Michael Vey 9, page 15
I took the skin. “Thank you.” I was already thirsty, so I took a long drink. I could feel the effect of the drink almost immediately.
“That’s really good,” I said. “It tastes like lemonade.”
“Yeah,” Zeus said. “Nichelle and I already had some. The stuff rocks.”
“I’m going to market it when we get back home,” Nichelle said. “Power lemonade.”
“I like that.”
“I’ll have some,” Ian said.
“There are lemons in the Amazon rain forest?” I asked Ostin.
“Lemons, limes, oranges, pineapples, and thousands of fruits you’ve never heard of.”
“We should all have some of this,” I said.
“Do not give it to the girl,” the chief said, pointing at Tara. “It will fight the medicine we have for her. She needs to sleep.”
“Thank you,” Tara said.
We passed the skin around. By the time it had gone through us, we’d pretty much emptied it. I immediately felt energized.
“That stuff is amazing,” Zeus said. “I feel totally awake.”
“I hope it lasts,” I said. I turned to the chief. “Thank you.”
“You are most welcome, Michael Vey.” The chief ordered several of the warriors forward, and they lifted Tara.
“This is not so bad,” Tara said. “These guys are handsome.”
“Get better,” Taylor said to her sister.
“Kwai. Li,” the chief said. Two of the warriors walked forward from the others. The chief spoke in the Amacarra language, then said to me, “I told them to go quickly.”
“All right,” I said. “Where shall we meet you after?”
“We will meet here. We will be watching for you.”
“Drop a pin,” I said to Ostin. I said to the chief, “Take good care of Tara.”
“She will be protected with our lives,” he said. “Now go with the gods. We will burn oils to petition the gods’ help for you.”
“We are very grateful,” I said.
He bowed to me slightly, then turned to our guides and gave a final command.
The two warriors started off, single file, into the dark of the jungle. I thanked the chief once more. Then we all ran off behind Kwai and Li.
28 Firing Squad at Dawn
The way the Amacarra moved through the jungle at night, you would think they could see in the dark. Maybe they could. Or maybe it was just like walking through one’s own home at night.
It was simple, of course, for Ian, who not only walked through the jungle with ease but kept us apprised of the frequent patrols of Chasqui making their way to the cave, counting them as he went. At last count he was up to sixty-nine.
It took us nearly three hours to make it to the outskirts of the massive Elgen compound. The first we saw of it was the tall metal fence posts surrounding their property, then, in the distance, the concrete curvature of the rat bowl. There was a plume of steam rising from the back side of it.
“Are they using the rat bowl again?” I asked Cristiano.
“Not like before. It is mostly used to keep the bats in.”
Our Amacarra guides led us to where two large pipes emptied out from the plant.
“This brings back memories,” Taylor said. “The Weekend Express.”
“I never thought I’d go through that again,” Ostin said.
“You probably won’t,” I said. “They sealed it shut.”
Metal caps had been welded onto the ends of the pipes.
“No. It is not open anymore,” Cristiano said. “The sovereign had it sealed off for good.”
“Couldn’t McKenna just melt the welds?” Nichelle said.
“Is there more than just the welds keeping it shut?” I asked Ian.
He looked for a moment, then said, “The other end of the pipe is sealed as well, and there are two rotting human corpses inside the pipe. There are also explosives inside and trip wires and mines at two other places.”
Amash was clearly very serious about not letting anyone use these anymore.
“Then we go through the fence,” I said. “Like we did before.”
There was a tall electric wire fence that ran around the perimeter of the compound for as far as we could see. The wires were about a foot and a half apart, wide enough for us to slip through if they weren’t electrified.
The first time we’d broken into the plant, the wires had been electrified as well, but I hadn’t realized back then that I could touch them. Maybe I couldn’t have. A lot of electricity had passed through me since then. Now the electricity didn’t worry me anymore. After being struck by lightning, this fence’s voltage was nothing.
