Dragon Head

by James Houston Turner

  “It doesn’t matter,” Jingfei replied.

  “Yes, it does,” Kai called out. “Jing installed it because she heard Emily yelling at Zak about them not having any money and how I was to blame, so she put spyware on Emily’s phone so that she could hack into their bank account and see for herself.”

  “What did you find out?” asked Su Yin.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Jingfei said again.

  “Yes, it does,” answered Su Yin. “Quit treating me like I’m a kid.”

  “You’re eleven. You are a kid.”

  “Kai thinks I’m old enough. He said I needed to know.”

  “Kai has a big mouth.”

  “Come on, Jing,” said Kai. “She’s smarter than either me or you were when we were eleven.”

  After an exasperated growl, Jingfei said, “Okay, yes, Zak and Emily are having some money problems, but not as bad as Emily says.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Ginie’s applied for a lot of grant money – and got it – over a hundred thousand dollars – so the center’s got plenty of operating funds, and Zak is great about getting donations like food and clothing. And he works his butt off making sure stuff gets done around the place.”

  “Then why is Emily making such a big deal about them not having any money?” asked Kai. “And why does she keep saying this is all my fault?”

  “Because a lot of it is your fault, and Zak doesn’t want to use the center’s operating funds for the damages you’ve caused. Plus, Emily considers her income to be hers, not theirs. She even tried taking Zak’s name off the bank account, which I know about because of the spyware, although the bank wouldn’t let her do it because it was a joint account.”

  “So this really is my fault,” said Kai.

  “No, it’s not,” said Jingfei, “at least not all of it. I mean, I was a handful, too, when we first got here, which you probably don’t remember. I argued with Zak all the time, I threw tantrums, I was hanging around with that gang of kids down the hill. We even broke into some stores and stole some stuff.”

  “You did all of that?”

  “I tried to keep it from you, because, you know, I was supposed to be the responsible one, but I was just so . . . angry. But, yeah, I did all of that, and if I hadn’t changed, I’d be in juvie by now.”

  “What made you change?” asked Su Yin.

  “When I saw how much Zak was spending on Kai and how he was bending over backward to keep him out of trouble – I mean, even the cops were helping out because Zak kept pleading with them – I kind of woke up one day and realized he wasn’t like all the other foster parents we’d had, that maybe I needed to quit making life so hard on him.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” asked Kai.

  “I was embarrassed, and you kind of looked up to me, so I didn’t want to admit any of the stuff I’d done. I didn’t want you to think less of me, I guess.”

  Sitting together in the darkness of the skatepark, in the bottom of the largest bowl, the three kids felt the cool evening winds blowing through their hair. Su Yin snuggled close and laid her head in Jingfei’s lap. Kai drew his legs up to his chest and leaned against Jingfei’s shoulder.

  “I don’t think less of you,” said Kai at last, looking up at the darkened face of his sister, “but do you think less of me? I mean, I’ve caused more trouble than you ever did.”

  “Of course I don’t. All of us mess up, and when you’ve messed up a lot, like I have, and when you wake up one day and see yourself for who you really are, it makes you more compassionate with those who are still messing up. That’s why Zak won’t let anything happen. I don’t know much about his past or what he did, but I think he messed up a lot, which is why he’s sticking by us.”

  “But you heard what Emily said.”

  Jingfei gently brought Kai’s head back to her shoulder and began gently tickling Kai’s neck, like she had always done for Kai and Su Yin when they were sleeping under a bridge, or in a barn, or on rescue mission cots. Three kids who had no one but themselves.

  “Yeah, I know what Emily said,” answered Jingfei. “But I also know what Zak said, that he would never desert us. I also know what Alex said about Zak – that he would never desert us – and that’s what I choose to believe. I believe Zak’s love is stronger than Emily’s anger.”

  “So 13:5 is true?” asked Su Yin said quietly.

  “Yes, it is,” Jingfei replied as the nighttime winds picked up and the kids all snuggled closer.

