Hello readers! Apologies if I kept you waiting. Anyway, here it is! The next chapter! Enjoy!
"Amy, calm down," said Zai. "As soon as Nellie gets her money, we'll be out of here!" Amy looked around nervously. She and Zai were waiting for Nellie, who was getting some money out of a nearby ATM machine. "But what if the Vespers attack us while we're waiting?" she asked. Zai sighed. Amy was too nervous. "Amy, don't be so pessimistic. The Vespers might come after us again, but they probably won't try something like that in here, with all these people around. I mean, look at this place! It's a zoo in here!" Amy looked around. Hong Kong airport was an extremely busy place People were everywhere. Nobody seemed to be standing in one place. And Zai was probably right. The Vespers probably wouldn't try something in here with all these people. She hoped. Nellie walked up to them."Okay, kiddos, I got the money! Let's go!" She joined Amy and Zai and they started making their way toward the exit.
"Did you get a car to rent?" Zai asked Nellie. "Yep. And I paid for the deluxe package, so it comes with a GPS." she replied. Zai frowned. "I don't think that's such a good idea. The Vespers probably tracked your payment and know what car we're going to use. It'll probably be better if we take a taxi."
Nellie nodded. "You're right. I didn't think of that when I paid for the car. I'll go the car rental shop and get a refund." "I'm going to look around." said Zai. "There's some cool stuff in this airport." Nellie nodded. "Okay, meet me back here in 20 minutes." She handed Zai some money. Amy and Zai walked off. Zai bought a new pair of Adidas sneakers and some various other supplies, like paper clips, heavy rubber bands, a few CDs, and other various supplies. He also bought a map of the city. Amy bought a new pair of shoes and some snacks. Then they went to the bathrooms to change into the new clothes they got in Boston.
After they had changed, they met outside the bathrooms and started walking back to where Nellie would be. Zai was now wearing long blue pants, a dark gray shirt with a long, green vest, and his new shoes. As they were walking, he thought he saw someone familiar. He looked again. It was the bearded man from the flight from Boston! He quickly looked away before the man noticed Zai had seen him.
They found Nellie waiting for them. She didn't look very happy. "What's wrong?" Amy asked her. "I can't BELIEVE those people! They didn't give me a full refund! They only gave me HALF of my money back!" "We can't worry about that now," said Zai. "Right now, we have to concentrate on getting to the hotel and finding Dan." Nellie scowled. "Alright, lets go." She stuck her earbuds in and started singing along to whatever she was listening to. Amy listened closer. Is it just me, or is Nellie's singing WAY better than normal? They walked to the exit. Zai looked back. The bearded man was still following them, and he was talking on his phone. "Nellie, Amy, we need to hurry up. Don't look back, but I think that guy is following us." he warned them. He, Nellie and Amy quickened their pace. The man did too. They jogged out onto the street. The man started to speed up. Amy, Nellie and Zai broke out into a run.
There was a large crowd in front of them. They ran into it, pushing people out of the way. Zai looked back. The man was falling back. They burst out of the crowd and ran down the street. "There!" cried Amy! Up ahead was a taxi parked along the curb. "No!"shouted Zai "This may be a trap! That guy might be trying to chase us in that direction! The taxi driver could be a Vesper waiting for us! We'll have to find a find a taxi further away from the airport!" They ran in the other direction, hoping to shake off their pursuer. They ran up the street and went into an alleyway. They emerged from the other side. Amy and Nellie stopped to catch their breath. Zai kept running. "Zai! Wait!" called Amy! "We can't keep up!" Zai stopped. "Oh, sorry. But hurry! That guy will catch up any second!" Amy and Nellie started running again.
"There's a taxi!" said Nellie, pointing to a bright red taxi about a block away. They ran up to it. There was an elderly man sitting in it, reading. "你好。你能带我们去朗豪酒店?"(Hello. Can you take us to Langham Place Hotel?) asked Zai. "你好! 在获得!"(Yes! Get in!) said the man, smiling. They jumped in. He sped off. Zai looked back. He saw their pursuer emerge from the alleyway and look around. He whipped out his cell phone and started talking. He looked furious. Zai sighed with relief. The driver was driving like a madman. Suddenly, all the cars around them started slowing down.
