by Kailin Gow
“I’ve got a knife in my boot. Can you reach down and get it.”
Zara shrugged and struggled and managed to slip out of the hastily knotted rope around her wrists. “No need,” she said with a clap of her hands.
“Great. I’ve been sitting here for over an hour waiting for you to wake up, and you instantly break free. I should have kicked you awake the minute I woke up.”
“Sometimes you're just too much of a gentleman.” She pulled apart the rope that bound him and quickly turned to the source of light streaming in under a door. “This is our way out.”
He came up behind her as she opened the door and checked to make sure they were alone.
“Are we in a barn?”
“Looks like it may once have been.”
Dry strands of hay and straw littered the dirt floor and a variety of farm tools stood rusting in a corner. Zara carefully headed to the stalls, inspecting them one after the other.
At the third, she stopped and threw her head back in disgust. “Argh,” she said, holding back on a serious gag. “Now I know where that stink of death is coming from.”
Peter joined her and looked inside the stall. Blood stained three corners of the stall that was equipped with harnesses and chains.
“This is where they brought them,” Peter muttered. “All those kidnap victims.”
Zara wanted to throw up as she thought of the heirs who’d been kidnapped and tortured. “I think I see a finger,” she said.
Peter entered the stall and carefully picked up the digit in a clean white hanky, wrapped it up and put it in his jacket pocket. “Why would someone go to all this trouble? Just to eliminate competition? Just to make more money? It’s so disgusting.”
“And to think that Leo’s uncle is behind all this,” Zara said with disbelief.
Her quiet mourning for the victims she’d been unable to save was interrupted by the loud roar of a vehicle approaching.
“Come on,” Peter said as he quickly ushered her back into the room they’d been locked in.
He needn’t explain what the plan was. Zara knew him well enough to know how he thought. In silence they waited in the cold, dark room, and as expected, they soon heard footsteps approaching. Zara closed her eyes and concentrated on the sound of the steps to determine how many men they could expect. It sounded like only one. It would be a piece of cake taking him down.
The door eased open and light streamed in. Holding her breath, Zara waited until the man had completely entered the room before charging him. Peter joined in and finished him off with a sound punch in the nose.
“That was easy enough,” he said proudly.
Her gut twisted in a knot and she pressed her lips together. It’d been a little too easy.
“Come on,” Peter said as he stepped out of the darkened room. “We’ll take his car and head back into town.” He’d barely taken two steps out when he was jumped by three men.
While two of the men pinned Peter to the ground, the third prepared to pummel him, Zara pounced on the tall man, biting down hard at the base of his neck. Despite the deep wound, he tossed her off him and had time to deliver a few swift kicks to Peter’s gut before Zara could make another attempt to stop him.
Despite her powerful martial art moves, the man was just too large and every kick and hit had little effect on him. Then she spotted the rusting farm tools in the corner and grabbed the pitchfork, but when she turned to save Peter from further blows, she was faced with two larger men who dwarfed her.
The taller of the two grabbed the pitchfork and easily snapped it in two. “I don’t like to fight a woman,” he said.
“Perfect,” Zara said as she jumped up and kicked the man in the groin. Shocked, she just stared at him as he didn’t even flinch.
“But I will if I have to,” he added as he reached out and grabbed her by the throat.
Air barely got through to her lungs and the bright rays of the sun quickly dimmed until the ugly face of the man in front of her faded. Just when she thought she was going to pass out, she heard the distinct clink of a chain, then saw the expression on the man’s face change as the chain wrapped around his neck. He immediately released her and tried to pull himself free of the death grasp.
“Leo,” Zara said when she saw him standing behind the tall man, a long length of chain in his hand.
With a firm yank, he pulled the man back and off his feet.
“Leo, they’re going to kill Peter.”
Without stopping to consider his own safety, Leo turned to deliver the same punishment to the two men who were pummeling Peter. Bloodied and knocked out, Peter no longer offered any resistance at all.
In the distance, Zara heard the roar of more motor vehicles. “Hurry, Leo,” she said as he slapped Peter back to wakefulness. “More cars are coming.”
Peter came to and slapped Leo away. “What the bloody hell are you doing here?”
“Hey, you're welcome,” Leo shot back.
“Stop bickering and let’s get out of here,” Zara said as she headed to the large open barn doors.
“My car’s back here.” Leo pointed to the back door.
But the black cars were already closing in.
“Go Zara,” Peter said as he pushed her toward Leo. “I’ll slow them down.”
“No.”
Peter looked at Leo. “Get her out of here.”
“Peter,” Zara argued. “No.”
With a final glare at Leo, Peter turned and headed to the large barn doors.
“We have to stay,” Zara said.
Leo didn’t bother arguing with her, but just grabbed her wrist and dragged her out, but when a gunshot rang out, they both stopped to look back.
Peter stumbled, clutching his chest as blood oozed through his fingers.
Zara brought both hands over her grimacing mouth as tears sped to her eyes. “No,” she muttered feebly as she watched Peter fall to his knees. She pushed Leo away and tried to run to Peter.
“Zara come back! It’s too late, and Peter wanted you to get away safely,” Leo said, tugging her toward his car.
