Then the hunter next to him said, “You know who I am.” It was Hatch.
“Why are you together?” I asked fearfully.
Hatch put his arm around the voice and laughed. “Don’t you know? We’ve always been together.”
The next morning my mood was as gloomy as the weather—gray and threatening. Most everyone was still asleep, so I went for a ride on one of the ATVs, then came back for breakfast. I went over to the girls’ bunkhouse to see if Taylor had come back in the night, but Tessa said she hadn’t.
I walked into the kitchen to find Ostin, Zeus, Jack, and Tanner already eating. None of the girls were at the main house yet except Nichelle, who rarely ate breakfast.
For breakfast they were serving French toast with powdered sugar and sliced bananas, link sausage, and banana smoothies. It had been a while since anyone had tried to push bananas on us. I sat down next to Ostin.
“Hey, where’ve you been?” he asked with a full mouth.
“Out riding.”
“Taylor back?”
“Not yet.”
“Hey, Michael,” Tanner said. “We’re going to shoot clay pigeons after breakfast. Want to come?”
“Never done it before.”
“I’ll teach you,” Jack said.
Then Chairman Simon walked into the dining room. He looked about as bad as he had last night. He lifted a glass and tapped it with a fork to get our attention. The room quieted. “There will be a mandatory meeting in the main room at one thirty, right after lunch,” he said gruffly. “Any questions?”
“Any word on Mr. Ridley?” I asked.
“Not yet. I’m sure we’ll hear something by this afternoon.”
* * *
After breakfast, Tanner checked out two twelve-gauge shotguns, and he, Jack, Zeus, and I drove one of the golf carts out near the pond to shoot clay pigeons. On the western side of the pond there was an automatic trap that flung bright orange disks into the air for us to shoot at.
I had seen trap shooting in a movie before but had never shot at clays, or even fired a shotgun, for that matter. Jack had done it a million times before, and he gave me a few tips before I tried. I missed the first four and hit the next two. Tanner was a pretty good shot, hitting six out of seven. Zeus was an even worse shot than I was. He finally got frustrated and ended up just shooting the clay pigeons with lightning bolts. It looked pretty cool.
The lunch bell rang at noon, and we packed up the guns and clay pigeons and drove back up to the main house. Lunch was corned beef sandwiches, pasta salad, and banana pudding. I asked the chairman again if he’d heard anything about Mr. Ridley.
“I spoke to him a half hour ago,” he replied. “He’s still recovering, but, all things considered, he sounded well. He says they may release him tomorrow.”
“That’s good,” I said, wondering when Taylor would be back.
“Yes, we were lucky. I’d say we dodged a bullet, except we didn’t.” He stood. “Remember, we’ll be meeting right after lunch.” He walked out of the room.
I immediately started blinking. Something about the tone of his voice filled me with fear. It was clear that our time on the ranch was drawing to a close. Who knows, maybe even our time on earth. I was looking forward to the meeting about as much as a guilty murder suspect looks forward to the jury’s verdict.
I figured that it was probably the most serious meeting we’d had at the ranch. Guards were posted outside the house and all the outside help had been sent off the property.
About twenty of us gathered in the big room of the main house. The mood was as solemn as a funeral. I sat down next to Jack, Abi, and my mother—who forced a smile when she saw me but couldn’t hide her nervousness. I must have been shrugging a lot, because she reached out and rested her hands on my shoulders.
Gervaso was back from Kanab, and even he was acting different. There was still no sign of Taylor, which made me sad. We always sat next to each other at these meetings.
The chairman cleared his throat as he walked to the front of the room. “Before we begin, we have a report on Charles.” He nodded at Gervaso, who stood.
“I’ve just come from the hospital. Chuck’s hematocrit level is thirty-five, which is good. Unfortunately, he’s developed a fever, which is usually an indication of infection, so they’re going to keep him longer than planned. There was some talk about airlifting him to the St. George hospital, but for now they think they can handle it. He sends his gratitude for your concern and prayers.
