Lion

by Jeff Stone

  “Peter!” I shouted, and we sprinted after the van.

  The light clicked off, the driver gunned the engine, and the van peeled onto the street. By the time we reached the end of the alley, the van was already picking up speed, and even though the traffic was heavy, it was immediately obvious that we wouldn’t catch the van on foot. A motorcycle zoomed past, riding between two lanes of slower traffic. It gave me an idea.

  “Guys!” I shouted. “The bikes! We can split lanes here!”

  “Good thinking!” Hú Dié said.

  “Jake,” I said, “keep an eye on that van. Try to get the license plate number. We’ll get your gear.”

  “Ten-four,” Jake said.

  Phoenix, Hú Dié, and I ran back to Peter’s van. I saw the security bar clamped down on the bike frames, and I frowned. “I forgot about the lock. Peter has the key.”

  “Locks are like laws,” Hú Dié said. “Eventually, somebody is going to break them.”

  She grabbed the rack with both hands and placed one foot on the bumper. She twisted her torso powerfully to one side, tearing the hitch-mounted rack free with a hair-raising screech.

  “Locks are like laws, huh?” Phoenix said.

  “Shut up, Phoenix,” Hú Dié replied. “Help me break this bar off. Ryan, watch out for trouble.”

  No trouble came. Hú Dié and Phoenix had the security bar off in seconds. She was as skilled at taking things apart as she was at putting them together.

  “Jake!” Hú Dié shouted. “Come on!”

  He reached us quickly, looking excited. “Traffic is barely moving. I think we can catch them!” We jumped onto our bikes.

  Pedaling was awkward at first because I wasn’t wearing riding shoes with clips. My feet kept slipping off of the pedal shafts, but I soon got the hang of it.

  I picked a line between two lanes of stop-and-go traffic and began to hammer forward. The others followed me in our tightest peloton yet. I could just make out the panel van in the glare of the taillights ahead.

  Car horns began to honk, and Jake yelled out, “If you’re jealous, go buy yourself a bike!”

  The car exhaust was thick around us, and it made me a little light-headed. I was wearing cargo shorts, and warm, toxic air breezed over my skin each time I passed a muffler pipe pointed in my direction. I felt the rumble of trucks in my chest, and the whine of sports car engines buzzed in my ears as impatient drivers revved their vehicles when we blew past.

  One idiot swerved in front of me, but I slowed and made it around him, as did Jake and then Phoenix.

  Hú Dié, however, was last in our peloton. I glanced back to see the idiot swerve farther before stopping just a couple of feet from an idling car in the next lane. Hú Dié slowed to a crawl and rose out of her seat on one leg. She wouldn’t make it through the slot with both legs astride her bike. She cocked her free leg up and back over her seat and wove through the slot, her free pedal shaft scratching a gouge in the idiot’s chrome bumper. I turned my attention back to the road and smiled as the idiot started to shout behind us.

  Hú Dié caught up with us, and we began to pick up speed.

  “Sick moves, girl!” Jake shouted.

  “That is how we do it back in Kaifeng!” Hú Dié shouted back.

  We hurried on.

  We were only four or five cars behind the white van when traffic began to open up. The van and all the vehicles around us started to accelerate.

  So did I.

  I felt a surge of energy burst forth from my dan tien, and I let my legs rip. I rode like a maniac for at least half a mile before glancing down at the electronic display attached to my handlebars. It was difficult to read with all of the headlights zipping past, but I soon made it out: thirty-eight miles per hour.

  Even though I was flying, I was no longer keeping pace with traffic, and it was getting downright dangerous. I glanced back to find that the others were barely visible behind me. One of them signaled for me to slow.

  I tapped my brakes and watched in disappointment as the white van began to pull away into the night. I slowed further, and my muscles began to tighten, including my dan tien. The van was very far ahead now, and I was about to give up hope, when in the distance it turned onto a side street.

  I glanced around and noticed that the sidewalks here were clear of people. Between gaps in the buildings, I saw lights glistening off of San Francisco Bay and realized we must be in an industrial district near the wharf.

  There was a break in traffic, and I cut across to the sidewalk. I continued on at a moderate pace as the others cut over and joined me. My lungs were on fire and my muscles continued to cramp, but I wasn’t about to quit.

