Broken Dragon (The Chronicles of Mara Lantern, Book 3) (18 page)

“Why is that?” Mara asked.

“Two reasons. One, television helicopters are zooming around up there, giving blow-by-blows on the wreckage that thing is wreaking on the city. So everyone and their mother know
where
the dragon is. They may not know
what
it is, but they’ve got a pretty clear trail of destruction to follow.”

“And the other reason?”

“Oh, a patrol car on McLoughlin pulled over your mother and is holding her on the side of the road, waiting for us to come by, a little ways before the Holgate off-ramp.”

Mara straightened in her seat. “That’s great! Is she okay?”

“The officer didn’t say, but he didn’t ask for any medical assistance when he called in, so it’s safe to assume that she’s not hurt seriously.”

“Why did they pull her over? I mean, how did they know to pull her over?”

“Apparently she was driving a stolen taxi that was on fire and missing its roof and windshield.”

Sam leaned over the edge of the front seat, blocking Mara’s view of the detective with his head. “Did they happen to mention if my daughter was okay?”

Bohannon narrowed his eyes and glanced away from the road ahead to stare at Sam. “
You
have a daughter?”

“Another long story, Bo,” Mara said, while pushing Sam’s head out of the way. “Did the patrolman mention a little girl named Hannah, when he called in?”

“There was a child mentioned. Again he didn’t ask for EMTs, so I’m sure she’s fine. Daughter, sheesh. What are you, thirteen years old?”

Something buzzed in the dashboard, and Bohannon tapped a button on the console in front of him. “Bohannon.”

“Detective, it’s Tracy in Dispatch. Patrolman Henderson says you’re on your way out to McLoughlin and Holgate to meet him. That right?”

“Yeah. What’s up?”

“You better get out there. He just called for backup, says they are under attack.”

Diana stood in the decapitated taxi now parked along the shoulder of McLoughlin Boulevard, facing south, where the patrol car had pulled her over. She craned her neck, trying to get a look at the police officer who had been hurled from the side of the car, over the hood and onto the curb. A blast of air had swept down from the night sky, tossing the cop like a crumpled piece of paper. A sudden burst of flame followed, igniting a row of trees several yards away.

She looked up, blinking away the mist that still fell. Glare from the burning trees made it impossible to discern anything in the darkening sky. They needed to get out of here. She and Hannah couldn’t stay in the open for long, especially if the dragon knew where they were. They needed to keep moving. Turning toward the backseat, she forced a smile. There Hannah sat with her hood pulled up over her head, hugging herself. She returned the smile, sending a rush of blood to her nose and cheeks.

Facing forward again, Diana saw the police officer, talking into the microphone attached to his shoulder. He released the button and pushed up from the curb.

“Officer, are you all right?” Diana called to him.

Looking drawn and rattled, the young cop stood slowly, as if to make sure his legs would hold. Blankly he nodded to her and turned away, his soaked backside facing Diana. The cop gaped at the burning trees beside the road.

“Officer!” Diana yelled over the traffic whizzing by. “We need to get out of here, in case it comes back!”

He turned around and walked over to stand next to the driver’s door of the taxi. “We can’t go anywhere, until my backup gets here. I’ve asked for a fire crew as well, but I’m told that may be a while, because of what’s happening on the bridge. Why don’t you and your daughter come sit in the patrol car, until they get here? It’s a lot warmer than sitting out here in the cold and rain.” He nervously looked up into the sky.

A shiver ran through Diana. Until that moment, she had not realized how cold it was. She nodded and opened the door. Stepping to the back door, she opened it and gathered up her granddaughter. The police officer led them to the black-and-white patrol car a few feet behind the remains of the taxi and opened the back door. Holding Hannah’s head down with her palm to avoid bumping it on the roof, Diana bent forward and leaned in. She noticed the metal mesh separating the backseat area of the vehicle’s interior from the front. She backed away.

“What’s wrong?” the cop asked.

She turned to him, hefting Hannah onto her hip, getting a better grip around the child’s waist and said, “I don’t want to be caged in the back of your car, if we get attacked again.”

“I’m sure it will be perfectly safe,” he said, his eyes still darting around nervously.

“Young man, what’s your name?”

