Lion (17 page)

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 convulse 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.”

SaYui carried me
, still curled into a ball, my muscles frozen stiff. Entering the warehouse, we passed through an office space. A large sign attached to the side wall read:

Tree Frog Imports
Beijing, China/San Francisco, USA

The company logo was a colorful frog with an arrow-shaped head—a poison dart frog.

Lucas gestured with his shotgun toward a closed door, and Philippe went through it, followed by Phoenix, Jake, and Hú Dié. DuSow went next, then finally SaYui and me. We wove through a series of corridors, and the air got progressively more stale and tinged with animal smells. It reminded me of a zoo.

Someone unlocked and opened a door, and a wave of foul odor made us all choke.

DuSow cleared his throat. “Doctor! Are you in here?”

“Sir?” replied a meek voice with a Chinese accent.

“Open the loading bay door!” DuSow ordered. “Air this place out.”

“Yes, sir.”

I heard a motor begin to whir as we entered an enormous research space. Across from us, a large door rose and rolled up overhead, but it did little to dissipate the smell.

I could see hundreds of small cages stacked on the filthy concrete floor. Each cage contained dozens of white mice. It looked—and smelled—like the overloaded cages hadn’t been cleaned in months. My uncle had kept mice in his lab in Belgium, but they had been housed much differently, and they didn’t stink like this.

The rest of this space couldn’t be more different from my uncle’s labs, either. Both his Belgium and Texas labs were state-of-the art and spotless. Whenever he tested me at either of them, it was like visiting a hospital. This place would have made Dr. Frankenstein cringe.

Open shelves lined the room, containing stacks of dusty, dried items. I could make out a stack of large rat skins, complete with fat, hairless tails. Another pile was bats, their paper-thin wings extended as if in flight. I also saw severed paws from numerous animals, including endangered species like polar bears and tigers.

I saw Hú Dié catch a glimpse of the paws, and her eyes went cold. Phoenix gripped her arm, anchoring her to his side so that she wouldn’t take a swing at anybody. Lucas and Philippe ordered them to stand against a wall.

Phoenix, Hú Dié, and Jake stopped beside a huge pile of
rocks. Partial skeletons protruded from solid rock. Some of the bones looked longer than an elephant’s leg, and I caught a glimpse of one jawbone that seemed much larger than an orca’s. I was no paleontologist, but I would have bet my bank account that they were dinosaur fossils.

Next to the bones was a vacuum chamber like my uncle had. Elaborate pipework connected it to a larger network of pipes overhead.

The lights flickered for a second, and a loud fan began to rumble on the roof.

“Doctor?” DuSow said.

“That’s just the kiln’s exhaust fan,” the doctor explained. “Someone must have turned it on in the next room.”

SaYui laid me on a stained table that was made of chipped particleboard. I tried not to think about what the stains were, or where they might have come from.

“SaYui,” DuSow said, “go retrieve the bikes. Bring them in here.”

“Yes, sir,” SaYui said, and he left through the loading bay door.

From my new position, I could see the far corner of the room opposite my friends. I saw three matching road bikes beside a rack that contained helmets, shoes, and other gear that also matched.

“Join us, Doctor,” DuSow said. “I have a new patient for you to examine.”

The doctor came over, and I got my first look at him. He was an old Chinese man with white hair. He wore a dirty lab coat, and he stared at me through thick-lensed glasses.
His narrow eyes appeared huge and reptilian behind the magnification. He pushed his large, flat nose an inch from my cheek and inhaled.

“Dragon bone?” the doctor asked.

“Yes,” DuSow said.

The doctor began to probe my rigid muscles with his thin, yellow-nailed fingers. “Withdrawal?”

“I believe so,” DuSow said. “He said that he possessed some. Let’s see if he has it with him now.”