Michael Vey 9, page 2
“Everyone out of the vans!” I shouted. “Hurry.”
As Nichelle, Tessa, Quentin, and Zeus scrambled out of their vehicles, Ian shouted, “Incoming!”
Just as Bentrude reached the gate, a grenade struck a concrete pilaster about ten meters from him, blowing a hole in the concrete and knocking down the fence. Through the smoke we could see Bentrude lying on the ground, the fence on top of him. The air was filled with the sound of gunfire.
“Bentrude’s down,” Johnson shouted.
“I got him,” Cibor shouted, running to him even with bullets flying all around him. He knelt down next to him and put his ear against his chest.
“How bad is it?” I asked Ian.
“He’s got heavy shrapnel,” Ian said. “He’s bleeding internally, but his heart’s still beating.”
Johnson turned to Jacinta. “He’s bleeding. Can you help him?”
Jacinta had been a volunteer nurse at a jungle clinic before becoming a veterinarian.
“I’ll try. My medical bag is in the house.” She ran to the house.
Johnson shouted, “Cibor, get him inside.”
With bullets still whistling around him, Cibor began dragging Bentrude away from the gate.
“The trucks are still coming,” Ian shouted. “They have grenade launchers.”
“Quentin, Zeus,” I shouted. “You’ve got to stop those trucks!”
“More grenades coming,” Ian shouted.
Zeus shot so much electricity from his hands, it looked like lightning. The grenades blew up outside the fence.
“That was powerful,” I said.
“I helped,” Tessa said.
“Hit the trucks,” I shouted to Zeus.
“There’s too much smoke. I can’t see them.”
“About two hundred meters out,” Ian shouted. “Far right side of the road.”
Zeus shot again, the sound of his electricity crackling like ice on a hot grill.
“Hit,” Ian shouted. “You stopped the lead truck. It’s smoking. They’re piling out of the other trucks. They’re armed.”
“How many men?” Johnson shouted.
“Thirty or more.”
One of the helicopters moved directly above us, the sound pounding down on us with a dull throb.
“They’re directing the attack from above. Can you bring down that helicopter?” Johnson asked Quentin.
“It’s too far. That’s Tanner’s work.”
“Who’s Tanner?”
“Tell you later,” he said, turning to Zeus. “Can you get it?”
“I’ll try.”
“No,” I said. “Jack’s in there.”
“We’ll take our chances,” Johnson said.
“We’re not killing one of our friends.”
“If he’s with them, he’s not your friend,” Johnson snapped back.
“We’re not doing it,” I said to Zeus. I knew I was openly challenging Johnson’s authority, but I didn’t care.
Johnson hesitated a moment, then said angrily, “Friend or not, we’ve got to get it out of here.” He raised his rifle and started firing off rounds at the helicopter. It immediately veered off to the side, disappearing behind the forest’s canopy.
Another grenade hit the first van, the one the Electroclan had been in, blowing it up. A black plume of smoke rose from its wreckage.
Nichelle and Tessa ran from it and hid behind the perimeter wall.
“Hiding behind that wall won’t help with the grenades,” Johnson shouted. “They blow shrapnel backward.”
“We need Cassy,” I said.
“She’s still in the second van helping unload the ammunition,” Taylor said.
As if in response to Taylor’s words, a grenade hit the front of the second van. The van’s engine compartment burst into flames.
“Cassy!” Taylor shouted.
Johnson grabbed a fire extinguisher from the front of his van. Then a second grenade hit the other van, knocking it over onto its side and blocking the sliding door exit with Cassy inside.
“Cassy!” Jax shouted. He ran to the van’s back doors and tried to open them but couldn’t. “They’re locked! Where are the keys?”
“They’re in the ignition!” Cibor shouted back.
The front of the van was now fully engulfed in flames, which were spreading back. Jax ran to the middle of the van and, using the butt of his rifle, broke out the window. He was about to climb up when McKenna ran up next to him. “Help me up!” she shouted.
