Point Blank (Sisterhood Book 26) (21 page)

“Ticket sales. The money end of the exhibition,” he blurted. “That’s all I do other than sometimes relaying messages to the men. I swear!”

“It’s not an exhibition, you creep. It’s a fight to the death, and you know that,” Kathryn bellowed as she pushed him closer to the fire. Alexis and Isabelle each had to take one of his arms to hold him in place.

“No! No! Wing Ping just wants to be number one. That’s what he said. He said no American should hold the title. Only a Chinese deserves to hold the title.”

“You’re lying!” Nikki screamed as she took the red-hot poker out of the fire to examine it. “It’s not quite ready. We want the brand to go
deep.
To the very bone.” The Abbot’s knees buckled again. From the far corner of the room, mewling sounds could be heard. No one paid any attention.

“Where is the bastard?” Annie asked quietly.

“I don’t know. I have never seen him, never met him. I and all these men here in the monastery deal with a man named Wei Ming. He is the only one who has seen or talked to Wing Ping. I will say he is an evil man. All of us are fearful of him.”

“Where is this Wei Ming?”

“I don’t know. With Wing Ping, I would think. He is his right-hand man. I heard rumors, we all did, that Wing Ping promised to make him rich if he aligned himself with Wing Ping. They know that you have captured many of their men. But he doesn’t care about that. He has many men waiting to replace those who are captured. It’s Harry Wong they want.”

“Where are the rest of your people? How many are left? Are any outside?” Myra asked. The Abbot shrugged.

“Poker’s ready!” Nikki called out cheerfully.

“Let’s do it!” Kathryn said, spinning the Abbot around so all Nikki had to do was run the red-hot poker across his buttocks, which she did with a flourish. The scream was primal. The other captives wailed, knowing that they were next.

Cooper barked his approval.

“American men don’t whimper and whine. They take their punishment like the men they are. You know where the next one goes, so speak up now or forever hold your peace,” Kathryn blasted the Abbot.

Tears streaming down his face, the Abbot’s eyes were full of hate as he glared at both Nikki and Kathryn. “When I want a meeting to discuss an order from Wing Ping, I call the one named Chen Fang. He brings everyone to the office and we . . . we talk.”

“Call him right now and tell him to round everyone up and bring them here. In Chinese, please. No whimpering, no wailing. One word out of place and this poker goes straight up your ass and out your throat. Do you understand me?” Nikki said. She looked over at Harry and Dishbang Deshi and told them to listen carefully to what the bogus Abbot was saying. Both men nodded.

Yoko walked over to a side table, where all the cell phones waited. She picked up one, looked at it, then handed it to the Abbot. But not before Jack inspected it and gave a nod of approval.

“Do it!” Nikki ordered. “Try to sound like the voice of authority. If you screw up, it’s all over.” She handed the phone over. In the end, Kathryn had to hold it because the man’s hands were shaking too badly. His eyes were on the smoldering, red-hot poker Nikki held in her hand, but his voice was clear and firm when he told Chen Fang to bring everyone to the dining hall. Kathryn tossed the phone to Yoko, who placed it back on the table.

“What should we do with him?” Isabelle asked.

“Sit him down over there with his friends,” Myra said.

“
Sit?
”

“Uh-huh.”

“Hey, you, Mr. Abbot! Get your skinny butt over here and sit down by your friends,” Isabelle shrieked as she struggled to keep a straight face.

“That looks . . . painful,” Dennis said as he stared at the Abbot’s backside.

“It does, doesn’t it?” Jack said, tongue in cheek.

 

T
he call made, the great dining hall turned silent. From time to time, the group could hear what sounded like stifled sobs coming from the captives. They ignored the sounds.

Cooper got up, stretched, and walked around the big room, finally settling himself in front of the line of bound captives. He lowered his head to rest on his paws but didn’t close his eyes. The men started to mutter until Nikki swung the hot poker in a wide arc. Instantly, absolute silence prevailed.

