Chapter 6


(JWJ is tied up in a chair, RAEB and Leigh standing over him)

RAEB: How dare you tell me that Orlando Bloom's going out with another girl!

Sarah: (To herself) What about Kate Bosworth?

Leigh: And Meg never went running you dope! I spent like two hours trying to find her!

RAEB: This is it. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Leigh: You belong to the Cellar Rat Club, right?

Emma: Cellar Rat Club? You've got to be kidding me!

RAEB: Well, the Lizz Mafia declares war on the Cellar Rat Club!

JWJ: Ratigan's in that club too, you know.

Leigh: Even more of a reason to declare war!

(Lizz runs in, dragging Meg along behind her.)

Meg: JWJ, I hate you!

JWJ: Doesn't everyone right now?

Lizz: The Mafia is declaring war on the Cellar Rat Club!

Meg: Oh, cool! Wait... bad idea. I think the Lizz Mafia should reconsider that.

RAEB: Okay... nope.

Meg: No, I mean it, and I'm the leader. I am against any war with the Cellar Rat Club.

Leigh: But JWJ! Ratigan!

Meg: And me.

RAEB: What do you mean, 'and me'?

Lizz: Meg, you're not part of-

Meg: I am.

RAEB & Leigh: Traitor! (They chase Meg.)


I paced about the room, anxious to start my lesson. Mr. Liang was not there yet. Basil and Dawson had gone off to follow another lead on their case. I had sent Li Yan on another errand.

I decided to start warming up for my exercise by practicing some kicks and jumps. The vigorous exercise started to clear my mind. I thought about how far I had progressed. I need to clear the roof soon. I need to. I need...

My eyes fell upon a long staff lying on the floor against the opposite wall. I had used staffs before, but this one was noticeably longer than the others had been. Suddenly an idea started to take form. Could I use this to get to the other roof?

I picked up the bamboo pole and leaned it against the wall next to a rope ladder leading to a trapdoor to the roof. I climbed the rope and opened the trapdoor, lifting myself up. I then pulled the pole up with me. As I held it level I teetered dangerously, but managed to keep my balance.

The roof was not flat, but slanted at all four sides like a traditional pagoda. But as a mouse, it was fairly easy to do a little crawl to the side of the structure. I peeked over the side and squeaked in surprise. I was really high up. To fall would mean the death of me. I could barely make out the shapes of mice below me.

I tried to place the pole on the roof to use as a bridge, but it was not anywhere near reaching the other roof. Mr. Liang probably would not have accepted that anyway.

Then another idea came to me. Use it like a staff. Vault the roof.

I gulped. I had never made a jump that far. I inched away from the edge, resigning myself to the fact that I would not be able to do it. Then I remembered something Mr. Liang had said to me: Nothing is impossible until you say it is. You need to have faith in yourself.

"Faith?" I mumbled. "I need a miracle." I looked longingly at my goal. Do it. Do it. Come on, Meg. Do it!

I backed up and held the pole from the base, which seemed to make sense at the time. I took a deep breath, braced myself, and sprinted toward the edge. I pitched over the side. Then I decided to take a look downward. Big mistake. I started to fall sideways and slightly backwards, falling, falling...


Basil knelt down and inspected the ground, mentally calculating the size of the footprints in the dust. Dawson stood nearby, watching Basil carefully observe everything about the room, from the broken door to the broken pieces of pottery on the dirt floor.

Basil turned toward the Chinese couple huddled in the corner. "How many children do you have?" he asked in Chinese.

"Three boys and a little girl. All were taken," the husband answered. His wife burst into a fresh wave of tears. "Ah, Zhen, do not weep."

"My poor little ones! We shall never see them again!" Zhen cried in her husband's arms.

Compassion swept through Dawson as he witnessed the mourning of the parents. He wondered how Basil felt about the whole situation. The great mouse detective rarely showed his emotions to others, which had caused many mice to see him as a heartless creature at times. In fact, the case of Olivia Flaversham and her missing father and the murder of Meg's husband had been the only two times Dawson could recall seeing Basil moved to kindness for others.

Dawson slowly walked outside as his partner continued to question the mouse couple. Villagers carefully watched him as they went about their daily activities. The doctor tried to ignore their stares, but it was useless. He sighed and leaned against the wall of the small hut.

A glint of gold caught his eye. Dawson bent down and picked up a small signet ring with tiny Chinese characters on it. He rushed inside. "Basil! Basil, I think I've found something!"


At the last instant I forced myself over and just barely grasped the edge of the roof. I swung precariously, still hanging on to the pole. I slowly lifted my foot up to the wood frame, and gradually pulled myself up.

I crawled far away from the side of the roof, breathing heavily, too shocked at the fact that I was still alive there instead of flat on the ground, dead. That's it. No more! I give up!

I started cautiously back to the trapdoor, silently chiding myself for trying such a foolish endeavor. Then my thoughts wandered back.

Don't stop. Don't give up. Do it. I can't. I'll kill myself. I won't. What about Josh? He'd want you to. Do it for him. You can make it!

I turned around, estimating my chances of making it over safely to the other side. I closed my eyes and whispered a soft prayer. Then, without hesitation, I charged.


Basil glanced at the direction the footprints had been headed in. "This way," he said with a wave of his hand. Dawson scurried behind to keep up with the excited mouse.

Basil knelt down to the ground again. He started to crawl on his hands and knees, mumbling to himself. Suddenly he perked up. "Aha! I've found it!" Basil exclaimed.

"Found what?" Dawson asked.

Basil reached into some bushes and produced a small cigarette, a bit soiled from the moist earth.

