"We canna be sure how powerful Darafer is," Dougal said. "He might be able to teleport a huge number of soldiers. And even if he came alone, I'm no' sure we can defeat him, no' without the God Warriors."
The table grew silent as they all considered.
Dougal drank more Bleer. "If we can change the soldiers back to normal, then we need to keep Darafer from making any more." He turned to J.L. "Do ye know how he's doing it?"
J.L. shrugged. "Some kind of hocus-pocus, I think, but he needs a specific plant to pull it off. The demon herb."
"Oh, I remember that!" Rajiv sat up. "They were growing it at the zombie village."
"Zombies?" Dougal asked.
"Not real zombies," J.L. assured him.
"They move around like zombies," Rajiv insisted. "Their brains aren't working."
J.L. nodded. "Darafer's using them as slaves."
Dougal's prosthetic hand clenched, and he slipped his hand under the table. Slaves. "Are they being whipped?"
"No," J.L. replied. "Darafer's got them under some kind of mind control. They're unconscious all day, then get up at night to work in the field. When we saw them, they were gathering the demon herb, and some of Master Han's soldiers came to pick it up."
Angus drank some Bleer. "I wonder if our scientists can break the mental hold Darafer has on them?"
Rajiv nodded. "Maybe they can turn the zombies back to normal!"
Dougal's hand relaxed. "That's exactly what we need to do. Change the zombies back, then burn the field of demon herb so Darafer canna make more mutated soldiers."
J.L. whistled. "He'll be really pissed. If he thinks the villagers have betrayed him, he might kill them."
"We'll evacuate them." Dougal turned to Rajiv. "Can the tigers help with that?"
Rajiv nodded. "Yes."
"And when Master Han's soldiers come to collect the demon herb, we'll attack and keep them from reporting it," Dougal added. "It should buy us some time so the villagers can escape."
Angus leaned forward. "How many villagers are we talking about?"
"About thirty," J.L. said. "They were all elderly or young women and children. All the young males are gone, probably serving in Master Han's army."
Angus shook his head. "I'm no' sure we can make this work. If we swoop in at night to teleport the villagers here so we can treat them, the soldiers will be there and try to stop us. If one of them reports to Darafer, then all our plans could fall apart."
"Then we have to do it during the day," J.L. concluded. "There won't be any soldiers. And the zombies will be unconscious. Our scientists could go there and work on them for hours, and no one would know."
Dougal sat back. When he'd started this train of thought, he hadn't realized it would end up with Leah being sent to China. "Laszlo canna do it during the day, and I doubt Gregori will let Abby go." Leah would be on her own. His hand clenched again. "We canna do it during the day."
"We have to," J.L. insisted. "It's the only way to keep Darafer from being alerted. The shifters could go along to keep them safe."
Angus glanced at his watch. "The sun will be up here soon. You have forty minutes to bring back one of the zombies. We'll see if our scientists can make him normal. If they can, we'll move forward with the new plan."
Dougal swallowed hard. He'd hoped Leah could remain safe if she stayed on this remote island. But now she would have to venture into enemy territory. And she'd be there during the day, when he would be powerless to protect her.
Chapter Twenty-five
"Dr. Chin, wake up."
Someone patted Leah's shoulder, and she jerked awake. For a second she thought she was back at the hospital in Boston doing her residency, but then she saw Abby sleeping in the bed next to her and Howard, the were-bear, leaning over her.
"I'm sorry to wake you," Howard whispered. "But the zombie girl is coming to."
"Oh. Okay." She sat up in bed. She was still wearing her clothes from last night.
"I woke up Rajiv," Howard said. "He's trying to talk to her in Chinese."
"I'll be right there." Leah ran across the hall to use the restroom. While she was washing her hands, she glanced at her watch. Eleven fifteen. So she'd gotten almost five hours of sleep.
