“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.
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Tsai Lee rolled over, the events of the night before swirling in her mind, her body in agony. The dancing put every muscle she had to the test, the fighting immdiately afterward exausted all of her strength. She stretched and looked around the room for Barrett. She saw no sign of him, but she did notice the box she had taken from Guang Li. Sitting up and taking another good stretch, her still damp hair falling from the towel on her head about her shoulders. She walked over to inspect the contents of her prize.
The box was ornate. Carefully prying the lid open she looked at the small disk. She had never seen anything of the like. She turned it, allowing the light to dance around the strange disk and then closed the box and began to move through her daily katas. She enjoyed the movement in her naked form, the lack of obstruction from her clothing. She had felt Barrett's gaze upon her body as she entered the room the night before. The look was enjoyable, but at the time she had little desire to care. She slept naked all of the time and didn't think she needed to change things for a man, even more, her student. She could have her way with him if she wanted, but that was for a later time. The task at hand was all that mattered.
Finishing her routine, she threw a robe about her shoulders and began to comb through her long, black hair as she waited from Barrett to return. She hoped he brought breakfast, for she was famished.
Barett put back on the black business suit, the national uniform of Hong Kong as he called it, slide the H&k45 into the holster in the small of his back and the blade into his ankle sheath. He had rested the day before and had got a little nap in this morning, so food was the main urge he knew could be satisfied.
Barett had scoped out some shops two days ago just down the street that sold vegtables and fruit, rice bowls and the like. Hoping for some time with his thoughts, and to release some built up tension he walked through the old lobby and out the front door of the building. The morning air was humid but temperate, so unlike the desert he grew up in. The exotic smells of a conjested city, the towering buildings, all made him feel like he was in a movie.
It was quiet for Hong Kong and only the religious and the drunks were up now. Several dozen people were moving into the temple across the street.
Barett kept a good, quick pace to the market, moving rapidly through the groggy crowd. The market had barely opened and fresh fruit was just being put out. He wished his chinese was better, but he was able to get all he needed, fruit, cold cooked rice, some sort of milk and some noodles with seasonings, and raw fish. He stopped to watch some morning news through a window of some kind of coffee/tea shop. The words evaded him but the images of the Tea house and body bags told him all he needed to know. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a figure he was sure he had seen in the lobby when he left. Watching the image in the glass he was sure that he was being followed, he just couldn't prove it yet. Switching the food to his left hand, keeping his right free to grab the gun, he casually strolled back to the Old Hotel/apartment building.
He was sure that they needed to leave now, waiting any longer could prove fatal. Eating some of the food along the way, he eyed the 30 story building they were staying in, looking for escape routes that would let him and Tsai Lee disappear into the city. He could see the open window to their room and Tsai Lee doing Kata's naked as far as he could tell. That women was sure different from the rest of the ones he had dealt with in the past.
The time to move out would be in the morning rush that would start up in the next hour, Barett could only hope they had that much time.
The first thing he said to her as he entered the room was. “我們有一條尾巴 (We have a tail).”
“什麼(What)?” She looked at him oddly, as if he were being stupid on purpose. Tsai Lee was sitting on the edge of the bed, the TV on, and she was brushing out her hair.
“A tail. You know, like a tail.” He continued in Chinese while pointing to her back side. “Well, you have a tail and mine got chopped off . . . but.”
Then realization set in. He shut the door with his foot and dropped the bag of food on the little nightstand that served as the only table in the small room. The Chinese equivalent of what he was trying to say didn’t make much sense. He flipped over to English.
“No, not a tail, tail, we are being tailed by someone. Through some marvelous talent, someone has already figured out where we are staying and they put a tail on us. How they caught us so fast is a bit disturbing but I am sure someone is watching our moves, probably from before last night. I saw a spook following me just a few minutes ago while I was watching the morning news down at the corner shop.”
Barett moved sidewise over to the window and carefully pulled the blinds and drapes shut after he took a quick peek out to the street below. People and more people were moving about.
“I don’t believe it.” But before she finished her sentence she stopped and looked at the black lacquered box with the white dragon emblem that was on the floor next to her damp dance clothing. “It must be the Albino. Who else could have that type of connection?”