  “I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up,” Phoenix huffed.

  “Me either,” I said, struggling to catch my own breath. “But Peter needs us. The van turned down this street. Let’s keep going.”

  I turned and saw that, mercifully, it was a long downhill run all the way to the waterfront. Brake lights flashed at the very end of the street, and I made out the white panel van turning left.

  We coasted downhill, and my speedometer began to climb:

  Forty miles per hour …

  Forty-five miles per hour …

  Even though I was exhausted and angry and my body was cramping terribly, I’d never felt such an exhilarating rush in my life.

  I tickled my brakes as I neared the end of the street, and my arms and hands began to seize up. I guessed it was some kind of dragon bone fallout from having pushed so hard. I reached the end of the street and turned left with the others directly behind me. I continued to struggle for breath, but Phoenix and Hú Dié appeared to have gotten a second wind. They both shot past me, heading for the van, which had turned into the parking lot of a large waterfront building about a quarter mile up the road.

  Jake pulled beside me.

  “What’s going on with you?” he huffed. “I’ve never seen anybody ride so fast like you did in that traffic!”

  “I think it was the dragon bone,” I huffed back. “It’s like it wanted me to catch those guys and fight them or something.”

  “You might get your chance.”

  “We’ll see. I’m cramping up tighter than a snare drum.”

  “Draft off of me,” Jake said, and he pulled forward.

  I locked onto his rear tire. As we neared, I saw that the building looked like some kind of warehouse. It was two stories tall and had large metal doors that looked like loading bays. Security flood lamps lighted up the entire perimeter.

  The van stopped in front of the building, and Phoenix and Hú Dié raced up to it. Phoenix circled around to the driver’s side, while Hú Dié approached the passenger side. They jumped off of their bikes and waited. No one got out.

  The occupants must have seen us. What were they up to?

  A full minute passed with no one exiting, and Hú Dié ran out of patience. She circled around to the back of the panel van, raised both arms, and slammed a hammer fist into each of the rear windows. They shattered into harmless safety glass pellets. The reinforcing metal mesh tore free of one window, and Hú Dié cocked an arm back again.

  The barrel of a pistol poked out of the window.

  “Gun!” she shouted.

  Phoenix snaked around to the back of the van, hugging his body close to it. Then he let loose a front kick, and the pistol sailed into the night air. One of the van’s rear doors burst open, and Phoenix grabbed somebody by the collar with both hands.

  Jake and I reached the van as Phoenix yanked a skinny Asian man out of the vehicle. The guy had panthers tattooed up and down his arms. He tried to scramble to his feet, but Phoenix dropped a wicked elbow into the side of his head.

  He folded like a wet sock.

  A pair of huge, hairy hands shot out of the van, locking around Phoenix’s neck. Phoenix cried out, but his shout was cut short, along with his air supply. He tried to push himself away, but his attacker’s grip was too strong. Harsh light from the securi
ty flood lamps lit up burly forearms covered with silverback gorilla tattoos.

  As I leaped off my bike, Hú Dié wailed like a banshee and jumped up, grabbing the top of the van’s rear door frame. She tucked her legs into her chest before thrusting them into the van’s interior. Phoenix was jerked powerfully backward, his body colliding with the van’s closed door, before his attacker’s grip released.

  Someone unleashed a primal growl inside the van as Hú Dié swung back out into the parking lot. I grabbed Phoenix and dragged him away from the vehicle. He clambered to his feet, and I turned to see Hú Dié drop into a low Horse Stance.

  The other rear door flew open, and a mountain of a man emerged from the back of the van. He was Asian, easily stood six and a half feet tall, and probably weighed three hundred pounds.

  “Phoenix!” Hú Dié shouted without taking her eyes off of the giant. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” he replied.

  “Double Flying Tiger—your way?” Hú Dié said.

  “Go!” Phoenix said, and he ran at the man.

  Hú Dié leaped into the air toward the gorilla-guy’s head, lashing out with her right leg, while Phoenix sank low as if preparing to jump. The man raised both arms, slamming one mighty fist into Hú Dié’s leg while keeping the other close to his face to protect it from Phoenix’s airborne attack.

