Tiger Threat (7 page)

I smiled and shrugged, hiding my fear. The guy towered over me. The parking lot lights showed a square face, square head, square haircut. Nothing about his face was friendlier than, say, Frankenstein's monster.

“Looking for Vlad,” I said. “I saw him get into the van. The guys want him so we can celebrate tonight's win. I tried stopping him in the arena parking lot, but you both got away on me.”

The monster man grunted. He put a big, big hand on my shoulder. He pushed me away. I staggered backward. This was a very strong man.

“Hey,” I said. “Do you speak English?”

He pointed past me. It was obvious he wanted me to go away. That made it obvious to me that I needed to stay. Back in the van was a pair of pliers. And Vlad. Not a good combination in the hands of this guy.

“Speak English?” I repeated. I needed to pretend I had no clue as to what was happening in the van.

There was another way to find out. “You're ugly,” I said. “Like Frankenstein, except worse.
How about I call you Big Frank. Maybe your mother was Big Tank.”

He kept pointing but didn't swing at me. He didn't understand the insult.

“Vlad,” I said, speaking loudly. “Come on, dude.”

I pointed at the van. “Vlad. Us. Celebrate.”

I began dancing and singing a song. “Get it? Celebrate.”

I realized that Amanda was hearing the entire conversation because of the cell phone in my pocket. She must have thought I was an idiot.

The man grunted one more time. He turned his back on me to get back into the van.

Not good.

The van was unlocked. I'd heard the click.

I took three fast steps and got to the back of the van before the monster could close his door and lock it again.

I popped open the rear doors and swung them wide.

“Vlad!” I said. “Good to see you!”

I reached inside and grabbed his arm.

“Amanda,” I said, hoping she was listening to all of this. “Get here. Now!”

I pulled Vlad. The monster inside was climbing from the front toward us. We had to get a jump on this guy before he made it out of the van. I pulled harder and Vlad stumbled onto the pavement.

“Come on,” I said. I slammed the rear doors and began running. Vlad stayed with me. We gained some ground on Big Frank.

“See those headlights?” I said to Vlad. “That's Amanda. We'll be safe.”

“He will follow me all night long,” Vlad said, trotting beside me. “I can never be safe.”

We had a big enough jump on Big Frank that he had stopped chasing us. Still, I was too busy running toward Amanda's car to really think about what Vlad had said.

Not until Amanda had dropped us off at my Jeep. Not until Vlad and I were in the Jeep and I had begun to drive away.

“Let me get this straight,” I said to Vlad as we drove away. “You can understand English.”

“I can speak it too.”

I tried to remember if I had ever said anything around him that had been mean or embarrassing. Couldn't come up with anything.

Vlad grinned. “Have no worries.”

“Huh?”

“You wonder now if there is anything said about me that came from you.” He
spoke with a heavy accent, of course, and didn't quite put words together like someone who had been born and raised here. But obviously he wasn't lying about being able to speak English.

I frowned at him. “You can read minds too?”

A shrug. “Easy to guess at what you are thinking.”

“How about now?” I asked Vlad.

“What is it that you mean?”

“I mean, can you guess at what I'm thinking now?”

“Nyet.”

“I'm thinking I should punch you in the mouth. You've been keeping this secret from me since we met. What if I had said something about you that I shouldn't have? Like maybe telling people that I think you're a Russian weenie.”

“Weenie? This word I do not know.”

“It's a hotdog.”

“Ah. Weiner.”

“And other people would say weenie means dweeb. Dork.”

Dweeb? Dork?” Those words sounded funny with a Russian accent. “What is dweeb? Dork?”

“Weenie,” I said. “Look, that's not fair, letting us talk around you without letting us know you understood every word.”

“I do not know who I can trust. Now I do know. You. Always, you protect me with your words. And now you protect me from...what did you call him? Big Frank?”

“I protected you from getting a tooth pulled from your head by a sicko with a pair of pliers.”

“Sicko? This word I do not know.”

