“She’s the one who got us captured.”
“It’s not her fault. Remember what you said about Taylor not being Taylor?”
“Yeah.”
“You were right. That was Tara who came back to the hotel with us.”
“I knew it,” he said. “And Nichelle knew it was Tara, so she went to Hatch and turned us in so he’d think she was on his side.”
Nichelle looked at him in amazement. “That’s exactly what I did.”
“Brilliant,” he said.
I suppose that was one of the benefits of being friends with Ostin. You didn’t always have to explain things. We made our way to the next vent, which was Jack’s room. Jack was lying in his bed, facing away from us. Nichelle killed the camera; then I whispered, “Jack.”
He didn’t move.
“Jack!” I said louder.
Still nothing.
“He must be asleep,” Ostin said.
I melted through the bars and let myself down into the room. As I neared I saw that he was tied up in a white canvas straitjacket. I gently shook him. “Jack, it’s me.”
He slowly rolled over. “Michael?”
I was horrified. From my glow I could see that the Elgen guards had severely beaten him. Both of his eyes were swollen and he had a huge contusion under his left eye. “I’m so sorry, buddy,” I said.
The jacket he was tied up in was fastened with simple buckles.
“Roll onto your stomach,” I said. “I’ll get this thing off.”
Jack groaned with pain as he rolled over. I quickly released the buckles, then Jack took off the jacket and slowly stretched out his arms, grimacing with the movement.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I think they broke my ribs,” he said.
“I wish Abi was here to help you.”
“I’m glad she’s not,” he said.
We pushed his bed to the wall beneath the vent.
“Can you lift yourself up?” I asked.
“I’ll try.”
Jack stood on the bed and grabbed ahold of the vent’s outer bars but, probably for the first time in his life, struggled to do a single pull-up. “I can’t do it.”
“Yes, you can.” I got down on all fours. “Step up on my back.”
He looked at me doubtfully but did as I said. He weighed more than I thought he did, but now that he was two feet closer he was able to pull himself the rest of the way up. It was not until I began to climb back up myself that I realized I had forgotten to tell him about Nichelle. I heard his voice echo from the vent. “You!”
Fortunately Ostin was positioned between Jack and Nichelle.
“Take it easy,” Nichelle said.
“I’m going to rip your head off, you—”
“Jack, stop,” I said, pulling my upper body into the duct. “She’s on our side.”
“You can beat me up later,” Nichelle said dully. “But now’s not really the time.”
I pulled myself the rest of the way in.
“Jack, she’s cool,” Ostin said.
“Have you guys lost your minds?”
“Trust me,” I said. “Things aren’t the way we thought they were.”
“Here,” Nichelle said, handing Jack the screwdriver. “You can use this as a weapon.” He looked surprised at the offer, but reached out and took it. “Just don’t kill me with it,” she said, turning back around.
“How much time do we have?” I asked Nichelle.
“About an hour.”
“We need to go faster,” I said.
“What’s going on?” Jack asked.
“They’re going to put Taylor in the bowl,” I said. “We need to get Ian and McKenna, then go for her.”
“Taylor was with McKenna,” Jack said.
“No, she wasn’t,” Ostin said.
We crawled farther down the duct, though Jack did so with great difficulty. Crawling on his stomach with broken ribs was like walking barefoot on broken glass.
Five minutes later Nichelle said, “There’s a Glow coming up. I can feel him. I think it’s Ian.”
“Let me get in front,” I said. I crawled past everyone. As I approached the opening, I heard someone shouting. I looked through the vent. Ian was sitting on his bed yelling at the two guards in the room with him. It took me a second to figure out why—he must have seen us coming and was keeping the guards from looking at us. As I peered out of the vent, Ian glanced up at me for a millisecond, then, turning away, slowly shook his head.
“Two guards,” I whispered to the others. Normally I could take them, but I couldn’t pulse that far and I couldn’t throw an electric ball through the bars. I wished Zeus were with us. They’d already be on the ground.
