Decoded (part 2 of 2) As Paul continued this elaborate distraction, Jim effected an escape from the heavily guarded bus by crawling down into the cargo bay, cu

Decoded (part 2 of 2) As Paul continued this elaborate distraction, Jim effected an escape from the heavily guarded bus by crawling down into the cargo bay, cutting a hole in the floor with the Swiss army knife's arc-welder, slipping into the manhole cover situated under the bus, and walking up into the hotel's basement from there. Jim called up to me in my room and gave the signal. We were now to meet at the back entrance, with our tech guys. But first, Paul would need some help getting away from his unwelcome guests, as things were getting ugly "He says he has lost his patience, and that he can think of other ways of exacting payment from you Kurt and Jim physically." our trembling interpreter said The moment had come. Jim began operating the bus from his back entrance vantage point. As the remote-controlled bus lurched towards the parking lot exit, the superstitious security youths fled in terror. Paul was pulling anxiously on his collar as the PRS man began describing his collection of World War II Nazi ceremonial knives when a sudden crash split the tableau Jim had purchased me the gift of a complete black ninja stealth assassin outfit in Aracaju. I had been gearing up and crawling through the air conditioning ducts all this time. As I crashed through the cheap imitation-Styrofoam hung ceiling tiles, skates first, I flashed ninja stars all about me. In the ensuing panic, Paul escaped to the prearranged bus pick-up point. Unfortunately, my skates were a poor choice of foot gear for escaping over the broken glass. Of the table I had landed on. Were it not for the confusion and the ninja-star-inflicted wounds delivered to the bad guys, I would have been set upon while foundering on the glass-strewn carpet. As it happened, however, I leapt through the open door of the careening bus as it departed the city of Maringá forever If only we had managed to get our equipment in the bus, too Every word of this story is true - Kurt Harland