“How are we going to handle this, Charles?” Jack asked. “Do we wait at the door, admit them one by one, what? We don’t know how many there are. Harry, ask the Abbot how many he thinks there are.”

Before Harry could get his tongue to work, the Abbot spoke, his words spewing forth at lightning speed.

“Possibly thirty. I really do not know. They come and go, trade places, some outdoors, most inside.”

“They will probably try to rush us, would be my guess,” Fergus said.

“Well, we can’t allow that to happen,” Annie said. “Do any of them have weapons?”

Again the Abbot spoke. “No weapons. Just the one you confiscated. And I would like to go on record that I personally objected to the firearm. I respect this monastery and the holy men who live here. I speak the truth!” the Abbot wailed.

“And yet you allowed yourself to be used by these men. You impersonated a holy man, you lied, you cheated, and you would have allowed Harry Wong’s daughter to be kidnapped. Only the quick thinking of Brother Hung, who managed to get her to safety, prevented you from achieving your goal. You would have allowed that travesty, using a little child! All in the name of money!” Myra shouted.

Tears rolled down the Abbot’s cheeks. His voice was strained and full of pain. “Unless you live here, you will never understand the fear a man like Wing Ping can instill in a person. I have old parents, and he threatened them. I have no wife or children of my own, but I do have brothers and sisters who have families. We all know what happened to Jun Yu. I think I speak for all of us in this room. The others who are coming I am not so certain about, because I do not know them.”

Charles surprised everyone by saying, “I believe him. I know a thing or two about China, as does Fergus. We also know people like Wing Ping.”

“Charles is absolutely right,” Fergus said.

No one said they agreed or disagreed with Charles’s statement and Fergus’s affirmation. To everyone’s surprise, Cooper remained silent but alert.

“What does that mean, Jack?” Dennis asked nervously. “I mean about Cooper’s not barking.”

“I think it means Cooper is in agreement that the Abbot is telling the truth. I’m no seer, Dennis. That’s just a guess on my part,” Jack said.

“I know, I know. That’s what I was thinking. So in an actual showdown, these creeps would really be on our side, right?”

Jack laughed. “Kid, do you
really
think any of them are in a position right now to help anyone, even themselves?”

His voice still jittery, Dennis looked Jack in the eye, and said, “I guess that was pretty stupid coming from me. It’s just that I’ve never been in a situation like this. These guys are
Chinese
!
”

Cooper let loose with a yip of sound that startled everyone since they couldn’t hear Jack and Dennis’s conversation.

“Let it go, kid. As you can see and hear, Cooper agrees it was a stupid question. We need to—” Whatever Jack was about to say was cut short when a hard pounding could be heard at the door.

Charles moved quickly as he motioned for the Brothers Hung and Shen to open the door. He held up his hand, then chopped it down to mean they should open the door. They did, and men rushed in. Jack tried to count them, as did Harry.

“Twenty-eight,” Jack said.

“Twenty-nine,” Harry said.

“Wrong. Thirty-one,” Dennis said.

Cooper barked.

“Thirty-one it is!” Annie said, brandishing the gun that Jack had returned to her. She fired one shot at the ceiling. The shot was so loud in the cavernous dining hall that it sounded like a bomb going off. It had the desired effect. The men froze in position. Their expressions said it all. A grandmother with gray hair shooting a gun! Unheard of in China.

“I am going to make a speech. Harry, will you translate, please. Tell them first of all not to move or I will plug them right between the eyes or . . . between their legs, whichever they prefer. I’m not choosy.” Annie waited while Harry made the translation.

When he was finished, Annie said, “Now point out that nice line of captives that we have secured on the far wall.” Harry obeyed. The man named Chen Fang stepped forward and started to give Harry some Chinese lip. Annie shot him in the knee. Chen Fang’s bellow was a sound none of them had ever heard before. Harry shrugged as Dennis and Ted dragged the screaming, squealing man over to the line of captives. They left him on the floor because, as Ted laconically said, “He isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.”

