Spirit Unbreakable

Riumi pushed open the door. He was exhausted. The formalities, as Damian had called them, had taken a lot longer than Riumi had planned for. He was glad that he had decided to send Mikomi home when he did. He had to smile, because he knew that if he had not sent her home she would have stayed until Riumi shook her awake. He was sure that the orphanage would have been extremely displeased. As it was, he was worried that Eiji and Ayumi would have waited up for him. He hadn’t exactly informed them that he was taking the Guardian exam today. It was so late now that Riumi was considering if he could call it morning.

He saw a light on in the kitchen and drifted in there, touching his neck tenderly where he had gotten his final mark as Guardian. Ayumi was asleep at the table, her head propped in her hands, leaning slightly to one side. This gave her sleeping face an inquisitive demeanour. Riumi sighed and walked over to Ayumi, touching her gently on the shoulder. She awoke instantly to his touch.

“Riumi! I was worried,” she looked at him, touching his arm to make sure he was corporeal. “What time is it?”

“Late. I’m sorry I made you worry, Ayumi-san,” Riumi said. “I got busy and had no way of calling to tell you I would be late.”

“Where were you?” she asked. She couldn’t think of a place where Riumi could not use his Flimsy.

“Can I tell you in the morning?”

Ayumi looked at the clock, which flipped to three o’clock at her gaze, and turned back to Riumi, raising her brow. “It is morning.”

“When Eiji is up then,” Riumi said and turned to leave. He heard Ayumi get up from her chair and she was at his side before he could stop her, brushing away his wispy platinum hair.

“You’re a Guardian? I didn’t even know they were holding exams here,” Ayumi said. She sounded dejected. She let her hand fall back down to her side and brushed past Riumi who remained silent. He didn’t know what to say.

“I thought we would have had you around for a little longer, though you always were in a rush to leave.” Riumi lowered his head at the sound of her voice, small and far away, like she had lost something important to her.

“You knew this wasn’t permanent, Ayumi-san,” Riumi said.

“I thought that after all this time you might have learned to love us,” Ayumi said. Riumi looked up at her just as she turned to look at him, her face streaked with tears. She was wiping them away, almost angry that Riumi had seen her cry.

“It’s not like that, Ayumi-san,” Riumi said.

“It’s just even after all this time, you’re still trying to find your past,” she said for him. “I was always hoping that you would realize that there were people in your present that loved you. But it was never enough.”

“I have a lot of unanswered questions,” Riumi murmured.

“And now the means to find the answers to all of them. I’ll leave you to tell Eiji,” Ayumi said. She turned and walked up the stairs out of Riumi’s view. Riumi slumped into a chair at the kitchen table and stared at the ceiling. Everything is so complicated.

He woke still staring at the ceiling. The first light of day was filtering in through the window, streaks of light warming his face. He had not been asleep for very long, just long enough for him to wish he had gone to his bed. He heard the kettle switch on and knew within minutes its whistle would signal the start to the day. Eiji would be coming down at its signal. Riumi sighed, rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and went to get some tea cups from the cabinet.

At the sound of the whistling kettle, Riumi began to prepare the morning tea. He heard Eiji enter the room, but did not turn to look. They both remained silent until Riumi placed a cup in front of Eiji, and sat down.

“Ayumi was crying when she came to bed last night,” Eiji said. He was cradling the tea, but not drinking.

“I know,” Riumi replied.

“Is this something I should be worried about?”

Riumi remained silent and instead turned his head to reveal the tattoo that ran from the back of his ear down towards the base of his neck, proof that he was now a Guardian.

Eiji sat with a blank stare and took a sip of tea. His sudden silence made Riumi more uncomfortable than had there been a response.

“I had to,” Riumi finally said.

“I know,” Eiji said putting his cup back onto the table. “You may not think it, but I’ve been waiting for this to happen. Ayumi has been as well, it’s why she’s been so unreceptive.”

“I didn’t mean –” Riumi stopped. For what? To hurt her?

“We understood you were a special case when we took you in. I just didn’t think we would get so attached to you. But that was impossible. The more distant you became and the more pain we saw in your face was just more reason that we wanted to be the ones to take it away. If this will help stop that pain, we’ll do anything we can to help you.”

