Hunt for Jade Dragon

by Richard Paul Evans

  “Not all of them,” Ian said.

  “I forgot we had a human X-ray,” Jack said. “So how many are broken?”

  “Eleven.”

  “How many ribs does he have?” Abigail asked.

  “The human body has twenty-four ribs,” Ostin said. “Though ten of them are called false ribs since they aren’t connected to the sternum.”

  “Another lesson,” Abigail sighed.

  “How are you feeling?” Jack asked me.

  “Better. I think Nichelle did a good job with those stitches.”

  Nichelle smiled. “Anytime.”

  “I hope not,” I replied. I took a waffle from a stack on the table, then sat down next to Nichelle. “Where’re Zeus and Tessa?”

  “They’re on the roof,” Jack said.

  “What are they doing on the roof?”

  “They’re on lookout.”

  “When did we start doing that?”

  “This morning.”

  “There’s syrup,” Taylor said. “At least a version of it. It’s made from boiled sugar.” She pointed to a saucepan on the table. “It might be cold.”

  “I can take care of that,” McKenna said. She put her hand above the pan and it heated up. Within seconds the syrup started to boil. She handed me the pan.

  “Thank you,” I said. I poured a little on top. It didn’t taste like maple syrup, but it wasn’t bad.

  “Does the waffle taste correct?” Ben asked. “I learned the recipe from the Internet.”

  “They taste great,” I said. “Where did you get a waffle iron?”

  “From the same place I got my weapons,” he replied.

  “I’m glad they’re thinking of us,” I said. I ate for a few minutes, then asked Ben, “What’s on the agenda today?”

  He looked at me blankly.

  “What are we doing today?”

  “We wait inside,” he said. “Everyone is looking for us. The Elgen, the Taiwan army, and the police. There has been much on the television about the attack. They say the terrorists tried to shut down the Elgen plant but the Taiwan army stopped them.”

  “Yeah, right,” Ostin said. “We walked through the middle of their camp, and they didn’t even see us.”

  “Public relations,” Ben said.

  I looked at Taylor. “I guess that means no night markets.”

  “I’m heartbroken,” Taylor replied. She put an omelet on her plate, then came over and sat next to me.

  “No going outside at all,” Ben said. “They will be looking for Americans. And you look like Americans.” He looked at Abigail. “Especially you. Your hair is very light.”

  Jack ran his fingers through it. “And very pretty.”

  “Thank you,” Abigail said.

  I noticed Nichelle staring at Jack. She saw me looking at her and turned away.

  Ben said, “We need to go over our plans.”

  “We need Zeus and Tessa,” I said.

  “I’ll get them,” Ian said.

  We cleared off the table and Ben laid out a map he’d drawn of the Taiwanese coastline near the Starxource plant.

  “We’re back,” Ian said, walking toward us with Zeus and Tessa.

  “What’s up?” Zeus asked.

  “We’re going through our rescue plan,” I said.

  We all gathered around the table. Ben leaned over his map. “This is the plant,” he said, touching a pen to the paper. “The Volta will likely anchor here.” He drew a small rectangle to represent the boat. “That means the Elgen will transport YuLong maybe about here.” He ran the pen in a straight line between the plant’s dock and the Volta. “If the sea is calm, to go that distance will take only two or three minutes. If we wait until they leave the dock, we can catch their boat halfway.” He drew an X between the Volta and the shore. “That means we need to be about ninety seconds away from the middle point. I think we should wait with our boat here.” He touched a spot on the shore opposite the plant.

  “That’s by the coast guard base,” Ostin said.

  “Yes,” Ben replied. “Very close.”

  “That won’t work. We’re going to be in one of their boats. They’ll see us,” Ostin said.

  “He’s right,” I said. “We’ll have to capture the coast guard boat before the Volta docks, but we don’t know how long the Elgen will wait to transport Jade Dragon. If the Elgen delay, the coast guard will know something is wrong and send their boats out looking for us.”

  Ostin looked at the map. He ran his finger in a circle around the Volta. “Assuming the coast guard boat can do at least forty knots, to intercept in ninety seconds, we could be anywhere in this radius.”

  “Yes,” Ben said.

  “Then how about here?” He drew an X in the ocean behind the Volta.

  “Hide behind the Volta?” Zeus said.

  “Why not? Neither the Elgen nor the coast guard will be able to see us.”

  “But the Volta will.”

  “The Volta won’t think anything of it. They’ll be taking orders from the Elgen inside the plant.”

  I looked at the map. “That would allow us to stay out longer.” I turned to Ostin. “But if they can’t see us, how will we see them?”

  “Ian could see them,” Abigail said.

  “I should be closer,” Ian said. “I get some electrical interference from the plant. I could miss something.”

