Martial Law Read online

  Chet pumped his fist in the air. “Finally! I know something you guys don’t!”

  I bit back a smile. Chet has always wanted to be a detective.

  “But Finn is older than Huang and Duke,” I said. “How could he have been in reform school with them?”

  “He wasn’t. He was the one who taught their martial arts class,” Chet said.

  Now that was interesting. I’d assumed all along that Finn was just the accountant and the office manager. It never occurred to me that he knew karate, too.

  “How do you know all this stuff about Finn?” Joe asked.

  Chet’s cheeks turned red. “Liz told me,” he murmured.

  “I’m sorry, what was that?” Joe teased. “Liz told you? You mean you’ve actually spoken to a girl?”

  “Shut up,” Chet said, embarrassed. “I was trying to get information to build my case. She offered to help out.”

  That’s why she was hanging around the other day when I climbed out the window of Huang’s office, I realized. Maybe she’d even been in there snooping before me. The place had been a wreck, after all. Still . . .

  “Hang on,” I said. “Liz is Finn’s daughter. Why would she help you find out any dirt on him?”

  “She’s worried about him,” Chet replied. “She thinks Huang is a bad influence on her dad. Finn was out of work when Huang gave him this job, and now Finn thinks he owes Huang something.”

  “Liz thinks Huang is blackmailing Finn?” Joe asked.

  “Finn doesn’t seem like such a great guy to me,” I said. “I saw him practically threatening Billy Lee.”

  Chet shrugged. “All I know is that Liz thinks he’s in over his head.”

  “In what over his head?” Joe asked. “What exactly do you think is going on?”

  Chet made a big show of looking around to make sure nobody was listening. Then he leaned in closer to us. “Huang’s a fraud,” he whispered.

  “He’s scamming the students for money?” I asked.

  “Is he embezzling funds from the Rising Phoenix?” Joe asked.

  Chet frowned. “No.” He paused for a moment, for dramatic effect, and then revealed, “He’s not a black belt.”

  I glanced at Joe. He looked as confused as I felt. “Huh?” he said.

  “I asked Duke about Huang and his martial arts background,” Chet said. “They both took classes when they were in reform school. And Duke kept taking classes afterward, but Huang didn’t.”

  “And . . . ?” I just didn’t see where he was going with this.

  “And he claims to be a master karate teacher,” Chet cried. “But he’s not even a black belt!”

  “So what?” Joe asked.

  “So kids are paying to take lessons from a black belt,” Chet said, speaking slowly as if that would make it easier for Joe to understand. “He’s lying to them. They’re not getting what they paid for.”

  “Okay,” Joe said. “But what does that have to do with the pills that Huang is giving Billy Lee?”

  “Or with those two kids who ended up in the hospital?” I added.

  “Or the private investigator who got killed yesterday?” Joe asked.

  Chet looked from me to Joe and back again. “I—I don’t know what you guys are talking about,” he said.

  “Those packages you’ve been carrying are filled with little white pills in unlabeled bottles,” I told him. “Huang gives them to Billy—and probably a lot of other students. And it seems like he expects students to pay for them.”

  “Plus, Russell got mugged and another kid collapsed. And a guy with the same tattoo as Huang murdered a PI from InSight Investments in an alley about two blocks from here,” Joe added.

  Chet’s face fell. “So it’s not just about Huang lying to students?” he asked.

  “No. We think it’s about the pills that you’ve been transporting,” I said.

  Chet banged his hand on the seat of his bike. “I can’t believe it! I’m the worst detective of all time. I never even thought about the packages. I just figured that acting as his courier was a good way to get Huang to trust me.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Joe said quickly. “You wanted him to trust you and be relaxed around you. That way he’d let down his guard and you could get the dirt on him.”

  “Classic detective strategy,” I agreed.

  But Chet wasn’t having it. “You two have been here for a week and you already know more about what’s going on than I do. I didn’t solve the case, did I?”

  “No,” I admitted. “But you can be a huge part of helping us solve it.”

  “I can?” he asked hopefully.

