Phoenix (20 page)

We walked through a set of swinging double doors into a moderately sized space that contained several sets
of tables and chairs. Along one wall were several refrigerators, and along another was a pair of stoves with a long counter next to them. Several microwaves sat on the counter, along with a row of blenders, and there was a huge double sink. A series of shelves hung over the counter, and the shelves were stocked with protein powders, vitamins, electrolytes, energy bars, meal replacement bars, energy gels … an endless selection of nutritional supplements. While I ate an energy bar every once in a while, I didn’t use the other stuff. Grandfather would have had a fit. He believed I got all the nutrients I needed from a balanced diet and the occasional dose of Chinese herbs. However, I imagined elite athletes might benefit from some of those items.

“Better performance through better chemistry,” Dr. V said.

I couldn’t help muttering, “Yeah, I’ve seen Ryan’s transformation since last year.”

“What are you implying?” Dr. V asked.

I bit my tongue. “Nothing.”

“Ryan underwent a growth spurt,” Dr. V said. “Pure and simple. Sure, he takes a mountain of vitamins, but that is his choice. He also spent far too much time in my weight room back in Belgium. I keep telling him that he is too big to ride competitively, but he won’t listen to me. Just like his seat height. I wish he had fallen flat on his oversized butt back in that mud bog.”

Hú Dié giggled.

Dr. V continued. “Since we’re discussing supplements,
I made a difficult decision yesterday that you two should know about. Remember I told you about Lin Tan, Phoenix?”

I swallowed hard. “Yes.”

“Like everyone who races for Team Vanderhausen, Lin Tan signed an agreement that he wouldn’t put anything illegal into his body. He broke that agreement. I had planned to cut him some slack and keep him close to the team throughout his recent suspension, but I changed my mind. I decided that I needed to set an example. I kicked him off the team permanently.”

Hú Dié took a deep breath.

Dr. V looked at her. “Do you know Lin Tan?”

“I know of him,” she replied, “but I’ve never met him. I was excited to hear that he was racing for you. Many people in China were. There aren’t too many professional Chinese cyclists. Your news makes me sad.”

“It saddens me, too,” Dr. V said, “but people need to honor their agreements. I will ask you to sign the same document, Phoenix.”

“Okay,” I said.

“In for a penny, in for a pound,” Dr. V said. “As for a way
out
—” He pointed to a door that was equipped with a push bar like the kind you would find on a fire exit. A keycard reader was mounted on the wall next to the door. “This is the door on the front of the building. Again, I should have a keycard for you in a few days. In the meantime, if there is ever a fire or other need to evacuate, head this way, if you can. You can also exit in the training area. Understand?”

“Yes,” Hú Dié and I replied in unison.

Dr. V nodded and waved his arm. “Come on, one more area to show you.”

We walked through a second set of swinging double doors and entered a long corridor with multiple doors along either wall and a single door at the very end.

“The living quarters,” Dr. V said.

He opened the first door to our right, and I saw a small space that reminded me of a hotel room. It contained a bed, a dresser, a nightstand with an alarm clock, a floor lamp, and a flat-screen television hanging on one wall. There was also a window and another door.

Dr. V pointed to the door. “There is a private bathroom in there. It’s not much, but it’s better than the barracks-style sleeping quarters and community bathrooms many teams have. And every rider gets his own room. Team members are allowed to stay here, or they may rent their own houses outside the ranch, which is what I do. My house is fifteen miles away, near Austin. I may build a home here at the ranch at some point, but for now I believe I will enjoy being able to take a break from team life every night. This is where you will sleep, Phoenix.”

“What about Ryan?” I asked.

Dr. V closed the door and then opened the door to our left. The room beyond was a mirror image of my room, except instead of a dresser, there was a desk topped with a computer. There were piles of cycling clothes everywhere.

“Please excuse the mess,” Dr. V said, pointing to the
desk. “Ryan wanted
that
instead of a dresser. He also demanded his own high-speed Internet connection because the facility’s Wi-Fi wasn’t fast enough for him. He is such an Internet junkie.”

