Hunt for Jade Dragon (8 page)

T
hat night after dinner I went out for a walk. I wanted to be alone. No, I
needed
to be alone. Since the moment we'd left Peru I hadn't had much privacy, and I had a lot to think about. I suppose that I needed some solitude to let everything settle before I took on the next phase of my bizarre new life. I think Taylor must have understood because she didn't say anything as I slipped out the back.

Even though the sun had set an hour earlier, it was still warm outside and the compound grounds were lit by a nearly full moon. I walked over to the helipad to look at the helicopter, then wandered farther back to where Taylor and I had talked the night before.

As I approached the stable I thought I heard someone crying. I walked quietly around the side of the Ranch House to see a woman leaning against the fence. The moon's illumination was bright enough that I could at least partially see her. She was older than me, probably
in her late twenties, tall and thin with long dark hair that fell over half her face. I didn't remember seeing her at the reception.

She was crying. I felt awkward for intruding on her privacy, and I was about to turn back when she looked up at me with a startled expression. I think my glow must have frightened her. (If you've never seen one of us glow, it takes a little getting used to—just one of many reasons I was never allowed sleepovers as a child.) For a moment we just looked at each other.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She wiped her eyes. “You're one of
them
.”

Them?
I wasn't sure how to respond. Finally I said, “Sorry, I'll leave you alone.”

As I turned to leave she said, “I'm crying for my husband.”

I turned back. “Your husband?”

“He was killed in action.”

“I'm sorry,” I said.

For a moment she just looked at me with dark, angry eyes. Then she said, “You should be. You killed him.”

Her words rolled over me like a train. “I didn't kill your husband.”

“He was on the
Ampere
when you blew it up.”

For several moments I was speechless. Finally I said again, “I'm sorry.”

“Me too,” she said. She wiped her eyes, then turned and walked back to the house.

I
woke in the night drenched in sweat. I had dreamed about the
Ampere
again. This time I was trying to save someone trapped inside, but the smoke and flames and the force of the water kept me back. I wasn't sure who it was, I just knew it was someone important to me. When I finally got to them they were underwater, drowned, their limbs and hair floating, lifeless. Then I saw the person's face. It was white and swollen, and his eyes were wide open. It was me.

It took me several hours to fall asleep again. I felt like I'd only slept a few minutes when Ostin woke me.

“Michael, it's time to get up.”

“You've got to be kidding,” I groaned. “I didn't sleep.”

“More nightmares?”

“Yeah.”

“Just stay in bed. I'll tell them you're sick.”

I rubbed my eyes. “No, I've got to get up.”

As I gathered myself, Ostin sat back on his bed. “Where were you last night?”

“I went for a walk.”

“With who?”

“Just me.”

Ostin frowned. “I thought you were with Taylor. Why didn't you come get me?”

“I wanted to be alone.”

He looked at me with concern. “Is something wrong?”

“Yeah.” I exhaled slowly. “Does it ever bother you about what we did to the
Ampere
?”

“We did what we had to do.”

“I know. But all those lives . . . there were innocent people on that boat.”

“Not so innocent,” he said. “If you take the beast's money, you are part of the beast. That's the way war is. There is no middle ground.” He leaned forward. “We either stopped the Elgen from enslaving and killing more people or we didn't. That's the only issue.” He looked at me quizzically. “Did something happen last night?”

“On my walk I met a woman. Her husband was on the
Ampere
when we blew it up. She said we killed him.”

Ostin nodded slowly. “No wonder.” He looked me in the eyes. “Listen, if he was on the
Ampere
, he knew what was going on. In fact, he might have been the one who told them that we had to sink the boat. He accepted the risk, just like we did. We almost died on that boat.”

“But we didn't.”

“No, we got lucky.” He seemed to study me for a moment, then he said, “What you're feeling is called survivor's guilt. It happens in war. But you can't blame yourself for the chaos of war. You stood up to the bully to protect someone else. You didn't do it because you wanted to or for personal gain. You didn't act carelessly. You did it to protect others. That makes you a hero and no matter how awful war is, that doesn't change that fact. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Especially yourself.”

I pondered his words for a moment, then said, “Thanks, buddy.”

“That's what I'm here for,” he said. “Now can we get some breakfast?”

* * * 

After another big breakfast we met with Gervaso again. This time he had a map of the island of Taiwan taped to the wall behind him.

“Today we're going to talk about your mission. We now have positive verification from our informants that Jade Dragon is being held at the Taiwan Starxource plant, waiting for the
Volta
, the Elgen's science boat, to arrive.” He walked over to his map. “The Starxource plant is located about here,” he said, touching a point on the map with his finger, “in southwest Taiwan, just a few kilometers northwest of the city of Kaohsiung, the second largest city in Taiwan.