  But Phoenix didn’t jump. Instead, he drove both his fists up under the man’s rib cage. Air rushed out of the giant’s lungs with hurricane force and he buckled forward, knocking Phoenix out of the way, as Hú Dié crashed to the ground to one side.

  I stepped up to the guy and dropped into a Horse Stance. My hands had cramped into rough approximations of tiger-claw fists, so I pulled both hands in to the sides of my chest like Hú Dié had taught me; then I thrust them forward with every ounce of strength I had left.

  I roared like a lion, and the heels of my palms crashed into the bottom of the giant man’s lowered chin. I felt a tremor run up my arms, and his head rocked back as if he’d been smacked with a club. His eyed rolled white, and he collapsed under his own enormous bulk.

  Hú Dié sprang to her feet and looked at me in amazement. Phoenix had the same look on his face.

  The van’s driver’s-side door opened, and Lin Tan stepped out. He held a gun. “Very impressive, Ryan,” he said. “DaXing—Gorilla—is a former kung fu champion. Too bad kung fu is no match for bullets.”

  A door from the warehouse opened, and I heard muffled clapping. A slender Asian man in his sixties stepped into the parking lot. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and black leather gloves. Two younger Caucasian guys followed him, each carrying a shotgun. They stopped beside Lin Tan.

  The older man stopped clapping.

  “Excellent kung fu!” he said. “I haven’t seen moves like that in generations. Your sequences were so … improvised. I enjoyed that immensely.”

  “Who are you?” I asked, though I already knew the answer. The gloves gave it away.

  The man bowed slightly. “I am DuSow. Welcome. You must be the Mystery Teen Team, though you appear to be missing a member.”

  I looked around, confused. DuSow was right. I saw Phoenix and Hú Dié, but there was no sign of Jake.

  “I didn’t notice one of the kids sneak off,” Lin Tan said.

  “I did,” DuSow said. “He rode away, then circled back. He’s behind the warehouse. He submerged his bike and crawled beneath one of the docks. Very clever. Too bad he didn’t consider security cameras. SaYui went to collect him.”

  I tried to straighten out of my Horse Stance but found that my leg muscles had locked up. My cramping was quickly growing worse.

  DuSow said something in French, and one of the two cyclists with the shotguns headed toward the far corner of the building. Jake soon strode around it, followed by an Asian guy who also wore a cycling jersey and carried a gun. Jake was soaking wet. I thought the Asian guy’s arms were dripping wet, too, but then I realized that it was actually tattoos. Sharks swirled and thrashed across his skin.

  “SaYui,” Phoenix muttered. “Shark.”

  Hú Dié nodded.

  SaYui gave Jake a shove. “Go stand by your friends.”

  Jake walked over to me, his head low. He didn’t say a word.

  “Isn’t this a pleasant surprise?” DuSow said. “I didn’t plan to contact you until after the big race.”

  “What do you want from us?” Phoenix asked.

  “Why, you’re famous,” DuSow said. “At least, in certain circles. I believe you can become famous in all circles. I am new to cycling, but it appears to be growing in popularity by leaps and bounds. I pride myself in being on the leading edge of new trends. You are going to ride on the team I am establishing. We are going to make a lot of money together.”

  “We are not going to ride for you!” Hú Dié said.

  “That’s right,” Phoenix said. “Things didn’t go so well for the last guy who tried to make me ride for him.”

  DuSow just laughed.

  A gust of wind blew from DuSow’s direction toward me, and I caught the scent of heavy cologne intermixed with a hint of dragon bone. My dan tien began to vibrate, and the rest of my body seized. I fell to the ground, my body compressing itself into a tight ball.

  “Ryan!” Hú Dié said.

  “Don’t move,” Lin Tan warned. “The same goes for you, Phoenix.”

  Lin Tan, SaYui, and the two guys with shotguns all aimed their weapons at Phoenix and Hú Dié as DuSow approached me. He bent down and inhaled deeply.

  “Interesting,” he said. “You looked like you might be experiencing dragon bone complications. You are Ryan, correct? Dr. V’s nephew?”

  I didn’t answer.

  “That’s him,” Lin Tan said. “It looks like he could use another dose. I bet he’s trying to wean himself from it.”

