Michael Vey 9, page 14
“Any clue where Zeus and Nichelle went?” Ostin asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Ian said.
“I never guess,” Ostin said.
25 Two Found, Two Missing
I didn’t know what time it was, though I’m sure it was well after midnight. Under the ceiling of branches and leaves, the jungle was nearly pitch-black, except where the moon’s light occasionally pierced the canopy. Almost as thick as the jungle darkness were the sounds. A nocturnal symphony of Amazonian life had emerged with the nightfall, tree crickets and howler monkeys and the bad-tempered grunt of caimans. Occasionally a single voice would break through the cacophony with a shrill mating call or the tortured last scream of death.
We didn’t dare use flashlights (or even McKenna) in the dark. Even though we were shielded by the thick jungle and rugged terrain, we were less than a half mile from the entrance where the displaced Chasqui were congregated. Still, there was light from our glow and the constant flash and buzz of insects burning off my skin.
“I wish my skin did that,” Cristiano said, scratching his neck.
I was so focused on our situation that I hadn’t even noticed all the bugs I’d electrocuted. “Sometimes there are advantages to being a human bug zapper,” I said. I turned to Ostin, which I usually did when something puzzled me.
“Where would they have gone?”
“I don’t know,” Ostin said. I hated it when he said that.
“Maybe a Chasqui patrol came by, and they had to hide,” Cristiano ventured.
“Zeus would have just fried them.”
“What if an animal got them?” McKenna said. “Like a jaguar. Or a caiman?”
“Zeus is the most dangerous animal in the jungle,” I said. “We’re too far from water for a caiman, and I don’t see any animal tracks.”
“No,” Ian said. “Neither do I.”
“What are the Chasqui doing now?” I asked Ian.
“They’re mostly still out in front of the cave. A few have moved over to the side entrance, but there’s too much smoke.”
“Are any coming from the plant yet?”
He looked out. “Yes. Dozens.”
Our plan to draw more Chasqui to the cave was working, but now we faced a new dilemma. Did we hunt down Zeus and Nichelle, or stick to the plan and go after Jack? If we chose to go after Zeus and Nichelle, where would we even begin? On top of it all, I was past exhausted. What Johnson had warned me about not getting enough sleep, I was finding painfully true.
“So what do we do?” Ian asked.
“I don’t know. To go after Jack, we’ll need Zeus. And I have no idea where we would even start looking for them.”
“We’d have to split up,” Ian said.
“Not again,” I said. “From now on we stick together.” I breathed out slowly. “I need to think.” I walked away from the others to sit alone near the edge of the forest. A few minutes later Taylor sat down next to me.
“I need to tell you something,” she said.
I looked over at her. I could tell from her face that I wasn’t going to like what she had to say.
“I had a dream last night.”
“A dream or a nightmare?”
She hesitated. “A nightmare, I guess.”
I was really starting to hate her gift. “What was it?”
“I saw Zeus and Nichelle surrounded by native tribesmen.”
I just lowered my head into my hands.
“I’m sorry. There’s more. I saw Jack. He had a hood over his head, and he was standing in front of a firing squad. The Chasqui were executing him.”
I looked up. My heart was racing. “Where was he?”
“I’m not sure. Outside somewhere. Maybe the courtyard of the Starxource plant.”
“Did you see him die?”
“No.”
“What time of day was it?”
“The sun was just rising.”
“Then we’ve got to get to the plant.” I stood and walked back to the group. Everyone looked as exhausted as I felt. “I’ve come to a decision. I know you’re all tired, but we need to hike to the plant to save Jack. We believe the Chasqui are going to execute him.”
“That makes sense,” Ostin said. “Amash is trying to make us pay for attacking his cave.”
Everyone stood.
“Which way is the plant?” I asked Ostin.
He pointed. “It’s that way. Northeast.” As I was looking out into the jungle, I saw a sudden flash of electricity arc between two trees. I turned back. “Did you see that?”
“See what?” Ostin asked.
“There was electricity. Like lightning.”
“It could be St. Elmo’s fire,” Ostin said. “When atmospheric—”
Taylor interrupted. “Maybe it was Zeus sending us a signal.”
“Where was it?” Ian asked, walking toward me.
I pointed to where I’d seen the flash. At that very moment there was another.
Ian said, “It’s Zeus and Nichelle and…” He turned to us. “And a tribe of… natives.”
“But they’re still alive?” I asked.
“Very.”
“Are they being held captive?”
“If they are, they like it.”
“What?”
“Zeus has his arm around one of the warriors, and they appear to be laughing. Nichelle is smiling.”
“Nichelle is smiling?” Taylor said. “What did they do, drug her?”
“Zeus is waving us over,” Ian said.
“Let’s go,” I said, walking over to Tara, who was still unable to stand.
“I can carry Tara,” Ian said. “I’m not as tired as you.”
“Thank you.”
Taylor took my hand. “I’m really worried about you. Are you okay?”
“I’m just really tired. I haven’t really slept since…”
“I surrendered myself to the Chasqui?”
I nodded. “Pretty much.”
