فصل 10

chapter-10 staying invisible

Kaohsiung, Taiwan EGG Welch’s Escape

Welch and the brig’s guards were in a cab in the bustling center of downtown Kaohsiung, Taiwan, just three city blocks from the docked Faraday, when Tara’s power wore off. Suddenly Welch looked like himself instead of the Taiwanese prisoner the guards thought they were escorting off the ship. The guard in the backseat with Welch was the first to notice.

“What the . . .”

Quentin had disarmed the guards before they left the boat, and Welch, who was waiting for the moment, lifted the guard’s own gun on him. “Not who you expected?” The guard looked at him in fear. “EGG Welch.”

The guard in the front turned back, his eyes wide with surprise. “No. It’s impossible.” “Enigmatic, perhaps, but clearly not impossible. Unfortunately, you’ve just aided the escape of Admiral-General Hatch’s most prized prisoner. He’s going to be so unhappy with you. I would wager good money that it’s the rat bowl for both of you.” The guard next to Welch stammered, “But—but—we didn’t know it was you.” “Come now, man. You really think that will matter to Hatch?” The guards knew the answer.

“What are you going to do with us?” the backseat guard asked.

“Nothing,” Welch said. “It’s catch and release. You’re no use to me now. In a few minutes I’ll let one of you off; then I’ll let the other one of you off a few miles later. Now empty your pockets. Give me all the money you have. Hurry.” The men pulled out their money and handed it to Welch. In all it was less than two thousand yuan, not as much as Welch hoped or needed, certainly not enough to get him out of the country.

Welch stuffed the guards’ money into his shirt pocket. “Sye, sye.” “How do you know that we won’t just turn you in to the Elgen?” the guard in front asked.

Welch shook his head. “Are you trying to convince me to just shoot you now?” The man blanched. “No, sir.”

“I’m probably giving you too much credit, but you won’t turn me in because you’re not that stupid. It would be a death warrant for either of you. Hatch is merciless. He never forgets and he never forgives. You broke three Elgen protocols in my escape, and now you’re guilty of aiding an Elgen fugitive. Hoping for mercy from the admiral-general would be like waiting at a bus stop for an airplane. No matter your excuse, you’ll be executed. Shot if you’re lucky, but most likely fed to the rats, since that amuses him.” The guards were speechless. They knew Welch was right.

“And in case you’re not as smart as I give you credit for and you’re still thinking of taking a chance on turning me in, Quentin is waiting for you. He’s already reported you as accomplices in my escape, so you’ll be shot on sight, but if for some reason you’re not, Torstyn will see to it that you never speak. He can fry your brains from a hundred yards out. Don’t forget, his life is on the line too. Trust me, there’s no going back. You’d better hide.” “Where?”

Welch’s brow furrowed. “You ask me where? Do I have to do your thinking for you? This is one of the most populated cities in the world. Blend in.” “But we don’t look Chinese,” the front-seat guard said.

“And I don’t speak Chinese,” the other added.

“Wear a disguise,” Welch said. “And how hard can it be to speak Chinese? Little children speak it.” “Where are you going?” the front-seat guard asked.

“If I told you that, I’d have to kill you.”

“Let us come with you.”

Welch shook his head. “No. Three Americans will stand out too much. Besides, it’s only a matter of time before the temptation for one of you to turn me in would be too great.” Welch leaned forward. “Syan sheng, ching ni ting yi sya dzai nei byan.” “Hau, hau,” the driver said, his words sounding a little like laughter.

Welch turned to the guard at his side. “This is your stop. You have a new FOD; your mission is to survive. Because if the Elgen find you, they’ll kill you.” The cab pulled up to the curb in front of a busy sidewalk before the crowded corridors of an open market. Welch leveled the gun at the driver. “And if I see you again, I’ll kill you.” The guard looked at him, then opened the door. The pungent smell of roasting tofu from a nearby food cart filled the air. “Get out.” “All right, all right.” The guard climbed out of the car, looked both ways, then ran off into the thick of the market, quickly vanishing into the bustling crowds.

Welch reached over and pulled the door shut. “Women dzou ba,” he said to the driver.

“Dzai nali?”

“Jeng dzou.”

The driver pulled away from the curb and back into the traffic like a fish thrown back into a slow-moving stream.

“What about me?” the other guard asked.

“A few more miles, then I’ll let you off.”

The man’s head fell into his hands.