  “In all my years taking the substance,” DuSow said, “I’ve never witnessed anyone attempt that. I’ll have the doctor examine him. We may learn something.”

  There was a thump inside the van, and Peter nearly tumbled out of the back. He was so groggy, he could hardly lift his head.

  “Leave … Ryan … alone,” Peter mumbled.

  DuSow looked at Lin Tan. “How much sedative did you give him?”

  “Double the normal dose,” Lin Tan replied, “like the doctor suggested.”

  “That man must have the constitution of an ox,” DuSow said. “I’ll take care of him.”

  DuSow removed his left glove and walked over to the van. I saw that the back of his hand was tattooed with images of lumpy-skinned toads.

  “Don’t touch him!” I grunted. “I have some dragon bone. I’ll give it to you if you promise not to hurt Peter.”

  “Hurt him?” DuSow said. “My dear boy, I plan to heal him.”

  DuSow laid his bare hand on Peter’s wobbly neck, and Peter went limp.

  “No!” Hú Dié shouted.

  DuSow looked to be amused. He turned to Hú Dié. “Am I to understand that you know who I am, young lady? You seem frightened by my unique … skills.”

  “I have no idea who you are,” Hú Dié lied. “I do know about Poison Hand kung fu, though. I know what those toads represent. Is he going to die?”

  “Heavens, no,” DuSow said. “As I said, my skills are unique. When most people think of Poison Hand kung fu, they think of this—”

  He removed his other glove, uncovering what looked like a horror movie prop. His right hand was black and scaly, covered from wrist to fingertips with what looked like dry rot. I’d seen pictures of unwrapped mummy hands that were in better condition.

  Hú Dié gasped.

  “Let me show you something,” DuSow said. He headed to the back of the van, where the unconscious DaXing and the guy with the panther tattoos lay. He knelt beside panther guy. “This man has disappointed me. I do not like to be disappointed.”

  With his right hand, DuSow gripped the man’s throat. The man’s eyelids flew open, and his body began to convuls
e and shudder. The skin of his neck turned as black as DuSow’s hand, and I watched in horror as the discoloration spread all the way up to the man’s ears. Soon the man’s eyes closed again, and he stopped shuddering. His swollen tongue lolled out of his mouth.

  DuSow released the man and turned to us. He raised both awful hands. “Left hand, good night. Right hand, goodbye.”

  Phoenix’s shoulders slumped, and Jake turned away. Hú Dié’s eyes burned with rage, but she kept them locked on to the ground.

  DuSow put his gloves back on. “I would be greatly disappointed if the four of you did not join my team. I have read such interesting things about you on the Internet, and of course Lin Tan has told me plenty as well. You wouldn’t want to disappoint me, would you?”

  “No,” Phoenix, Hú Dié, Jake, and I answered.

  “Very good,” DuSow said. “Now let me show you one more kung fu trick.” He knelt next to DaXing.

  “Please, don’t,” Hú Dié said.

  DuSow ignored her. He grabbed the back of DaXing’s huge neck with both gloved hands. I expected to hear bones crunch and vertebrae pop. Instead, DuSow began to work his fingers across the base of DaXing’s skull as if he were kneading bread. A moment later, DaXing opened his eyes and sat up.

  DuSow looked down at the gigantic man. “Get out of my sight. Take your failure of a friend with you and dispose of his body. I suggest the kiln. Disappoint me again and … well, you know.”

  DaXing nodded and stood. He lifted his dead friend into his arms and carried him into the warehouse.

  “SaYui … Lucas … Philippe,” DuSow said to the gun-toting guards. “Let me introduce you to your new teammates. This is Ryan, Phoenix, Jake, and Hú Dié.”

  The men scowled at us, and we scowled back.

  “Lovely,” DuSow said. “I am glad we are starting off on the right foot. Lucas and Philippe, escort Phoenix, Jake, and Hú Dié to the research center. SaYui and I will bring Ryan, as it appears he is currently incapacitated.”

  “What about him?” Lin Tan asked, pointing at Peter.

  “Throw him into his wheelchair and lock him in the stronghold. I don’t want to take any chances. These teens are dangerous enough without their coach.”