Jack James and the Tribe of the Teddy Bear (40 page)

“He’s away, working right now,” she answered. “He won’t be back until next week.”

FIFTY-FOUR

JACK TASTED THE WIND whipping past his face as Captain Kimbo’s
Dragon Huntress
sliced the waves, racing to their destination. Something about the river that close to the Pacific captivated him. The salty marine air, the abundant sea life, the lush greenery all colluded to create a bounty for his senses. Though shivering wet in his shirtsleeves, he smiled at the scenery. He knew Takota also appreciated the view.

He noticed his protector also saw something else. Takota’s eyelids narrowed and he scanned the river, focusing on one particular area in front of them.

“What is it?” Jack had to yell over the outboard motor.

“I’m, I’m not sure,” his eyes widened. He took a quick, shallow breath. “There! Something’s below the waves! And it’s huge!”

Jack whipped about to look, grabbing onto the back of the captain’s seat for support. The river had become choppy. Whitecaps flickered past, tossing them hard.

“Ahoy!” Kimbo eased down the throttle. He gestured into the channel. “Deadhead, just ahead!”

Jack examined the river. Off to their left, far up in the broad waterway, a giant freighter steamed beneath Willow Bridge, propelling long, rolling wakes. The big ship was a skyscraper at its peak, radar arrays twirling, dozens of colorful flags showing. Two smoke stacks issued sprawling puffs of white into the atmosphere. On the side of its massive hull was the name,
‘Pacific Star.’

“You mean that ship?” Jack wondered aloud. “What’s the big deal? Just steer around it.”

“Not the ship,” Kimbo pointed in front of them. “That!”

It was hard to focus with the boat rocking and the waves cresting. Then a trough in the swells formed, giving Jack a perfect view of an object bobbing in the current.

“What is it?” he watched its slow progress toward them.

The captain scratched the salt and pepper scruff on his chin. “A giant log. They call ‘em deadheads because they float there dead in the water and all you really see of ‘em is the tops, their heads. They’re icebergs to the Titanic out here. You hit one of those suckers at top speed and you can kiss the tuna!”

He laughed at Jack, then at Takota. Neither of them cracked a smile. Kimbo straightened his face and cleared his throat.

“You’re right, though. I can just steer around.”

Cranking the wheel, he pushed the throttle handle. The engine noise once again picked up.
Dragon Huntress
veered left toward the center of the channel, and
Pacific Star
.

“What are you doing!” shouted Jack. “You’re taking us straight for that ship!”

“Relax,” the captain said.

“But you’re going right at it!”

“I have to. For now. Once I get around the deadhead, we can get back on course. I can’t go toward shore or we’ll run aground. Now let me do my job. I’m the captain here.”

A few tense moments brought them closer to the path of the mammoth vessel. Jack saw people in white, peppered along the bow, gawking down at them. He thought Kimbo would never find the end of that deadhead. It was much bigger than he’d expected. Finally the captain spun the wheel, guiding his boat away from the freighter.

They all jumped at a loud
Thump!
on the hull. The captain turned the key to kill the engine, then ran to the rear of the boat.

“What did we hit!” he climbed onto the transom, dangling over the water. “My prop! Don’t tell me I damaged my prop!”

The boat heaved up and sideways, tossed by a giant wave from nowhere. The captain gasped at the sky with his eyes wide.

“We’ve got a squall comin’!” he shouted. “It’s gonna be a doozy, too!”

Jack faced the wind, watching a thick, gray cloudbank roll toward them. He found Takota on the seat, his face turning a little green.

“You okay?” he asked. Takota held his stomach and waved.

The dense fog encircled them with a spiteful curtain, blocking everything from view outside of ten yards in every direction. Then the wind died down. All went silent, save for the gentle lapping of tiny waves against the hull.

“What the..?” Kimbo stared out at the channel. “Well, guys. You’re witnessing a first. I’ve never seen anything like this before!”

A booming horn barreled through the fog, rumbling in Jack’s chest. Kimbo hurried to the helm and fired up the engine.

