Hunt for Jade Dragon

by Richard Paul Evans

  “Can you hear me?” Ben asked.

  “Yes. Can you hear me?”

  “Yes. We are signaling the coast guard now.”

  I turned to Ian. “Any activity at the plant?”

  “Some,” he said. “There are trucks and soldiers gathering near the side exit.” He shook his head. “Man, we made a mess of that place. It looks like it was hit by a hurricane.”

  “Hurricane Electroclan,” McKenna said softly.

  “Can you see a transport boat?” I asked.

  “No. The only boat I can see is one of the fishing boats.”

  “Let’s go,” I said.

  “Wait,” Ostin said. He opened the glove compartment and brought out a pair of binoculars. “We’ll need these.”

  Ian looked around again to make sure no one was watching, then we all climbed out of the van into the dark street. We followed the same path that we had before, creeping along the tree-lined shore. We sat down under the trees, looking out over the moonlit harbor. “There she is,” Ian said. “You might be able to see her; she’s out there.” He pointed nearly directly west out to sea. Through the fog I could see the Volta’s faint silhouette. The waves had suddenly kicked up and she was pitching a little.

  “That’s not good,” Ian said.

  “What?”

  “It looks like they’ve rearmed her. She’s got serious firepower.”

  Ostin looked out through his binoculars. “They’ve installed M134 Miniguns. Those bad boys can fire four thousand rounds per minute.”

  “How far can they shoot?” I asked.

  “As far as they want,” he said. “They’re usually mounted to helicopters.”

  I thought of Taylor and my stomach churned. “Let’s just hope they think we’re the coast guard.”

  “Speaking of which,” Ian said, “there goes the coast guard boat.”

  A moment later a twenty-four-foot patroller sped out of the coast guard pier.

  “Can you see our boat?” I asked.

  “No,” Ostin said.

  “They’re about four miles out,” Ian said.

  I was on edge. “Just tell me what you see.”

  About ten minutes later Ian said, “The coast guard is there.”

  We sat quietly. There was a flash of light.

  “What was that?”

  “Something must have gone wrong. Zeus fired on them.”

  My jaw was ticking. “Now what?” I asked.

  “They’re bringing their boat alongside the coast guard’s.” Another few minutes passed before Ian said, “They’ve got the coast guard’s boat. They’re driving away.”

  Our radio crackled. “This is Ben. We have the boat.”

  “Did everything go okay?”

  “Mostly,” he said. “What is our status?”

  “The Elgen are preparing to transport. We’ll tell you when they leave the plant.”

  “Okay,” Ben said. “Good-bye.”

  We sat quietly in the dark for another half hour, watching the plant. “This is taking forever,” Ostin said from behind his binoculars. “It’s like watching grass grow.”

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure. But they now have three different trucks.” He looked at me. “It’s one girl. Why do they need three trucks?”

  Suddenly we heard the sound of boat motors coming toward us. “What’s that?” I asked.

  Ian said, “Speedboats.” He paused. “With really big guns.”

  “How many?”

  “Three.”

  I looked at him. “Three boats? Why would they have three?”

  “They’re running three boats so we don’t know which boat she’s on,” Ostin said. “That’s why they also have three trucks.”

  We moved farther back into the darkness of the trees as the boats sped by within fifty yards of the shore. It only took them a few minutes to reach the Starxource plant. They pulled back on their throttles and idled about a hundred yards from the dock.

  “Where’s our boat?” I asked.

  “It’s about two miles out,” Ian said. “Behind the Volta.”

  “How are we going to stop all three boats?” McKenna asked.

  “We can’t,” I said. “We better let them know what’s going on.” I lifted my radio. “Ben, this is Michael.”

  “I am here.”

  “We’ve got a problem. They have three boats.”

  “Three?”

  “Yes. And they’re speedboats. You’re going to have to come closer than we planned.”

  “Okay,” he said.

  “No one’s moving,” Ostin said. “Makes you wonder what they’re waiting for.”

