Chapter Nine
Mike raised his head blearily when Dragonman entered.
The spy swept across the room, surveying his prisoners. “I hope you both slept well,” he smirked.
“Go . . . to hell.”
“Chang.”
Mike twisted his head around, trying to see the attack coming. Something that flashed briefly whistled through the air and hit his back, sending white-hot pain biting into his flesh. He released a half-gasp, half-groan, eyes closing tight.
“Bastard,” Davy ground out.
Dragonman held out his hand and Chang obediently placed the item—a metal switch—into his hand. Dragonman stared at Davy, his gaze triumphant and mocking as he lashed Mike across the lower back, drawing blood.
“Stop it!” Davy tried to yell.
“Tell me the name I want!”
“Can’t . . . have to protect . . . ” Mike gasped.
The switch hit again, drawing more blood. “Name!”
“Don’t tell!” Mike ground out.
Dragonman released another snarl, this one deeper and more forceful than they’d yet heard. He grabbed Mike by the hair and wrenched his head around. “You have one more chance!”
Mike tightened his jaw and remained silent. Dragonman paused for only a few seconds before his arm lashed out; Mike saw Davy’s head whip around as the tip of the switch slashed his cheek, sending a bright ribbon of blood trickling down his face.
“You will tell me!” Dragonman demanded.
Davy looked at Mike, his eyes fierce, and shook his head.
“Take the small one!” Dragonman thundered. “Break his limbs!”
Chang nodded and moved away from Mike and toward Davy, only to be stopped by the tiniest hint of creaking glass above them. “Master? Do you hear—?”
Dragonman opened his mouth to speak—his words drowned out by the sound of breaking glass as the small windows shattered and two bodies launched themselves in, feet first.
Their aim was dead-on. Chang and Toto were both knocked away from Mike and Davy, and the black forms somersaulted, losing the last of their momentum. When they landed in identical half-crouches, Dragonman found himself facing a furious Micky and Peter.
“Get them!” Dragonman shouted as Chang and Toto struggled to their feet.
“Oh, very original,” Micky ground out as he circled to put his body between Toto and Mike. “What, do they teach that line in Villain School?”
“Give the man a break, Micky,” Peter said as he kept a wary eye on the torture master. “English isn’t his first language!”
Toto and Chang both lunged, but it was obvious they were not a match for opponents who weren’t tied down.
Through a move Micky would later call “Very nice!” Micky managed to twist his and Toto’s bodies hard enough that the oversized villain’s bulk hit the supports holding Mike and Davy up—shattering them and sending the bound Winds to their knees—still bound, but free from their eternal standing.
Peter ducked Chang’s punches and attacked low, landing two hard strikes to Chang’s kneecaps. Chang went down, screaming invectives in two languages.
Peter turned and faced Dragonman, his body poised, his eyes still snapping with rage. Dragonman met his eyes. “Imposters,” he snarled.
“We are the Four Winds. Bow before us,” Peter said, in perfect, unaccented Chinese.
Davy’s eyes widened and he shot a ‘say what?’ look at Mike.
“You are fakes,” Dragonman shot back in Chinese. “Americans who play at being the Four Winds!”
Peter stepped back, raising his hands into a defensive gesture. “Then prove it. Come on.”
Dragonman grabbed one of Chang’s knives. “I come—and I will personally carve that blasphemy from your neck!”
The others watched as Dragonman leapt forward, the knife aimed at Peter’s throat. Peter stood absolutely still; just as Micky was about to shout a warning Peter moved, his arms a blur as they knocked Dragonman’s hand aside and grabbed his arm, pulling downwards in a move that yanked him off his feet and slammed him face first into the floor. The man let out a grunt, then struggled to gain purchase.
Peter turned Dragonman’s arm, wrenching it behind his back. “You’re going back to prison, Dragonman. Add kidnapping and assault to your crimes. Micky—gimme something to tie him up with.” Micky threw him the chains the villain had used on Mike.
Peter secured Dragonman, then turned to his friends. His eyes slowly filled with tears. Mike looked up and tried to smile.
“Oh God . . . Pete, we gotta . . . oh God . . . Peter, his side!” Micky said, his hands hovering near Mike but too afraid to touch.
Mike’s head lolled over toward Micky. “Jeesh, Mick . . . ca-calm down . . . ‘ll be . . . fine . . . ” His voice faded as he passed out.
“Micky, stay calm,” Peter said. “We’ll get them out of here right now, and Honeywell’s men will be here in about an hour, probably. We’ll leave them to clean up in here, okay?”
Micky just nodded, beyond the capacity for rational speech.
Chang was still rolling on the floor, clutching his wounded knees, when Peter and Micky carried Mike out. In the hall, Micky boosted Mike onto Peter’s back, then went in for Davy, pausing long enough to tie Chang up and make sure Dragonman and the rest of his men were secured. Davy looked up at him. “Ah, my knight in shining black!”
“You should be so lucky,” Micky said, pulling him up. “Grab my shoulders, and I’ll be your trusty horse, too.”
Davy grunted as he was eased onto Micky’s shoulders. “Mind . . . the tail . . . ” he cracked. Micky snorted and headed out of the room, giving the wounded Chang and unconscious Toto one last look. Before leaving, he turned, giving the half-conscious Dragonman a vicious kick to the ribs. By the time he got back to Peter, Davy was unconscious.
If anyone had been sitting on top of any of the ruined buildings by the wharves that morning as the sun just started to throw its beams across the sky, turning it blue, they would have caught a glimpse of the two nearly invisible figures carrying their battered comrades into the gloom as a group of gray-suited men entered the old warehouse. But there was no one, and so the Four Winds made a silent, unnoticed escape.
On to Chapter Ten
Back to Chaper Eight
Back to Secrets and Lies Index
