by Shouji Gatou
“Um... What is all this?” she asked.
The apparent leader smiled faintly, but didn’t respond.
She was taken from the jeep and led toward the black trailer. Inside, it was packed with electronic and medical devices. She saw a sort of drum large enough to hold a person, various modules connected by a confusion of cords, and a computer with exposed circuit boards. Kaname couldn’t begin to guess what it was all for. A woman in a lab coat stood in front of a console. “Is this her?” she asked.
“Yes. Begin the tests at once,” the apparent leader responded.
“Tests?” Kaname asked nervously. “What are you—”
“Put this on.” The woman cut Kaname off, and held out a blue hospital gown.
“Why should I?” Kaname demanded.
“Your uniform has metal in it. If your bra has hooks, you’ll need to take that off, too,” the woman said, ignoring her question. “Basically, anything metallic has to go.” The woman’s Japanese was perfect. Almost all of the terrorists, including the ‘leader,’ appeared to be Japanese.
What in the world is going on? Kaname wondered. “Um... Are you going to take X-rays or something?”
“Something like that, but far more advanced. PETs, MRIs, MEGs with SQUIDs... Then I’ll be measuring your NILS response,” the woman told her. “This is all preparation for that.”
Kaname’s mind blanked on most of those words. “They said they were filming a PR video.”
“They’re not,” the woman said. “Get changed.”
“No,” Kaname protested. “Why should I—” A second later, she felt a sharp pain in her neck, and lost consciousness.
“That should speed things up. Now get her undressed,” Gauron said. He was holding Kaname’s weight with one arm after knocking her out with a stun gun.
“Be careful with her!” the woman admonished him. “What if this affects the tests?”
“We don’t require that degree of precision,” he told her. “We just need to know if she’s the real thing or not.”
The woman shot Gauron a scornful glance. “How blissfully ignorant of you. You don’t even understand what Whispered are, or their importance.”
“Oh, but we do,” he told her.
“Do you?” the woman questioned. “That’s hard to believe from the man who brought that top-secret Codarl along...”
“Incomplete though it is, that one machine could fend off a whole battalion,” Gauron argued. “It’s a necessary precaution, in case our hosts have a change of heart.”
“You’re really quite a coward, for someone living on borrowed time—”
Suddenly, Gauron tossed Kaname aside to grab the woman by the throat.
“Hnn...” she squealed.
“Don’t push your luck, pig,” His tone was ice cold, but there was a note of enjoyment in it as well. “Just keep quiet and do as you’re told. Or do you enjoy angering me and forcing my hand? Do you?”
He continued to choke her. Her eyes filled with tears and she let out a wheeze, like pain mixed with ecstasy. Gauron clicked his tongue and relaxed his grip, then shoved the woman against the console. “When will you have the results?” he asked, looking down on her.
“Tomorrow morning,” she managed to say, through fits of violent coughing.
“That’s too long. Can’t you speed it up?”
“Even if I... use drugs...” she croaked, “they won’t take effect for... at least six hours. And there are tests and... procedures to be done first...”
“Hurry, then. If I think you’re wasting time, I’ll kill you, too,” Gauron snapped, then left the trailer.
Thankfully, the three men didn’t seem to notice Sousuke among the bags. They passed by, so close he could have reached out and touched them. From the corner of his eye, he could make out their backs. The suits they wore suggested that they weren’t soldiers from the base, but terrorists who’d come mixed in with the passengers.
“Where is it?” one asked. He was speaking Japanese.
“Should be around here. It’s the only yellow container... ah, there it is.”
They seemed to have business inside the cargo hold. Sousuke could hear the container roll out on the ball bearings that covered the floor.
“There’s no chance of it going off, right?”
“Of course not. It’s perfectly safe until triggered manually.”
He heard them open the container. One of the men whistled when he saw what was inside. “Would you look at that. Didn’t think it’d be so big...”
“In case we need to activate it on land, I guess. You’d need this much to be sure... Now, get around behind it. You’ll see a red cord; remove the jack insulator tape and plug it into the socket marked ‘three.’”
“Found it. Plugging in now.”
“Hold on. Let me get things ready here... There. Okay, now plug it in.”
Sousuke heard a click followed by three soft electronic beeps.
“Did that do it?”
“That did it. Now don’t touch anything else, and don’t use your radios within thirty meters.”
The men closed the container and returned it to its original position. Their business apparently complete, they dusted off their suit jackets and headed back to the cargo doors.
“Who knows about this?” one asked as they went.
“Just you, me, Sakamoto, and the boss. None of the Koreans.”
“Ahh... Well, it feels like a waste. All those feisty high school girls up there... I’d love to take one out and really give it to her. It’s not as if they’re gonna count the bodies—”
“Don’t be stupid. That would tip off the locals, and the boss would kill you.”
“Only if he found out.”
“Then I’d report you. I don’t want the boss to kill me.”
“Fine, I’m just kidding anyway...”
The terrorists left and the cargo doors closed. The hold sank into darkness again.
What were they doing here? And what did he mean, “count the bodies”? Sousuke pulled out the yellow container the terrorists had been discussing. Then after a moment’s hesitation, he opened it. His penlight revealed the contents inside, and he gasped. Damn them...
