Battle of the Ampere

  “Get in,” the chief said to us.

  Tessa turned to the old woman. There were tears in both their eyes. “Muchin,” Tessa said and they embraced. The tension around us was thick and in spite of their emotion, they held each other for only a moment before they separated. The woman took off one of her necklaces, a long string of bright red seeds, and put it over Tessa’s neck. I now understood that the old woman had come with us only to say good-bye.

  “Kwai ba!” the chief shouted. “Mei o shr jyan!”

  The pair embraced once more, then Tessa turned and climbed into the boat. She turned back one more time to look at the woman. “I will never forget you, Mama,” she said.

  The old woman touched her hand to her heart.

  I climbed into the boat after Tessa.

  “Michael Vey,” the chief said. “Look at me.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I have dreamed a dream. Over the water, a choice will come to you. You must choose between the lives of a few you love or the lives of many you do not know.”

  “I don’t want that choice,” I said.

  “No one would wish that choice. But fate does not bend for us—we must bend to it. Now go! Chyu ba!”

  The tribesmen motioned for Tessa and me to lie down next to each other, then they pulled our blankets up over us and covered us with the broad green leaves they had collected.

  The floor of the canoe was rough and pungent and looked as if it had been pounded out with rocks. Beneath the blankets our glows were bright enough to easily see each other. The boat was narrow, so our bodies were pressed tightly together. My glow was brighter wherever her body touched mine. I was anxious, and my electricity arced loudly between us.

  “Can you stop doing that?” Tessa whispered.

  “I’ll try.”

  With some effort, I made the arcing stop, though an occasional buildup would jump between us, especially from our heads, which were touching.

  “It’s so cramped,” she said. She pulled the necklace she’d just received up around her throat, then slid forward until my head was against her chest. “Is this better?”

  “That’s better,” I said. I could hear her heart pounding rapidly. Lying against her like this made me think of Taylor. I remembered how she’d held me that night by the pool outside of Mitchell’s house. I wished she were with me now. Actually, I wished we were back at Mitchell’s house.

  The tribesmen pushed the boat away from the shore, and I could hear the rhythmic slap of their paddles against the water as we slipped out over the cold, dark river.

  “Who was that woman?” I asked Tessa.

  “That’s Aigei,” she said. “But I call her muchin, for mother. She’s been like a mother to me since I was found.”

  Considering that she had been separated from her real mother at such a young age, I wondered what that meant to her.

  “That’s a pretty necklace she gave you,” I said.

  “It’s made from huayruro seeds. It’s supposed to bring good luck.”

  “We could use it,” I said. I had no idea where we were going or how long we would be in the boat, but I gathered it might be a while. After a little while Tessa fell asleep, but I couldn’t sleep. At least not at first. I was too worried—not just about us, but about my mother and my friends. I lay awake for what seemed like a long time before sleep overtook me.

  I awoke to one of the tribesmen shaking me. I rubbed my eyes and looked up. It was dawn, and Tessa was already sitting up, her hair matted to the side of her head. She pulled her hair back from her face. “I think we’re here.”

  I lifted myself up and peered over the side of the boat. We were docked, but all I could see was more jungle. “Where’s here?”

  “I don’t know,” Tessa said. “Somewhere downriver.”

  “With your old friend Jaime,” a voice said.

  I spun around. Standing behind us on the shore was Jaime, the Peruvian man who had brought us into the jungle.

  “Jaime!”

  “Mr. Michael,” he said, stepping forward. “Let me help you out.”

  “Help her first,” I said, looking at Tessa.

  Jaime offered her his hand, but she grabbed the side of the canoe and climbed out by herself. I got out too.

  When I was on the bank he said, “Congratulations, amigo.”

  I looked at him quizzically. “What for?”

  “For still being alive,” he said. “And for making some serious trouble. Mucho caos.”

  I’m pretty sure that that was the first time in my life that someone had congratulated me for causing trouble. “More than we planned on,” I said.

