Michael Vey 3 ~ Battle of the Ampere (5 page)

“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 shook 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.”

“They’ll fly them to Lima?”

“No, they will not fly,” Jaime said. “They must have been warned
about Tanner, because they did not bring any aircraft into the area. And Tanner destroyed all the Elgen helicopters.”

“But you said that Tanner’s gone.”

“The Elgen and the army do not know that.”

“Then they’ll have to drive them to Lima,” Tessa said.

“There is only one road to Lima,” Jaime said. “It is a mountain road and very narrow at spots. That is your best chance of stopping them. It could be like Thermopylae.”

“The what?” Tessa asked.

“Thermopylae is an ancient place in Greece where three hundred Spartans held off tens of thousands of Persians. It is a narrow place that a large army can’t march through. If only a few people can get through the door at a time, it doesn’t matter how many people there are.”

“If we stop the trucks in front, the rest will be trapped behind them,” I said.

“Then what?” Tessa asked.

“In the confusion, I’ll sneak in and free my friends.”

“They will be guarded,” Jaime said.

“I can take care of that,” I said.

“But you will still be surrounded by the entire army,” Jaime said.

“If we had everyone’s powers . . . ,” I said.

Jaime looked skeptical. “Those powers did not stop them from being captured.”

“But if they were enhanced.” I turned to Tessa. “Could you enhance everyone’s power at the same time?”

“I enhanced a half million rats’ power at the same time,” she said.

“If we had even ten times the power, Taylor could reboot all the soldiers at the same time, and we could just walk out of there. Zeus could fire real lightning and destroy any weapon. McKenna could go supernova and melt everything in sight.”

Jaime looked at me. “It is still a big risk. We need to talk to the voice and see what he says.”

“You can contact the voice?” I asked.

He looked around cautiously, then nodded. “Yes.”

“What’s ‘the voice’?” Tessa asked.

Jaime looked at me, then Tessa. “We cannot speak of the voice around her.”

Tessa turned red. “You don’t trust me? I followed you into the middle of the jungle, and you don’t trust
me
?”

“Tessa, it’s okay,” I said. “He’s not trying to insult you. He’s just got to be sure.”

“Then
get
sure,” she said to Jaime.

Suddenly, Jaime froze. “Do you hear that?”

We stopped talking to listen. “No,” I said. I looked at Tessa.

“I don’t hear anything,” Tessa said, still sounding annoyed. “In fact, it’s kind of quiet.”

“Yes,” Jaime said. “Exactly.” He stood. “Just a minute.” He parted the door and walked out of the tent.

As soon as the tent’s flap shut, Tessa asked, “What’s this voice?”

I looked at the door to make sure Jaime was really gone, then back at her. I lowered my voice. “After we escaped from Pasadena we went back to Idaho. The Elgen followed us. We were hiding from them at a tanning salon when a woman came in and handed me a cell phone. There was a man on the other end. He knew who we were and where we’d been. He knew all about the Elgen. That’s how we got down here. He flew us down.”

“Who is he?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that he hates Hatch as much as I do.”

“Why is he so secret?”

“Because secrecy is his most important weapon. You can’t fight an enemy you don’t know exists.”

She nodded. “That makes sense.” She looked around the place. “What if this voice tells you not to go after your friends?”

“I’ll go anyway.”

“They mean that much to you?”

“They’re my friends,” I said. “You don’t abandon your friends.”

For a moment she was quiet. Then she said, “It wasn’t like that at the academy. We got along because it was a rule. But everyone was in competition with one another.” She looked at me seriously. “Friends
or not, I don’t think it’s a good idea going up against the army. You’ll only get caught.”

“I have to,” I said. “And I really need your help.”

She looked down. “I don’t know,” she said. “I have to think about it. If Hatch captures me, he’ll punish me for running away.”

I looked into her eyes. “Tessa, I can’t do it without you.”

She took a deep breath. “I just don’t know. I have to think about it.”

I sighed. “Think about it. Because either way, I’m going.”

The silence between us grew uncomfortable and I began gulping. After another minute I said, “Jaime’s been gone a long time for just checking around.”

“Maybe he had to use the bathroom,” Tessa said.

I stood. “I’m going to go see what he’s doing.”

I walked out of the tent. At first I didn’t see anything. I took a few steps before I saw Jaime lying motionless on the ground.

“Jaime?” I started walking toward him. “Tessa!” I shouted.

Tessa came to the flap of the tent and looked out. “What is it?”

“Jaime’s on the ground.”

“Did he have a heart attack?”

Someone shouted, “Put your hands on your head and walk out of the tent! Now!”

I looked up as a squad of uniformed Elgen guards emerged from the jungle. Their guns were pointed at us.

“Now!” the guard shouted again. “Both of you. Or we’ll open fire.”

“I’m not going back,” Tessa said, her voice pitched with terror. She ducked into the tent.

I put my hands on my head. “Don’t shoot.”

“Don’t try anything, Vey,” one of the guards said. “Or we will. And tell the girl to get back out here before we shoot up the tent.”

I turned back. “Tessa, come out!” I shouted. “They’ll shoot.”

“Tessa?” the short guard to my left repeated. “Was that really Tessa, aka Tesla?”

I didn’t answer.

“Jackpot, boys,” the guard said. “It’s two-for-one day at the Happy
Mart. Vey
and
Tessa. Hatch is going to be happier than a monkey on a banana boat.”

Tessa slowly walked back out. She was shaking.

“Beautiful little Tessa,” the guard said, grinding his teeth. “Remember me? Carvelle?” He walked up to her. “I always had a thing for redheads. And then you had to go and run off.” His expression turned dark. “Hatch was so upset when you went missing that he fed your bodyguard to the rats.” His eyes narrowed. “He was my cousin.”

Tessa swallowed. She looked pale, like she might faint.

“Did someone radio base?” a guard asked.

“There’s no coverage,” the captain replied. “We’ll radio it in back at the river.”

“Look at that tower,” another guard said. “They’ve been communicating with someone.”

“Let’s find out who,” the captain said. “Search the tents.”

Four of the guards disappeared into the tents.

I was twitching a lot and electricity was sparking around me wildly. Under duress it always did, but with Tessa standing next to me it was crazy. It was even sparking between my legs, climbing from my ankles to thighs like a Jacob’s ladder.

“Stop sparking!” the main guard shouted.

“I can’t help it,” I said.

“Then I’ll help you,” another voice said. Two of those yellow-and-red-striped darts struck me in the side.

I collapsed to the ground, groaning as I fell. But I was still sparking. The darts started smoking, then blew. My energy immediately returned.

“It’s Tessa,” Carvelle said. “She’s making him more electric. She’s got that way with men.”

Three darts hit Tessa. Then another three darts hit me. Tessa fell to the ground about two yards from me. My electricity stopped.

Tessa was almost breathless with pain. My own pain was agonizing, but she seemed less able to handle it.

“Let’s move it,” the captain shouted. “Pedro, Pair, and Sanchez,
secure the radio. Find out who they’ve been broadcasting to. I want all codes, logs, and frequencies. Then we’re going to pack that thing out of here.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Johnny and Ryan, you have Vey. Cuff and RESAT him. And be careful, he’s slippery. Carvelle, since you and Tessa are such good friends, she’s all yours. RESAT her, too.”