Fall of Hades (13 page)

I walked over. “He's okay?”

Mrs. Ridley looked into my eyes. “Yes. Thank you. The doctor said that whoever cauterized the artery saved his life.” She put her arms around me. “You saved his life.”

Taylor also hugged me. “Thank you, Michael.”

“I'm just glad,” I said.

“I need to sit down,” Mrs. Ridley said.

Mrs. Liss walked over to help Mrs. Ridley to a chair. “Come here, dear.”

Taylor asked, “How long will Dad be here?”

“They want to keep him a few days. He's still low on blood, and they're worried about infection. They say I can stay in the room.” She said to the rest of us, “The doctor said no visitors. You might as well go back. Thank you for coming.”

My mother joined us. “You sure you don't need us?”

“I'm sure,” she replied.

My mother hugged her. “You'll be in our prayers.”

“I'll stay with you,” Taylor said to her mom.

“I can stay too,” I said.

Taylor took my hand. “I'll stay with my mother.” She looked me in the eyes. “I'd like to be alone with my family.”

“I understand,” I said, feeling a little hurt. She must have seen it, because she kissed me on the cheek.

“I love you. I'll see you back at the ranch.”

“Okay. I'll see you soon. Call if you need anything.”

“I will. Bye.”

As I turned to go, she said, “Michael.”

“Yes?”

“It's just like my dream, isn't it?”

I nodded. “Exactly like your dream.”

I
rode back to the ranch with my mother and the Lisses, leaving Taylor and her parents behind with Gervaso to watch over them. It was well past midnight when we got back. As we were entering the ranch's dirt road entryway, we passed two Kane County police trucks carrying the four hunters.

As we passed each other on the narrow road, one of the hunters glanced over at me. Electricity snapped between my fingers. I wanted to shock him.

The lights at the main house were still on as we pulled up the gravel driveway, and even though we had already phoned back the news, most everyone was still awake and waiting for us. I suppose they wanted to hear what was going on in person.

The chairman walked out to our car as we drove up. “How is he?”

“He's stable,” I said, getting out of the car. “We didn't get to see him, but Mrs. Ridley filled us in.”

“Is Gervaso staying with him?”

I nodded. “And Mrs. Ridley and Taylor are spending the night.”

Jack, Zeus, and Tanner walked up. Jack and I man hugged. “You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. What's going on back here?”

“We took care of the hunters,” Zeus said.

Tanner grinned. “Every time they tried to move, Zeus shocked them.”

I looked at Zeus. “You're not afraid they'll tell someone?”

“No one would believe them if they did,” Tanner said. “They were so drunk, they couldn't even speak. It's like they were crazy.”

“What do you mean?”

“They were morons,” Jack said. “They just babbled. It was like they were speaking a foreign language. I didn't hear one real word out of them.”

“They weren't babbling when I saw them,” I said. I wondered if Taylor had broken their minds.

“Well, they were seriously messed-up dudes,” Tanner said. “The police couldn't make sense of them.”

“What will happen to the hunters?” I asked the chairman.

“For now the police will probably put them in the drunk tank, then keep them in jail until someone posts bail.” The chairman's voice was slow, and he had dark rings under his eyes. I couldn't tell if he was worried or weary, or, most likely, both. “We'd better get some sleep. We just got new intelligence from the voice that I'll share with you tomorrow. We've got a lot to prepare for.”

*  *  *

I said good night to my mother and the Lisses. Then Jack, Ostin, Zeus, Tanner, and I walked back to the bunkhouse. We didn't joke around like we usually did. Not even Tanner, who pretty much joked about everything.

I don't remember falling asleep, but I do remember the nightmare I had. Taylor, Jack, and I were being hunted in the dark by the four hunters. They cornered me, and I tried to use my electricity against them, but it didn't work. Then one of them came closer. His face was blurred but somehow familiar.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I'm the voice,” he said.

Then the hunter next to him said, “You know who I am.” It was Hatch.

“Why are you together?” I asked fearfully.

Hatch put his arm around the voice and laughed. “Don't you know? We've always been together.”

T
he next morning my mood was as gloomy as the weather—gray and threatening. Most everyone was still asleep, so I went for a ride on one of the ATVs, then came back for breakfast. I went over to the girls' bunkhouse to see if Taylor had come back in the night, but Tessa said she hadn't.

I walked into the kitchen to find Ostin, Zeus, Jack, and Tanner already eating. None of the girls were at the main house yet except Nichelle, who rarely ate breakfast.

For breakfast they were serving French toast with powdered sugar and sliced bananas, link sausage, and banana smoothies. It had been a while since anyone had tried to push bananas on us. I sat down next to Ostin.

“Hey, where've you been?” he asked with a full mouth.

“Out riding.”

“Taylor back?”

“Not yet.”

