Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 "Watch out!" Amy screamed. "Hunh!" Alistair gasped, heaving himself upward. Clanggggg! Dan felt the ladder jolt. He hung on tight, staring at the amazing sight below. With a sharp, precise movement, Alistair had brought his walking stick down hard, knocking the blade from the attacker's hand. Then, on the backswing, Alistair caught the yakuza on the side of the head, sending him spinning downward to the track. "Get out, Dan!" Alistair commanded, shouting upward. "How did you learn to do that?" Dan asked.

"I'm full of surprises— now move!" Alistair said. Amy had managed to push aside the grating at the top of the ladder. Dan scrambled to the street, pulling up the objects behind him. A moment later, with a loud grunt, Alistair heaved himself up onto the sidewalk. A mother pushing a baby in a stroller swerved around them. Dan quickly began shoving the grating back, getting it over three- quarters of the hole before Alistair yanked him away. "No time for that!" he said, pulling Dan with him as he stepped into the street. "Wait!" Dan protested. "What about Amy?" Amy was trying to catch up, limping over the curb in their direction. Shiiiink… SHIIIINK! Soot-stained fingers, reaching up from underground, were sliding the grate open. "Pardon me, please," Alistair said, rushing over to the hole. Like a golf pro, he drew back his walking stick and swung it down toward the fingers. Hard.

"AAAAAAAGHHH!" came a tortured shout. Dan heard the thumping of multiple bodies hitting the ground below the ladder. Alistair knelt, his back to Amy. "Climb on." She leaped onto him and he locked his arms under her knees, grimacing as he limped across the street behind Dan. Their shadows were elongated in the setting sun, making them look like some misshapen beast. HONNNNK! A car swerved out of the way, its driver shouting at them. "The objects—" Alistair called out through gritted teeth. "Drop them in that alleyway. We will come back for them!" Dan spotted a dark, narrow space between buildings and threw Alistair's tightly packed jacket into it. They raced around the corner, up a hill between low brick buildings where the smell of soy sauce and fried shrimp belched out of ground- floor windows in steamy wisps. Alistair darted right at the top of the hill, into the open gate at the back of a vast, empty playground. "Where are

we going?" Dan cried out. "I have friends!" Alistair said. "All we need to do is get a taxi—" As if by magic, a cab sped toward them up the street. Alistair let go of Amy with one hand and waved frantically, shouting in Japanese. But as the taxi swerved at him, it picked up speed, its engine roaring. "Look out!" Dan screamed. Alistair jumped away. Amy went flying off onto the blacktop as the cab hopped the curb, missing them by an inch. It squealed to a stop and spun around. At once, all four doors opened. "Yakuza!" Alistair shouted. Now even Amy was moving fast. As Dan ran after her, he heard a high whistling sound. "DUCK, AMY!" A jagged-edged silver metal disk sliced the air. It whizzed over Dan's head as he leaped for his sister, grabbing her by the waist. She screamed as they tumbled to the ground

again. "What was that?" Amy gasped. "A shuriken," Dan shouted. "A ninja throwing star!" "This way!" Alistair cried out. Dan felt the old man's hand clasp his wrist, yanking him upward. In a split second they were racing into a large steel tunnel, part of the playground. Thunk! Thunk! Thunk-thunk-thunk-thunkthunk! Dan flinched as each throwing star hit the outside of the tunnel, inches from their heads. They emerged from the other end into a complex of thick wooden climbing equipment. Alistair was running, crouched, his head low and his walking stick tucked under his arm. Splinters flew around their heads like hailstones. Barking, angry Japanese instructions rang out behind them. Car doors slammed. Tires screeched. Dan, Amy, and Alistair ran blindly out of the playground, across a lawn, into a backyard, over a small fence. "Yeowww!" Amy shouted, her foot jamming in the fence's links.

"Keep up!" Alistair retorted. The throwing stars had stopped, Dan realized. The yakuza wouldn't use them in a residential neighborhood— would they? They emerged at the other end of a block, this one with a line of stores on either side. To their right, Dan could hear a speeding engine. "Go left!" The street sloped downward to a big, open market area. Inside, vendors were packing up, cleaning out stalls. Dan realized that he, Amy, and Alistair could get safely lost in there. The yakuza would be asking for chaos if they followed. VRRROOOOOM! Dan stopped in his tracks. A red Porsche was turning into the road in front of them. Blocking their way to the market. Rounding the corner, the Porsche flashed its brights. Dan cowered, momentarily blinded. Grabbing his sister, he sprang away from the street. "Jump— jump!" They leaped onto the sidewalk, rolling past a metal mailbox as odd noises rang out. Thwip! Thwip-thwip!