Chapter 10

This is going to finish me off … my head was still hurting from the first time. What's it going to feel like coming out of this a second time in less than an hour? The well dives compound slightly, but that's with a significant buffer, that's obvious now. Being actually asleep, more or less, also clearly has a positive impact. Hope I didn't hit my head. If I did, would I even wake up? That would be a rather serious inconvenience.

Akihito lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling of the chamber and watching the reflections off the ripples dance.

"I'm sorry … " her voice came from a short distance off to his left. "But … "

He heaved a drawn out sigh. "What is it now?" Was it even worth sitting up? It felt kind of nice lying there with the tiny waves caressing his bare arms. Sort of like the calming effect of waves at the beach on a warm summer day. It had been way too long since he had felt that. Now that he thought about it, way too long since he had felt much of anything besides numbness or the residual agony of a well death … or getting shot in the gut.

Yup … this is the life.

Kiki appeared over him looking down pensively, framed by her long black hair. No words left her.

Akihito muttered without energy, "You know what you did."

She grabbed her elbows and bit her lip for a heavy moment. "There was no other way, he had to be stopped. It was the sole path I could see to achieve that end. If I could have reached him, I would have done it myself …" her voice dropped to a mere whisper, "to protect you." She hugged herself tighter. "But, I didn't bring you here again because of that …, Akihito, there is … something else."

He shut his eyes. "How can this day possibly get any worse?" Too late he realized he shouldn't have asked that.

Kneeling down she laid a hand in the center of his chest. That hand felt far heavier than it had any right being. "We don't have long. And I wish I didn't have to pull you here again... I can feel your pain."Her hand hovered over his head. At least here it didn't hurt, but it was going to become migraine central soon enough. "Before you entered the office, Hirai sent his sergeant down to the Wellside with the bomb and he also took Kokufu. When the soldier reached the Wellside, before he pulled the trigger on himself, he set the timer … the clock is ticking. You have to hurry."

"Heh heh." He rocked his head back and forth in the embrace of the water. "I'll be lucky if I can see straight for the next five minutes after coming to. And you want me to defuse a bomb? Kiki—I don't know how to do that."

"Find someone who does … or … "

The words he'd used on Momoki came back to him. "All those lives will be lost … shit." He took a deep breath and braced himself. It wasn't like he had a choice … well, he did, but letting everyone else die was really not an option in his mind. This time he could only serve as a messenger. "Ok fine … send me back."

She bent down and laid her head against his chest. "Again, I am really sorry. I don't mean to hurt you."

"Yeah, I know. That is the intention of a lot of people … but, I guess it's just my lot."

~ID~

Narihisago twitched a couple times beneath Momoki's hand before he curled into the fetal position, wailing out incoherently as he grasped his head. The nosebleed, to Momoki's dismay renewed itself. The handkerchief dropped in the motion, all he could do was keep a hand in contact with him as an anchor, hoping the pressure let him know this was real.

Itoh took a step back in shock, joined by a couple of the security staff. To Momoki's relief, Soma knelt down and offered his own hand to Narihisago's shoulder, true concern in his eyes. The rest of the Wellside crew remained close, but out of the way. Fukuda gripped his own elbows, biting his lip and trying to look away but failing.

After close to a minute, Narihisago's frantic cries dwindled to a whimper. He blindly climbed up Momoki's arm, panting and on the verge of dry heaving. Droplets of blood fell onto his suit sleeve before Momoki moved the handkerchief to help catch most of it. "Easy, just keep breathing. It'll pass."

"No … time … " He stuttered before a dry heave stole his efforts to speak.

It surprised Momoki how desperately he clung, fighting to open his eyes before snapping them shut again.

Snatches of words came out in an unintelligible muddle.

"Narihisago slow down. What was that?" It sounded important, but he couldn't catch enough to make any sense.

Shakily he pointed out the door, "Go … Wellside … Bomb … Timer set … Kokufu's there." The tension left his arms and he fell slack into Momoki, practically laying against his shoulder. The toll had claimed him.

No time for shock, it was time for a leader. Momoki snapped up at Itoh. "Does anyone know how to disarm a bomb? Quick! Anyone!"

The man looked back at him in a daze.

Utterly useless.

Soma rose to his feet already turning. "I was on a bomb squad before. I'll go." Right behind him Hagashi peeled off, racing down the hall.

Relieved, Momoki rested a hand on Narihisago's back. "I should have said this earlier, but good work. We owe you our lives."

The only response was a slight lift of his head before it fell limp, back against his arm.

"Take it easy. They got this now."

Shiratake picked up the walkie talkie off the desk. "Hopefully they'll find one of these down there and we'll know when this whole fracas is over. Hope that Kokufu is ok."

"He's got a sound head on his shoulders." Togo glanced at the doorway. "I'm sure he's made it this far."

Shifting behind the chair, Fukuda tried to step closer.

Itoh snapped to him, "Back up!"

Slowly, Fukuda lifted his hands. "It's ok, man. I just wanted to know if Narihisago's alright."

"Yeah." His voice was muffled by Momoki's sleeve before he pushed up, dragging the back of his hand beneath his nose. He blinked at the smear of blood and hung his head. "Kiki and I have got to talk about this … uuuggg."

Momoki offered his handkerchief. "Headache?"

"Splitting. But … the room stopped spinning." Pinching his nose altered his voice. "The worst seems to have passed, if it's anything like before."

