was her turn to scan the distance. She looked past the scorched taxi ahead of them, beyond the green Holgate Boulevard Exit placard suspended above the road to a set of traffic lights winking in the distance. She could see no sign of the dragon ahead. Of course she knew it was out there somewhere nearby.
Officer Henderson shook his head. “We have to stay here until help comes.”
“Mike, there isn’t any help coming that can deal with what’s out there,” Diana said.
“You don’t seriously think it’s a—”
Red lights from behind strafed the inside of the patrol car. They intensified as a vehicle with a siren approached on McLoughlin.
“There’s your backup. Now maybe we can get out of here.”
“Naw, that’s the firefighters. It’s an engine pulling in behind us.” He glanced over at the trees again. “Don’t think we are going to need them. It looks like they are going out on their own, thanks to the rain. I better go touch base with them. You two stay here. I’ll leave the motor running for the heat, but please don’t touch anything.”
Henderson got out and walked to the back of his car, waiting for the fire engine to park several feet away. Diana saw the fire engine’s headlights go dim, but the parking lights and siren lights remained illuminated. Two firemen jumped to the curb, and the patrolman approached them, pointing toward the trees. They appeared to be discussing whether any intervention was necessary.
“Nana,” Hannah said, almost in a whisper. She reached up and touched Diana’s chin.
“Hold on, sweetie. I’m watching the firemen.”
“Nana, he’s back.” She pointed forward through the windshield.
As Diana turned, she said, “What?”
Movement in the distance caught her eye. A quarter mile ahead, she caught a glimpse of the dragon’s underbelly, its hind legs and intermittently the edges of its wings as they dipped within range of a streetlight above the oncoming lanes of traffic. Then it disappeared. As it passed the next closest streetlight, its outline once again flitted into view and flew back into obscurity.
It reappeared, its head and torso visible, as it crossed above the well-lit interchange ahead where the Holgate turn-off swung left and bisected McLaughlin. The dragon was on a descending glide path toward the police cruiser, less than thirty feet from the ground—so low, a taloned foot struck the metal beam holding three traffic lights. The collision toppled the pole at the corner that supported the entire structure, sending a spray of sparks into the air as a power cable was ripped away. The metal pole slammed across the trunk of a Buick crossing the intersection, sending up a fountain of sparks amid the clatter of metal being dragged across the pavement. The squeal of tires joined in as a Chevy truck tried to avoid the melee and broadsided a white van. Diana cringed at the impact and the crunch of metal.
She lifted Hannah off her lap and yelled, “Stand up on the floor in front of me, sweetie!”
The girl stood in the footwell of the patrol car in front of her grandmother, wedged against the dashboard. Leaving her standing there, Diana crawled over the console between the seats in the front of the patrol car and slid behind the steering wheel. Turning to Hannah, Diana said, “Sit down and buckle up.”
Squinting ahead, she caught the dragon’s profile as it passed by another streetlight, this one just yards away. It was now less than twenty feet from the ground.
Diana considered honking the horn to get Henderson’s attention, but she was afraid he would try to stop her, and there was no way she was going to sit still while this thing attacked her and Hannah again. Diana shifted the car into Drive, pressed the brake and held her breath. Through clenched teeth, she glanced over at Hannah and said, “Baby, Grandma will really need to meditate after this whole thing is over. She’s a wreck.”
The dragon landed directly on top of the battered taxi, flattening it and sending a shudder through the pavement that shook the patrol car. With a single kick, the dragon sent the yellow pile of scrap flying into the smoldering trees. Facing the police car’s windshield, the dragon lifted its wings, howling as it stepped forward.
“Hold on,” Diana said. She stomped on the gas.
The cruiser leaped forward, straight toward the dragon’s chest.
The creature’s red eyes widened; its toothy snarl disappeared, as it clumsily executed an odd wing-flapping pirouette, attempting to get out of the path of the vehicle.