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Kowalski slowed, ready to make his stand. The gunman’s companions closed to either side. By then, Kowalski had realized he was not entirely weaponless.
He reached into his jacket pocket and removed his only hope. He brought it to his lips—not to kiss it, but to pantomime a threat. He pretended to bite into it, then threw the spherical black pineapple toward the gunman.
“Sho?uléi!” he shouted.
Kowalski had learned the Chinese word forgrenadewhen he had bought the Korean relic from a night market vendor. Kowalski was suddenly glad that Gray had forced him to remove it from the villa after Jack had picked it up earlier.
The effect of his ruse was immediate. The gunman flung himself away and dove toward the retreating crowd. So did his companions.
Kowalski turned and ran the opposite way. With the crowd cleared, he reached the rail of the terrace garden and leaped over it. He plunged to the street below. The impact threw him down hard, but he rolled over his shoulder and back to his feet.
He fled into the crowd, limping a bit, and ducked around a corner.
He had barely gotten two steps when another hand grabbed him. This time he did punch his assailant. The kid’s nose bounced off his knuckles. The teenager’s head snapped backward, and his legs went out from under him. Still, the guy refused to let go of Kowalski’s arm.
Hanging there, the kid shouted, “Blue Lantern. Blue Lantern withDuàn zhi.”
It took Kowalski a few more steps, dragging the teenager along with him, to recognize the term for an uninitiated member of a triad—a Blue Lantern—someone who hadn’t yet earned their stripes.
Kowalski pulled the kid back upright. “What are you doing here?”
“I followed you from the villa,” he gasped out, blood dripping from both nostrils. “Saw the others attacked, then watched you fly down here.”
Kowalski frowned. Someone must have tipped off the attackers about the two guards sent into Hong Kong with him. But obviously the bastards had missedone, and Kowalski could guess why.
“Guan-yin didn’t send you,” Kowalski said.
“No,” the kid confirmed. “I came on my own.”
Clearly, the teenager was trying to earn those stripes—which Kowalski especially appreciated at the moment.
“Do you know a way out of here?” he asked.
The kid finally let go of his arm and fled ahead. “This way!”
11:16P.M.
In the backseat, Seichan cradled Jack under one arm and rested the butt of the Chinese carbine on her other knee. She held tight to her son as the Titan rocked with every sharp turn of the twisting road.
She sat on the left side, which offered a dizzying view down a steep drop. Across the Titan, the rocky side of a hill filled the far windows. The road was unnervingly narrow, especially accounting for the size of the armored tanks that rolled down it. Worse, they still ran dark, not taking any chances, even with the villa a couple of miles behind them.
Mount Kellett Road looped around this hilltop. Ahead, a Y-junction appeared, where the road circled back upon itself, forming a single road that descended into Hong Kong proper. Beyond the intersection, the roadway was packed with condominium complexes and smaller homes.
Behind the wheel, Gray clutched the handheld radio to his lips. “Any word about Kowalski?”
Zhuang answered from the Titan behind them. “No. I alerted the men who went with him, but I’ve not been able to raise anyone since. I’ve tried repeatedly. But cell signal is patchy due to the power outage and overloaded systems.”
In the front passenger seat, Seichan’s mother shook her head. “They must’ve been ambushed, too,” she said, her voice matter-of-factly certain. “We must assume your friend is dead.”
“You don’t know Kowalski,” Gray said.
Seichan silently agreed. The man was nearly impossible to kill.
Still, if Kowalski and the others were attacked in the city, it made no sense. TheDuàn zhiTriad was seventy thousand members strong.
So, why bother with a handful in Hong Kong?
Ahead of them, the lead Titan reached the Y-junction. It slowed to merge onto the descending road. A thin crowd lined the road after fleeing the precarious perch of the cliffside homes. Several groups milled into the street.
