Michael Vey 9, page 6
“Actually, I should say ‘blows in.’ Just in case you decide to play the martyr and try to take out a few guards with you, it doesn’t work that way. All the shrapnel blows inward, shredding you and leaving your surroundings untouched.” Amash turned back. “You see, Taylor, we really have thought of everything. To defeat your enemy, you must be your enemy, at least get into his mind.” He took a deep breath as he looked at Jack. “It may sound cruel, but the vest’s a blessing, really. When Jack finally decides that he can’t take it anymore, and he will, he can just do himself in.” He turned back to Taylor. “What do you think of your idea now?”
“I think you talk too much.”
Amash laughed, then turned to the guards. “Take her away. Put the girls in RESAT vests set at five and put them in separate bat cells.”
“What’s a bat cell?” Taylor asked.
“Ask your sister. She knows all about your new accommodations.”
He glanced down once more at Jack. “What a pitiful wretch you turned out to be.” He turned and walked out of the room.
PART NINE
15 Next Steps
I was about to walk out of the house when Ostin and McKenna approached me. “I don’t know what to say, Michael,” McKenna said. “I feel like I let you down. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “And I’m going to get her back.”
“We’re going to help you,” Ostin chimed in. “We were just talking to Cristiano. He says he can lead us to the cave.”
“You think she’s being held at the cave and not the plant?”
“Cristiano does,” Ostin said. “His reasoning makes sense. He says the cave has more jail cells, and it’s better protected than the plant. But we can put the RADDs up once we’re close to make sure.”
“We left the RADDs back at the compound,” I said. “I don’t know if it’s safe to go back. Let’s go see what Johnson is planning.”
We walked out of the house. Johnson was on the porch talking with Cibor and Jacinta. They looked over at us as we approached.
“We’re going to need the RADDs,” I said. “They’re still at the compound.”
“We need to go back there for supplies,” Johnson said. “Hopefully, the Chasqui haven’t ransacked the place.”
“What if it’s a trap?” Jacinta asked. “And they’re waiting for us.”
“Then we’ll keep fighting,” Johnson said. “But I doubt it. They got what they came for. If they wanted us all dead, they would have kept fighting us.”
His answer made my stomach hurt. All they’d wanted was Taylor. And they had her.
Cibor said, “My question is, how do we get there? Walk? They’ve blown up all our vans.”
“I have an old tour bus parked behind the warehouse,” Jacinta said. “I haven’t driven it in a while, but I am pretty sure we can get it running.”
“My father was an auto mechanic in Kraków,” Cibor said. “He taught me everything he knows. I can get it running. Take me to it.”
All of us walked around to the back of the warehouse. The bus was so covered by fallen and decaying palm leaves, climbing vines, and moss that the bus looked like it had been camouflaged.
“When was the last time anyone drove this beast?” Johnson asked Jacinta.
“Maybe four years.”
“The battery will be shot,” Cibor said. “Do you have another?”
Jacinta shook her head. “No.”
“We’ll find one,” he said. “We’ve got enough vehicles around here. One of the batteries must have survived.”
The bus was a fourteen-seat tour bus that Jacinta had stopped using years before, so she’d just parked it behind the warehouse. Jax and Cassy repaired the bus’s two flat tires while the rest of us cleared the vines and leaves from its roof, which were wet and decaying and nearly six inches thick.
Cibor and Johnson pulled the bus’s door open; then Jacinta went inside and tried to start it. As Cibor had guessed, the bus’s battery was dead.
Johnson asked Ian and Quentin to check all the vehicles for a working battery.
“On it,” Ian said. “C’mon, Q.”
“While they’re looking, I can help,” I said to Cibor. “I used to jump-start my mom’s car.”
“I didn’t think of that,” Cibor said. “It can’t hurt.”
I walked over to the front of the bus, where Cibor had lifted the hood, and grabbed the battery’s terminals. “Tell me when.”