“Henderson. Mike Henderson.”

Diana pointed to the taxi. “Mike, you see that? The creature that just buzzed by and tossed you from the street like a rag doll and”—she pointed to the rows of flaming trees—“set those ablaze is the same one that ripped the roof off that taxi. I’m not sitting in a cage, even if it is in a cop car. Is that clear?”

Henderson raised his hands. “Okay, okay. You two can sit in the passenger seat. Come on.” He led them to the opposite side of the car and opened the door. After they got in, he ran around to the driver’s side, slipped behind the wheel and started the engine. He adjusted the heat and turned toward the passenger seat, but he stared past Diana and Hannah to the burning trees. The flames receded, though the bark of the trees still glowed, orange embers spewing smoke into the air, feeding a growing haze that hung in the glow of the streetlights.

“Looks like that’s not going to spread anywhere,” the cop said, still looking in the distance, his eyes filled with a blankness that Diana took to be camouflaging fear. “This thing that attacked you …”

“It’s a dragon. His name is Mr. Ping,” Hannah said.

The corner of Henderson’s mouth turned up, and his eyes cleared. “So you think it’s a dragon named Mr. Ping? I was sorta thinking it was a big wild bird, like a falcon that had gone crazy for some reason, or maybe a big mama owl protecting her territory.”

Hannah shook her head. “That’s silly.”

“Sillier than a dragon named Mr. Ping? Why?”

“’Cause birds don’t blow fire and tear the roof off taxis, even the big ones.”

The cop’s gaze caught Diana’s. She just gave him a shrug and said, “The girl’s got a point, which is why I think we should find a covered place to wait for your backup. Can’t you call them on your radio and tell them to meet us somewhere that is not so
exposed
?”

Now it was her turn to scan the distance. She looked past the scorched taxi ahead of them, beyond the green Holgate Boulevard Exit placard suspended above the road to a set of traffic lights winking in the distance. She could see no sign of the dragon ahead. Of course she knew it was out there somewhere nearby.

Officer Henderson shook his head. “We have to stay here until help comes.”

“Mike, there isn’t any help coming that can deal with what’s out there,” Diana said.

“You don’t seriously think it’s a—”

Red lights from behind strafed the inside of the patrol car. They intensified as a vehicle with a siren approached on McLoughlin.

“There’s your backup. Now maybe we can get out of here.”

“Naw, that’s the firefighters. It’s an engine pulling in behind us.” He glanced over at the trees again. “Don’t think we are going to need them. It looks like they are going out on their own, thanks to the rain. I better go touch base with them. You two stay here. I’ll leave the motor running for the heat, but please don’t touch anything.”

Henderson got out and walked to the back of his car, waiting for the fire engine to park several feet away. Diana saw the fire engine’s headlights go dim, but the parking lights and siren lights remained illuminated. Two firemen jumped to the curb, and the patrolman approached them, pointing toward the trees. They appeared to be discussing whether any intervention was necessary.

“Nana,” Hannah said, almost in a whisper. She reached up and touched Diana’s chin.

“Hold on, sweetie. I’m watching the firemen.”

“Nana, he’s back.” She pointed forward through the windshield.

As Diana turned, she said, “What?”

Movement in the distance caught her eye. A quarter mile ahead, she caught a glimpse of the dragon’s underbelly, its hind legs and intermittently the edges of its wings as they dipped within range of a streetlight above the oncoming lanes of traffic. Then it disappeared. As it passed the next closest streetlight, its outline once again flitted into view and flew back into obscurity.

It reappeared, its head and torso visible, as it crossed above the well-lit interchange ahead where the Holgate turn-off swung left and bisected McLaughlin. The dragon was on a descending glide path toward the police cruiser, less than thirty feet from the ground—so low, a taloned foot struck the metal beam holding three traffic lights. The collision toppled the pole at the corner that supported the entire structure, sending a spray of sparks into the air as a power cable was ripped away. The metal pole slammed across the trunk of a Buick crossing the intersection, sending up a fountain of sparks amid the clatter of metal being dragged across the pavement. The squeal of tires joined in as a Chevy truck tried to avoid the melee and broadsided a white van. Diana cringed at the impact and the crunch of metal.