“It’s going to blow.”
“Just do it!”
He lifted McKenna up onto the burning vehicle, and she let herself down through the side window. Just seconds after she was inside, the flames reached the gas tank, and there was a massive explosion. Flames blew out all the windows.
“No!” Taylor screamed.
“McKenna!” Ostin shouted, running to the burning vehicle.
Johnson shoved the fire extinguisher into the van’s window. The extinguisher’s clouds of phosphate blew out of the van’s openings.
In spite of the bullets flying around us, we were all fixated on the smoking wreck, wondering if we’d just lost two of our friends. Then Cassy’s head—slumped forward and white with the extinguisher’s powder—rose up through the window.
“Someone help me!” McKenna shouted from inside the van. She was pushing Cassy up through the window. Jax shouted, “Michael, cover us.”
I ran to the other side of the van and pulsed, making the bullets bounce off me while Jax climbed on top of the smoking vehicle. He pulled Cassy out the broken window and handed her down to Johnson. Johnson laid Cassy on the ground as Jax pulled McKenna from the wreckage, then jumped down himself, bullets ricocheting off me and the metal around them.
I ran back around the van to find McKenna and the others gathered around Cassy’s body. Smoke rose from her clothing, and her face and hair were singed and smudged with ash.
Jax grabbed her wrist to check her pulse. “She’s alive.”
“The blast knocked us pretty hard,” McKenna said. “It knocked her out.”
Jax looked up at her. “Why weren’t you burned up in the fire?”
“I am the fire,” McKenna said.
Cassy began to groan. Her eyelids fluttered and opened. “McKenna?”
“I’m here,” McKenna said.
“I’m here too,” Jax said.
“Let’s get her inside,” I said. “If we can.”
The whistling of bullets around us had only increased. It felt like we were in a hailstorm. Except it wasn’t ice flying around us; it was lead.
The Chasqui had taken position at the perimeter of the yard. They kept trying to come over the fence but were either picked off by Cibor, Jaime, and Johnson or knocked back by Zeus.
After another vault of grenades, heavy machine gun fire peppered the yard, splintering and ripping apart just about everything in its way. A wood power pole suddenly fell, tearing its wires from the house. One of the live wires danced on the ground, spraying the yard with orange-gold sparks. The lights of the compound went dark.
The firing abruptly stopped. A heavily accented voice boomed from a PA system like the voice of God.
“Electroclan, you have lost. Give us the girl Taylor, and we will let you live. If you refuse, we will kill all of you and take Taylor. Your survival is your decision. You have one minute to decide.”
“Not happening,” I shouted back.
Taylor looked over at me, her face strained with fear.
Johnson said to Jax, “Get Cassy into the house with Jacinta; then get back out here. They’re tearing us apart.”
“Yes, sir,” Jax said.
“I’ll cover you,” I said. “Let’s go.”
Jax took Cassy in his arms and ran toward the house with Taylor, McKenna, and me following after, as the battle raged on behind us. I wondered just how much longer we could hold them off.
5 Losing a Friend
“What’s their obsession with me?” Taylor asked as we reached the house.
“They want a prophetess.”
“I’m not a prophetess. I have nightmares.”
“Nightmares that come true,” I said.
The house’s power was out, leaving the room dim and lit only by the ambient light coming in through the mosquito-netted windows. It was still light enough to see the pain on Jacinta’s face as she looked up at us. She was sitting alone on a chair outside the home’s only bedroom. Her hands and blouse were covered with blood, and her face was streaked with tears.
“We lost him,” she said.
Jax blinked. “Bentrude?”
She nodded, wiping her tears with her forearm. McKenna walked over and put her arms around Jacinta. They both cried. After a moment, Jacinta said, “I’m sorry, we don’t have time for this right now. What’s happened to Cassy?”
“The van exploded,” Jax said. “She was knocked unconscious. She has burns.”
“Lay her down, here,” Jacinta said.
