Cooper sprinted forward at the speed of light just as though he knew exactly where to go. His long, plumed tail swished importantly as Jack advanced and, with one quick motion, thrust open the door. Jack saw at a glance that there were four people in the room. One man, supposedly the bogus Abbot because of his yellow robe, was sitting at a computer, with a man to his right, one to his left, and a man Jack identified as Brother Dui stapling papers into a neat pile.
“I take the Abbot, Dennis left, Yoko right. Coop, guard the door!” Jack hissed.
The element of surprise worked. The encounter was over before any response by the invaders had a chance to get off the ground. Jack looked at Brother Hung. “We need something to tie them up. I don’t suppose you have any duct tape, or even know what that is, do you?”
Brother Hung stood rooted to the floor, stunned at what he had just seen. Who were these people Wong Guotin had surrounded himself with? He shook his head to clear it and said as smartly as he could, “Of course we have duct tape. It is in the closet. Dui, please fetch it and . . . and do what they say.” His gaze went to Yoko; he was as impressed as he could be with what he’d just seen her do. She winked at him and smiled. Brother Hung was so flustered, Cooper nipped at his leg to let him know he was to get with the program.
And at that precise moment, the doors burst open and a small army of men rushed into the room. To Jack’s dismay, every single one of the intruders assumed a fighting stance. He risked a glance at Dennis and Yoko, who were frozen in place. What confused him even more was that Cooper was silent. “Stand down, guys,” Jack said under his breath, his lips barely moving.
“I count nine,” Yoko whispered. “These three are bound. Stand down my ass!”
“My ass, too,” Dennis hissed.
Cooper remained silent, watching the men, who were jabbering, their hands pummeling the air around them.
“They want us to take the tape off their people,” Brother Hung said.
“Well, that’s not going to happen anytime soon,” Jack said. “We don’t give an inch. They have no weapons.”
“Like we give a good rat’s ass what they want,” Dennis said defiantly.
Cooper remained silent but watchful. Jack wondered what the hell the dog was all about at that moment. He stared at Cooper long enough for a thought to ricochet through his head. On the count of four was the thought. Four? He looked at Yoko and Dennis. “On the count of four!”
“They want you to shut up,” Brother Hung said. “Do not talk! They said they will kill you if you keep talking. They do not understand English.”
“One.”
“Two.”
“Three!”
“FOUR!”
Cooper lazily got up as though he was stretching his legs. Then he was in the air, as were Yoko and Dennis. No slouch himself, Jack reacted and lashed out, Brother Dui trying to help him by swinging a stapler at one of the attackers, before he wisely, Jack thought, ducked under the desk. But a moment later, to Jack’s amazement, Brother Dui had a metal wastebasket in his hands, which he dropped over the head of one of the attackers. Then he yanked at the phone and beat on the bottom of the can with all his strength. The attacker managed to get the basket off his head, but he was so disoriented that he started to stagger across the room. Brother Hung’s leg shot out and tripped him, knocking him to the floor. Dennis moved, dodged an attacker, and stomped on the man’s neck, all the while yelling, “Tape this jerk up!”
Yoko dusted her hands together as she eyeballed Dennis. “You did good, kiddo. We barely broke a sweat on this one. Nine down, not bad. What do you think, Jack? Will my husband be happy with us?”
“I don’t think your esteemed husband could have done it any better. Yoko is right; you did good, kid,” Jack said. “Cooper, you little devil, we couldn’t have done it without you. You did good, too, Coop. Okay, enough praise. What’s our next step?” All eyes turned to the two monks, both of whom were wearing blank expressions. Jack knew in that instant they would be no help. “Okay, drag them all into that big bathroom. We lock that door, then we lock the door to the office and go about our business. Hung, you tell anyone who asks that the Abbot himself locked the doors and said no one was to go inside the office. Tell them the moment the bells rang, he and his two partners ran down the hall and out another entrance. It’s not much, but for now I think that will work.”
“Where are we going now?” Dennis asked.