“Turn the ignition,” Cibor said to Jacinta, who was in the driver’s seat.
“Okay.”
He turned to me. “Now.”
I pulsed. The bus’s starter motor clicked, then jerked forward as if breaking free from ice. It slowly began to crank.
“Stop,” Cibor said. He fussed around the engine again, then said, “Okay, try again.”
I pulsed while Cibor continued working on the engine, until it suddenly fired up to life, shuddering like a woken beast.
“Let it run awhile,” Cibor shouted to Jacinta over the roar of the motor. She gave him a thumbs-up.
About ten minutes later Ian and Zeus returned. They were each carrying a car battery.
“Looks like you started without us,” Ian said.
“I was their battery,” I said. “We’ll still need one of those.”
“One of these should work,” Ian said. “I couldn’t see any internal damage.”
Cibor replaced the battery, then had Jacinta start the bus again. The bus rattled and smoked but started. Cibor slammed the hood shut, then took over driving for Jacinta. He revved the bus’s engine for a few minutes, then drove the bus back out to the front of the zoo.
Out in the open, we could better see the bus. It was covered with amateurish hand paintings of jaguars, toucans, sloths, and tapirs, along with the words:
PUERTO’S WORLD-FAMOUS RESCUE ZOO
I suppose the “world-famous” was a bit of hyperbole, but I got it. As everyone was dispersing to go to the bus, Johnson said, “Michael, can we talk?”
“Yeah.”
I followed him behind one of the cages, where we were alone.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I just wanted to thank you for what you said this morning. I needed that more than I realized.”
“You’re welcome. Even warriors need support.”
“Especially from another warrior. Good luck getting Taylor.”
“Thanks. Good luck on your mission. It’s somewhat bizarre to think that all those people don’t even know that their lives depend on someone they don’t know and will never thank.”
“If we do it right,” Johnson said, “they won’t even know they’ve been saved. Just like you and the Electroclan bringing down the Elgen.”
“I wonder how many times throughout history that has happened.”
“Probably more than we can imagine.” Johnson smiled. “You’re a good man, Vey.”
“So are you.” We shook.
“We’d better get going,” Johnson said.
“Think the bus will make it?”
He grinned. “If it’s anything like its owner, nothing will stop it.”
16 Safehouse Two
We gathered what was left of our things—which wasn’t much, since most of our possessions had been blown up or burned up in the vans—then got on board the old bus. It smelled of mold and rot and diesel fuel. I was hurting more than I let on. What Johnson had said earlier was true. We’d lost too many. It wasn’t his fault, but I understood why he felt it was. I felt that way after we lost Wade.
I’d thought that after the Elgen were gone, my life would be easy. But life never is easy. And trouble just seemed to hunt us, like a predator, patiently waiting in the shadows for the right moment to drag us back to its lair. That’s what it felt like.
The question that haunted me was, what would the Chasqui do with Taylor? Her question to me was a valid one. Why were they so obsessed with her? And what did they plan to do with her gift, as if it were separate from her? It wasn’t.
I sat in the back, across the aisle from Ostin and McKenna. Ian, Cristiano, and Quentin were a few seats in front of us. Cassy sat next to Jax in the front with Jaime, Johnson, and Jacinta. Cibor was driving.
He shut the bus’s door, then turned to Johnson. “Where to, sir?”
“We need to go to the compound and load up on supplies and ordnance.”
Jaime said, “But the compound’s been compromised. They know about it.”
“I know. But I’m guessing that the Chasqui used every man they had in Puerto to attack us. Now that they’ve got what they want, there’s no reason for them to stick around. We’ll pull everything we need, then go to safe house two.”
Jaime nodded his agreement.
“Let’s go, Cibor.”
