Chapter 14
Gel Sadra stared at the unconscious form of the Swan. What a shame! She had been hoping that it would be the Condor who would be at her tender mercies this evening. Still, the Swan was beautiful and accomplished. For years, Galactor Intelligence had been trying to confirm the persistent rumor that she had captured the Eagle's affections. Such a woman would be a force to be reckoned with.
Perhaps a man's touch wasn't what Gel Sadra needed at all.
The Galactor Leader picked up a syringe of her special truth serum. It wouldn't hurt to try it out, at least until she had captured the Condor as well.
"Mistress!" a green-uniformed solder came running into the room, "There is no response from the Guard Station at the Detention Area!"
Well, well, well. It seemed that her bait had been taken. Gel Sadra smiled to herself. Perhaps she wouldn't have to wait for the Condor after all.
"You know what to do with her." the Galactor Leader waved her hand at the Swan. "I'll be at the Detention Area." She swept from the room, leaving the breathless guard in her wake.
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A short while later, Ken and Joe came across one other prisoner, who looked to be in a significantly worse state than Sultan Ahmad. It was clear from the numerous cuts and bruises across his exposed skin that he had been tortured.
The man stared blankly at the wall, not indicating that he was aware of the ninjas' presence.
"Simon Murfitt…" whispered Ken.
The man scurried back into the corner, his eyes focusing on Ken in terror. But after a few moments, his body posture became slightly more relaxed, and a tear fell from his eye.
"Gatchaman…" he said in a choked voice. "You came…"
"Yes." Ken replied. He kept his voice calm to soothe the obviously distraught man. "We're taking you back to the ISO."
"No…" The prisoner stretched out his hand toward the Eagle. "You can't… it's a trap…"
An alarm klaxon began to sound. The noise echoed throughout the Detention Area.
"We're getting you out of here, now." Ken stated, showing no hint of surprise. "Just stay back from the door." Quickly, the Eagle placed explosives on the door's latch, while the Condor kept watch.
"What's going on at your end, Ryu?" Joe said quietly into his bracelet.
"I don't know!" Ryu's nervous voice came back. "I opened the Sultan's cell and this siren started going off!"
"We found Agent Murfitt. Hold on. We'll be there shortly." Joe ordered. A small detonation had opened the cell door, and the Eagle was helping Agent Murfitt out of the small room.
"Let's get out of here." he said to Joe.
"I'm way ahead of you." Joe's expression was grim.
The three men made it to Ryu and Sultan Ahmad's position within sixty seconds of the alarm sounding, but it was too late. A large contingent of troops appeared, headed by Gel Sadra herself. She was in such a rush to approach the Science Ninja Team that she nearly tripped over the prostrate body of Private Robinson, who had been left in an unceremonious heap in the center of the corridor after being used to open the Sultan's cell door.
Beside her was a man who looked familiar… but before the Eagle could identify him Sultan Ahmad had spoken.
"Vile imposter!" the Sultan hissed from behind Gatchaman's white wings. "How dare you stand so proudly while destroying what precious little my people have managed to build?"
The other man was indeed a mirror image of the Sultan. He began to laugh as he looked at Ahmad's bedraggled form.
"There would have been no need for me if you had simply cooperated with Galactor, when you were asked." he smirked. "But since you did not, now it is I who am enjoying the privileges that go along with the Sultan's position."
At last, Ken realized why the voice was familiar. It had been this man whom he had heard through the wall, on the top floor of the Palace.
"Enough, Haji!" Gel Sadra said, waving her hand. "We have more important matters to attend to. It appears that these birds have fallen into my trap as well!" The Galactor Leader gloated, her excitement at having captured three members of the Science Ninja Team evident on her smirking face.
"It's only a trap if you've prevented us from getting out." Ken stated in a calm voice. "I don't see any problem with that."
"You over-estimate yourself, Gatchaman." Gel Sadra sneered.
"We shall see." Ken's face remained mostly impassive, but Joe thought he detected a small smile under the Eagle's helmet.