Cooper was back on his feet and sauntering to the door. Yoko opened it. “Wherever he goes, we follow—it’s really that simple.”
Hung finally came out of his stupor. “Do you Americans always follow the whims of . . . of this creature?”
Cooper stopped long enough to glare at the old monk. “Excuse me, I meant to say do you always follow . . . Cooper’s orders and go where he goes?”
“Yep,” the three said in unison. Cooper barked once, just loud enough to acknowledge the old monk’s gaffe.
“Absolutely remarkable. Do you not agree, Brother Dui?” The younger monk nodded although he looked perplexed.
“It looks like Cooper is taking us back to the dining hall. I thought we were going to go to the arena, or at least tell someone we all wanted to meet there,” Dennis said as he trotted alongside Yoko.
“I guess Cooper has other plans.” Jack turned to Brother Hung. “I have a question. Your oldest class of students, are there any young men advanced enough in their studies so that they can fight? Men whom we can enlist to help us? In case we are significantly outnumbered.”
“I knew you would ask me that question sooner or later. The answer is yes and no. Certainly, they are not of the same caliber as Jun Yu, Dishbang Deshi, and Wong Guotin. And certainly not Wing Ping, when he was their age. None of the three students in attendance now have come close to the prowess shown by those four. We hold the first three alumni up as models and try to avoid any reference to that monster, Wing Ping, except as an example not to follow. The students all strive to match the expertise of the first three. But none of them even come close.
“Having said that, in a real-life situation, they might surprise us all.”
“Where are the students right now?” Jack asked.
“At the back and at the other side of the building. What do you want me to do?”
“We’re almost to the dining hall. Turn around, and if anyone asks, pretend that the Abbot told you to go to the three students and take them to the dining hall. Can you do that?”
Brother Hung looked around nervously. “I can certainly try. I will do as you ask.”
“Do you want to take Cooper with you?”
“Um . . . no, I think . . . he is better off with you. I will go now. Be careful.”
“Always.” Yoko smiled at the old monk, who jammed his hands into the folds of his robe so that the others couldn’t see how badly he was trembling.
Dennis stopped at one of the paned windows to look outside. “Weather doesn’t look good. And is anyone noticing that it is getting colder here?”
“I don’t think they heat the hallways, Dennis. We aren’t going outside, so cross that worry off your list. At least for now. Okay, I see the door to the dining hall. Move it, guys!”
“I didn’t see a lock or bolt on the dining-hall door,” Yoko volunteered. “Do you all think that maybe just the office has a lock? I remember thinking it was very shiny, like perhaps newly installed. Maybe when these gangsters moved in, they installed it for their own reasons.”
Jack had no idea, because he hadn’t paid any attention to the shiny lock. He shrugged as Dennis thrust open the door. Cooper let loose with his victory greeting.
“Talk! What happened?” the group shouted out, as if their voices were controlled by a group mind.
Jack brought the group up to speed quickly, ending with, “Brother Hung is on his way to the student quarters to fetch his three star pupils.” At Harry and Dishbang Deshi’s puzzled looks, he explained, “They’re bodies. A show of force. I have to be honest h
ere. Brother Hung said they are . . . not nearly as good as you guys were. I took that to mean, even on your bad days they can’t measure up. Like I said, a show of bodies, and as students, they speak English. At least I assume they do. Brother Hung was quick to point out that possibly they might rise to the occasion when they see it is a life-and-death matter. I hope he’s right.”
“Are we going to fight it out here in the dining hall?” Dennis asked.
“Ask me something I know the answer to, kid. I know what you know. For the moment, I think we just sit here and wait for someone to come blasting through that door.”
Harry chewed on his bottom lip as he stared at Dishbang Deshi. “Something’s wrong. Do you feel it, my old friend?”
“I do. If they have the army we think they have, we should be surrounded by now. We cut their numbers by . . . a dozen. If you’re counting, that is. By now they should be missed. And that number includes the fake Abbot himself and the goons he had with him in his office. We should build the fire up and perhaps make tea for everyone. Tea is a calming agent, as we all know.”
