Hunt for Jade Dragon (36 page)

“Be careful,” I said.

She smiled and kissed me. “Yeah, right.”

Ben handed McKenna the keys to the van. “You know where to go?”

“You programmed it into the GPS, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then I know.”

Taylor and I hugged one last time, and then I turned to everyone else. “Good luck.
De oppresso liber
.”

“
Semper fi
,” Jack returned.

Zeus walked up to me. “Any last instructions?”

“Get the girl. Bring everyone back safe.”

“I'll do it,” he said. “Anything else?”

I smiled. “Yeah. Stay out of the water.” We man-hugged. “See you soon.”

I glanced over at Jack and he nodded at me. Then the group followed Ben to the boat. Near the dock, Taylor looked back once more. She blew me a kiss, then turned and climbed into the boat. A sick feeling came over me. Something told me I'd never see her again.

A
s the boat pulled away from the dock, Ostin, McKenna, Ian, and I got back into the van. McKenna started the car while Ostin fiddled with the GPS. Ian and I sat in the seat behind them.

“Everyone ready?” McKenna asked.

“Almost,” I said. I waited until the boat had vanished in the haze, then shut the door. “Let's go.”

It took us only nine minutes to reach our destination. As McKenna parked along the vacant street, I checked my watch. (I had fixed the time.) It was a little after three in the morning. We waited in the car with the lights off for another twenty minutes; then my radio crackled.

“Can you hear me?” Ben asked.

“Yes. Can you hear me?”

“Yes. We are signaling the coast guard now.”

I turned to Ian. “Any activity at the plant?”

“Some,” he said. “There are trucks and soldiers gathering near the side exit.” He shook his head. “Man, we made a mess of that place. It looks like it was hit by a hurricane.”

“Hurricane Electroclan,” McKenna said softly.

“Can you see a transport boat?” I asked.

“No. The only boat I can see is one of the fishing boats.”

“Let's go,” I said.

“Wait,” Ostin said. He opened the glove compartment and brought out a pair of binoculars. “We'll need these.”

Ian looked around again to make sure no one was watching, then we all climbed out of the van into the dark street. We followed the same path that we had before, creeping along the tree-lined shore. We sat down under the trees, looking out over the moonlit harbor. “There she is,” Ian said. “You might be able to see her; she's out there.” He pointed nearly directly west out to sea. Through the fog I could see the
Volta
's faint silhouette. The waves had suddenly kicked up and she was pitching a little.

“That's not good,” Ian said.

“What?”

“It looks like they've rearmed her. She's got serious firepower.”

Ostin looked out through his binoculars. “They've installed M134 Miniguns. Those bad boys can fire four thousand rounds per minute.”

“How far can they shoot?” I asked.

“As far as they want,” he said. “They're usually mounted to helicopters.”

I thought of Taylor and my stomach churned. “Let's just hope they think we're the coast guard.”

“Speaking of which,” Ian said, “there goes the coast guard boat.”

A moment later a twenty-four-foot patroller sped out of the coast guard pier.

“Can you see our boat?” I asked.

“No,” Ostin said.

“They're about four miles out,” Ian said.

I was on edge. “Just tell me what you see.”

About ten minutes later Ian said, “The coast guard is there.”

We sat quietly. There was a flash of light.

“What was that?”

“Something must have gone wrong. Zeus fired on them.”

My jaw was ticking. “Now what?” I asked.

“They're bringing their boat alongside the coast guard's.” Another few minutes passed before Ian said, “They've got the coast guard's boat. They're driving away.”

Our radio crackled. “This is Ben. We have the boat.”

“Did everything go okay?”

“Mostly,” he said. “What is our status?”

“The Elgen are preparing to transport. We'll tell you when they leave the plant.”

“Okay,” Ben said. “Good-bye.”

We sat quietly in the dark for another half hour, watching the plant. “This is taking forever,” Ostin said from behind his binoculars. “It's like watching grass grow.”

“What's going on?” I asked.

“I'm not sure. But they now have three different trucks.” He looked at me. “It's one girl. Why do they need three trucks?”

Suddenly we heard the sound of boat motors coming toward us. “What's that?” I asked.

Ian said, “Speedboats.” He paused. “With really big guns.”

“How many?”

“Three.”

I looked at him. “Three boats? Why would they have three?”

“They're running three boats so we don't know which boat she's on,” Ostin said. “That's why they also have three trucks.”

We moved farther back into the darkness of the trees as the boats sped by within fifty yards of the shore. It only took them a few minutes to reach the Starxource plant. They pulled back on their throttles and idled about a hundred yards from the dock.

“Where's our boat?” I asked.

“It's about two miles out,” Ian said. “Behind the
Volta
.”

“How are we going to stop all three boats?” McKenna asked.

“We can't,” I said. “We better let them know what's going on.” I lifted my radio. “Ben, this is Michael.”

“I am here.”

“We've got a problem. They have three boats.”

“Three?”

“Yes. And they're speedboats. You're going to have to come closer than we planned.”

“Okay,” he said.

