Hunt for Jade Dragon (28 page)

I didn't answer.

“I appreciate your hesitation,” he said. “You're trying to protect her. So am I. That's why I need to know where she is.”

“She's at a ranch.”

“Where?”

“I don't know. They wouldn't tell us, in case we were captured.”

“Do you remember any details?”

“My friend Ostin figured that we were around Texas or Mexico. It was a three-hour flight to Los Angeles.”

“Exactly three hours?”

“Maybe a little less. Like two hours and forty-five minutes.”

“When were you there?”

“Like, eight days ago.”

“Exactly eight days?”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember the weather? Was it cloudy or raining?”

“It was pretty warm. I remember someone saying it had gotten up to ninety-seven degrees.”

“Ninety-seven,” he said. “Thank you, Son. This will definitely help. We've got to save her before they find out you finally know the truth.”

“What truth?”

“That the Elgen are the good guys.”

T
hat night I couldn't sleep. The room they gave me was locked, which my father apologized for. “Corporate protocol,” he called it. He explained that since the plant was a federal facility and a national security risk there were federal regulations that not even he or Hatch could waive. “Stupid bureaucrats,” he grumbled, shaking his head. “Every country has them. Until you are certified as a non–security risk you cannot have free access to the plant.”

From a comfort level, my room was nice. It had a cupboard stocked with snacks and a small refrigerator with all kinds of drinks, both Chinese and American. There was a television with a library of DVDs, and the bed was soft with fresh-smelling silk sheets. But comfortable or not, it was still a prison, and I knew that I was being watched. In one corner of the room there was the constant blinking of a camera's red LED.

I asked my father where Taylor and the others were. He assured
me that they were being kept in rooms as nice as mine, but when I asked to see them he apologized again and said he would have to get approval, which might take a few days. I couldn't understand why seeing my friends would pose a national security risk, but he just said, “I know it sounds ridiculous. Trust me, it is. But that's Chinese bureaucracy for you.”

In spite of my father's assurances, I still had an ocean of questions. Hatch had fired a gun at me at the academy. He certainly wasn't faking that bullet that Zeus had shot out of the air. Or what about when he tried to feed me to the rats? It wasn't adding up. Maybe my father had been deceived. Maybe Hatch wasn't really who my father thought he was.

Soft as my bed was, I tossed and turned for several hours. In the middle of the night I heard a key in my door. I looked over as my heart pounded wildly.
Who would be coming into my room at this hour?
Maybe my father was breaking the rules after all. As the door slowly opened I noticed that the light on the surveillance camera went out.

“Michael.”

Contrasted against the radiance from the corridor's dim lighting, I could see the partial silhouette of a form standing in the doorway. When my eyes adjusted I couldn't believe who it was. It was the only Glow who didn't glow.

“N
ichelle,” I growled. I stood, balling my hands into fists. “What are you doing here?”

“We've got to go. We don't have much time before they realize your camera's out.”

I grabbed her by her neck and threw her up against the wall. “I should fry you right now, you traitor.”

“I didn't betray you,” she said. “Things aren't what they seem.”

“You think I'm that stupid?”

Nichelle grimaced with pain. “If I betrayed you, why am I here?”

“No idea,” I said, my electricity sparking with my anger. “But I know you led the Elgen to us.”

“I only pretended to. The Elgen had already found us. That night at the street market . . . that wasn't Taylor who came back with us.”

I remembered what Ostin had said in the back of the van. “What?”

“I can smell different electricity,” she said. “It was Tara who came out of the store. That's why I was acting strange. And that's why she wanted to leave so fast. They must have captured Taylor when she went into that store.”

Her explanation flustered me. “Why should I believe you?”

“Because I'm telling the truth! Remember how different Taylor was acting? How she suddenly had a headache?”

I just glared at her.

“Michael, you have to believe me or we'll all die.”

“I
don't
believe you.”

“Remember, Tara's blouse was unbuttoned? She must have traded clothes with Taylor so we wouldn't know.”

“Why didn't you tell us then? We could have held Tara hostage.”

“Because they would have just killed Taylor
and
us. You couldn't have held Tara hostage. Hatch doesn't care what happens to any of us. I know that better than anyone.”

I just looked at her.

“Please, Michael. I'm not lying. I know you think I'm evil and worthless, but right now, at this moment, I'm not lying. And if we don't hurry the Lung Li are going to kill the real Taylor. They're going to feed her to the rats.” Then Nichelle did something I'd never seen her do before. Her eyes welled up with tears. “You've got to believe me. If not for us, then for Taylor's sake.”

I slowly relaxed my grip on her. “How do you know they're going to feed her to the rats?”

Nichelle slid back against the wall, clutching her throat. “I heard the guards talking about it. The Elgen feed people to rats.”

I knew this better than anyone. The memory of my time in the bowl filled my mind with terror. “Why did you lead the Elgen to us?”

“It was our only chance. They already knew where we were, and they'd already captured Taylor. I had to make Hatch believe that I was betraying you.”