Riumi looked up. He had been staring at the table, confused. The emotions rolling through his mind were chaotic, from confused, to afraid and angry, and finally on happy. He felt he couldn’t look Eiji in the eye with such chaos. With Eiji’s last comment a barrier had been broken. Here I was thinking I was so clever, hiding my pain. Everyone is surprising me these days. It’s like they decided that I was serious and there was no use pretending anymore. Or maybe it wasn’t them that changed, but me. Did I finally decide to take this seriously and everyone is responding to that?

When Riumi finally collected himself enough to speak, Eiji put up his hand for silence. Taking one last sip of tea, he put the cup on the table and stood.

“Come with me. I have something to give you before you say anything,” Eiji said.

“I’ve spent some time modifying aspects of it, but I tried to restore each part to its original condition,” Eiji said. He was looking at the motorbike with cool satisfaction.

Riumi just stood there staring at the gleaming metallic beast. It was Eiji’s pride and something he had been working on for years, ever since Riumi could remember living with them. It was an original Suzuki Hayabusa, gleaming black and red paint on a sleek frame with the silver Kanji brilliant on the black surface.

“The frame is a 2006 GSX1300R, but the engine is one of the last combustible engines they made. Finding petrol shouldn’t be too hard. They have a supply at most of the charging stations. I’ve already had all the paperwork signed over to your name. You’ve been registered for the petrol. It’s been inspected and its emissions are all in the permissible range. It’s still considered the fastest land bike out there,” Eiji said smiling. He looked at Riumi with an infectious grin. “Well? Are you going to try it out or what?”

Riumi looked at Eiji. “You’re serious?”

“I’ve never been more serious in my life Riumi,” Eiji said. “I liked building it, but riding it, well, I’ll leave that to the more experienced.”

“You think the more experienced is me?” Riumi was heading to the bike. He stretched his hand out and touched the frame. He walked around the bike and finally got on. Gripping the handle bars, he could already feel the power in this six hundred year old machine.

“Don’t be modest, I’ve seen you riding the newer bikes, you are the most natural person I’ve seen on them. Speed seems to be your friend,” Eiji said.

Riumi gave a genuine smile. Riding a motorbike is the closest I can get to flying. It almost feels like if I let go I would just catch the wind and soar into the sky. He released his grip and looked at Eiji, his smile gone. He again wore a sober expression as a mask.

“I can’t take this from you,” Riumi said. He was fervently shaking his head. Eiji took a few steps forward and placed his hands on Riumi’s shoulders.

“You aren’t taking it from me. I’m giving it to you. I have a feeling you’re going to need speed on your side,” Eiji said. He headed back towards the door to the kitchen. “Take it for a ride. I’m sure you have better things to do than stay around here and wait for Ayumi to try and convince you to stay.”

Riumi hung his head and sighed, “Eiji, I –”

“Go find your family, Riumi, they’re waiting for you,” Eiji said as he disappeared. It’s like he doesn’t want to hear the truth. Riumi thought as he watched the door close. Or maybe he already knows. He shook his head at that thought. How could he know? No one knows. He pressed his palm on the digital screen before him and the engine revved to life. He opened the garage door and sped into the chaos of the street before him.

“Another day in the unchanging affairs of the LD,” Sira muttered as she sunk into her chair. She glanced at Yul, who was pouring over information on a computer screen. Sira rolled her chair over to him and glanced at the screen over his shoulder. “That doesn’t look work related.”

Yul glanced up from his computer and turned to look at Sira. “If you think that anything interesting can be found in today’s list of hits, then go ahead and start on them, Bathsira. I’m more interested in the renovations I’m doing on my house.”

“Don’t call me that. You know I dislike my name,” she rolled back over to her console and woke up her own computer. “Sometimes I feel like I’ve been demoted. It’s a curse to be good at this type of work. I’d much rather be in the field, like I was trained for, instead of staring at a computer screen all day.”

“Too bad you were cleared for a classified project. Didn’t you get a little suspicious when they said ‘other world’ to you?” Yul asked.

Sira nodded, and then thinking better of it, she shook her head. “We are a paranoid race, aren’t we? You’d think after a thousand years of no leads that we’d give up already.”

“There are leads, they just all end up leading to dead ends,” Yul replied.

“Speaking of dead ends, I heard we are getting a new supervisor. I wonder what he did to land himself in this place. He must have pissed one of the higher ups off to get demoted to this,” Sira said, she was gazing half-heartedly at the information that was scrolling across her screen.