The transmission’s gears ground loudly as Cibor shoved the bus into drive. The beast rattled and groaned, then lurched forward. The bus’s shocks were stiff or gone, and we felt every bump as we drove over the fallen front gates and down the dirt lane. We passed the three burned-out trucks of the first Chasqui wave, then the lead truck of the second—the one that Zeus had hit with lightning. It was still burning.
Jacinta quietly looked out her window. I couldn’t imagine what was going through her mind, leaving everything she had built behind. Earlier that morning, I had noticed her brushing back tears as she released her animals. I wondered where she would end up. The truth is, I don’t think she even cared anymore. I suppose I fought the same emotions. In some ways our current situation felt more hopeless than it had with the Elgen, even on Hades, when I climbed the radio tower to sacrifice myself. Maybe it’s because it wasn’t me who was gone now. Or maybe, back then, we were just so filled with adrenaline that we couldn’t worry. Or maybe—the worst of all possibilities—deep inside I worried that my luck had finally run out.
After we left the zoo, Quentin came back and sat down in the seat next to me. He said, “Hey, buddy, I don’t really know what to say, other than I’m sorry.”
“That’s all you need to say.”
“It’s not your fault, you know.”
This statement bothered me. “Why did you say that?”
“You seem angry.”
“I am angry.”
“Of course you are. You have a good reason. I was just worried about who you’re really angry at. The Chasqui? Taylor? Yourself?”
“I don’t know. All of the above.”
“Save it for the Chasqui. What Taylor did was brave. And noble. At least let her have that.”
“What does that mean?”
He took a deep breath. “Look. It’s not like I’m some expert on love. But sometimes the truest love isn’t shown in what we give. It’s shown in what we give up. She loves you. She loves Tara. She did what she thought was best for the two of you, not her. Giving herself up to the Chasqui wasn’t for her. She must have been terrified. But she did it anyway.”
“She could have talked to me about it.”
“Really?”
I exhaled slowly. “No. I guess not.”
“Be strong, brother. You’re a hero, and we’re still counting on you. We’re going to get her back. And Tara and Jack.”
I shook my head. Jack was a whole different story. After all we’d been through, how could he betray us like that?
“I don’t know if Jack will come back, even if he has the chance.”
“I think there’s more to Jack’s story than we know. You know him. What does Jack value most of all?”
“Courage.”
“Even more than courage.”
“Loyalty.”
“Exactly. It’s his defining virtue. Don’t forget that.” He slapped me on the knee. “Remember, I’m with you until the end, brother.” He went back to his seat.
It took about a half hour for us to reach the compound. Not much was said on the way. We were anxious as we approached, but Ian kept a lookout for anything suspicious, and there was nothing. Like Johnson thought, the Chasqui had gotten what they wanted and disappeared back into the forest, vanishing like a raindrop in the Amazon River.
Johnson said, “We’re going to grab some munitions and MREs, then head off to safe house two. Keep things fast and stay alert. Ian, if you’ll keep an eye on things.”
“Both of them, Chief.”
Once the outside gate had closed behind us, Johnson got out and opened the warehouse door, and Cibor drove inside.
“Michael, could your guys give us a hand?”
“Whatever you need.”
We went to their storage and brought out several boxes marked C4 EXPLOSIVES.
“Don’t drop those,” Johnson said.
I almost laughed. “I figured as much.”
We then moved everything inside, filling the bus aisle with the supplies.
Johnson and Jax dropped a box of paper into a metal drum outside the overhead door, then set the box on fire. We momentarily stopped what we were doing to watch.
“What’s that?” Cassy asked Jax.
“It’s called a destructor kit,” Jax said, stepping back from the drum. “It’s designed for the destruction of confidential materials. You’ll want to step back.”
The fire quickly grew hotter until the black smoke turned white; then flames began shooting upward more than twenty feet. The barrel itself turned bright red.
“To be exact, it’s an E12 destructor kit from the Army Chemical Corps,” Ostin said. “It consists of a hundred pounds of nitrate, one package of igniter compound, two fire starters, and a wire screen and connectors to a basic steel drum.”
