Hunt for Jade Dragon (34 page)

I looked over at Taylor, who was staring off into space. It was one of those times that I wished I could read her mind. “Are you okay?”

“I was just thinking,” she said softly.

“About what?”

She looked at me. “When we decided to come here it was to stop the Elgen from getting information that could threaten the world. I never thought about Jade Dragon being a real person. But now I know her, and she's really scared.” Her eyes welled up. “We have to save her. Not just to save the world, but to save
her.
”

“We'll save her,” I said. “Our plan will work. It's just a few days more.” I looked at Ben. “Are we safe here?”

“We have alarms and sentries that can fire six guns.” He looked at us, then breathed out slowly. “But the Elgen are powerful. I do not know if we are ever safe.”

We fell silent. After a few minutes Taylor said, “I think I'll go to sleep.”

“Me too,” I said, rising.

* * * 

The upstairs of the warehouse was divided into a kitchen, two bathrooms (connected to the sleeping quarters), a television area, a radio room, and two long, rectangular rooms for sleeping, each with six cots. After Taylor had gone to bed I walked over to the men's side.

The sleeping quarters reminded me of pictures I had seen in a history textbook of a World War II army hospital. It wasn't the Grand Hi-Lai Hotel, but I wasn't complaining either. I'd sleep on dirt as long as it didn't belong to the Elgen. Still, less than an hour later I woke thinking about my father. Even after all we had done to escape, a part of me wanted to go back to see him.

After a half hour I walked out to the kitchen. I found some tea bags and put a kettle on the stove. As the kettle started to whistle, Ian walked into the kitchen.

“Did I wake you?” I asked.

“No. I couldn't sleep. Too much on my mind.”

I turned off the flame, then lifted the kettle from the stove. “Want some tea?”

“Sure.”

I poured two cups to the brim, then carried them both to the table. For a moment we both just sipped our drinks in silence. Then Ian said, “Something's bothering you.”

“You can see my thoughts now too?”

He smiled. “No. That's Taylor's gig. Am I right?”

I paused a moment, then said, “Yeah.”

“What's up?”

“I don't know if I should tell you.”

“Does it have to do with your watch?”

I wondered how he knew that. “Yes.” I looked down at my cup, then back at him. “You need to keep this a secret. I don't know how the others will take this.”

“I'm always keeping secrets,” he said. “That's what happens when you see everything.”

I hesitated a moment then said, “I saw my father back at the Starxource plant.”

Ian looked as if he wasn't sure how to respond. “I thought your father was dead.”

“I thought he was, but he's not. He's part of the Elgen.”

“When did you see him?”

“Right after we were brought into the plant. One of the Lung Li was torturing me and my father came in and stopped them. He took care of me. That's when he gave me back my watch.”

Ian was quiet a moment, then said, “No, he didn't.”

His response annoyed me. “What do you mean, ‘No, he didn't'? I was there.”

“That wasn't your father who gave you back your watch.”

For a moment I was speechless. “Then who was it?”

“Hatch. And Tara.”

“What?”

“Hatch was sitting right next to you and Tara was standing near the door. She must have a new trick.”

My head spun with confusion. I began to tick.

Ian leaned toward me. “Think about it. Hatch tortured you. He's caged and tortured your mother. Would your father have allowed that?”

After a moment I shook my head. “No.”

“I was waiting until everyone was asleep to talk to you about this. I saw Hatch give you the watch. I also saw you put your arms
around him. I knew there had to be something strange going on.”

My mind boiled with emotion. The anger and hurt I understood, but there was disappointment too.

After a few minutes Ian said, “Aren't you relieved that your father's not part of the Elgen?”

“I should be.”

Ian frowned. “But you aren't?”

“I feel like I just lost my father again.”

“I'm sorry,” he said.

Suddenly I remembered all I had told Hatch. I lowered my head into my hands. “Oh no.”

“What?”

“I told him about the voice.”

“You what?”

I looked up. “I didn't mean to. It just came out.”

Ian looked at me anxiously. “Did you tell him anything else?”

“He asked me where my mother was. I told him about the ranch. I told him where it was.”

“You couldn't have told him where the ranch was. We didn't even know where it was.”

I hung my head, covering my eyes with my hands. “He asked me how long the flight was from the ranch to Pasadena. Then he asked me about the weather. I told him the temperature.” I felt sick to my stomach. “I thought it was my father.” I looked up at him. “He couldn't find them from that, could he?”

Ian shook his head. “I don't know. Let's hope not.” He breathed out slowly. “We need to tell Ben.”

I buried my head in my hands again. “What have I done?”

W
hen I woke up the next morning, Ostin was standing next to my cot.

“What's up?” I said groggily.

“Not you.”

“What time is it?”

“It's like noon,” he said. “Can you smell that?”

I breathed in. “Yeah. It smells good.”

“Good? Dude, Ben's making waffles.”

I sat up. “There aren't waffles in Taiwan.”

“Do not be too sure of it,” Ben said. I looked up to see Ben standing in the doorway. “Get up. I have made American-style breakfast.”

“Give me a minute,” I said.

After Ostin and Ben had left the room I pulled on my pants and shirt, then walked barefoot out to the kitchen. There was a plate stacked tall with waffles. Taylor was standing at the stove
making omelets with ham and peppers. “Good morning, sleepyhead,” she said.

I walked over to her side. “Omelets?”

She pecked me on the cheek. “Yes, but without cheese. Apparently the Chinese aren't into cheese.”

