I was convinced that Tessa had known we were out of options for some time now, and would never gun down this man in cold blood, but I admired the way she tried to draw out as much information as she could before our inevitable surrender.
“How do we know you really have the team you say you do?” she asked. “A bluff is a lot cheaper than an army.”
Baga grinned and walked over to the back window. “I thought you might need proof,” he said, gesturing for us to look through the glass. “Shut off the lights for a moment.”
I hit the light switch, plunging the room into darkness.
“I have a comm that’s been broadcasting to my team,” said Baga. “To all personnel,” he continued, speaking directly to his men, “please provide the planned demonstration of numbers.”
An array of dancing red dots suddenly erupted onto the tree trunk just outside the back window. Ominous, gleaming circles that were unmistakably produced by numerous laser sights off in the distance.
“Better to see laser dots on a tree than on your chest,” noted Baga. “Am I right? Feel free to count them if you’d like.”
Tessa took one last look at the chilling collection of dots and switched the lights back on.
“You’ve made your point,” she said with a scowl.
“And remember, Michelle only wants to talk. Nothing more. Why risk your lives, and the lives of innocent parties, trying to battle thirteen of us?”
Tessa sighed, placed her gun on the floor at her feet, and then kicked it over to our assailant. “We surrender.”
“Good choice,” said Baga. “Now throw that rucksack onto the bed behind you. I want it out of reach. I’m afraid we won’t be taking it with us.”
Tessa did as he asked, but I could tell that it pained her to jettison the bag, like losing a trusted friend.
Baga turned to me. “Okay, Jason,” he said. “Now you. Slide your weapons over to me.”
“I’m unarmed. The major is all the protection I need. Try something stupid, and you’ll find that out the hard way.”
Baga ignored my threat. “You may be unarmed,” he said, “but I still need to check.”
He walked over and frisked me—thoroughly. When he was done, he turned to Tessa. “Your turn. In case you’re hiding additional weapons.”
Tessa shook her head. “You aren’t touching me,” she said with a fierce gleam in her eyes. “The gun was all I had. No way I’m letting you grope me.”
She was a convincing actress. She had used a similar strategy to avoid being handcuffed at the warehouse, but I couldn’t imagine it working this time. There was no way that he’d just take her word for it.
“Here,” she continued quickly, inverting her pockets one by one to show they were completely empty. She commonly sewed at least one hidden pocket into each of her pants, but before Baga could even begin to consider this possibility she raced ahead to her next distraction, a master magician at work, pulling her shirt over her head and unclasping her bra, dropping both to the floor. Seconds later her pants and panties followed.
She stood before our assailant completely naked and slowly spun around, demonstrating that she had no weapons hidden anywhere on her body. “Satisfied?” she snapped.
Wow. If Baga had ever been inclined to wonder about hidden pockets, he wasn’t now. It was a brilliant piece of subterfuge. Still, while the rational side of me approved, the unevolved lizard-brain side of me wanted to kill anyone who saw her in this state, as if I now had exclusive rights to this view. My possessiveness was primitive, unbecoming, and I ignored it, but the scientist in me was fascinated that it seemed to be wired into my DNA.
Baga didn’t reply, continuing to gaze at her naked form instead. After a few seconds, she began putting her clothing back on. “Trust me, Bob. No matter how long you stare, a weapon won’t magically appear.”
She finished dressing, and we both put on shoes.
“Let’s go,” said Tessa when we were done. “And remember, we need to go around the west end of the cabin. We wouldn’t want to bother any Lisas.”
“Good point,” I said. “They’re as thick as kangaroos around here.”
Baga laughed, but Tessa was as grim and focused as she’d ever been.
“Lead on,” she said. “Let’s go see this hologram of yours.”
24
Baga followed us as we exited the cabin, pointing Tessa’s gun at our backs. The moon and stars provided just enough light to navigate by, and we could hear movement off in the distance, which I chalked up to kangaroos. They were technically nocturnal, but in the cooler months they could be active during periods of both the day and night. As soon as we passed the tree line and crossed into the woods the canopy blocked out what little light there had been, and we were only able to see a few feet in front of us.
Just before we were plunged into near-absolute darkness, I noted that we were joining a large group of Baga’s men, each wearing electronic night-vision goggles, sleek and ultra-efficient, and reminiscent of a pair of lab goggles.
“Stay silent,” whispered our host from point-blank range, even though I could only make out his rough form. “Call attention to yourselves and innocent people will die.”
“Nanites,” I thought forcefully, “can you do anything to help me see in the dark?”
“Yes.”
“Please do so now,” I ordered.
The difference was stark and immediate. One moment I could barely make out my own hand, and the next I could see as if I were in a dim room, but clearly, with definition, and at a distance. The military had let me try their best night-vision goggles while I was researching a novel, and my vision was now better than it had been with those, without having to wear an electronic appliance on my face.