“You know what I don't understand?” I said. “You weren't even trying to fight the guy.”

Vlad looked at the floor.

“Come on,” I said. “It's not like Big Frank was holding a gun to your head. Or a knife to your throat.”

Vlad didn't look up.

“Sure, he was bigger than you,” I said. “But it looked almost like you wanted him to pull the tooth.”

Then it hit me. Maybe there was more than one capsule hidden in Vlad's mouth.

“You did want him to pull it,” I said. Slowly. “You need the other capsule. Or capsules.”

It was like I'd taken a stun gun and jabbed it into Vlad's arm. He snapped his head high, stared at me, eyes wide. His long arms began to move in all directions.

“You! You know! Impossible!”

I didn't know much. Except that there had been a capsule in his mouth with a weird message.

“What did your father call you when you were a boy?” I asked.

“I do not understand.”

“He had a special name for you.”

“Yes,” Vlad said. “But what does this matter to what we are discussing?”

I felt my eyebrows crinkle. This wasn't making sense. Unless...

“You don't know what was in the first capsule, do you?” I said.

“Speaking about the capsule can kill you,” he said.

“You don't know what was in the first capsule, do you?”

“No,” Vlad answered. “I do not want the knowledge. It can kill me. It can kill you. It can kill the players on our team.”

“Slow down,” I said. “You need to start making sense. Tell me about the capsule.”

“First you tell me how you know about it,” he said.

I explained how I'd found the capsule, how Mr. Jewel had opened it and how I'd gotten a friend to translate the writing on the paper inside the capsule.

Then he told me his story. And when he was finished, I was afraid.

Very afraid.

“Amanda.” I was calling her on my cell phone as I drove through the downtown with Vlad.

The reason I was calling was simple.

A set of headlights had been following us for the last ten minutes. I wished it was my imagination. But I knew better. Especially after hearing Vlad's story.

“Ray?” Amanda said. “Is everything all right?”

“I'm sorry our date didn't work out,” I said. “I'm glad to hear you made it home.”

“Hello? Hello?” This was a female voice.

“Mom,” Amanda's voice said on the telephone, “it's all right.”

I managed to figure it out. Her mother had picked up the extension. I waited until I heard the click that let me know her mother had hung up again.

“Amanda,” I said, “I need help. I can't tell you why. I really need you to trust me.”

I glanced in the rearview mirror. Vlad and I were near the public library, passing the beautiful old sandstone buildings around it. The headlights were staying with me. I had a good guess about the driver. Big Frank. The monster with pliers.

“Try me,” Amanda said. “Remember, I was there with the white van.”

“Your car,” I answered. “I need you to park it behind your house. Leave the keys in the ignition.”

“You want to borrow my car?”

“There's more,” I said. “If you say yes, Vlad and I are going to pull up in front of your house. We're going to knock on your front door.”

“You're coming to visit?” she said.

“No,” I said. “We're going to take a shortcut through your house. To the back. Then we'll take your car.”

“All right,” she said hesitantly.

“I can't tell you for how long or where I'm going to take it.”

“I didn't ask,” she said. “You said to trust you. I am.”

“You're beautiful,” I said. I coughed. “I mean as a person. To help me.”

“Ray...”

“I need to ask something else,” I said.

“Go ahead.”

“I'm going to call two friends and send them over to your house right now. They're going to park in the back and wait for Vlad and me. After I borrow your car, can you let them take a shortcut through your house and out to my Jeep in front of your house?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe let them stay for five or ten minutes.”

“Yes.”

“You do trust me.”

“Yes,” she said.

“One of the two guys is going to be tall. Like Vlad. The other guy is going to be shorter, like me. They'll be wearing Tigers jackets because we're going to trade jackets in the back. They'll be wearing our Tigers caps.

Could you...”

How could I ask her this?

“Could I what?”

I could ask her because of the headlights behind my Jeep.

“When they leave, could you stand at the front door and give the shorter guy a long hug? Like maybe you were giving me a hug?”

