فصل 34

Chapter 34: Another Unexpected Visitor

That night I couldn’t sleep. The room they gave me was locked, which my father apologized for. “Corporate protocol,” he called it. He explained that since the plant was a federal facility and a national security risk there were federal regulations that not even he or Hatch could waive. “Stupid bureaucrats,” he grumbled, shaking his head. “Every country has them. Until you are certified as a non–security risk you cannot have free access to the plant.” From a comfort level, my room was nice. It had a cupboard stocked with snacks and a small refrigerator with all kinds of drinks, both Chinese and American. There was a television with a library of DVDs, and the bed was soft with fresh-smelling silk sheets. But comfortable or not, it was still a prison, and I knew that I was being watched. In one corner of the room there was the constant blinking of a camera’s red LED.

I asked my father where Taylor and the others were. He assured me that they were being kept in rooms as nice as mine, but when I asked to see them he apologized again and said he would have to get approval, which might take a few days. I couldn’t understand why seeing my friends would pose a national security risk, but he just said, “I know it sounds ridiculous. Trust me, it is. But that’s Chinese bureaucracy for you.” In spite of my father’s assurances, I still had an ocean of questions. Hatch had fired a gun at me at the academy. He certainly wasn’t faking that bullet that Zeus had shot out of the air. Or what about when he tried to feed me to the rats? It wasn’t adding up. Maybe my father had been deceived. Maybe Hatch wasn’t really who my father thought he was.

Soft as my bed was, I tossed and turned for several hours. In the middle of the night I heard a key in my door. I looked over as my heart pounded wildly. Who would be coming into my room at this hour? Maybe my father was breaking the rules after all. As the door slowly opened I noticed that the light on the surveillance camera went out.

“Michael.”

Contrasted against the radiance from the corridor’s dim lighting, I could see the partial silhouette of a form standing in the doorway. When my eyes adjusted I couldn’t believe who it was. It was the only Glow who didn’t glow.