Fall of Hades (22 page)

“Idaho,” I said.

“No way! I'm from Idaho. What city?”

Now I was feeling a little nervous. “Meridian.”

“I'm from Eagle! We're practically neighbors. We might have met before. What a small world.”

Taylor glanced at me anxiously.

“Sometimes it is,” I said.

“What brings you to Taiwan?”

“I'm just visiting,” I said. “I'm with a school group. . . .”

“Which school?”

I hesitated. “It's just a little private school. You probably haven't heard of it.”

“My son went to a private school in Meridian. Which one is it?”

I swallowed. “. . . The Liss Academy.”

Her brow furrowed. “I don't think I've heard of that one.”

Before she could ask another question, I said, “What are you doing here?”

“My husband's here on business. His company manufactures steam turbines for electric plants. There's a really large power plant in the southern part of Taiwan that just broke down. We're headed there to . . .” Her eyes suddenly went blank. Then she pointed at the
syau lung bao
and said, “Excuse me, do you know what these are?”

I looked over at Taylor. She slightly nodded.

“They're called
syau lung bao
dumplings,” I said. “They have pork and soup in them. They're really good. You should have some.”

“That does sound good. I guess I'll have to try some.”

“Great, have a good dinner,” I said. Taylor and I quickly slipped away.

*  *  *

After dinner we all gathered in Gervaso and Jack's room on the seventh floor. Jack and Gervaso still hadn't eaten, as they were talking with Welch, and Ostin and McKenna brought them boxes of food.

Taylor, Tessa, and I sat next to Welch on the edge of the bed.

Again, Gervaso wanted Taylor to monitor Welch's thoughts without him knowing it. The room was pretty crowded, and so it didn't seem weird that Taylor was slightly touching him.

Tanner was sitting by himself against the wall by the closet. He'd been pretty quiet since his last outburst. I felt bad for him. Also, I noticed that Cassy wasn't there, but I didn't say anything. I figured it would only bother Taylor that I noticed.

“Mr. Welch has been telling us what he knows about the Elgen movement,” Gervaso said. “Especially after they attacked the ranch.”

“Call me David,” Welch said. “The Elgen thought they had destroyed the resistance.”

“They came close,” Gervaso said. “Fortunately, we were tipped off. The ranch was deserted before the Elgen forces arrived.”

Welch looked ashamed. “That was fortunate.”

“It was more than fortunate. It was prepared for,” Gervaso said. “We are careful.”

“Of course.” Welch looked around the room. “Thank you again for rescuing me. When will we head back to the States?”

Gervaso looked around as if to make sure we were all prepared for Welch's reaction. Then he said, “We're not going back to the States. We're headed to Tuvalu.”

Welch made no attempt to conceal his feelings. “You're not serious . . .”

“As a heart attack,” Zeus said. He looked like he was relishing Welch's pain.

“I'm not going to Tuvalu,” Welch said. “It's a death trap. The entire Elgen guard is there right now. No one gets in or out of Tuvalu without Hatch's permission. No one.”

“No one gets in or out of the Elgen Academy, the Peruvian compound, the
Ampere
, or the Taiwan Starxource plant, either,” Jack said. “But we did.”

“Notwithstanding, I can't go back. They have a price on my head.”

“We all have prices on our heads,” Gervaso said. “You know that. You put them there.”

“Only a few of you,” Welch said, furtively glancing at me.

“What a chicken,” Zeus said.

I hadn't realized until then just how much Zeus hated Welch. There was clearly bad history between them.

“Watch your tongue,
Frank
,” Welch said.

“What are you going to do to me,
Davey
?” Zeus retorted.

“Stop it,” I said. “Both of you. Whatever history you two have is past. We're on the same team now.” I turned to Welch. “We're going back to Tuvalu because of you.”

He looked at me, then Gervaso, then back at me. “I don't understand.”

Jack said, “If it wasn't for you, they wouldn't be getting ready to execute Tara, Torstyn, and Quentin.”

Welch looked as if Jack had just slugged him in the stomach. “What?”

Gervaso said, “Hatch found out that the three of them helped you escape, and he has them locked up. He originally put Quentin in Cell 25. After that Quentin was locked in the monkey cage in the city square, where he'll stay for the rest of his life. Tara and Torstyn are scheduled for the rat bowl.”

Welch's head dropped into his hands. When he looked up, his eyes were fierce. “I didn't know. I had no way of knowing.”

“You do now,” Zeus said. “Still want to run away?”

I glared at Zeus. “Not helpful, man.”

Welch took a deep breath, then said, “What do you need from me?”

“We need your help rescuing them,” I said. I purposely didn't tell him about the
Joule
.

“Then I'm with you.”

Gervaso glanced at Taylor for confirmation. Taylor nodded in the affirmative. “We'll fly out early tomorrow morning,” Gervaso said. “We leave here at oh-five-hundred hours. We'll fly to Sydney, then Fiji.”

“You have a plane, then?”

“We have a jet.”

Welch nodded. “Good.”

“From Fiji we've arranged to stow away on one of the supply boats. We'll free Quentin first, then the others.”

“Be aware that the Elgen have spies all around Fiji. Are you sure you can trust everyone on the boat?”

“We can trust the captain,” Gervaso said. “He's a friend of mine.”