  “What if some of us hike up to where we were the last time Ben took us?” Ostin said. “When the Elgen are ready to move, we’ll radio the boat. Then they’ll speed in and intercept the transport halfway between the shore and the Volta, where it’s most vulnerable.”

  “That could work,” Jack said.

  “Who will be on the boat?” Taylor asked. “And who will be on land?”

  I thought about it a moment, then said, “Taylor, Ben, Zeus, Tessa, Nichelle, and Jack should be on the boat.”

  Zeus dropped his head. “You know I hate boats.”

  “I know, but we’ll need your firepower. With Tessa near you, you’ll be able to take out a few Elgen boats if things go south.”

  “I’ll go,” he said, “but I don’t have to like it.”

  “Great, because you’ll be in charge.”

  “You won’t be with us?” Taylor said.

  “No. They’ll need me on land. I’ll take Ian, McKenna, and Ostin up the coast. Ian will be able to tell us when they’re ready to transport. If we encounter Elgen, McKenna and I can protect the group.”

  “Shouldn’t I be with you?” Nichelle asked. “In case they send the Glows?”

  “No,” I said. “It’s more likely they’ll put the Glows on the transport with Jade Dragon.”

  “If Quentin is there he could shut down our coast guard boat before it can escape,” Ostin said. “We’ll be sitting ducks.”

  I looked at Nichelle. “You’ll have to shut the Glows down first.”

  “I can do that,” she said.

  “We’ll need radios,” I said to Ben.

  “I can get those.”

  I looked around the table. “What do you think?”

  “What about me?” Abigail asked.

  “You want in?”

  She looked insulted. “What, you think I’m worthless?”

  “No, your powers just aren’t . . .” I searched for the right word. “Aggressive.”

  “Neither are Ostin’s,” she said.

  “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that,” Ostin said.

  “At least I have powers,” she mumbled.

  “You come with us,” Jack said.

  I continued, “After we stop the transport boat, Taylor, with Tessa’s help, reboots everyone while Jack and Zeus go on board, grab Jade Dragon, and bring her back to our boat.”

  “What if they’re wearing mindwave helmets?” Taylor asked.

  “Then it will be easier for me to shock them,” Zeus said. “Those helmets of theirs make great conductors.”

  I looked at Ben. “Where do we go after we have her?”


  “There is a small dock here,” Ben said, pointing to a spot on the map. “It is south, around the rocks from the coast guard. We can dock there.”

  “Okay,” I said. “As soon as you have Jade Dragon, we’ll leave our point here, drive down and pick you up, then drive back to the safe house.”

  “Who’s going to drive?” Taylor asked. The question stung a little. Usually it would have been Wade.

  “I’ll drive,” McKenna said. “I learned at the academy.” Then she added, “Before purgatory.”

  “McKenna drives,” I said. I looked around the table. “Are we good?”

  Most everyone was nodding.

  “That’s a plan,” Ostin said.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Let’s just hope it works.”

  * * *

  A few minutes after our meeting, Ian and I took Ben aside.

  “We need to tell you something,” I said. “In private.”

  Ben’s expression fell, mirroring ours. “We can go downstairs.”

  After we were alone in the garage I shut the stairwell door behind us, then said, “We need to warn the voice that the Elgen might know where the ranch is.”

  He looked back and forth between us. “How would they know?”

  “Because I told them,” I said.

  Ben looked stunned. “Why did you tell them?”

  I felt like a fool. “After they captured us . . .” I shook my head. “I thought Hatch was my father. He asked where my mother was. And I told him.”

  Ben looked even more distraught. “I don’t understand. Why did you think Hatch was your father?”

  Ian stepped in to defend me. “It’s not Michael’s fault,” he said. “Tara can do things to your brain. She made Hatch look like Michael’s father. Michael didn’t know.”

  Ben nodded slowly. “What did you tell him?”

  “I told him that the ranch was three hours away from Los Angeles.”

  “That is all?”

  “And I told him the weather.”

  He thought for a moment, then said, “I will tell the voice.”

  I took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “I’m sorry. I’m really worried. I don’t know what else to do.”

  Ben looked into my eyes then said, “There is a Chinese saying. If a problem has a solution, to worry is no use, for in the end it will be solved. If a problem has no solution, there is no reason to worry, because it cannot be solved.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “We do not have time to worry. For now we have other things to use our minds for. We need to rescue Jade Dragon.”

  That evening, as Taylor and I were finishing our shift on lookout, I told her what I’d told Ben. She tried to comfort me.

  “It will be okay,” she said. “America’s a big place. That’s not enough information to find them. Three hours away could be like Kansas. Or Nebraska.” She put her arms around me and held me.

  After we parted she smiled and said, “Besides, remember what your mother says. Things have a way of working out.”

  “You’re right,” I said.

  After a minute she said, “There’s something really important I need to tell you, too.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “I think I can explain it better with Ostin around.”

