Jackal (17 page)

We pulled into
the nursing home parking lot just after sunset. We were a sorry-looking bunch, Hú Dié, Grandmaster Long, and me. Hú Dié said not to worry about it. Her mother had a private room, and she wouldn’t care how much dirt and road grime covered us. She was used to seeing Hú Dié covered head to toe in bicycle grease.

Hú Dié’s mother’s room was packed with people. Waiting for us were Phoenix, his grandfather, Ryan, Ryan’s mom, and Hok, along with Hú Dié’s mother and an old woman I’d never met but was certainly PawPaw.

Hú Dié’s mother was lying in bed, covered to her neck with blankets. Her skin was snow-white, and her head shook terribly. Even so, her eyes were perfectly clear.

They were Hú Dié’s eyes.

Hú Dié pushed her way through the group and kissed her mother on the cheek. Hú Dié said a few words in Chinese, and her mother gave a shaky nod of her head. I felt
so bad for Hú Dié’s mom. Any trace of regret I might have had about bringing the dragon bone here vanished. No one should have to go through what Hú Dié’s mother was experiencing.

Not surprisingly, Ryan’s mom took control of the room. “Well, the gang’s all here,” she said. “First things first. Jake, what in heaven’s name happened to your
hair
?”

I pushed my dirt-streaked black Mohawk out of my face. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell everybody later. We have more important things to talk about right now.” I turned to Phoenix. “How’ve you been, bro?”

Phoenix shrugged. “I don’t know. Good and bad. Mostly good now, though. You?”

“Same,” I said. “I, uh, heard that you figured out what I did with your dragon bone.”

“Yeah. As soon as the police told me that DaXing had had an accident out at the state park, I put two and two together. Were you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine. Are you mad? I understand if you hate me.”

Phoenix shook his head. “I don’t hate you, but I am angry. It wasn’t cool to go behind my back.”

“I know. Everything was happening so fast. I’m sorry.”

“You should be,” Phoenix’s grandfather said. “Lucky for you, things may have worked out for the best, though.”

“Really?” I asked.

Phoenix nodded. “Do you have the dragon bone?”

I pulled off my backpack. “Right here, bro.” I unzipped the pack and handed the container to him. “Watch out for the duct tape.”

Phoenix took the container carefully, as if it were filled
with liquid gold. I thought he was going to hand it to Hú Dié’s mother, but instead he offered it to Hú Dié.

“Here,” Phoenix said. “I’m very sorry that I didn’t help you sooner.”

Hú Dié took it with trembling hands. “Thank you,” she said. “Truly. Thank you, too, Jake.”

Phoenix and I nodded.

Hú Dié turned to Hok, PawPaw, Grandmaster Long, and Phoenix’s grandfather, who were huddled together in one corner of the room. “May I?”

“You can try,” PawPaw said, “but I don’t think your mother is interested.”

Hú Dié looked confused.

“I explained the substance to her earlier,” PawPaw said. “As you know, your mother’s physical faculties are limited, but her mind is sharp as a tack. I don’t think she wants anything to do with dragon bone. She is a wise woman. Go ahead and offer it, though. It’s the least you could do, since Jake has gone through so much trouble bringing it here.”

Hú Dié turned to her mother, and her mother suddenly spoke in a hoarse whisper. “Thank you, my love, but no.”

Hú Dié nearly dropped the dragon bone. “You can speak!”

Hú Dié’s mother nodded and the hint of a smile twitched across her lips.

“It seems the herbs I’ve been giving her are doing some good,” PawPaw said.

“This is amazing,” Ryan’s mother said. “I had a great-aunt who succumbed to ALS. Is your treatment widely known?”

“I don’t believe so,” PawPaw said. “The Chinese herbs
I’m using are quite rare. I wouldn’t blame any physician for not knowing about them. I have even higher hopes for the herbs Hok has brought. Perhaps we will share our findings with the medical community. These herbs will never repair all of the ALS damage, of course, but I am certain Hú Dié’s mother will continue to improve. She will outlive Hok and me, that’s for sure.”

Hú Dié grinned. Then she suddenly frowned.

I frowned, too. “What do you mean?”