“Peter!” she cried.
“Zara Come on.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she stared at Peter’s body, waiting for Leo to guide her back to his car. She knew he was right; there was nothing they could do for Peter, yet the thought of leaving him there…
But Leo was suddenly silent and completely immobile. Zara turned to find him staring at his uncle, who had blocked them from Leo’s car.
“You shouldn’t have come out here, dear nephew.”
Chapter 22
Leo
Leo stared at his uncle, the man who’d helped raise him, the man he’d always looked up to. Uncle Qingshan was the fun uncle, so cool and laid back compared to Leo’s strict and rigid father. But as he thought back to those years so far away, he vaguely remembered a darker side to his father’s younger brother. On more than one occasion Qingshan’d been on the wrong side of the law, but he’d always had an excuse. It was never his fault.
“What are you going to do, kid? Fight me?” He calmly reached for Leo’s car keys.
“No matter what you’ve done, you're still my father’s brother,” Leo said with minimal reverence.
“Is that really the reason, or is it because you know I can whip your ass, even at fifty-six?”
Leo chuckled.
“You forget who taught you, Leo. I know every move you know, and then a few that you don’t.” Qingshan laughed, a sinister and mocking laugh that was devoid of any family ties. “You were only five years old when I started teaching you, and I have to admit it was sometimes really amusing. You were such a squirt, a little pint of a kid.”
“I grew up big and strong, Uncle. You're making the mistake of underestimating your opponent, something you told me never to do.”
Qingshan laughed again, this time with pure amusement. “Yes. Yes, I did say that, didn’t I?”
“Give yourself up, Uncle. It’s over.”
“You know what they say, kid. It’s not over until…”
Zara suddenly lunged at the older man. “… until the young lady whips butt.” She landed both feet on the older man’s chin and he fell back without any resistance. “You might not be able to fight him,” she told Leo, “but I certainly can.”
“Hurry,” he said. “We’ve got to get out of here before…”
Something warm and hard clamped down at the back of his neck and spun him around.
“Hey, kid,” the big burly man said. “Remember me?”
Leo immediately recognized him, as well as his companion who now held Zara in the same vice grip. They’d been students in his uncle’s martial arts class, students who’d regularly tormented him.
“Who would have thought Uncle Qingshan was training his own future henchmen?” Leo said.
“He was a pretty good teacher, he even let us vent a little frustration on his pintsize nephew.”
Leo tried to squirm free, but the hold on his neck was relentless. Closing his eyes, he concentrated. He knew they had to have a weak spot somewhere. His eyes flashed open and he looked to Zara, his eyes wide as he silently transmitted his message by letting his eyes trail down to the man’s knees, and she instantly took the cue.
One after the other, they jumped up and landed their heels in their captors’ knees. While the men cried out and fell to the ground, Leo grabbed her hand and ran. In the distance he saw a wooden fence, about six feet high, he estimated. They should be able to easily jump it.
“Hurry.”
She bolted forward and he quickened the pace to keep up with her.
“I’m going to toss you over,” he said as he intertwined his fingers, offering her a makeshift step.
Putting her foot in his hands, she climbed up and was atop the fence, ready to help Leo up, but he was quickly surrounded by the two henchmen who’d recovered all too quickly.
They concentrated on fighting Leo, and while he held his own, Zara jumped in. Flying off the fence, she landed on one of the henchmen, surprising him enough to knock him to the ground. For good measure, she kicked him a few solid times and turned around just in time to face a third man who promptly punched her in the face.
“I usually don’t like punching a girl, but…”
Reeling, she staggered back while her head resonated from the blow. Her eyesight was momentarily tunneled, and Leo dutifully took up the fight, throwing each man down one after another.
She finally shook off the dizzy spell and jumped back in the melee. “You call that a punch,” she hissed at her assailant just as she twisted around and kicked him with the back of her heel.
Two more men joined the fight and Zara let out a war cry as she focused her energies and got into an intense fight zone. She thought of Peter, and she was filled with rage. She kicked two men in the groin with a split kick, twisted in mid-air and elbowed the face of one, while landing on top of another on his shoulders, while her thighs crushed his head to the point of unconsciousness. She jumped off the man as he fell down, and ran to another, using her feet to run and kick the man’s entire body as she used his weight against his own body. With one final kick, she knocked his chin back, forcing him to fall backward unconscious. One by one, the men, so much larger than she, fell to the ground able to do little more than groan.
Leo watched her with awe and amazement, impressed by her intensity and ferocity. He’d feared for her safety, but realized he needn’t worry about her at all. He ducked in time to avoid the blow of another goon, while Zara simultaneously punched two men by sending her fists back on either side of her. She quickly turned around and kicked another man in the balls, sending him crumbling to the ground, tears streaking down his face.
Another man, screaming wildly, ran into the melee, but Zara silenced him with a solid blow to the head that nearly snapped his neck. “That’s for Peter,” she shouted as tears streamed down her cheeks. She repeatedly punched the downed man in the chest, shouting Peter’s name over and over again.
With the last of them lying in pain on the ground, Leo came to Zara’s side. “Those are some powerful legs you’ve got there.”