Growing bored with the conversation, Joe let loose a flurry of feather shuriken and leapt directly at the opposing troops, knocking out three more goons with a flying kick before his feet even touched the ground.
The Eagle sighed in exasperation. The Condor had no patience.
"Protect Agent Murfitt and the Sultan!" Ken shouted at Ryu, before joining the fray. He threw his Bird Saucer around the room, where it proceeded to knock out at least half a dozen goons. The Eagle caught his weapon in his outstretched hand, even as his other arm punched nearby soldiers in the jaw. Ken turned to attack the false Sultan, only to see him on the ground, a feather shuriken protruding from his throat.
Gel Sadra appeared panicked. In only a few seconds, more than half of her troops were down. She turned, brushing past the Condor as she exited the room.
Joe growled as he saw her go by. Damn, he wanted to wring her scrawny neck. He still cringed at the thought of what she had put him through in Galactor's Ural Mountains base. The Condor owed Gel Sadra, and he wasn't about to let a debt remain unpaid. Unfortunately, a goon with a death wish charged at him, and the second it took to crush the man's skull with his fist cost Joe his opportunity.
The Eagle was already racing after Gel Sadra with his usual tunnel vision where she was concerned. Ken had never gotten over the fact that he had not been personally responsible for Berg Katse's demise, and that sense of guilt had carried over to Katse's successor. As a result, the Eagle sought every opportunity to chase after Gel Sadra, just as he had with her predecessor.
The Galactor Leader looked over her shoulder just enough to see her pursuer. Damn! Gel Sadra had hoped that it would be the Condor who followed her, and to that end she had purposely brushed by him on the way out.
On the other hand, while he wasn't the Condor, the Eagle might do nicely… yes… perhaps that could work… She was nearly at her laboratory now…
But before Gel Sadra could contemplate a new victim for her plan, she heard the soft whizzing noise that indicated that a Bird Saucer was headed toward her. She ducked into the laboratory, the Saucer missing her mask by only a hair's breadth.
Unfortunately, the Saucer didn't miss a cabinet on the wall: the cabinet that held her supply of truth serum.
Gel Sadra screamed in frustration as her alternate plan was smashed before her very eyes. Syringes and vials of truth serum fell to the floor, crashing and scattering shards of glass in every direction.
Fortunately, she had one last trick up her sleeve.
"You're mine, now, Gel Sadra!" Ken shouted, grabbing the Galactor Leader by the throat. "There is no escape for you this time!"
"Perhaps not, Gatchaman." she laughed, confident despite having the Eagle's hands around her neck. "But if you kill me, you're killing the Swan as well."
The astonished expression on the Eagle's face was almost worth having all of her truth serum destroyed. Almost.
"You're lying!" the Eagle hissed, as he tightened his grip on her neck.
"No, Gatchaman…" Gel Sadra reached out, stretching her fingers toward a button on a nearby control panel and pressing it lightly. An image appeared on the console monitor.
For a second, all the Eagle saw was the unconscious form of the Swan, lying on the ground. Then he realized that she appeared to be tied to something…
The railroad track in the Palace Compound.
Unconsciously, Gatchaman's grip on his enemy began to loosen as he realized what Gel Sadra had in mind.
"I got the idea from an old movie." the Galactor Leader smirked. "We'll see how long her Birdstyle lasts when it is crushed by a seventeen ton locomotive train!"
The Eagle's jaw dropped as he saw the train begin to move.
There was no way he could get there in time.
But he was damn well going to kill himself trying.
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Joe and Ryu finally reached the main floor of the Palace, the Condor tossing feather shuriken at anyone who tried to interfere with their exit. As it turned out, the majority of the Galactor and Palace personnel they saw were content to let them pass with the two recently freed prisoners.
As they emerged out into the daylight, Joe saw a small black figure racing toward him.
"Joe!" screamed Jinpei, "They've got Onechan! You have to help her!"
"What?" The Condor's face turned a violent shade of purple.
