Owaru was awed at his glance of high tech equipment that crammed into a
duffel that Jasmine unzipped in the trunk of the Tanaka's car. "Where'd you
get all this stuff?" He asked as he took the heavy yet supple kevlar vest
that Jasmine handed him. 

 "I told you we work for an organization that studies paranormal phenomenon,
didn't I? Believe it or not, it's dangerous work and requires a lot of
sneaking around." Jasmine answered as he frowned at the vest, balked at
putting it on.

 "I don't know about you, Owaru, but I think that bullets holes hurt."
 Jasmine said with an easy smile as she helped Elenora shrug into and fasten
hers. He put it on, Matsuri helping him adjust and tighten the velcro
fastenings, taking clues from watching Jasmine do her own as Elenora passed
out the lightweight headset communicators and night vision goggles.

 "You too, Matsuri." Jasmine handed her the last vest. "We might have some
annoyed military folk chasing us when we exit and I'd hate for you to get
shot accidentally.

 "O.K. Mike check." Jasmine said, pulling the thin bar down to rest against
her check. "Hear me?"

 "Yes. Cool!" and "Hai." Came back into her ear from Elenora, Owaru and
Matsuri.

 "O.K. Matsuri, you stay with the car and have it ready and running. If
anything happens and we should get captured, you call that number I gave you.
But under no circumstances do you try to come in after us on your own.
Understand?" She focused her golden stare on the young woman.

 "I understand Jasmine. I'll stay here and man the phone and be ready to go."
Matsuri nodded back. The plan was that Owaru, Jasmine and Elenora would go
and check through the base, hoping to find Hajime, Amaru and Tsuzuku still
there. If that happened, it was up to her to make sure the car was open and
running for their get away.

 "O.K. Let's do it." She gave Owaru and Elenora a tense smile as they stayed
low and slunk towards the fence. She was relieved to see that there was no
infra-red security beams on the perimeter, just the 'Danger! Electrified
Fence! Keep clear!" signs in English and Japanese very fifty feet or so.

 Jasmine went to stand with her back close to the fence, interlaced her
fingers and nodded at Elenora. Her sister took a few running steps, jumped
with one foot into her hand and flipped up, over and clear of the twelve foot
razor wired fence with a little heave from Jasmine. She looked at Owaru who
shook his head.

 "I can do it myself." His voice was full of confidence in himself and the
assurance that he'd find his brothers here.

 She nodded as she watched as he too took a few running steps then crouched
and did a twisting layout over the top. He grinned back at her through the
fence. *What a smart ass!* She thought, amused as she grinned back, backed up
and launched her herself over the fence and landed next to them in a crouch.

 Matsuri had a hard time tracking them as they sped hunched over with that
supernatural speed across the wide expanse of the landing fields with the
heavy strange shaped night-vision binoculars, then lost track of them as they
separated when they hit the first group of buildings, Jasmine going to the
left, Elenora and Owaru going to the right. She pushed the mike up and
whispered a prayer to whoever might be listening that her three cousins where
still here and Jasmine, Elenora and Owaru would bring them back safely to
her.

 The waiting wasn't as bad as she had expected since she could hear the three
talking softly to each other, reporting back and forth as they snuck through
the base. Her stomach began to knot with anxiety as Owaru's voice got harsher
and tenser as they checked building after building with no luck.

 "O.K. Everyone to the flight tower. Matsuri, get ready." Jasmine said in her
ear.

 "Hai, Jasmine-san." She whispered back, her heart heavy. They hadn't found
them.

 Owaru tensed as a figure formed out of the darkness heading straight for the
stack of storage barrels and shadows that he and Elenora where hiding in,
relaxed a little as he recognized Jasmine's lithe form.

 "What are we going to do, just walk in?" Owaru demanded as Jasmine looked at
the isolated tall building at the edge of the landing fields.

 "Yup. That's exactly what we're going to do." She answered, looking sideways
at him.

 Now he was glad he had accepted the protection of the vest. This crazy woman
was going to get him hurt.

 "Just trust us, Owaru." Jasmine said, returning her focus to the tower,
checked her watch. They should have thirty five minutes until shift change.
"O.K. Everyone up the stairs, fast. Elenora, you're rear guard. Ready?"

 Elenora and Owaru nodded, Owaru looking a little concerned. "You can wait,
if you want." Elenora said softly.

 "No way." Owaru grouched at her. Anything that a little girl could do, he
could do.

 Elenora shrugged, pushed him forwards as she realized that Jasmine had
already started across the open space towards the towers stairs.

 Owaru noticed that Jasmine pushed her glasses to the top of her head and had
begun to glow faintly with a soft yellow light as they neared the top of the
stairs and the door.

 "Take your glasses off, Owaru." Elenora warned him through the mike.

 He had just shoved them to the top of his head but still could see her
shoulders lift as she took a deep breath right before the door, threw it open
and stepped through in an explosion of light.

 Owaru threw his hands up to shield his eyes as Elenora pushed in around him.
"Come on, Owaru! Shut the door before someone sees!"

 "What...what is she doing?" Owaru asked as he reached out and pushed the
door shut. Jasmine had her head down, eyes closed and face showing signs of
concentration and strain as the yellow light glowed steady from her
outstretched hands. Everyone in the room was sitting still and staring into
space or down at their boards with blank expressions.

 "Later." Elenora snapped as she headed for the flight logs. "Help me before
we're the cause of a mid air collision or something." They both flipped and
scanned through them hurriedly, Elenora pulling the thin Polaroid camera from
her vest pocket and taking pictures of the seven pages that spanned the time
frame they were looking for, tucked it back in her pocket and grabbed Owaru's
hand and ran back out the door.

 "What about Jasmine?" Owaru asked as he followed her over the rail to drop
the last fifteen feet to the ground.

 "She'll be here." Elenora responded tensely as she huddled into the shadow
thrown by the stairwell. This was the hard part, getting out with out someone
figuring out what happened and sounding an alarm.

 Jasmine hit the ground next to them, staggered a little, breathing hard. She
gave Owaru a tired smile as he reached out to steady her. "Need to go. Stay
low. Matsuri, we're coming."

 Matsuri turned on the engine then jumped out of the car, hurried to open all
the doors then stood on the edge of the far back door frame and watched the
base come alive with lights. "Come on! Come on!" She whispered as she watched
headlights speed out onto the runways.

 Owaru soared out of the dark to land by the car, followed by Elenora, then
Jasmine. They all slid in, Jasmine having the car in gear and fishtailing out
onto the road before they had the doors shut. She kept it down to the posted
limit once they'd reached speed, hoping to appear nothing more than a car
driving along the access road.

 "Take your gear off, now!" She commanded as she snatched her own off and
threw it on Elenora's side of the floorboard as she watched the jeep coming
up behind them on the base side of the fence. It paced them for a minute,
then snapped on it's side light to illuminate the inside of the car.

 "Wave. Look friendly." Jasmine said with a forced smile as she wiggled her
fingers at the men in the jeep as Elenora leaned across her to stare with
wide-eyed innocence into the light.

 The light snapped off and the jeep accelerated past them. Jasmine let out a
big sigh of relief as Elenora giggled, "Piece of cake."