As I walked up to the wires, the warriors started shouting, “Bu yau tai jin! Bu yau tai jin!”
“What did they say?” Ian asked.
“I think they’re trying to warn me about the fence,” I said.
One of them stepped ahead of me and pointed to the rotting carcass of a capuchin monkey lying on the ground at the base of the fence. “Ting jr sho chu. Feichang wei syande.”
“Based on the dead primate, I’d say he’s definitely warning you not to touch the wires,” Ostin said. He turned to them. “Yes, we know they’re electric.”
The warriors didn’t relax. I guess to further clarify their point, one of the men took a stick and tossed it onto the fence. An electric spark crackled from the wires.
“Yes, we know,” Ostin said. “It’s no big deal.”
“That’s pretty high voltage,” I said.
I reached out to touch the wires, and the warrior grabbed my arm to stop me. “Bu yau, bu yau. Jen hen wei syande!”
“They must think we’re idiots,” Ian said.
“No,” I said. “Just me.” I turned to them. “It’s okay. Really.” I waited for them to take their hands off me, since I didn’t want them close to me when I grabbed the wires. “You don’t need to worry.”
The Amacarra stepped back. Before they could move again, I turned around and grabbed a wire. A deafening zap of electricity filled the air, like a squirrel jumping onto a bug zapper.
It would have killed anyone else, but to me it was like drinking a cold soda—tingly and refreshing. My glow more than doubled in brightness. The Amacarra’s expressions turned from fear to amazement, then, maybe, to admiration.
I shrugged. “What doesn’t kill me only makes me stronger.” I turned to Cristiano. “But it will definitely kill you.”
“Thanks,” he said. “So how do I get in?”
“Ever play the game Operation?” I asked.
“No.”
“The point of the game is,” I said, “don’t touch the sides, or you lose.” I put my foot on the bottom wire of the fence, grabbed the wire above it, and pulled it up as high as I could. “Can everyone get through that?”
“We can,” Taylor said.
I was able to open the space nearly three feet, easily enough for each of them to straddle and get through.
“Let’s go,” I said. “Take your time. Be careful.”
One by one, everyone passed through the fence except the two Amacarra.
“Are they coming with us?” Taylor asked.
“I don’t think so.” I looked at them and touched my chest. “Thank you.”
They likewise touched their chests, then quickly disappeared back into the jungle’s darkness. I let go of the fence. My exhaustion was gone and my body fairly hummed with energy.
“You’re really glowing,” Taylor said.
“I just got a good recharge,” I said.
The compound grounds were still dark, though the first traces of dawn could be seen in the gradation of light on the eastern horizon.
“What’s the fastest way in?” I asked.
“The cells were next to the old rat bowl,” Ostin said.
“Ian, can you see Jack?”
He looked toward the bowl. “I can see the jail cells. But they’re all empty.” He paused for a moment, then said, “Something is going on in the courtyard. There’s a lot of soldiers in there.”
“We’ve got to get inside.”
We crept behind foliage for about twenty yards to the end of the outer tree line. There was a magnificent two-story antebellum-architecture-styled mansion that looked more like it belonged in the American South than in South America. It was all white, with a gabled roof with a cupola, and huge Greek revival columns that framed the wide porch that encircled the house. The mansion was located toward the north end of the bowl and had its own roadway from the plant. There was a chain-link fence with a razor wire top around the property, which, despite its unwelcoming facade, was beautifully manicured.
“They’ve made some additions,” Taylor said.
“Anyone want to bet that’s the sovereign’s place?” Ostin said.
“It is his mansion,” Cristiano said. “When he is not in the cave.”
There were three other new buildings to the side of the residence, one still under construction. The two finished buildings were luxurious and of Western design, though not as luxurious as the main mansion. All three of the buildings looked out of place against the stark industrial contrast of the concrete-and-steel architecture of the former Elgen Starxource plant.
