When the enemy had stared at him, it seemed to last an eternity. Masking his fury in a calm, albeit slightly ruffled exterior took every bit of Sousuke's willpower.
Taking a moment to collect himself, Sousuke stretched his back. He would have to act quickly: Kaname Chidori was in the enemy's hands now.
There were no soldiers standing guard inside the plane—they mostly lurked around the outside of the plane, making sure no one exited. The plane was out of fuel, so there was no risk of it simply taking off. And there was no way of contacting the outside world, considering that Gauron had destroyed the plane's long-range communication equipment. Indeed, the jumbo jet made a great prison.
Sousuke needed to break out.
If he could just make it to his own luggage, he would be able to contact his allies and resume his search for Kaname.
Being careful to make sure no one was looking, Sousuke crawled into the galley elevator and lowered himself down a shaft into the cargo hold.
Cutting through the darkness with a penlight from his pocket, Sousuke searched through the large containers of luggage.
After looking through at least a dozen large containers full of bags, he found his own. He discarded the change of clothes and toiletry set; eventually, his hands found what he wanted—a high– powered satellite communication device with an attached codec.
Happily, Sousuke also retrieved a twenty-thousand volt stun gun from the bag. It was enough to incapacitate an average man with just one zap. He thrust a few survival items into his pockets and lamented failing to pack any guns or knives.
As Sousuke slung the gear over his shoulder and started to close the container, a shrill noise caught his attention.
Somebody was opening the luggage-loading door!
Quickly, Sousuke closed the lid to the container and hurried away, making a dive into the shadows of a large stack of bags as several men shuffled through the door.
Sousuke really wanted to look at the men, but he opted to remain safely hidden, instead. All he could do was bury himself farther into the pile of bags and try to breathe less conspicuously.
Of course, the men headed right toward him—purposefully, with guns clinking against metal belts. Sousuke counted: one, two, three men. He assumed they were trained for combat.
If they found him, he would have no choice but to fight, although he didn't like the odds of going at them barehanded.
And he didn't even want to
A Jeep carried Kaname to a remote corner of the base.
A truck and two large trailers sat atop what appeared to be an out-of-use apron. Loud, buzzing generators rested on top of the truck, enabling lamps to bathe the whole area in mercury-colored light. Several men with machine guns stood guard in front of the trailers, which resembled TV relay vehicles.
"Excuse me, what is this?"
Without answering, Gauron smiled and escorted Kaname from the Jeep into one of the trailers, which was chock-full of elaborate electronic and medical equipment: pods and wires, computers and doo-dads.
From a desk near one of the computers, a woman in a white lab coat watched Kaname enter. "Is that her?"
"Yes. Start the tests right away," said Gauron.
"Tests?" said Kaname. "What exactly—"
"Put this on," commanded the woman, handing Kaname a blue hospital gown.
"Why?"
"Your uniform has metal buttons on it," answered the scientist in perfect Japanese. "Also, if your bra has any hooks on it, you'll need to take that off, too."
"Are you going to take an X-ray?"
"Something like that but much more advanced: PET, MRI, MEG from SQUID. We'll also need to take some NILS reaction measurements. At least, for now."
It was all Greek to Kaname. "I thought I was making a video."
"Hurry up and get changed," urged the woman.
"No. This is ludicrous! Why should I—"
A sharp pain ran through the nape of Kaname's neck, and she fell unconscious.
"That was taking forever," complained Gauron, holding the unconscious girl upright. "Now help me get her clothes off."
"Idiot! What if that affects the tests?"
"Don't worry about it. We just need to know whether she's the real thing."
The scientist mad-dogged Gauron. "You don't understand what the Whispered are or how important they are."
"I do so," insisted Gauron.
"Well, I suppose you may, considering you brought the highly classified Codarl with you."
"Even in its current unfinished state, I could take on a whole battalion with that thing. But it's just a precaution—in case our gracious hosts here change their minds."
"That's awfully cowardly of you. You must know your days are numbered."
Gauron let Kaname crash to the floor.
His right hand shot out and grabbed the woman's throat.
