"Was that anything to do with the strange thump we heard through the walls a few minutes ago?" asked his mother.

Jin nodded.  "It was even louder close up.  Consul Vorlynkin said it was some kind of liquid fire-starter."

His mother gasped.  "How close were you?"

"We were on top of the roof, looking right down at them!" said Mina.  "The fireball was all orange and black!"

Leiber-sensei stood up and gripped the back of his chair, looking very uneasy.

"Where's Raven-sensei?" said Jin.  "Vorlynkin said we were supposed to tell him about the fire, and then do what he said."

"He went down to the second floor to help Medtech Tanaka with a cryoprep," said Leiber-sensei.

Jin's mother slid out of bed and came to the wall of her booth, standing with her hands pressed against the glass.  "Jin, maybe you'd better run downstairs and tell them what's going on.  Was the fire spreading very fast?"

"We couldn't tell yet."

"Maybe I'd better find a room with a window and look," said Leiber-sensei.

"Where's Stefin gone?" asked their mother.  "He was supposed to look after you two!"

"I think he went to look for more ninjas," said Mina.

She touched her hand to her lips.  "Isn't that the sort of thing that Armsman Roic fellow is supposed to do?"

"He's probably with Miles-san," Jin called over his shoulder, heading toward the door again.  "Mina, don't let Nefertiti get out!"

Leiber-sensei followed close on Jin's heels.  And then cringed backward as the door was kicked open from the corridor side.  Mina shrieked.

So did Nefertiti.  "Foes, foes!" she screamed, flapping madly around the room and up onto a table.

Oh, Nefertiti, you're so right, thought Jin, backing up as Chief Hans and Sergeant Oki shouldered into the recovery room.

The pair seemed out of breath, and angry, and much, much bigger when looming vertically than when they'd been laid out on the floor of the garage office, drooling as they snored.  They'd changed their clothes from the rumpled blue medical smocks they'd worn earlier, and were now dressed in uniform-like gray trousers and heavy cloth jackets, with equipment belts and big clumping boots, but without any insignia or name tags or identifying markers.

"There you are, you stupid turd!  Finally!" growled tall Hans to Leiber-sensei, who'd backed up against a table and turned pale.

"What the hell . . . ?" said broad Oki, staring around at their audience.  "What are these kids doing here?  That jerk Akabane didn't say anything about kids."

"Never mind, just grab him."

Oki strode forward and did so, yanking Leiber-sensei around, doing something with the policeman's baton he carried in his hand, and hauling the scientist's arm up behind his back.  Leiber-sensei yelped.

"Let him go!" cried their mother through the glass.

Hans's head turned, and his eyes narrowed.  "I'll say what the hell!  It's that bitch Sato!  They must have woken her up.  Isn't this the jackpot!  Grab her too, Oki!"