The Wild, Wild East
                     Chapter 7 - Rebooting
                                
                         by GL Sandborn



     Tina groaned as the real world intruded on the darkness. 
Her head pounded like she had been drinking for a whole weekend. 
Her eyes were assaulted by what seemed to her a brutally bright
light - causing her to squeeze them tight with a grimace.  Where
was she?  
     The bitter aftertaste of chemicals still danced on her
tongue.  She needed a drink - even water.
     The chill of cold concrete penetrated her shorts and shirt. 
That had to mean she was on her back on a floor - somewhere
besides the beach.  The odor of concrete dust and old burlap bags
tickled her nose.
     Forcing an eye open, just a bit, told her the light in her
eyes was from a single bulb overhead.
     With another groan, she rolled onto her side and blinked as
her environment swam into focus.
     She was in a room only a couple of meters wide and slightly
longer.  The walls and ceiling appeared to be poured concrete. 
Along the far wall, there was a door.  Her captivity was bad
enough, but who was leaning against the wall next to the door
added insult to her imprisonment.
     "You're awake," Steven said, as if he was just noting the
obvious.
     As she sat up, a number of insults swam through her head,
each competing to be uttered first.  She could only move her dry
lips in contempt.  That two-timing jerk.
     One particularly nasty oath finally worked its way free, but
was stillborn when she heard the latch on the door click.  Slowly
it swung open on squeaky hinges, revealing a large man holding an
automatic pistol.  He wasn't from room service.
     As if he could tell Steven was just on the other side of the
open door, the man hesitated.  "Move from door," he said in poor
Japanese.  It sounded like something he had learned by rote.
     Steven sighed and slowly made his way to her end of the
room, still staring forlornly at the dusty floor.  Good, she
thought.  He deserves to feel miserable.
     She was about to say just that when the large man with the
pistol moved aside.  Her eyes caught on the only other person she
never wanted to see again.  "You!"
     "Ah, velly good.  You wakie now," the little man with from
the warehouse said with a self satisfied smirk.  Wearing a
miniature version of a tuxedo, he looked so much like a tiny
penguin she expected him to break out dancing at any moment.
     "Where's the girl?" Steven asked in an even voice while
still looking down at the floor.
     "Who?"  The little man blinked behind his large round
glasses.  "She dare," he said, pointing to Tina.
     "The other girl," Steven corrected, his eyes angry slits as
he now glared at the little man.
     "Oh, sure, you're worried about your girlfriend," Tina
snapped.  "You never even asked if I'm okay."
     Steven regarded her with a disappointed expression.  "I know
you're okay.  I'm worried about Akai."
     Crossing her arms in a huff, Tina stuck her tongue out at
Steven and quickly looked away.  Despite everything she had been
willing to give up to be with him, he was more interested in some
Japanese girl than her.  Maybe she'd get lucky and the man with
the gun would shoot him.  Not enough to kill him, just a wound
like before - enough to make him suffer.  That'd teach him.
     "Ah, not wolly," the little man said with a broad grin. 
"See?"
     He held his hands behind his back with a satisfied
expression as another figure joined him in the doorway.  Wearing
a red evening dress that sparkled in the light, Akai wrapped her
arms around the little man and gave him a discreet kiss on the
cheek.
     "I'm touched," she said to Steven as she caressed the little
man's shoulder.  It was a bit awkward since she stood almost a
foot and a half taller.  "You were worried about me."
     Steven's revulsion was easy to read.  "Double agent," he
hissed.
     "Well now, you're not as stupid as I first thought," Akai
taunted with a smirk.  "We want to thank you for returning such a
valuable part of our glorious people's weapon."
     "The one with the tracking device?" Steven said, his voice
sounding like less like a growl than before.
     "Ah, yes."  The little man rubbed the back of his head in
embarrassment.  "Stupid Chinese palts.  Not wolk all time.  Must
be bloken."
     Tina silently cursed to herself.  So that was why they kept
getting away.  The tracking device was defective.  Pity she
didn't think of shielding it sooner.
