Fall of Hades (7 page)

*  *  *

The next morning Welch woke alone to the sound of the apartment's front door opening. He sat up and grabbed his gun and held it at the door. Then he heard soft footsteps coming toward him, and the back room door opened. Mei Li stood in the doorway holding a plastic grocery sack. “Don't shoot me,” she said, half smiling.

“Sorry,” Welch said, lowering his gun. “I didn't hear you leave. You should have woken me.”

“You needed your sleep.”

“Where have you been?”

She lifted the grocery bag. “The market. I brought you hot dumplings and soy milk. Get dressed and come eat.” She walked back to the kitchen.

Welch put on his clothes, then came out. There was a
lung
, a woven bamboo steamer basket, on the table next to a shallow dish of soy sauce and chopsticks.

“You remembered that I like those,” Welch said as he sat down. He lifted the lid off the basket, and a cloud of pungent steam filled the air. “Hmm.”

“Yes, I remember.”

He lifted his chopsticks and picked up a dumpling, dipped it into the soy sauce, and then took a large bite. “That's . . . remarkable.”

“Mr. Tsai at the market makes a
mean
pork dumpling.”

Welch laughed. He always laughed whenever Mei Li used an American idiom.

“Did I say that right? ‘Mean,' it means
‘Fei chang hau,'
like ‘very good.'”

“Yes,” he said, still smiling. “You used it perfectly.”

“It is very strange that Americans sometimes say the opposite of what they mean.”

Welch smiled. “Yes, they do. Often. Was the market busy?”

“The market is always busy in the morning. It is our way. We do not like the big supermarkets like in America.”

“Did you see anything suspicious in town?”

“If you mean foreigners, no. Just some students.”

“How about police?”

“You think the Taiwanese police will be hunting you?”

“I know they will be. And your military. The Elgen have arrangements with both.”

“Are you sure?”

“Very. I helped make them. Hatch will tell them that I'm one of the terrorists involved with shutting down the Starxource plant. I'm certain that a picture of my face has already been circulated.”

Mei Li frowned. “I saw nothing unusual.”

“Is there an Internet café nearby?”

“I have Internet in my home.”

“No, I don't want them to track us here.”

“There is an Internet café at the end of the street near the phone store.”

“Good. I can kill two birds with one stone.”

She looked at him quizzically. “Why do you want to kill birds?”

“It's an American saying,” he said. “It means I can do two things at once.”

“Multitask,”
she said.

Welch laughed again. “Where did you learn that?”

“American television channel. That's where I learn most of my English slang words.”

Welch fumbled with his chopsticks and dropped one of the dumplings into the dish of soy sauce, spattering the brown liquid all over himself. Mei Li stifled a laugh. “Americans have more trouble with chopsticks than the Chinese language.”

“We have trouble with both,” Welch said.

She walked to his side. “I have a question. How are you to get out of Taiwan? If Hatch has reported you as a terrorist, you will not be able to use your passport or you will be caught.”

“I'm thinking I could charter a small plane or even a boat. It's only six hundred nautical miles to the Philippines.”

“I could find you a boat,” Mei Li said. “But then what will you do?”

“I need to get back to America.” He rubbed his chin. “I'm going to need inside help for that.”

“Who will help you? Who can you trust besides me?”

“There is no one besides you. I don't know anyone who isn't Elgen or who the Elgen know about.” He paused, then said, “Except Michael Vey.”

“Who is Michael Vey?”

“He's a Glow.”

“What is a glow?”

Her question reminded Welch of how little Mei Li actually knew about his world or the Elgen. “Michael Vey is part of a group who is fighting the Elgen.”

“You mean the terrorists who attacked the Starxource plant in Zuoying?”

“Yes.”

“They are bad people. You should not be with them. It is very dangerous.”

“They weren't trying to shut down the plant. They were trying to rescue a little girl we had kidnapped.”

Mei Li looked upset. “You kidnapped a little girl?”

“The Elgen did.”

“I do not understand.”

Welch leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. “I know. There is much you don't understand. It's better that way.” He held her for a moment, then said, “We don't have much time. The Elgen could already be on their way here. This morning I need you to get me money and phones.”

“You need more than one?”

“I'll need six. I'll go out with you.”

“Six phones? Why so many?”

“I can only use a phone once.”

“You can use a phone more than once. You can use it many times. It is not . . .
disposable
.”

“I'm saying, I should not use it more than once. The Elgen will be tracking all signals.”

“How much money will you need?”

“Fifty thousand dollars,” he said. “I'd take more, but that's already enough to raise attention.”

“Are you going to wear the dress again when you go outside?”

“The burka? No. Not today.”

“Then you should bathe. You smell like sweat.”

Welch laughed. “Sorry, when you're running for your life, personal hygiene takes a backseat.”

“Why a backseat?”

He waved his hand. “We'll go after I shower.”

*  *  *

Forty-five minutes later Welch and Mei Li emerged from the apartment to the street below. Even though Welch was wearing a baseball cap and dark sunglasses, he still didn't dare walk with Mei Li. He wasn't willing to risk having her seen with him. She was in enough danger just knowing him, and in Taiwan, a country with a large population but little land, the Elgen had eyes everywhere.

