Lion (13 page)

“Phoenix!” Hú Dié cried. “Help!”

The horn blasted
again, and Bones howled once more.

I started to turn around as the driver suddenly jerked the car’s steering wheel toward Hú Dié, cutting her out of the peloton like a cowboy cutting a calf out of the herd. She screamed and veered across the road onto the narrow rock-strewn shoulder, the tidal pools only a few feet away from her. An instant later, she fell.

I cut across the road as the truck stopped and Bones leaped out of the vehicle’s open passenger window.

“Bones!” the driver shouted. “Git back here!”

Bones ignored him.

Jake veered around and pulled up next to me.

“What’s going on?” he shouted.

“I don’t know, but that’s Murphy’s dog!” I shouted back. “Murphy was a bad guy down in Texas. The dog
hates
Hú Dié!”

Phoenix had turned, too, as Jake and I caught up with him, and Peter was not far behind.

The driver suddenly gunned the truck’s engine, and the vehicle lurched toward us, head-on. Jake and I steered away, but Phoenix headed straight for the oncoming pickup.

“Phoenix, no!” Peter shouted, but Phoenix continued to hammer forward. When a collision seemed inevitable, Phoenix turned his handlebars hard toward the truck’s driver’s side. His bike whizzed around the vehicle, and Phoenix reached toward the open window.

The driver opened his door, which smashed into Phoenix’s bike.

Phoenix grabbed the door for support as his bike fell away. Phoenix was hanging from the door as the truck continued down the road.

The driver cut the steering wheel hard, and the door slammed shut with Phoenix still dangling from it. Peter pulled up to Phoenix on his low-riding handcycle, and Phoenix loosened his grip on the door as if to drop into Peter’s lap. However, the moment Phoenix’s feet touched Peter’s bike frame, Phoenix pushed off and sailed into the driver’s-side window, falling across the driver’s arms. The steering wheel slipped out of the man’s hands, and the pickup careened off the road. With the brakes shrieking, the truck stopped on the wet rocks at the ocean’s edge. I could see Phoenix kicking his legs as Jake and I steered our bikes toward Hú Dié and Bones.

The huge dog had Hú Dié backed up to one of the large, deep tidal pools we’d stared into earlier. Bones snarled and
snorted, saliva dripping down his huge jaws. I rode straight toward the animal, unsure what I was going to do next.

Bones made my decision for me. He leaped at Hú Dié, and I bunny-hopped a row of rocks, going airborne. As Hú Dié jumped into the tidal pool to avoid Bones’s attack, my front tire hit Bones in midair. The dog, my bike, and I sailed into the pool after Hú Dié.

SPLASH!

Seawater filled my nose and open eyes. I twisted my heels outward, releasing my feet from my pedal clips, and I clawed toward the surface. However, before my head even cleared the water, a powerful hand grabbed the back of my collar and began to pull.

It was Hú Dié. She was clinging to one of the rocks. She shoved me halfway up the steep, slippery side of the tidal pool, and Jake helped me crawl the rest of the way out. He let go of me, and as we gave Hú Dié a hand she shouted, “Jake! Get your bike!”

Jake had dropped his bike next to the pool. He shoved it toward Hú Dié as she scrambled up the rock. She began to remove the quick-lock front wheel as Bones attempted to climb out of the pool a few yards from us. He wasn’t making much progress, though; his claws couldn’t get a grip on the slime-coated rocks. Hú Dié got the wheel free and hurled it at Bones. The wheel bounced off the dog’s front legs, and he howled in frustration as he slid back into the water.

I heard a
SNAP!
as Hú Dié broke the front fork clean off Jake’s bike and rushed to the edge of the pool where Bones had attempted to climb out. She thrust the bike fork at the
dog as though she were holding a sword and screamed like a banshee.

Bones paddled over to different rock and tried to scramble, but it was clear that he wasn’t going to be successful. The rocks were too slick.

I glanced over at the pickup and saw that Phoenix and the driver were still struggling with one another on the front seat. Peter was on his handcycle, pulling the car’s passenger door open.

“I can handle Bones!” Hú Dié shouted, still waving the bike fork. “Go help Phoenix and Peter!”

Jake and I ran over to the truck as Peter reached into the front seat. “Phoenix!” he shouted. “Give me some space!”

Phoenix pushed back out of the driver’s-side window as Peter grabbed one of the driver’s ankles and began to haul the man out of the truck. The driver wrapped an arm around the seat belt to anchor himself and opened the glove compartment with his free hand.

Even from where I stood, I saw the glint of metal.

“Gun!” I shouted.

Phoenix ran around the front of the truck, heading for the passenger side.

“Peter!” Phoenix shouted. “Give
me
some space now!”

Peter let go of the driver’s ankle, and the driver tried to pull his leg back into the front seat, but he was too slow. Phoenix hit the open door with his shoulder, slamming it shut on the man’s leg with a horrible
crunch
.

“Owwww!” the driver howled.

Bones mirrored the howl from the tidal pool.

Phoenix drove his fist through the open side window.
CRACK!

The driver’s body went limp.

Phoenix stepped back, pulling the door back open, and Peter hauled the driver’s unconscious body out onto the wet rocks.

I called back to Hú Dié, “Are you still good?”

“Yes!” she shouted. “Bones can’t get out!”

“Let us know if you need help!”

“I will!”

“Huh?” Phoenix said, standing over the man. “He looks just like—”

“Murphy from Texas,” I said, getting a closer look. “I don’t believe it. That’s Bo, Murphy’s brother.”