     As if he could read her mind, the little man pulled out the
metal mint box that used to contain the card key.  "Plartner
velly smart.  Put in can."
     "Yes, we had lost track of you back in Kagome," Akai said
with a satisfied smile.  "We might never had found you, if you
hadn't come looking for me."
     "I never figured you for a Korean," Steven said to the
woman. 
     "You poor deluded fool," Akai said with a pout.  "I was born
Japanese but when I was very young, my mother and I were lucky to
be abducted by brave agents of the glorious people's republic. 
In their country, my mother taught other women how to pass as
Japanese.  She was very good at her job.  Because of that, I grew
up in unbelievable luxury.  I had everything I ever wanted."  Her
dreamy expression quickly turned darker.  "I also learned all
about how you running dogs enslaved half our country with designs
on completing your conquest as soon as your forces were strong
enough.  Fortunately, our brave soldiers continue to this day
their heroic stand against your pathetic criminals."
     "That enough, Akai," the little man said softly.
     "Today our glorious struggle takes a giant leap forward,
crushing you imperialist dogs for the people of the world!"  Akai
finished with a pose that would have been right at home on a
North Korean poster.
     The little man sighed.  "Converts are arways the most
passionate," he said shaking his head.  "Sometime I think we do
too good job."
     Steven crossed his arms and leaned against the wall next to
Tina.  "So, why are we still alive?"
     "You, my dear, sweet agent of the running dog imperialists,
have become a most important part of our plan," Akai said sweetly
- almost too sweetly.  She again caressed the little man's cheek. 
"Shall I tell them?"
     "I check," the little man said, pulling out the same small 
handbook he had back in the warehouse.  He thumbed through a few
pages before finding what he was looking for.  "Ah, yes, it say
here we can tell plan to doomed plisoners."
     "Sweetheart, are you sure you have the right book?" Akai
asked.
     Holding it up for her to see, the little man grinned.  "It
one you gave me rast Clistmas."
     Akai sighed.  "Oh, yes, I remember now.  'How To Be A Good 
Villain' by Ian Fleming.  It's a classic."
     Tina groaned softly as her hand covered her forehead.  She
couldn't believe she had been captured by someone using a
Hollywood 'How To' book.  
     "It say plisoners can be told pran," the little man said
with a shrug.  "You do."
     Akai nodded and turned to Steven.  "You see, we are in the
basement of a very important new building in Tokyo, built by a
dog from the aristocracy of this country.  It is so important
that many prominent people from Japan and America will be in
attendance.  Once they are all inside, our device will activate -
killing everyone."  She paused with a satisfied smile.  "Of
course, when the Japanese investigate, they will find the device
and two dead American agents in the basement.  The link between
the dead people upstairs and who did the killing will be easy to
make.  Naturally, there will be outrage among the Japanese people
- we will see to that.  Demonstrations by the masses will
'spontaneously' spring up all over the country demanding the
imperialist running dogs be thrown out.  There might even be
blood shed."  She paused again, as if the thought of American
soldiers gunning down protesting Japanese gave her a warm
feeling.  "Under pressure from the people, the Japanese
government will turn against the imperialist occupiers of their
country.  Your military will be forced to leave.  Then, Japan's
pacifist government will withdraw all support for you Americans
allowing us to take one giant step towards expelling your pitiful
army occupying our land.  All hail to our glorious army of
liberation!"  She struck another poster pose that caused the
little man to sigh again.
     "We must wolk on you enthusiasm, Akai."
     "Oh?  You think I am being too patriotic?" Akai asked with
wide innocent eyes.
     The little man shrugged.  "You have enough fo whoo army."
     "Thank you, my sweet," Akai cooed.  She regarded Steven with
an evil look.  "Every eventuality has been planned for."
     "Judging by the quality of your tracking device, I'm not
convinced your little bomb is as good as you say," Steven
replied.
