فصل 10

Chapter 10: Billy Ray

On the way into the town of Bisbee, we passed a massive, terraced, open-pit copper mine several hundred feet deep. The town itself was beautiful, built in the lap of a mountain, with buildings climbing higher and higher up the foothills until the mountain’s incline allowed no more.

The town had started to die after the mine closed in the seventies, then hippies found it and made it thrive again. Because it was a copper town, many of the buildings’ roofs were covered with copper paneling and shingles. Copper is a powerful conductor of electricity, which may have had something to do with why I felt so different in the city. Stronger. More electric. As if I needed that.

When we reached downtown Bisbee, Scott followed the local road signs to Copper Queen hospital. We pulled up to the ER and parked the van; then Scott ran inside while Jack opened the back door and he and Abigail got out. Less than a minute later Scott returned followed by a doctor and two aides pushing a metal gurney.

“What happened?” the doctor asked.

“We think there was an explosion,” Scott said.

“What do you mean, you ‘think’?” the doctor said curtly. “Either there was or wasn’t one.” “We weren’t there,” Scott said. “We found him by the side of the road.” “Do you have any idea what kind of explosion?”

“No. We just saw burning debris around. Maybe a fuel tank exploded or something.” The guard groaned out again as the techs lifted the man onto the gurney.

“So he’s not with your group,” the doctor said.

“No. We were headed down to a Mexican dude ranch for a weekend church retreat when we found this man about a quarter mile from the main road. He was nearly unconscious. We drove him to Naco, but they weren’t equipped to help him.” The doctor examined the guard some more, then said, “Peculiar. I haven’t seen burns like that since . . .” He hesitated, then looked up at Scott. “I saw this in Vietnam. They look like napalm burns.” Ostin almost said something, but Scott stopped him. “Like I said, we don’t know what happened.” We followed the doctor and techs into the hospital. At the operating room door the doctor turned to Abigail. “Young lady, you’ll need to let go of his hand.” The guard gripped her hand tighter. He must have figured out that she was taking away his pain.

“He needs me,” Abigail said. “For support.”

The doctor hesitated. “All right. You’ll have to scrub up, though. And get gloved.” “Can her power work through latex?” Taylor whispered.

I shrugged.

After Abigail and the doctor disappeared into the ER, a nurse led the rest of us out to the waiting room. As we walked down the hallway, the nurse looked down at my arm. “Excuse me for asking, but were you struck by lightning?” I wasn’t sure how to answer. Finally I said, “How did you know?” “Lichtenberg figures,” she said. “I’ve only seen them in manuals. That must have been very painful.” “It wasn’t too bad,” I said.

Her brow rose. “Wasn’t too bad? They’re electricity burns. They’re some of the worst kind.” “I guess I was a little out of it when it happened,” I said. I quickly walked away from her and sat down on a couch while Scott, Ian, Zeus, and Tessa went outside to keep watch. Nichelle asked for a pencil from the registration desk, then sat in the corner sketching while Jack, Taylor, Ostin, McKenna, and I sat on the sofa across from her.

“The guard’s name is Billy Ray,” Taylor said. “He was raised by his grandmother. She’s ninety-two and still alive.” “Elgen guards don’t have grandmas,” Jack said. “They’re not born; they’re spawned. And they don’t have names. Just Elgen.” Taylor continued. “He’s from Huntsville, Alabama.” “That’s so weird that he’s from somewhere,” McKenna said.

“Everyone’s from somewhere,” Ostin replied.

“I know, but it still seems weird. It’s like thinking about where Colby Cross went to elementary school, you know?” “Or Hitler,” Jack added.

“Where do you think Hatch is from?” Ostin asked.

“Hell,” Jack said without hesitation.

“It’s not an accident, you know,” I said to Taylor.

“What’s not an accident?” Taylor asked.

“That he’s letting you know about him,” I said. “He’s doing it for a reason.” “Why?”

“So you would help him live.”

“I don’t get the connection.”

“It’s harder to kill people you know. That’s why in wars the first thing they do is dehumanize the enemy. They’re not people like us; they’re gooks or krauts, or infidels or Charlie. After you know they have a family, that they’re somebody’s son or grandson . . . it’s a different thing.” “He’s right,” Jack said. “My brother was stationed in Afghanistan at a combat outpost when the Taliban attacked them. A Taliban soldier tried to stab my brother, but my brother turned the knife on the guy.

“While my brother’s squad was waiting for reinforcements, my brother had to sit in the room with the dead man for two hours. He took out the guy’s wallet. The man had a picture of his wife and a little boy. My brother said even though the guy had tried to kill him, it still made him sad. . . .” Jack’s words trailed off into silence. A few minutes later Scott walked into the waiting room from outside. “Any word on his condition?” he asked.

“No,” Taylor said.

“See anything?” I asked.

“No. Neither has Ian. It doesn’t appear that we were followed. But that doesn’t explain why they let us across the border so easily.” “Maybe we were just lucky,” Ostin said.

“Since when have we been lucky?” Taylor replied.

“We’re still alive, aren’t we?” Nichelle said, suddenly joining the conversation. “I’d say we’ve been pretty lucky.” Nichelle’s optimism surprised me. “Any word from Boyd?” I asked.

“Not yet,” Scott said. “I’m going to have to drive back to Douglas to check things out. I’ll need some backup.” “So after we find him, then what?” I asked.

Scott sat down next to us. He leaned in, his hands clasped in his lap. “There’s a safe house in Albuquerque,” he said softly. “Assuming we still have a plane, I think we should fly there and wait to hear from the voice.” “The last safe house wasn’t so safe,” Jack said.

“Nothing’s safe anymore. We don’t know what information has been leaked, but it’s still our best option.” “I want to go back to Idaho and get my parents,” Taylor said.

“We will,” Scott said. “But I need to get you to safety first, then go get them.” “You should talk to your mother first,” I said. “You need to make sure that they’re still in Boise.” Ostin said, “If the Elgen have their phone lines traced, they’ll track the call back here. Just seeing a call this close to the border, they’ll know we’re back.” “Then we should make the call just before we leave Arizona,” Scott said.

“What about the guard?” McKenna asked. “He’s not going to be ready to go by tomorrow.” “We can’t all stay here until he’s better,” Scott said. “It’s too risky.” “Abi and I can stay with him,” Jack said. “Then we’ll meet up with you.” “I don’t like breaking us up again,” I said. “The last time we did that, we were captured.” “It’s better than all of us being captured,” Jack said.

“We don’t know if what he knows is worth losing any of us,” I said.

“Michael’s right,” Scott said. “We’ll all stay in Douglas tonight, then fly out in the morning. We can come back for the guard later.” His brow furrowed. “But first I need to find my copilot.”