Jax laid Cassy down on a blanket that Jacinta had spread out across the floor. Jacinta examined her.
“She needs some aloe salve and bandages. Watch her, please.”
She left the room and returned a moment later with a small first aid kit. McKenna said, “I can help.”
“I’ll clean her burns. You wrap them in gauze.”
While they were working on Cassy, Taylor said to me, “They’ve killed three of us and taken two more. Now Cassy’s hurt. They just wanted me. I could have stopped all this.”
“What do you want me to do?” I asked. “Surrender you to them?”
“Do the math, Michael,” Taylor said. “I’m not worth five people. Or more. They’re not going to stop until they have me.”
“They’re not going to get you,” I said. “This is no time to be a martyr.”
“This is exactly the time to be a martyr.”
“What are you saying?”
Taylor didn’t answer. We just looked into each other’s eyes. I was afraid of what she was thinking. “We’ll talk later,” I said. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
Jaime ran into the room. “Michael, Jax. We need you now.”
“What about the prisoners in the cage?” I asked. “If the Chasqui free them, they’ll double their forces.”
“I’ll cover them,” Jaime said.
“I’ll help,” Taylor said.
“I will too,” I said.
“No,” Jaime said. “Johnson said he needs you and Jax up front. We’re barely holding them out.”
“He’s right,” Jax said. “You’re of more use up front. We’ve got this.”
“We’ll help,” Ostin said.
I said to Jaime, “Keep her safe.”
“I will. I promise.”
I looked at Taylor. “I’ll be back.”
She looked at me with a peculiar expression, clasping my cheeks with her hands and looking directly into my eyes. “I love you. Remember that. More than anything.” She kissed me, then said, “Hurry. Before it’s too late.”
My heart ached as I left her and ran back to the battle.
6 We’re All Dead Men
By the time I got back out to the front gate, the assault had intensified. Zeus was firing from both hands, knocking back men who were charging the yard, while Jax and Johnson were firing nonstop toward the gate, trying to keep the advancing soldiers from entering.
Ian waved me over to the wall that he, Cristiano, and Johnson were pinned behind. Cibor, Quentin, Tessa, and Nichelle were across from us, firing from behind the smoldering wreckage of the second van. I ran over to Johnson and Ian, bullets bouncing off the bubble I’d created.
“Wish we all could do that,” Ian said. “We could use the lightning god about now.”
“I could too,” I said.
Cristiano looked pale. “If they catch me, I’m a dead man.”
“We all are,” Johnson said. He turned to me. “There’s too many of them. We need Cassy back in action.”
Suddenly Ian grabbed his eyes. “I can’t see….”
Across from us Quentin shouted, “RESATs!”
I felt the familiar twinge of pain, as piercing to the nerves as a dental drill. Except for Nichelle and me, the rest of the electrics fell to the ground. The RESAT had never worked on Nichelle, since she basically was a RESAT herself, and after being struck by lightning in Hades, I had grown past its power, though it still weakened me.
“We’re screwed,” Zeus said, grimacing with pain.
I looked around the yard at the advancing soldiers. “Not yet.”
PART FOUR
7 A Logical Decision
“Do you still have the keys to the cage?” Taylor asked Jaime.
“Yes.”
“Give them to me.”
He looked at her quizzically. “Why?”
“In case I need to get closer to reboot them.”
Jaime wasn’t sure about her reasoning but gave them to her anyway. Then he, McKenna, Ostin, and Taylor crawled along the low concrete wall that ran opposite the path that fronted the puma and jaguar cages, where the Chasqui prisoners were being held.
“Do you feel that?” McKenna asked.
“RESATs,” Taylor said.
They were far enough away to not be crippled by it but close enough to feel its sting.
“If they bring them closer, we’re through,” McKenna said.
Taylor said nothing.
The prisoners were riled up, and there was a lot of shouting going on in the cage. The Chasqui soldiers had blown a small hole in the concrete wall behind the cage and were now occupying the space between the outer fence and the cage’s metal bars. They had thrown smoke grenades inside the cage to conceal their actions.