"You're still shaking. Turn around, lean against me til that stops."

Gingerly, Narihisago shifted around so he could lay his head back against Momoki's shoulder, staring at the ceiling while holding the offered handkerchief tight over his nose. His weight sagged against him, still trembling and closing his eyes tight. "Heh … probably gonna end up with narcolepsy after this. That's all I need, another issue on top of everything else."

Fukuda tapped his chin. "Bright side, maybe it'll counter your insomnia."

"Somehow I doubt it." A shiver rippled through him, his eyes darting to the left ring finger before clenching tightly. The curse almost inaudible, "Damn it." He pulled the handkerchief back and swiftly muttered. "Uhhh, come on stop."

But it already had. Momoki raised an eyebrow, the bleeder wasn't why he'd swore.

Keeping his voice down, Momoki asked, "Something happened last night that set you off … don't think I haven't caught the signs. What was it?"

Narihisago's eyes glanced at him to the side. He dropped the charade and lowered the handkerchief to his lap, his gaze followed to the fingers rubbing the ring finger of his left hand. "I don't want her to, but she's … she's trying to help me by restoring my memories … the ones that … " he shook his head, "the ones that remind me of everything I've lost. Last night … it was," his voice cracked, "the engagement."

For a moment, Momoki held his breath.

"Before it had just been dreams … random bits that would wake me up in the middle of the night. Reminders that weren't … they weren't quite right. I always knew that for some reason something had altered them."

Fukuda broke the silence. "That explains a whole lot."

"What does?" Narihisago glanced his way, a slight edge creeping into his voice.

"Man, do you have any idea the shit you say in your sleep before you wake up?"

"Of course I don't. I'm asleep, you idiot."

Flashing a lazy grin, Fukuda pointed across the room. "There's an easy fix. I'm tellin' ya. All you need is—"

Narihisago glared at him. "Seriously? You're gonna suggest drilling a hole in the head of guy who already has a splitting headache? You're even crazier than I thought."

"Hey, don't knock it til you tried it."

"I don't want a lobotomy. With my luck it would make shit worse."

"Come on."

"No! Personally I think one serial killer screwing with my head is enough for one lifetime."

Momoki rolled his eyes, but at least Narihisago was holding a conversation and squinting more out of annoyance verses pain.

~ID~

"Damn … ," Hagashi stared at the two bodies lying in the hallway in a pool of blood. The muzzles of their handguns aimed at one another. "He was right. Every single one of these bastards is dead."

Soma waved a hand looking toward the open door. "Thankfully. Can you imagine if we had to face these militant psychos without our guns?"

"Hey, you really know how to dismantle a bomb?"

"Depends."

"On what?"

"How they made it."

A voice called out through the door. "Soma? Is that you?"

Instantly he speed up, tearing around the corner to find Kokufu cuffed to a Wellside stair railing. His expression instantly relaxed. Soma cast his gaze around the room looking for something out of place, there was a soldier slumped against the wall with a gaping hole in his head not far from the chief. "Where's the bomb?"

Kokufu lifted his chin toward the upper railing, above the door. "Hurry. I don't know how long he set the timer for."

Racing up the stairs, Soma knelt down next to the C-4 bomb clamped with metal to the railing. Military grade indeed. More than enough to level the whole complex. Approximately three minutes left on the timer. Military grade … this was beyond him.

Beneath him, Hagashi grabbed the knife from the corpse and cut Kokufu free from the zip tie cuffs. "You ok, Chief?"

"I've had better days." He rubbed his wrists. "But very glad to see you two. Ok, what do we got?" He was surprisingly calm considering their circumstances.

"A problem." Soma leaned closer. "This is some serious stuff. Disarming it isn't going to happen in the three minutes we have left."

"So, … we need to evacuate?"

"The main entrance is booby trapped. They probably got the other ones too." The gears turned on an idea. "Hold on … Hagashi, come with me."

"Where too?"

He was already running down the hall, calling over his shoulder, "I need help carrying a tank."

"Of what?"

Soma grinned. "Liquid nitrogen!"

Sure enough, when he opened the specialized storage closet there they were. Tanks of the stuff. Coolant for the computer server. He'd stumbled on the closet while performing rounds one night. "Alright, one of you babies is about to be sacrificed to save our asses."

There were large and unwieldy, but insulated. Without a word Hagashi grabbed one end, and he took the other. They hefted it up onto their shoulders and hiked it back down the hall to the Wellside room, grunting as they climbed the stairs.

Soma cracked the seal. "Ok, get out of the way. No time to disconnect those clamps, I'm just gonna tip this sucker onto the rail."

Kokufu and Hagashi backed up to the opposite side of the room and watched.

Pushing it over, Soma dropped the lip against the top rail, a stream of subzero liquid poured down over the C-4, timer and all. Ice crystals sprang everywhere as a huge cloud formed.

"Won't that break the timer?" Kokufu scratched his head.

As if on cue, a loud cracking sound made them all jump.

"Won't matter." Some shrugged. "Sucker's frozen solid. If not permanently disabled thanks to the timer breaking, we just bought ourselves hours to deal with this piece of shit."

"Where did you learn that trick?"

Soma grinned. "Saw it in a movie once. Course, they said it only bought a few seconds. Haha, turns out the scriptwriters were wrong when some show tested out their movie magic. Even if it had a remote trigger, it can't detonate for a long time. But you know action movies, they love their tension."