Brink of Chaos Read Online Free

Ethan. “It’ll just be a minute.”
    The two men walked across the parking lot to a point about thirty feet away and stopped.
    Han’s back was to Ethan, who was at the exit door, studying him and nervously rolling the baseball that he still had in his hand. Ethan glanced down at his watch and muttered to himself, “Come on, Josh, don’t do this to me. Let’s get out of here.”
    Han Suk Yong was struggling to keep a tight-lipped smile, as if his face had been fashioned out of metal. “You don’t know me, do you?”
    Joshua noticed that Han’s right hand had now been slipped into his right coat pocket.
    “No, I’m afraid I don’t,” Joshua replied.
    “I am the man who will be the hero of my country.”
    “South Korea?” Joshua asked.
    The metallic smile vanished from Han’s face. “No, not this nation of dogs.” Then he spit on the ground in disgust. “No, I speak of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. North Korea, Mr. Jordan. The honorable nation whose ship you blasted into a ball of fire with your RTS device”.
    Joshua glanced down at the man’s press badge. It read “Han Suk Yong.” As he thought about the name, he flashed back to the Pentagon briefing after the unsuccessful missile attempt by North Korea. Though it was three years ago, he still remembered. How could he forget?
    Afterward, he had been given the classified details of the ship that had launched the nukes at New York City. That vessel,
The Daedong
, and its entire crew were vaporized when the guidance systems of the missiles it launched were reversed by Joshua’s RTS system and the nukes were looped back to the ship. Joshua recalled the name of the captain of that ill-fated vessel.
Han Suk
.
    “You are related to the captain,” Joshua began to ask, “who was —”
    That is when Han pulled out his handgun and pointed it at Joshua’s chest. “You will not speak the name of my father. You are not worthy to have my honorable, departed father’s name on your filthy American lips”.
    From his position at the exit door, thirty feet away, Ethan could see the look on Joshua’s face. Ethan could see he was in trouble. Ethan moved quickly to one side to get a better look. He saw something in Han’s hand. Joshua tried to shake his head no, warning Ethan not to get closer, but Han caught that. He whispered to Joshua in a guttural voice, “Tell him not to come any closer.”
    “Stay there,” Joshua shouted to Ethan who could now see something shaped like a clip-loaded revolver in Han’s hand. His mind was whirling. He had to figure out a plan. In milliseconds.
If I rush this guy, he’ll get off a shot, point-blank. Right into Josh
.
    Thirty feet away, Han grunted to Joshua, “You’re going to die like the coward you are.” Han lifted his gun to the left quadrant of Joshua’s chest, directly at Joshua’s heart.
    Ethan muttered a single, desperate hope.
    Strike zone
.
    He gripped the seams of the baseball in his right hand, all one-hundred and eight red, double stitches. Ethan did a pitcher’s wind-up, kicked his leg up, and let fly with a ninety-four-mile-per-hour fastball. Han’s eyes darted to the side momentarily, as if he had noticed something. But it was too late. Ethan’s fastball buried itself with burning speed into the assassin’s left shoulder.
    Han screamed out in pain, his body went limp, and he began to crumple to the pavement. Joshua grabbed the gun out of Han’s hand and moved away from Han, who was now kneeling on the asphalt. In two seconds Ethan sprinted to the scene and jumped on the gunman, pinning him to the ground. He put him in a wrestler’s full nelson. “Josh!” he yelled. “Get security and have them call the cops. I’ll keep this guy quiet here.”
    Joshua glanced at the gun in his hand, then began to run back to the church building. As he did, he called back, “Nice pitching. You just earned your salary.”
    Ethan, still pinning Han down, shouted, “Actually, high and outside. And I