  There was suddenly a staccato series of light flashes coming from the Volta.

  “Interesting,” Ostin said. “They must be afraid that we’ll intercept their radio signals so they’re using light signals.”

  “Anyone can see those,” I said.

  “I know. But no one knows Morse code anymore.”

  “Do you?” I asked.

  “Of course,” he said. “I knew Morse code by the time I was five.”

  He watched for a moment, then said, “Someone read what I spell out . . . a-d-y-f-o-r-r-e-c-e-p-t-i-o-n-o-f-p-a-c-k-a-g-e.”

  “Ady, for reception of package,” McKenna said.

  “Ready for reception of package,” I said, looking at Ostin. “They must mean Jade Dragon.”

  The three boats suddenly powered to the Elgen dock. They tied up on the near side of the fishing boat.

  “This isn’t going to be as easy as we thought it would be,” Ostin said.

  “Who thought this was going to be easy?” I said.

  “How are we going to stop all three boats?” McKenna repeated.

  “We don’t have to,” Ostin said. “There’s only one girl. Ian can tell us which one she’s on.”

  “The trucks are moving,” Ian said.

  I looked at Ian. “Which truck is she in?”

  He looked for a moment, then said, “The first one. Wait.” He turned to me. “I don’t believe it.”

  “What?”

  “There’s one on every truck.”

  I looked at him quizzically. “One what?”

  “Girl. I don’t know which one she is.”

  “They knew you would be watching,” I said. “They outsmarted us.”

  The radio crackled. “Hey, Michael, it’s Zeus. Ben said there are three boats. Is that right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Which one is Jade Dragon on?”

  “We don’t know,” I said.

  “They’re loading the girls onto the speedboats,” Ian said.

  “There’s a girl on each of the boats. They have three girls,” I said.

  “Three girls?”

  “It’s a decoy.”

  “What do we do?” Zeus asked.

  “Give me a second,” I said.

  “That’s about all we have,” Ian said. “They’re untying.”

  Taylor came on. “Should we take a chance on one of them? A one-out-of-three chance is better than nothing.”

  “It’s too dangerous. The other speedboats are armed,” I said. “Between them and the Volta they’ll blow you out of the water.”

  Zeus came back on. “Michael, we keep getting radio calls from the coast guard. We can’t hold out much longer. Do we go or abort?”

  “Give me a second,” I said again. I looked back at Ostin, who was silently looking through his binoculars at the dock. “Dude, what are you looking at?”

  “That fishing boat,” he said calmly.

  “We’re a little busy for that right now. Come on, we need your help.”

  Ostin was unaffected by my panic. “He’s been there too long.” He rubbed his chin. “And he’s not unloading fish.” Ostin looked over at me. “I know which speedboat she’s on.”

  “Which one?” I asked.

  “None of them,” he said. “It’s a shell game. The Lung Li are about deception. The three boats
are the shells; the fishing boat is the magician’s hand. As soon as the other boats leave, they’ll load Jade Dragon onto the fishing boat and transport her to the Volta.”

  “A shell game?”

  “Just like in the night market.”

  “But the speedboats are faster and armed.”

  “Exactly. They’re there as decoys. If we don’t fall for it, they’ll return and protect the fishing boat.”

  The first of the three speedboats left the dock.

  “I hope you’re right,” I said. “Because this will be over soon.”

  “Look,” Ostin said. “The fishing boat is unmooring.”

  “Can you see anyone on board the fishing boat?” I asked Ian.

  “I see five guards.” He looked at me and smiled. “And three Glows.”

  “I told you,” Ostin said.

  “We’ve got them,” I said. “Hatch wouldn’t send his Glows out fishing at three in the morning.”

  I lifted the radio. “This is Michael, can you hear me?”

  “This is Zeus.”

  “Jade Dragon isn’t on any of the speedboats. She’s on the fishing boat.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. And there are Glows on board. Tell Nichelle to be ready. And be careful, the speedboats are armed. As soon as they know you’re not the coast guard, they’ll attack.”