Everything she said made sense except for one thing. “You could have just run away. Why didn't you?”

“I know,” she said softly. “I almost did.” She looked me in the
eyes. “But I didn't, okay? I promised I'd help you.”

I didn't know what to say.

She breathed out in exasperation. “We've already wasted too much time. We need to go.
Now.
”

“Where are we going?”

She took a piece of paper out of her pocket and unfolded it. “We need some light,” she said.

I held my hand close enough to the paper that my glow illuminated it.

“I drew this map. I think it's pretty accurate.” She pointed to a square she'd drawn. “We're right here. The Lung Li are stationed where I put the
L
s. The regular guards are where I put the
X
s. If we can get into the air duct through the mechanical closet across the hall, I think we can crawl through the duct out to here.” She touched the other end of her map. “That's the hallway where they're holding everyone except Taylor. We'll need Ian to find her. She's probably being held somewhere near the bowl.”

“Do you have keys to the other rooms?”

“No, I could only get this one. But you have more electricity than Bryan. I think if you focus, you could burn through the bars.”

I didn't know if I could or not, but at this point I didn't have much of a choice. “All right, let's go.”

Nichelle slowly opened the door, then stopped. “The camera is sweeping our way,” she said. “Come closer. When I say ‘go' we'll run to the closet across the hall.”

I stepped in close behind her.

“Ready . . . Go.”

We stole across the hall to a mechanical closet and quickly ducked in, shutting the door behind us.

“There should be an air vent in the ceiling,” Nichelle said.

My glow wasn't bright enough to illuminate the ceiling, so I created a small lightning ball, which lit the closet. “Right there,” I said, looking up. The vent cover was mounted with screws. “It's screwed in.”

“I got this,” Nichelle said, holding up a screwdriver.

I looked at the vent, then back at the tool. “It's the wrong kind of screwdriver.”

“It's all I could find.”

“Maybe we can pry it off,” I said. “Give me the screwdriver.”

She handed it to me.

“Now help me up.”

I climbed up a pipe while Nichelle pushed against me. I slid the flat tip of the screwdriver under the vent cover and pulled on it but couldn't pry it loose.

Suddenly we could see the light under the closet door brighten.

“They must know you've escaped,” Nichelle said. “This is our only way out. Focus your electricity in your fingertip and melt the heads off the screws.”

I had never tried melting anything before. I held up my index finger and concentrated on it. It began to glow brighter and brighter until it was bright enough to light up the room. It was fortunate that they had turned on the hall lights when they did, otherwise they would have seen my light from under the door. I touched my finger to one of the tops of the screws. It took just a few seconds before the head turned bright red, then melted. “It worked,” I said, starting on the next.

“Hurry,” she said. “I can't hold you much longer.”

There were four screws. I melted them all, then slid the vent cover out of its brackets and handed it down to Nichelle before climbing back down. “I'll help you up first,” I said.

I crouched down to my haunches. Nichelle climbed up onto my back, then shoulders. She didn't weigh very much, and I stood so she could get her elbows into the open vent. She pulled herself up into the duct. We could hear footsteps walking toward us.

“Hurry,” she whispered.

I handed her the vent cover, then climbed up the pipe and pulled myself into the duct. “Quick, give me the vent cover,” I said. “I need to cover this back up.” She handed it to me. As I reached out to slide it into its frame it slipped from my fingers. I clenched my teeth as it hit against the pipe, then the floor with a loud clang.

I glanced back. Nichelle's eyes were wide with fear.

“Maybe they didn't hear it,” I whispered.

Suddenly there were footsteps approaching the door. If they saw the open vent we were as good as dead.

As the door handle moved, I reached down toward the cover and magnetized. It flew up to my hand. As the door opened I maneuvered the cover into place, then backed my hand off magnetically, holding it over the opening.

Someone stepped inside the closet. He coughed, and then there was nothing, which was more unnerving than his noise. I didn't dare look through the vent but I listened carefully for the unholstering of his pistol. It would be easy for him to shoot us through the tin ductwork. The beam of a flashlight shone through the cover to the top of the vent. The guard hesitated just a moment more; then he walked out of the closet and shut the door. We waited a moment longer; then, still magnetically holding the vent cover with one hand, I reached out and grabbed it with my other hand and slid it into place. “Let's go,” I whispered.

The duct we were crawling through was as large as the one in Peru, about thirty inches high and three feet wide, and pitch black except for my glow. We crawled on our elbows and knees as fast as we could.

The air duct passed by both Ostin's and Jack's rooms. We came to Ostin's first. The vent covering in his room wasn't an ordinary screen but made of the same reinforced steel bars that were on the room's windows.

“How are we going to get through
that
?” I said.

“Just like you did with those screws,” Nichelle replied. “You can melt through it. Just focus.”

Nichelle made the room's surveillance camera go dark; then I heated up, focusing all my energy into my right palm. As the light from my hand grew brighter, Ostin woke. He curiously sat up in bed, watching. “Michael?”