“No one's moving,” Ostin said. “Makes you wonder what they're waiting for.”

There was suddenly a staccato series of light flashes coming from the
Volta
.

“Interesting,” Ostin said. “They must be afraid that we'll intercept their radio signals so they're using light signals.”

“Anyone can see those,” I said.

“I know. But no one knows Morse code anymore.”

“Do you?” I asked.

“Of course,” he said. “I knew Morse code by the time I was five.”

He watched for a moment, then said, “Someone read what I spell out . . . a-d-y-f-o-r-r-e-c-e-p-t-i-o-n-o-f-p-a-c-k-a-g-e.”

“Ady, for reception of package,” McKenna said.

“
Ready
for reception of package,” I said, looking at Ostin. “They must mean Jade Dragon.”

The three boats suddenly powered to the Elgen dock. They tied up on the near side of the fishing boat.

“This isn't going to be as easy as we thought it would be,” Ostin said.

“Who thought this was going to be easy?” I said.

“How are we going to stop all three boats?” McKenna repeated.

“We don't have to,” Ostin said. “There's only one girl. Ian can tell us which one she's on.”

“The trucks are moving,” Ian said.

I looked at Ian. “Which truck is she in?”

He looked for a moment, then said, “The first one. Wait.” He turned to me. “I don't believe it.”

“What?”

“There's one on every truck.”

I looked at him quizzically. “One what?”

“Girl. I don't know which one she is.”

“They knew you would be watching,” I said. “They outsmarted us.”

The radio crackled. “Hey, Michael, it's Zeus. Ben said there are three boats. Is that right?”

“Yes.”

“Which one is Jade Dragon on?”

“We don't know,” I said.

“They're loading the girls onto the speedboats,” Ian said.

“There's a girl on each of the boats. They have three girls,” I said.

“Three girls?”

“It's a decoy.”

“What do we do?” Zeus asked.

“Give me a second,” I said.

“That's about all we have,” Ian said. “They're untying.”

Taylor came on. “Should we take a chance on one of them? A one-out-of-three chance is better than nothing.”

“It's too dangerous. The other speedboats are armed,” I said. “Between them and the
Volta
they'll blow you out of the water.”

Zeus came back on. “Michael, we keep getting radio calls from the coast guard. We can't hold out much longer. Do we go or abort?”

“Give me a second,” I said again. I looked back at Ostin, who was silently looking through his binoculars at the dock. “Dude, what are you looking at?”

“That fishing boat,” he said calmly.

“We're a little busy for that right now. Come on, we need your help.”

Ostin was unaffected by my panic. “He's been there too long.” He rubbed his chin. “And he's not unloading fish.” Ostin looked over at me. “I know which speedboat she's on.”

“Which one?” I asked.

“None of them,” he said. “It's a shell game. The Lung Li are about
deception. The three boats are the shells; the fishing boat is the magician's hand. As soon as the other boats leave, they'll load Jade Dragon onto the fishing boat and transport her to the
Volta
.”

“A shell game?”

“Just like in the night market.”

“But the speedboats are faster and armed.”

“Exactly. They're there as decoys. If we don't fall for it, they'll return and protect the fishing boat.”

The first of the three speedboats left the dock.

“I hope you're right,” I said. “Because this will be over soon.”

“L
ook,” Ostin said. “The fishing boat is unmooring.”

“Can you see anyone on board the fishing boat?” I asked Ian.

“I see five guards.” He looked at me and smiled. “And three Glows.”

“I told you,” Ostin said.

“We've got them,” I said. “Hatch wouldn't send his Glows out fishing at three in the morning.”

I lifted the radio. “This is Michael, can you hear me?”

“This is Zeus.”

“Jade Dragon isn't on any of the speedboats. She's on the fishing boat.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. And there are Glows on board. Tell Nichelle to be ready. And be careful, the speedboats are armed. As soon as they know you're not the coast guard, they'll attack.”

“Got it.”

“There she goes,” Ian said. “The fishing boat is pushing out.”

“On our way,” Zeus said.

“I have an idea,” Ostin said. “I'm going to send the
Volta
a message.”

“How?”

“With McKenna,” he said. He turned to her. “I need you to flash your hand. If I say ‘dash,' hold the light for about one second; when I say ‘dot,' just flash quickly. Ready?”

McKenna nodded. “Yes.”

“First letter. Dot, dot, dash.”

“Just one letter?” I asked.

“
U
is an abbreviation for danger,” Ostin said, his gaze fixed on the boat. There was a sudden flash back. “They got the message. Okay, here we go.” Ostin began rattling off a series of dots and dashes staggered with occasional pauses.

After he finished I asked, “What did you say?”

“I said they're under attack and to defend themselves against the three boats.”

Suddenly the sound of the
Volta
's machine guns filled the air. The first speedboat burst into flames. People began jumping overboard.

“Freaking genius,” I said.

“They've hit the second speedboat,” Ian said.

“I'm totally going to kiss you on the lips when this is over,” McKenna said to Ostin.

Ostin pumped his fist.