They walked about a hundred yards to the phone store at the end of the road she lived on. While Mei Li purchased the cell phones, Welch waited for her in the Internet café next door.

The first thing he did was pull up the website for the Meridian, Idaho, newspaper's advertising department. He jotted down notes on a napkin someone had left at his table. He was careful not to access anything Elgen, as that's how he had found several of the electrics, including Michael and Taylor.

An hour and a half later, Mei Li walked past the café window. She glanced at Welch as if she didn't know him, then started back to her apartment. He let her walk for a minute until she was well ahead of him, then logged out of the computer, folded the napkin into his pocket, and walked back himself.

Mei Li was waiting for him at the door to her apartment. “Do you really think they're watching us?”

He walked inside before he answered. “I don't know, but it's possible. It's not worth the risk. Did you get everything?”

“Yes, six phones.”

“And the money?”

“It took much time, but no problem.”

“Good.” He sat down at the kitchen table. “Do you have some writing paper?”

“Yes.” She retrieved a spiral-bound notebook, and Welch began sketching.

“Why is it so important to the Elgen to find you?” Mei Li asked.

“Because I know too much. I know everything. Most of all, I know Hatch. He won't rest until he has my head on a pike.”

“A pike is a fish?”

“It is, but that's not what I meant. A pike is also a stick with a sharp end.”

“I am sorry. Sometimes my English . . .”

“Your English is excellent,” Welch said quickly. “A lot better than my Chinese.”

“Thank you,” she said. She watched him continue his work. “What are you drawing?”

“An advertisement. Tonight I'll scan it and send it to the newspaper.”

Mei Li looked at him quizzically. “What are you advertising?”

“For someone to rescue me. I'm sending a secret message to the Electroclan. I just hope someone is paying attention.”

Hades Island (formerly Niutao), Tuvalu

T
orstyn was tossing back and forth on his bed when he heard the pneumatic hiss of the lock on his cell door. He had been trying, unsuccessfully, to sleep for more than four hours—anything to escape the horror he felt. Making sleep even more difficult was his uncomfortable paper-fabric jumpsuit that made rustling sounds as he rolled in bed. That and the fact that the lights in his cell were always on as the cameras panned back and forth, scanning every inch of the room.

The Hades cells were patterned after the Purgatory in the academy, with some of Hatch's own “improvements.” Worst of all, there was a flat-screen monitor built into the wall, and every fifteen minutes it would automatically turn on to a scene of the frenzied rats in the bowl ripping the flesh off some animal or human.

Torstyn knew the scene hadn't come from Tuvalu, as the rats were mostly being fed bulls or cows. On Tuvalu, like Taiwan, the rats were fed fish. Still, the video had the desired effect. The constant shrieks of the rats had broken him down emotionally until he could no longer eat, and he kept breaking out in uncontrolled fits of sobbing. Torstyn had tried to use his power to blow the screen, as well as the lights and cameras, but couldn't. He was powerless in this room. The cell had been designed for Glows.

*  *  *

He had no idea what time or day it was when the door opened and Hatch, escorted by two guards, walked into his cell.

“Stand up,” Hatch said sharply.

Torstyn looked at him coolly, without moving. Hatch had already ordered him to be fed to the rats, so he didn't have much more to fear. Or so he thought.

“Stand,” Hatch said. He pointed a handheld RESAT at Torstyn and pulled the trigger.

A powerful wave of pain shot through Torstyn's body, forcing him to gasp out.

“All right. You win. But I can't stand with that on.”

Hatch turned off the machine. “The next time you disobey an order, I'll leave it on until you beg to be fed to the rats. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Torstyn said, forcing himself to his feet.

As soon as he was standing, Hatch said, “Sit.”

Torstyn did his best not to show his anger as he fell back down onto his bed. One of the guards set a chair down next to Hatch. Hatch slid it forward, then sat down across from Torstyn, his legs slightly spread.

“Leave us,” Hatch said.

The guards turned and walked out. Now that Hatch was alone, Torstyn thought of physically attacking him but pushed the idea from his mind. Hatch held his RESAT with the trigger in hand. All he needed to do was flip his finger.

“So, you've had time to regret your decision,” Hatch said softly.

“Yes, sir,” he said eagerly. Was Hatch thinking of freeing him?

“Of course you're hoping that I have had a change of heart.”

You'd have to have a heart first.
“Yes, sir. I've learned my lesson.”

“Hope can be such a cruel thing,” Hatch said. “Camus was right. From Pandora's box, where all the ills of humanity swarmed, the Greeks drew out hope after all the others, as the most dreadful of all. . . .”

Torstyn just gazed at him, trying to decipher his meaning.

“Unfortunately, for you, at least, what is done is done.” A bizarre frown twisted Hatch's mouth, and his voice fell. “
You
are done. It's already been announced to the troops that there will be a public feeding with you as the main course. They've already started the betting pools—you know the ones, you've participated in them. They'll wager on exactly how long you'll live before your heart stops, or how long your screams will last. I understand there is some wider speculation about this contest. Outside of Vey, we've never attempted to feed an electric to the rats before. But Vey was special, wasn't he? Unfortunately, you don't have the same power that he does. Unfortunate for you, at least. I'm actually fine with it.”