  CHAPTER 24

  Keeping to the deeper shadows of a wooden fence bordering the alley, Xin Li, Straw Sandal, and the twelve Shí bèi fighters moved silently along in a single file to the rear door of the community center. Their feet barely made a sound, and what sounds they made were drowned out by the wind.

  Xin Li approached the heavy metal door and tried the handle. It was unlocked. Pulling it open, she led the way inside.

  The group moved diagonally across the darkened basketball court. Ahead, slivers of light were visible beneath the double doors leading into the foyer.

  Busy at their computers, Ramona and Amina did not hear anything until Xin Li and six of the Shí bèi fighters rushed into the office. Ramona jumped out of her chair but Xin Li backhanded her with her pistol. Ramona flew back and hit the floor hard on her back.

  Xin Li barked a command and two of the fighters picked Ramona up and placed her in a chair.

  “If you’re looking for money, we don’t have any,” Ramona replied after glancing up at the sound of running footsteps vibrating above. Someone was searching upstairs.

  With her pistol in one hand, Xin Li stared hard at Ramona while more footsteps echoed in the foyer and still others echoed from the stairwell off the foyer. Within a minute, Straw Sandal and the other fighters entered the office.

  “No one is upstairs,” Straw Sandal said in Chinese.

  Xin Li nodded thoughtfully.

  “What do you want?” asked Ramona.

  “Where is he?” Xin Li demanded.

  “I told you, we have no money.”

  “Where is he?”

  “Where is who?”

  “Talanov. Do not lie. We know he is here.”

  “No one is here but us.”

  Xin Li aimed her pistol at Ramona’s head. “I will ask you one more time.”

  “They went out,” blurted Amina.

  “When will he return?”

  “We don’t know.”

  With pursed lips, Xin Li thought for a moment, then nodded to one of the Shí bèi fighters, who grabbed Ramona by the head and broke her neck with a violent twist. Amina screamed as Ramona’s body toppled to the floor. Xin Li then smashed Amina in the face with her pistol, knocking her out of her chair. When Amina hit the floor, Xin Li straddled her waist and pointed her pistol directly at her head.

  “Where is Talanov?” demanded Xin Li.

  Outside, the kids had already leaned their bikes against the back wall of the community center and entered the gym by the heavy metal door.

  “Can we order some pizza?” whispered Su Yin while crossing the darkened basketball court. They were walking quietly, hardly making a sound.

  “Let’s see what’s in the kitchen,” Jingfei whispered back.

  “They don’t ever have pizza in the kitchen.”

  “Yeah, but there’s other good stuff.”

  “Why are we whispering?” asked Kai.

  “Because it’s, like, creepy and dark. You always whisper when it’s creepy and dark.”

  They were about to enter the kitchen when the sound of a scream halted them.

  “What was that?” whispered Kai.

  With Jingfei in the lead, they ran on their tiptoes to the double doors leading into the foyer, and after taking a steadying breath, cracked open one of the doors.

  What they saw made each of them gasp.

  Visible on the floor of the office was the body of Ramona. Her neck had been broken and her body was lying crooked an
d bent, her face angled upward, her eyes open and vacant. The sight was both grotesque and mesmerizing, and all they could do was watch, frozen with shock, their mouths agape, a column of three faces, one above the other, staring through a narrow crack at the unfolding scene.

  Beside her, on the floor, was Amina, who was sobbing and quivering. Standing over her was a tall woman with a pistol.

  “Where is Talanov?” the tall woman demanded again. She placed the barrel of her pistol against Amina’s knee. “If you lie, I will shoot you in the leg, then the other leg, then your arms, until you tell me.”

  Amina stifled her sobs and began telling the tall woman about the Sour Dough Pizza Parlor.

  “They’re trying to find Alex!” whispered Jingfei. “We’ve got to warn him.”

  “What about Amina?” whispered Kai. “We’ve got to call the police!”

  “With what? Our phones are up in our rooms and those stairs make all kinds of noise.”

  They peeked back through the crack in the doors again and saw Amina sobbing again. They were deep sobs, the kind that shook her entire body.

  “Stop crying!” Xin Li shouted. “Where is this Sour Dough Pizza Parlor?”