"So Ryu's men were here!" Dawson exclaimed. "Just like the other ones we've found."

The mouse sat in deep concentration, as if he was on the brink of discovery. He slowly rolled the soggy object over and over again in his hand, making note of every minute detail. "Like the others. Not smoked. Not even been bitten on. Not well made, either. Paper's unrolling a bit here. And the toba-" He stopped mid-sentence. "What do we have here?" Basil slowly peeled the cigarette apart and removed the tobacco. "Dawson!" He handed the paper to his colleague.

The doctor squinted at it. "Chinese symbols. A message!"

"Yes. They translate:

North by northwest.

Jon-shi

2,000."

"Basil, what does it all mean?"

Basil lined up the cigarette and the item Dawson had found earlier. Then he produced a small leather wallet and dumped out its contents, which were three similar cigarettes. Basil slowly unpeeled each one, revealing a different message each time, but translated in the same type of order: a north/south/east/west reading, a Chinese name, and a number. "I have it, Dawson, I have it!" he said triumphantly. He pulled out his silver whistle, and after giving a call for the sea gull Jacques, proceeded to explain his findings.

"It's rather elementary. Let us use this cigarette we discovered just now. The north/south/east/west readings are directions to various points to raid, obviously from the position of Shanghai. The names are the names of various towns. For example, Jon-Shi is the town that was raided last night."

"And the number 2,000?" Dawson asked.

"That is still unclear, but I do believe it is a price for the slaves they are to capture." Basil picked up a pinch of the tobacco and sniffed it. "Made on the British Isles. Rare in China; too expensive to import. And here!" He handed Dawson the gold item. "A signet ring, with the crest of the Qing on it. Most likely a copy of the Emperor's own. So that means-"

"Someone in the empire is conspiring with Xing Ryu!" Dawson interrupted in ecstasy.

"Exactly! He's been writing out directions for the pirates on cigarette paper, which draws no suspicion to him, telling them the best possible locations for a raid, and the price they'd receive for mouse cargo. He must have also gotten a copy of the signet ring to them for use on official-looking documents. Who knows how many goods they've been smuggling out of the country with such means!"

"Well, well sir, I really must congratulate you on your keen observations," an oily voice said. The pair jumped up. Basil reached for his revolver, but he was too late; a score of pirates appeared out of the surrounding foliage.

Xing Ryu stepped out of the cover of the trees. "So we meet again, Mr. Basil of London. And how perfect too; I had thought that it was to be the end of me when my first mate lost the ring."

Basil showed complete loathing in his eyes for the young mouse. "When I reveal this all to the Emperor-"

"Too bad you'll die with the secret." A burly mouse clubbed the detective and his friend unconscious. "Take them back to the Liu Xue," he barked. "I know of one who will pay a fine price for the pleasure of killing the detective." The pirates disappeared into the trees.

Jacques sat on a branch, witnessing the kidnapping. He took off toward Shanghai.


This time I did not look down. The wind whistled through my hair as I sailed through the air. Suddenly my feet hit stable ground. I gasped, hardly believing my eyes. I had made it! I faced the building I had just left. Mr. Liang stood there, beaming at me.

"Meg Havers, I have no more to teach you. Your training is complete."

"Ma'am! Ma'am! Mrs. Havers!"

I turned around and to my surprise, found Jacques coming toward me. "Jacques?"

He swiftly perched himself down on the roof. "Ma'am, Mr. Basil and Dr. Dawson were kidnapped!"

"What?" I asked, hardly believing my ears. "They were... they... how... when?"

"Outside of Jon-shi, almost an hour ago! Ma'am, Mr. Basil was just going to reveal the identity of the one who's been betraying the Emperor all this time, and they just popped up and surrounded him and the doctor!"

"He's not... dead?" I gasped.

"No, the two mice were not," he said, emphasizing on the word two. "But they're going back to the Liu Xue. Ryu's going to-"

A loud explosion met my ears. The building shook violently as explosion after explosion went off followed by fire and smoke in the harbor. I lost balance and fell, stumbling about on the roof. Jacques quickly caught me.

"Meg Havers, the Chinese navy!" Mr. Liang pointed.

I gazed at the harbor in a stupor. Pirate galleons were bombarding the Chinese fleet. Wood and gunpowder exploded in a crazy hail of fire and terror.

"My God," I whispered. I looked at Mr. Liang. "We can't get the Emperor to go after the Liu Xue now! He'll be busy protecting Shanghai. What are we going to do?"

"We? What do you mean, we?" he said flatly.

"But... you've got to do something!"

"Not me, my daughter. They are your friends. You must help them. They are depending on you now."

I followed his eyes to the harbor. Peering through the thick smoke, I could make out a black form in the distance. The beginnings of an idea were taking shape. "Jacques! Are there other birds in the area willing to aid in an attack against Ryu's ship?"

He looked surprised. "Now that ya mention it, ma'am, I can get a good many down at the harbor."

"Could they carry a mouse?"

He smiled broadly. "Can they carry a mouse? Ma'am, we can carry three mice, luggage, and all!" Realization slowly came to him. "Ya want to..."

"Perfect! I believe I have a plan that won't get us all killed. All right, Mr. Liang, do you know any fighting mice that wouldn't be at the harbor right now?"

Mr. Liang grinned. "Li Yan, your guide, knows many families that would be willing to fight for their little ones."

"All right, this is my battle plan..."


(Meg bumps into Ratigan.)

Meg: Eh... hi.

Ratigan: CELLAR RAT CLUB? Professor Ratigan, a member of a CELLAR RAT CLUB?

Meg: Eh... bye! (Runs away.)