“All right. I'll help however I can.”

Gervaso glanced at Taylor, and she nodded again. I was glad that Welch was telling the truth. It would be good to have someone on our side who knew everything about our enemy. It was still hard to believe that a month ago he
was
the enemy.

“All right, then,” Gervaso said. “We leave first thing in the morning. Try to get some sleep. You're going to need it.”

A
gain, I didn't sleep well. I had dreams. Nightmares. To make it worse Ostin was snoring like a chain saw. At two in the morning I got up and walked out into the hall. To my surprise Taylor was standing there in the dark.

“What are you doing out here?” I asked.

“I heard you say you were coming out.”

“I didn't say I was coming out.”

“You thought it. Loudly.”

“You could hear me?”

She nodded. “I think it has to do with how electric you've become. Do you want to go for a walk?”

I shook my head. “Not really. I'm exhausted. It's bizarre. I can't sleep but I'm exhausted.”

“I know what you mean. Do you want to hang out for a while?”

“Yes.”

We sat down on the floor outside my door, and I lay my head back on her shoulder.

“You're afraid,” she said.

“Yeah.”

“Me too.” She ran her hand over my cheek. “Do you think we'll ever come back?”

I didn't answer. At least not vocally.

After a moment she said softly, sadly, “Yeah. Me too.” She took a deep breath. “You know, part of me doesn't care anymore.”

I looked at her. “What do you mean?”

“When my father was shot and I thought he might die, I was freaked out, but I realized that part of me was happy for him. All I could think of was how lucky he was that he didn't have to worry anymore about the Elgen or Hatch . . . or the end of the free world.”

I closed my eyes.

After a minute she said, “Me too.”

“You too what?” I asked.

“I don't want to lose you.”

I sighed. “Sometimes I think you're the only reason I want to keep living.”

“Maybe love is really the only reason we have to live.”

“That's profound,” I said.

“Maybe,” Taylor said.

The two of us fell asleep in the hall.

*  *  *

I woke to some Chinese guy dragging his luggage over my foot as he walked by us. He didn't bother to say “excuse me” or whatever they say in Chinese; he just ran his bag over me like I was carpet lice. I made a lightning ball, then caught myself and threw it against the wall in front of me instead of at him.

I could see from the glowing curtained window at the far end of the corridor that the sun was beginning to rise. We would be leaving soon.

Taylor was lying on her side next to me. I leaned over and kissed her, then whispered into her ear, “We need to get ready.”

She lightly groaned. Then her eyes fluttered open. “Is it time to go?”

“Soon,” I said.

“Just hold me a little longer.”

I lay back down and pulled her head onto my chest, and she quickly fell back asleep. I didn't sleep. I couldn't. Actually, I didn't want to. I wanted to feel every second of her next to me. What I had said in the night was true. If something happened to her, I didn't know if I would be able to go on.

As I looked at her sleeping, I said softly, “I love you.” I gently slid my hand up her neck under her hair. “I would die for you.”

Taylor sighed a little. Then she said in a half-asleep voice, “What?”

I pulled her in close. “Nothing,” I said. “Nothing.”

“H
ey, Michael,” Ostin said. He was in his underwear, looking at me from out our door. “You awake?”

“I am now,” I said, taking a second to remember where I was.

“I thought you had left me. We just got a call from Gervaso. We've got forty minutes to eat and go.”

“I'll be right there.”

Ostin nodded and disappeared back into our room.

I kissed Taylor on the forehead. “It's time to wake up.”

“Do we have to?”

“This time we do.”

She groaned, then slowly pushed herself up. I sat up, stood, and then helped her up.

“What time is it?” Taylor asked.

“I don't know. Ostin says we've got forty minutes. Or we did a couple of minutes ago.”

“Okay.” She leaned in and we kissed; then she stepped back. She looked like she might fall over. “I'll see you in a little bit.”

She walked to her room and knocked on the door. McKenna opened it. “Good morning,” she said. “I was about to come looking for you.” She waved to me. “Hi, Michael.”

“Morning.”

I turned and pushed open my door and went inside to shower.

*  *  *

Almost a half hour later Taylor and I walked into the dining room. Gervaso was sitting at a table near the door with Jack, Abi, and Cassy. He waved us over.

“Hey, Tay,” Jack said. “Mike.”

“Hey,” Taylor said.

Cassy was smiling at me. “Good morning, Michael. Do you go by Michael or Mike?”

“Michael. I'm only Mike to Jack.”

“My man,” Jack said, sounding like Denzel Washington. “I got privileges.”

“Michael it is,” Cassy said. “I think it's cuter, anyway.” She laughed sweetly.

Taylor shot me a look.

“I'd like to talk with you sometime. I have a lot of questions,” Cassy said.

“I'm sure there'll be a lot of time to talk on the flight,” I said.

“Almost nine hours,” Gervaso said.

Jack groaned. “It's really that far?”

“I'm afraid so.”

“Well, we'll definitely have time to talk,” I said.

“Speaking of time,” Gervaso said, “we need to leave in eight minutes, so eat fast.”

“Sorry,” Taylor said, glancing at Cassy. “We slept in. Together.”

Cassy bit her lower lip but said nothing. The tension between them was palpable.