“I heard he requested a transfer,” a new voice said. It sounded older than both Yul and Sira, who hadn’t reached their thirties yet. Sira sat upright in her chair and spun to look at the top of the stairs leading into the half lit room. A man was standing at the top, one she had never seen before. He had red hair, green eyes and a stocky build. Sira guessed him to be in his late thirties and Irish, since his accent was unmistakable. “I’m Shanahan O’Reilly, your new supervisor.”

“Oh, um hullo,” Sira said. She tucked a strand of her rich brown hair behind her ear. “I’m Bathsira Mahdi and that is Yul Kim. It’s nice to meet you, Boss.”

Shanahan looked Sira over with a frown on his face. She was distinctly Indian, in both name and looks. Her skin was tan and her hair and eyes a seductive brown, but he guessed she was a native to British soil since she shared an accent like most of those that inhabited London. Yul waved his hand in the background, only giving a cursory glance at Shanahan. Shanahan had read both Sira and Yul’s files, so despite seeing only the back of Yul’s head he knew that the man was Korean, with the same black hair and eyes that all Korean’s shared.

“Is this what you do here? Gossip? I thought we were in the investigation business,” Shanahan said as he walked closer to Sira. Sira shrunk back in her seat and slid back to her computer.

“I’m sorry you transferred here. The most we do down here is drink coffee and stare at dead ends,” Sira said. “Call me Sira by the way.” She was already starting to feel comfortable around Shanahan; he didn’t seem nearly as imposing as Hader Johnson, the big boss of LD.

“Well, Sira, I have a story to tell you.

“I was born and raised in Ireland, and in Ireland, a long time ago there were travellers called storytellers that wandered the countryside with the folklore of our fare land. Myths passed on only in a verbal history. About one hundred years ago, those storytellers began roaming the countryside once again.

“When I was a boy, one came to my village and told a story, but it was not a story like the myths of old, it was a story about a search, a search for a missing princess and her betrothed. They had been sent to this world locked in an eternal sleep that only those that called themselves the Watchers could break. This princess and her betrothed were said to be the last of a dying race, the Levanith. Sound familiar?”

“The Levanith is a race of people?” Sira asked, even Yul stopped what he was doing to stare at Shanahan.

“What do you know of that word?” Shanahan asked, he took a seat next to Sira and waited.

“I don’t think you should be telling us this. We don’t have the clearance,” Yul replied.

“I’m your superior now, so I guess it’s up to me to determine what you should and should not know, and I don’t want my team to be misinformed, or ill equipped,” Shanahan replied.

“Well, we only know about the word Levanith. We are supposed to monitor all net activity associated with the word. Most of the time all the hits we get are accidental; mostly research gone astray. I don’t think in the entire six years that I’ve worked here, I’ve seen an intentional search for the word,” Yul replied.

“I haven’t been here as long as Yul,” Sira replied. “I was sure that they put me here because they didn’t want such a small woman in the field, too dangerous.” Sira frowned. She had been in the Levanith Division for almost six months now. She had come to the conclusion after that length of time that this job was the end of her career.

“So what does this fairy tale have to do with anything?” Yul asked.

“It’s the entire purpose for the LD. These children aren’t inhabitants of Earth, they are from another planet and that poses a serious threat to us humans,” Shanahan replied.

“So you’re saying that somewhere on Earth there are aliens among us that if they awaken are going to seek out our destruction?” Sira asked, she was finding this awfully incredulous, she couldn’t believe the Unified Nations Government would believe this.

“Well I never said anything about destruction. But, ever since I heard that story, I’ve been looking into any and all leads.

“Two years ago, I was a field agent in France working with a few Guardians on a covert operation. We got called in to investigate a mysterious energy reading that was coming from the hills between two estates. What we found there was just the leftovers. We found evidence of a cryogenic pod way beyond any technology we have on Earth. It was empty. Seems one of the Levanith is already awake. When we went to the estates, they were abandoned. The Dorsalins and the Ravvons had moved on. Something big happened there and we were a step behind. They finally moved me here, after they learned how much I knew about the Levanith, to see if I can move things along. I have a feeling that energy surge and the empty cryogenic pod were only the beginning.

“Are you two ready for all of this? This is your only chance to get out. If you stay it’s all or nothing.”

“I’m game,” Sira said. “This is what I signed up for in the first place.”

Yul was silent in his chair and then with a thoughtful sigh he looked at Shanahan. “It sounds like you don’t know very much at all. Why were this princess and her betrothed sent to Earth in the first place? Are you searching for the truth, or are you just here to gain control of them?”