She lifted Hannah off her lap and yelled, “Stand up on the floor in front of me, sweetie!”

The girl stood in the footwell of the patrol car in front of her grandmother, wedged against the dashboard. Leaving her standing there, Diana crawled over the console between the seats in the front of the patrol car and slid behind the steering wheel. Turning to Hannah, Diana said, “Sit down and buckle up.”

Squinting ahead, she caught the dragon’s profile as it passed by another streetlight, this one just yards away. It was now less than twenty feet from the ground.

Diana considered honking the horn to get Henderson’s attention, but she was afraid he would try to stop her, and there was no way she was going to sit still while this thing attacked her and Hannah again. Diana shifted the car into Drive, pressed the brake and held her breath. Through clenched teeth, she glanced over at Hannah and said, “Baby, Grandma will really need to meditate after this whole thing is over. She’s a wreck.”

The dragon landed directly on top of the battered taxi, flattening it and sending a shudder through the pavement that shook the patrol car. With a single kick, the dragon sent the yellow pile of scrap flying into the smoldering trees. Facing the police car’s windshield, the dragon lifted its wings, howling as it stepped forward.

“Hold on,” Diana said. She stomped on the gas.

The cruiser leaped forward, straight toward the dragon’s chest.

The creature’s red eyes widened; its toothy snarl disappeared, as it clumsily executed an odd wing-flapping pirouette, attempting to get out of the path of the vehicle. It stumbled over the curb, rolled sideways and fell face-first into the high weeds next to the road, swinging its massive tail into the street, directly in the path of the patrol car.

Thump, thump
. For a second Diana thought she had run over a body, a person. That’s what it felt like. When she looked in the rearview mirror, she saw the giant tail curl into the air, and a howl of pain pierced the night. It sent a chill down her spine.

Despite thinner-than-usual traffic and his sedan’s flashing lights, Bohannon still found himself making halting progress down McLaughlin. Ahead, they were blocked in by an old lady in a burgundy Seville, and, to the right, they were flanked by a semitruck advertising cold cuts.

The detective pounded on his horn three times, not letting up on third beep for several seconds. The lady in the Seville turned in her seat and glared out the back window. After she faced forward again, her brake lights illuminated and her reverse lights flashed for a second. The Seville’s back tires spun and squealed, sending the car lurching over the left-hand curb onto the grassy median.

The way ahead was clear—except for the burning fire truck, lying on its side across both lanes of traffic heading south. Two firemen and a cop stood on the side of the road, crouching away from the toppled fire engine, as if they were afraid it was going to blow up.

Stepping on the gas and yanking the wheel to the right, Bohannon cut in front of the semi in the right lane. No other vehicles stood between them and the pyre half a block ahead. He accelerated and skidded to a halt at the curb, where the three uniformed men cowered. Looking at Mara, he said, jabbing a finger downward, “Lower your window.”

She complied, and, with the window now open, Bohannon yelled to the cop, “Hey, are you Henderson?”

The cop, gesticulating wildly and talking into the microphone on his shoulder, ignored him. Bohannon put the car in Park and said to his passengers, as he opened his door, “You guys stay put. Let me find out what’s going on. I don’t see his patrol car, but it might be on the other side of the truck.” He pointed to the blaze ahead.

Mara opened her own door and said, “You go talk to the cop. I’m going to see if Mom is out there somewhere.” She slammed her door.

Bohannon was about to call after her but threw his hands into the air and slammed the car door, as she jogged away toward the fire. Keeping one eye on Mara’s back, he ran over to the cop, whose jaw was tucked down toward the radio microphone on his shoulder.

“No, no!” Henderson shouted. “I’m telling you it was a friggin’, honest-to-God, fire-breathing dragon. It kicked the crap out of a fire truck and then set it on fire.” He paused for a second, then rolled his eyes in disgust. “No, there was no torch or matches. It blew flames from its mouth.” Another pause. “I don’t know where it is. The road has stopped shaking, so maybe it took off somewhere. No, not in a vehicle! In the air!”

Bohannon reached over and turned off the microphone.

“Hey!” Henderson yanked his shoulder back and glared wild-eyed at the detective.

Bohannon pointed to himself and said, “Detective Bohannon. You can’t call in a dragon, dude.”