“I also spoke to a deputy with the Kane County sheriff’s office. The hunters are still being detained. We’ve identified the man who shot Chuck and ran a background check. As we suspected, he has no connection to the Elgen. He’s a survivalist trained to live off the land, so he sometimes is gone for months at a time. Because of this, he’s considered a flight risk and the judge has denied bail. He’ll be sitting in jail until his arraignment, which could be several weeks. We’ll be gone before then.”
Chairman Simon nodded. “Thank you.” He walked to the side of the room to a large map of the South Seas. “Now to the heart of our discussion—defeating the Elgen by stealing the Joule.” He looked us over. “The only hard timeline we face is to strike before Hatch starts executing his Glows. Our sources tell us that he plans on doing this on the Elgen’s sixteen-year anniversary of the MEI. That gives us very little time to prepare. Which leads to the next conversation.
“There’s been a change to our original plan, one that we hope will give us an advantage. As you know, EGG Welch was sentenced to the rat bowl but, with Quentin, Tara, and Torstyn’s help, escaped. Since then he’s been on the run in Taiwan.”
“How do you know he’s in Taiwan?” Ostin asked.
“We’ve been in contact with him.” There was an audible gasp in the room. “Needless to say, this changes things. So before attacking Tuvalu, we need you to fly back over to Taiwan to rescue Welch.”
“We’re rescuing an EGG?” Jack asked incredulously. “Why not just rescue Hatch while we’re at it?”
The chairman ignored Jack’s sarcasm. “He’s not just any EGG. Welch was Hatch’s right-hand man. And he’s reached out to us for help. Without our help he’s in trouble, and he knows it. He also knows more about the Elgen’s procedures and plans than anyone but Hatch himself. A defector this high up is a godsend.
“That being said, you’ll take the jet from Las Vegas to Taiwan, where you will meet up with Welch and take him with you to Tuvalu to rescue the Glows and steal the Joule.”
“He agreed to this?” I asked.
“No,” Chairman Simon said. “But we’re not giving him a choice.”
“This is going to be fun,” Tessa said.
“What if he won’t help?” Ostin asked.
“Then we leave him in Taiwan.” The chairman walked back to the map. “From Taiwan, you will fly to Sydney, Australia, where you will take a commercial seaplane into Fiji. The Elgen have been using Fiji’s port to transport food and necessities. You will be smuggled into Tuvalu on a supply boat.”
“That sounds risky,” Ostin said. “Why don’t we just sail our own boat?”
The chairman frowned. “That would be far more risky. The Elgen are patrolling the waters around the island by sea and air. If an unknown vessel comes within twelve nautical miles of Tuvalu, it’s engaged. The Elgen are jamming their radios, and the boats are being boarded and sometimes sunk. Last week they sunk a Filipino fishing boat that trespassed in their waters. There were no survivors.”
Ostin nodded. “All right, smuggled it is.”
“The boat you’ll sail on is a supply ship called, ironically, Risky Business.” The chairman slowly panned the room. “Now comes the difficult part.”
“Because the rest of it was so easy,” Jack whispered to me.
I shook my head.
“Your first mission is to rescue Quentin, Tara, and Torstyn. As far as we know, Quentin was being held in Cell 25 on the island of Funafuti. Now he’s been sentenced t
o life in the monkey cage next to the previous Tuvaluan prime minister. Tara and Torstyn have been moved to the island of Niutao, or, as Hatch has renamed it, Hades. It’s the Elgen’s prison island. Right now it’s mostly dorms and barbwire fences, but they’re nearing completion of their construction on a rehabilitation center. Tara and Torstyn are being kept inside the completed section of the prison building.”
“Why do we need to save them first?” I asked. “Why not steal the Joule, and then, if things are going well, save them?”
“Why save them at all?” Nichelle asked. “They’ve got this coming.”
“Because to steal the Joule, we’ll need their powers,” the chairman said. “Tara has the ability to make herself look like other people, including Hatch. We’ll need her to get onboard the Joule.”
“Why would we trust her?” I asked. “Or any of them?”