Fergus tended to the fire while Charles headed for the monster range to prepare tea.
“So we sit and wait, is that what you’re saying?” Annie questioned.
“Unless you have a better idea,” Maggie snapped irritably.
“Someone should do the dishes,” Isabelle said.
“I will,” Alexis said. “I’ll wash, you dry. Shouldn’t you have heard from Abner by now?”
“Yes, and I’m worried that he hasn’t been in touch. I don’t know what that means.”
“Probably means he doesn’t have anything worthwhile to report,” Ted said.
“Where’s Cooper?” Nikki asked.
“Sleeping under the table. That’s a good thing right now. It means we’re safe for the moment,” Myra observed.
Charles was pouring tea into little white bowls when the doors to the dining hall opened to admit Brother Hung and his three students. Introductions were made. “Meet Wen Ho, Chang Li, and Yong Park.” The students bowed, their faces a mix of awe, respect, and excitement. Especially when Harry and Dishbang Deshi were introduced.
“Hero worship at its finest,” Jack muttered under his breath.
“What is going on outside?” Yoko demanded of Brother Hung.
“Nothing. I saw no one. I was not accosted. The three men guarding the students gave me no trouble when I told them the Abbot wanted to see these three in his office. One of them has a cell phone. I saw no sign of weapons. They are treating the students well. None of them seemed overly anxious. Aside from the three men standing guard, everything appeared normal.”
“Maybe the weather has something to do with things,” Maggie said. “Mother Nature, as we all know full well, is notorious for throwing monkey wrenches into the best-laid plans. Or”—her voice changed from sounding fretful to outright angry—“it is night now. Maybe they’re waiting for the witching hour or something to wage a full-scale attack.”
No one offered up a comment. The huge dining hall turned silent again.
Harry paced, Dishbang Deshi right behind him. “I say we call Wing Ping. We have the Abbot’s phone. We speak Chinese. What do you think, Dishbang Deshi?”
“What I think is that Wing Ping is waiting for you to call him. He wants to be in control. Right now, we have a standoff. It’s just my opinion, Harry, but I think we should wait it out, make him come to you. Not us, you.”
Harry nodded. “You’re right, Dishbang Deshi. As hard as it is to do, we’ll wait him out. By now, he has to know we’ve taken out some of his men. They haven’t reported in. Twelve men suddenly going silent will not go unnoticed for long. He’s probably weighing his options right now. At the moment, I just don’t know if the bad weather out there is in his favor or ours. We still haven’t figured out what the ringing bells was all about.”
“A call to arms, Harry. That’s the only thing it can possibly mean. Somewhere in this holy monastery are a group of malcontents bent on destroying us. Obviously, they are waiting somewhere inside this holy place for further instructions.”
Harry gulped at the tea in his cup, then held the cup out to Charles for a refill.
The large dining hall returned to silence.
Two hours went by without anything happening. The group was actually starting to doze off when, without fanfare, without any warning from Cooper, the great doors opened and five men entered the hall. The door was closed quietly by the last man in the little group.
“Standoff,” Dennis said through clenched teeth.
Cooper stirred, rose to his feet, stretched, and then meandered over to where Harry, Jack, and Dishbang Deshi were standing.
“Who has the eye?” Nikki hissed.
“I do,” Yoko hissed in return, her lips barely moving.
The leader of the five-man group looked around until his gaze settled on Harry Wong. He motioned for him to step forward. Harry didn’t move. The hoodlum leader motioned again as he started to jabber in Chinese. Harry remained still and mute.
The leader shed his quilted jacket, which looked to be soaking wet, and pulled a gun from the back of his loose black trousers. None of the other four made a move, their eyes ricocheting around the room at all the women.
Brother Shen and Brother Hung reared up, their voices raised in anger. “You dare to bring a firearm into this holy monastery! You dare to do this!” they cried in excited Chinese that Dishbang Deshi interpreted for the others.
“This might be a stupid question, Harry, but do you think that creep knows how to use that gun, or is it just for show?” Jack asked, his face squeezed into deep frown lines.
