"Hiss." Dahlia doused the fire with a basin of water through the bars.
Before long, a clang rang out outside the compartment. Nikolai, the Russian who had struggled for ages with the iron plate at the entrance earlier, moved it aside easily this time. Then Hanzō dragged Nolan into the compartment like a dead dog.
"You didn't kill him?" Mombasa asked, somewhat surprised to see that the madman was still breathing.
"Nick said he might still be useful, so I severed his spinal nerves." Hanzō showed them the slender curved blade in his hand.
"So you really are a ninja?" Even Nick was curious about how he had done it, though he was not referring to severing the nerves, of course.
Earlier, he had only told Hanzō to find a chance to sneak out of the compartment and see whether Nolan tried anything. After all, they had numbers on their side. If the man wanted to pull something, he could only sneak out and do it from outside.
Nick had initially thought Nolan might lure the Predators over to kill them for him. Instead, he had resorted to a petty trick like smoking them out. It seemed his mind really was almost completely gone.
Speechless, Hanzō pointed overhead. "I was just hiding above the passage outside. When this guy crawled out of the duct, he never even thought to look up."
"What should we do next?" Dahlia glanced at Nolan, who lay twitching on the floor with his eyes rolling back, then turned away, unable to bear the sight.
Nick spread his hands and gave a confident smile. "Gather up the equipment here first. Once it's light, we'll get ready to move."
With a tremendous boom, the enormous wrecked spaceship shuddered, stirring up a faint cloud of dust, like an