Brothers in Arms

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Mai Kitano had been alone with Smyth on the Korean island for over four days. She came up with the phrase “alone with Smyth” and smiled to herself, relishing something for the first time since Drake left. It was bad enough being left alone with the irascible marine, but being alone after her recent time with Drake, and with the nuisance of being hunted all over the island, elevated the problem to “thorny.”

In truth, avoiding the Korean patrols wasn’t a hardship for either of them. They were both trained well beyond the level of their hunters and found no trouble in leaving no signs of their passing. The island was big enough to accommodate all of them.

Now, however, Mai had decided enough was enough. They had gotten nowhere in four days of waffling with Dai Hibiki and it was time to confront and take down this entire operation.

“Just you and I?” Smyth had growled.

“I’ll do it myself if I have to.” Mai had strode off among the trees, mind made up, already planning her route back to the lab and what she would say to Hibiki at their loosely prearranged meeting.

They could no longer sit by and wait for something to happen. It was time to act.

Now, Mai and Smyth lay on the cold, hard ground, concealed amidst a thorny tangle of brush, casting their eyes over the facility they had come to know so well. A stiff breeze whipped spray and sea salt over them like so much frosting.

“There.” Mai saw Hibiki ambling over to the trees, cigarette in hand, and shuffled forward until he came into earshot. “Staying safe, nakama?”

“Something has happened.” Hibiki took a long drag and then flicked ash at the breeze. “All hell has broken loose in the U.S. it seems. The big players are getting out.”

“Right now?” Mai gave a proverbial nod to Hayden and Dahl, Alicia and Drake. It had to be them. “Then this island needs wrapping up,” she said firmly. “To be handed over as one big, neat present.”

“Too risky,” Hibiki said, echoing Smyth’s own argument.

Mai took a moment to ensure Hibiki met her eyes. “Is that the same man who helped me through the hell that was Tokyo Coscon speaking? Or his broken shadow?”

“No. It’s his older, wiser self. This island’s days are limited, Mai.”

“Agreed. But every hour that passes means sixty minutes more agony for the captives behind you. It means another hour when we don’t know what the hell is going on, when we could find out something that may help our friends. And it means the North Koreans have more time to destroy this place, wiping out all the evidence.”

“To do that they’d have to sink it into the ocean—” Hibiki began, slightly scoffing, and then suddenly stopped talking. “An act well within their capabilities.”

Smyth had joined them by now. “Sounds like Mai has a point.”

Hibiki flicked his cigarette away as Mai and Smyth emerged from the undergrowth, weapons at the ready.

“Follow me.”

Hibiki led the way inside the facility, confident that at this late hour the doctors and guards would be sleeping. Even so, he assessed every corner and corridor before he led them on and utilized every blind spot he’d exposed in the surveillance system.

At length, the three soldiers entered the main lab, Mai and Smyth for the first time. Several observations hit them at once.

The machinery was state-of-the-art, brand new, gleaming. The startling scent of sterilization fluid stung their eyes. The patients were all strapped down to their gurneys, but shuffling and twitching as if locked in some nightmare they could never escape. Unknown instruments were scattered everywhere, some on metal tables, others balanced on wheeled trolleys, some humming and others gyrating. A snaking web of rubber and plastic tubes stretched from machine to human like a horrifying snare, a dreadful trap designed by madmen and exploited by psychotic dictators.

At the far end of the lab, a large, metal wheel marked the doorway to a vault.

“Weapons room.” Hibiki followed their stares. “And when I say special weapons, I really mean it. I’ve seen some of them now. The AICW? Prototype rifle? It’s now called the Xm-25. A computerized multiple grenade launcher and it’s not a prototype anymore. And there’s a tested railgun in there, just for fun, and the blueprints to the DREAD silent weapons system.” He paused, noting their lack of recognition. “We’re talking one hundred and twenty thousand rounds a minute here.”

Mai marched over to the nearest patient. Smyth scanned the walls. “No cameras in here?”

Hibiki just laughed at him.

Mai touched one of the tubes gently. “This is a feeding tube. These people are kept in this state for days clearly.”

“Mai.” Hibiki’s tone made her turn immediately. “They’re kept like that for months.”

“What?”

“I know this — these patients have been put into something deeper than the deepest sleep. It’s some kind of neurological trance. They call it FX37. And all the doctors who work here? They’re neuro-psychiatrists.”

Mai shook her head. “What?”

Hibiki pointed out a bank of TV screens. “See those monitors? They measure brainwaves.”

“Put a lid on the damn bullshit,” Smyth grouched. “Speak English for God’s sake.”

“Have you heard the term ‘hypnotic trance’ before?”

“Oh yeah. Got it done to me in Vegas one time.”

Mai raised an eyebrow. “I bet that was fun for everyone.”

“Well this is more like a massively enhanced, technically brilliant version of that,” Hibiki said. “And it is being put to a terrible use. These people…once they’re wakened and rehabilitated…they will never find their old selves again. Only the thing they have been brainwashed to believe they are.”

“You’re saying captives are being brought to this island, brainwashed, and then sent back out into the world, mostly to America? For what?” Smyth nervously adjusted his grip on the gun he carried.

Hibiki spread his arms in an all-encompassing gesture. “For anything. You have only to listen to North Korea’s news statements to know what they would like to do to America.”

“This all started with you overhearing a comment regarding that senator,” Mai mused. “I wonder what happened to him.”

“We are working blind,” Hibiki admitted.

“How’s the comms room?”

“Last I heard, they had restored all communications. The fire did not destroy anything vital.”

“We should go—”

At that moment there was the sound of many rushing feet. Mai and Smyth raised their weapons. Figures began to run past the lab windows, all jingling and jangling with guns and ammo, medals and camo fatigues.

The door burst open. The windows were covered from outside. Over thirty troops with steady weapons covered them. It had all happened very quickly. Mai glanced sidelong toward Hibiki as she lowered her weapon.

His expression took on an air of hurt.

A short man, stocky and puffed up with self-importance pushed his way into the room. A big smile turned a pudding-like face into Halloween tapioca.

“We have suspected Hibiki for some time.” He sounded practically gleeful. “And allowed him to betray us further in hopes of attracting a bigger fish. But this…” His smile broadened even farther. “This will have to do. The legendary Mai Kitano. I have heard of you. Welcome to the end of your life.”