PawPaw smiled. “Hok and I are now free of dragon bone. Our life spans are finite, as nature intended. The same is true for Grandmaster Long and—”

“My grandfather,” Phoenix said.

“The antidote!” I said.

Phoenix nodded. “Thankfully, Hok and PawPaw believe that my grandfather will live a lot more than ten years. It’s all because of you, Jake.”

“Me?” I asked. “How?”

“After DaXing was found,” Phoenix’s grandfather said, “I called Hok to give her the news about his demise and to tell her of our suspicion—that you had taken the hidden dragon bone to give to Hú Dié’s mother. Hok and I decided that enough was enough. We discussed the antidote that she’d concocted that helped Ryan and several others break dragon bone’s bonds; and even though she did not believe she would survive the antidote, she took it upon herself to try it anyway. As you can see, it worked. We called PawPaw, and she made a batch here in China for her and Long. It worked for them, too. I have wanted to break my bonds with dragon bone for more years than you could possibly
imagine, so I had Hok express-mail me the antidote right before we came here. I drank it moments before we left the house. That was yesterday. Like the others, I feel a bit weak, but otherwise, I am fine. More than that, I am truly happy. Hok and PawPaw believe that we all have the constitution of sixty-year-olds. We each expect to live at least another twenty years.”

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” I said. “This is so great! What are you going to do with the rest of the dragon bone? I really hate that stuff.”

“We’re going to dump every last bit into the Yellow River,” Hok said. “It’s less than a block away. We’ve all brought our remaining supplies with us.”

I turned to Grandmaster Long. “That’s what you loaded into the dune buggy before we left the temple.”

He nodded.

Hú Dié held out the container of dragon bone she’d been holding, offering it to Phoenix’s grandfather. “I apologize for all the trouble I have caused you and your family,” she said.

Phoenix’s grandfather accepted the dragon bone. “I appreciate that, Hú Dié. Come, let us dump this together. Afterward, we have a bullet train to catch.”

I felt my ears perk up. “The race! We’re going to do it?”

“I am,” Phoenix said. “That is, if everyone else still wants to do it.”

“I’m in,” Ryan said. “I didn’t come all this way for nothing.”

“Heck, yeah,” I said. “I’m in, too, as long as there’s room for me on the train.”

“There’s plenty of room for all of us,” Ryan’s mom said. “I’ve already checked.”

I realized that Hú Dié hadn’t said anything. Phoenix, Ryan, and I turned to her. She was gazing at her mother.

Hú Dié sighed. “I do not know, guys. My mother is still—”

“Oh, no you don’t!” Hú Dié’s mother said in a sharp whisper. “You will not remain here on my account. Bicycle racing is your dream. You have the opportunity to realize it. You are going to Shanghai tonight! PawPaw will stay with me.”

Hú Dié smiled through the tears that were forming in her eyes. “I guess I am in, too. Somebody had better call Ling and Mr. Chang right away to let them know that they need to bring our bikes and all of our gear to the race.”

“I’ll do it,” Ryan’s mom said. “You all go on and get rid of that dragon bone. By the time you return, I hope to have taken care of our bullet train tickets as well.”

Phoenix grinned. “Bullet train. Awesome.”

We arrived at
the race location in downtown Shanghai at 7:30 a.m. the next day, as planned. Everyone came along from Kaifeng except for Hú Dié’s mother and PawPaw. Fortunately, it turned out that the race had become such a big deal, it was being broadcast throughout China instead of just locally in Shanghai. Hú Dié’s mother and PawPaw would be able to watch the whole thing on television.

We found Ling, who was with a team of mechanics dedicated solely to us four. It was pretty incredible. The mechanics took our measurements and adjusted everyone’s bike except Hú Dié’s. She insisted on adjusting hers herself.

Once the bikes were done, we changed into our racing kits and gathered together for a group picture. The new uniform felt awesome against my skin, mostly because it was the first set of fresh clothes I’d put on since I’d arrived in China.

Several young girls in the crowd giggled and snapped
our pictures, and Ryan’s mom snapped a couple shots, too, but then she suddenly stopped. I turned around to see somebody photobombing us.

It was Keng, the skinny psycho from the Mr. Chang’s other youth team. “Hello, fellow teammates!”