“We’re going to have to go in through the hall,” I said. “We need to back up.”
We had crawled over a mechanical closet about sixty feet back and we crawled backward until we reached the vent. I lit a single finger and pushed it through the metal, then dragged it around the edges until I’d cut through three sides.
“You’re getting good at that,” Nichelle said.
“Thanks.” I bent the grate back with my foot.
There wasn’t enough room in the closet for all of us, so only Nichelle and I climbed down. Nichelle put her ear against the door. I looked at her in anticipation. “Anything?”
She shook her head. “I’m going to look out. Be ready.” She slowly turned the doorknob and opened the door just enough to look down the hall. Then she raised her hand and turned off all the cameras and stepped out.
“You there! What are you doing?” someone shouted.
“What do I do?” Nichelle asked without looking back. “It’s a guard.”
“Try to get him close,” I said.
“Put your hands up,” the guard said.
Nichelle laughed. “In your dreams.”
“I said put them up. Now!”
“Since when do Eagles take orders from captains?”
There was a pause; then he said, “I’m sorry, miss. I didn’t realize it was you.”
“No worries,” she said. “I knew it was you.”
“What are you doing here?” He was coming closer.
She lowered her voice. “Looking for you, Captain.”
“May I help you with something?”
“I was just hoping to get to know you a little better.”
The man seemed rattled. “You know, it’s against the Elgen code to—”
Nichelle interrupted him. “Do you always follow the code?”
“Not always,” he said softly. He was getting close.
“Good. Because that code could definitely get in the way, if you know what I mean.”
There was a pause.
“What time is your shift over, handsome?”
“I’m done at—”
Nichelle raised her hand. “Wait, did you hear that?”
“What?”
“Hatch is looking for me. If he finds me with you, who knows what he’ll think.” She reached out her hand. “Hurry. In the closet.”
“But . . .”
“Hurry!”
The captain ducked inside the closet, and Nichelle pulled the door shut behind them. I was crouched on the opposite side of a heating unit just a few feet from the guard. He was facing the opposite direction, so he didn’t see my glow.
It was quiet for a moment; then the captain said, “I didn’t hear anything.”
“I thought I saw Michael Vey.”
“Vey?”
“You’ve heard of him?”
“Of course I’ve heard of him.”
“Have you ever met him?”
“I really shouldn’t be in here.”
“That’s for sure,” I said.
“What?” As he swung back, I put my hand on his leg and pulsed. He dropped to the ground.
“You’re good,” I said to Nichelle. “You could be an actress.”
“I lived with Hatch for ten years. I was.” She looked down at the guard. “L
et’s get his keys.”
Ostin stuck his head through the open vent. “Hey, he’s about Jack’s size. He could wear his uniform.”
“Good idea,” I said. It wasn’t easy undressing the guard in the closet, but we got his clothes off and handed them up to Jack. Then we handcuffed the guard to a pipe with his hands behind his back and stuffed his T-shirt in his mouth to keep him from shouting for help. I helped Ostin down from the vent, then Jack climbed down by himself, even though he was still in a lot of pain. We gave Jack the guard’s keys.
“What’s the plan?” Jack asked.
“You’ve got the uniform, Captain,” I said. “Ian is in the second door on the left. There should still be two guards in there. Get them to the door and I’ll take care of them.”
“Got it,” Jack said.
Jack stepped out of the closet and looked around. “All clear,” he said.
The four of us walked to the room. Jack looked in through the one-way window, then unlocked the door. Nichelle, Ostin, and I pressed up behind him. We could hear the guards yelling at Ian.
Jack glanced back at us and pushed open the door. “What’s going on?” Jack said to the guards. “What’s all this shouting?”
“Captain,” one of the guards replied. “We were questioning the prisoner.”