Dr. V closed the door and turned to Hú Dié. “Pick a room.”

Hú Dié walked all the way down the corridor and grabbed the knob of the door at the very end. She tried turning the handle, but it didn’t budge.

“Locked,” Dr. V said. “That is my private office. No one goes in there except me.”

“Sorry,” Hú Dié said.

“No problem. Pick any other room.”

I walked over to her as she tried another door. It opened into a carbon-copy room of mine.

“I’ll take this one,” she said. “It’s farthest from the boys.”

“Perfect,” Dr. V said. “I will get you a key so you can lock up your room. I’ll get the one for your door, too, Phoenix.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“Any questions?” Dr. V asked.

“Not right now,” I replied.

“Me neither,” Hú Dié said.

“Sounds like it’s time for a late lunch, then,” Dr. V said. “Get your things and put them in your rooms. Meet me in the dining area in ten minutes. I need to let Murphy know about Hú Dié joining him; then I’ll whip us up some sandwiches. What do you plan to do while your
cousin heads to Austin, Phoenix? Would you like to go as well?”

I shook my head. “No, thanks. I think I’ll pass on the field trip. I’m really tired. Maybe I’ll take a nap.”

“I suggest you only take a short one, then. Otherwise, you’ll be up all night. As for me, I plan to head home after the bikes arrive. I usually go to bed early and wake at five a.m.”

“What about Ryan?” Hú Dié asked.

“Ryan will be staying here, as he has been,” Dr. V said. “I’ll make sure he’s returned and settled down before I leave, so don’t worry. If you should have trouble with him or anything else, let Murphy know. If he’s not in the facility working, he’ll be in his camper or somewhere on the grounds nearby. There is a telephone in the kitchen. I’ll leave his cell phone number next to it. Get your things. I’m hungry.” He pushed through the double doors and went to find Murphy.

I looked at Hú Dié. “What do you think?” I whispered.

“I think you’re crazy for not going to the bike shop,” she replied.

I shook my head and pointed to the locked office door. “I’m talking about
that
.”

“No problem. I can get us in
there
anytime. It won’t do us any good, though. We can’t get out of this building without the door alarm going off and alerting Murphy.”

“Wait—how?”

“Ever heard of a bump key?”

“No.”

“It’s sort of like a master key. Once Dr. V gives me the key to my room, I can modify it to open any lock that is the same model made by the same manufacturer, as long as the lock isn’t bump-proof. The locks on these doors aren’t bump-proof and they’re all the same model. I checked.”

I was going to ask Hú Dié how she knew about these things, but then I thought better of it.

“How long will it take you to make it?” I asked.

“About twenty minutes,” she replied. “I could do it tonight, if you want, after I have the key to my room.”

“Heck, yeah. Let’s do it.”

“What do you plan to do if we find the dragon bone in there?”

“Grab it and get out of here. Duh.”

“Get out how?”

“Bicycles,” I said. “I’ll ride the bike I just raced, and you can ride Ryan’s. His frame is a little big for you, but you can manage.”

“What about Murphy?”

“He’ll be asleep.”

“But he’ll wake up when we open the door and the alarm goes off. Haven’t you been listening?”

“Can you disarm it?”

“I don’t think so.…”

“Then we’ll ride really fast. I’ve seen you on a bike. You can hammer.”

“I’m not sure this is such a good idea.”

I thought for a moment. “What about the bay door
in the workshop? That one might not have an alarm. Can you open its locks?”

“No. I already checked. You told me to keep an eye out, remember?”

“What about that motorcycle outside? That would make for a fast getaway after the exit door alarm sounds. Can you ride it?”

“Probably, but we don’t have the starter key, and it’s not like I can hot-wire it. Even if we found a key stashed in Dr. V’s office, firing it up and figuring out how the gears are configured will take time. I’ve never ridden one like that. There is also the gate to consider. Bicycles would be better than the motorcycle because we could climb the gate and pull them over with us. However, Murphy could still catch up to us on the road if he came after us. I don’t know about this.”