“I want to know the whole story. That’s my purpose here. Once I know that, I guess we’ll know how to proceed,” Shanahan said.

“You know that if you find these two aliens that General Johnson will have more plans than just finding out the truth from them,” Sira piped up.

“I guess we’ll deal with that when we come to it,” Shanahan replied.

“I guess I’m in as well,” Yul said. “I want to know the ending to this story.”

“Good, shall we get started?” Shanahan said as he pulled up a chair beside Sira.

Mikomi was sitting on the sidewalk, her back against the stone wall that surrounded the orphanage. Riumi was always amazed at her perceptiveness, how she was always outside waiting for him when he arrived, even though he had never called to tell her he was coming. It made him wonder if there were days when she waited out there and he never came. It unsettled him to think that she would do that and shook his head to clear the thought.

Mikomi looked in his direction as he pulled the bike out of the traffic and parked in front of her. She was frowning at him, looking at the bike with a distinct look of disgust. He realized that she didn’t know that it was him since he was wearing a helmet. He took it off and Mikomi looked up at him in shock. She jumped to her feet and ran over to him.

“What is that thing? It’s so loud and it smells,” she said plugging her nose.

“It’s a ’Busa. Get on,” Riumi replied.

“A ’Busa? Does this thing have a combustible engine?” she looked horrified and backed up a few paces. “You’re crazy if you think that I’m getting on that thing. It could blow up.”

Riumi shook his head annoyed. “It’s perfectly safe, Mikomi. People drove these for hundreds of years and most of them didn’t blow up.”

“Most of them? Most of them! Most is not all.” She was shaking her head in mild protest, which made Riumi smirk.

“On or off? Either way, I’m going,” he replied. He revved the engine for emphasis, startling Mikomi into action. She ran to the side of the bike and with only a slight hesitation jumped up into the seat and wrapped her small arms around Riumi’s waste. She was hugging him tightly with her eyes closed when he turned and plopped the helmet on her head. She jumped with surprise and looked up at him through the wind shield. Riumi looked back at her, his face neutral.

“You got me a helmet?” Mikomi said in a tone that Riumi had never heard from her before. She sounded mystified.

Riumi nodded and turned around. He resumed his conversation with Mikomi through the com link in the helmets. “You need to have one if you want to ride.”

Mikomi beamed, small tears leaking from her eyes. She hugged Riumi tighter and squealed loudly when he took off into the traffic.

They arrived at the public library minutes later and Riumi parked the bike. Mikomi was looking at the building in puzzlement as Riumi took off his helmet and secured the ’Busa.

“What are we doing at the library?” Mikomi asked suddenly. Riumi turned around and was silent for a moment before he replied.

“I thought you wanted to search for Levanith?” Riumi replied.

“Well, I do. But don’t you think it would be a lot faster if we used the Guardian database. It’s more extensive than the public library. I’m sure you would have access to a lot more information, even some things that are classified from the public.”

“I’m sure you’re right, Chiisai, but it also means they know exactly who is accessing the information. Here, we’re anonymous.”

“Why would that matter?” Mikomi asked as she caught up to Riumi who was already heading for the library entrance.

“I don’t want everyone to know what we’re looking for. I’d rather that knowledge remain with those I trust,” Riumi replied. This elicited another grin from Mikomi, which he promptly ignored.

Mikomi fell silent as they entered the library and chose a secluded set of computers in one of the back rooms. Riumi sat down at one and Mikomi rolled the other chair over and sat at his right shoulder.

Riumi logged onto the database and opened a general search window, typing in the word Levanith. He waited for the search engine to go through its database, and was not at all surprised when nothing came up. Okay time for another tactic. Riumi accessed the UNG database and hesitated. Mikomi looked at him with a frown.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

Riumi replied with a sigh. “I’m unsure what this is going to do. I probably have clearance on this database, but I’m going to have to identify myself and that is the same problem I had with using the Guardian’s database.”

“Okay, so just hack in,” Mikomi announced. She seemed so confident that she had solved the problem.

“Unless you are a world renowned hacker, Mikomi, than I’m afraid that’s not much of an option,” Riumi said.

Mikomi looked at him in shock. “You mean you don’t know how to hack?”

“Why on earth would that be something I needed to learn?”

“I thought all boys your age knew how to do that.”

