"The firehouse," she said. "We need to get to Engine Company Twenty-one."
Cole nodded in agreement. Now that they had a plan and a goal, Annabel could almost see him growing stronger. He took his arm from around her shoulders and grasped her hand instead. "Come on," he said determinedly.
Annabel wasn't exactly sure where they were, and all the destruction around them made it even harder for them to orient themselves. But Cole seemed to have at least an idea of the right direction, and as he held Annabel's hand, he started trotting down the street and around a corner. They pushed their way through the press of panicking people, hanging on tightly to each other's hand so they wouldn't get separated. Cole angled toward the middle of the street, getting them as far as possible from the buildings they passed. That was smart, Annabel knew, because there was a strong possibility that some of those walls could collapse, and they didn't want to be trapped under tons of falling brick and mortar.
Suddenly, the screaming in front of them intensified and the flow of people in the street changed course. Cole and Annabel were almost knocked off their feet by the sudden shift in the human tide. They staggered out of the way of the worst of the stampede, and as the crowd around them thinned somewhat, they saw what had prompted the change.
About fifty yards ahead of them, a huge black bull was charging back and forth in the street and tossing its massive head wildly. Clearly, the animal was crazed from everything that was going on around it. Annabel had no idea where a bull had come from in the middle of Chinatown— from someone's backyard, perhaps—but it was unquestionably here and just as certainly dangerous.
Movement seen from the corner of her eye caught Annabel's attention. A little girl, her face contorted by crying, stumbled out into the rapidly emptying street. The red silk dress was familiar, and Annabel recognized the girl as Wing Ko's granddaughter. She came to a dazed stop between Annabel and Cole and the maddened bull.
Suddenly, the bull swung its head toward the child. It pawed the broken street, then charged. The little girl had her back to the animal and was so frightened by everything else that was happening that she had no idea of the danger bearing down on her like a runaway locomotive.
"Tsang!" Annabel shrieked, plucking the girl's name from her memory of the night before. The girl looked in her direction but otherwise didn't budge.
Cole lunged forward, breaking into a run toward Tsang. He was closer to her than the bull, but the bull was faster. The broken paving of the street made it even harder for Cole to run. Annabel watched in horrified yet hopeful suspense as Cole and the bull galloped toward each other on a collision course, with the little girl in between.
As he left his feet in a dive, Cole's arm shot out and looped around Tsang, jerking her to the side. He twisted in midair while pulling the girl to him so that when he fell to the street, he protected Tsang's body with his own. They rolled away as the bull thundered past, missing them by scant feet.
Annabel ran onto the buckled sidewalk, giving the bull plenty of room to gallop on past her and down the street; then, when it was safe, she hurried over to Cole and Tsang. Cole was getting to his feet. He had the little girl cradled in his arms. Her arms were around his neck, and she was sobbing as she clung tightly to him.
"Cole! Are you all right?" Annabel asked as she came up to them.
He nodded and met her eyes over the little girl's shoulder. "I'm fine, and so is she. But what do we do with her now?"
Several figures loomed behind him. Annabel could see them, but Cole could not. He saw her eyes widen in surprise, though, and he stiffened.
"Wing Ko?" he asked.
The tong leader, his round cap gone and his silk gown disheveled, stepped closer and said, "I will take the girl." Behind him were several of his hatchet men, but they didn't look quite as threatening as they normally did. In fact, they were wide-eyed with barely controlled fear. Cole swung around slowly. Wing Ko stood there with his arms outstretched. Cole handed Tsang to him, and as Wing Ko took the girl, he spoke to her in rapid Chinese. Her sobbing intensified, but she was clutching her grandfather and clearly glad to be back with him.
Wing Ko stared at Cole for a moment and then said in a stiff, oddly formal manner, "I saw what you just did for my granddaughter. What was between us is no more, Cole Brady. Never again will you or those you love have reason to fear the Feathered Dragon Society. The tong no longer has any interest in your business."
"What about Ingersoll?" Cole asked.
Wing Ko shook his head. "Do not trouble your mind about him. He is less to you than a gnat to that bull from which you saved my beloved, granddaughter."
Annabel felt a shiver go through her at the merciless tone of Wing Ko's voice. If Ingersoll wasn't already dead, his odds of surviving for very much longer ranged from slim to none.