“You barely slept the night before,” she said. I could see her eyes well up. “You really do love me.”
“Did you ever doubt?”
“No. I know your mind. But you know how sometimes we believe things that aren’t true?”
“Yes.”
“Sometimes we don’t believe things that are true. Especially things that seem too good to be true.” She leaned over and kissed me. “You’re a good man, Michael Vey. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“I hope you never have to find out.”
PART FOURTEEN
26 Still Waiting for Word
By the time Alpha Team had returned to the hacienda, the staff had a light dinner of soup and potatoes waiting for them. They ate quickly, then went to their rooms to sleep, after setting their alarms for six a.m. Johnson slept with the radio twelve inches from his head. The moment he heard from Jaime, they would move.
The next morning Johnson woke to the alarm. There was still no news from Jaime. He checked to make sure everyone else was up.
“Jaime didn’t call?” Jax asked.
“Nada.”
“He should have called even without seeing them.”
“That was the plan,” Johnson said. “Let’s be ready to move in thirty. Breakfast is ready.”
Within five minutes, the group was gathered around the table for breakfast.
“I think it’s still night,” Cassy said.
“In the field we’d be eating lunch about now,” Jax said.
“You’re just showing off,” Cassy said.
“Jaime still didn’t call?” Tessa asked.
“No,” Jax said.
“I wonder how Michael and the others are doing.”
“I hope Jaime is okay,” Cibor said. “It’s not like him not to communicate.”
“He’s with Lars,” Jacinta said. “He’ll be fine. Lars will take good care of them.”
“What if the bat containers passed when he was sleeping?” Tessa asked.
“That’s why we’re headed out now,” Johnson said. “Redundancy.”
They finished eating, then drove back to the kill zone. After they were all settled in, Jacinta drove the van back to Puente Inambari. She found a place to park near the bridge, where she could keep a lookout. It was not yet ten a.m. when she called in to Johnson.
“I’m in position. Nothing can get by me.”
“Very well.”
“Still no word from Jaime?”
“Not a word. I just called him. But he didn’t answer.”
“That is not like Jaime.”
“No. I’m afraid something might have happened.”
“To him or his phone?”
“Either is possible.”
“Then the cargo could have already passed him as well.”
“That’s possible. That’s the thing about war. It’s always a response to what you didn’t plan for.”
PART FIFTEEN
27 An Unexpected Reunion
Zeus, Nichelle, and the Amacarra were gathered in a small clearing about a hundred yards from where we had been. There were a couple dozen warriors. I remembered them from my first encounter with the tribe, and in the pale light of the moon I could see their painted faces—the top half black, the bottom half and jaw bloodred. Some of them had bones through their noses. They wore loincloths and headdresses of plaited leaves. They all carried weapons—spears or blow darts.
“It’s about time you got here,” Zeus said as we walked into the clearing.
“You have no idea what a relief it is to see you two.”
“Yeah, thanks for the scare,” Taylor said.
Nichelle grinned. “It wasn’t really our idea. We would have left a note, but…” She raised her hands. “Nothing to write with.”
“I see you got them,” Zeus said.
“Yeah, we did.”
“Good job. What about Jack?”
“We’re working on that.”
There was suddenly a lot of mouth clicking between the warriors. I looked over at the tribe. It seemed like it had been a lifetime since I’d last seen them. I didn’t remember any of them individually, not that I would have anyway. Back then their faces had been covered with the same black-and-red war paint.
I bowed slightly. “I am pleased to see you again. Thank you for watching over our friends as you once did me.”
There was no response.
“They don’t speak English,” Nichelle said. “Except him.” She pointed to one of the Amacarra, who was emerging from the deep shadows.
I recognized him as the chief of the Amacarra. His face was easier to see than the others’, since it was painted all white, with black lines around his mouth and eyes. He had a bone through his nose. He was bare-chested, and he wore a necklace of piranha teeth and jaguar claws. He was not wearing the parrot headdress I remembered from before but, like the others, a crown of woven banana leaves. He’d been old the last time I saw him. I was a little surprised that he was still alive, and more surprised to see him away from the village.
“Michael Vey,” he said. “It is good to see you again. I remember you from the last time you came to our jungle.”
“I remember you too, Great Chief. That was a long time ago.”
“Many leaves have fallen since then. Much has happened in our jungle since you came. Unfortunately, much of it evil. The demons took the cave of our fathers. We fought them, but, as before, their weapons of war were too powerful. We lost many brave warriors. Then the bai mwo gwei tried to exterminate us, but they were unsuccessful. They do not know the jungle like we do. The jungle gods protect us.
“We have watched the white devils from the shadows since then. Lately they have been more active in our jungle, and we have fought to keep them from our home.”
“Earlier today we saw three dead Chasqui soldiers on the trail,” I said. “That is where we got our uniforms.”
“Yes, the three devils were hunting one of our warriors.”
“How did you find us?”
