The Hawaiian Special Forces

Chapter 31

Aoloa eyed the security detail on the opposite side of the fence with skepticism. "What's this?" he asked Gertrud.

"Colonel Wolf felt it was advisable to inform the Swiss military that there was a UPS agent with unknown intentions seeking to enter their borders. She referred to it as 'Good diplomacy with a neighbor.'"

He sighed and provided the release nanites to his two escorts. "Perhaps she'll tell them I acted in good faith. I'm not sure I can say the same about her."

"With all due respect," Jost replied, "I think what you did was brilliant, but asinine. We've been nothing but nice to you."

"You would have followed orders, and we both know it. I needed effective leverage."

Jost nodded in reply, and the two cyborgs left him to face the Swiss military. Stepping across the border, multiple rifles were pointed at his head. Aoloa carefully raised his hands. With no clothing to hide weapons, their inspection was quickly over.

They lead him to a troop carrier, where he was taken several miles to a new military facility. Once he was settled in a cell, a guard came to interview him. "Name?"

"Aoloa."

"Full name, please."

"Aoloa. The UPS didn't give us last names."

"What's your real purpose in being here?"

"To escape from UPS attempts to kill me."

His guard blinked at that, then his eyes unfocused while he communicated with other systems on their network. "We have information you're trying to meet up with someone in our country."

"Correct. Hokulani was with me when they made two attempts to kill me. In the second, they attempted to kill her, as well. She's already present in the country, though I don't know the details of where. The German military wasn't so quick to back stab her when they still had me in their custody."

The man scowled. "So you feel what the Germans did to you is unjust?"

"They attempted to kill me when they felt I was no longer useful. I don't consider that very honorable, all things considered. I think them letting you know I was coming was... shady... as well."

The man nodded again. "Is there anything else we should know while we decide what to do with you?"

"I suspect the Germans would appreciate it if you granted me Internet access. If I don't get in touch with Hokulani soon, she'll assume they've reneged on their agreement and may do something unpleasant that might not be good for relations between your countries."

"And if we do grant you access to communicate with her, she may instead do something to us in an effort to free you."

"Might I recommend you contact Colonel Wolf about my capabilities, and our respective temperaments. If Germany is as cooperative as they seem, I'm sure they'll be happy to let you know all about me, and how I forced them to hand me over to you."

The man scowled, going silent once more. After a few minutes his scowl deepened. After a bit longer, his gaze became downright hostile. "Give me one reason I shouldn't just shoot you now."

"Because, if my hunch is correct, Colonel Wolf has sent Hokulani video of me being handed over to you. If she's going to go after anyone when I fail to check in, it may well be you."

"What's one girl going to do?"

"Our plan has always been to expose ourselves to the world, forcing the various governments to come clean to their citizens about the experiments being conducted to create super-soldiers. That plan hasn't changed. Our hope was that, as a neutral nation, we could live in peace here, after forcing the various nations to back off. Of course, depending on how the information is released, it could simply serve to attract the attention of various governments, but NOT the general public. Do you really want to provide the various superpowers around the world with an excuse to covertly invade your borders?"

The man's expression, if possible, got worse.

"Bit of a hornet's nest you got your hand stuck in, huh?"

"They're setting up a network connection for you. It will be monitored."

"Thank you," Aoloa said with a pleasant smile.

---

::Yes, the Colonel satisfied the letter of our agreement: safe passage. She made no promises about what would be at the destination. If we're going to make a life, here, I'd rather not piss off the Swiss military.::

::Agreed. How safe do you think you are?::

::Not sure. Colonel Wolf's going to have quite the story for him. It's hard to know how he'll react to that.::

::I can come get you.::

::And then we'll be on the run here. Worse, they'll know we want to be here. I'd rather ingratiate ourselves to them than piss them off.::

::And if they want to hand you over to the UPS?::

He frowned a bit. ::They're human, so that's certainly possible. I'd rather convince them it's in their best interests to let me go free.::

::Take care, they're getting close.:: With that, she disconnected.