“Get lost, freak,” I said.

“Look who’s calling whom a freak,” Keng said. “Nice hair.”

I frowned. He actually had a point. We’d gotten club cars with bathrooms on the bullet train, and I’d been able to wash all of the black wax out of my hair. However, it now looked like I had a fat, blond dachshund lying on top of my head.

Keng leaned close to Hú Dié. “Hey, honey. Long time, no see.”

“Leave me alone, Keng,” she replied. “We are done.”

I stared at Hú Dié in disbelief. “You know this guy?”

“Know her?” Keng said. “I
dated
her!”

“I would not call it that,” Hú Dié said, and turned to me. “Keng lives near my bike shop, and we went to a couple races together. He is good on a road bike, but useless on a mountain bike.”

Keng’s beady eyes gleamed. “Good thing for me this is a road bike race.”

Phoenix opened his mouth to say something, but then he closed it again. I noticed that his hands were balled into fists.

Keng looked at him. “Hey, I remember you! You are the guy who likes to kick guys like me in the groin, right? We are going to have fun out there today, pal. Count on it.”

“
You
attacked
me
in Kaifeng last month!” Phoenix said. “I was minding my own business when you tried to steal my backpack!”

“So you say,” Keng said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I do not have time for this. I have a race to win.” He walked off.

Phoenix stared at Hú Dié with the same disbelieving look I probably still had on my face.

“You actually
dated
that slimeball?” Phoenix asked.

“We
raced
together,” she replied, “not dated. But even if I did date him, so what?”

“Never mind,” Phoenix said, and looked away.

Hú Dié nodded. “That is what I thought. Mind your own business, Phoenix, and put your opinions aside until after the race. We need to be focused.”

“Here, here!” Ryan’s mom said. “Get focused and stay focused, gang. I think this is going to be a short race.”

“How short?” I asked.

“It hasn’t been officially announced yet, but there are rumors of it being a criterium. I can’t believe Mr. Chang hasn’t released the race details yet. I’ve never heard of such a thing. This clearly isn’t a sanctioned race, but no matter. It is what it is. You can’t afford to let your minds wander.”

“No way,” Ryan said. “Look who’s coming.”

I turned to see SaYui, or
Shark
, headed our way. He used to work for DuSow, and he also raced against us in California. With him were Lucas and Philippe, two Frenchmen who had also raced against us in California and worked for DuSow. Hok’s dragon bone antidote had saved all three
of them from certain death, which converted them from our enemies to instant compatriots.

“Hello, friends!” SaYui said.

“Yes, bonjour!” Lucas and Philippe said as one.

“Hi, guys,” Ryan said. “We didn’t know you were going to be here.”

“Mr. Chang wanted to keep it a surprise,” SaYui said. “He thought it would be fun for us to race alongside you again since we went so close to the wire last time.”

“Mr. Chang is full of surprises,” I said, “but I don’t mind. We beat you once; we’ll do it again.” I winked.

SaYui laughed.

Ryan’s mom cleared her throat. “Nice seeing you guys again, but I’m afraid you’re going to have to leave the kids alone now. You’re welcome to come back after the race to chat.”

“Of course,” SaYui said. “We mean no harm. We will see you at the end of the race, when perhaps one of you is on the podium! Best of luck!”

“Best of luck!” I shouted back, and I grabbed my new road bike. Ryan’s mom made us do some warm-up drills on stationary trainers that Ling had brought, and then we cooled down. I was feeling pretty good. I’d rather have been on a BMX bike or even a mountain bike, but this was fine. My friends were happy, and that made me happy. They looked all rested, too. We’d talked a bit on the train, catching each other up with what happened with Lin Tan and all that, but we’d spent most of the time getting some shut-eye, which was key. Jet lag was at the front of everyone’s
minds, and we hoped it wouldn’t play a role in the race today.

At ten a.m. sharp, we lined up with the other riders and strapped on our helmets as we listened to the rules. It was going to be a closed-course criterium through select streets here in downtown Shanghai, just like the race in California had been, except this one was taking place in daylight. We would race around a three-mile loop for an hour, at which time a bell would sound to indicate that there was to be one final lap. Whoever crossed the finish line first without being lapped would be declared the winner.