     "The tracking device was a minor oversight.  Our little
'toy' has much better parts - many of them American.  Still, in
case something doesn't work, we have made... contingency plans,"
Akai replied with a self-satisfied expression.  "I believe some
members of the group that owns this building were quite willing
to assist us in making those plans." 
     "Group?  A Japanese group?" Steven asked.
     Akai shrugged.  "They are naive but useful fools - and most
willing to cooperate.  They have certain goals of their own that
require our assistance.  Something about eliminating the leader
of the Sakuraba Group allowing them to take over.  Not that it is
of any importance.  We will deal with those fools when
convenient.  For now, we are pleased they can be useful to our
glorious revolution."
     Tina tried to hide her surprise at finding out there were
members of Aoi Sakuraba's corporation involved.  Turning her head
away, she squeezed her eyes shut.  If what Akai said was true,
Aoi's parents were in danger.  Aoi herself might also be just
above their heads, oblivious to the ticking time bomb beneath her
feet.
     "I doubt making people's hair fall out will cause the events
you describe," Steven said.  He sounded and looked like he was
formulating a plan.  That was fine with her - just so long as she
got the chance to dump the two-timer somewhere along the way.
     "What?" the little man asked, like he was surprised that
Steven didn't understand the lethality of his weapon.
     "I think he is trying to describe our little toy, my love,"
Akai said in a syrupy sweet voice.
     "Oh.  He foo."
     "Yes, he's a fool but I really want to tell him," Akai
replied softly.
     "Book say it okay," he said with a shrug.
     "Our glorious scientists - who are much smarter than even
your Einstein - discovered that a certain radio frequency, when
focused on the human body, causes a most interesting reaction. 
You see, the human body is covered with hair.  Oh, we don't see
most of it, but it is there - or shaved in the case of your vain,
aristocratic running dogs.  Each of those hairs has a follicle. 
When subjected to intense, highly focused radio waves, those
follicles expand so quickly that they explode through the surface
of the skin.  I understand the resulting death is most...
unpleasant."
     Tina suppressed a strong gulp as she quickly tried to
inventory all the hair - shaved or not - on her body.  The
thought of all those follicles exploding at once sent a shiver up
her spine.
     "Big deal, you created an oversized microwave," Steven said
with disdain.  "You could have used it to make popcorn to feed
your starving people."
     Akai's face twitched at his suggestion.  Tina wasn't sure if
this was the reaction he wanted.  She thought it a dangerous
move, considering the woman's obvious instability.
     "This is just a prototype," Akai snapped.  "It only covers a
small area - probably, no larger than the main room above.  But
that will be enough to kill everyone in that room."  She looked
over her shoulder with a dreamy expression.
     "If it's that deadly, won't you die when it activates?"
Steven asked.
     "Oh, we be upstairs in harr way," the little man said.  "We
safe."
     "Harr way?" Tina asked Steven.
     "I think he means the hallway upstairs," Steven replied.
     "Oh."
     "It's probably just outside the weapon's range."
     Akai's right eyebrow twitched at their exchange but
otherwise she pressed on.  "Yes, and in the resulting panic, we
will run out of the building - lucky survivors of a horrible
assassination perpetrated by you imperialist running dog
enslavers of our people."  Striking another heroic pose brought a
heavier sigh from the little man.
     "You forgot medicine again, didn't you?"
     "Does it show?" Akai asked innocently.
     "I think we need to up you dose," he replied before turning
to his captives.  "We go now.  Thank rou for being part of plan. 
We have rovery parting gift."  He gestured to the large man with
the pistol.  Fumbling for a moment with his weapon, the man
pulled out a small package and placed it on the floor just inside
the room.
     "What's in it?" Steven asked, his eyes riveted to the
package.
     Akai giggled as she turned to leave.  "Some pastries from
our shop on the beach.  They are to die for."
     As the door squeaked shut, Tina eyed her companion.  "Well,
this is another fine mess," she huffed.
     "What are you doing here?" Steven asked, still staring at
the closed door.