“What are those other buildings?” Taylor asked.
“The far one is like a hotel for the sovereign’s guests,” Cristiano said.
“He has that many guests?”
“Not many. Drug traffickers, mostly. Sometimes foreign dignitaries. The other building is for the scientists. They are treated differently than the soldiers. They have much nicer quarters. I do not know what the third building is going to be. It was started after I left.”
Each of the buildings was fenced in and had a guard booth. We continued hiking until we could see the entrance to the rat bowl. There was still a pen with cattle, but it was nothing like the last time we had been here. I could see no ranch hands, just a sentry post with guards. There were cameras everywhere.
“We could disguise ourselves as scientists,” Ian said. “There are only two guards at their building. We could take uniforms and IDs.”
“We don’t have time for that,” I said, looking at the horizon. “It’s almost dawn. With all the cameras, we couldn’t get anywhere near the building without being seen.”
“We need some kind of distraction,” Ostin said.
“We still have C4,” Ian said. “We could blow something up on the other side of the compound.”
“Then the whole compound would go on alert and lockdown,” I said. “I was thinking something a little more nuanced.”
“I have an idea,” Taylor said.
I turned to her. “Let’s hear it.”
“Since you’re in Chasqui uniforms, they’ll think you’re with them…”
“I’m not in uniform,” Ian said.
“They will still require ID,” Cristiano added. “The Chasqui have very strict routines and rules. They will want to know why you are there.”
“But once we’re that close, we could shock them,” Ostin said.
“Let me finish,” Taylor said. “We don’t just walk up to them. You take Nichelle, McKenna, Ian, and me to them as prisoners. Each of you will have one of us, and we’ll be struggling like we’re trying to get away. That way they’ll assume you were sent out to capture us, and their first concern will be the captive American girls, not the guards bringing them.
“Cristiano, you tell them that you caught us trying to get in and that we said we had an American friend being kept inside. They will think we mean Jack.
“After you give me to them, you can ask about Jack and where he’s been moved. Even if they don’t tell you where he is, I’ll read their minds. Nichelle, if you’ll enhance me, that will help.”
“Of course.”
“Then, after we’ve got everything we need to know, I’ll do a heavy reboot on them, and Michael and Zeus will take them out. We’ll go rescue Jack.”
“That’s pretty brilliant,” Ostin said.
“Let’s do it,” I said. “Let’s pair up. Make it real, ladies.”
I took Taylor by the arm, Ostin took McKenna, and Cristiano took Ian, and Zeus took Nichelle. Nichelle immediately started acting like she was trying to get away and shouting at Zeus, “Let go of me. You can’t treat me like this. I’ll sue! I’ll call the embassy!”
Taking her cue, Taylor, Ian, and McKenna also started carrying on. The commotion immediately caught the guards’ attention. Two of them came out of the booth.
“Qué pasa?” one shouted.
We waited until we were closer.
“We caught them,” I said.
“We caught the intruders,” Cristiano said in Spanish.
The guard with the most stars on his uniform walked up to us.
“I’m Sergeant Bentley,” he said, stressing his rank over his name. “What do you have here?”
“We caught the intruders,” I said. “These Americans were outside the fence trying to sneak in. They say we’re holding their friend. An American.”
“We have no American women in here.”
“Not a woman,” Ostin said. “A man.”
He nodded. “Oh, yes. The traitor.” A slight grin crossed his face. “Tell them to wait an hour. We’ll give him back.”
His words sent a chill through me.
He smiled darkly. “They can save us the trouble of burying him.”
Taylor pushed me away and ran toward the man. He grabbed her.
“Where do you think you’re going, Bonita?”
“Get your hands off me!” she shouted.
“Why isn’t she handcuffed?”
“I can handle her,” I said.
“If you could handle her, I wouldn’t be holding her.”
“Where’s Jack?” Taylor shouted. “What have you done with him?”
