Hunt for Jade Dragon (33 page)

“Sixty feet to the right. But stay in the middle of the strip—there's undetonated antipersonnel mines on each side. The fence isn't down, there's just a hole. We'll have to crawl through it.”

“Then what?”

“We'll come out next to one of the army tents. There's no one in it. When we get there I'll come up front and lead everyone through the army camp.”

“Got it.”

Carefully keeping my distance from either fence, Nichelle and I took about thirty steps before Ian said, “You're there.” The spotlights were especially intense around the army camp and I could make out the silhouettes of several tents just past the fence, which meant that
if we got too close, the soldiers would be able to see us too. The hole in the mangled fence was about the diameter of a bike tire and I got down on my knees and began to crawl through. A stray piece of razor wire caught above my elbow, ripping my skin and stinging like crazy. Blood streamed down my arm. “Agh,” I said.

“Are you okay?” Nichelle asked.

“I'm great,” I said. I bent the wire back, then Nichelle and I crawled the rest of the way through, stopping just a few yards from the fence to wait for everyone else. As Ian came through he said, “You're bleeding.”

“I know,” I said. “We'll deal with it later. Where to now?”

“There's a trail about fifty yards southeast that leads up into the hills.”

“Go ahead and take the lead,” I said. “Nichelle and I will protect the rear.”

We waited until everyone else passed, then crouched down and followed Ian through the center of the army's camp. We could hear soldiers shouting around us in Chinese, but everything was in such chaos that even if someone had seen us I'm not sure they would have known who we were. As we neared the trail leading up the hill Nichelle froze. “Stop,” she said.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“There are Glows around,” she said.

“Are you sure?”

“I'm always sure.”

“Can you tell who it is?”

“Not yet.”

“Stay alert,” I said to everyone.

We crossed a dirt road to a line of trees, then began climbing a steep wooded incline. The camp's lights were no longer on us, and we hiked in darkness with Ian carefully choosing our path. We were about a hundred yards away from the compound when bolts of lightning began striking the camp, followed by more shouting and chaos. Occasionally a strike was followed by an explosion.

“Zeus?” I asked.

“Sure is,” Ian said. “I think he's trying to distract them from us.” We continued hiking up the hill until we were above the line of smoke but still well secluded in the darkness of the forest.

“Now what?” Jack asked.

“We get out of here,” I said. “Hopefully Zeus brought something to drive. Ian, we need to somehow get Zeus's attention.”

“We're okay,” Ian said. “Ben's here.”

I looked over as Ben walked out from between some trees.

“Where'd you come from?” I asked.

He held up a pair of night-vision binoculars. “I have been watching you. It was very smoky.” He lifted his radio. “Zeus, they are here. Go now to meeting place.” He turned back to me. “We were trying to figure out how to rescue you when the alarms went off.”

“How did you know we were captured?” Taylor asked.

“You left everything in your hotel room.” He looked around. “Is everyone here?”

“Yes.”

There was one last storm of lightning bolts striking the camp, followed by a massive explosion. The display reminded me of the finale of a fireworks show.

“What was that?” I asked.

“We brought bombs to blow up the road in case they tried to follow us,” Ben said. “We must go now. Come.”

“I see the car,” Ian said.

It was another five minutes before the rest of us saw it. Concealed in dense forest was an all-black Range Rover. “It will be crowded,” Ben said. “But we will fit.”

Everyone had gotten in except for me when Zeus and Tessa came running up. They were both out of breath.

“Hurry!” Ben shouted.

“Good to see you two,” I said, holding the door for them.

“Looks like you've had some fun,” Zeus said, helping Tessa in.

He got in and I jumped in after him, holding my arm. Ben hit the gas and the car lurched forward, its wheels spinning in the dirt before intersecting with an asphalt road.

“Hey, guys,” Zeus said, still panting, “I thought we weren't going to try to break in.”

“Wasn't our plan,” I said. “We were captured.”

“Where's Jade Dragon?” Tessa asked.

“She's still inside,” Taylor said, hurt evident in her voice. She looked at me. “Michael, you're really bleeding.”

