The Hidden Kingdom II

“Damn,” He said under his breath. He was totally awake.

It was now about 5:20 in the morning. The window was open and the cool of the morning filtered in. The sun was starting to rise. The rain seemed to have finally blown out and the morning seems to hint to a bright, if not hot day.

Not doing anything all day yesterday, just waiting, and the fact that Barett had the stamina to keep going for three days straight, was part of the reason why he wasn’t sleepy. But he couldn’t sleep. Part of it was because he was having a hard time keeping his mind focused. It kept wandering to the sleeping figure on the bed.
He was having a hard time to keep his mind off her. Her dance last night had been nothing short of astonishing. The way she moved haunted him. He had never seen anything like it before. It was a given that he found her insanely attractive. But he also respected her and her skill like no other women and he wanted to learn everything he could from her when it came to the blades. The two feelings were for some strange reason, in conflict within him and he couldn’t figure it out.

He had no idea if she found him attractive or not. She said nothing that gave him any ideas as to her thoughts towards him as a man. And then last night she had walked out naked on him which was a bit more than he expected. As a professional trained paramedic, he had ignored her nakedness and done his job fixing her up. She was flirting with him he was almost sure off, but then she had fallen straight asleep, naked on the one and only bed in the place. It was kin to torture. You don’t do something like that if you have a figure like she did and expect the man to ignore you. You shouldn’t to that to any man be he gay, straight, castrated, eunuch, spayed, or even non-humanized. Period!

Barett laid down on the floor and tried to slept but had abruptly awaked with a start to some outside noise. He turned and looked at the bed and sure enough, she was still there, all trim, tan, and with one hell of a sexy backside to look at; and that included her tattoos. It was a site he surely enjoyed.

But those tattoos jumped out at him like a very clear warning that she was fully capable of doing something like cut his head off within a single beat of his heart if she so desired to. It was a little like the coral snakes he and his brothers had known about back home. Beautiful to look at but colors that screamed out a warning to anyone foolish enough to approach it.

Tsai Lee’s distinct dragon-phoenix tattoo was the same as the vipers. The black swirls on her conveyed elegance, sophistication and a touch of mystery while the powerful hot reds conjured up conflicting emotion of passion and love to violence and warfare. The shades of orange in the tattoos gave a transition between opposing factors of the reds and greens. It softened the lines but it still demanded attention. And finally the deep greens denoted a balance and harmony in the dance between the dragon and the phoenix.

Being quiet, he dressed himself and picked up the small lacquered wooded box with inlay symbol of a white dragon surrounded by a circle. He didn’t recognize the pattern. It was straight forward in opening it but what came out was a total mystery to him.

“Where’s Rick when you need him.” He said to the silent room.

What he was now holding looked like a computer disk but not like any he had ever seen before. The thing was solid and made of black shinning plastic with three green swishes running down the front side. It didn’t look like it plugged into anything he was use to.

They were going to need outside expertise on this one.

He looked up at Tsai Lee again.

“Damn.”

He let the course hang in the morning air.

“I either need to take a cold shower or get out of here and go for a walk.”

He went with the second choice. They needed some food for breakfast anyway. He exited the 30 story building that must have one been a hotel but had been converted into cheap living units for the poor and overly crowded people of Hong Kong. Across the street was an old Tin Hau Temple. He was standing on the corner of Temple St. and Public Square St.

What does he do? What does he find that interest him?

What does Tsai Lee do when she wakes up and finds the room empty?
The disks are a mister to Tsai Lee too. It looks expensive.

Hidden Kingdom Images and helps

Here are some images and maps to help visualize the setting. You can click on each image to make it larger.


Hong Kong at night in the rain


Map of Tsing Yi and surrounding area


Close up of Barett's and Tsai Lee's location and train station


Satellite map


Tea house map and the building layout


Image of Tsing Yi harbor on the north east side of the Island


Image of the building Barret is hiding in.


Internal image of what the open tea house look like. In the story, chairs and tables would be lined along the outside all to over look the courtyard.

Dave Goes to Europe Chapter 2: Reassignment

Dave went to the same posh hotel where he had last left Aldous.  The Bugatti would be safe there.  Dave had managed to clean himself up some in the men's wash room before checking in.  As per usual, he generously tipped the porter that carried his large duffel.  The porter thanked Dave by name (thus committing it to memory for future services and additional tips).  Dave showered, washing the last couple of hours off his body.  In a bathrobe, Dave retrieved some ice from the hall.  Back in his spacious room, he rigged up an ice pack and set it against his ribs.

Flicking on the television, he flipped through a number of channels.  The hotel had international cable.  Channels from Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Germany, were at his fingertips.  He stopped on a German dubbed version of Kubrick's "The Shining."  Jack Nicholson speaking in German was a whole other nightmare.  Dave loved it.  Sadly, fatigue was setting in.  The near loss to Mr. Harris had somewhat lowered his usual confidence, and with it, his chipper nature and boundless energy.  He was tired.  During a commercial for the new Audi, Dave got up, dumped the ice in the sink, relieved himself, and slipped back into bed.  Having watched the rest of the movie (through fits of nodding off) to the closing scene of Jack's creepily smiling face in the old group photo (we all remember, don't we?), Dave clicked off the set and laid his head to rest.

Postlog-Ricks Vacation behind the scenes

The darkwood paneling reflected the dancing flames from the fireplace, a single desk lamp illuminated the large oak executive desk. Sitting back in a overstuffed leather chair General Wineburg nods his head. The high tech satallite phone, its black metallic frame dull and flat, pressed lightly againest his ear, scrambled by the lastest technology.

" Yes, they did better than I expected.........I too enjoyed the final twist.......yes...they are all just as capable.......stable, perhaps not.....is that really needed? ......I see.....yes 'Operation Dark Six' can be started right away..........The girls, they should work out as well.......no we have not made 'Official contact'......Mannasas Kingdom is very clever about who runs it......no I don't have any real ideas myself, just lots of educated guesses. This may be our backdoor in........we can only wait and see........Yes of course, The best Wolf hunters use the sheppards as Bait. I will update you once the planners have the operations laid out. Very good, over and out."

The small but powerful phone is tucked into an inside pocket and a leather portfolio is opened. Wineburg pulls out a vanilla enveloped stamped 'Top Secret', opening to a sattelite photo of a northern port city. In red marker a small building by the docks is circled. Operation Dark Six is hand written across the top of the photo, other smaller photos of the brothers, Carla and Monica also litter the folder. Multiple papers with small type and titles like, E.o.H base, Special Warfare group, and Colateral damage, poke out at obtuse angles.

There is a knock at the door, and Shelia pokes her head in through the door. Wearing a light jogging suit, the top half mostly unzipped, exposing her cleavage.

" Care for some fruit and wine before locking it down ?' She holds a small tray in her left hand.

" Please , yes, come in, it looks like the mission was a sucess, even better than hoped for. "
He smiles broadly at her.
"You are going back into the field, but this one will be double blind, are you willing to do that?"

She hesitates a moment then nods her head.

" How long this time, do we know ?"

He looks down at the file, then back to her.

"Not long, this is a in and out job.....I'm sending you back to England...Watch your back....they still want you dead. It is a shame we can't alter your features more."

She nods then leaves, as he looks over the file once more.

This time it will be for keeps he thinks, then turns out the lights.