“We’ll go cross-country, then. Even if Murphy wakes up, he’ll never catch us.”

“In the dark? There are rattlesnakes and scorpions and coyotes out there. Murphy also has a horse. Take a nap, Phoenix. You’re not thinking clearly.”

“Are you with me or not?” I asked. “In for a penny, in for a pound.”

Hú Dié glared at me as if testing my resolve.

I glared back, my green eyes unyielding.

But then common sense got the better of me. Hú Dié was right. We needed a solid escape plan. “How about if we just sneak into his office and poke around? If we find the dragon bone and a good plan comes to mind, we’ll leave. If not, we’ll wait.”

She sighed. “Fine. Count me in.”

“Good,” I said. “What time should we do it?”

“I don’t know. How about two a.m.?”

“All right. We should get going.”

Hú Dié grabbed her things from the shop, and I banged the mud off my hiking boots and put them back on before getting my stuff from the SUV. I unpacked, washed up, and then went to the dining area, where I ate a couple of ham-and-cheese sandwiches with Dr. V, Hú Dié, and Murphy. Ryan didn’t join us. He was still off in the hills somewhere.

The bike frames arrived as we were finishing our meal, and Hú Dié oohed and aahed over them until Murphy told her they had to leave. Dr. V said he was going to take one of the SUVs off-road into the hills to find Ryan because he, too, wanted to leave. He gave Hú Dié and me our room keys, and I went and took a long, cool shower.

I was toweling off when Dr. V knocked on my door and said he had found Ryan sulking in his room. Dr. V said he was leaving and would return in the morning.

I waited a couple of minutes, then peered between the slats of my window’s mini blinds. I soon saw Dr. V get into one of the black SUVs and head up the dusty road toward the gate.

I set the alarm clock to 1:50 a.m. and climbed into bed, falling asleep the moment my head hit the pillow. I never heard Hú Dié and Murphy return.

I woke to a dark
room with an unfamiliar alarm blaring. I sat up and remembered where I was—the Team Vanderhausen training facility. I began to panic, thinking the door alarm was sounding and that Hú Dié was making off with the dragon bone without me, but then I saw a clock that read 1:50 a.m., and I came to my senses. It was just the alarm clock sounding.

I fumbled around in the dark until I managed to turn off the alarm. I didn’t turn on the light. I found one of the windows and raised the blinds. Flood lamps illuminated the building’s perimeter and the carport well enough to see that Dr. V was still gone, and Murphy’s camper was dark. The coast was clear.

I closed the blinds and flipped on the light, then quickly dressed and grabbed my key. As an afterthought, I shoved my wallet and passport into one of my cargo pockets. I crept across the corridor to Ryan’s room and
placed my ear against the door. I could hear him snoring like a freight train. It sounded as if he was in the middle of a deep dragon bone sleep. Grandfather often snored like that. So far, so good.

I walked down the corridor and knocked softly on Hú Dié’s door, but no one answered.

I knocked harder. Still no answer.

I headed for the workshop. I passed through the dining area, the training area, and the other long corridor, entering the workshop to find Hú Dié hunched over the workbench, filing a key that was clamped in a vice.

“Hi,” I said.

Hú Dié nearly jumped through the roof.

“Don’t scare me like that!” she barked. She was a haggard mess. She had dark, puffy circles beneath her eyes, and her eyelids drooped with fatigue. She’d changed out of her sundress and sandals and was now wearing cargo shorts and a T-shirt that read
MELLOW JOHNNY’S
. That was the name of Lance Armstrong’s bike shop.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

“Yeah. Just tired. The jet lag has caught up with me.”

I looked around the workshop and saw that bike components had been arranged into neat piles on the floor, one set of components for each new frame. There were hundreds of parts in each pile, from nuts to bolts to cables. Sorting all of that out had to have taken hours.