Bullets began hitting around Taylor and the others, pinging off the concrete they crouched behind and filling the air with dust and rock.
“They’ve armed them,” Ostin said.
“What do we do?” McKenna asked.
“We stay down,” Jaime said. He asked Taylor, “Can you reboot them?”
“I don’t know. They’re pretty far.” Taylor turned back toward the wall. “I need to see them to reboot them.”
“If you stand up, they’ll shoot you,” McKenna said.
“Everyone, stay down,” Jaime shouted. “Just stay down.” He lifted his gun above the wall and began firing toward the back of the cage.
There was another loud explosion. When the smoke cleared, there was a two-meter hole in the cage, the bars blown forward and curled.
The prisoners scrambled to escape. Jaime lifted his rifle again to shoot, but the concrete wall his group was hiding behind was immediately riddled with intense machine gun fire, showering them with pieces and dust of concrete. Jaime ducked back down, his arm covering his eyes. Blood ran down his temple to his jaw.
“Were you shot?” McKenna asked.
“I was just hit by concrete,” he said. “I can’t see.”
“They’ve just doubled their forces,” Ostin said.
“We can’t let them get around us,” Jaime said, his hands over his eyes, “or they’ll flank us.”
“How do we stop them?” McKenna asked. “There’s way too many of them.”
“There’s more of them up front,” Ostin said.
Taylor could see the fear on McKenna’s and Ostin’s faces, while Jaime was trying to clear the concrete dust and blood from his face. There was no way they could repel an attack of that magnitude.
A few feet behind her was a branch. She grabbed it, pulled off the bandanna she had around her neck, and waved it above the wall. To her relief, no one shot at it.
Ostin looked over at her. “What are you doing?”
“I’m giving them what they want.” Taylor took a deep breath, then shouted, “Don’t shoot! Alto. Alto.” She slowly stood up, her hands lifted above her head.
“Get down,” Jaime said. “They’ll shoot you.”
“I’m Taylor,” she shouted. “I’m Taylor. I’m the one you came for. If you shoot me, your boss will punish you.”
“Get down,” Jaime shouted again. “They don’t speak English.”
Taylor looked down. “Then you’d better talk to them, Jaime. Tell them I’m the prophetess, before one of them shoots me….”
Jaime looked at her with fear.
“Now!” she shouted. “Or we’ll all die!”
Jaime shouted out in Spanish, “Stop shooting! This is the prophetess, the one the sovereign is looking for! Stop shooting.”
The firing stopped.
“I’m coming to you,” Taylor shouted, climbing over the low wall.
“No,” Jaime said.
“Stop!” McKenna said.
“It’s too late for that,” she said. Taylor took the cage keys out of her pocket as she walked toward the cage, unlocked the lock, and then stepped inside. She tossed the keys to the ground; then, with her hands up, she walked to the back of the cage, with at least a dozen rifles pointing at her.
“Come and get me.”
PART FIVE
8 Someone’s Missing
Around the front of the zoo, the battle intensified as the rest of the Electroclan writhed on the ground, doubled over and groaning with pain. The RESAT broadcaster the Chasqui had brought was more powerful than anything I’d experienced, and even my power was weakened. Johnson and his Alpha Team looked confused. They had never seen the effect of the RESAT before. To them it was like a high-pitched whistle that a dog can hear but no one else.
Alpha Team did their best to keep the Chasqui soldiers from advancing through the gate, but it was like trying to plug a dozen holes in a boat with ten fingers. We were sinking.
Surrender wasn’t an option. Our only hope was to try to escape into the jungle. That’s when I heard the crisp crackling of arcing electricity. I looked over at the fallen power pole. The electric lines that came from it were flailing around like fish out of water. Pulsing with all I could to repel the bullets, I made a run for it. I jumped and grabbed the loose wire. It gave me an instant jolt.