“He really does know everything,” Jax said.
“It was unnecessary, though.”
“Why do you say that?”
“You could have just asked McKenna to burn everything. She’s hotter than nitrate. Nitrate burns at seventeen hundred degrees Celsius. That’s a little over nineteen hundred kelvins. McKenna can do three thousand kelvins.”
“Your girlfriend burns hotter than nitrate?” Cibor asked.
“Yes.”
Cibor smiled. “You have a hot girlfriend.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“I don’t know if that’s possible. But I’ll give you some advice.”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t ever get her mad at you.”
We were in and out of the compound in less than thirty minutes. The barrels were still burning when we left, but everything inside them was already destroyed. There was another van in the garage, but we decided to abandon it and stay together on the bus. According to Jaime, there were more vehicles at the next safe house.
Safe house two was about sixteen miles away from the compound. Like everyone else, I was exhausted, but I couldn’t sleep on the bus. There was just too much weighing on my mind.
“How soon can we start upriver?” I asked Jaime.
“You’re the boss, so whenever you say. To me, it would make more sense to go in the morning.”
“Why?”
“Tourists don’t go into the Amazon at night.”
“I’m not a tourist.”
“No, but we want the Chasqui to think you are. At night, you’ll look suspicious to the Chasqui who patrol the river.” He looked at me. “Besides, you need sleep.”
“I don’t need sleep.”
“Everyone needs sleep. You are upset and filled with adrenaline right now, but your body will eventually come down. How many hours of sleep did you get last night?”
“Two, maybe.”
“Exactly. You have a long hike through the jungle, then who knows what you’ll face. You will need rest. Sometimes emotion writes checks the body cannot cash.”
“You’re right,” I said. “I’ll try.”
A large fence surrounded the property, and we were stopped at the outer gate by an armed sentry in a guard booth. He didn’t speak English, so Jaime got out of the bus and spoke to him. Then he got back into the bus, the gate rose, and we drove up to the hacienda.
Unlike the Alpha Team’s compound, safe house two was an actual house, and a beautiful one at that. At one time it had been the homestead of a wealthy rancher, and it still functioned as a ranch, though with carefully screened employees. It was perfect for a safe house since it was surrounded by hundreds of cleared acres and no neighbors. Like the Starxource plant.
“This is nice,” Tessa said. “How long have you owned this?”
“About six years ago the man who owned it moved to Lima to work for the president,” Johnson said. “We’re safe here, at least for a while. I suggest we get some rest, then make our plans.”
He turned to me. “Michael, I know you’re eager to go after Taylor, but a few hours won’t make much of a difference for them, and it will for you. We study sleep deprivation in Special Forces, and a thirty-minute nap significantly improves performance.”
“They call it the combat nap,” Ostin said. “It improves performance by thirty-four percent and alertness by one hundred percent.”
“Thank you for that…,” Johnson said. I think he was still getting used to Ostin’s addendums. “I recommend that we go inside, eat lunch, then rest for an hour. Then we’ll meet and go over our plans.”
I nodded. “That works.”
We left our things on the bus and went inside. Jaime had called ahead, and the hacienda staff had already prepared lunch for us. Ceviche, roast beef sandwiches, rocoto relleno (stuffed spicy peppers), and a garden salad. We had various juices, including a drink called chicha morada, made from purple corn, cinnamon, cloves, apple chunks, and pineapple peels.
I was hungrier than I’d realized, and I ate until I was full. Then I found one of the empty rooms and lay down to rest for a few minutes. When I woke, it was dark outside. I looked around the room. I was alone. I got up and walked out. I could smell meat on the grill. There was a chef and two other Peruvian women in the kitchen cooking, but I couldn’t see any of our people. I walked to the back of the house to a glass sliding door. Jax, Cassy, Johnson, and Jacinta were outside on the back patio talking. They stopped as I walked outside.