  “All right,” I said. “Let’s go find him.”

  We climbed down from the roof and found Ostin sitting next to an oscillating fan in the men’s bunk room. He was translating a Chinese magazine into English.

  “Hey,” I said. “We need to talk.”

  He looked up, his eyes wide. “What did I do?”

  “You’re not in trouble,” I said.

  “We’ll need some paper and something to write with,” Taylor said.

  Ostin held up his pen and pad of paper. “Already got it.”

  Taylor walked over and locked the door, then sat down on the bed across from Ostin. “I need to write something.”

  Ostin gave her his paper and pen. Taylor flipped through the pad to a clean page and began writing. When she was finished she handed it to Ostin.

  Ostin looked at it for a moment, then said, “Where did you get this?”

  “Jade.”

  “Can I have my pen back?” Ostin asked. Taylor handed it to him and he began scratching numbers on the paper. After a moment he said, “This is incredible.” He looked at Taylor. “Do you understand this?”

  “It sounds weird since I barely made it through algebra, but I sort of do.” She looked at me. “I mean, I don’t think I could explain it to anyone, but it’s, like, part of me.”

  Ostin went back to filling the paper with symbols, numbers, and letters. Every now and then he’d mumble “Whoa,” or “Brilliant.”

  “You understand what that means?” I asked Ostin.

  “Most of it. Without understanding the dynamics of the MEI machine, I can’t fully understand the formula. But it’s the algorithm of the MEI waves. I would have to compare it with the Elgen’s information to see the variance, but I guarantee it’s different from what the Elgen have been operating from.”

  “Is this what the Elgen are looking for?” I asked.

  Ostin looked at me gravely. “I think so.”

  For a moment we were all silent as the reality of what we had sunk in. Like E = mc2, this formula could change the world. Or destroy it.

  “Burn that paper,” I said to Ostin. “Now.”

  “All right,” he said. He walked out to the kitchen.

  “Why would she give it to me?” Taylor asked.

  “Because she trusts you.”

  Taylor’s brow fell. “But she didn’t say it. She only thought it to me. That means she knew I could read her mind.”

  “It also means that she must know it’s what the Elgen want from her,” I said. I took a deep breath. “We’ve got to get her out of there.”

  The next two days passed uneventfully. We reviewed our rescue plan over and over, anticipating changes and creating alternate escape routes in case something went wrong. Ben was the only one who left the warehouse, and we all took turns watching the streets. We noticed a lot of police and military vehicles in the area.

  Ben rented a boat, which he left at the small dock he had told us about. By the afternoon of our third day everything was ready. All we were waiting for was the Volta to arrive.

  That night, a few hours after we’d gone to bed, Ben flipped on the lights in our bunk room. “It is time.”

  “Time to sleep,” Ostin said groggily.

  “Time to go,” Ben said. “The voice called. The Volta is just twenty-five kilometers from the plant.”

  “Let’s go,” I said, pulling on my clothes.

  Within five minutes we were all gathered downstairs in the garage. In spite of the hour everyone was wide awake. I guess fear will do that.

  As we were about to get into the car Ostin said, “There’s one thing we haven’t talked about.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “If we fail, do we sink the boat?”

  “You mean with Jade on it?” Taylor asked.

  “If the Elgen get that information, millions of people will die.”

  We all knew the answer. I looked at Taylor. “Let’s not fail.”

  We took a different vehicle than we had before. It was a dark blue windowless van. Ben had observed that the coastal roads were being heavily patrolled, so he took the main roads through Kaohsiung before heading north to our starting point. I sat in the back of the van with Taylor. I hated that we would be separated during the rescue.

  As we drove through the dark, Taylor knit her fingers with mine. “Remember our prom?” she said softly.

  I smiled sadly. “Yes.”

  “I’d rather be there,” she said.

  * * *

  Less than a half hour later Ben pulled off the highway and drove down smaller and smaller roads that eventually led us to a deserted, tree-lined dock. Ben parked along the road. It was a beautiful night with a full moon reflecting off the calm black s
ea. There was a light haze over the water, and from the moon’s glow we could see the silhouette of an eighteen-foot powerboat floating alone at the dock. We all got out of the van.

  “I can see the Volta,” Ian said. “She hasn’t anchored yet.”

  “Can you see any activity at the Starxource plant?”

  “Not yet.”

  Ben handed me a handheld radio. “We are on channel seventeen.”

  “Let’s test them,” I said. We turned the radios on. “Can you hear me?”

  Ben nodded. “Yes. Can you hear me?”

  “Yes,” I replied, even though I could have heard him without the radio. I put the radio in my pocket, then looked around. “We’re ready.” I took a deep breath. “We’d better get going.”

  Taylor took my hand. I must have looked as afraid as I felt because she said, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back. With Jade.”

  “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.

  As 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.