Zai looked out the window. Up ahead was a roadblock. Cars were being diverted. "This is bad," said Zai. "I think the Vespers put up that roadblock to look for us. We'd better get out here." He, Amy, and Nellie jumped out of the car. "Here!" Nellie shouted as she tossed a wad of bills to the confused-looking taxi driver. They ran down the sidewalk away from the roadblock. "Hurry! I think they saw us!" screamed Amy. Zai looked back. Sure enough, the traffic police were looking at them and shouting into their walkie-talkies. "This way!" shouted Zai. They ran into a side street. Suddenly, two men wearing all black stepped out of a storefront in front of them. They turned around and saw a woman with a gun blocking their path.
"HEEEEEEEEEELP!" screamed Amy at the top of her lungs. The first rule of self defense: Draw attention to the attacker. The men cursed under their breath and charged toward them. Zai shoved Amy out of the way, and at the very last second, jumped to the side. The two men crashed into the woman and fell down, stunned. The woman's gun fired, the bullet whizzing past Zai's arm. The woman got up dazedly and raised her gun. Nellie swung her backpack at her head. It connected with a thud and the woman collapsed onto the ground, unconscious. "Come on!" yelled Zai. He, Amy, and Nellie sprinted out of the alleyway and into a deserted courtyard. Suddenly, Zai collapsed onto the ground. "Are you okay?" asked Nellie. Zai was holding his shoulder. He moved his hand away. His palm was bright red. There was a red stain growing on his shoulder. "OH MY GOD!" screamed Nellie. "YOU GOT SHOT!"
"The bullet only grazed my shoulder." moaned Zai. He reached into his backpack and took out a small bottle. He opened it and emptied a pill into his hand. "Do you have any water?" he asked weakly. "Here." Amy took a water bottle that she'd bought in the airport and handed it to him. He took the pill and stood up. His vision blurred for a moment. He reached into is backpack and took out the shirt he was wearing on the flight. He tore the sleeve off and tied it tightly around his shoulder. "There. That should slow down the bleeding." He then took some to the heavy rubber bands that he got in the airport and used them to hold the fabric down. He stood up weakly. "I'll be fine. We have to get moving!" He used the rest of the water to wash the blood of his hand. They started running down the street when they heard something behind them. Amy looked back and saw the two men and the woman emerging from the alleyway.
The woman spotted them and yelled something to the two men. They started running after them. "This way!" screamed Nellie. They ran out of the courtyard and down the street. "We cant get another taxi! We'll have to get to the hotel ourselves!" shouted Zai. "How?" screamed Amy. Just up ahead, there were two motorcyclists getting off their motorcycles and entering a small, seedy-looking bar. "There! Hurry" shouted Nellie. Zai sneaked up behind the cyclists. "Sorry about this." he muttered. He grabbed his keys out of their hands and pinched them quickly on the shoulder to knock them out. He tossed one set of keys to Nellie. "Hop on!" Nellie and Amy jumped onto one of the motorcycles and Zai jumped on the other one. He tossed his backpack to Amy. "Amy! I need you to read the map and tell us where to go! I marked the hotel's location on the map!" "Okay!" she replied. They pulled away from the curb and raced down the narrow side street.
Zai looked back. The two men and the woman had jumped into a black sedan and gaining on them. "Turn left!" screamed Amy. Nellie and Zai wrenched the handlebars to the left. Now they were racing down an open freeway. "Amy!" screamed Zai, "We need to take the side streets! It'll be harder for them to follow us!" "Got it!" she said. "Turn left down the next side street!" Zai and Nellie lurched to the left. The road was crowded with people. Those Vespers will have a hard time following us through here, thought Zai. He looked back. The black sedan was pushing slowly through the people. The woman at the wheel was angrily blaring the horn. "Take the next right!" yelled Amy. Zai and Nellie zoomed down the road, dodging people. "Take another right onto the freeway! Then take the exit for the bridge!" They steered right onto the freeway and veered toward the exit. The sedan burst onto the freeway and started accelerating.