  “Absolutely. But it might be dangerous,” Joe told him.

  “I don’t care,” Chet said. “I can handle it. What’s my mission?”

  “Simple. Just go into the diner and get the package from Duke like you always do,” I said. “Act normal. Then, after you have the pills, you’ll meet us at the Rising Phoenix. We’ll take one of the pill bottles so we can send it to be tested and find out what the pills are.”

  “Then you give the rest of the package to Huang like you always do,” Joe put in. “You’ll have to act as if everything is normal so Huang doesn’t suspect anything.”

  “Can you handle that?” I asked.

  “Definitely.” Chet grinned. “Awesome!”

  I smiled back at him. Chet was a great guy. I was beyond relieved that he wasn’t involved in Huang’s illegal activities—at least not on purpose. “It is awesome,” I agreed. “We’re psyched to have another detective on our team.”

  13

  Herbal Overload

  “Do you think we should be worried about Chet?” Frank asked over the helmet mikes as we rode to the Rising Phoenix. “What if Duke saw him talking to us?”

  “I was watching the diner door,” I replied. “Duke didn’t show. I’m sure he wasn’t watching.”

  “But still, I don’t want to put Chet in danger.”

  “He can handle it,” I told my brother. “Chet has been waiting for this chance his whole life. He’ll pull it off.”

  When we roared up to the Rising Phoenix, I was surprised to see a tall, pretty, red-haired girl pacing up and down on the walkway in front.

  “Hey, Frank, it’s Samantha Olwell,” I said. “Looks like she tracked you down.”

  He didn’t answer, but I knew he was panicking. A girl, oooh, scary!

  We parked the bikes and headed for the entrance. “Frank!” Samantha rushed over. Ignoring me, of course.

  “Hi, Samantha,” I said.

  “Oh, hey, Joe.” She barely even looked at me. “I heard about that killing yesterday. The news report listed you two as witnesses. Are you okay?”

  Frank nodded without saying a word. As usual, I was going to have to do his flirting for him. “We’re fine,” I assured her. “Although it was pretty hairy for a while there. Frank had to bust up the mugging with his motorcycle. He did CPR on the poor guy and everything. But it was too late. There was just nothing we could do.”

  Samantha bit her lip, still gazing at Frank. “That’s awful. You must have been so upset.”

  “Yeah. He was,” I said, shooting Frank a look that clearly said to start talking.

  He cleared his throat. “How’s your brother feeling?” he asked.

  “A little better, physically. But I still can’t get him to tell me what happened, not in any detail,” Samantha said. “That’s why I’m here. When I read about you two and that murder, I thought there must be some connection to the Rising Phoenix case you’re working on.”

  Smart.

  “Looks like there is a connection,” I said. “Frank will tell you all about it.”

  Frank shot me a look of death, but I ignored him. “See you in class,” I said. I gave him a little wave and headed for the door.

  Liz and a few of the other kids from class were already warming up in the dojo. I nodded hello to them and pushed open the locker room door. I went straight to the back corner where I’
d been changing before every class.

  Marty was there.

  And he was whaling on Billy Lee!

  “Hy-yah!” Marty yelled, swinging his fist at Billy’s chest. Billy tried to block the blow, but Marty was about ten times stronger than him. The force of the punch threw Billy sideways into the lockers.

  “Stop!” I cried. I ran full force at Marty. He spun around quickly and began to swing. But I didn’t bother with karate. I hurled my backpack at his head. There wasn’t much in it, so I knew it wouldn’t hurt him. But it was a good distraction.

  Instinctively, Marty ducked.

  I took advantage of his confusion to grab his arm. I twisted it around behind his back and pinned him up against the lockers. If he moved too far, I could break his arm.

  “What’s going on, Marty?” I demanded. “Picking on a kid half your size?”

  “No,” he snapped, gasping as I pulled on his arm. “We were just practicing a move for class. Right, Billy?”

  I looked at Billy. He was holding his side where Marty had hit him, and his face was pale. But he just nodded.

  “That’s the truth?” I asked doubtfully. “Seriously, Billy?”

