me as I stepped outside and added, “Good work, super soldier.”
Hah. That super-soldier nonsense again.
Yeah. By then, Nad’s bullshit rumor had already spread through the January class.
He really was something else, considering how he’d stuck his nose into every corner of the camp.
***
When I came out of the building, the lights were starting to come on one by one.
The trainees who’d worn night-vision goggles were setting their gear down and loosening up.
The ones who’d been hit with paint rounds were grumbling and cursing as they checked the fluorescent stains on their uniforms.
Clack.
I was sorting my gear and pulling the magazine from my rifle when I felt someone stop beside me.
I didn’t even need to look to know who it was. Coleman.
“...How the hell did you do that earlier?”
It didn’t sound like he was trying to pick a fight this time.
It sounded like he was genuinely curious. I shrugged.
“Just because I’m good at it.”
Coleman flared his nostrils, exhaled once, and turned away.
It was the back of a man who couldn’t think of anything else to say.
Ramirez passed by after him.
The yellow paint stain was still spread across his chest.
We met eyes for a second as he walked past, but he didn’t say anything.
Count yourself lucky.
I was disappointed, but since I couldn’t exactly beat the hell out of a trainee at camp, I decided this was enough.
I packed my gear into my bag, zipped it shut, and whistled to myself.
***
A few days later, I finished training with MacKinnon and returned to the dorm.
The words MacKinnon had tossed out while smoking at the end of today’s session were still stuck in my ears.
I’ve handed the final report over to Headquarters. Your training is done until the results come in. Until then, do whatever you want—rest, work out, I don’t care.
That was it.
Not even a thank-you, naturally.
Not that I’d expected one from that man.
So this is the end.
The three-month crash course at this camp was, for all practical purposes, finished.
All that was left was the result coming down from Langley.
Clack.
When I opened my door, there was a box sitting on the desk.
A security inspection sticker had been slapped on the side. That meant it had passed a security check.
“There it is.”
I hurried over and opened the box, revealing a transparent plastic case inside.
When I lifted the lid, the first thing to hit me was the sharp, distinctive scent of wild ginseng.
“Oh...”
Inside the case, resting on a bed of damp moss, was a single root.
A mountain ginseng root about the thickness of two fingers, with fine tendrils branching out around it.
It was a deep yellow-brown, the surface packed with dense rings and deep creases.
It had the texture of old, long-grown wild ginseng.
At least eighty years old.
Even in the United States, finding mountain ginseng with this kind of age was difficult.
There might be more of it here than in Korea, but old roots like this still almost never made it to market.
And even when they did, they were usually snapped up by China or Hong Kong at ridiculous prices.
I didn’t expect much.
To think they’d get it this fast. Guess that was the CIA for you.
I set the case down and stared at the ginseng when a knock came at the door.
“Lee, what’s that smell? I can smell it all the way out in the hall.”
When I opened the door, Nad was already there, sniffing the air and sticking his head inside.
His gaze locked onto the ginseng on my desk.
“Fuck. What is that?”
“Just a health supplement.”
“A health supplement? That thing? Why does it look like that? It’s wrapped in moss.”
Nad leaned in to inspect the case and poked the moss with a finger.
Then his eyes went wide.
“Holy shit, so that’s what it is.”
He pointed at me and said, “This was the secret behind the super soldier. Some kind of Eastern secret herb. Fucking plant-based doping.”
“...No, it’s just mountain ginseng. Will you listen to me?”
“Ha! Lies like that don’t work on me.”
This idiot wasn’t listening at all. In fact, he looked thrilled.
As he left the room, I heard him muttering out in the hall.
“Shit, mountain ginseng? Lee’s hidden Eastern secret! This is insane.”
Eastern secret, my ass.
This was one hundred percent fucking American ginseng, you lunatic.
I felt my temples start to throb and put a hand to my forehead.
By tomorrow, I was sure the whole camp would be buzzing with a new rumor.
“Haa...”
After Nad left, I let out a long sigh and looked down at the ginseng again.
Still, since things had turned out this way, and I had time on my hands, I might as well absorb it.
American wild ginseng.
Strictly speaking, it was a different species from Korean mountain ginseng.
The soil was different, and so was the climate. The quality of energy had to be different too.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure whether it would do anything for me.
Well, there’s only one way to find out.
After a moment’s thought, I put the ginseng in my mouth.
Then I chewed it thoroughly and sat down in a full lotus position.