“We saw your friends. We thought they were Chasqui, since your friend, like you, is wearing one of their uniforms. The gods were looking out for you. It is fortunate that it was night and we saw the glow of his skin. We were confused. We did not know if our friends, the gwang lyang ren, the Glowpeople, had joined our enemy, so we took both to find out.
“We were very pleased to learn that we are still friends and you had gone into the demon cave to save your friends.”
One of the warriors said something to the chief. The chief pointed at Cristiano, then said to me, “This one is recognized. He is a Chasqui soldier. Is he your prisoner?”
“No, he is a friend. He helped us against them. The Chasqui killed his brother.”
The chief walked over and put his thumb between Cristiano’s eyes, then closed his own eyes. He held it there for nearly a minute; then he stepped back. I don’t know what he was doing, but he seemed satisfied that Cristiano was one of us.
“Were you successful in freeing your friends?”
“Yes,” I said, gesturing toward the women. “These are the two we rescued, Taylor and Tara.”
My introduction of them was followed by a lot of mouth clicking. The entire tribe looked astonished.
The chief looked surprised as well. “How are they the same woman? Do the Glowpeople make themselves into two people?”
“No. They are twins.”
“I do not know that word, ‘twins.’ ”
“It is when a mother has two babies at the same time.”
“Two babies? Like the otter?”
“Yes. It is rare with humans, but it happens.”
Another warrior said something to him in their tongue. The chief nodded. “Yes, I had nearly forgotten. Many generations ago an Amacarra woman had two babies born to her. It was a sign from the gods.” He stepped closer to Taylor. “She is beautiful like Hung fa. The one you call Tessa.”
“Thank you,” Taylor said.
“Tessa still breathes?”
“Yes, she’s in Peru too. She is helping to battle the Chasqui somewhere else.”
He nodded slowly. “Yes, she is a warrior too.” The chief looked down at Tara, who was sitting on the ground where I had set her down.
“This one cannot walk?”
“Not now,” I said. “The Chasqui hurt her.”
His eyes narrowed. “Bai mwo gwei. They are evil.” He knelt down next to Tara and put his hands on her legs. She looked up at us, unsure of what the chief was doing.
“It’s okay,” Taylor said. “He is a healer.”
After a moment the chief took his hands off her. “Her bones are not broken.”
“No. It’s mostly her muscles. The Chasqui have a machine that hurts the Glowpeople.”
The chief shook his head again. “We have medicine from roots that can fix her.”
I remembered the mud-and-herb compress they had put on my broken ankle that had healed it in just one day. “Yes, you have powerful medicines.”
“The jungle gods are healers,” the chief said. He stood. “But perhaps it is not your wish to stay in the jungle. Your friend Zooz”—I figured he meant Zeus, but it’s not polite to correct a chief—“said that you will be leaving to go back to your home.”
“That was our plan, but the Chasqui have another one of our friends at the Starxource plant. We are going there to free him.”
The chief frowned. “The plant is not safe. Do you not remember, there are many, many soldiers at the plant?”
“I know. But we have to try. We do not leave our friends behind.”
He nodded. “It is our way too. How can we help you?”
“This is not your battle.”
“We are friends, so it is our battle.”
“You are most noble and good,” I said. “If you would help, could you guide us through the jungle to the Starxource plant?”
“Yes, we will. The demons have made a trail that is clear, but it is not always safe. That is where they patrol.”
“Yes, we can’t use it right now. We have lured the Chasqui from the big plant to the cave so we could free our friend.”
“You are very clever to confuse your enemy. And you speak the truth. Our warriors have been watching many soldiers come from the gray building to the cave tonight. That is why we are out at this hour of the moon. We thought the demons might be planning to attack our people again.”
“No, it’s us they want.”
“We can help you. We have our own trails. I will send two warriors, Li and Kwai, to guide you.” He looked over at Tara. “This one will not be able to travel. We can take her and give her medicine. We will keep her safe.”
I looked at Tara. “You can trust them. Will you be okay if we leave you?”
She nodded. “I’d just slow you down.”
“Do you need someone to stay with you?” Taylor asked.
She shook her head. “Saving Jack will take all of you.”
I turned to the chief. “Thank you. We will accept your help.”
“We are the same spirit,” he said. “Our hearts beat together. If it is the gods’ will, we will be victorious together.”
I looked at the other tribesmen and put my hand over my heart. They did the same back, followed by more mouth clicking.
“You should get rest before you go to war,” the chief said. “You are very tired. I can feel your weariness in my own bones.”
“We are all very tired, but we are worried for our friend. We believe they will kill him when the sun rises. We need to go now.”
He looked at me for a moment, then said, “You will not make it as you are. You are more tired than you know.”
“We must try.”
“If you believe you must go now, I have something to help you. It is a special water.” He held up his hand and shouted words to the tribe. One of the warriors brought over a bulging waterskin and gave it to the chief. The chief offered it to me.
“We call this li-shwei. It comes from the warana plant. Anciently it was called ‘the eyes of the gods.’ It will awaken you.”
“It’s guarana,” Ostin said. “It’s twice as potent as caffeine.” He smiled. “He’s giving us the Amacarra version of an energy drink.”