"She told me to run…" Jinpei sobbed, catching up to his teammates and falling to his knees on the grass. "I'm so glad I found you!"
Instinctively, the Condor swept his gaze around the area. In the distance, a small flash of white caught his eye. It was on the…
"The train!" cried Ryu, spotting the Swan's form.
But the Condor was already halfway there.
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Jun blinked her eyes in the bright sunlight. Where was she? The last thing she remembered was telling Jinpei to run…
She turned her head slightly, only to see the oncoming locomotive. It would hit her in less than ten seconds if she didn't move now.
The Swan struggled with her bonds, realizing her predicament. If she could just reach her Aurora Ribbon, maybe she could use its edge to cut through her bonds…
6… 5… 4…
A streak of indigo appeared in front of her, yanked at her arms and legs, and threw her up in the air. She landed hard on the ground, taking the impact on her shoulder and rolling in the dirt as the train raced by. Instinctively, she jumped to her feet, ignoring the pain in her shoulder, immediately surveying the area for enemies.
What she saw was not an enemy, but the Condor. He was charging toward her, only to pull her frantically into his arms.
"Are you all right?" he asked in a ragged voice.
"Yes…" Jun replied, smiling at Joe. "I think so… thanks to you."
"If I had been a second later…"
"But you weren't. I'm fine."
"So why are you rubbing your shoulder?"
"It just got a little bruised, that's all."
"You have to be more careful!"
"Hey, how was I to know that Gel Sadra was going to throw sleeping gas at me?"
The Owl, the Swallow and the two prisoners arrived at the scene, slowing down as they saw that Jun was unharmed.
"You shouldn't have gotten yourself into that situation in the first place!"
"Well, we had to set the charges, didn't we?"
Jinpei tugged nervously at the Condor's wings.
"Uh… yeah, the charges… about that…"
"What?" Joe turned to the Swallow, his eyes blazing. Jinpei quivered under the Condor's withering glare and spoke in a quavering voice.
"They're going to go off in about a minute, and I don't see Aniki."
"Why do things always turn out this way?" Ryu moaned.
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Ken shot through the Galactor base, searching for the exit. How the hell was he going to save Jun if he couldn't get out of this damn place?
The Eagle was frantic. How could he have let this happen? How many times had he told himself that he would never again let Jun come to any harm, and now…
She wouldn't be harmed. He wouldn't be too late.
He had to believe that.
Ken had thought that he had lost her once before, and he had nearly gone out of his mind. It was hardly the appropriate action for a Commander, but there it was.
The truth was, he couldn't live without Jun.
His lungs burned as he gulped for air. The Eagle located the way to the main Palace, and two seconds later streaked out of the building, like the White Shadow for which he was named.
His eyes lit upon his teammates, gathered on the grass near the railroad tracks. Green wings… black wings… blue….
And one set of white wings.
Ken's heart burst with the knowledge that the Swan was safe. She was standing among the others.
But the Eagle's speed did not diminish. He had to see her for himself.
A giant roar erupted behind him, and instinctively the Eagle dove for cover as the Sultan's Palace was suddenly engulfed by a fiery explosion. Clods of dirt and chunks of wood, steel and metal fell around him, covering him in debris.
When the deadly rain had stopped, Ken lifted his head, pushing his way through the rubble around him. What he saw made his mouth go dry.
The Swan was running toward him, screaming his name.
When she reached Ken. Jun fell to her knees, scrabbling at the debris. The Eagle managed to pull out his hand, and he reached out to her.
"I'm okay, Jun."
The look of intense relief on her face made his heart soar.
"Thank goodness! When I saw you buried in the rubble…"
"I'm fine." Ken repeated, digging himself out and standing up. "How is everyone else? The Sultan? And Agent Murfitt?"
"They're here, and they're fine, Ken." Joe reported, approaching the Swan and the Eagle. His face wore its usual Condor glare. Ken supposed that Joe was angry with him for cutting it so close to the explosion. Well, the Eagle certainly wasn't about to explain himself to his second.
"Then, let's just get out of here." Ken replied.