  Tessa looked at Jaime suspiciously. “How do you know this guy?”

  “He’s the one who brought us into the jungle.”

  “How did you meet him?”

  “I’ll tell you later,” I said. “But we can trust him. He’s a friend.”

  She still looked unsure. “You’re from Idaho. How do you have a Peruvian friend?” She looked directly at Jaime. “Are you an Elgen?”

  “Ufff! Que locura!” Jaime said. He looked her directly in the eyes. “Do not insult me. I would rather cut out my own heart and feed it to the piranhas than to be called one of those demons.”

  “That’s pretty graphic,” she said.

  “We have not the time to chitchat,” Jaime said. “We must hurry. You have angered the Elgen wasps, and they are looking for someone to sting.”

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “Into the jungle,” he said. He turned to the tribesmen. “Feichang, sye sye.”

  They slightly bowed. “Bukechi,” they replied. They immediately paddled away from the shore until they were in the middle of the river and headed upstream.

  “Those guys are strong,” I said. “They didn’t even rest.”

  Jaime turned back to me. “They have not time to rest,” Jaime said. “Neither do we. Come. Vámonos!”

  We followed him through a path in the trees that quickly disappeared, overgrown with foliage and snarled tree roots that rose like snakes through the jungle’s dark soil. Even though it was morning, beneath the canopy it was dark enough that Tessa and I could see our glows.

  We had hiked more than an hour into the jungle when the foliage in front of us suddenly lightened into a small clearing, exposing an elaborate campsite built next to a stream.

  “We are home,” Jaime said.

  “It’s not my home,” Tessa said, looking around.

  I surveyed the camp with wonder. “How did you get all this stuff back here?”

  “With much work,” Jaime said. “This is our base to monitor the Elgen.”

  The camp consisted of two large nylon tents, a cooking spit, a generator next to at least a dozen plastic gas cans, and a metal communications tower that rose as high as the trees but no higher. About fifteen yards from the camp Jaime suddenly stopped, holding his hands out. “Alto.”

  In spite of my B+ in Mrs. Waller’s eighth-grade Spanish, I didn’t recognize Jaime’s command to stop, and Tessa and I just kept walking.

  “I’m starving,” Tessa said. “I hope he’s got something to eat.”

  Jaime lunged at me, grabbing me by the arm. “Párate! Stop! Do not walk any farther.”

  I hadn’t seen him coming for me and instinctively pulsed. Jaime screamed as he fell to the ground. I looked down at him. He was holding his arm and moaning. “Ay caramba, caramba, caramba!”

  “I didn’t mean to do that,” I said. “It’s just habit.”

  “You are worse than the anguila,” Jaime said, still grimacing with pain. “You must not walk any farther.” From the ground Jaime pointed toward a twitching pile of fur lying near the second tent. “See? It is a trap.”

  “Who would set a trap out here?” I asked.

  “I did. It is a safety.”

  “A safety?” Tessa replied. “I think you’re using that word wrong.”

  Jaime rose to his knees. He picked up a fallen branch on the grou
nd and threw it into the clearing ten feet in front of us. There was an immediate eruption of gunfire and bullets that tore through the wood, shredding it into slivers.

  “Whoa,” I said.

  “That totally could have been us,” Tessa said. “Swiss cheese.”

  “That is my safety to make sure no one enters my camp when I am gone. Before we go in I must deactivate the sensor.”

  “I’m for that,” Tessa said.

  Jaime took a small, black cylindrical object out of his pocket. It was about the shape and size of a lipstick tube, with a single red button on top. He pushed it. “It is safe now.”

  Looking at the quivering animal near the edge of the clearing, I wasn’t about to step into the firing zone. “Are you sure it’s off?”

  “Yes. Look.” He lifted another piece of wood and threw it into the clearing. This time nothing happened. “It is turned off.” He pointed toward the gun. “There is no light on the turret.” He climbed back to his feet and stepped forward, still rubbing his shocked arm. “We are safe. I will go first.”