“Who?”
“The Albino; a shrewd and very capable lady named Dong Mei. She is notorious for having her hand in just about everything.”
“I’ve never heard of her. Who is she?”
“She is based out of old Guangzhou, the same place I am from, just north of the boarder. She has a lot of support from different governments because she gets things done. And that white dragon is her mark on the box the disk came in. The mark tells us and anyone else, that the contents belong to her. That means either Gaung Li stole it from her or he was working for her. ”
“So is she another Triad boss?”
“No, she is the head of Xian Dai. It is a large business conglomerate that is in heavy industries, shipyards, banking, and investing, and a number of other enterprises. It is like the Triad only as it is a business family. As far as I know Xian Dai always keeps its work clean and legal. Dong Mei has the reputation of getting whatever she wants but she has never been connected to criminal activity that I know of. She holds power and influence over government leaders because her company is so well situated. It is rumored that she is impossible to please and people scramble out of her way; a radical business person at best, the devil in white at worst, but she is no gangster. That is the real puzzle here. Why would Gaung Li have something of the Albino’s? What is on this disk that could be so important that she would place her symbol on it?”
“Well, our English ‘intel’ friends think it has information about the collapse of Nanning and who was behind it.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. It would be in the best interest for Xian Dai and the Albino to keep the old country stable. Why destroy it?”
“Maybe what is on there is ultra sensitive and Gaung Li stole it?”
“Maybe? But then why would Gaung Li be carrying it around like a badge of honor?”
Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by a loud bang at their door. Someone was trying to break the door down. It thundered violently again and blew inwards with smoke billowing behind it.
Barett instantly saw a flash bang grenade role into the room.
Barett’s and Tsai Lee’s Zanshin skill gives them about 2 seconds to react between the door blowing and the grenade going off. The room is on the 4th floor, (easy jump for both of them – but not so easy to open and get out at the same time). There is the one window looking out on the street and small bathroom and door off to the right of the bed Tsai Lee is sitting on.
They both know that there are three armed men outside ready to rush the room.
What do you do?
Barett Jumps quickly straight through the open door, bringing his .45 H&K out at the same time. Hoping that this would be the last thing you would expect of someone. He comes out high, through the top of the open doorframe, knowing that they would be crouching low in the hall, to avoid the blast. Bouncing off the adjacent wall and straight at the closest two using his shins and knees like battering rams into thier heads and throats. Kicking and punching at them viciously while firing the gun at the single guy on the other side of the doorway. Barett is all about shock and awe, kicking and pushing them into each other, and the open doorway exposing them to Tsai Lee, and her deadly arts, attempting to keep the two guys inbetween Barett and the other operative, on the opposite side of the doorway.
Tsai Lee did a quick roll backwards to the other side of the bed. Landing on her feet, she grabs the frame of the bed and flips it over, covering the flash bomb. A tuft of feathers and dust explode in the room. Grabbing her swords, she calmly walks over the turned furniture and smiles at the man standing in the doorway. He brings up a 9 mm pistol to fire at her. With a quick twist to her right, she dodges the bullet, bringing her sword to meet the flesh of his neck. She watched Barrett finish off his second assailant.
"Really. So much noise!" Tsai Lee complained. "There were only three of them! Do you need all of the theatrics? I guess I need to keep my clothes on from now on if this is how things are going to work. Let's get the bags and move so I can dress."
She walked back into the room quickly throwing her things together and tossing Barrett his bag. They made their way stealthily to the fifth floor and picked a lock to one of the apartments. Tsai Lee quickly dressed, Barrett's eyes stole glances at her from across the room from the open window, by the fire escape as he surveyed the streets below. She followed him out and down the fire escape, her sword strapped to her back.
Barett pulled the fire alarm before heading into the apartment, causing the occupants to start fleeing the building. Creating confusion and a mass of people like them leaving on the fire escapes. This Woman definately had a style of her own, he thought.