Inside was a bomb—a massive bomb.
There were two tanks, 1.5 meters tall, and filled with explosives—the binary liquid kind, most likely, the same stuff used in an AS’s rifle. Beside the tanks sat a case with a small electronic circuit inside, and what looked like two backups.
The red light was on—the bomb was armed. This much high explosive, if detonated, would blow the plane to smithereens. A single press of a button from one of the terrorists in the airfield, and all four-hundred-something passengers would be dead.
Sousuke doubted that he could disarm or disable it. He knew more about bombs than most soldiers, but he wasn’t exactly a specialist, and he didn’t have any of the tools that he’d need for testing and disarmament. If he messed with it too much, he would just end up setting it off.
They’re going to blow up the passengers to cover up the kidnapping? he thought. If the hostage group made it back to Japan and Chidori Kaname wasn’t with them, problems would arise. The Japanese government would seek her return, and North Korea would have to address the issue. That would be bad for the terrorists.
Instead, they’d send the jumbo jet back to Japan, then blow it up over the ocean. The government wouldn’t be able to confirm the bodies, so Chidori Kaname would be presumed dead. No one would even suspect that a kidnapping had occurred.
This plan would put the North Korean government in a difficult position, but it probably wouldn’t escalate to armed conflict; the terrorists had even taken that into account. What reason could they have to go to such lengths to abduct her and cover it up? Was whatever secret she possessed really worth the lives of hundreds of civilians?
“No...” That man just loved killing people; that was the only way he could ever have conceived of this scheme.
Sousuke closed t
he container and returned it to its original location, then moved swiftly in the direction of the nose of the plane. Deeper in the cargo hold was a door to the front landing gear storage. If he could scale down the wheel from there, he could escape the plane safely. He had to contact the de Danaan.
A cylindrical coffin—that was the best way to describe the device Kaname found herself in. It had walls made from plexiglass that looked brand new. From time to time, the platform she was lying on moved, letting out a low hum.
Kaname’s head was fixed in place with a strap, and she was wearing a goggle-like head-mounted display. Its screen kept showing her symbols and pictures, one strange image after another. A star, a circle, a square, a tree, a bottle, a stick... Occasionally, she’d see an image that looked vaguely obscene.
She found herself yawning. She couldn’t help it; she’d been lying there for close to an hour.
“Don’t sleep,” the doctor said.
“Yeah, yeah...” Kaname groaned back.
After being knocked out, she’d awakened to find herself strapped to this machine, wearing nothing but a blue hospital gown. Even her bra was gone—she was about to start kicking and screaming when she thought about it being removed in front of that man, but the woman reassured her that she had been the only one present.
Rationally, she thought, I should be more afraid than I am. I’ve been isolated in a crisis situation. And that terrorist... he was really going to shoot Ms. Kagurazaka. If Sagara Sousuke hadn’t dropped that cup then, something really awful might have happened...
The hand of death. That long-forgotten sensation she had first felt when witnessing her mother’s death was reviving, slowly but surely, inside of her. “No one in this world is invincible,” it told her. “You could be the next to go.”
That’s right, Kaname realized. I might never make it home...
In a storehouse on the edge of the airfield, 500 meters from the plane, Sousuke unfolded the antenna on his satellite communicator. He looked at his compass watch, made a few simple calculations, then pointed the antenna toward the southern sky. He put on his headset and tapped a few things on the keypad. Five seconds later, he was connected to Mithril’s West Pacific base, which was 3,000 kilometers away.
“Yes?” It was a woman, an officer in charge of communications. He’d talked with her several times before.
“This is Uruz-7 of the de Danaan. Sergeant Sagara, B-3128.”
“Confirmed. Sousuke, are you all right?”
“Affirmative, Shinohara,” he said. “Can you put me through to the Tuatha de Danaan?”
“Yes, just a minute.” The transmission cut off. She was forwarding the satellite signal, putting him through to where the Tuatha de Danaan was now, hiding somewhere in the ocean.
“Sagara-san, are you all right?” It was another woman’s voice—Teletha Testarossa, their commander-in-chief.
“Affirmative, Colonel, ma’am.”
It was an absurdly formal way to talk to a girl his own age. But to a mere NCO like Sousuke, Colonel Testarossa was on an entire other plane of existence. She was the captain of their vessel—he didn’t know why she was also their commander-in-chief, but regardless, she was someone to whom even Major Kalinin paid respect. She must possess incredible intelligence and leadership.
“Good. Hold on a minute.” Her voice grew more distant. “Major?”
A man’s voice took over. “Sergeant Sagara, this is Kalinin. Report.”
“I’m at Sunan Airfield,” Sousuke answered. “There are roughly two factions of hostiles: one, a Japanese organization that perpetrated the hijacking; I believe the other is the local military. As far as I can tell, the base’s security level is low. Their forces include...”
He outlined everything he’d learned about the base from his hour and a half of recon since escaping the jumbo jet: what parts of the facility were active, the number of security forces, the morale and discipline of the soldiers... He gave them information about the plane’s location and situation, as well.
