Michael Vey 3 ~ Battle of the Ampere (31 page)

“No,” Jaime said. “Local fishing boats often return late at night.”

“There is one other factor to keep in mind,” Dodds said. “The weather. It’s expected to rain. As long as it doesn’t hamper Michael’s climbing, it could be to our advantage.”

“I’ve never climbed a wet surface,” I said.

“Kylee could do it,” McKenna said.

“How is the rain helpful?” Taylor asked.

“Cloud cover, no moon, poorer visibility,” Dodds replied. “And less chance that someone will be taking a leisurely walk on the deck.” He looked around. “Anything else?”

“Did you arrange for me to talk to my mother?” I asked.

Jaime and Dodds looked at each other. “I’m afraid that will not be possible,” Dodds said.

“Why?” I turned to Jaime. “You promised that I would be able to talk to her.”

“I’m sorry,” Jaime said. “But we have lost communication with the voice.”

“What?”

“You know that we were compromised,” Dodds said. “Things have taken another turn for the worse. Two days ago the Elgen discovered our agent on their boat. We must assume that they now know everything he knows, about the voice, the resistance, everything he knew.”

“Then they know about our plans!” Ostin exclaimed.

“Fortunately we had not yet told him what we were planning to do,” Dodds said. “We were waiting until we knew our exact timing
so we could warn him to leave the boat.”

“How did you learn this?” I asked.

“The voice contacted our associate in Bolivia,” Jaime said. “He drove through the night to tell us.”

I looked around at my friends. “So we’re really alone,” I said.

“We always were,” Taylor said.

“At least the day is perfect,” Jack said.

“Why do you say that?” Taylor asked.

“Thursday is Wade’s birthday.”

Dodds looked around at us all. “We’ll leave here at one forty-five a.m. Jaime and I will have everything prepared. I want you to stay up as late as you can tonight. Study the boat plans, party, just try to stay up until dawn. That way you’ll sleep all day and be fresh and ready to go at night.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard,” Ostin said. “Staying up all night.”

“Why is that?” I asked.

“It might be our last night to live.”

T
aylor and I lay on the front room couch talking until she fell asleep around nine in the morning. About a half hour after that I heard the garage door open. Jack walked into the front room. He was wet with sweat.

“Michael,” he whispered.

I got up without waking Taylor.

“What’s up?”

He motioned for me to follow him out to the garage. After he’d shut the door behind me, he said, “The plan doesn’t make sense.”

“You’re telling me now?” I said.

“Better now than never.”

“What part doesn’t make sense?”

“It doesn’t take five people to plant an explosive. Just one. If I could get on the boat, I’d do it myself. But I need your help to get on board.” He looked me in the eyes. “We don’t need everyone else.”

I wasn’t sure how to answer. “But we’re a team.”

“That’s no reason to risk their lives,” Jack said. “Think about it. What do we need Ostin for? We don’t need his brains, the plan is already set. He’ll just slow us down. Do you think he can even climb the rope?”

I didn’t answer. We both knew he was right.

“Or McKenna? Taylor might be helpful, but is it really worth risking her life? Are you okay with that?”

I frowned. “No.”

“I didn’t think so. So here’s the new plan. We turn off everyone’s alarms, meet Jaime outside, and tell him it’s just the two of us. You get me on the boat, help me score a key, then once I’m inside you get clear.”

“What if you’re stopped on the way to the engine room?”

“I blow it.”

I just looked at him.

“You heard the man, if the bomb’s inside, it’s going to take the ship down.”

“I can’t send you in there alone.”

“You’re not. I’m sending myself in there alone. What’s the difference? I’m going in there anyway.”

I shook my head. “I can’t let you do this.”

“Look, remember in the Starxource plant when you stayed inside and locked the pipe so none of us could go back for you? What was that, huh? It was a calculated risk. You did what you felt was right under the circumstance. And because of it, you saved your mother and the rest of us. And you even got out yourself.

“And what about when Zeus blew the water pipe, knowing it would kill him? This is no different. All I’m asking is that you let me do the same thing.”

I shook my head. “Jack, I know you think that Wade’s death was your fault. . . .”

“This has nothing to do with Wade’s death,” he said. “It has to do with your life and everyone else’s. I’m expendable, dude.”

“No, you’re not. Not to me.”

“I know. Because you’re my friend. And you’re a good friend. So let me do this, Michael. Let me do this one good thing. You made that choice in the Starxource plant. Let me make that choice too.”

I looked down a moment then said, “I don’t like it.”

“But you know I’m right,” he said.

I breathed out slowly. Finally I said, “Okay. We’ll do it your way.”

“Thank you, Michael. It’s the right thing.”

“I hope so,” I said.

“It is,” Jack said.
“Semper Fi.”

I just looked at him sadly. What he didn’t know was that I had no intention of leaving him alone on the boat.
“Semper Fi,”
I said.
“Semper Fi.”

