The two men crawled out from under the structure and entered through the vestibule. Eddie had the parkas in a vacuum-sealed bag, to cut down on its size, while Linc carried the bag of bones. They hadn’t brought eighteen complete skeletons but rather just enough to convince the Argentines. The sack still weighed in at over two hundred pounds, yet he struggled far less than Eddie, with his sixty pounds of coats.

Once they had their gas masks on, they hurried through the door that gave access to the guard area so as to not dilute the gas. There were four of them. Two slumped over on the couch, one on the floor, and the other at a desk with his head down as if to take a nap. Eddie released a little more of the gas below each man’s nose to keep them down, and then he and Linc rushed into the back, making sure to unlock the door first.

The rear section of the building was divided into six rooms by a central hallway. It had been housing for oil workers before the scientists were kidnapped from their research stations. Linc stayed on guard near the door so he could hear any of the soldiers stirring.

Eddie opened the first door on his right and flicked on the switch. Three women stared up at him from the floor. Their days of captivity had rendered them numb, so they just stared blankly. He was relieved to see that the jailers had left them their shoes. Seng peeled off his gas mask, and when they saw he was Asian their interest grew.

“My name is Eddie Seng, and I’m going to get you out of here.” When no one said anything, he asked, “Do any of you speak English?”

“Yes,” a stocky woman with straw-colored hair replied. “We all do. We’re Australian. Who are you?”

“We’re here to rescue you.” He flicked open a pocketknife and cut the seal that had kept the parkas flattened. The bag expanded to three times its original size.

“You sound American. Are you with the Army?”

“No. It’s not important now. Are any of you hurt?”

“They’ve treated us all right. I don’t think they’ve hurt anyone.”

“Good. Help me free the others.”

Minutes later, all six cells were open, and the eighteen scientists were free. Eddie was bombarded with questions about why they’d been captured, and he did his best to answer them. The questions died, however, when he opened the second bag and pulled out a human skull.

“We need the Argentines to think you all burned in a fire,” Eddie explained before anyone could ask. “There are severe diplomatic repercussions if they suspect you escaped.”