Ian looked back for a moment, then said, “He’s with the guards.”
“They’ve captured him?”
“No. He’s standing with them, talking. They must think he’s one of them.”
“He stayed back to cause a diversion so we could get away,” Ostin said. “He said after he led them away he’d sneak back down through the pipe. But he wanted us to hurry toward the pickup site before they figured out how we escaped.”
“I’m not leaving without my son,” Mrs. Vey said.
“And if he gets out,” Taylor said, “just how exactly is he supposed to find us?”
“He said he’d go to Cuzco.”
“How? It’s at least a week by foot, with no food or water—if something in the jungle doesn’t kill him first.”
“He’s more powerful than anything in the jungle,” Ostin said.
“Even when he’s sleeping? Or is he supposed to go a week without sleep, too?”
Ian suddenly groaned. “Oh no.”
“What?” Taylor asked.
“They just captured Michael.”
His words stunned everyone. Taylor gasped, and Mrs. Vey sat down on a fallen log and began to cry.
“I’m so sorry,” Ostin said, his eyes filling with tears. “I thought it was the right thing to do. I couldn’t have made him come if I wanted to.”
“Did you even try?” Taylor asked.
“Yes,” he said.
Taylor looked at him in disgust. “I’ll bet. And he thought you were his best friend.”
Ostin hung his head.
“Enough!” McKenna said, walking up to Taylor. “Leave him alone. It’s not his fault.”
Mrs. Vey looked up, her cheeks wet with tears. “She’s right. It’s not Ostin’s fault. Michael would have done this anyway. He would do anything to save his friends.”
“No,” Ostin said, shaking his head. “Taylor’s right. I should have tried harder. I let him down. It’s all my fault.” He put his head down and walked away from the group.
Taylor turned toward him. “Ostin, come back.”
Ostin continued walking off into the jungle until he was out of sight.
“Thanks,” McKenna said angrily, then ran after Ostin.
A haze of despair fell over the group. After a few minutes Jack said, “We’re not leaving him.”
No one answered. The impossibility of saving Michael was obvious to everyone. The silence was broken by Zeus’s groan. Raúl looked at Zeus, then pointed to Jack’s knife. “Cuchillo.”
“You want my knife?” Jack asked.
Raúl nodded. “Por favor.”
“That means please,” Abigail said.
Jack pulled his knife from its sheath and handed it to him. Raúl took it, then ran off into the forest.
“Where do you think he’s going?” Abigail asked.
“I have no idea,” he said. “But does it matter?”
I awoke buckled tightly to a cot only slightly larger than the one I’d been strapped to in the back of the Elgen truck. There were wires connected to me coming from a white metal box about the size of a deck of cards strapped to my chest. It was a RESAT box, the same device I had pulled off Tanner when we’d freed him. The top of the box had a single knob and several flashing red and green diodes registering its power diffusion. It also had a small antenna, which made me believe my suffering was being controlled by remote. I felt dizzy, and my thoughts were blurred, nearly as hazy as my vision. Above me was a large light fixture, and the light from it blinded and hurt my eyes, making me blink as hard as I ever have, which is probably why I didn’t notice Taylor until she spoke.
“Michael.”
I squinted, looking up into her face. I must be dreaming, I thought.
She leaned over and kissed me on the forehead. “How are you?”
“What are you doing here? You’ve got to get out, before they catch you.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “We’re safe.”
My forehead was wet with perspiration. “We’re not safe. Pull off these wires. We’ve got to get out of here.”
Taylor just smiled. “Why would I want to escape?”
“What?”
Her smile grew. “I want to tell you a secret.” She leaned close to my ear and whispered, “The whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing, it’s not real. I made it up to get you down here for Dr. Hatch. I delivered you to him. And in return Dr. Hatch gave me this beautiful diamond bracelet.” She dangled the bracelet in front of my face. “You know how we girls love bling. I just thought you’d like to know that.” She stood up and walked out of the room.
