Kaname laughed. "Your friend is funny."
"I don't even know what that means."
"He's just saying you're really weird, Sagara."
"Weird?"
"Extremely," snickered Kaname. "But that's not necessarily bad. You just need to find a nice person who finds it endearing."
"I'll keep that in mind. You know, you seem like a nice person," he remarked.
"Stop it. Don't take it so seriously. I'm not talking about me," she protested.
"Okay. Never mind, then."
"You really are weird," joked Kaname.
For a moment during their conversation, she had felt a faint warmth, similar to how she might have felt if she'd found a stray dog whose only desire was to follow her everywhere she went. Temporarily, her loneliness was buried beneath the pleasantness.
I guess this is nice, for now… she thought.
A train rolled into the station and interrupted Kaname's thought process.
Just enough moonlight pierced the water's surface to keep the submarine cloaked in shadow.
From an outside perspective, the Tuatha de Danaan looked kind of like a shark, except it was several hundred times as large. In fact, the assault submarine was as big as a skyscraper turned on its side.
The giant submarine moved through the water quietly—very quietly.
Near the rear of the sub, one of the missile tubes opened and a missile emerged.
Kicking up a healthy, foamy spray, the Tomahawk missile erupted into the air and spread its cruising wings. Shortly thereafter, it reached a steady altitude and rocketed on toward the northern horizon.
"Launch sequence complete. Closing MVLS hatch," announced the officer in charge of the Missile Vertical Launching System.
"Excellent," declared Tessa, glancing at her command screen's safety indicators. "Now, let's dive to three-hundred thirty feet and change course to the south."
"No problem, Captain," responded Commander Mardukas, a tall, thin man, whose black-rimmed glasses and pallid, bony features made him look more like a scientist than a soldier.
"Let's go, then," urged Tessa. "Flood the main ballast tank and set the submersion angle to ten degrees. Increase speed to ten knots."
Tessa, a submariner with more than ten years of experience, gave the orders without timidity, even though she was still relatively new to the Tuatha de Danaan, inarguably the most high-tech submarine in the world.
Tessa knew that launching a cruise missile potentially could attract a lot of attention, so it would be best to vacate the area as soon as possible. They could use Mithril's spy satellite Sting to see whether they hit the target.
"Aye aye, ma'am," said the navigation officer. He echoed her orders as he performed the tasks.
"Will it really take three hours to know the outcome?"
"Yes, ma'am. Perhaps you should rest," recommended Mardukas.
Tessa shrugged. "That would be nice, but I'd probably have nightmares, anyway."
At any rate, the missile was on its way. If the attack succeeded, it probably would take the enemy five years to recoup. Arduous recon from the intelligence division indicated that Khabarovsk had the only Whispered research facility in the country.
"Lieutenant Commander, if we can destroy the laboratory, will we recall our guards?" asked Tessa, sinking into her chair.
"Yes, ma'am. However…"
"Yes? What is it?"
"Nothing. I'm probably just being paranoid," said Kalinin, looking somewhat troubled.
"The whole laboratory is in a state of ruin!" shouted the colonel into the phone. "A missile attack, of all things! All our data is gone. We've lost every single piece of information on the Whispered."
Gauron's unsympathetic voice leaked through the phone. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"Resuming our research is impossible, so we no longer will need the girl."
"I see. That's a pity."
"Yes, you must cancel the abduction; there's no way we could pay you." The image of Gauron killing a man in cold blood flashed through the colonel's mind.
"I understand," Gauron said calmly—a little too calmly.
"Do you really?" probed the colonel.
"Of course."
"You seem awfully calm, considering your source of income is gone."
"I have many jobs," stated Gauron. "I'll go back to another employer, maybe even bring him a souvenir."
"Souvenir?"
Something clacked against the receiver.
"Do you know what that was, colonel? That was a DVD I found. Sounds like a good one, huh? It has all kinds of fascinating figures on it."
"The research data? How did you—"
"Trade secret, comrade. Be sure to write me a letter from whatever labor camp the KGB dumps you in. Goodbye, Colonel."
Click. Knock! Knock! Knock!
The colonel looked to the door. Before he could say anything, three armed soldiers burst through.
"Colonel Smirnoff?" asked a young lieutenant. "Your side job intrigued the party headquarters. You are accused of dispersing national assets to your personal accounts, resulting in a substantial loss for the nation."
"Wait, that's not—"
"Save your explanation for Lubyanka. This way, please."
Lubyanka. Russians knew the true meaning of this word and feared it immensely. Lubyanka meant intense interrogation and life in a labor camp. Just like that, Colonel Smirnoff's fate was sealed: a world of nothing but agony awaited him.
The colonel hung his head as the soldiers led him away.
Deservedly, Sousuke took a day off, spending all day resting in the apartment.
That Sunday, when Kaname left her home at noon, Kurz tailed her, Mao piloted the AS, and Sousuke monitored Kaname's apartment.
Throughout the entire day, not a single suspicious person appeared. At one point, a middle-aged woman with a child rang the buzzer to Kaname's apartment, but she proved harmless.
Shortly after eight p.m., Kaname returned home safely.
"Twenty-hundred hours, six minutes. Angel is home. Nothing unusual," said Sousuke into his microphone.
Right about then, Kurz burst through the doer of the apartment, glowing with good cheer.
"Heeeeeeeere's Kurzie! Ha ha. What's the deal, Sergeant Moody?"
When Kurz spoke, Sousuke could smell the beer on his breath. Sousuke kept his eyes glued to the surveillance monitor.
"Honestly, Kurz. Drinking during a mission?"
Kurz laughed meekly. "What can you do? I was going to have just one, but Kyouko kept insisting."
"Kaname's friend Kyouko?"
"Yeah. When I saw Kaname, Kyouko, Yuka, and Shiori, I told them I was lost. 'Thank you so much! You saved me! Japanese girls are so nice!' Cute too. Ha ha!"
What Kurz lacked in stealth, he more than made up for with confidence.
"For God's sake, smack some sense into that idiot," crackled Mao's voice through the wireless receiver. She was back in the trailer with the AS.
"It isn't my fault they're so cute!" protested Kurz. "Besides, it was nice to see some girls other than a certain bitchy someone who will remain nameless."
"Kurz, this is classified guard duty. You don't want to become too attached," reminded Sousuke.