Welch said, “Don’t worry too much about your predicament. It was probably only a matter of time before you were found guilty of something and Hatch had you executed. This way you at least have a fighting chance.” About fifteen minutes later Welch ordered the cab to stop again. They were near the wide, open ground of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial.

The guard made one last appeal. “It’s just the two of us now. We could protect each other.” “No,” Welch said. “It doesn’t work that way. Now get out. And shut the door behind you.” The guard unlatched the door, then climbed out. He furtively glanced back at Welch, hoping for a last-minute reprieve, then, not getting it, slammed the door shut, turned, and ran.

“Take me to the train station,” Welch told the driver. “Hwo che jan, chyu.” The driver again pulled out into traffic. A few minutes later Welch changed his mind, scolding himself for his carelessness. The train station was the last place he should go, unless he wanted to be found.

No one knew the Elgen’s routine of hunting AWOL guards better than Welch. As captain of the guard for more than fifteen years, he had led the majority of the Elgen’s manhunts, capturing seventy-six of seventy-seven guards, a 98 percent success rate. All but one of the captured guards was executed.

Welch knew exactly what procedures the Elgen would follow. With luck, he figured that he had about five or six hours before he would be discovered missing. That’s how much longer it would be before the changing of the Faraday’s guards.

Once Welch’s absence was confirmed, Hatch would be informed and the EGGs would take over, unleashing everything in their arsenal. In addition to the Elgen guards and the elite Lung Li, the Taiwanese army and police would be looking for him as well.

Using advanced face-recognition software, they would meticulously search through every camera they could access, but especially those at the airports and train stations, where they’d suspect he’d go. They would find him. They would track down his ticket and his destination. For now he was still invisible. He intended to stay that way.

“Deng yi sya!” Welch said. Wait a minute. He needed a moment to think. As they parked at the curb, he watched two Muslim women passing them on the sidewalk, their heads covered in burkas. That’s the ticket, he thought. He told the driver to take him to the Kaohsiung Lingya district, the Muslim section of the city.

Across the street from the Lingya mosque was a store with Muslim clothing. Welch purchased the largest burka he could find, then ducked into an alley and put it on. The garment wasn’t as long as he needed, falling only to his ankles, but he doubted that the Elgen would notice. He walked back out to a busy street and hailed a new cab for the train station.

In his new disguise, Welch purchased a ticket for the small, southern town of Kangshan. He knew a woman there. Her name was Mei Li, which, in Chinese, means “beautiful.” He thought that the name fit. He had met Mei Li when she was working as a waitress at the officers’ lounge at the Dzwo Ying Starxource plant. When she was a child, Mei Li’s parents had been Christian missionaries in Australia, so she had learned English, though through the years she had forgotten some of it.

There were three things the Elgen EGGs were strictly prohibited from: first, they could not belong to a religion; second, they could not contact their families; and third, they could not marry or even date. Welch had no trouble with the first two rules but failed the third. He had fallen in love with Mei Li. They started a secret romantic relationship. As their love deepened, Welch diverted a large sum of money to her—more than 6.5 million yuan, nearly one million American dollars—with the plan of someday running off together.

Welch was careful that they were never seen together, and after Mei Li left the Elgen’s employ, Welch erased all record of her employment. As far as the Elgen were concerned, she had never existed. No one, not even Hatch, could trace him to her.

The train ride to Kangshan was less than an hour from the Kaohsiung station. Welch disembarked with a dozen other passengers, then walked outside the small, open-air station, slightly stooped in his burka and shuffling his feet as he walked.

It took him nearly a half hour to hail a taxi, and it was dark when it let him off three blocks from Mei Li’s apartment. He gave the driver most of the money he had left.

He waited a half hour until there was no one in sight; then he climbed the stairs to a second-floor apartment and rang the doorbell. After a moment a feminine voice answered from behind the door. “Wei?” “Mei Li, it’s me. David.”

“My David!” she exclaimed. “My love.” She slid back the security chain and threw open the door. “I thought you were—” She froze. “Why are you wearing this . . . ?” Without answering, he quickly stepped inside her apartment, shutting the door behind them. Mei Li was in the middle of fixing dinner, and the home smelled of curry and incense. With his hand on his gun, Welch cautiously examined the apartment. “Are you alone?” “Yes.” She looked at him quizzically. “What is happening?” “I’ve left the Elgen.” He took off the burka, revealing his face and sweat-stained clothing. “I’m being hunted. I need a place to stay for the night. You’re the only one I can trust.” Mei Li looked at him anxiously, then embraced him. “Of course you can stay here.” After a moment she looked into his eyes. “Why are you being hunted?” “I was arrested by Admiral-General Hatch. He condemned me to death.” She gasped. “Death? For what reason?”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ve missed you so much.” Welch pulled her in tighter and they kissed. After a moment Welch stepped back. “What am I doing? I never should have come here. I’ve put you in danger.” “You came to the right place. I can help.”

