Fall of Hades (10 page)

Nike, Tuvalu

“A
dmiral-General, sir, I have something to report.”

“Come in, Roick,” Hatch said. Dawid Roick was the first Polish recruit to the Elgen force and had risen quickly to the rank of Zone Captain. He was loyal, smart, and a fanatic for the Elgen cause, all qualities Hatch admired.

“Our spiders picked this up,” Roick said.

VEY ELECTRIC

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Serving the greater Meridian, Idaho, area for fifteen years.

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Hatch's eyes slowly panned over the ad. “Mr. Vey, what are you up to?”

“We don't believe it's Vey,” Roick said.

Hatch looked up. “No?”

“We believe it's from someone trying to reach Vey. It's a code.” Roick ran his finger along the bulleted line. “ELGEN SOS,” he said. “The phone number listed isn't an Idaho number. It's the country code for Taiwan.”

“Welch!” Hatch said. “It's Welch.”

“That's what we're thinking.”

“That means he has a phone. And if he has a phone, we can track him.”

“Exactly. We wait until he uses it, triangulate it, and capture him. We've already begun. He's in central Taiwan near the city of Changhua.”

“Does EGG Daines know about this?”

“Yes, sir. He's already assembled a team to capture him. We're just waiting for Welch to use the phone again to pinpoint his exact location.”

Hatch sat back. “Tell Daines I want to be briefed in real time about his mission.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well done, Roick. After Welch is captured, I'll see that you are amply rewarded. We do have a vacancy among the EGGs.”

“Thank you, sir. It's my pleasure to be of assistance, sir.”

As Roick walked out of the office, Hatch smiled. “I've got you, Welch. You fool. I knew I'd get you. Once again, you've failed.”

T
he Elgen's cellular triangulation revealed that Welch was hiding out at a farm in the small Taiwanese farming village of Dazhu, along Taiwan's western coast. The village was built near a hilly valley stepped with rice patties. It was a remote location, primitive, about five miles outside of the main city of Changhua.

For Daines, it was a perfect place to attack. The only possible escape route was a small bamboo forest to the east, which was where the Elgen would create their line. If Welch chose to run, he'd be forced out into the open and gunned down.

Hatch wasn't taking any chances with losing Welch again. He personally alerted the Taiwanese army that he had located one of the terrorists who had brought down the Taiwanese Starxource plant. He also arranged for the Taiwanese Coast Guard to patrol the coast and supply a guard unit of a hundred men to supplement the eight squads of guards under the command of EGG Daines.

Those were only precautions. Hatch had complete confidence in Daines—he was as efficient as he was ruthless and had proven himself a skilled hunter of beast and men. Daines had been born in South Africa and, as a child, had learned the Zulu method of hunting lions. The native warriors would fan out in a large V formation armed with only leather-capped drums, which they pounded fiercely as they marched forward.

As they moved through the brush, the lion would run away from the sound to where hunters would be waiting with spears or, in later years, high-powered rifles. Daines's plan for catching Welch was roughly the same. The Taiwanese soldiers would, in a V formation, advance on one side of the farmhouse, forcing Welch into the waiting ambush of heavily armed Elgen guards.

The key was to make him run. A man holed up in a fortification can dig in for days, but a man on the run is exposed, vulnerable, and more likely to make rash, poor decisions.

*  *  *

Daines's force moved quickly as it surrounded the farmhouse. Drones, snipers, and men with high-powered binoculars watched every inch of the farm. Welch couldn't go anywhere without being seen. In addition, they were tracking his phone. Daines, who was positioned in a jeep at a vantage point a hundred yards away, was watching a monitor with a green dot designating Welch's phone's location. It was currently moving from side to side inside the farmhouse.

Daines said to Hatch over his handheld radio, “Sir, we've got the target located and surrounded. We're ready to move.”

“Then move,” Hatch said. “Bring me his head.”

“Roger that,” Daines said. He set down his radio and turned to his lieutenant. “Move in.”

“Yes, sir.” He spoke into his radio. “The guard will advance.”

The staggered line of Taiwanese soldiers began closing in on the farmhouse.

After a minute Daines radioed his advance team. “Can you see any movement from the house?”

“Nothing,” a voice replied. “A couple dogs just ran out of the house.”

“They must have heard us.” Daines looked down at his monitor. “Are you sure you see nothing? There's target movement on my monitor.”

“No, sir.”

“Could there be an underground tunnel?”

“No, sir. We're surrounded by rice paddies.”

“We need to move in faster. Secure the facility. Let no one past you.”

“Yes, sir.”

As Daines watched his troops close in around the farmhouse, the green dot on his monitor suddenly passed through the army's line.

“Captain!” Daines shouted into the radio. “Welch has just crossed your lines and moved outside your circle. He's behind you.”

“Unless he's invisible, that's impossible. Give me coordinates.”

“Five, two-three-four, seven. Is he disguised as a soldier?”

“There is no human at those coordinates.”

“Well, something just walked through your lines.” Daines pulled out his gun and turned to his driver. “Go!”

The driver followed Daines's directions until he shouted again, “There! He's stopped in that clearing.” Daines jumped out of the truck, holding out his gun. “Cover me.”

“Yes, sir.”

Daines walked around the brush, expecting to surprise Welch. Instead, all he found was a small, underfed dog lapping at the water in the rice paddy. It docilely looked up at him as he approached. The dog had silver duct tape wrapped around its torso.

“What have you got there?” Daines said, squatting down next to the animal. There was a rectangular, boxlike lump under the tape. Daines ran his hand over it, then let out a deep breath. “Welch, you clever devil.”

Welch's cell phone was strapped to the dog's back. Unbeknownst to them, Welch was already in the center of Changhua.

B
y the time the Elgen had reached Changhua, Welch had used four of the six cell phones Mei Li had purchased for him. He would use each phone only once, then discard it, usually attaching it to a random vehicle or animal. One he had placed inside the bumper of a bus headed north to Taipei, another on a frozen-fish delivery truck. His first phone he had taped to the dog in Changhua.

It was the same phone that Gervaso had called to contact him. For the time being, Welch had taken the batteries from the last two phones. He wouldn't need them for a few more days—not until the Electroclan arrived in Taiwan. Until then he would lay low in a small apartment Mei Li had found and stocked with food and water.

Still, he was anxious. He just hoped the Electroclan found him before the Elgen did.

Michael Vey at Christmas Ranch

M
y life has taught me that nothing in this world stays the same. Nothing. Not me. Not even you. The sooner you accept this, the sooner you can figure out how to live your life. Maybe even enjoy it.

Two things I know about change. First, sometimes it seems like we're just bobbing up and down in the ocean trying to keep our heads above water, when really we are being moved along by unseen currents, imperceptibly being dragged to some distant shore.

Second, it pretty much always hurts.

I keep reminding myself of this, because while the world we live in is changing, so are our hearts and minds. Things that are important now won't be important later. And things that aren't important now will be super-important later. It's true for everyone. You start out thinking you're going to be some kind of person and that life is laid out and as predictable as a video game. Then you realize that the rules have changed. There are characters in your game you didn't plan on. There are things you have to do that you never wanted to do. And sometimes the purpose of the game seems to change. I suppose it's like that for everyone. Everyone must come to the realization that the life they have and the life they thought they'd have aren't ever the same thing. And then the question is, what are they going to do about it?

I suppose that's what Hatch and the Elgen are about. Change. Evolution. Or de-evolution. Oh, I guess there's one more thing I know about change. Not everything changes for the better.