Tears fell down the sides of my face. This must be a nightmare, I told myself.
Ten minutes later someone else walked into the room, stopping at the side of my cot. It was Dr. Hatch. “Welcome back, Michael,” he said.
I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to look at him.
“You’ve been crying. So you must have learned the truth about Taylor. Unrequited love always hurts. You didn’t really think that a girl as beautiful as Taylor would be interested in someone as pathetic as you, did you?”
I said nothing.
“Not speaking, I see.” He slowly exhaled. “No matter.” He pulled a stool up to the side of my cot and sat down. “Michael the oath breaker. That’s what we call you around here. What do you think of that?”
“I don’t care what you call me,” I said.
Hatch’s voice turned more serious. “How did you get down here?”
I didn’t answer.
He grabbed my face, squeezing my cheeks. “I asked you a question.”
“I walked.”
He let go of me but remained close enough that I could feel his breath on my face. His voice dropped. I knew Hatch well enough to know that that was his way. Most people’s voices rise when they’re angry. Hatch’s voice softened. “Let’s try this one,” he said slowly. “Where are your friends, Michael?”
I didn’t answer.
Hatch waited nearly a full minute before he said, “Oh please. Don’t be so cliché with the ‘I’m going to be the hero and protect my friends’ routine. We both know that I could throw you in Cell 26, our new and improved Peruvian version of your suite in the academy, and get it out of you.”
The idea of being sent to the cell sent chills through me, but I also knew that my mother and friends would be back in America before the Elgen broke me.
Hatch leaned forward. “Apart from Taylor, you don’t know where your ‘friends’ are, do you? Maybe they’re not really friends. If they were, wouldn’t they have tried to rescue you? They haven’t, you know. We haven’t heard a peep out of them. I’m a little surprised that they deserted you in your hour of need. Aren’t you?”
I clenched my jaw.
“Or maybe you just don’t want to accept the truth that after all you did for her, even your mother didn’t care enough to stick around. That must hurt even more than Taylor’s betrayal.” His voice fell almost to a whisper. “No one cares about you, Michael. You’re all alone in this world.”
In spite of the pain, I forced a defiant smile. “They got away,” I said, finding relief in his words. “That’s all that matters.”
Hatch sneered. “Yes, they got away, for now. But that’s all right. We’ll get them. We’ll hunt them down one by one. And in the meantime, we have you. The big kahuna. President of the electroclam or whatever ridiculous name you gave your group.”
“Electroclan,” I said.
“It doesn’t matter. The club has been disbanded. But you were worth all the trouble you and your little club caused. At least I thought you were.” He reached over to the box on my chest and turned a knob. Increased pain shot through my body, and I groaned out. “Then you went and made things . . . difficult. You changed your destiny for the worse. Only one thing can save you now. Do you want to know what that is?”
I was gritting my teeth with pain. “Yes.”
He reached over and turned the knob back down. The pain lesse
ned.
“Humility, Michael. Humility.” He sat back as if giving me time to contemplate his words. “I wonder if you even know what it is? It’s a lost virtue. Kids these days are all swagger. They think they have all the answers. But they’re just a new generation of fools.
“Humility is the wisdom of accepting the truth that you might just be wrong. Unfortunately, for most it comes too late—after the game is lost, if you know what I mean. Humility comes when you’ve hit rock bottom. When your best friends have deserted you. When you have nothing more to lose. Like you. So just put away your arrogant ways and join us, like Taylor did, completely and without reservation, or I have no choice but to dispose of you.”
“You’re not going to kill me,” I said. “You need me.”
“Not exactly,” Hatch said. “We need your DNA, a few pints of blood, and some of your tissue. But we don’t need you.” He lingered on the word “you” like it left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded keeping you around for a while. I had planned on it. But then you went and ruined the party. Now I have no choice but to make an example of you.