“That freighter’s a little too close for comfort, if you ask me. Hang on!” he hit the throttle. Takota fell into Jack’s arms as the boat surged, twisting from the source of the foghorn.

Dragon Huntress
made it a total of fifteen feet before the shriek of scraping metal signaled they had hit something below the surface. The abrupt stop pitched all three of them forward into the windscreen.

“What was that!” Takota rubbed his neck.

“Must’ve been the deadhead!” Kimbo leaned over the side of the boat.

The freighter’s air horn blared again, its echo deadened by the dense, low lying marine layer.

“It’s getting closer!” the captain sat in his seat. “Gotta get outta here! NOW!”

He slammed the throttle controls forward. The boat went nowhere.

Another low, loud hoot from the freighter’s horn.

“That ship’s right on top of us!” Takota yelled.

“I know! I know! I’m trying to get out of the way! Something’s holding us back!” Kimbo inspected the waves with a sharp eye. “I’m beginning to think maybe that deadhead ain’t so dead!”

“What!” Takota climbed to look over the side. “What do you mean!”

The captain didn’t need to answer. In the water, a tremendous, pale gray, cylindrical bulge broke the surface, rising and rising until it dwarfed even the twenty foot
Dragon Huntress
. While the curved, scaly spine ascended above the waves, Jack saw an immense face coming straight toward them from the murky depths, bubbles streaming from its flared nostrils.

Stunned, he toppled back, holding Takota close. They both watched while two gigantic, pointy ears appeared over the side. Then a rough, scraggy brow and a pair of enormous, yellowish eyes outlined by angled, boney sockets. The eyelids narrowed into a malignant glare as it continued to climb from the water, exposing a tremendous jaw with gleaming fangs. Jack shuddered when it issued a hot breath, stinking of rotted sea kelp and fermented fish guts.

It rose over them quickly, extending its neck at least thirty feet. He knew the monster was even larger. Much of its mass still lurked under the river’s surface. He heard screaming and wondered why he hadn’t thought of that. Then he realized he, in fact, was the one crying out. Dumbfounded, the captain joined the terrified chorus.

Takota showed no such fear. He squared up to the behemoth, a creature even larger than Teresa’s Gedegwsets. Jack felt his protector tense up, readying for an attack.

“No!” Jack held him. “Don’t do it!”

The monster thrust its bulky snout toward them, its jaw wide, ready to take a bite right out of the boat. Takota leapt from Jack’s side and clung to one of the beast’s pointed teeth. With a mighty tug, he snapped the fang clean off, leaving an empty hole in the gums.

Howling, the giant serpent lifted out of the water, unfurling an enormous wing, lined sparsely with feathers and barnacled spines. It unrolled the other one, stretching them both wide and blocking what little light penetrated the fog. Snorting a puff of steam, it flapped twice, creating a gust which drove Jack and the captain nearly overboard. They held tight while the waterborne creature became airborne, its dripping, webbed feet the size of small cars.

Takota climbed over the bow, the tusk in his grasp. He hurled himself into the boat and watched with Jack and the captain as the winged monster glided into the fog.

Kimbo rubbed his eyes. “Can you believe it! Queenie! I’ve found her! I’ve found the River Dragon! And we’ve even got proof! Her tooth! Outstanding! Wait, wait! Let me get my camera,” he searched under his seat.

A burst from the still unseen freighter’s foghorn made him stand straight and drop the camera. He rushed to the controls and slammed the throttle. Nothing.

“What!” he turned the ignition key. The engine tried and tried to start. Nothing. “No! Not now! Don’t do this to me now!”

“I knew it!” Takota’s voice rose over the captain’s. “The river dragon’s coming back!”

The enormous creature cruised toward them through the mist, landing in the water just a few yards away. It thrust its wings. A rolling wake started in their direction, growing larger and larger, transforming into a massive swell. The surge caught
Dragon Huntress
. Jack and Takota held tight to each other.

“It’s gonna wash us out to sea!” the captain joined the group embrace, his stubby arms locked around them both in a bear hug.