“Hatch has Tara and Torstyn scheduled for the rat bowl,” the chairman answered. “If that hasn’t shaken their loyalty, I don’t know what will.”
“What if they think they can earn it back?” Nichelle asked.
“It’s a possibility, which is why we should free Quentin first. Tara and Torstyn will do what Quentin says.”
Zeus nodded in agreement. “That’s true.”
The chairman walked back to the board. “So here’s the rundown. The Risky Business has permission to sail directly to the Elgen’s island headquarters of Funafuti, which Hatch has renamed Nike. This is uncommon, as most of the supply ships are only authorized to sail to Demeter, the third-northernmost island, which Hatch has designated for agriculture and livestock.
“Once on Nike you’ll need to disembark without being seen. The dock is about a quarter mile from the town square where Quentin is being kept. It should not be too difficult to get to him, as the cage is in the center of the square. Unfortunately, accessibility isn’t the problem. The problem is that it is too accessible. There may be people around, and there are cameras everywhere. There are two full-time guards stationed in the square, one at each cage. In addition, we’ll need a way to get into the cage. Hopefully, one of the guards will have a key.”
“Hope isn’t a strategy,” Ostin said.
“No. It’s not. So if there’s not a key, McKenna will need to melt through the bars.”
“What if the metal is an alloy too strong to melt?” Ostin asked.
“It won’t be, with Tessa’s help.”
McKenna nodded. “I can do it.”
“We’ll have to bring a lot of drinking water,” Ostin said, looking at McKenna. “For after.”
“Yes, of course,” the chairman continued. “After Quentin has been liberated, you’ll need to get back onto the boat and sail to Hades. That’s where you’ll find Torstyn and Tara.”
“What about Kylee and Bryan?” Zeus asked.
“Bryan could burn through the bars,” Ostin said.
“Bryan and Kylee are currently being held at the Nike Starxource plant. Unlike the others, they’re scheduled to be released. As far as we know, they’re still loyal to Hatch.”
“We land on Hades, then what?” I asked.
“Once on Hades you’ll break into the prison and free Tara and Torstyn. After you have them, you’ll make your attempt to steal the Joule. I don’t have details on that plan, since it would be best if you devise that plan with Welch’s help.” He breathed out heavily. “Any questions?”
“Only a thousand of them,” Ostin said softly.
The chairman looked concerned. “I’m not going to soft-pedal this. You’re going in like lambs among wolves. It’s not impossible, but it’s going to be difficult. We’ve got one shot at this. Remember, at any sign of trouble the Joule will submerge, stranding you on the islands—which means you would come under attack from the entire Elgen army.”
Jack slowly shook his head. “We’re so screwed.”
“I have a question,” I said. “How are we going to get onto the boat in Fiji undetected?”
“I can speak to that,” Gervaso said. “The captain is a friend of mine from the Gulf War. He lost a leg saving my life. I trust him with my life.”
“Do you trust him with ours?” Tessa asked.
Gervaso looked incredulous. “Do you think I would consider this if I didn’t?”
No one said anything else, so Chairman Simon said, “That’s a lot to digest for now. Please don’t discuss any of this outside this room, especially near any staff. We can’t afford any leaks. You’re dismissed.”
We all slowly got up to leave. My mother hugged me. “Are you okay?” she asked.
I nodded. “Are you?”
“I don’t know.” She hugged me again; then I turned to walk out with the rest of the Electroclan.
On the house’s front porch Tanner said to me, “We’re going to die. You know that, don’t you?”
I turned to him. “No. I don’t know that. And neither do you. So don’t say that again.”
“Why? Afraid of the truth?”
“I’m afraid of you making it your truth. And then ours.” I walked away from him, followed by Ostin.
After a moment Ostin said, “Statistically speaking, he’s probably right.”
I looked at him for a moment, then turned and walked the other way.
I suppose that the real reason I was so upset by Tanner and Ostin was that deep inside I was afraid that they were right. I guess that’s usually how it goes, right? If someone says something that has no basis in truth, it doesn’t bother us much. It’s the things we fear they might be right about that hurt.