“Well that’s the worst generalization I have ever heard,” Riumi replied. He turned back to the screen and began to type in his Guardian ID. “I’ll guess we’ll just have to chance it.”

“Chance what?” Riumi heard a familiar voice say from behind him. He turned before he pushed the enter key and saw Hiroshi standing in the entrance to the cubicle. “I thought that was you Riumi. What are you and the runt doing here? I thought Guardian’s had their own private database to run through, or are you on a covert mission?”

“Actually –” Mikomi started to reply before Riumi cut her off.

“I don’t have my access yet,” Riumi said as he touched the display, closing the window he had been using.

“Oh, I was sure I heard someone say the word hack,” Hiroshi replied and shrugged as he turned and began to walk away. Mikomi gave Riumi a pleading look and Riumi rolled his eyes before he finally nodded.

“Actually, we were talking about hacking. You know anything about that?” Mikomi asked running to Hiroshi and grabbing hold of his jacket to stop him from leaving. Hiroshi turned around and grinned.

“Do I ever. What do you need?” Hiroshi grabbed the seat that Mikomi had been sitting in and pushed Riumi out of the way.

“I was looking for any references to a certain word,” Riumi said rolling his chair behind Hiroshi. Mikomi was leaning on Riumi’s chair now, pouting now that she no longer had a place to sit.

“And you don’t want the higher ups to know about this I gather. The general database didn’t hold anything? This is getting really interesting,” Hiroshi said. He rubbed his hands together and then Riumi and Mikomi watched as he typed a flurry of keys making the screen light up with various screens all coming and going within a few seconds.

“I thought that the UNG database was impregnable,” Riumi said.

“Everything has a back door, or at least a spare key. What if you accidentally locked yourself out? Someone had better be able to break in or that information might as well be gone for the amount of good it will do you behind a locked door. The programmers all have the access codes and know the routes through the back doors,” Hiroshi said.

“So why do you know your way around so well?” Riumi asked.

“My dad works for the Unified Nations Government,” Hiroshi said. “He was one of eleven programmers that built the new UNG database about fifteen years ago. He wants me to follow in his footsteps.”

Riumi took a closer look at his classmate and realized how little he actually knew about him. Could he really trust Hiroshi with his secrets? He had only ever known Hiroshi to be concerned with making a profit. He doesn’t need to know all the details. One word isn’t going to get him very far. But if it didn’t get Hiroshi very far, would it get Riumi any further? It was something he was going to have to chance.

A cursor was blinking on the screen waiting for a command. Hiroshi was looking at Riumi waiting for him to say something and Riumi realized that Hiroshi had spoken and he had not heard him.

“Sorry?” Riumi said.

“I said you can navigate from here. Just type in the word and it’ll do an automatic search,” Hiroshi said and rolled his chair out of the way. Riumi moved back in front of the computer and typed in Levanith. After a thirty second delay, information began scrolling onto the screen, links to numerous data with Levanith somewhere in the title. Riumi noticed one entitled the LD and pushed the link on the screen. The screen turned blank and a warning flashed on the screen, reading “Unauthorized Access, Classified Information,” with an accompanying alarm going off throughout the whole building.

Hiroshi pushed Riumi out of the way and was typing madly on the keyboard. “Well whatever you’re into, it’s something big. My hack job was flawless, unless you accessed something in the Fifth Branch. Scary things happen there, things that no one talks about. Those who’ve talked aren’t alive much longer than their first sentence, which means we should probably get the hell out of here fast.” Hiroshi looked suddenly pale.

“What is it?” Riumi asked.

“I can’t log out, they froze the terminal; they must be tracking the computer access. If they trace it back to this computer there will be no stopping them from looking at security footage and tracking this back to us.”

“I’m on it,” Mikomi replied and she ducked under the desk, emerging a few seconds later with a plug in her hand. Riumi and Hiroshi looked at the computer terminal which was now blank.

“Good thinking,” Hiroshi replied.

“We better get out of here before security starts detaining all the people in the library,” Riumi replied and grabbed Mikomi’s hand pulling her out of the terminal and into the rush of people that were all in a panic trying to reach the front door. Hiroshi followed closely behind. When they reached the front of the building, however, they were stopped by a gathering crowd. Security guards were creating a barrier in front of the doors.

“Too late,” Mikomi replied. She looked terrified and was pulling at her hair.

Riumi didn’t reply. Instead, he pushed through the crowd, still holding tightly to Mikomi’s hand. When he reached the front, he noticed a few of the patrons were arguing furiously with the security guards.