The fire alarm blasted out the calm of the morning. People were scrambling every which way, out of windows, clogging the fire escape, out into the hallways, all trying to get out of the building. But there was a problem. The men that had been waiting outside the room of Barett and Tsai Lee were police officers. And they hadn’t come alone. When their radio went silent, their backups knew instantly that things had gone bad. They had called back up and started prepping to storm the build when the fire alarm set off. Now they were trying to check everyone who was coming out. They knew the building wasn’t on fire but there were too many innocent people still inside that didn’t know that and this began a steady stream of panicked, worried, alarmed, and sleep deprived tenets trying to get out.
Sirens began almost instantly to call back in reply that rescuers were on their way.
The police’s covert operation was blown. Their response level moved from level two to level one – top priority – immediate danger calling in all available units. They had three men down and now a fire alarm was sounding. They were mad and determined to find their targets.
As Barett and Tsai Lee reached the second floor level of the fire escape that was fast filling with panicking people, they both looked down and saw that the building was now surrounded and armed men in uniform were stopping everyone coming from the building. Sirens were sounding from all over and cars with flashing lights were starting to arrive.
What is the plan?
Tsai Lee listened to the pandemonium erupting around her as she sat by the window waiting for a good group to follow out of the building. Her swords had been carefully hiden in her bag which felt firm and comforting on her back. The police involvement has startled her. She wondered about this Albino and what connections she held with the local police departments. Having the local authorities after them would definitely make life more exciting and perilous.
Barrett had disappeared back into the building as to make a diversion for Tsai Lee to escape in the crowd, hopefully unseen. He said he was going to use his sniper rifle in one of the upper rooms,hitting a few gas tanks on some of the police cars, causing more hysteria. They would later meet up in Guangzhuo. She held the box in her belt. All she cared about was keeping hold of it and reaching her destination. She gave a quick prayer that Barrett's plan would work and she stepped into the crowd of frightened people hauling pets and prizes down the ladders with them. She heard the cry of a small child on the platform below her and saw a young mother with two young children trying to comfort them.
"Can I help you get the children down?" Tsai Lee asked, hoping it would further sheild her and confuse the cops. "I will stay right by your side."
The mother nodded with tears in her own eyes. Tsai Lee picked up a small child who couldn't have been more than two years old and spoke in a calm voice to her. She stayed close to the mother, her eyes scanning the crowd.
Barett prowls around, to get an already open window with a good view, keeping his body in the shadows, to the back of the room.
He is going to make two shots. The first will be to the commander of the police unit, the second to the next highest ranking officer. Then he is going to move out of that apartment and move quickly to the other side of the building where Tsai Lee is, and fire the AK-47 at the police cars. Then he is going to sneak over to another side and fire at the gas tanks of two fire trucks. Then he is going to drop a flash bang grenade into the boiler room in the basement, and toss another up the staircase as high as he can get it. This should make it look like several people are in the building. At that point he will put on his peasants gear, covering his face with a cloth, for protection from the smoke. Grab some furniture and run from the building with the other people. Using his disquise and the furniture to conceal his identity. Soon the fuel lines will explode and fill the area with fire and debris.
The air was warm and the whining of the people around her was hurting her ears. The child in her arms whimpered for her mother and the frightening scene. Taking a deep breath and holding onto the ladder with one arm, she waited for those below her to move.
"If this building were really on fire," she thought, "we'd all be dead in this hysteria. I guess it helps our cause."
She turned her mind to the contents of her bag, which was starting to feel quite heavy at this point. She had changed into her peasant clothes, for camoflage, but carried three more changes of lightweight clothing. She had her toiletries, swords, non-perishable food, money, a few extra daggers, and of coarse, a 9 mm had gun and 300 count ammo and a few granades of various uses. She would definitely have some questioning done if caught by the police. She supposed they would have her face all over their minds at this point any how.
Tsai Lee tried to help move the family along carefully but it was laboriously slow with people packing the rusting iron stairs that led down to streets below. She was acutely aware that the police were stopping everyone as they reached the bottom. They were holding everyone back as a group until all in the group were checked and cleared before the police would quickly escort the group in-mass and in a panic run to the opposite side of the street behind the temporary police barricade.