It seemed to me that the closer we got to leaving on the mission, the more uncertain I felt about the whole thing—and the more unlikely I thought it was that we’d succeed. It didn’t help that Taylor hadn’t been at the meeting. She somehow made things feel better to me. Or at least she made me feel better about them.
I took one of the ranch’s mountain bikes and went out alone for a ride to clear my head. I think that I must have ridden at least ten miles on the dirt, washboard road before coming back. I kept to myself for the rest of the afternoon, only joining the others at dinner.
Ostin was waiting for me as I walked into the dining room. He looked sad, like someone who had just lost his best friend. He hadn’t, but he looked like that.
“Hey,” he said, walking up to me. “I’m sorry about what I said.”
I really wasn’t in the mood to talk about it. “Don’t worry about it.”
“That’s all I’ve done since you left. Besides, I found another logical way of looking at this. It’s more positive.”
“How’s that?”
“So far we’ve faced six life-threatening missions and we’ve beaten them all. So, statistically speaking, we’re more likely to beat bad odds than not. So the more unlikely the odds, the better our odds.”
I squinted. “Isn’t that a paradox? Because if they’re now good odds, they’re not.”
“No sense overthinking it,” Ostin said.
I couldn’t help but grin. “Whatever works. Let’s eat.”
Ostin looked relieved. “Great. ’Cause I’m starving, man. I’m starving.”
* * *
Taylor and her mother didn’t return to the ranch until after dark, about two hours after dinner. I was sitting on the front porch talking to Jack as their car pulled up and Taylor got out. She looked as if she hadn’t slept for days. I remember how messed up I was when I lost my father, so I wasn’t surprised. I walked over to her. “How’s your dad?”
“He’s doing okay,” she said. “He’s come down with a fever, so they’ve got him on antibiotics, but they’re still hopeful that they can release him soon.” She looked at me. “I hear I missed an important meeting.”
I took her hand and we walked a little ways off.
“Yeah. Before we steal the Joule, we’re going to fly to Taiwan and rescue Welch.”
“I’m not going,” she said.
I looked at her. “What?”
“I’m sorry.
I wasn’t going to tell you tonight. . . . I just can’t.” She looked at me. “I’m sorry to let you down.”
I had no idea what to say. Even though part of me had wanted her to stay, my heart felt like a bag of concrete had just dropped on it. Finally I said, “You’d just get in the way, anyway.”
She didn’t respond. She didn’t need to. We both knew what I was saying was absurd. Ridiculously absurd. Then she looked at me in a way she never had before. Her eyes welled up with tears and her chin started quivering. “Michael, I think we need to break up.”
If the last announcement had hit me like a bag of concrete, this one was the entire concrete truck. “What?”
“I’ve been thinking a lot about this. I think it’s the right thing to do.”
When I could speak, I asked, “Did I do something wrong?”
She wiped her eyes. “No, it’s not you. It’s not even us.”
“If it’s not us, then what is it?”
Tears fell down her face. “It’s just . . . it’s just not the right time for us.”
Now my eyes began to well up. “Please don’t do this. Not now.”
“I’m sorry. Now is the time to do this.”
I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t have said it anyway. There was a lump in my throat the size of a basketball.
Finally she said, “I’m going to bed. I just want this day to end.” Without saying good night, she turned and walked away.
I hadn’t felt that awful since my father died.
When I woke the next day, it felt like that concrete truck was still parked on my chest. I didn’t want to get out of bed. I didn’t want to do anything except disappear. Taylor was my first girlfriend. I’d never had my heart broken by a girl before. It sucked.
* * *
That afternoon Jack came to find me. “Hey, dude,” he said. “It’s, like, past noon. You missed breakfast and lunch. Aren’t you hungry?”
“No.”
“No?” Jack paused for a moment, then said, “You okay?”
“Taylor broke up with me last night.”
“What?”
“Let’s face it, it was only a matter of time. She was always out of my league.”