November 1998 – North of the Demilitarized Zone somewhere in North Korea.
Owen's Journal.
A few pages flip forward in the book. The script is short, and compact. It is very even handed, and the lines are remarkably straight.
“It's been three days since we crossed the border. A lot of setbacks later, and we are only five days behind schedule, but we have been making steady progress towards our objective since we crossed the DMZ. I'll tell you, this is nothing like it was while we were in the service. What I wouldn't give for a ration pack right now! Water is running out, and our food supplies were not meant to stretch this far. This whole trip was only supposed to take five days, and we have been over here a week and a half already.”
A few pages flip in the book, and the scene fades to a dark jungle. We see very young versions of Sebastian and Owen crouching under a large bush as a small group of North Korean soldiers pass by. The men are frozen in fear, their breath clouds of steam as it escapes their mouths in the cold night air. It has been days since they arrived in Korea, and nothing had gone as planned. So far they had evaded the North Korean patrols, but they knew eventually their luck would run out. As they move through the dense foliage, one of the soldiers shoves a bayonet into the bush and drives the long blade right into Owen's thigh. Sebastian grabs him by the face and shoves his hand tight over his mouth holding him still and silent as the soldier slides the blade back out of his leg, and continuing on his way oblivious to his prey just inches away. After long moments of waiting, as the soldiers finally move away into the jungle, we see Sebastian start pulling a med kit out of his pack as the scene fades back to Owen's Journal.
“They told us when we came in that they would have our way clear, and this would be a simple hop skip and a jump and we would be North of the border, simple as that. But, when we made it to our crossing point, there was half a regiment of the North Korean army just standing there waiting on us. We saw them from way off, so it wasn't like we had to run for our lives or anything, but it took us almost four days to find a crossing point that wasn't covered by machine guns. We are here though, and so far, we haven't seen much of the North Korean forces. We did have a run in the other night with a patrol as we were moving north out of the DMZ, but we managed to get by them safe and are making our way to a small village not far from here... we think.”
A few more pages flip by in the small book as the scene fades back into a dark jungle somewhere in Korea. The small flickering lights of a village can be seen ahead along the road, and two fairly tall men who appear to be farmers with large reed hats on are making their way down the road towards the village. As the men approach the outskirts of town, three armed soldiers make their way out of a hut nearby to meet them.
“거기 멈춰. 당신은 누구 요? 당신은 밤이 시간에 또 뭔 짓을하는거야?” shouted one of the soldiers.
“우리는 농부입니다. 우리는 다음 마을로 여행. 내 동생이 살고 있으며, 그 분야와 도움이 필요합니다. 우리는 그를 도와 줄 수 있습니다.” Owen shouts back as the soldiers get closer to us. They both know that they know they aren't Korean.
“농부, 응? 빛으로, 이리와, 이러한 모자를 벗어 요. 내가 당신 얼굴에서 좋은 모습을 보자.” the soldier says back as the three of them approach the pair in the night.
Without even a moments hesitation, Owen grabs the barrel of the rifle in the first soldier's hands as Sebastian rushes the second one. Owen swings the first soldier around and kicks the third soldier square in the jaw as a burst of rifle fire splits the air as he tumbles away. Sebastian takes the second soldier to the ground, pulls the knife from his belt, and in one fluid motion drives the blade deep into his throat. The blood gurgles up in his mouth as his eyes flare open in the realization of death, and then they stare off as his life slips away. Meanwhile, Owen drives the first soldier into the side of the hut, flying right through the thatch walls, and scuffling can be heard inside while Sebastian moves to take out the third soldier before more come running. Owen makes his way out of the hut door as Sebastian moves into the shadows among the huts and the scene fades to the village a short time later.
We see Owen and Sebastian watching a fairly large stone house near the outside of the village. A man in a nice suit is seated at a long table on his terrace overlooking the rice fields not far away. He is busy feasting on an array of delectable morsels, and is waited on by a small army of young girls that come and go from the house often bringing fresh wine and more food for his perusal. During his meal, he has taken a few breaks just long enough to squeeze the ass of a passing slave girl, or grope one as she served him. The sight makes Sebastian's stomach twist in knots, and even after Owen had urged him to get a move on and just leave the village behind, Sebastian had other ideas.
Later that night, the girls had gone inside, and Owen and Sebastian have managed to evade the few remaining guard patrols that were surly looking for them. Hours ago a messenger had left the village with a soldier in a jeep, and Owen had been sure that it was going for reinforcements. He had tried to talk Sebastian into just getting on with the mission and getting home, but he waited for the right moment, and when it came Sebastian did not hesitate.
When the man in the suit sat alone at his table going over some papers, Sebastian crept onto his terrace, and stuck a knife into his spine, twisting the blade slowly crushing several of the man's vertebrate as he cupped his hand tightly over the bastard's mouth. When he had taken his last breath, Sebastian tossed him heavily to the floor and wiped his knife off on the man's fancy coat. When he stood up and turned to leave, there, standing all alone on the terrace was a young dark haired white girl just watching him calmly. There was no fear in her eyes, or anything but curiosity. Sebastian looked around, and then grabbed her in his arms as he ran into the jungle and the scene fades back to Owen's Journal as we hear Sebastian tell the girl, “당신을 다치게하지 않을거야. 이제 안전합니다.”