  But Amina continued to cry.

  Xin Li paced back and forth several times, clearly frustrated, but stopped when she saw a display board covered with photos. Her eyes scanned the collection, although her attention fell on several photos of Zak and the three kids. She pulled off one of the photos and motioned for the Shí bèi fighters to put Amina back in her chair. Once Amina had been seated, Xin Li showed her the photo.

  “Who are these children with Babikov?” she demanded.

  Amina kept sobbing and did not reply.

  Xin Li backhanded Amina again. Blood flew from her nose and she almost fell out of her chair again.

  Two of the Shí bèi fighters caught her and placed her back in the chair.

  “Are these Babikov’s children?” demanded Xin Li.

  “N-no,” Amina sobbed.

  “Who are they?”

  “Three kids who l-live here now.”

  “Why are there so many photos of them with Babikov?”

  Amina did not answer.

  “Where are they now?” asked Xin Li.

  Amina did not answer.

  Xin Li backhanded Amina again.

  “I don’t know,” Amina cried.

  “Do they live upstairs?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I will ask you again. Where are they now?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Xin Li backhanded Amina again. Her face was now covered with blood.

  “I don’t know,” Amina sobbed. “Hit me all you want, but I don’t know where they are. For all I know, they’re with Zak and—”

  Amina gasped and stopped mid sentence.

  Xin Li grabbed her by the chin. “With Zak and whom?” she demanded. With her gun in hand, she bent toward Amina, their eyes now inches apart. “Is Babikov with Talanov?”

  Kai pulled Jingfei and Su Yin away from the door and allowed it to ease closed. “They’re going to kill her if we don’t do something.”

  “Yeah, but what?” asked Jingfei. “We’ve got no phones.”

  “What about Emily’s?” asked Kai. “It’s in her office, inside her desk.”

  “No way,” whispered Jingfei emphatically.

  “We’ve got to,” said Kai. “It’ll take me, like, a minute to crawl in there and get it, then crawl out again.”

  “What if they see you, or hear you?”

  “They won’t. Wait for me in one of the locker rooms. I’ll join you as soon as I can.”

  “Kai, no!”

  “We’ve got to.”

  “I am not leaving you here alone.”

  “And if I have to make a run for it, they’ll catch us for sure if you’re hanging around here, by these doors. Now, go! We’re wasting time.”

  The kids all hugged, and after Jingfei and Su Yin had run quietly across the basketball court, Kai slowly pulled open one of the double doors and crawled across the darkened foyer to Emily’s outer office door, where he paused to make sure no one had seen him, which they hadn’t. They were focused on Amina, who was crying again.

  Reaching for the knob, Kai gave it a twist. The door swung inward. When it did, it squeaked lightly on its hinges.

  Crawling quickly inside, Kai closed the door but left it ajar.

  In front of Kai now was a long counter. It stretched halfway across the room from the wall on his left. Crouching while he ran, Kai rounded the counter, located the trashcan in a recessed area beneath the counter. He felt inside the trashcan and fished out the two straightened paperclips he had used earlier.

  A scream from the office made him freeze.

  Kai peeked up over the top of the front counter. Through the windows, he could see a fresh cut on Amina’s forehead. Blood was streaming down her face and her head bobbed back and forth.

  “I do not want to hurt you,” Xin Li shouted. “I want Talanov, that is all. But if you do not tell me where he is, I will find Babikov and I will find these children and I will kill them one by one. And you will have to live with that for the rest of your miserable life. Is that what you want?”

  Amina continued to sob.

  Kai crept into the inner office and over to the front of Emily’s desk, where he again picked the lock on the drawer where Emily’s phone was located. Sliding open the drawer, he retrieved the phone and stuck it in his pocket. He then shut the drawer and crept out of the inner office only to drop to his knees when he saw a darkened silhouette approaching the outer office door.