“You see, I have eight very promising and powerful young men and women who I am grooming for future leadership in my organization. These young people are impressionable and they have seen you defy me. If I let that slide, they’ll think I’m soft. Then it’s just a matter of time before one, or all of them, tries the same thing. Not right away of course, these things need time to culture, but, like a virus, dissension will grow.” Hatch’s eyes flashed with anger. “That is not an option. They need to know that being special does not mean they’re indispensable.
“So, after our scientists have taken what they need from you, you’re going to help me teach my youths a vital lesson about the importance of obedience and fidelity. And in this way, your worthless little life, which until now has only served to annoy me, will actually do me some good.
“How will I do this, you ask?” He ran his finger up my arm. “I can see from these bites that you’ve had a taste of our rats. Or,” he said darkly, “vice versa. They’re going to get another helping of you. Only this time there will be no one to save you. Do you have any idea how carnivorous those little things are? I’ve seen them strip a bull to bones in less than two minutes. I can’t imagine the pain, the sheer agony, as a thousand little teeth devour your flesh.
“I’ll give you some time to consider your fate, Michael. Can you be humble?” Hatch leaned close to my ear. “Before I go I’d like to confide in you. Parents sometimes say it’s the child who stands up to them who they respect the most. I admit there is some truth to this. You have shown tremendous leadership with your little group of miscreants. I’m just sorry it’s not going to take you anywhere but the bowl.” He stood. “Au revoir, Michael. The next time I see you will be suppertime. Not for you, of course.”
“Wait,” I said.
Hatch smiled. “Yes?”
“Tell Tara that I know she and Taylor are identical twins, but she’s really not as pretty. Sorry.”
Hatch scowled at me, then turned and walked out of the room.
Ostin was sitting by himself nearly a hundred yards away from the camp, leaning against a tree. He was drawing in the dirt with a stick, doing mathematical equations, something he did when he was upset. He didn’t notice McKenna until she was standing a few yards from him.
“May I sit down?” McKenna asked.
“Free world,” Ostin said. “At least until the Elgen take over.”
McKenna sat down cross-legged a few feet from him. She picked up a rock and rolled it in her hands. For a long time neither of them spoke.
“They estimate that there are seven and a half trillion trees in the Amazon rain forest,” Ostin said. “That one right there is called a strangler fig. The Peruvians call it matapalo, the killer tree. It starts when a bird drops its seed up in a tree and the strangler fig grows down to the ground until it chokes out the host tree and takes its place.”
“That’s interesting,” McKenna said. After another moment she said, “It’s not your fault, you know.”
“I let my best friend down. I wasn’t loyal.”
“Did you want him to stay?”
He looked up angrily. “No! Of course not.”
“Then you honored his wishes even when you didn’t want to. That’s loyalty, isn’t it?”
Ostin couldn’t answer.
“Taylor doesn’t really think it’s your fault either.”
“You could have fooled me.”
“Sometimes people are like that. When we’re upset at someone and they’re not around, we take it out on whoever is close. Even people we love. Taylor’s afraid for Michael and so she’s upset. And since he isn’t here, she took it out on you. Does that make sense?”
Ostin sighed. “I guess so.”
“The truth is, no matter what anyone said back there, if it wasn’t for you, we’d all still be locked up at the academy. All of us, including Michael.” Ostin looked up to see her gazing at him. “You’re the smartest person I’ve ever met. And you’re smarter than any of us. You’re our only hope of saving Michael.” She looked at him for a moment, then leaned forward, staring him directly in the eyes. “Michael needs you. So stop feeling sorry for yourself and save him.”
“You think I can save him?”
“I know you can save him. And I know you can save us.” She leaned back.
Ostin stared at the ground for a moment. When he lifted his head his expression had changed. He looked like himself again.
“Let’s break down our situation into its individual components. We’re hiding in a tropical rain forest next to a seemingly impenetrable fortress with two thousand armed guards, huge electric fences, and ubiquitous camera surveillance. Our original way into the compound through the ranch entrance is no longer an option, and our second route was locked off by Michael.