"Zai! Look out!" screamed Nellie. Zai looked back. One of the men in the sedan was leaning out of the window and pointing a pistol in their general direction. Zai jerked to the right. A bullet whizzed past his head. "AAAAAAAH!" he screamed. He did not want to get shot again. Cars were stopping after the people heard the gunshot. Zai and Nellie went up onto the sidewalk. Suddenly, the ground dropped away and they were on a bridge. The sedan was inching through the traffic. The man leaned out of the window again. "Look out!" warned Zai. More bullets zoomed through the air. Suddenly, they heard a siren. "Oh, no," groaned Nellie, "Now the police are after us!" "No!" said Zai, shouting to be heard over the sound of the engines. "they probably came because they heard the gunshots!" He paused. "It doesn't matter! The Vespers control the police force in Hong Kong! Remember the roadblock? When they find out what happened, they'll be after us!"
"What do we do?" asked Amy. "We'll have to get off these motorcycles and find another way to the hotel!" replied Zai. "Here they come!" yelled Nellie. Sure enough, two police cars were now behind them with their sirens blaring. The license plate had a big, black "V" on it. A policeman was pointing a gun at them. They were off the bridge now, and the police cars were gaining. "We need to take the next left!"screamed Amy.
Zai looked back. The police cars were about 60 feet behind them. "Listen!" screamed Zai, "When I say 'jump', slow down and jump off your motorcycle!" The police cars were 50 feet behind them...40 feet...30 feet...20 feet... "JUUUUUMP!" screamed Zai. He and Nellie slowed down and all 3 of them dove off their motorcycles. The police cars tried to stop, but there was no time. They crashed into the motorcycles. There was a terrible wrenching sound, then a small explosion. Both police cars erupted into flames.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" they all screamed. Zai ran as close as he dared and looked into the police car. Both policemen were unconscious, but Zai felt sure that he saw one of them moving slightly. They heard more sirens in the distance. He ran over to Amy and Nellie. Amy was sitting on the ground, looking dazed. "Come on, Amy! Get up! We've got to get out of here!" He said to here. She just looked straight ahead. Zai and Nellie dragged her to her feet. "Amy, are you okay?" he asked her. Amy shook her head. "I'm fine. Let's go." They ran as fast as they could away from the scene of the accident. "We'll have to get a taxi." said Amy. "We can't walk to the hotel without getting killed. The Vespers will rip apart all of Hong Kong to get us." "You're right." said Nellie. "We'll be much safer in a taxi. But first, lets put some distance between us and those wrecked police cars!"
They ran a few more blocks. "There! I see a taxi!" called Zai. They ran up to it and jumped in. "Langham Place Hotel." Nellie told him. He smiled. "Yes! I take you! I can speak good English!" They sat with their heads low so they wouldn't draw attention to themselves. Amy heard the sound of cars getting closer behind them. She looked out the window and saw two black sedans with tinted windows "V" written on their license plates. "Um, could you turn into that side street?" Zai asked. The man shrugged. "Okay. Why?" "Nothing." answered Zai. The man looked back. "Ah!" he said "Those people are chasing you!" "How did you know?" asked Amy. "I can see that car coming closer. I can see the fear in your eyes. Okay! I will help you get away!" The taxi driver entered the side street and stopped. "Get out, hurry! I will go back and they will think you are still in my taxi. Hurry!" "Okay. Thanks!" Zai called, handing him a few bills. "No problem!" the man smiled.
As he drove off, they noticed that his license plate. It said "MDRGL1". "He's...a...Madrigal!" said Amy "And he didn't turn us in!" "Yeah, I heard there was a Madrigal agent operating out of Hong Kong." said Zai. "But let's get going, the hotel is about a ten-minute walk from here. But, as I'm sure you know, anything could happen in those ten minutes. We'd better stay in the side streets and hurry while that taxi driver is covering for us."
They ran off down the road. Strangely, there was nobody following them. They were almost at the hotel when Nellie stopped. "Kiddos, something's not right. You'd think that someone would've started chasing us by now. It's like.." "Like they know we're coming." whispered Zai. "We'll have to be really careful now. Elizabeth's probably waiting for us." They ran until they reached the hotel. "There it is." said Amy. "Dan and Uncle Fiske are somewhere under there." They looked at each other. "Lets do it."
And they went in.
Yay! Amy, Zai, and Nellie finally reach Hong Kong and the hotel! Please, if I made any mistakes with my Chinese, I am so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry. Let me know if I made any mistakes.