“We don’t have time for that. There’s been a breach of security. Two of the prisoners have escaped. We’ve been ordered to lock down our hall and join the hunt. Come with me.”
“Yes, sir,” two voices said in unison.
As they got to the door, I stepped in around Jack and pulsed, knocking them both back into the room. Nichelle knocked out the camera while I released Ian.
“That was some trick getting in here,” Ian said.
“You watched the whole thing?” I asked.
“From the second Nichelle walked into your room.” He looked at Nichelle. “You can explain later.”
“Happy to,” she replied.
“Where’s McKenna?” Ostin asked.
“Just two cells down from this one. No guards with her.”
“We’ll grab her on the way. Have you seen Taylor?”
“They’ve got her locked up in a cell by the bowl. She’s with the girl.”
“Jade Dragon?”
He nodded. “Yes. And we’d better hurry. The guards are on their way to get her. It looks like it’s feeding time in the bowl.”
“Come on, Taylor,” I said. “You just need to buy us some time.”
Taylor and Jade Dragon were still awake, huddled in one corner of the cell as the door opened. The same three guards from before walked in accompanied by two Lung Li.
“It’s feeding time, sweetie,” the captain said. “Do you have the information?”
“It’s about time you got here,” Taylor said.
The captain looked at her dully. “What?”
“I’m not Taylor, Captain. I’m Tara. I came down to see if I could persuade Taylor to help us and she did something to me. She’s out there pretending to be me.”
“And I’m Admiral Hatch,” the captain said.
The other two guards laughed. The Lung Li stood motionless.
“Take the child,” the captain said.
The two Lung Li grabbed Jade Dragon. She started screaming.
“Leave her alone!” Taylor shouted. “You’re hurting her!”
“Take her,” the captain repeated.
One of the Lung Li shoved a needle into the child’s thigh and she immediately slumped over. The other guard slung her over his shoulder, then the two Lung Li took her out.
“Now for you,” the captain said.
“I’m not Taylor!” Taylor screamed. “Just look at me!”
“I just saw Tara,” the captain said. He leaned close. “Do you have our information?”
“I told you, I’m Tara!”
The captain’s eyes narrowed to angry slits. “You’re playing with your life.”
“And you’re playing with yours,” Taylor said.
“Enough of this,” the captain growled. “Take her.”
Taylor pressed back against the wall. “I can prove I’m Tara. If you touch me, you’ll pay.”
The guards hesitated. Disobeying one of “Hatch’s kids” was like disrespecting an EGG. Or worse.
“Don’t listen to her,” the captain ordered.
Taylor looked up at the camera. “Dr. Hatch, they’re going to kill the wrong girl. Taylor switched places with me. I can prove it and this fool of a captain won’t listen.” She turned to the captain. “We both know they record everything. If something happens to me, Dr. Hatch will feed you to the rats next. I guarantee it.”
This time the captain hesitated.
“Just give me five minutes to prove who I am. Your life is worth at least five minutes, isn’t it?”
“How will you prove it?”
“Get Quentin and Taylor. Q will know the difference between the two of us. He can verify who I am.”
The captain looked at her for a moment, then turned to the guard on his left. “Get Quentin. And Tara. Bring them both. Hurry. We have a feeding schedule.”
* * *
Five minutes later Quentin stormed into the cell, with Tara and the guard following behind him. It was clear he’d been woken up. “What is it?” Quentin asked angrily.
“This girl claims to be Tara.”
“You interrupted my sleep for that?” Quentin snarled.
“She says she can prove it and that you would know.”
Quentin looked at her. “What do you want, Taylor?”
“I’m not Taylor,” Taylor said. “Taylor is standing next to you.”
“Oh, please,” Tara said. “That’s just lame. You really are desperate.”
“Quentin, ask her something only we would know,” Taylor said. “Like what we had for dinner at the mall. You know, before we came to Taiwan.”
Quentin suddenly looked confused.
“Just ask her,” Taylor said.