A
few minutes later I crept into Ostin’s room. He and McKenna were asleep next to each other. I turned off their alarm. Then I went back out to the couch and lay down next to Taylor. I couldn’t sleep. For nearly an hour I just looked at her.

My heart ached. I didn’t regret agreeing to Jack’s plan—I would never regret saving Taylor’s life. I just knew how slim the chances were that I would see her again. My world had changed in the last year in no small part due to Taylor. Having someone care about me and believe in me like she did was as much a power as my electricity was. I thought of writing her a note, but I really didn’t know where to begin. Instead, I just cuddled up next to her. It was probably close to noon when I fell asleep.

*

Jack woke me. It was dark again. I looked up and he put his finger over his mouth. I lifted Taylor’s arm from me, then slowly rolled
off the couch to my knees. I paused to look at her one last time. I wondered if I would ever see that beautiful face again. I pushed the thought from my mind.
At least I can guarantee that she will see her home again,
I told myself.

The villa was dark and quiet as I walked out the front door and shut it behind me. Jack was leaning against the porch wall. It was overcast, as Dodds had said it might be, and there were no stars or moon visible.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“One thirty. They’ll be here any minute.” He looked at me. “You ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be. You?”

“I’m ready.”

A few minutes later the lights of the van appeared at the end of the driveway. “Let’s stop them before they get close enough to wake anybody,” Jack said, walking toward the light. We met the van partway down the lane. Jaime was driving and he stopped the van next to us. Jack slid open the door and we both got in.

“Where’s everyone else?” Dodds asked.

“It’s just us,” Jack said.

“That’s not the plan,” Dodds said.

“This is a better plan,” I said. “Two can do it. The others will just get in the way.”

“Everyone agreed to this?” Dodds asked.

“We don’t have time to argue,” Jack said. “Let’s go.”

Dodds looked upset but relented. “All right, it’s your plan. Let’s go.”

Jaime started to put the van into gear then stopped.

Dodds looked back at us. “Where’s everyone else?”

“We just told you,” Jack said.

He squinted. “What are you talking about?”

“It’s just the two of us,” I said. “Come on, let’s go.”

Again, Jaime started to pull the van forward, then stopped.

Dodds turned back. “Where’s everyone else?”

Jack scowled. “What the . . .”

“It’s Taylor,” I said.

I looked out the window to see Taylor storming down the driveway. When she got to the van she threw open the door. “Really? After all we talked about, you still tried to go without me?”

“I just . . .”

“Lied? Conspired?”

“He was just trying to protect you,” Jack said.

“You zip it,” Taylor said. “I already know this was your idea.”

She spun back at me. “Really? This is trust?”

“I’m sorry I tried to leave you out. But I’m not sorry.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means he loves you,” Jack said.

“I said zip it,” Taylor said.

“It means I love you,” I said.

“And that’s why we stay together. We’re not just a couple, Michael, we’re the Electroclan—at least what’s left of it—and that means we stick together through good and bad times. We’ve gotten this far because we’ve stuck together. I know you were trying to protect me, but I didn’t ask to be protected. I asked to be with you.”

“I thought it was the right thing,” I said.

“I know, and part of me loves that you did this. But the right thing is us working together. All of us.” She turned to Jack. “And that means you, too. You don’t have to prove you’re a hero. You’ve proven that so many times I’ve lost count. We all admire and love you, just like Wade did. Don’t take that away from us. Please.”

Jack looked stunned. Then his eyes welled up with tears.

“All right,” I said. “Let’s go wake Ostin and McKenna.”

N
one of us told Ostin and McKenna that we’d tried to leave them behind, and Ostin spent half the drive trying to figure out why his alarm clock hadn’t gone off. After just twenty minutes the van pulled off the coastal highway and headed down a long sloped road toward the wide dark bay. As we neared the water, the ships seemed to grow in their immensity, rising before us like great floating mountains. There were lights on the Elgen boats and loading dock, assuring us that they weren’t asleep.

As Jaime drove, Dodds turned around to face us. He held up a square, plastic object with a keypad and a digital screen. “This is the explosive’s timer. It connects to the detonator in the pack. Once you punch in the code the explosive is activated and cannot be turned off.”

“What’s the code?” I asked.

“Seventeen, seventeen.”

“Just like the radio frequency,” I said.

“Remember, once you punch in the code, it cannot be turned off. So do not activate it until you are ready to commit. To set the timer you can either punch in the number of minutes on the keypad or simply push this black button. Each time you push it, it will advance the timer one minute, up to two hours. Like the activation button, once it is set it cannot be changed. So be sure to give yourself plenty of time to get off the boat. But remember, the more time you allow, the more time they have to find the bomb and dispose of it.”

He handed me a small black tube similar to the one Jaime used to set off his gun sentry. “As you leave the boat, push this button. It will alert us that you are on your way. The raft you will be using has a motor, but do not use it until you are leaving, otherwise they’ll hear you. After you’re off the ship, head straight out to the open sea. We will be watching for you with night-vision binoculars and will pick you up in a speedboat. Any questions so far?”