     "What do you mean, what am I doing here?"
     "I left you with Mrs. Minazuki.  You were supposed to be
safe there."  Steven shot her a look that ordinarily would have
triggered a defensive response.  Instead of answering, Tina chose
to change the subject.
     "You sure looked like you were enjoying yourself in her
arms," she accused, crossing her arms again and trying to regain
her aloofness.  It was hard to do while avoiding his eyes.
     "You followed me, didn't you?" he asked in an accusing tone.
     Tina hesitated before answering, slowly standing as she
thought of an appropriate response.  "I was --"
     Her reply was cut off by the door squeaking open again. 
Both watched warily as Akai stuck her head inside.
     "By the way.  Little girl, you are really lucky to have such
a good kisser for a boyfriend."  She giggled like the whole idea
was funny to her.  "You two have almost fifteen minutes before
the device activates.  That should be enough time for you to --"
     "AKAI!" came the little man's impatient call.
     Akai just shook her head and sighed.  "What can I say?  He
loves me.  Bai-bai!"  With that, she slammed shut the door.
     "So you WERE kissing her!" Tina yelled.
     "Tina, I was set up!  She lured me to the beach to get her
hands on the key device and then got me in a clinch in order to
drug me."
     Remembering how he practically collapsed onto the beach and
how the Koreans just 'happened' to be nearby to capture her, Tina
had to admit that Steven might just be telling the truth.  Maybe
he wasn't such a jerk after all.
     "If you had just stayed with Mrs. Minazuki, you would
probably be on your way home."  Sighing, Steven sagged against
the side wall.  "Now, everything has gone wrong.  I didn't
protect the key code device, I'm probably going to die because of
it, and - worst of all - I'm responsible for getting an innocent
bystander killed as well."
     "Don't forget the international incident it will cause,"
Tina replied, too fast for her to stop herself.  "I guess by
tomorrow, we will both be famous."
     "I believe 'infamous' is more like it," Steven corrected as
he pushed himself from the wall with a heavy sigh.  "Right.  No
sense in sitting around feeling sorry for myself.  The first
thing we need to do is get out of this room."
     With a grunt of approval, Tina slowly followed him to the
door.  It looked like a particularly solid and heavy wooden
obstruction.  She doubted he had anything that would open it.
     She was about to remark how hopeless it looked, when Steven
knelt down and started to untie his shoes.
     "What are you doing?" she asked.  "We're already inside. 
It's too late to take your shoes off."
     "My shoe laces have a thin thermite core," he said, pulling
one lace free from its shoe.  "The door hinges are on the inside. 
If I wrap these around the hinges, I should be able to burn them
off.  We can then remove the door and get out of here."
     She watched as he wrapped a lace around each hinge.  She had
no idea what he was talking about, but he sure sounded confident.
Of course, if anyone was still in the other room, the noise would
likely give them away.
     "I'll check to see if the coast is clear," she said reaching
for the door.
     Pulling it open, she stuck her head outside and looked
around.  Closing the door again, she smiled confidently. 
"There's no one out there.  They've all gone."
     Instead of congratulating her, Steven just stared as he
slowly dropped onto his butt.  "It wasn't locked?" he asked in a
stunned voice.
     "Well, yeah.  I guess it wasn't.  Funny, we forgot to check
huh?"
     Steven just growled as he snatched his shoe laces off the
door hinges.  "I can't believe I didn't check first."
     "Sometimes the simple things are the truth."
     With his hand on the door knob, Steven regarded her with a
pained expression.  "Do you even understand what you just said?"
     "I dunno.  I think it's something Miss Landlord said to me
once."
     Shanking his head, Steven pulled open the door.  "I've got
to meet this chick."
     Tina stepped aside with a frown as Steven escaped the room.
"Chick?" she said to herself.  "No wonder he's never had a
girlfriend."
     She followed Steven until she spotted what had to be the
only exit.  Unfortunately, it was blocked by a solid steel door.  
