The Hawaiian Special Forces

Chapter 43

Aoloa and Hokulani sat in an animal crate with extremely small holes, biding their time in the back of a van. They had arrived at the loading dock at the airport in Zürich. Hokulani was already deep into the local computer network, while Aoloa had his nanites armed in case he needed to take unusual action.

Aoloa's HUD had security images of their crate playing so he was aware of what was outside. As a result, he could see the forklift as it lifted them out of the back of the van and carried them over to the inspection area.

They were placed on a conveyor belt that first took them through an X-ray machine. Hokulani fed it images of jaguar skeletons inside, instead of the strange ones they actually possessed. With that done, an inspector approached the box with a flashlight. Aoloa positioned his face at the hole, and suddenly growled loudly as the light reflected off the back of his eyes.

The man jumped back, startled, and Aoloa rammed himself against the side of the crate, causing the man to jump yet again, before keeping his inspection limited to the outside of their container. It took him little time to be satisfied they were secure inside the crate, and wouldn't be able to escape during transit.

Once that was done, they were carried to a staging area to wait for their flight. While that was happening, Venessa produced the paperwork for them to certify what they were, where they were going, and that they had the necessary work to get through Brazilian customs. That paperwork was attached to their crate.

Then they waited. And waited. And waited. Several hours later, a forklift finally picked them up and loaded them into the airplane cargo space. Aoloa went to sleep.

---

They landed in São Luis, Brazil and were trundled back out to customs. Here, a woman veterinarian inspected their paperwork before stabbing them with a tranquilizer rod. They both pretended to pass out while their nanites neutralized the dosage.

Aoloa pulled up his HUD, with extra data feeding in from Hokulani, who was already hacking into the security network. The customs agents pried open the crate, only to have two large humanoids spring out. Aoloa grabbed the veterinarian by the throat, his claws pricking at the side of her neck, while Hokulani sprang on a guard, disarming him.

"Do you speak English?" he asked softly in her ear.

Gulping against the palm of his hand, she replied, "A little, yes."

"If you don't want them to think you're crazy, you will state that you used the wrong dose, and we got away. Do you understand?"

"But, the video cameras...," she protested.

"Will confirm your story. You consider yourself lucky to be alive. Do you understand?"

She nodded nervously at about the same time the guard nodded to Hokulani. With that, they fled, quickly scaling up the side of the customs building to wait for nightfall and a better chance to make it into the Brazilian Rainforest undetected.