Hunt for Jade Dragon (29 page)

I burned through two of the bars, leaving a space big enough for him to fit through.

He stood. “Michael? Is that you?”

“Yes,” I said. “Drag your bed over and climb up.”

He pushed his bed over to the vent, leaving one end of it propped up against the door to slow the guards if they entered. I reached down and grabbed his hand and pulled him in to his waist. He climbed the rest of the way in. It wasn't until after he was completely inside the duct that he saw Nichelle.

“What's she doing here?”

“She's helping us escape.”

“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. “Let'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.”

T
aylor 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?”