  He walked into the clearing, with Tessa and me close behind.

  “That was pretty cool,” I said. “How does it work?”

  “It is simple, amigo. There are two guns.” He led me to one of the machines. The turret was run by electric motors mounted onto steel pipes that Jaime had wrapped up in leaves. The contraption looked simple enough, and my first thought was that Ostin could probably build one of these from spare parts he had in his bedroom. The thought of that made me miss him.

  “It is a robotic sentry that runs off a program from my laptop. I bought it from an American company that makes them for paintball guns.”

  I touched the gun’s barrel. It was still warm. “They make these for paintball guns?”

  “Yes. I just made some adjustments.” He pointed to the other side of the clearing. “The other one is over there behind that tree. They are very fast. Each one can move so quickly it can follow up to four targets at the same time.”

  “How does it know when to shoot?” Tessa asked.

  “The guns are activated by movement. They shoot anything that moves past its camera.” He turned back to me. “I put these here to keep my equipment safe from Elgen when I am not here. If they were to get our communication codes, it would endanger everything.”

  “It seems . . . extreme,” Tessa said.

  “Our cause is extreme,” Jaime said seriously. “The sentry is very effective, but so far all it has shot are monkeys. That is good.”

  “Not for the monkeys,” Tessa said.

  “Monkeys and whatever that thing is,” I said, looking at the animal, which had finally stopped twitching.

  “What is that thing?” Tessa asked.

  Jaime pointed to the pile of fur. “That, senorita, is dinner—the osohormiguero.”

  “Lovely,” she replied.

  I walked up to examine the beast. It had thick, spiky fur and a long body about four feet in length, not including its tail, which was curled up around its belly. I still couldn’t tell what it was, and I had to push it over with my foot to see its head. It had small dark eyes and an elongated snout. “It’s an anteater,” I said.

  “Was,” Tessa said. “I think its anteating days are over.”

  “Yes, you call it an anteater,” Jaime said. “It is most tasty.”

  “I’ve had it before,” Tessa said. “It was okay.” She looked at Jaime. “Do you have anything to drink?”

  “The water barrel is there,” Jaime said, pointing to a five-gallon white plastic bucket. “You must lift the lid. The cup is hanging next to it. Be sure to look for spiders. They like the water.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said. She unhooked the tin-handled cup hanging next to the bucket, then lifted the bucket’s lid. For a moment she just stared. “There’s something dead in here,” she said dryly. “Actually, there’s like a million dead things in here, but there’s one really big dead thing.”

  Jaime walked over and looked in. He took another cup and lifted out an eight-inch insect. “It is only a walking stick. Not poisonous.”

  “I feel so much better now,” Tessa said. She skimmed the top of the bucket, dumping the contents of her cup on the ground three times before scooping up a cup of water clear enough to drink. She drank down two cups, then filled it up again and brought it over to me. There were small things floating around in it, mostly mosquitoes and fleas, but I drank it anyway.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “It’s funny how we adapt, isn’t it? In the academy days I would complain if my water didn’t have a slice of lime in it. But after being in the jungle this long, hardly anything bothers me anymore. I once ate a roasted armadillo. The Amacarra roll them up and cook them in their own shells.”

  “What I wouldn’t give for a cheeseburger about now,” I said.

  “Sorry,” Jaime said. “No cheeseburgers. But I do have food.” He disappeared into the first tent and returned carrying two boxes, which he handed to us. “I was only making a joke about the anteater,” he said. “We cannot make a fire to roast it. The Elgen soldiers could follow the smoke. But trust me, it is very delicious.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” I said.

  We opened the boxes. Inside was a ham sandwich sealed in cellophane, a package of crackers with soft cheese, quinoa cake, a Sublime chocolate bar, a piece of fruit I’d never seen before, a bottle of Inca Kola, and a yogurt drink.

  “Real food,” Tessa said. “Muchas, muchas gracias. It’s been so long.”