“You're not joking.”

“This is important.” If she gave the short guy a hug, it would go a long way toward convincing Big Frank that the shorter guy was me.

“I'll do it,” she said. She waited a few seconds. “Can I give you some advice?”

“Sure.”

“My car has a full tank. Unless you have to get where you've got to go in a hurry, drive
out of the city and down a gravel road before you come back to town.”

I asked the obvious question.

“Why?” I said into my cell phone.

“Won't be much traffic on a gravel road. If there are no headlights behind you, then you'll know if the switch worked.”

I coughed.

“Um, Amanda?” I said.

“Yes, Ray.”

“Now I know why I go to you for help with my homework.”

“I'd rather it wasn't only because I'm smart.”

I grinned into the darkness. “Glad to hear that. Because it's a lot more than that. I think you're beautiful too.”

I heard strange noises from the passenger seat. I looked over. Vlad was grinning at me and smooching the back of his hand, making kissing noises.

I hung up the phone.

“Very funny, you Russian moron,” I said.

“Very, very funny.”

Dr. Dempster stared through the glass of his office door at me. At Vlad. At Mr. Jewel, who was carrying a handbag with some of his watch-repair tools.

Dr. Dempster unlocked the door to let us in. He backed up a step and stared at me with his arms crossed.

“You don't look like you're in pain,” he said to me.

“I lied to you,” I said. I had called Dr. Dempster at his home from my cell phone. “I'm sorry.”

“It's nearly midnight,” he said. Arms still crossed. “You woke me up when you called. You
are
aware of both of those things?”

“Yes, sir,” I said.

“What's the dental emergency then?” Dr. Dempster looked like he was about to explode. I didn't blame him. I'd told him that one of my other teeth was cracked and that my jaw was swelling, and I had begged for an emergency visit. “Both of these guys seem fine.”

“I can explain,” Mr. Jewel said.

That startled me. I doubted that even I could really explain all that was happening. And I was the one who had made this plan.

“Please do,” Dr. Dempster said, his lips tight. “I fixed Ray's temporary cap right after the game. He assured me then that his mouth and teeth were fine. I certainly don't appreciate leaving my house at this hour. And I can't tell you how angry I am that Ray lied to me over the phone.”

I was worried,” I said to Dr. Dempster. “I didn't want you telling anyone at your house the real reason. I didn't want to put anyone else in danger.”

“And we are?” he said, obviously not believing it. “Mr. Jewel, who are we in danger from?”

Mr. Jewel looked around. Which was silly. There were only the four of us here, standing in the lobby. I was pretty sure the Russian who had been following us was now at Abe Madison's house, where my friends had taken the Jeep.

“Well?” Dr. Dempster demanded.

Mr. Jewel lowered his voice. “Russian mafia.”

“What?”

“Russian mafia,” Mr. Jewel repeated.

“That's what I thought you said.” Dr. Dempster was still frowning. “What is this, another lie?”

I put up my hand. I felt stupid doing this. It wasn't like we were in school.

“Yes, Ray,” Dr. Dempster said.

“If I make a guess about something,
and if my guess is right, will you take us seriously?”

“How can I possibly say yes if I have no idea what you're talking about.” He snorted. “Maybe you took a few too many shots in the head in that fight tonight.”

“I did,” I said. “Way too many. But that has nothing to do with this.”

That brought a hint of a smile from Dr. Dempster. “Guess, then.”

“When you worked on Vlad's teeth, you took X-rays of his jaw,” I said.

“Sure,” Dr. Dempster said. “And the sky is blue. Tell me something that's not so obvious.”

But Dr. Dempster had lost his frown. In that instant I knew I was right. It came down to the X-rays.

“After you worked on his teeth,” I said, “you sent a file over to the Tigers' office with a report on Vlad.”

“Again, tell me something that's not obvious.” He was testing me now. I knew it. His eyes had widened. Just slightly. Enough to tell me that I finally had his attention.