“You
know
this guy?” Peter asked.

“Not exactly,” I said. “His brother, Murphy, was the contractor who built my uncle’s training facility.”

“But Murphy died, right?” Peter asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “But during construction, Bo helped him do electrical work at the training facility a couple of times. He was Murphy’s hunting partner, too. They took that dog Bones out into the woods behind the site once and came back dragging a wild pig they’d killed with giant knives. That’s what Bones was bred for, finding pigs and holding them until hunters could finish the job.”

“Nasty,” Jake said.

“That would help explain why the dog is with him,” Peter said, “but what are they doing
here
? Why would they attack Hú Dié?”

“I have no idea,” I replied.

“Find something to tie him up with,” Peter said. “I’ll call the police.” He began to fish around for his phone in the zippered pouch attached to his cycle’s frame.

Phoenix pulled a large knife from a sheath attached to Bo’s belt and cut several sections of the truck’s seat belts and started to bind Bo’s wrists and ankles. Bo began to stir.

Peter found his cell phone. “I’ll call the police now.”

“No,” Bo mumbled. “No … police.”

Phoenix held his hand up to Peter. “Hang on. Don’t call yet. Let’s hear what he has to say.” He looked at Bo. “Speak up.”

“I said,” Bo repeated, louder and clearer this time, “no police.”

Peter scoffed. “You must be out of your mind. You attacked these innocent kids and—”

“Innocent?” Bo said. “You don’t know them very well.”

“But I’ve never even met you,” Phoenix said, shocked. “What are you talking about?”

“I helped my brother wire the training facility’s security cameras,” Bo said. “Remember the remote feeds? I know for a fact Dr. V mentioned them to you. I had plenty of time to view the footage from that night before the police computer geeks got to it. I saw what went down.” He paused dramatically. “And I edited out some important footage.”

“We didn’t kill Murphy,” Phoenix said. “Lin Tan did.”

“I saw that,” Bo said.

Then he smiled. “I also saw you hide that big ol’ stash of dragon bone in the protein powder container. Very clever. That’s the footage I deleted before the police saw it.
I
still have a copy of it, though. Considering all the … interest
that’s beginning to brew over dragon bone here in California, as well as you all being celebrities of sorts now, I believe the authorities would be mighty interested in seeing that footage.”

Phoenix frowned. “How long have you been following us?”

“Off and on since the police finished questioning me back home in Texas,” Bo said. “You were easy to find and trail in Indiana.”

“We don’t have any more dragon bone,” Phoenix said.

“I don’t believe that for one minute,” Bo said. “But I also don’t care.”

“Why did you attack Hú Dié, then?” I asked.

“I was just trying to git your attention. I didn’t think she’d fall, and I sure didn’t expect Bones to go after her like that. He must be holding some kind of grudge. If I wanted to attack you, I would have done it in Indiana.”

“Then what
do
you want?” Phoenix asked.

“I want Lin Tan,” Bo said, “and you’re going to help me git him.”

Phoenix’s expression changed. “Where is he?”

Bo smirked. “You want him, too, eh, kid?”

“Never mind that,” I said. “Why should we help you in the first place?”

“Because,” Phoenix answered, “if we don’t help him, Bo will blackmail us.”

“Very good,” Bo said. “I not only have the footage of Phoenix’s dragon bone switcheroo, but I know
all
about dragon bone. And like I said, I know what went down at the training facility. Murphy and I were tight, and I miss him a
lot. But I’m willing to forget
your
involvement in everything if you git me close to Lin Tan.”

“How do we find him?” Phoenix asked.

“I read in some cycling forum posts that you all are signed up for that nighttime bike race in San Francisco next week. I’m bettin’ Lin Tan will be there.”

“Why do you think so?” I asked. “Last we heard, the police can’t even find him. He’s probably somewhere in China.”

“I don’t think so,” Bo said. “One of the people Lin Tan was attempting to sell dragon bone to called me the other day, looking for my brother. The guy wanted more info on this seller, Lin Tan. According to this guy, Lin Tan is now running with some bad hombres in San Francisco’s Chinatown—guys all tattooed up like carnival sideshow freaks. And supposedly he’s coaching a team that’s signed up for that race.”

“But Lin Tan doesn’t have any dragon bone to sell,” Phoenix said.

Bo grinned. “You think you took it all? No, son. I suspect Lin Tan withheld a fair amount from Dr. V. He used it to entice a buyer for the rest of the supply that he was attempting to steal before you all stopped him. He went underground, but my gut tells me he’s going to surface for that race. However, I can’t exactly go waltzing in there with my guns blazing. Besides, he’ll recognize me. I need you to lure him to a nice, quiet place.”

“These kids aren’t going to help you,” Peter said.

I swallowed hard. “I don’t know about this.”

Bo’s eyes turned cold and shifted my way. “No, Ryan?
Let me help make the decision easier for you. Murphy had friends. Lots of friends, and they all want justice. Lin Tan may have pulled the trigger, but all I have to do is mention that Phoenix and Hú Dié played a role, too, and the boys back home will want to see them hang just as high as Lin Tan. The only one standing between your friends and my friends is me, understand?”

I felt my shoulders slump. “I understand.”

“Good,” Bo said. “Now help me fetch Bones. Your priorities just shifted from winning that race to bird-dogging Lin Tan for me. You’re going to flush him out, or else.”