  “Got it.”

  “There she goes,” Ian said. “The fishing boat is pushing out.”

  “On our way,” Zeus said.

  “I have an idea,” Ostin said. “I’m going to send the Volta a message.”

  “How?”

  “With McKenna,” he said. He turned to her. “I need you to flash your hand. If I say ‘dash,’ hold the light for about one second; when I say ‘dot,’ just flash quickly. Ready?”

  McKenna nodded. “Yes.”

  “First letter. Dot, dot, dash.”

  “Just one letter?” I asked.

  “U is an abbreviation for danger,” Ostin said, his gaze fixed on the boat. There was a sudden flash back. “They got the message. Okay, here we go.” Ostin began rattling off a series of dots and dashes staggered with occasional pauses.

  After he finished I asked, “What did you say?”

  “I said they’re under attack and to defend themselves against the three boats.”

  Suddenly the sound of the Volta’s machine guns filled the air. The first speedboat burst into flames. People began jumping overboard.

  “Freaking genius,” I said.

  “They’ve hit the second speedboat,” Ian said.

  “I’m totally going to kiss you on the lips when this is over,” McKenna said to Ostin.

  Ostin pumped his fist.

  “And there goes the third,” Ian said.

  “And there we are,” Ostin said, looking through his binoculars.

  Our coast guard boat appeared through the haze about a hundred yards north of the Volta, headed straight for the fishing boat.

  We heard the sound of Ben speaking over the boat’s PA system, and the fishing boat slowed as the coast guard boat pulled up to its side. There were at least a half dozen flashes of electricity.

  “Zeus just took out the guards,” Ian said. Then a large smile crossed his face. “Jack has Jade Dragon. They’re back on board.”

  The nose of the coast guard boat rose as it sped north up the coast

  “They’re going in the wrong direction,” McKenna said.

  Ostin lowered his binoculars. “They’re putting distance between them and the Volta’s guns. They’ll head out to sea, then turn south and head to our dock.”

  “Let’s go get them,” I said.

  * * *

  McKenna drove the van as close to the dock as she could, climbing the curb onto a dirt landing less than thirty yards from the water.

  “Keep it running,” I said. We opened all the doors. “Where are they?”

  “They’re coming,” Ian said.

  It was only a few more minutes before the rest of us saw the boat powering full speed into shore.

  “He’s got to slow down,” McKenna said.

  “I don’t think he’s going to use the dock,” Ostin said.

  Ben slowed just slightly before grounding the boat completely up on the shore. Everyone jumped off the port side of the boat and sprinted toward us. Jack was carrying a little Chinese girl. We had rescued Jade Dragon.

  “You drive!” McKenna shouted to Ben as he reached the van.

  Everyone piled in, more panicked than celebratory. We had no idea how close the Elgen were, but knowing them, they weren’t far.

  I slid the side door shut, then jumped into the front passenger seat. “Go, go, go!”

  Ben hit the gas and the van fishtailed a little on the dirt and bounced over the curb, sending up a spray of sparks as he scraped the front of the van on the asphalt. The streets were still vacant, and Ben sped at least eighty miles an hour toward the freeway. The freeway had traffic, and only when we had merged in with the other cars did I breathe out a sigh of relief.

  “See anyone following us?” I asked Ian.

  “No.”

  I looked at Taylor, who held Jade Dragon on her lap. It was hard to believe that such a little girl could generate so much commotion.

  “Hi,” I said to her. She didn’t look at me.

  “She thinks you’re nice,” Taylor said.

  “How do you know that?”

  Taylor cocked her head.

  “Sorry,” I said. I looked at Ben. “What are we going to do about those coast guard sailors still in our boat?”

  “Do not worry,” he said. “They will find them.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Back to the safe house.”

  No one spoke for a moment, then Zeus said, “Does anyone know why the Volta blew up her own boats?”

  As we drove farther from the plant, the fear-borne adrenaline that had pumped through our bodies dissipated, replaced by an equally potent measure of exhaustion. Ostin even gave the phenomenon a name before falling asleep: postmission fatigue.