Shortly before dawn, J.L. and Dougal had brought a girl to the clinic where the prisoners were being kept. They'd called her the zombie girl, explaining that she came from a village where the entire population was under Darafer's control. As far as J.L. knew, their only sustenance was some sort of drug Darafer made out of the herb the villagers grew.
It hadn't taken long for Leah to determine that the zombie girl was suffering from severe malnutrition in addition to whatever drug she'd been given. She had stared blankly, not saying a word, while Leah had cleaned her up, slipped her into a hospital gown, and hooked up an IV. Abby had come up with the idea of using a milder version of her drug that boosted a person's mind control - the same drug she'd used on Dougal - to see if it could help the girl break free from the zombielike haze that had been suppressing her mental faculties.
By then, the sun had come up, and the Vamps had all retired to the basement for their death-sleep. Howard and Phil, who had slept during the night, had woken up to take their shift in the security office. Leah and Abby, both exhausted from working all night, had finally gone to bed. Howard had promised to wake them if anything happened to the captured soldiers or the zombie girl.
Now Leah rushed to the lab to grab her stethoscope and blood pressure cuff. Then she dashed across the hall to the clinic. A quick glance at the two captured soldiers assured her they were still in stasis. The girl had wakened, and the panicked look on her face made it clear that she was no longer in a zombie state.
Rajiv was sitting next to her, talking to her gently in Chinese. "It's all right." He tried to pat her hand, but she jerked away from him, eying him with suspicion.
"Don't be afraid." Leah approached the girl slowly. "I'm a doctor. I'm here to help you."
The girl gave her a wary look.
"Thank God you're here." Rajiv stood. "I wasn't getting anywhere."
Leah looked the girl over. There was color in her cheeks now, but her lips were dry and cracked. "Bring her a bottle of water."
"Yes, Doctor." Rajiv ran out the door.
Leah set her equipment on the nearby table. "It's all right. We're here to help you." She reached for the girl's hand. "I want to check your pulse. Will that be all right?"
The girl frowned, then nodded.
Leah looked at her watch while taking the girl's pulse. It was a little fast, but that was to be expected when the patient was upset. At least it was strong now, and not weak like before.
Rajiv ran back in. "Here's the water." He unscrewed the top and handed the bottle to the girl.
She grabbed it and guzzled down some water.
Leah smiled at her. "This is Rajiv. And I'm Leah. What's your name?"
"Yu Jie." She drank more water. "Where am I? Where's my family?"
"Your family is back at the village, and you're in a clinic. We're trying to make you healthy again."
"I want to see my family. And I-I'm very hungry."
"I'm sure you are." Leah glanced at Rajiv. "Can you bring some food from the cafeteria? Something mild."
"Yes, Doctor." He hurried down the hall.
Leah hooked her stethoscope around her neck. "I'm going to check your blood pressure, okay?" When the girl nodded, Leah completed the procedure, then wrote the results on the chart she'd started six hours earlier. "You're making wonderful progress. I'd like to remove your IV now. And we'll take you back home as soon as you're well. Do you remember what happened to your village?"
Yu Jie drank more water. "My older brother wanted to join Master Han's army. All the young men in the village were doing it, 'cause they could earn good wages and send some money home for the rest of us. Master Han said he would employ them all if we would grow the demon herb for his friend, Darafer. The village elders agreed." She frowned at the bottle she held. "I haven't seen my brother since then. I think it's been a few months."
Leah smoothed a Band-Aid over the small puncture where the IV needle had been inserted. "Do you remember when your brother left?"
Yu Jie tilted her head, considering. "It was March. 2011."
Leah winced. The girl had lost about twenty months of her life. "This is November, 2012."
Yu Jie's mouth dropped open. "What? What happened?"
"You were drugged. I believe your whole village is drugged." Leah touched her shoulder. "I'm sorry."
Tears glistened in Yu Jie's eyes. "I-I'm sixteen now? I don't remember anything. How could this happen?"
