Deciding that Calum's clothing would be far to big for Eva to wear even if she had the strength to move his huge body to get them off him she made her escape from the concrete room wearing only the underwear she had been tortured in. She felt the warm trickle of blood down her back from the lashings but thankfully the stims were taking care of the pain, at least for now.

 

Outside the door she found herself into a dimly lit, short corridor that led to a wall that slid to one side. Stepping through the door she found herself in a large office. The room dimly lit except for a nearby desk with a comfortable looking executive chair, which was illuinated brightly. Across the room was a tall and ornate pair of double doors. With a soft hiss the corridor door slid shut behind her causing her to glance back in time to see the door slide into place and pull in flush with the wall so perfectly that the seams weren't noticeable.

 

Eva moved to the desk quickly pulling open drawers and digging around in the contents, her eyes scanning over data discs and documents as she looked for anything that would be useful to her. She paused for a moment as an identification card came into view. She picked it up and held it up to the light. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at an image of her tormentor. Underneath the picture was written 'Saito Yokoyama - Yokoyama Industries'.

 

Eva curled her lip up in a silent snarl and tossed the ID card to the side, scanning the desk. Time was running out and she knew she had to get free of this building and contact the nearest UEE outpost. Her eyes locked onto one particular object that sat on the desk. It was shaped like a miniature sword with a hilt barely big enough for her small hand to wrap around and a blade about 6 inches long. Eva recognised it an antique item that was once known as a letter opener. She smirked, thinking it fitting that someone who prided himself on old-style interrogation techniques would have items like this in his office.

 

She gripped the handle tightly and made her way to the large double doors. As she neared the doors one of them cracked open and a woman stepped through, her eyes so focused on a report that floated inside her MobiGlas that she did not immediately notice Eva standing only a few feet away. Eva tilted her head slightly to one side and looked the woman up and down before moving towards her. She wore an expensive looking tailored dress that fell to her knees. Eva assumed this woman was some kind of personal assistant and to her it looked as though her clothes just might fit.

 

The assistant glanced up as Eva stepped into the ambient light given off by her MobiGlas, her eyes widening into shock at the sight of the nearly naked and blood-streaked woman. The assistant sucked in a breath to scream but Eva's fist slammed into her throat, turning the intended scream into a choked gag. Eva turned the letter opener over in her hand and struck the butt of it against the assistant's skull, knocking her out cold.

 

Stealing the woman's clothes and ID card, Eva sliced a slit up one side of the dress from knee to hip to allow for more freedom of movement and then cracked open the door to peek outside. A single security guard rounded the corner at the far end of the hallway. Eva closed the door and moved to one side of the doorway.

 

Taking in a deep breath she let out a loud scream and then crouched, the letter opener gripped tight in her fist. She listened as the footsteps of the guard's boots came closer before the door burst open and guard moved inside. He paused for a moment, looking down at the semi naked form of the assistant slumped on the floor, giving Eva the opportunity she needed. She sprang at the guard, sweeping her foot into the back of the man's knee. The kick connected with more force than Eva intended and sent the man's feet flying out from underneath him.

 

Eva felt something pull deep inside her thigh at the point of impact that did not feel right, but thanks to the stims in her system she felt no pain. As the man fell backwards his pulse rifle fired off a few rounds, alarms instantly going off as the security system sensed the weapon discharge. Eva turned her body as quickly as she could, feeling another tug through the core of her stomach as she moved and brought the letter opener down to impale his throat.

 

Eva released the blade leaving it where it was and took the guard's pulse rifle and a stun grenade. Checking the charge and shouldering the weapon she checked its weight before checking the door again and stepping out into the hallway. She noticed with annoyance that she was limping as she moved down the hallway, alarms ringing in her ears. She reached the elevators and noticed that both of them were on their way up, no doubt carrying more guards.

 

Putting the grenade on the floor between the elevator doors she moved as quickly as she could to the end of the hallway where she found the door to the stairs. She stopped and turned, steadying the weapon and aiming back down the hall. When the elevator tone sounded and the doors slid open a handful of guards spilled into the hallway and Eva fired a burst of rounds, striking the grenade. It detonated at the feet of the guards sending a pulse out that incapacitated them.

 

Eva pushed open the door and stepped into the stairwell and glanced over the railing, realising that she was near the top of a tall building. Assuming such a building would have a platform on its roof she headed up the stairs, hearing shouts of alarm coming from lower in the stairwell.

 

At the highest door she fired a round into the lock of the door and shoved it open with her shoulder, her eyes scanning the rooftop. She could not help but sigh with relief at the sight of a small transport craft. She moved over to the small ship, her injured leg becoming less and less useful as she went. As she climbed into the cockpit of the ship and strapped herself in, she had to pause and lean over to vomit onto the floor.

 

The familiar comforting sound of engines and thrusters powering up reached her ears and she eased up the thruster power, lifting off the rooftop. Before she had gone far she spun the small craft around and lined up the nose to the doorway, unloading a heavy burst of cannonfire into the door. The transport may only have had small guns for a ship, but it was more than enough to turn the wall and door into a twisted, impassable mess.

 

As she turned away from the building her hands moved quickly across the comms console, locating the local UEE secure channel. She punched in her ID and decryption password and sent out an emergency hail. 

 

"This is Persei Echo Base, provide voice confirmation immediately."

 

"Evangeline Hawkins, Valkyrie 129695" Eva replied as clearly as she could. She blinked a few times as her vision hazed over for just a moment, and her stomach wretched again.

 

"Confirmed, Valkyrie. Proceed."

 

"Issue grounding order and asset freeze on a Mr Saito Yokoyama. He is charged with the unlawful kidnapping and interrogation of a UEE officer and is suspected of supporting major criminal activities."

 

"These are serious charges, Valkyrie. I assume you have proof?"

 

Eva shook her head for a moment to clear the deepening haze that was dulling her thoughts before answering, "I am the proof....." she muttered as best she could.

 

"Repeat that Valkyrie....... Valkyrie, respond........ Valkyrie, we show you as losing altitude, respond........ Valkyr........."

 

NEXT ENTRY: Recovery