“No, I never should have involved you.”

“I would not feel loved by you if you had not involved me. Especially if you had gone away without telling me. Tell me now, what do you need?” Welch breathed out slowly. “I need help getting out of Taiwan. I need some of our money and a phone. A few of them.” “You can use my phone.”

“No, they’ll find you. I need for you to get me some prepaid phones.” “The stores are closed now. So is the bank.”

“We can get everything in the morning. I’ll leave tomorrow afternoon.” “Wherever you go, I will go with you.”

Welch shook his head. “It’s much too dangerous. The sooner we’re apart, the better.” She sighed. “That would not be better. I would rather die than not see you again.” Welch kissed her forehead. “I’d rather neither of us die. After I’m safe, I’ll send for you. Then we can be together.” “Then for now you will stay with me and I will be happy. Are you hungry?” “I’m starving,” he said. “I don’t remember the last time I ate real food. In the brig they only serve Rabisk.” “What is Rabisk?”

“It’s made from dead rats.”

She shuddered. “Come eat.”

Welch chained and bolted the door, then followed Mei Li across the room to the kitchen. The apartment had stone tile floors and an icon mounted to the wall, with a gold-framed picture of Mei Li’s deceased parents between sticks of burning incense.

In the kitchen he sat down at the small table.

“I have made curry rice.” She brought him a plate piled high with sticky rice covered with a yellow sauce and chunks of chicken meat and green pepper. Then she got a plate for herself and sat down across from him at the table. She let him eat for a moment, then asked, “Do you know where you will go from here?” He finished chewing, then said, “No. But I wouldn’t tell you if I did. It’s too dangerous for you.” “I have a cousin who lives near Changhua. He owns a farm in the country. He cannot speak. What is that word?” “He is mute.”

“Yes. Mute. You can go there. They will never find you there. It is remote.” He shook his head. “I’ll stand out too much in a country town.” “Not if you wear that clothing. Besides, the village people keep their own stories. It is their way. You can stay there while you make your plans to leave Taiwan.” Too tired to think of a better plan, Welch said, “All right. I’ll consider it.” For the next few minutes he ate ravenously as Mei Li watched him, barely picking at her own meal. Then she said, “A week ago there was a story in the newspaper about the Starxource plant and the Elgen. The reporter wrote that in other countries the Elgen had grown so powerful, they had taken control of the government. Is that true?” Welch looked up from his dinner and nodded. “Yes.” “Do they plan to take control of Taiwan’s government?” “They plan to take control of the whole world.”

She looked upset. “Two days ago the newspaper building was . . . explosion. Twelve people were killed. Did the Elgen do that?” “Probably,” Welch said. “It wouldn’t be the first time we . . .” He stopped himself. “. . . the Elgen has terrorized the media.” Mei Li quietly returned to her dinner. A few minutes later she asked, “If they find you, what will they do?” “They will kill me. I don’t think that they will bother to capture me alive.” “Then they must not find you.”

“Not if I can help it.”

“Is there anyone, besides me, who will help you?” Welch finished his meal, then pushed his plate away. “Maybe.” He looked at her full plate. “You didn’t eat much.” “I’m not hungry. What else can I get you to eat?” “Nothing. I just need to sleep.”

“Yes, let’s sleep.”

Welch first went into Mei Li’s bedroom and stacked pillows under the sheets so it looked as if someone was in the bed; then he led her to the back room. The bed was small but sufficient. He laid his gun under his pillow, then got in bed.

Mei Li climbed into the bed next to him, laying her head on his chest. She started to cry. “This could be our last night.” Welch kissed her forehead. “Not if I can help it.” * * *

As tired as he was, he didn’t sleep well. He expected the Elgen to attack at any time, and he woke to every sound he heard, then stayed up, listening to the pattern of cars driving by, barking dogs, even the sound of Mei Li’s breathing. He had trained the men looking for him in how to track down a fugitive. He now wished that he hadn’t done such a good job.

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.”