"I think we can safely say that Darafer tricked you. You thought you were helping your brother, but Darafer turned you and all the village into his mindless slaves - "
"No!" The water bottle crackled as Yu Jie's hands tightened around it. "I have to go back! I have to save my family."
"Calm down." Leah patted her arm. "We're going to help you, okay? We succeeded in making you normal again, so that means we know how to save your village."
A tear ran down Yu Jie's face. "You can save my people?"
"Yes." Leah squeezed her arm. "I'll save them. What you need to do now is rest and get your strength back so you can help me. Okay?"
Yu Jie nodded, more tears spilling down her face.
Rajiv strode into the room, carrying a tray with a bowl of hot noodles and a cup of hot tea.
"Perfect. Thank you." Leah set the tray on a table that swiveled over Yu Jie's bed.
Yu Jie grabbed the chopsticks and pinched a huge hunk of noodles.
"Not so fast," Leah warned her. "Your system isn't used to food anymore. Take it slow and easy so you won't get sick."
Yu Jie nodded, then ate only a few noodles at a time.
"That's good." Leah smiled at her. "I'll check on you in about thirty minutes, okay?"
Yu Jie nodded and continued to eat.
"Can you hang around in case she needs something?" Leah asked Rajiv.
"Sure." He sat next to the bed and watched the girl eat. "I'm twenty-two. How old are you?"
Leah strode back to her dorm room to gather up some fresh clothes. Then she showered and dressed. After a quick breakfast in the cafeteria, she was feeling good.
She was on her way back to the clinic when Rajiv left the room, carrying the tray.
He stopped next to her in the hall. "Yu Jie fell back asleep."
"That's good."
"You could sleep, too," Rajiv suggested.
Leah smiled. "I'm wide awake now, so I'll get some work done. Thank you."
She took some blood samples from the captives to see if any progress was being made. While she waited for the results, she wandered down the hall to the security office.
"How's it going?" she asked the guys. Howard was sitting in front of the security monitors, and Rajiv was at a table, studying a map.
"Great," Howard replied as he munched on a donut.
Rajiv grinned. "Pooh Bear is happy 'cause Kyo brought him donuts from Tokyo."
"Phil's outside looking around." Howard motioned to a camera that showed the beach. "Congrats on curing the zombie girl."
Rajiv nodded. "We are eager to save the whole village."
"When do you think we'll go?" Leah asked.
"Probably tomorrow." Howard wiped his hands on a paper napkin. "The Vamps can teleport us and the supplies there tonight. As soon as the zombies go into their daytime trance, we'll move into the village."
Leah nodded. "Okay. I'll start figuring out what I need. Oh, we'll need to feed the villagers. They'll be starving when they wake up from their trance."
"We'll pack some food." Howard grabbed another donut. "Rajiv's got some good news about the evacuation."
"I do!" Rajiv pointed at the map. "The zombie village is only a mile from the Mekong River. Grandfather will send some men and their fishing boats down the river to pick up the villagers."
"Oh, that's wonderful! I'd better get back to work." Leah hurried back to the lab to box up supplies.
By late afternoon, her lack of sleep caught up with her. Abby was just waking, and she agreed to watch over their patients in the clinic and help Yu Jie get ready for the mission.
Leah slipped on her flannel pajamas and fell fast asleep.
"Leah, wake up." Dougal sat on the edge of her bed and patted her shoulder.
"Mmm," she moaned. "What is it, Howard?"
"Howard? Are ye dreaming of Howard?"
Her eyes flickered open. "Dougal?"
"Aye, 'tis me, yer true love, Dougal."
She smiled drowsily at him. "Yes, that's true."
"Good." He shifted on the bed to face her. "Now that we have that straightened out, let me tell you - "
"What time is it?" She scooted into a sitting position against the headboard.
"Just past midnight. Leah, I doona want you to do this mission at the zombie village. 'Tis too dangerous to send you into enemy territory."