  As we entered Kaohsiung only Ben, Jack, Taylor, and I were still awake, and Ben looked as if he might doze off at the wheel. Taylor’s eyes were heavy but fixed on the child she cradled in her arms.

  “What’s the plan now?” I asked Ben.

  Ben unsuccessfully attempted to avert a yawn. “This afternoon I will drive Jade Dragon to the Taitung airport.”

  “That soon?” Taylor said.

  “The more soon the better,” he said. “The plane will be waiting. I will go after I sleep. I am too tired to drive now.”

  “I can help drive,” Jack said.

  “No,” Ben said. “Only me and Jade Dragon will go. The police and army and Elgen spies will be looking for Americans. There may be road stops.”

  “Roadblocks,” I said, immediately scolding myself for correcting his English. “Are they flying her back to China?”

  “No, they fly to America.”

  “What about her parents?” Taylor asked.

  “The Lung Li kill her parents.”

  Taylor gasped. I figured that if Taylor didn’t know they had been killed, Jade Dragon must not have known either. My stomach knotted as I glanced at Taylor, then back at Ben. “Where will she go? The ranch?”

  “No,” Ben said. “Someplace secret where they will find a family for her.”

  Taylor looked down at the sleeping child in her arms. “You poor sweet thing,” she said softly. She looked up. “My parents would take her. I was adopted.”

  “Your home would not be safe,” Ben said.

  “I know.” Taylor gently brushed her finger over Jade Dragon’s cheek. I noticed that her eyes were welling up with tears. “I wish I could keep you, sweetheart.”

  * * *

  We arrived at the warehouse as the sun peeked out over the horizon, illuminating the grounds in a pink-golden hue. I unlocked the gate and Ben pulled in past the fence, then into the warehouse. Once insi
de, we woke everyone.

  “Do we need a lookout?” I asked, wondering if it was even possible.

  “I think we are all too tired,” Ben said. “I will set the alarms. We all should sleep now. We will soon have more to do.”

  As we climbed out of the van, Ben walked over to the garage door and manually slid a bolt through its track, then pushed some buttons on a metal control pad on the wall.

  Following Taylor, I carried Jade Dragon up to the women’s sleeping quarters.

  “Lay her next to me,” Taylor said, pushing two cots together. I laid Jade Dragon down on the bed, then Taylor lay down next to her. She gently kissed her forehead, then looked up at me and whispered, “Isn’t she beautiful?”

  I nodded. I was amazed at the bond the two of them had created in such a short time. I didn’t know exactly what had happened between them, but whatever it was, it was probably too profound for someone who had never entered someone else’s mind to understand—especially a mind as unique as Jade Dragon’s. After a few minutes I said, “I’m going to get some sleep. Do you need anything?”

  “No,” she said. “Thank you.”

  “Sleep well.”

  As I turned to go she said, “Michael.” I turned back around. Taylor was smiling. “We got her. Just like you said we would.”

  I smiled back. “Yeah, we did.”

  * * *

  After leaving the room, I stopped in the kitchen for a cup of water, then went to the men’s sleeping quarters. The room was dark with the lights out and the blinds drawn. The only illumination was the faint glow of Ian’s and Zeus’s skin. As far as I could tell everyone was already asleep except for Jack, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor next to his cot, half-concealed in shadow. His chin was up as if he was meditating. I lay down on the cot next to him.

  Without looking at me he said, “What a rush.”

  “That’s for sure.”

  He was quiet for a moment, then, still looking forward, said softly, “Wade would have liked Taiwan.” One corner of his mouth rose in an amused half smile. “He would have wanted to learn how they make those dumplings we had.” He looked up at me. “Did you know that he wanted to be a chef?”

  “No.”

  “He was always afraid someone might find out. Sometimes I’d catch him watching those cooking shows on the Food Network. I used to make fun of him.” His smile fell. “I wish I hadn’t.”