He turned to Tara. “How did she know about the mall?”
Tara looked confused. “I don’t know.”
“What did we have for dinner?”
Tara paled. “Oh, come on, you’re not really going to play her game. You know me.”
“You didn’t answer,” Taylor said. “So what was it? What did you have for dinner? Easy question.”
Tara looked panicked. “I . . . I had . . . we had . . .”
Taylor lifted one eyebrow. “Yes?”
“I’m not doing this,” Tara answered.
“It’s a simple question,” Quentin said. After a moment he pressed her. “Well?”
“I . . . I don’t remember.”
“Really?” Taylor said. “Because I remember that the calzone we all had was pretty good for a food court. And the capellini that Q ordered on the side was just as good.” Taylor looked at Quentin. “Ask her what ‘calzone’ means.”
He looked at her. “What does ‘calzone’ mean?”
Again Tara couldn’t recall. “C’mon, this is a trick. She’s doing something to me.”
“Yes, it is a trick,” Quentin said. He turned to the guards. “Take her.” They grabbed Tara.
“Quentin! Stop it!”
Taylor breathed out in relief. “Finally.”
Quentin stepped up to her. “How did this happen?”
“I went to visit her alone to see if I could talk some sense into her. But apparently she’s learned some new trick. The next thing I remembered I was lying on the ground next to the little girl.”
“She’s lying!” Tara shouted.
“That was stupid to come alone,” Quentin said. “Don’t do it again.”
“Believe me, I won’t. I thought I could save us some time. I thought you’d be proud of me.”
“I am proud of you.” Quentin turned to the guards. “Take her to the bowl. You’re already late for feeding time.”
Tara turned white. “Quentin, I’m Tara!”
“Yeah
, and I’m Michael Vey.”
The guards began dragging Tara away. Tara screamed. “No! Stop! Stop!”
“She was right about one thing,” Taylor said. “That was lame.”
“You have to be careful,” Quentin said. “These Electrodorks are clever little monkeys.” He put his arm around her. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. For almost dying.”
“That was too close,” he said. He went to kiss her when, from down the hall, Tara shouted, “Quentin, my tattoo. Look at my tattoo.”
He stopped.
“My tattoo!” she shouted again.
“Hold up,” Quentin said to the guards. He looked at Taylor. “Show me your tattoo.”
“You just want to see my ballerina,” she said coyly.
He didn’t smile. “Yes, I do.”
Taylor forced a smile. “I’ll show you later. In private.” She rebooted him. “Shall we go?”
Quentin blinked a few times, then said, “Of course. I’m tired.”
They started to walk away when the captain said, “Sir, did you want to check the tattoo?”
“My tattoo!” Tara shouted. “You’re the one who chose it. Look at my tattoo.”
Quentin looked at Taylor uneasily; then he walked over and pulled the collar of Tara’s blouse down over her shoulder, revealing a tattoo of a ballerina.
“It’s me,” Tara sobbed. “I’m Tara.”
He turned back to Taylor. “Show me your tattoo.”
Taylor folded her arms at her chest and grinned. “Like you said, we Electrodorks are clever little monkeys.”
Just then there was a blast of electricity and all three guards hit the floor. Then Tara and Quentin fell to the ground, doubled over in pain.
Taylor looked at Michael and smiled. “It’s about time you got here.”
I could tell we were near the bowl because I was feeling more electric. Sparks snapped uncontrollably between my fingers and legs and underneath my arms. I’m certain the three guards sprawled out on the ground had noticed how electric I was too. They were all still unconscious.
“Nichelle, stop this,” Quentin shouted from his knees. “That’s an order.”
“You’re giving me an order?” Nichelle said. “I think you’ve got that backward, Q-bert.” She crouched down until her face was inches from his and her eyes narrowed in anger. “You were the only family I had. And when things went bad you all left me to die. Michael Vey was my enemy, and he showed more mercy than all of you creeps combined.”