     Yanking a few times on the handle was enough to convince her
that it was locked and secure.  She tried pounding on the door
and shouting but all that did was give her sore hands and throat.
     "It appears to be locked," Steven said, ignoring Tina's
glare at his noting the obvious.
     "So burn it open with those magical shoelaces of yours," she
snarled.
     "No can do.  The hinges are on the other side."  Steven
looked around.  "Okay, that means there's no exit.  I guess we
better find that device and see if we can't stop it from
activating."
     "It's probably over there," Tina replied without looking. 
"It's in a keg marked 'Coors, Golden, Colorado' - standard model
E12.  Probably an export version with--"
     "How did you...?  Never mind.  I don't want to know," Steven
said, turning towards a single cylindrical object standing
upright on its end in the middle of the room.  Bundles of wires
from underneath it ran across the floor in all directions,
disappearing into conduits going up the concrete walls.  It
looked like a small, beached octopus.
     Tina followed him to the device and squatted down next to
it.  Up close, she could hear it humming like a small washing
machine.  "You know how to deactivate this thing?"
     "I've had one class in disarming explosive devices," he
replied as he closely examined the keg.
     "That's one more than me," she said, forcing a nervous
smile.
     "Really," he grumped.  Drawing a deep breath, he gently felt
around the device.
     A thought occurred to Tina.  "You did pass, didn't you?"
     "Yes.  Eventually."
     "Eventually?" she gasped.
     "Third try."
     "I certainly hope you learned something from it because you
only get one chance this time."  Scowling between the device and
Steven, she slowly backed away.
     "Tina, I'm just a guy who's supposed to eavesdrop on
conversations.  I don't do bombs."
     "You do now," she replied flatly.
     "Tell me something I don't know."  Steven pulled off his
laceless left shoe and worked the shoe's heel off to reveal a
tiny compartment in a hollowed-out cavity.  Inside was a small
multipurpose tool.  It didn't look like much but after a few
twists and folds, it reformed into a tiny set of wire cutters. 
Tina instinctively backed a little further away.
     Seconds passed as Steven searched for some way of getting
inside.  Finding a small access door, he carefully pried it open,
revealing a couple of wires.
     "Piece of cake," he said, wiping his brow before carefully
easing out the wires.  "There's only two."
     Instead of cutting wires, as she expected, he slowly sat
back with a confused expression on his face.
     "What's wrong?"
     "There's no red wire," he replied.  "I'm supposed to cut the
red wire but there's only blue and yellow wires."
     "Cut either one," she insisted.
     "If I do that and pick the wrong one, the device goes
'boom'," he replied with a frown.
     "Who cares?  It's been almost ten minutes since they left. 
It's going to go 'boom' soon anyway."
     "Right.  I'll... I'll just pick one."  His hands shook
slightly as he reached for the wires.  Before he touched them, he
pulled his hands back.  "Which one would you pick?"
     Tina blinked, first at him and then at the wires.  "Uh...
the... blue one."
     "Why blue?"
     She shrugged.  "I dunno.  Miss Landlord always wore blue. 
Of course, she also liked yellow.  Maybe, that's the right one."
     "You're a big help," Steven said reaching for the wires
again.  "I guess it's up to me."
     "Of course, you could always unplug it," she said.
     "What?"
     Instead of answering, she leaned over and pulled its plug
out of the wall socket.  The device instantly went silent.
     Dangling the plug in front of him, she smiled smugly. 
"Who's the master spy now?"
     Before he could answer, a larger panel popped open with a
loud 'click', revealing a small screen.  On it, was a familiar
logo.
     "Windows XP?" Steven gasped as the screen scrolled through
its memory check.  "The damn thing is rebooting!"
     "Rebooting?"
     "It must have a battery backup."  Steven glanced around at
all the wires still attached to the keg's bottom.  "Or maybe one
of these is another power cable!"
     "What do we do?"
     "Pull wires!"