“Hey, Michael,” Tanner said. “We're going to shoot clay pigeons after breakfast. Want to come?”

“Never done it before.”

“I'll teach you,” Jack said.

Then Chairman Simon walked into the dining room. He looked about as bad as he had last night. He lifted a glass and tapped it with a fork to get our attention. The room quieted. “There will be a mandatory meeting in the main room at one thirty, right after lunch,” he said gruffly. “Any questions?”

“Any word on Mr. Ridley?” I asked.

“Not yet. I'm sure we'll hear something by this afternoon.”

*  *  *

After breakfast, Tanner checked out two twelve-gauge shotguns, and he, Jack, Zeus, and I drove one of the golf carts out near the pond to shoot clay pigeons. On the western side of the pond there was an automatic trap that flung bright orange disks into the air for us to shoot at.

I had seen trap shooting in a movie before but had never shot at clays, or even fired a shotgun, for that matter. Jack had done it a million times before, and he gave me a few tips before I tried. I missed the first four and hit the next two. Tanner was a pretty good shot, hitting six out of seven. Zeus was an even worse shot than I was. He finally got frustrated and ended up just shooting the clay pigeons with lightning bolts. It looked pretty cool.

The lunch bell rang at noon, and we packed up the guns and clay pigeons and drove back up to the main house. Lunch was corned beef sandwiches, pasta salad, and banana pudding. I asked the chairman again if he'd heard anything about Mr. Ridley.

“I spoke to him a half hour ago,” he replied. “He's still recovering, but, all things considered, he sounded well. He says they may release him tomorrow.”

“That's good,” I said, wondering when Taylor would be back.

“Yes, we were lucky. I'd say we dodged a bullet, except we didn't.” He stood. “Remember, we'll be meeting right after lunch.” He walked out of the room.

I immediately started blinking. Something about the tone of his voice filled me with fear. It was clear that our time on the ranch was drawing to a close. Who knows, maybe even our time on earth. I was looking forward to the meeting about as much as a guilty murder suspect looks forward to the jury's verdict.

I
figured that it was probably the most serious meeting we'd had at the ranch. Guards were posted outside the house and all the outside help had been sent off the property.

About twenty of us gathered in the big room of the main house. The mood was as solemn as a funeral. I sat down next to Jack, Abi, and my mother—who forced a smile when she saw me but couldn't hide her nervousness. I must have been shrugging a lot, because she reached out and rested her hands on my shoulders.

Gervaso was back from Kanab, and even he was acting different. There was still no sign of Taylor, which made me sad. We always sat next to each other at these meetings.

The chairman cleared his throat as he walked to the front of the room. “Before we begin, we have a report on Charles.” He nodded at Gervaso, who stood.

“I've just come from the hospital. Chuck's hematocrit level is thirty-five, which is good. Unfortunately, he's developed a fever, which is usually an indication of infection, so they're going to keep him longer than planned. There was some talk about airlifting him to the St. George hospital, but for now they think they can handle it. He sends his gratitude for your concern and prayers.

“I also spoke to a deputy with the Kane County sheriff's office. The hunters are still being detained. We've identified the man who shot Chuck and ran a background check. As we suspected, he has no connection to the Elgen. He's a survivalist trained to live off the land, so he sometimes is gone for months at a time. Because of this, he's considered a flight risk and the judge has denied bail. He'll be sitting in jail until his arraignment, which could be several weeks. We'll be gone before then.”

Chairman Simon nodded. “Thank you.” He walked to the side of the room to a large map of the South Seas. “Now to the heart of our discussion—defeating the Elgen by stealing the
Joule
.” He looked us over. “The only hard timeline we face is to strike before Hatch starts executing his Glows. Our sources tell us that he plans on doing this on the Elgen's sixteen-year anniversary of the MEI. That gives us very little time to prepare. Which leads to the next conversation.

“There's been a change to our original plan, one that we hope will give us an advantage. As you know, EGG Welch was sentenced to the rat bowl but, with Quentin, Tara, and Torstyn's help, escaped. Since then he's been on the run in Taiwan.”

“How do you know he's in Taiwan?” Ostin asked.

“We've been in contact with him.” There was an audible gasp in the room. “Needless to say, this changes things. So before attacking Tuvalu, we need you to fly back over to Taiwan to rescue Welch.”

“We're rescuing an EGG?” Jack asked incredulously. “Why not just rescue Hatch while we're at it?”

The chairman ignored Jack's sarcasm. “He's not just any EGG. Welch was Hatch's right-hand man. And he's reached out to us for help. Without our help he's in trouble, and he knows it. He also knows more about the Elgen's procedures and plans than anyone but Hatch himself. A defector this high up is a godsend.

“That being said, you'll take the jet from Las Vegas to Taiwan, where you will meet up with Welch and take him with you to Tuvalu to rescue the Glows and steal the
Joule
.”