“Our foe seems all-powerful, but if history has taught us anything, it’s that everyone and everything has a weakness—you just have to find it. My weakness is jelly doughnuts. Your weakness is dehydration, or lack of water.” His brow furrowed. “Zeus’s weakness is also water.” Suddenly his face animated. “That’s it!” He clapped his hands together. “That’s their weakness!”
“What?” McKenna asked.
“Water! They built protection around the power plant but not their water source.” He jumped up. “I know how to shut them down.”
“Explain,” McKenna said, smiling at his enthusiasm.
“To power two million homes, their plant would have to create nearly twenty billion kilowatt hours of electricity. That’s twice the energy of a standard nuclear power plant. Given that the Elgen’s power creation is three times more efficient than a steam-turbine system, I’m guessing that the rats are generating heat close to one thousand degrees Fahrenheit. That’s why they built the plant next to a river—without water the bowl would melt down in a matter of minutes. Or even if it didn’t, the heat would kill the rats. No rats, no electricity. No electricity, no lights, no cameras, no electric locks, and no electric fences.” Ostin grabbed McKenna’s hand and pulled her to her feet. “Come on, we’ve got to tell the others.”
* * *
In Ostin’s absence, the group had moved a couple of hundred feet from the pipe to a more concealed location. Everyone was sitting or lying down when Ostin and McKenna rushed into the clearing.
“I know how we can save Michael!” Ostin shouted.
Taylor stood. “How?”
“Everyone gather round,” Ostin said, standing next to Zeus. They formed a crescent around him, McKenna holding on to Ostin’s arm.
“Here’s the gist of it,” Ostin said. “Just north of the compound is the Elgen pump house. That’s where they bring in the water from the river to cool the Starxource plant. It’s outside of the compound. If we blow up the pump house, their grid will heat up to a thousand degrees within minutes. So even if the grid doesn’t melt down, th
e heat will kill all the rats and still shut down their power. The entire compound is electric, so if they lose their power they lose their cameras, alarms, intercoms, and light. Which means the prisoners can escape.”
“Don’t they have backup power?” Zeus asked.
“They have two backup generators run by diesel,” Ostin said. “But even if they could get their generators up, it would take at least five to ten minutes to get them online. And they would only create enough power for the compound. The rest of Peru would go dark.”
Suddenly a grin crossed Ostin’s face. “Wait, I’ve got an even better idea. We also blow the generators! All that diesel fuel would create a massive explosion that would set fire to the camp. It will take hundreds of guards to fight it. Between that and all the escaping prisoners, we’ll practically be able to walk in and get Michael.”
“Brilliant,” Ian said.
“But how do we blow the pump house?” Taylor asked.
“Dynamite,” Ostin said.
“Last I checked we’re completely out,” Wade said sardonically.
“Where do we get dynamite?” Taylor asked.
“I don’t know,” Ostin said. “But this is the jungle and jungle people use dynamite for clearing trees and mining. I’m hoping that Raúl knows where to find some.” He looked around. “Where is Raúl?”
“We don’t know,” Abigail said. “No one could understand him. He took Jack’s knife and ran out into the forest.”
Ostin looked puzzled. “Did he say anything?”
Jack looked at Abigail. “Something like saliva.”
Ostin’s brow furrowed. “Saliva?”
Abigail said, “No, it was more like . . . saliba. Salvia. Maybe, sabila.”
“Sábila,” Ostin repeated. “Of course. For Zeus.”
“He was looking at Zeus when he said it,” Abigail said.
“He must know where he can find some.”
“Find what?” Jack asked.
“Aloe vera. It’s a cactuslike plant that grows in Peru and is useful for treating burns,” Ostin said. “While we’re waiting for Raúl we need to make our plan. Ian, the generators are on the north side of the plant. There should be some big fuel tanks.”