“Now what?” Kathryn demanded.

“Herd them over to the line with the others. Explain to them clearly that they can do it quietly or they can cry in pain, it’s their choice,” Annie said. “What are they muttering about, Harry? Tell them to shut up so you can tell them what I just said.”

“They’re cursing you in Chinese, Annie,” Harry said cheerfully. “I’m telling them what you said, but I’m not sure they want to hear what I’m saying.”

Annie let loose with a snorting sound. Cooper barked twice. Annie brought up the gun in her hand, fixed her sights on a man directly in front of her, and sighted the gun, eight inches below his waistline. The man scurried to the line and sat down as though he were a misbehaving schoolboy. And then, to Annie’s delight, he folded his hands. She whirled around and pointed the gun again with the same, as she put it, awesome results as all the men who had rushed through the door scurried, even pushing and shoving their partners to get into the line with the others.

“You do such good work, Annie! I’m proud of you!” Myra gurgled.

Everyone clapped their hands. And then the boys rushed to help Fergus and Charles tie and bind all of their newest guests together.

“We’re getting a full house here.” Nikki laughed.

“We sure are,” Yoko said as she winked at a flustered Harry.

Cooper closed his eyes and appeared to go to sleep, but it was all a ruse, since everyone in the room who mattered knew that Cooper never slept.

“Done and done,” Fergus said as he took his place at the table with the others.

“What do we do now?” Nikki asked. “Just wait for the weather to clear? Or we could give some thought to having that guy Chen Fang call Wing Ping’s right-hand guy, Wei Ming. I think it’s a good idea,” Nikki added, and the others agreed.

“To say what?” Maggie asked.

Kathryn laughed out loud. “To tell him they’re being held prisoner. What else? Or we could have him say the exhibition, the fight, whatever you want to call it, is off. I was kicking something around with the girls earlier, and what if we have Isabelle contact Abner and have him do the social media thing all the way. Say the fight is off. That Harry has no interest in defending his title, either in China or the States, with someone who isn’t even listed in the world rankings and whose ability is only a matter of hearsay. That means Wing Ping. We think that should put his jockeys in a knot. He’ll be incensed and have his hands full trying to hold back all the bad publicity that announcement should generate. Unless he succeeds in countering, he’ll look like a silly fool those in the sports field will laugh at. We think it will work, but we are open to discussion. We don’t have anything else to do at the moment, so why not?”

A babble of sound ensued until Charles blew his whistle. “One at a time. We do this the democratic way—we each get a vote. All in favor of getting in touch with Wei Ming, raise your hand.” Every hand at the table shot into the air.

“Everyone in favor of having Abner do the social media counterattack.”

Again, every hand at the table shot high in the air.

“Let’s do it, people! That means you, Isabelle. Get cracking and ask Abner how long it will take before we see some results,” Kathryn said, her eyes blazing with something the others had never seen before.

“Well, I guess that takes care of that, now, doesn’t it? Chen Fang over there appears to be in a great deal of pain. Do we want him making the call and saying what happened, or do we want one of the others who speaks English to make it?”

They all kicked that idea around for a few minutes, and finally agreed that Chen Fang, in pain, wailing, and cursing, should make the call. Or as Espinosa put it, his English was better than that of the others. “Keep that gun on him, and he’s all yours, for whatever that’s worth.”

“I’m not calling Wei Ming. When this is over, he’ll hunt me down and kill me. Call him yourself,” Chen shouted bravely.

“Not if we kill you first,” Yoko said playfully, wagging her finger under the man’s nose. Right now, you are looking at an either/or. With us, you stand a better chance of surviving by making us happy by cooperating. It is your choice, however. We’re Americans, and we believe in democracy and freedom of speech.”

“Oh, dear, do we have to go through this again,” Annie said as she whipped the gun out from behind her back. She lazily walked over, tossing the gun from her right hand to her left. “I’m John Wayne’s older sister, Chen Fang. Do you want to make the call or do you want me to . . . ?”