  “Yeah. We were practicing.” Billy wouldn’t look me in the eye. “I should get to class.” He scurried out of the locker room.

  “You gonna let me go, Hardy?” Marty demanded.

  Reluctantly, I released his arm and stepped away. I knew this was the second time today I’d fought him. But Marty obviously didn’t think I was aware that he had jumped my brother at the diner.

  He sneered at me and walked away.

  I quickly changed into my gi and went out into the hallway. Frank was still outside talking to Samantha. I pushed open the door and stepped outside just as Chet came puffing up on his bike, riding hard.

  “You’re cutting it close,” I said. “Class starts in about thirty seconds.”

  Frank pulled Chet to the side so they couldn’t be seen from inside. He peeled the tape off the top of the package in Chet’s backpack. Reaching inside, he took out a brown envelope with a pill bottle inside.

  “I’ll take this to Dad and get it tested. We need to know what these pills are,” he said as I reapplied the tape to the package. We just had to hope that Huang didn’t bother to count the envelopes inside—at least not until after class.

  “Our father is a retired cop,” I told Samantha. “He still has friends on the force who can do the lab work for him.” Our dad was also a founding member of ATAC, and once he found out this was for an ATAC mission, he’d get the pills tested right away. But we couldn’t tell Samantha—or Chet—about that.

  “If you take the pills to him right now, you’ll miss class,” Chet pointed out.

  “I know. But what choice do we have?” Frank said.

  “Don’t worry. Chet and I will keep an eye on things here,” I told him. Chet beamed at me. I knew he loved to be included.

  “I’ll wait until you get back,” Samantha said. “I want to know what’s in those pills.”

  “Huang’s coming,” Chet cried. “Get out of here, Frank!”

  I grabbed Chet’s arm and hurried him toward the front door. We got there just as Huang reached the door from the inside. He frowned at us as we stepped into the Rising Phoenix.

  “Where have you two been?” he asked. “Chet, I’ve been waiting for you.”

  “Sorry, Sensei,” I answered for him. “We were all just talking.” I gestured toward Chet and Samantha. Frank must’ve taken off already, because he was nowhere in sight.

  Huang glanced at Samantha, then shook his head. “You need to concentrate. You’re late for class,” he said. “Talk to your girlfriends on your own time. Let’s go.”

  He led the way back to the dojo, then hesitated. “Chet, I need to see you in my office for a moment. Joe, why don’t you head on in.”

  I nodded and went into the dojo. I knew Chet was handing over the package right that second. Would Huang count the envelopes inside? Would he find out we’d stolen one?

  For the first half of the class, I watched Huang carefully, trying to figure out if he was angry or worried or upset. He was hard to read because he always seemed so calm. I was so distracted by thoughts of the case that I barely even paid attention to the age uke blocking move he was teaching us.

  Before I knew it, it was time to break into partners and practice the new move.

  We were supposed to stick with partners at our exact level, so I hurried over to Liz. I was glad when I saw Chet partner up with Billy again—that seemed to be their routine in every class.

  “Liz, can you help me?” I murmured as we began punching and blocking. “I need to talk to Billy. It’s about the, uh, case Chet is working on.”

  Liz’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You know about that?”

  “Yeah. Think you and I can switch partners with them?” I asked.

  She glanced at Huang. He was busy working with two of the other new students in class. “Okay. Let’s go.” Liz began to slowly move toward Chet and Billy. Every time she punched, she managed to move another few feet. In a couple of minutes, we were standing right next to Chet and Billy.

  “Chet,” she said. “Can you help me? I can’t get this punch right.”

  Chet did his insta-blush. You’d think he would be used to talking to Liz by now, but apparently he wasn’t. “We’re not supposed to—”

  “It’s okay,” I cut him off. I stared at him meaningfully, mentally urging him to go along.

  “Uh . . . all right.” Chet turned to face Liz, leaving me to take his place opposite Billy.

  “Sorry, man,” I whispered. “I think Liz and Chet have a thing going on. Can’t argue with that, huh?”