The horn blasted again, closer than ever.

They each glanced up as the floating, metal mountain broke through the low clouds, so close Jack saw chipped paint and mussels attached to the hull.

Dragon Huntress
sat directly in the freighter’s course.

Before their boat was sliced into scrap, Takota squeezed beneath and lifted Jack over him. It felt strange being handled by such a small creature. Jack didn’t fight the sensation, letting his loyal protector lob him from the boat and out of the path of danger.

Once again the cold Columbia shocked his senses. He rose to the surface and saw another splash next to him. The captain swished his arms, pushing his face over his own wake and filling his lungs with air.

“Whoa!” he spat up some river water. “Little guy’s got some muscle, doesn’t he?”

Jack had no answer. He was too preoccupied with Takota’s fate. A break in the waves gave him a glimpse just when the freighter’s massive hull smashed into the much smaller craft, twisting it into shards and pushing it under.

“My poor boat!” Kimbo cried.

Jack’s stomach tied in knots. “Takota!”

The deafening foghorn drowned him out, making it impossible to hear his own voice. He struggled to keep above the breakers from the passing ship as they tossed them both like corks.

He paddled and paddled, trying to make his way to the wreckage, not caring if he got caught in the big ship’s wash or mangled by its massive propellers. Takota was his one concern.

“NO!” the captain grabbed his foot. “It’ll suck you right under!”

“Takota’s in there!” his arms were burning. “I can’t let him drown!”

“
You’ll
drown! Do you think he’d want that?”

He stopped struggling and cried out for his friend. The captain helped him, both of them shouting Takota’s name. Then Jack heard something. Crackling, grinding. He covered Kimbo’s mouth and listened.

Bone scraping against bone. Gnashing teeth. A low, heavy rumble from the depths. At last, the dragon’s angular skull breached the water. Then the aquatic beast lifted its long, slender neck until its jaws hung over them. Jack’s courage evaporated with the dragon’s steamy, unspeakably putrid breath. In its place poured a flood of dread.

The river dragon reared back and spread its wings to their full span. After a piercing wail, it snorted and spat clumps of what appeared to be lava. They steamed when they hit the water, globs of glowing amber raining down.

“Hit the drink!” Captain Kimbo plunged, swimming from danger and pulling Jack with him. It was no use. The great lizard swished its tail and propelled to within inches of their feet. Jack kicked and flailed. The dragon seemed amused at his feebleness.

It raised up once more, this time keeping fixed on Jack. He heard the dragon draw a breath and knew what came next. The magma.

The captain mumbled a prayer, making peace with his maker. Jack didn’t feel the same sense of well-being. His life had just begun. Ten years old. Too young to die. Yet the dragon seemed to think otherwise. He could tell it didn’t care. It had a coldness in its look. He knew right then the animal had been infected by Davos’ evil influence, same as the stick creatures.

As the marine monster widened its jowl, a tiny, brownish gray bolt shot up the back of its extended neckline, settling on its snout.

“Takota!” Jack was elated.

The dragon careened to the side, shaking violently in an attempt to rid itself of the pesky little creature. Thrashing its wings, it tried to swipe at Takota, push him off, shake him loose, anything to get rid of him. Nothing worked. Teeth clenched, Takota held firm.

He shimmied close and compelled it to look into his eyes. The river dragon slowed its quaking. Its panic decreased, brows unfolding, lips no longer curling over frothing fangs. Its eyelids became big and round instead of sharp and sloping. The beast’s sinister grimace became a lighthearted smile. Its rasping growls turned into a giddy giggle. Its forked tongue slipped out of its mouth and sloshed Takota across his face with a friendly lick.

“Gross!” he wiped his cheeks, sputtering. “Why’d you have to do that?”

The dragon slurped him again.

“Stop that!” he swan dived off its nose, a dagger piercing the water. When he rose to the surface, he swam to meet Jack.

“I thought you’d left me again, this time for good,” Jack’s muscles ached from the constant treading against the current.