  A surge of panic swept over Kai. Someone had heard the outer office door squeak and was coming to investigate. Which meant his only choice now was to hide, but where? The space beneath Emily’s desk was a logical choice, although it would be the first place the killer would look. He then remembered the recess located midway beneath the front counter. It, too, would be searched, but probably not before the killer had first checked beneath Emily’s desk, which just might give him enough time to make a run for it.

  Still on his knees, Kai crawled over to the recess, removed the trashcan, then backed into the recess just as the outer office door squeaked open. Thankfully, the entire office was dark and there were pockets of deep shadows from the furniture.

  Sorry about calling your 13:5 sign up there bullshit, God, but please don’t let him turn on the light.

  Kai could feel his heart pounding while he waited in the darkened hole. His legs and lower back were beginning to burn from being hunched over at such a sharp angle. His chin was pressed against his knees.

  The silhouette appeared to Kai’s right, where it paused, then moved silently toward the inner office door, which appeared like a tall black rectangle into an even blacker void. The silhouette entered the void. Emily’s desk stood in the center of the room, so it would take a few seconds for the killer to round the desk in order to inspect the space beneath it.

  Kai eased himself out of the recess and crept toward the end of the counter.

  Emily’s desk lamp suddenly came on.

  Kai instinctively looked toward the light just as the killer looked at him.

  Springing to his feet, Kai bolted around the end of the counter just as the killer shouted something in Chinese. Running out into the foyer, Kai saw everyone look his way.

  Xin Li grabbed Amina by the head and broke her neck just as Kai burst through the double doors and sprinted across the basketball court. At the far corner of the court was the corridor that led to the rear door of the community center.

  “Run, Jing, run!” shouted Kai.

  With the sound of footsteps echoing toward her, Jingfei shoved open the heavy metal fire door for Su Yin and Kai. Once Kai was outside, she pushed it closed again.

  “The bicycles!” shouted Kai, bracing his shoulder against the door.

  Jingfei and Su Yin hopped on their bikes while Kai grabbed a brick and wedged it like a doorstop agai
nst the bottom of the door. After stomping on the brick to jam it in place, he jumped on his bike and raced to catch up with his sisters, who were pedaling along the darkened alley as fast as they could.

  Behind him, Kai could hear the pounding of shoulders on metal. Several seconds later, the brick gave way and Shí bèi fighters poured into the alley. Several seconds after that, Su Yin hit a pothole that sent her cartwheeling over her handlebars.

  CHAPTER 25

  When Su Yin landed on her back, the bicycle landed on top of her. Jingfei heard a scream and looked back just as Kai skidded to a stop beside Su Yin.

  “Give me your hand!” he shouted.

  Su Yin reached out from beneath the wreckage and Kai pulled her up onto his handlebars. “Hang on,” he said as he began pedaling furiously. To Jingfei: “I’ve got her! Go!”

  At the end of the alley, they turned right and raced toward the lighted corner a block away, where a T-junction required traffic to go left or right. But there was also a narrow alleyway trucks that continued straight ahead. It was used primarily by trash trucks.

  “Which way?” shouted Jingfei as they approached the corner.

  Before Kai could answer, a brown SUV screeched to a stop in front of them. Jingfei veered left around the vehicle and Kai veered right, and in the light of an overhead streetlamp, Kai saw a Chinese woman pound angrily on the steering wheel.

  Kai shot into the alley, followed by Jingfei, who was bent over now, pumping hard. Suddenly, from behind came the sound of squealing tires as the SUV reversed, then fishtailed into the alley.

  The SUV’s high beams soon bathed them in brilliant light, its engine straining as it careered along the alley knocking trash cans into garage doors and fences.

  “Follow me!” Kai shouted, turning right onto a sidewalk that was bordered by high wooden fences. At first, the sidewalk was level, although it soon became a flight of concrete steps that descended between two rows of houses built on a hillside overlooking San Francisco bay.

  “Hang on,” Kai told Su Yin, who was bouncing back and forth, trying to keep her balance, her feet dangling out in front of her like a two-pronged fork.

  The SUV skidded to a stop in the alley behind them. Doors opened and a woman began shrieking orders in Chinese. The replies were brief. A cacophony of shouts. Then came the slap of footsteps.