There was no convincing required for me to suck on the gas which knocked me out. If Jake, previously known as Pieter, wanted me dead he could have dropped the container in the sea. Hell, he could have left me at the Huan Estate.
Hours past and I woke in a haze of delirium. Mechanical whirring sounds reached my ears, and I could not focus my eyes; everything was a blur.
There was a garbled sound and only one word was clear, "Under." And then everything went black again.
One of the things about anaesthesia is the patient usually remembers nothing. Something about it stuffs around with your neural mechanisms which is intentional on the drugs part.
But not me.
I saw the ancient Chinese dude floating on a cloud again but just as he recognised me I was pulled away. He had the hide to smile and wave at me as I was sucked into another space.