“Nearly ninety percent of people of Asian descent are lactose intolerant,” Ostin said. “That means they can't digest milk.”

“I'm not,” McKenna said.

“That's because you're special.”

“I know,” she said, smiling.

“Would you like an omelet?” Taylor asked.

“Yes. Thank you.”

She scooped up an omelet and put it on a plate. “There you go. Waffles are on the table.”

Nichelle was sitting at the end of the table next to Ian and McKenna. Jack was sitting on the opposite end next to Abigail. She was rubbing his back.

“How are you feeling?” I asked Jack.

“Better. Now it only hurts when I breathe,” he said wryly.

“I think they broke every rib he has,” Abigail said.

“Not all of them,” Ian said.

“I forgot we had a human X-ray,” Jack said. “So how many are broken?”

“Eleven.”

“How many ribs does he have?” Abigail asked.

“The human body has twenty-four ribs,” Ostin said. “Though ten of them are called false ribs since they aren't connected to the sternum.”

“Another lesson,” Abigail sighed.

“How are you feeling?” Jack asked me.

“Better. I think Nichelle did a good job with those stitches.”

Nichelle smiled. “Anytime.”

“I hope not,” I replied. I took a waffle from a stack on the table, then sat down next to Nichelle. “Where're Zeus and Tessa?”

“They're on the roof,” Jack said.

“What are they doing on the roof?”

“They're on lookout.”

“When did we start doing that?”

“This morning.”

“There's syrup,” Taylor said. “At least a version of it. It's made from boiled sugar.” She pointed to a saucepan on the table. “It might be cold.”

“I can take care of that,” McKenna said. She put her hand above the pan and it heated up. Within seconds the syrup started to boil. She handed me the pan.

“Thank you,” I said. I poured a little on top. It didn't taste like maple syrup, but it wasn't bad.

“Does the waffle taste correct?” Ben asked. “I learned the recipe from the Internet.”

“They taste great,” I said. “Where did you get a waffle iron?”

“From the same place I got my weapons,” he replied.

“I'm glad they're thinking of us,” I said. I ate for a few minutes, then asked Ben, “What's on the agenda today?”

He looked at me blankly.

“What are we doing today?”

“We wait inside,” he said. “Everyone is looking for us. The Elgen, the Taiwan army, and the police. There has been much on the television about the attack. They say the terrorists tried to shut down the Elgen plant but the Taiwan army stopped them.”

“Yeah, right,” Ostin said. “We walked through the middle of their camp, and they didn't even see us.”

“Public relations,” Ben said.

I looked at Taylor. “I guess that means no night markets.”

“I'm heartbroken,” Taylor replied. She put an omelet on her plate, then came over and sat next to me.

“No going outside at all,” Ben said. “They will be looking for Americans. And you look like Americans.” He looked at Abigail. “Especially you. Your hair is
very
light.”

Jack ran his fingers through it. “And
very
pretty.”

“Thank you,” Abigail said.

I noticed Nichelle staring at Jack. She saw me looking at her and turned away.

Ben said, “We need to go over our plans.”

“We need Zeus and Tessa,” I said.

“I'll get them,” Ian said.

We cleared off the table and Ben laid out a map he'd drawn of the Taiwanese coastline near the Starxource plant.

“We're back,” Ian said, walking toward us with Zeus and Tessa.

“What's up?” Zeus asked.

“We're going through our rescue plan,” I said.

We all gathered around the table. Ben leaned over his map. “This is the plant,” he said, touching a pen to the paper. “The
Volta
will likely anchor here.” He drew a small rectangle to represent the boat. “That means the Elgen will transport YuLong maybe about here.” He ran the pen in a straight line between the plant's dock and the
Volta
. “If the sea is calm, to go that distance will take only two or three minutes. If we wait until they leave the dock, we can catch their boat halfway.” He drew an
X
between the
Volta
and the shore. “That means we need to be about ninety seconds away from the middle point. I think we should wait with our boat here.” He touched a spot on the shore opposite the plant.

“That's by the coast guard base,” Ostin said.

“Yes,” Ben replied. “Very close.”

“That won't work. We're going to be in one of their boats. They'll see us,” Ostin said.

“He's right,” I said. “We'll have to capture the coast guard boat before the
Volta
docks, but we don't know how long the Elgen will wait to transport Jade Dragon. If the Elgen delay, the coast guard will know something is wrong and send their boats out looking for us.”

Ostin looked at the map. He ran his finger in a circle around the
Volta
. “Assuming the coast guard boat can do at least forty knots, to intercept in ninety seconds, we could be anywhere in this radius.”

“Yes,” Ben said.

“Then how about here?” He drew an
X
in the ocean behind the
Volta
.

“Hide behind the
Volta
?” Zeus said.

“Why not? Neither the Elgen nor the coast guard will be able to see us.”

“But the
Volta
will.”

“The
Volta
won't think anything of it. They'll be taking orders from the Elgen inside the plant.”

I looked at the map. “That would allow us to stay out longer.” I turned to Ostin. “But if they can't see us, how will we see them?”

“Ian could see them,” Abigail said.

“I should be closer,” Ian said. “I get some electrical interference from the plant. I could miss something.”

“What if some of us hike up to where we were the last time Ben took us?” Ostin said. “When the Elgen are ready to move, we'll radio the boat. Then they'll speed in and intercept the transport halfway between the shore and the
Volta
, where it's most vulnerable.”

“That could work,” Jack said.