Before Harry could respond, the gunman laughed, a foul cackle of sound. “I speak English, and yes, I know how to use this gun. I will shoot all of you one by one if you don’t remain quiet and do as you’re told.”
Jack looked down at Cooper, who appeared to be yawning. Yawning? Cooper? The dog half turned to Jack in time for his thought processes to catch the word four filtering through his brain. “Four,” he shouted. “Who has the eye?” His tone was high-pitched but still conversational.
“I do,” Yoko said quietly.
“One!”
“Two!”
“Three!”
Cooper flew through the air and had the gunman’s wrist clamped between his teeth before any of the other invaders could respond. The gun clattered to the floor.
And then they were all moving in every direction, arms, legs, human torsos sailing through the air. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw that Espinosa had the gun and was holding it as if it were a poisonous snake. Cooper was still holding on to the gunman’s wrist until Harry came up from behind and put a chokehold on the man. Cooper released his captive, looked around at the melee, then retired to his space under the massive table. He closed his eyes but cracked one open when he heard Harry say, “Great job, Cooper. You had the eye that time! Next time, though, don’t say four when you mean three!” Cooper went back to sleep.
“Bad news, people,” Ted said.
“What now?” Jack bellowed.
“We’re out of duct tape, that’s what,” Ted snarled.
“We have rope,” Brother Shen said.
“This might be a good time to think about producing it,” Dennis said through clenched teeth, his eyes on Espinosa and the gun.
Brother Shen scurried off to what was probably a pantry off the dining hall. He returned with a coil of yellow nylon rope that he handed over to Harry. To Espinosa’s relief, Jack reached for the gun and stuck it under his belt at the small of his back. His shirt covered it.
“We can gag them with the dishcloths,” Nikki said as she fished through drawers that lined the huge sink next to the stove.
“You sure you want that gun, Jack? I’m a better shot than you are,” Annie said. To give more weight to her words, she added, “And these sexist idiots will certainly not expect me, a woman, to have a gun.” Jack thought about it for a mome
nt or two and realized Annie was right; and she really was a crack shot. He handed it over. Annie, in turn, stuck it in the small of her back just the way Jack had. She now felt in control again. It was the little things, she thought, that made it all worthwhile. She felt like shouting, bring it on, I’m ready but she kept the thought to herself. No sense getting ahead of herself. When the time came, she would be ready for anything that Wing Ping and his bullyboys could bring.
Chapter 19
Charles shuffled his feet as he took a step backward to stand alongside Fergus Duffy. His lips were barely moving when he said, “Tell me what you see, Fergus. What I see is that things are going to start going south any minute now. The girls didn’t come halfway around the world to sit in a dining hall with a bunch of low-life bottom-feeders. Your beloved is just itching to pull out that gun and plug someone center mass. My own beloved is about to stomp on someone, and at this point I do not think she cares if it’s one of the low-life bottom-feeders or one of us. Kathryn . . . she’s a ticking time bomb. The others are getting more agitated by the second. Any ideas?”
Fergus rolled his eyes as he took in the scene around him. Charles was right, and he winced at what he thought the outcome might be. “This is how I see it, Sir Charles. You are the undisputed leader of this little group, so you better start acting like you know what you’re doing. A little guidance will go a long way, I’m thinking. And while there is always the possibility that I could be wrong, I don’t think I am. The ball is firmly in your court now. The question is, are you going to put the ball in motion, or are you going to stand here and play with it?”
“When did you get so smart, Fergus? You’re right on all counts. Buckle up! I expect some fireworks.”
Charles reached into his pocket and withdrew the whistle that he was never without. He gave it two sharp blasts, blasts that were so shrill that Cooper reared up and barked.
“Listen up, people! As you can all see, we are in a bit of a crisis mode here. I can also see that you are all champing at the bit to dive into things headfirst, but you are not looking closely enough at the consequences such an action will provoke. I have some ideas about a course of action and its consequences, so let’s all sit down at the table like the reasonable adults we are and talk.”
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