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The Titan ahead honked to clear the way as it crossed the intersection. But Seichan noted a few pedestrians were already in motion, with panicked looks on their faces, seeing something their group couldn’t.
She lunged forward to Gray. “Stop!”
From the other leg of the Y, a huge tractor-trailer slammed into the side of the lead Titan, sending it spinning away. Smaller trucks followed behind the tractor, closing off the junction. From their open beds, armed men leaped out.
At Seichan’s shout, Gray had already begun braking.
Gunfire pelted the front of their armored Titan, sounding like golf ball–size hail. Bullets spattered against the bulletproof windshield.
Guan-yin pointed to the forest on the left. “That way!”
Gray gunned the Titan into a hard turn—aiming toward a wall of towering trees and a steep drop. A grenade struck the road near their flank. The blast jolted the Titan. A flash of flames and smoke washed across the side windows. As the concussion cleared the view, Seichan spotted the shooter lowering an RPG launcher.
It can’t be...
Then the Titan slammed into the forest’s edge and kept going. The front of the SUV tipped steeply. Only then did Seichan notice the thin trail descending from the road, too thin for their vehicle. The Titan crashed through saplings and bounced off larger trunks. More explosions and gunfire erupted behind them as the other Titan followed the path that Gray carved through the forest.
Belted in place, Seichan dropped her rifle and clutched Jack with both arms. He hollered and wailed, which stoked her fury to a red-hot blaze.
“Gonna get stuck!” Gray shouted.
“Keep going,” Guan-yin insisted.
The large tires and portal axles drove them onward for another fifty yards—then the forest broke ahead of them, opening into a packed gravel trail nearly as wide as their vehicle. It was lined by dense ferns and tangles of tall banyan trees.
Guan-yin pointed. “Go right!”
Gray swung the Titan sharply. The vehicle lifted on two wheels before crashing back down. With four tires under it again, the Titan sped off. Behind them, the second vehicle crashed into view and made the turn more deftly. Zhuang must have known about this trail through the Peak’s highlands.
“Where are we?” Gray asked as they got moving.
“Hiking path and fire road,” Guan-yin answered.
To confound any pursuers, she directed Gray through a crisscrossing of other trails. With their vehicles still running dark, Seichan searched the surrounding forests for any other lights, for any sign of the enemy in pursuit. But the woodlands remained dark.
“These trails form a maze across the Peak,” Guan-yin said. “With a half-dozen exits across Hong Kong Island and twice that number of lesser-known ones. Those damnedpok gaaicannot cover them all.”
The portable radio chirped from where Gray had tossed it atop the Titan’s dashboard.
Zhuang’s voice traveled from the other Titan. “I just heard from Hong Kong. From Bolin Chén.”
Guan-yin leaned over and nabbed the radio. She lifted it to her lips. “Bolin Chén? Shuí?” she asked, inquiring about the identity of the person.
“Guà lán deng long,” Zhuang answered in Cantonese, claiming the caller had been one of the triad’s Blue Lanterns.
“What’s happening?” Gray asked.
Guan-yin held up a palm and continued in Cantonese, while guiding Gray through more twists and turns.
Seichan used the moment to rock Jack, trying to calm his fear, which had settled to a quiet trembling, but it did nothing to assuage her own fury.
Guan-yin finally ended the communication with a sour expression.
“What?” Gray asked, plainly anxious about Kowalski.
“Your friend is safe. In the custody of one of the triad’s youngest. I’ve ordered him to take your man and meet us at Deep Water Bay on the island’s southern side, away from the main city. I have a catamaran moored at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. No one knows about it,except Zhuang. We can take it to Macau. No triad will dare attack our stronghold there.”
With Jack somewhat settled, Seichan leaned forward. “It wasn’t another triad that attacked us, Mother. It was one ofourenemies.”