  “Yes, thanks,” I said. “I’m starving.”

  “Come inside the tent to eat,” he said. “We will talk.” Jaime lifted the mosquito netting around the second tent. We ducked under the netting and went inside. The interior was a square, about twelve feet by twelve feet, cluttered with crates and barrels. There was a small collapsible plastic table against one side of the tent with a ham radio and a digital clock. Stacked up next to the table were long crates with the word PELIGRO stenciled on them.

  Jaime grabbed himself a box of food, and all three of us sat down on the tent’s vinyl tarp floor.

  “I like this Inca Kola,” I said. “It tastes like bubble gum.”

  “You have this in America?” Jaime asked.

  “No,” I said. “At least not in Idaho.”

  “Shame,” he said.

  I lifted the fruit.

  “What is this?”

  “Granadilla,” Jaime said. “Try it.”

  I peeled it open. Inside, the fruit was gray and looked like mucus.

  “It looks like snot, “ Tessa said.

  Jaime laughed. “Yes, Americans call it ‘snot fruit!’ Try it!”

  I looked at it for a moment, then took a bite. It actually was quite good. Tessa just looked disgusted.

  “I just threw up in my mouth,” she said.

  I ate the rest of the fruit, then took hers as well.

  “There’s something I’m wondering,” Tessa said. “How did the Amacarra know to find you here?”

  “A few days ago, when I saw smoke coming from the compound, I asked the chief to keep an eye out for Michael and the others.”

  “So that’s how he knew my name,” I said.

  “Yes. I told him about you.” Jaime looked at Tessa. “But I am surprised that he did not tell me about you.”

  “They were looking out for me,” Tessa said.

  Jaime shook his head. “Our affairs are not the Amacarra’s affairs. But the Elgen have been bad to them.”

  “Do you know where my mother and friends are?” I asked.

  “Your mother and Tanner made it to the rendezvous site. They are now safe with our people.”

  Hearing this filled me with a powerful sense of relief. “And what about the rest of the Electroclan?”

  Jaime’s expression turned. “They have been captured.”

  My relief vanished. “The Elgen got them?”

  “No. The Peruvian army.”

  I s
hook my head. “I don’t understand why they’re hunting us.”

  “It was my country’s electricity you stopped.”

  “Do you know where they’re being held?”

  “They are at a jail in Puerto Maldonado. But we are sure they will take them back to Lima to be tried.”

  “Tried? For what?”

  “For terrorism.”

  “Terrorism! We’re not terrorists! The Elgen are the terrorists. We were helping your country!”

  “They did not ask for your help. The way they see it, you put my country out of power. Shops and businesses shut down. Hospitals are on backup generators. People will go hungry. The power outage cost my country millions and millions of dollars. Only we know that what you did was good.”

  “That’s not fair.”

  “No. But that is how it is in the world—the wise are hung and the fools are glorified, at least while they are living.”

  I raked my fingers back through my hair. “What will happen if they try them in your courts?”

  “They will probably find them guilty of terrorism.”

  “What will they do to them? They’re just teenagers.”

  Jaime’s voice came slowly. “If they are found guilty, their age will not matter.”

  “What will they do to them?” I asked again.

  Jaime hesitated. “They will probably be executed.”

  My blood ran cold. “They can’t do that.”

  “My country abolished the death penalty in 1979, but not for treason and terrorism.”

  “We can’t let that happen. I’m not going to let that happen. How many soldiers are there?”

  “More than you can fight,” Jaime said. “Maybe as many as four thousand soldiers. Even if our organization risked everything and came out in the open to help you, we could not rescue your friends.”

  “An army couldn’t,” I said. “But a mouse can get in where a lion can’t.”

  He looked at me. “That is true.”

  “I could sneak in and rescue them like we did in Pasadena. Are they still in Puerto Maldonado?”

  “You will never get close. There are many patrols, and they have built fences. I am certain that they will be moving your friends soon.”