“What is going on? Why are we being detained?” A woman was asking.

“Please everyone calm down. There was a security breach somewhere in the building and the UNG has asked us to detain everyone for questioning. Representatives are on their way as we speak. As soon as you have been cleared you can leave, until then, please resume your business in the building,” the guard replied.

Riumi walked up to the man wordlessly. He turned his head and pushed aside his hair for the guard to see his mark of the Guardian. The guard looked at him and Mikomi and nodded his head.

“Okay let them though,” the one guard said to the others and the wall of guards made room for Riumi to pass. Riumi heard Hiroshi shouting somewhere behind him and watched as the boy pushed through the crowd.

“I’m with him,” Hiroshi shouted. The guard looked at Riumi and when Riumi responded with a nod Hiroshi was let through. The crowd began to protest.

“Why are they allowed to go?” The woman who had started the protest asked.

“Guardian business, Ma’am,” The guard said. The crowd fell silent and began to disperse, groups still murmuring their outrage. Riumi left the building without a word, Mikomi and Hiroshi trailing in silence behind.

“That was too close,” Hiroshi said.

“No time for that now, Hiroshi-san, we’ll talk later. Right now get out of here before the UNG agents get here,” Riumi replied.

“Right, keep me in the loop, Riumi,” Hiroshi said as he ran around the corner and out of sight.

Riumi ran to his ’Busa and tossed Mikomi her helmet. Mikomi put it on and climbed onto the bike. She didn’t speak until they had been driving for a few minutes and were well away from the public library.

“Riumi-san, why did they let us leave the library? I thought we were dead for sure,” Mikomi asked.

“I’m a Guardian, Mikomi-chan, and that means the UNG doesn’t have any control over my actions. If they have a problem with something I do, they have to catch the source, which generally means my employer. A guardian is not responsible for what the employer asks for. I know that seems strange, but it makes sense. Instead of attacking the instrument they go after the source.”

“But what if the Guardian is the source?” Mikomi asked. Her voice was quiet like she was suddenly frightened of Riumi.

“Guardians take care of their own in every sense, which means that if a Guardian goes rogue, than the other Guardians take care of the problem.”

Mikomi was silent for a long time. It made Riumi feel uncomfortable. “What is it, Chiisai?” he asked.

“You’re the source, Riumi-san, so does that mean the Guardians are going to kill you?”

“They might,” Riumi admitted, “but they would have to prove that I am in the wrong first. And I don’t plan on letting them find out.”

Riumi felt Mikomi cling tighter to him and he tensed. What have I gotten her into? We could both be killed. If the Guardians do deem me a threat and kill me there will be no one to protect her. The thoughts made him absently drive faster, on and on until they were outside of the city. They were down an underused road heading for his hill. I won’t let that happen. Even if they find out, I hope not to be around long enough for them to do anything about it. I’ll run forever if I have to.

“What was the LD?” Mikomi asked suddenly.

“I think it was a division in the Fifth Branch of the UNG,” Riumi replied.

“A division for what,” Mikomi said.

“For finding out the same things I am trying to find out, what Levanith is.”

“Your first day here, and you’ve made everything interesting,” Sira said.

“What do you mean?” Shanahan asked walking over to where Sira was working.

“I have a deliberate hit,” Sira said. Yul shot up from his chair and walked over to Sira’s terminal.

“You can’t be serious,” Yul said leaning on the back of Sira’s chair, his face brushing against her cheek. She shifted position, annoyed not only by Yul’s proximity, but also by his comment.

“You think this is something I would joke about?” Sira asked.

“You have. Numerous times in the past,” Yul said.

“With our new boss in the room, give me some credit, Yul,” Sira said. She brought up the information on her screen. “Looks like a very smooth hack job into the UNG database from a public library in Kyoto, Japan. Damn, that’s unlucky.”

“What?” Shanahan asked.

“The trace was cut before we could track the terminal in use,” Sira replied.

“Make sure the guards detain everyone and have the UNG branch there dispatch some agents with clearance to get statements,” Shanahan said and began to put his jacket on.

“Done,” Sira said. She turned around satisfied and shoved Yul out of her way. When she noticed that Shanahan was nearly to the door, she called out, “Where are you going?”

“To Kyoto,” Shanahan said.

“Wait for us,” Sira replied and, grabbing her own jacket, ran after Shanahan. Yul was not far behind.