The two officers listened calmly to his explanation and pressed for more information on the most vital points. The revelation that Chidori Kaname had been taken didn’t change their responses. But when he told them about the bomb in the cargo hold, Tessa’s voice became tense. “What did you say?”
“It looks extremely difficult to disarm,” Sousuke told her. “I can’t do it with what I have on hand.”
“Understood,” Tessa said at length. “We’ll find a way to deal with it ourselves.”
“Ma’am,” he responded in acknowledgment.
“Sergeant. Do you happen to know where Chidori is?” Kalinin asked.
“I don’t,” Sousuke answered. “I’m going to search for her after this, but I don’t even know if she’s still at the airfield.”
“See if you can find her, but don’t put yourself at risk,” Kalinin ordered. “We’ll be needing you to create a diversion.” It sounded like the de Danaan was planning a rescue—and that they were prioritizing the safety of the people on the plane over Kaname.
“Roger that,” Sousuke said after processing that.
“Your information has given us a number of insights,” Kalinin continued. “We’re going to formulate a plan now. Contact us again soon. Make it...”
“2200 hours local time,” Tessa said.
“As she said, Sergeant Sagara.”
“Roger. I’ll contact you at 2200 hours. And Major, sir...”
“Yes?”
“The leader of the hijackers is Gauron,” Sousuke said. On the other end of the line, the major fell silent. “He’s acting very differently than he did when we fought him. But it’s him, I’m sure of it.” When Sousuke said ‘we,’ he didn’t mean Mithril—This fight had taken place before Kalinin and Sousuke joined that organization.
“I thought he was dead,” Kalinin said.
“He must have survived,” Sousuke told him grimly. “He has a scar where I shot him in the forehead.”
“Did he recognize you, then?” the major asked.
“No. My appearance has changed too much, I think.” Back then, Sousuke’s hair had been longer; he’d been scrawnier and smaller, and more tanned. That was probably why Gauron hadn’t recognized him.
“All right. I admit, the bomb and all... it does sound like something he’d do. Remain vigilant,” Kalinin ordered.
“Roger that. Ending transmission.” Sousuke turned off the communicator and folded up the antenna. He put his things away and was just about to move, when—
“Hold still,” said a voice, in slightly accented Japanese. From behind him, there came the sound of a gun cocking.
28 April, 2032 Hours (Japan/North Korea Standard Time)
Corridor, 3rd Deck, Tuatha de Danaan, Periscope Depth, Yellow Sea
“What was that all about?” Tessa asked Kalinin as they walked down the hallway to the planning room.
“Gauron, you mean?”
“I would appreciate an explanation.” She stopped, back to the door, facing Kalinin.
“He’s a dangerous terrorist,” the man eventually admitted. His tone was heavy. “His name is a derivation from the Chinese Jiǔ Lóng, ‘Nine dragons’; it’s said to come from the fact that he has citizenship in nine countries. He’s been tied to over thirty VIP assassinations and at least two aircraft detonations, yet he remains virtually unknown in Western counter-terror circles.”
Tessa recalled that Kalinin had once been part of the Soviet special forces.
“Sergeant Sagara and I faced off against Gauron before we joined Mithril,” Kalinin went on. “That was several years back... We were on the run from the KGB, and we ended up taking shelter with Islamic guerrillas in Afghanistan.”
Tessa knew this story: Andrey Kalinin had been caught up in an intrigue concocted by the Soviet military and the KGB, and they were still after him, even now.
“The KGB hired Gauron to bring me in. One day, while I was out, he brought two arm slaves and attacked the guerrilla vill
age. As the guerrillas had no ASes of their own, he all but annihilated them.”
Tessa said nothing. ASes were currently the world’s most advanced land weapons. Unlike tanks, they could work in just about any terrain—jungles, mountains, anything—and infantry were effectively helpless before them.
“Many people died, including innocent children. It wouldn’t have happened if I’d been there.”
“What then?” she asked.
“I swore revenge,” Kalinin answered. “My chance would come two weeks later—Gauron was pursuing me through the mountains of Pakistan. We set up an ambush: I played the decoy and Sousuke sniped him. Complications ensued, but eventually, Sousuke put Gauron down.”
“Except that he didn’t,” Tessa observed.
“It does appear that way.”
“He must be a brutal man.”
“Indeed,” Kalinin confirmed.
She couldn’t believe anyone would kill hundreds of innocent people, just to cover up a kidnapping. Yet this man was going to do just that. If not for Sousuke’s report, they might have walked into the worst outcome imaginable. It’s like he’s mocking me for thinking about waiting for the hostages’ release... she thought.
“Perfect, then,” Tessa said with a cold smile. “It seems this Gauron person has amassed quite a debt to be collected.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Tessa typically acted quite warm and laid-back, but at times like these, her true self rose to the surface, like ice. It was at such times that she revealed herself to be of a kind with Kalinin and Sousuke—of a kind, even, with Gauron. But perhaps that was inevitable—After all, Teletha Testarossa controlled the Tuatha de Danaan, the strongest and most precise killing machine ever made. She could slaughter millions of innocents on a whim.