“I cut myself on some wire.”

“Here,” Jack said. He ripped another piece from his undershirt.

“I'll do it,” Taylor said. She leaned over the back of my seat and wrapped the cloth around my throbbing arm. The cloth slowly turned red with blood. “I hope you don't need stitches,” Taylor said.

We drove past three police cars with flashing lights, followed by a fire truck and some military vehicles. Within five minutes we were back on a major thoroughfare with traffic. Ben drove past the Kaohsiung off-ramp.

“I think you missed the exit,” Jack said. “The hotel's back there.”

“We are going someplace else,” Ben said. About ten minutes past Kaohsiung, Ben exited the highway into the shipping district. We drove past a long harbor filled with cargo ships, freighters, and barges.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“To a safe house,” Ben said.

The safe house wasn't really a house—it was a large, abandoned-looking warehouse just two blocks from the waterfront. The building was surrounded by a tall chain-link fence with razor wire and security cameras.

Ben unlocked the gate, then drove the SUV inside and got back out to lock the gate behind us. Then he pushed a remote and a large overhead door in the warehouse opened. He drove inside, then shut the overhead door after us. A light went on, exposing a large open garage with several different vehicles and stacks of crates on wooden pallets. Ben shut off the engine and turned around.

“This is where we will stay until the
Volta
arrives.”

“How many days is that?” I asked.

“The boat is still two thousand kilometers out,” he said. “Maybe
three days.” He looked us over. “Do you know you escaped from an inescapable prison?”

“What do you mean?” Taylor asked.

“The Zuoying prison is famous like your Alcatraz prison in America. No one has ever escaped. And the Elgen made it even more strong.”

“Not to mention the Taiwanese army camped around it,” Jack said.

“Yes, with an army around it, you still escaped. You should be very proud of what you have done.”

“We owe our escape to Nichelle,” I said. “If it wasn't for her we wouldn't have gotten out. And if she hadn't gotten us in there, we never would have gotten Taylor out.” I looked Nichelle in the eyes. “I'm sorry I doubted you.”

“Me too,” Ian said.

“Yeah,” Jack said. “We owe you.”

Nichelle looked at the wall, then shrugged. “It's okay. I wouldn't have trusted me either.”

“We need to get you bandaged up,” Jack said to her.

“And Michael,” Taylor said.

“Upstairs we have medicine and a wrap.”

We got out of the car. As we walked over to the stairwell Jack asked Ben, “Do you have anything for pain?” He must have been in a lot of pain because I'd never heard him ask for as much as an aspirin.

“Yes,” he said, opening the stairwell door. “Also upstairs.”

“I hope it's good,” Jack said.

“I am,” Abigail said. She stood at the foot of the steps.

Jack looked as if he'd seen a ghost. “What are you doing here?”

“I missed you, so they let me come.”

They hugged and the pain left Jack's face. He sighed with relief.

“Let's get you wrapped up,” she said.

As we climbed the stairs Ben said, “I know you must be very tired and hungry. We have food and beds.”

“Thank goodness,” Ostin said. “I'm starving.”

“We'll make something to eat,” Tessa said to Ben. “You take care of the wounded.”

The stairwell opened into a kitchen, and Nichelle, Jack, and I sat around the kitchen table. Ben walked out of the room, then returned with a plastic case with a large red cross on it.

“Nichelle first,” I said.

Nichelle pulled her sleeve up over her shoulder and unwound the makeshift bandage Jack had made for her. The bullet had grazed her, leaving a four-inch red trough across her shoulder. The wound was deep but wasn't bleeding anymore. The biggest casualty was her full-shoulder tattoo of the grim reaper.

“I didn't like that tattoo much anyway,” she said.

“This will hurt,” Ben said, lifting a brown bottle with Chinese markings.

“Hold on,” Jack said. “Abi, help Nichelle.”

Abi stepped back. “I'm not taking her pain away.”

For a moment there was silent tension, then Nichelle said, “It's okay. After all the pain I caused her, I deserve it.”