“The Taiwan Starxource plant is the largest in the world. It does not have the landmass around it that the Peruvian plant had, but the facility itself is larger. Like the Peruvian plant, it is also an Elgen training center, which means there will be more guards than usual.”

We all groaned.

“Lovely,” Ostin said.

“It gets worse,” Gervaso said. “In addition to the Elgen, you will also be facing the Taiwanese army.”

“Just like the Peruvian army,” Zeus said.

“Not exactly. The Peruvian army is ranked fifty-ninth in the world. The Taiwanese army is ranked seventeenth, just below Canada. It is a much more powerful force.”

“Why are they involved?” I asked.

“For good reason. The Starxource plant is vital to Taiwan's national security. Taiwan imports one hundred percent of their energy, so they are extremely vulnerable. After the destruction of the Peruvian plant, the Taiwanese army took up the defense of the plant.

“We do not recommend shutting down the Taiwanese plant if you can help it. It will cost many, many innocent lives if you do, and you will be regarded as terrorists. It is best if you just get into the plant, get the girl, and get out.”

“Did he really say ‘just'?” Tessa said.

“Piece of cake,” Jack said sarcastically.

“You're saying that the nine of us are taking on the seventeenth-largest army in the world?” Taylor asked.

“
Eight
of you,” Gervaso said. “Abigail will not be going to Taiwan.”

We all looked over at her. Jack must have already known, because he was the only one who didn't look surprised.

“This is at our insistence,” Gervaso said. “Her powers will not be useful in Taiwan. We do not want to risk any of your lives unnecessarily.”

“I'm sorry,” Abigail said, looking embarrassed.

“They're right,” I said. “And if we're taking on such a big force, we're not going to succeed with numbers anyway.”

“You can say that again,” Ostin said.

“Exactly,” Gervaso said. “This must be a covert operation.”

Ostin raised his hand. “Yesterday you said something about the Lung Li. Who and what are they?”

Gervaso frowned. “The Lung Li is an elite branch of the Elgen guard made up of Asian mercenaries. They are mostly Chinese, but there are Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Thai members as well.
Lung Li,
in Chinese, means ‘dragon strength' or ‘power.' It's fitting. They are a formidable group of warriors. They are highly disciplined, fierce fighters. They make the rest of the Elgen guard look like mall cops.”

“This just keeps getting better,” Taylor said.

“They are also highly superstitious,” Gervaso continued. “They follow astrology and ancient mysticism. They believe that the electric children are the literal reincarnation of the lightning gods of ancient Chinese legend.”

“So if I shock them crazy they'll all be worshipping me,” Zeus said, grinning.

“I'm afraid not,” Gervaso said. “They regard the Electroclan as fallen angels. Demons.”

“That's creepy,” Taylor said.

“Not surprisingly, they religiously follow the teachings of Sun Tzu's
The
Art of War
.”

“These guys sound like ninjas,” Ostin said.

Gervaso nodded. “Precisely. They are very much a modern-day
version of the ninjas. They have all taken oaths to die for the Lung Li and the Elgen cause. When they take the oath they are branded with the Lung Li symbol, the fiery dragon head.”

“Branded?” Taylor said. “Like cattle?”

Gervaso nodded. “With a red-hot poker. It's a sign of bravery.”

“Or insanity,” Tessa said.

I groaned. “Great. We're fighting high-tech ninjas who like pain.”

“Hopefully you'll never see them,” Gervaso said.

“Isn't that the point of ninjas?” Ostin said. “You're not
supposed
to see them.”

“Let me get this straight,” Tessa said. “The
eight
of us are taking on a Starxource plant with extra Elgen guards, the entire Taiwanese army, and a powerful group of ninjas?”

Gervaso nodded. “Yes, but it could get worse.”

“How could it possibly get worse?” Zeus asked.

“There's a chance that Hatch may be sending his Glows to protect the girl. We will know within a few days.”

“We're
so
dead,” Tessa said.

No one else said anything.

* * * 

That afternoon Gervaso and I practiced my magnetic-bullet thing again. This time it was my idea. After our morning meeting I felt even more motivated to prepare. Fear is a great motivator.

I experimented with focusing my pulse in different ways to see if I could increase the effect. It worked. Once I knocked a bullet out of range by more than eight feet.

“I can deflect bullets,” I said.

“Not just bullets,” Gervaso said. “If you can deflect something as small and fast as a bullet, you could deflect knives, axes, even Chinese stars.”

“Like in the movies,” I said.

“Yes. Just like in the movies,” he replied.

I just hoped our movie had a happy ending.