Taylor turned to me, her eyes wide with terror. “What did you do to Jack?” she asked again.
Between her dream and her reaction, I could guess what she had read in his mind.
“You don’t need to worry about that,” he said. “It’s me you should worry about. I haven’t seen a woman for a while.”
It was all I could do not to fry him. I kept my cool.
“Did they do it yet?” I asked calmly.
“The execution is at sunrise. First light.”
Cristiano said, “That is the tradition for traitors.”
“ ‘Shot at dawn,’ ” Ostin said.
“How long do we have until sunrise?” I asked. I was afraid of his answer, as the jungle was already in twilight.
Ian glanced down at his watch. “About fifteen minutes. You were right. Amash must have ordered Jack’s execution after we attacked,” he said, as if we weren’t standing next to the enemy.
The sergeant looked at Ian with a confused expression, then shouted to his men, “Take these prisoners!” He looked at Taylor. “Lock this one in the first brig.”
As the other guards started forward, I said, “Taylor, now.”
Nichelle stepped forward with her hand out as Taylor rebooted them. One of them fell over. The sergeant blinked several times, then looked blankly at Taylor, then me.
“Where is this execution?” she asked.
He didn’t answer. I turned to Taylor. “Can you see?”
“I just saw the same yard as my dream.”
“Where is it?” I shouted.
The sergeant looked at me coolly. “If you were a Chasqui, you would know that.”
I burst out with a powerful shock wave but pulled back just enough to not leave him unconscious. He yelled out with pain as he hit the ground. The other guards were, at first, startled. Then they reached for their weapons. Zeus sent a lightning bolt that daisy-chained through the men, blistering their hands and knocking them off their feet. It was as intense a lightning blast as I’d ever seen from him.
“Take their weapons,” I said. “Lock them up inside the booth with their own handcuffs.”
“On it,” Ostin said. While he, Cristiano, and Ian took care of the other guards, I knelt down next to the sergeant.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“We’re the ones who brought down the Elgen,” I said. “And the Chasqui. Now, where is our friend?”
He tried to look tough. “What friend?”
“He’s playing with you,” Taylor said.
“We don’t have time to play.” I tapped his forehead with my forefinger. “I don’t have time for this.”
The man looked afraid, but he still didn’t speak. I looked over to the horizon and the first streaks of dawn. We were running out of time. Jack was running out of time.
“Do you really want to die for the Chasqui?”
His eyes hardened. “You can’t make me talk.”
I turned back. “McKenna, give me a hand. Your hand.”
She walked over and knelt on the other side of the man. “What do you need?”
“This man says we can’t make him tell us where Jack is. I think you can.”
“Gladly.” She grabbed his fat cheek and pulled upward several inches. McKenna took a deep breath. Then, as she exhaled, the sound of sizzling skin was accompanied by the smell of burning flesh. The man’s fat cheek sounded like bacon on a hot grill.
The sergeant screamed out in agony, but McKenna didn’t flinch. He still didn’t talk.
I leaned over him, close enough that he could feel my breath. “Have you ever seen an eyeball pop from heat? They do that, you know. I can’t imagine how much that would hurt. You’ll have to let us know.
“I hope that after you’re blind, the Chasqui take good care of you. But I doubt it. I heard that they usually feed the helpless to the rats, but you probably already know that.” I turned back to McKenna. “Go ahead and do his eyes. Slowly, though. One at a time.”
Before McKenna could move her hand, he said, “I’ll tell you where he is. Please, no.”
I nodded to McKenna, and she released his cheek. The man groaned out in pain. One side of his face was bright red, his cheek charred and blistered.
I leaned into his burned face. “Let me be clear, Sergeant. You’re taking us to our friend. This one can read your mind. If you lie to us, we’ll know, and we will burn you to a crisp. If you think you can lead us into a trap, we’ll know as soon as you think about it, and we will burn you to a crisp. Do you understand?”