“No,” Jack said. “It's not right.” He looked Abigail in the eyes. “She's changed. You need to help her.”

Abigail looked at Jack incredulously. “No, I
don't.
”

“It's okay,” Nichelle said.

The tension in the room was palpable. Abigail looked at us, then angrily shook her head. “Fine.” She reached over and touched Nichelle. “Do it.”

Ben poured the liquid over Nichelle's shoulder and it foamed up around the wound. He patted it dry, then taped a large piece of gauze over it.

“Thank you,” Nichelle said. She turned to Abigail, who had already stepped back from her. “You're right. I didn't deserve it, but thank you anyway.”

Abigail didn't reply.

“Your turn, Michael,” Ben said. “Let me see your arm now.”

I took off my shirt, which was more painful than I expected because the fabric had stuck to the wound. It started bleeding again. The cut was about three inches long and deep enough to reveal yellow tissue and muscle. The entire area was covered with dirt. “We
must clean it first,” Ben said. He led me over to the kitchen counter, and I held my arm over the sink. He turned the water on and waited until it was warm, then lifted the sink sprayer and rinsed my wound until the dirt had all run off into the sink. I grimaced with pain.

“Sorry,” Ben said.

Taylor was drying my wound off with a terry cloth towel when she suddenly exclaimed, “You got your watch back.”

“I thought Hatch took it,” Ostin said.

I looked around the room. Everyone was looking at me. “He did,” I said. “They gave it back.”

Ostin stared at me incredulously. “Hatch gave you your watch back?”

“I didn't say Hatch,” I said.

“Then who?” he asked.

I wasn't ready to tell them about my father. “Just one of the Elgen,” I said. I noticed that Ian was looking at me with a curious expression. “Can we get back to my arm?”

“Sorry,” Taylor said. “I was just glad to see it again.”

“Let me look at your arm,” Ben said. His forehead furrowed. “We have a needle and thread for stitches, but we do not have a doctor.”

“Maybe we could just bandage it tight,” Taylor said.

“It's a laceration,” Ostin said. “It needs to be stitched.”

“I can stitch it,” Nichelle said.

“You can stitch?” I asked.

“I like to sew. After I got out on the street I sewed up a few guys after fights.” She frowned. “It's going to hurt.”

“I'll be your anesthetic,” Abigail said. She took my arm. Even though I could still feel it throbbing, the pain immediately went away.

Nichelle took a needle and thread from the first aid kit while Ben poured liquid from the brown bottle over my wound.

Nichelle walked up next to me with the needle. “Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

“I don't think you should watch,” she said.

I turned away. I could feel the needle tug at my skin, but, thanks
to Abigail, the pain was as minor as someone pinching my cheek. It took Nichelle about five minutes to finish stitching up my arm. Finally she said, “That should do.”

I looked over. The stitching looked professional.

“You're good.”

“It's just like stitching a pillow,” Nichelle said. “Except there's a lot of blood and tissue and puss.”

“That's graphic,” Ostin said.

“I'm going to put a bandage over it,” Taylor said. She wrapped a piece of gauze around my arm and taped it.

“You can let go,” I said to Abigail.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

As she let go of me, pain shot through my arm as if the needle was just going in. Abigail saw me blanch and grabbed my arm. “Sometimes it hurts more than you think it will.”

“It's okay,” I said. “I've got to get used to it.”

She slowly released my arm again. The pain came back but at least this time I was expecting it.

“Not to interrupt all the fun you're having over there, but the food is ready,” Tessa said.

Zeus and Tessa had made a large pot of ramen noodles with shrimp and eggs, along with a dozen peanut butter sandwiches. Taylor got bowls for both of us. I was hungrier than I realized, and I gulped down a bowl of noodles and two sandwiches.

After eating, everyone went to the sleeping quarters to rest, leaving Taylor, Ben, and me sitting alone at the table.

“What time do you think it is?” I asked.

“You are wearing a watch,” Ben said.

“I forgot.” I looked at it. “I think it's still on Peru time.”

“I think maybe nine o'clock,” Ben said. “It was a long night.”