A string of screeching Chinese permeated the room. The group of Americans all looked at Harry. “You don’t want to know what he’s saying,” Harry informed them. “The bottom line is that he’s willing to make the call.”

“Is there a doctor here in the monastery? Shouldn’t someone be taking care of that guy’s knee? What if he bleeds out?” Dennis asked.

“We do have a man of medicine here at the monastery. Not a doctor like you have in America or the big cities in China. He deals in herbs, but he also knows how to dress wounds. I’m sure he will know how to remove the bullet in the man’s knee. Shall I go to the office, try to restore our system, and call him? If I can activate it, we can use the loudspeaker system to tell him he’s needed here in the dining hall. He could be anywhere in this vast monastery, and it could take many hours to locate him.”

“Yes, yes, do that, please. We’ll hold off calling Wei Ming until the medicine man gets here. I think we can all agree on that,” Charles said, as the others nodded their agreement. “In the meantime, girls, write out on paper what you want Chen Fang to say.”

“What did you say, Annie?” Myra whispered so as not to distract the others.

“I’m mumbling to myself, Myra. Bert still has not responded to my last two e-mails. That is not like him. I sent Dixson Kelly an e-mail, and he just responded, again, saying he hasn’t been able to reach Bert either. He also said he sent off queries to Big Al at the Sands and Todd at the Wynn, and he got no responses. But, then, he just sent them, so we need to give him some time. I’m worried,” she said flatly.

All eyes turned to Kathryn, who stared them all down. “What? Why are you all looking at me like that? I’m not Bert’s keeper. I’m not his anything anymore. You all need to accept that and move on, as I have. I can’t make him respond to an e-mail or text message.

“Surely, you all know that? Where’s the restroom in this place?” she asked in a choked-sounding voice.

“Out the door, down the hall, and make a left. It’s the second door on the right,” Dennis said.

“I’m not even going to ask how you know that,” Jack muttered. This kid never ceased to amaze him and the others as well.

“I saw the door out of the corner of my eye when we went to the office. I’m a reporter, I’m trained to see things and put them together. That’s what reporters do.” Dennis’s voice held just a trace of defiance.

“And Dennis is right,” Maggie said. “As a rule, we reporters sometimes see and hear things others would pass on. It’s a kind of instinct on our part. With time and practice, we hone it, then we live by it. Dennis is a good pupil. He’s very observant.”

“Okay, okay! At least we all know where the restroom is, thanks to Dennis here,” Jack said, clapping the young multimillionaire reporter on the back.

Cooper barked his approval of the compliment, then sauntered to the door and waited. Harry opened the door and followed the dog out to the main lobby, where he opened the massive doors. Cooper walked out and was back within minutes. He looked up at Harry and waited. “What?”

Cooper turned and pawed the heavy door.

“Right! Right! Lock it!” Harry slid the heavy metal bar across the double doors. Safe! Cooper yipped his approval as he started the trek back to the dining hall.

In front of the great doors, Harry stopped and dropped to his haunches. Cooper placed his paws on his shoulders so that man and dog could eyeball each other. “I wish you could talk, Cooper. I wish I understood really what you are all about. My imagination, I know, doesn’t . . . it’s like you’re not real, that you’re human to some extent. How do you know . . . is it dog instinct that’s superior to human instinct? I need to know. I want to know. I feel like . . . like you’re part of me and Lily, and I don’t understand why that is. Help me out here, Cooper.”

Cooper nuzzled Harry’s neck, then licked at the tip of his nose. He made soft noises in his throat, sounds Harry had never heard him make before. “Okay. Maybe someday I’ll figure it all out. Right now all I care about is that you have our backs and that Lily is safe. Do I at least have that right?”

Cooper let loose with two joyous yips.

Inside the dining hall again, Charles asked about the weather. Harry just shrugged. He didn’t see any sense in telling Charles or the others that he hadn’t noticed if it was raining, sleeting, or snowing because his thoughts were elsewhere. No point at all.