Jackal (11 page)

“I haven’t listened to anything yet. I was away from my phone.”

“We have a problem,” Ryan said.

I felt a knot forming in the pit of my stomach. “What kind of problem?”

“Phoenix and I can’t go to China. At least, not right now.”

That wasn’t at all what I was expecting to hear.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because of everything that happened in California and Texas,” Ryan said. “The police in both states want us to stick around in case they need us for anything.”

“Stick around? How long?”

“They said that it shouldn’t be more than a couple days, so maybe we’ll still be able to ride in the big race. You’ve been cleared, though.”

“I have?”

“Yes. My mom already asked. The police said that you were just a very small part of the California investigation, and they already have everything they’ll need from you. You weren’t in Texas with me, Phoenix, and Hú Dié, so no worries there.”

My heart skipped a beat. “Hú Dié? Are they making her stay, too?”

“The police wanted her to stay, but Ling and Mr. Chang got involved. Those guys can pull some serious strings. Her plane already took off.”

“Whew,” I said. “That’s good. She really needs to be with her mother. Is there anything else going on?”

“In case you didn’t know, your parents have already talked with Ling and Mr. Chang.”

“
My
parents?”

“Yeah. My mom called your mom earlier, and your mom called Ling. Your dad has talked with him, too. Your parents seem pretty excited about you riding in China. I think they’ve already made your travel arrangements.”

“My dad left me a voicemail message, but I haven’t listened to it, either. He was in court all day. I guess he’s out.”

“Duh,” Ryan said. “It’s like six forty-five.”

I checked the time on my phone, and I felt my eyes bulge out of my head. It really
was
6:45 p.m.! I wouldn’t arrive until almost eight p.m. My dad might get home before me.

“I gotta go,” I said. “I need to listen to my dad’s message. Should I call Phoenix?”

“If you want to. He’ll probably just tell you the same stuff I just told you, though.”

“Right,” I said. “I’ll catch up with him some other time. I really need to listen to my dad’s message.”

“Roger that,” Ryan said. “Keep me posted.”

“Ten-four,” I said. “Over and out.”

I ended the call.

Wow. Things were getting more insane by the minute. I felt bad that Ryan and Phoenix were going to have to wait before being allowed to travel to China, but part of me was relieved. It would make life a lot easier for me if they weren’t around at first, especially Phoenix.

I scrolled through my voicemail messages and found my dad’s:

The message ended.

I sighed with relief. I would make it home well before he did. It would be fun hanging out with them tomorrow, too.

I realized that I was getting hungry, but the thought of greasy pizza turned my stomach. I’d probably just make a sandwich or something when I got home. I’d thrown away all the energy bars I’d brought with me in the pocket of my riding shorts because they’d been doused with stinkhorn mud.

I listened to my voicemails from Phoenix and Ryan, and found that they echoed one another. I considered calling Ryan again to let him know about my flight plans, but I decided to wait until tomorrow for that, too. I didn’t want to bum him out any more today. He’d had enough bad news. He wanted to travel and race a lot more than I did, but he was going to be stuck at home while I flew halfway around the world to ride.

I tried to think if there was anyone else I needed to call, or anything else I needed to do. Only one thing came to
mind. I leaned forward and knocked on the glass separating Michael and me.

He lowered the long window.

“What’s up?” he asked.

I pulled my wallet out of my backpack. “Can we settle up right now? I’d feel weird handing you a bunch of cash in a grocery store parking lot.”

“Good idea.”

“What do I owe you?”

“Besides the three hundred dollars for the limo? Let’s see, I spent fifty dollars at the gift shop, so triple that is a hundred-fifty dollars. Plus a tip.”

“How much do people usually tip?”

“Depends how happy they are with my service. Most people give me twenty percent, because I’m awesome.”

I rolled my eyes and did some quick math. Twenty percent of $300 was $60. And $360 plus $150 equaled $510.

I unzipped my wallet and looked inside. I’d brought every dime I had, which equaled $540. I gave it all to him. I was
very
happy with his service. I also hoped a big tip would help him keep his mouth shut. He didn’t have any clue what had happened out on the bike trail, and the fewer people who knew I was even at the state park, the better. Someone was bound to find DaXing eventually.

“Hey, thanks!” Michael said. “You can call me anytime!”

“I’ll remember that,” I said. “How much longer before we get back?”

“Half an hour. Maybe forty-five minutes. Sit back and enjoy the ride.”

I nodded, and Michael raised the window back up.

I thought again about what else I had to do. It was clear that all the wheels had been set in motion. There was literally nothing else I could do, except take Michael’s advice and sit back and enjoy the ride.

So I did.

My plane left
for Shanghai as scheduled the next day. I’d had a nice time with my parents beforehand, as well as brief conversations with Ryan and Phoenix. Phoenix still had no clue what I’d done. I felt kind of bad about it, but not bad enough to say anything. Somebody had to help Hú Dié, and he wasn’t doing squat.