     Shoving the keg over onto its side, the two began to
frantically yank and tug at its exposed wires.  Some came out
easily.  Others resisted even Steven's best efforts.
     Tina chanced a look at the little screen again.  "It now
says: Welcome."
     "I hate you, Bill Gates!"
     "Don't blame him.  It's probably a bootleg copy," Tina
replied, pulling out a cable.  "Now, if it was Mac OS, we'd be
dead already."  She paused and looked at the screen again.  "Oh,
it's okay.  Blue screen.  I hate when that happens."
     For several seconds, they pulled loose every wire they
could, but more than half were still attached.  Tina took another
opportunity to check the screen.  "Rebooting - again.  At this
rate, it'll never activate."
     "Don't count on it," Steven warned.  "Keep pulling wires."
     Tina continued trying to pull wires from the device, but she
was finding fewer that would yield to her efforts.  She paused
when Steven reconfigured his little tool again.  Before she could
ask what he was doing, he set about removing the screws holding
the bottom on.
     Trying to pull wires that wouldn't yield was just getting in
the way.  Instead, she watched the little screen go through a
series of debug screens before settling on one she understood.
"Oh, it's now a cute little teddy bear and some numbers," she
said.
     "Numbers?"
     "Yeah, 30 - 29 - 28..."
     "A timer!" Steven gasped.
     "What do we do?"
     "RUN!"
     Scrambling to her feet, Tina dashed for the farthest corner
of the room.  Diving behind some crates, she landed hard on the
cold concrete floor and rolled onto her back.  She was only
slightly surprised when Steven darted in behind her, covering her
body with his own.  It was a nice gesture but she doubted it
would be enough when the device activated.  They were still too
close.
     "I'm sorry about this," Steven said.  "I didn't want it
to... you know."
     Shifting her body slightly, Tina wrapped her arms around his
neck and pulled herself closer.  His warm body actually felt...
nice.  "That's okay," she said with a tiny sniff.  "I'm sorry for
thinking you were a louse back there.  I should have known you
wouldn't really kiss another girl."
     "She's not my type," he said softly.  "I prefer tall blondes
with bad ankles."
     "Really?"
     "Yeah.  The truth is, you're the only girl I really want to
kiss."
     There - he finally said it.  She got the same feeling she
had back in Mrs. Minazuki's place - when he had his hands on her
shoulders before he left.  This was her second chance - her last
chance.  With only seconds left to live, she wasn't going to die
unkissed.
     Closing her eyes, she parted her lips slightly and silently
begged him to actually do it this time.  Tightening her arms
around him as a hint, she waited.
     Her heartbeat pounded in her ears, sounding like distant
thunder, muffled and indistinct.  It resonated in the pit of her
stomach, tickling long neglected nerves.  She felt herself
tremble as the very ground she lay on mirrored her anticipation. 
So this was what true love felt like.  Imagine what his kiss
would do.
     A blinding flash penetrated her closed eyelids, causing her
to grimace.  From somewhere across the room, came a loud
explosion, showering them both with chunks of concrete and wood.
     "What was that?" she gasped, trying to look around Steven.
     "It's Akai's contingency plan," he shouted over the
explosions that ripped the ceiling closer to them, causing lights
to dance and flicker.  A thick fog of concrete dust and smoke
filled the air making it hard to see and even harder to breathe.
     Steven jumped to his feet and snatched her arm, pulling her
up.  "We gotta get out of here before the whole building comes
down on us!"
     "Where?" she shouted back.  "The only reason we're still in
the basement is because there's no way out.  The stairs are
blocked by a solid steel door and the basement has no windows."
     More explosions from further above were followed by the
sounds of large sections of the building striking the ceiling
above their heads.  Muffled screams and the sound of running feet
could be heard between explosions.
     Trapped in the basement of a collapsing building, her whole
world was exploding, crumbling, and burning.  Thick black smoke
rolled across the floor like a charging demon.  It was her worst
nightmare come to life.  This time, she wasn't going to wake up. 
This time, she was going to die.