The fire escape creaked with stress from the massing weight. The mother she was helping, a partial-looks rabbit, cradled her other infant daughter close to her bosom. Her hair was tied up in a disheveled knot between her long rabbit ears and she, along with her two girls were wearing slightly yellowed cloth masks. Tsai Lee could clearly see the stress in the mother’s eyes. She felt it herself. How was she going to get passed the police? It was going to get tricky if she needed to fight her way out in such close proximity to all these innocent people. Add to that, she knew she stood out from the rest of the crowd. Her problem was that she was pretty to look at and her genetics were more refined to full-looks than almost everyone around.
They inched closer and Tsai Lee saw a policeman eyeing her. She ducked her head down cueing to the little girl she held who was obviously not happy, letting her black hair drape her face more from the searching eyes of the authorities. The Rabbit baby in her arms began to cry and then wail. Tsai Lee tried to bounce her as she had seen other women do. But this was foreign to her. She had never been a mother nor had she much practice with a child.
The next group moved away which allowed her and the rabbit family to reach the street level. Four policemen were checking everyone’s faces with a paper. She could easily guess what was on it. Two of the policemen were taking interest in her and moving through the mass of people, maybe 10 in all that she was crowded in with, towards her.
There were just two feet away when two clear and loud gunshots rocketed out from the building. All of the older people in the group who recognized what the sounds were, screamed. The police, acting as publicly trained servants they were linked arms and pushed the group tight against the building to protect them. The two gun shots are answered with a battery of automatic fire. Tsai Lee could hear the clattering of bullets hitting the building above her. She looked down and the little girl in her arms looked up into her eyes in horror as she felt the mass of people crush in on her. Tsai Lee could barely move.
What does she do? The police are obviously momentary distracted by the shots.
Barett was frustrated. They had been found too fast. But that didn’t matter at the moment. He was up now on the fifth floor and most of the people were out on this level. But looking down at the encircled policemen, he could not identify anyone for sure who looked to be in charge so he took out two possible subjects. He had removed the silencer to pull more attention away from the bottom and Tsai Lee. His shots were answered by a crashing flurry of automatic fire. Bullets popped in ripped into the room around him. But he was already gone. He raced down the hallway and burst into another room. Pulling his AK-47 out he shoved the barrel of the gun out the window and let lose the full clip. He could hear police car windows crack and shatter along with the ping of metal hitting metal. The second he was finished he was gone again.
Return shots answered back into the now empty room.
As he left the room he dashed into the stairwell and ran straight into the arms of a very surprised SWAT member about ready to enter the door Barett had just burst through. There were two more men behind him. Barett was in a basic bear-hug with the man both of their guns pointing past each other to be utterly useless, other of course than then two behind the first. He would have to move fast!
What does he do?
The crowd was sweating intently as the line of officers pressed their bodies together. Tsai Lee passed the baby back to her mother, happy to be rid of the fussing child. If she can just push her way to the front of the crowd, she could easily break the riot chain with groin shots to two of the officers and then attempt one of her long range leaps and start a run out of the city. Slyly, she begins to whisper to those around her.
"I think they mean to kill us! We can't let them squeeze us to the building! We need to get out! I need to get out!"
She begans to push and pull to those around her, her hair in her face, her head bent.
Barett curses in Chinese. There is no way he could have been tracked so easily, is Tsai Lee a double agent?
Did central have a mole...who let them know the plan ?
No time for questions, just time for action.
A quick knee to the groin and snap kick to the knee to the guy in front of him. Firing with the Ak-47 in two medium burst at the other two swat members. Then with his leg he will snap kick and push the guy he just knee'd in the groin, into the others down the stairs. His plan is to jump down and beat them with the butt of his gun and his feet. Going for knockout and death blows. Then he will grab the guy that is closest to his size and drag him back into a service closet. Before leaving he will booby trap the other bodies with one of thier grenades with the pin pulled out. As soon as the body is moved, it should go off. He will then put on the uniform and look for a backdoor out. Breaking sprinkler heads and starting fires/ and explosions on the way out. Hopefully these guys have good guns and demo stuff, it seems the others did. What he can grab quickly, he will take. Faking injury if he runs into any one else, hopefully the mask will conceal his identity.
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