  Billy nodded, but I could tell he was less than thrilled to be working with me.

  I did the shiko tsuki, and he blocked it immediately. When he was concentrating, he was actually stronger than he looked.

  “That was a good block,” I said.

  “Thanks. I’m getting better.”

  “You’re still no match for Marty, though,” I pointed out. “Why were you practicing with him, anyway?”

  Billy looked annoyed. “Because he’s the student teacher.”

  “Is it normal to practice in the locker room like that?” I pressed.

  “What is it with you?” Billy snapped. “Why are you and your brother always asking questions? It’s your fault Marty was hitting me like that!”

  He kicked, catching me off guard. I went down.

  “Wow,” I said, climbing back to my feet. “Guess you got me back.”

  Billy winced. “Sorry. I didn’t follow the proper form. You weren’t ready.”

  “It’s okay. I can see you’re mad at me,” I told him. “I just don’t understand why. How is it my fault you were fighting with Marty?”

  He glanced around to make sure Marty wasn’t in earshot. “You and Frank told him that I said I was taking Sensei Huang’s Chinese herbs,” Billy murmured. “It’s supposed to be a secret. Sensei Huang doesn’t want everybody knowing about it. Marty was furious.”

  “Why is it a secret?” I asked. “What’s wrong with taking an herbal supplement?”

  “I’m not sure.” Billy looked miserable. “Sensei Huang has gotten really weird about it lately.”

  “I don’t think this is going to work,” Huang interrupted us. “You two are at very different levels of expertise.”

  Billy’s eyes went wide with panic. I felt pretty freaked myself. How much of our conversation had Huang overheard?

  “Joe, your form is sloppy. Go over to the mirror and work on the age uke by yourself until you have more control of it.” Huang’s tone of voice didn’t leave any room for argument. I bowed to him and turned away, my face flaming. I saw Chet and Liz watching us, concerned.

  “Don’t worry, Billy, I’ll be your sparring partner for now,” Huang added as I walked away.

  I tried to concentrate on the blocking move, studying my body in the mirror. Sta
rt from a balanced stance, knees slightly bent. Keep your weight centered, raise the arm, and move it in a smooth arc. . . . I did it over and over. But my eyes kept wandering to Billy and Huang. I watched in the mirror as Billy did a kick I hadn’t learned yet in combination with the shiko tsuki punch. Huang blocked him.

  They didn’t seem to be saying anything to each other. Was that a good sign or a bad one? It didn’t seem possible that Huang had separated us just because we were at different levels. He must suspect that we were on to him.

  I kept my eyes fixed on their reflection in the mirror as I slowly went through the age uke move one more time.

  Huang bowed to Billy. Billy bowed back. Then Huang leaped up and kicked, his leg moving at lightning speed. I saw Billy’s shoulder snap back. He went down, landing on the mat.

  He didn’t get up.

  I whirled around and ran toward him before I even realized what I was doing. Luckily, Chet, Liz, and a few other kids were running over too.

  “Billy!” I cried. “Are you okay?”

  He was curled into a fetal position, his mouth open and gasping for air.

  “He got the wind knocked out of him,” Huang said. “Everybody, back up. Give him some air.” He took Billy’s arm and helped him to his feet. “I’m going to take Billy into my office to let him recover. Marty, take over, please.”

  He started toward the door, Billy shuffling along beside him, still gulping in air.

  I moved to take Billy’s other arm, but Marty stepped in front of me. “You don’t have to worry about Billy,” he said. “Sensei Huang will take care of him.”

  His message was clear—I wasn’t going anywhere near Huang’s office while Billy was in there. But why?

  What was really about to happen in that office?

  14

  Master of Lies

  “What are you doing home?” Aunt Trudy asked when I walked in the door. “Aren’t you supposed to be at karate class?”

  “Hy-yah!” Playback squawked. “Hy-yah!”

  “Yes, Aunt Trudy,” I said quickly. “But I forgot my gi. Can’t do karate in jeans.” I gave her a wink and raced for the stairs. I took them two at a time, then hurried down the hall and burst into my father’s office.