Hú Dié made it to Kaifeng, and she sent me an email. She’d bought a new cell phone, but it would only work in China. She gave me the number anyway, and I memorized it. I emailed back that I was on my way to Shanghai, and she replied that she already knew. Ling had told her. She wasn’t sure when she’d be able to make it down to Shanghai, though, because her mother was really bad, so I offered to try to come to Kaifeng. I said that she’d be “very happy to see me.” She replied with a smiley face. I wasn’t sure if Ling would actually allow me go to Kaifeng, but I didn’t care. I would figure out a way if I had to. Racing was important to
me, but my friends were more important. I couldn’t let Hú Dié down.

The plane landed after an incredibly boring fifteen-hour nonstop flight, and I piled out of the cabin with the other passengers. I’d never been so happy to see the inside of an airport in my life. We were led along a corridor that exited into a huge space with lines of travelers queued up to pass through one of more than a dozen immigration lanes.

I took a deep breath and adjusted my carry-on backpack over my shoulder. I had the dragon bone inside a container of protein powder. The security officers at Indianapolis International Airport didn’t seem to think anything of it, especially since I had special travel documents that said I was going to China to race bicycles. I hoped the immigration and customs officials here would feel the same way. If they figured out I had dragon bone, there was no telling what might happen to me.

Someone called out my name.

“Jake! Over here!”

It was Ling. He waved to me from the farthest lane, which was fancier than the others and completely empty. Next to Ling was a decorative sign printed in English and Chinese. The English read
DIPLOMATS ONLY
.

“This way!” Ling shouted to me. “No need for
you
to wait in a line!”

How embarrassing. I hoped this wasn’t the way I was going to be treated the entire time I was in China.

I wove my way through the crowd, over to Ling, and shook his hand.

“So good to see you!” Ling said cheerily.

“Same,” I replied. And I meant it. It was a little scary arriving alone in a foreign country.

I handed my passport and travel papers to the immigration officer, and she stamped my passport with an entry visa after checking to make sure that my face matched my passport photo. Ling then led me over to another special line, this one for customs. He flashed some type of ID card, and we were waved through without any sort of inspection.

I sighed with relief. Nobody was going to look inside my backpack.

We exited through a set of huge glass doors, into the main airport terminal. Hundreds of happy Chinese people were behind a long line of velvet ropes, ready to greet arriving friends and family members. Many of the people waiting held colorful gift bags and huge bouquets of flowers. It was really cool. The whole place buzzed with excitement.

I grinned.

Ling smiled back. “Welcome to Shanghai. I think you’re going to like it here. We are very warm people.”

“It sure seems that way,” I said.

I followed Ling outside to a waiting minivan, where there was a young guy seated behind the wheel. The weather was warm, just like Indiana, and it was getting dark out, which was very odd because it had been getting dark when I’d boarded the plane. Shanghai time was twelve hours ahead of Indiana time, plus I’d been in the air fifteen hours. I’d lost twenty-seven hours of my life on that flight. I was trying to get my head around this when I suddenly realized that we’d forgotten something—my luggage.

“Wait!” I said. “We need to go to baggage claim. I checked a suitcase.”

Ling shook his head. “Already taken care of.” He pointed to the back of the minivan.

I peered through the window. Sure enough, there was my suitcase.

The minivan’s driver got out and opened the large rear door, and Ling reached for my backpack.

I reflexively jerked away.

Ling frowned at me. “I was just going to put your pack alongside your suitcase for you. Why the extreme reaction? Are you hiding something from me?”

“No,” I lied. “My, um, wallet and passport are in there. So is my tablet. I guess I’m just a little jumpy about it. Phoenix once told me how somebody tried to steal his backpack when he was in China.”

Ling raised an eyebrow. “Is that all? Okay, then.”

I handed over my backpack, and Ling put it into the back of the minivan without looking inside it. The driver closed the back door. I climbed into one of the backseats as Ling and the driver got into the front seats. They exchanged a few words in Chinese, and the driver pulled out into the approaching night.

We were soon on a major highway that looked a lot like the multi-lane highway leading away from Indianapolis International Airport. If I hadn’t just seen and heard all the Chinese people in the terminal, I would have guessed we were back in the States.

Ling turned around and handed me a cell phone. “You should call your parents and let them know that you’ve
arrived safely. Your mother’s number is already on the screen. Just hit
send
.”

I hit
send
. My mom picked up a few seconds later.

“Hello?” she said. “Ling?”

“No, Mom,” I said. “It’s me, Jake.”

“Baby! You made it?”

“Yep.”

“How are you?”

“Great.”

“No problems?”

“Nope. It’s kind of weird that it’s getting dark here, but I know it’s just a time zone thing.”

“You’ll adjust to it,” my mom said. “Do you need anything?”

“No. Ling is taking care of me. I didn’t have to wait in a single line at the airport. He’s the man.”