“I just want to get back on the plane and go home! I swear, he is going to get me killed running around in the damned jungle over here with the damned SOR hunting us. I told him he should leave her behind. It wasn't our problem, and it would make things harder for us to do our jobs. I couldn't blame him though. The way they treated those girls... I just want to go home.”
Some more pages flip by as the scene fades back in to a much larger town somewhere in North Korea. The town zooms by below, and finally we see Sebastian and Owen sneaking around the outside of what looks like a warehouse in the dark. Several guards are posted around the area, and even more patrol the grounds at intervals. The men make their way through the compound slowly, avoiding the guards when they can, and eliminating them when they can't. Suddenly, as they round a corner, they find themselves face to face with three of the Korean guards. The three soldiers draw down on them, and they raise their hands into the air. Moments later, as the guards shout at them in Korean, one of the guards take a small black bag from Sebastian and open it up. Inside are rolls of film and a camera, and one of the guards start asking about the film. Owen and Sebastian start to explain about being reporters from the United States when one of the guards smashes Sebastian's face with the butt of his rifle, sending him crashing hard to the ground.
“나 한테 거짓말하지 마십시오. 당신은 미국의 병사입니다! 나에게 진실을 말해!” the guard shouts at them.
Just then, before the situation can escalate any more, Darina shouts from above them on a low rooftop, “이봐, 너! 지금 그들을 내버려둬!” and pulls the pin on a grenade as she tosses at it at the group of soldiers below.
Owen grabs the black bag back from the soldier as he and Sebastian dive out of the way as the three soldiers scramble to get away from the explosive and the scene fades back to Owen's Journal as the bright flash from the explosion lights the night with a bright white bang.
“Darina saved our asses last night. I have never seen a kid so brave in all my life. I don't even know what we would have done without her. Looking back, I'm glad that Sebastian saved her. We are taking her home with us. The bosses might not like it very much, but with the intel we got them, they won't have a whole lot of shit to say about it.”
More pages flip over as the scene fades in to a speeding jeep careening through narrow alleyways in a small city in Korea. The Jeep is being pursued by a military truck filled with SOR, several of them taking pot shots at the speeding Jeep. Owen is perched in the back, using the rear seat as cover to return fire at the military truck, and as he picks a couple of them off, Sebastian drives the Jeep right through a chain link fence and onto an airstrip. The military truck follows right behind, tearing a huge section of the fence down with its passing, and as the fence gets shoved underneath the truck it takes several of the tires out, sending the truck spilling onto it's side, tossing Korean Special Forces across the tarmac.
Sebastian makes a B-Line for a hangar not far from the fence, and pulls up in front. Owen and he grab bags out of the Jeep and start to make for the hangar door when a SOR Officer steps from around the corner of the building and levels his assault rifle at them.
“거기 서! 내려 놔! 무릎 꿇어!” he yells at them as they raise their hands over their heads. Moments pass as they start to sink to their knees, when suddenly, the Officers eyes go wide in shock, and he reaches towards his back as he drops the rifle to the black top. As he falls, Owen and Sebastian see the knife protruding from his spine, driven hilt deep in his insides.
Behind him, that same awestruck curiosity playing at Darina's eyes as before, as she calmly watches her victim topple to the ground lifeless. Sebastian runs past her scooping her up and Owen follows them into the hangar, where moments later, the roll doors open up and a large balloon starts to fill itself as Owen and Sebastian let fly a beacon that rises into the air. Moments later, Owen and Sebastian drag a basket out of the hangar, and put Darina inside before climbing in behind her and clipping the tethers from the beacon to the roll cage bars of the basket as it starts to slowly rise into the air with it's passengers safely inside. The scene fades back to Owen's Journal as a large airplane flies low over the airstrip and the basket launches into the air behind it as the plane climbs back into the sky high above.
“We nearly bought it. We were trying to get to the runway to grab our ride home. The SOR had caught our trail and were on us for like two days straight... I think. I don't really remember how long we were running, but we were going for a long time. Sebastian and I were worried about Darina, but she kept up just fine. Saved our asses again. I have never seen anyone like her in all my life. To think she is so young... and to have lived just the last few days... I don't know. I saw that look in her eye... when she stabbed that Korean. It was...”
The scene fades back in to the cargo hold in the back of the airplane that would take Sebastian, Owen, and their new addition to the team back to the States, where it was relatively safe and warm, and no one was trying to actively kill them on sight. The door to the front of the plane opens, and a large man in a combat style jumpsuit steps into the hold as the bay door closes the last few inches and Sebastian and Owen are unloading their gear from the steel basket that helped them escape sure death at the hand of the Koreans.
“Well boys... did you get the information that we needed?” he asks them in a very serious tone.
“Yes sir, we did.” Sebastian says as he tosses the small black bag to the man. “You'll find everything you need on those rolls of film there.”
Just then, Owen pulls Darina from the basket and sets her on her feet in the hold.
“What the hell is THAT?” asks the man surprised to find a child in tow with his mercenaries aboard his plane leaving Korean Airspace.
“That.. is Darina, and she is coming with us.” Sebastian states plainly as the man looks on in shock and the scene fades to black.