Stealing the Dragon by Tim Maleeny Read Free Book Online

rent by selling items not found in the local Safeway. During the day you could see ducks rotating on steel hooks through the front windows, their long curved necks looking like a grotesque series of question marks. Live eels swam in a metal tub just inside the door, while behind the counter you could find fresh ginseng, ginger, bamboo, and about fifty other spices and herbs Cape didn’t know how to pronounce. It was rumored that if you knew how to ask, even powdered rhinoceros horn had a price.
    Next to the grocery was a flight of wooden stairs that disappeared into the side of the building, leading to a landing on the second floor that served as an open foyer to Sally’s loft. Cape took the stairs two at a time, anxious to see his friend and clear his mind.
    Cape pulled up short as he landed on the top step. In front of him was a sliding wooden door that ran the entire width of the landing. Cape knew behind it lay another sliding door made of wood and paper, set into the wall at the rear of the landing. The door directly in front of him looked impregnable, its unfinished surface rough and scarred. Although he’d noticed this outer door in the past, hidden in the recess of the stairway wall, Cape had never seen it closed in all the years he’d known Sally. Its presence alone spoke volumes, and he didn’t like what it was saying.
    People in the neighborhood knew to stay clear of the school unless they had business there, and Cape had experienced Sally’s approach to home security firsthand. It usually involved Sally dropping from the rafters behind you, unheard and unseen, with a knife or sword in her hand. Cape doubted if the Invisible Man could sneak up on Sally, even when she was asleep. And since you couldn’t see if she was home from the landing, you took your chances by stepping inside. As a result, Sally had never bothered to shut the outer door. Until now.
    Cape frowned, knowing the closed door meant one of two things:
    Sally had left town and wasn’t coming back any time soon. And that meant she’d left suddenly, without telling him.
    The other option, that Sally was holed up inside, was a possibility that troubled Cape even more. As long as he’d known her, Cape never worried about Sally. Not once. He had seen her bleed, and he had seen her kill, but he’d never seen her afraid. He couldn’t imagine who or what could make Sally hide behind this fortress door.
    He raised his right fist and knocked, almost breaking his hand in the process. The door might be made of wood, but it felt like cement. He couldn’t hear anyone moving around inside, and he seriously doubted they could hear him, even if he were using a sledgehammer.
    Cape stood for several minutes staring at the faceless wooden surface, running through the possibilities again and again, liking them less each time. Tentatively, almost gently, he raised his right hand to the gnarled wood, his palm resting flat against the door. He stood that way for a long moment, as if he could divine Sally’s whereabouts from the coarse surface. Finally, he exhaled loudly and turned toward the stairs, more frustrated than enlightened.
    Sally knew how to take care of herself better than anyone. If she were inside, she’d come out when she was ready— if she was coming out at all. That door said Do Not Disturb louder than any sign. And if she had left, there must have been a good reason. Cape just had to find out what it was.
    Head down, Cape descended the stairs slowly, lost in thought. As he reached the bottom he stopped, noticing a stain running across the top of the first step, down the side, and ending on the pitted cement of the sidewalk. In the dim light of the stairwell it was a dark reddish brown, maybe a water stain, a natural discoloration in the wood, or something more sinister.
    Licking his index and middle fingers, Cape bent and ran his hand from the inside of the step toward the outer edge. Putting his fingers to his tongue, he frowned. Could he