Grinning, she winked and gave him an up and down glance. “So you better watch yourself, Leopold Lee.”
“Yeah.” He could just imagine her strong legs wrapped around him. He could imagine their bodies naked and sweating as they tangled together with unbridled passion. As he imagined the scene, a sharp, stinging blow hit the back of his head and he fell forward. On all fours, he tried to recuperate from the blow, but as he got to his knees, he was struck with a more painful blow; that of seeing Zara fall from a near fatal blow.
A well-dressed leg had directed an elegantly shoed foot right in Zara’s chest, zapping the breath right out of her. Leo gasped when the attacker turned around.
Uncle Qingshan. The man he trusted the most in the world had just possibly killed the woman he loved beyond any conditions.
Seething, Leo got to his feet.
“You’ve pushed this too far, Uncle Qingshan.” Certain his uncle wouldn’t take up the fight with him, he walked up to him. He knelt beside Zara who tried to get up. “Stay where you are,” he told her. “You need to catch your breath.”
Glaring up at his uncle, he grimaced. “Haven’t you hurt enough people, Unc… Argh. Qingshan?”
“Can’t stomach the thought of calling me uncle, my dear nephew?” Qingshan’s avuncular grin quickly turned sinister. “You’ve always been too emotional, Leo. It’ll be the death of you.”
“You’ve brought such shame to the Lee name.”
“Naïve little man that you are. Maybe you should have taken your role as head of Lee Holdings more seriously, but no… you were off making movies and fucking starlets. You’ve always been a frivolous and silly child, and for all the money you’ve enjoyed and spent in your life, you have no idea how Lee Holdings manages to make so much money. Well let me tell you how… by constantly looking at the bottom line, and sometimes that bottom line just happens to slip under the strict line of the law.
“It is about making a profit wherever you can. It is about utilizing your resources. I have. I’ve maximized everything we’ve got including dealings with people who find use for our transportation methods. You have to learn that what I’ve done is best for the survival of this company. Those heirs…they were the frivolous ones, wasting the potential of their family companies. They have no business running their conglomerates just because their parents doted on them, and insisted they inherit the conglomerate without proper preparations. Years after those frivolous heirs take over, the run their family businesses to the ground. Years of hard work and sweat gone because of spoil brats like you, who inherit their parents’ businesses without learning anything about them. They don’t see it, but when they play these games of running conglomerates like it’s a playground, when a factory closes, it is thousands of lives that are affected. Those people who work in the “transportation” department…they worked for Da Hwa once as our legitimate workers. They lost their jobs. They need to feed their families. Without any means, they turn to desperation and then to who will offer them a way to feed their families. That’s where I come in. That’s where I make a difference. You and all these young upstarts need wise advisers and leaders like me around to listen to. If not, then the rest of the conglomerates will fall. Think about that before you accuse anyone of anything.”
“You can’t justify what you’ve been doing,” Zara ’s voice rang out loud and clear as a bell. “How could you? Those severed fingers, Peter’s death…how could you call that justice?”
“It’s time to stop,” Leo said. “Please Uncle or more lives will be lost.” He looked at all the henchmen around. “Including these men, and their families. Do you all want to continue doing what you do instead of finding a safer more fulfilling life than hurting people?”
Looking dumbfounded, the men remained silent
Zara spoke again. “You killed an officer of t
he law. That is very serious offense,” she looked at the men around her. “It could mean life in prison or even the death penalty. If you plead guilty now and give up and come peacefully with me to the station, it could mean less time in jail.”
She pointed at Uncle Lee. “This man may be your Sifu, but surely you can think on your own. You don’t have to listen to him. When you are in jail for life rotting away, what can he do for you? Don’t think he’ll save you. He’ll only save himself. Think for yourself, and choose a better way of life. You can always change. There is still time.”
The men grumbled and muttered among themselves and one of them finally turned to walk away. The remaining men looked briefly at Uncle Lee before walking away as well.
Uncle Lee stood facing Leo… alone.
“Come on Uncle,” Leo said. “We’re flesh and blood. We are all we have left in this world. Don’t make me fight you.”
“Your words are eloquent, Miss,” Qingshan said to Zara, “but they have no effect on me. It’s too late. I’ve made my choices and when you’re in as deep as I am, there is no way out. I’m just the tip of the iceberg. This crime ring you’ve spent your entire life trying to find and defeat; it’s so much larger than you can imagine. Your parents’ death…it was planned, but I was not the one involved with that. Someone more powerful than I and more entrenched in your life and in everyone’s life planned it. If you’re really smart, you’ll stop all investigations now.”
Zara had to ask, “Why? What else is there? We got you, and you will confess everything to the police.”
“No, I won’t,” Uncle Lee said, looking out beyond her and Leo. “You will continue looking. It is never-ending. Many of my beliefs come from men more powerful than I am. They run everything. Every single network. Every single existence you know. I am just a peg in their board. This is small time. There was France, there was Los Angeles…Oh, did I just say Los Angeles? Well, that hasn’t happened yet. But…” A shot rang out of nowhere, and Uncle Lee fell to the ground, a bullet through his head.
