The Noah Reid Action Thriller Series: Books 1-3 (plus special bonuses)

by Wesley Robert Lowe

  Noah, Abby and Olivia fell to the ground, entirely exhausted but thrilled with victory.

  Chin leered at them. “Did you think it would be that easy?” He pressed another button, another wall slid out and an enraged Bengal tiger vaulted to the attack. Noah leapt to his feet and jumped in front of the girls.

  Mano-a-tiger duel to the death. Noah versus the tiger. Protection of beloved versus unfettered animal fury.

  The clash was ruthlessly violent as man and beast tangled and rolled on the floor. No amount of Hung Gar training was going to help. Noah chopped the beast on the back, but his blow was as effective as swatting a fly. It infuriated the tiger. It roared as it disentangled itself from Noah and circled him... watching... waiting.

  At just the right moment, the tiger catapulted itself at Noah, knocking him down like a bowling pin. Noah sprang up, but the animal swung its paw as it tried ferociously to shred him to pieces. The feline knocked Noah down again and jumped on him, scratching and biting Noah’s face, arms, torso and legs.

  Bleeding and bitten, Noah tried to fight off the tiger. In the recesses of his mind, he tried to think of anything that could help. Two things came to mind. One was a Bible verse taught to him by his mother. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou are with me. The other came from Master Wu’s indoctrination of Confucian thinking. The virtuous man is free from anxiety; he is free from perplexities and he is free from fear.

  Somewhere deep within, from a place he didn’t know he had, Noah summoned strength and erupted. “Not this time, not ever!”

  The tiger leaped at Noah with open jaws. Noah evaded the feline’s teeth and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck. With the strength of Samson pushing away the temple’s pillars, Noah tossed the tiger twenty feet away.

  Enraged, the feline charged back but, with dazzling speed, Noah sidestepped the tiger’s aggression.

  Noah went on the attack. He picked up the chair that Olivia sat on and bashed the tiger on the head, stunning the beast to immobility.

  He then went after Chin. The two wounded warriors, one with the experience of a thousand battles against the giants of the world, the other driven by the most powerful force in the universe, love.

  Noah grabbed Chin by the mouth. Chin bit down hard, causing Noah’s fingers to bleed, but the young lawyer refused to let go as he squeezed and tried to pull Chin’s jaw out of the socket.

  Then, suddenly, Noah let go. Chin was off guard for a split second, just long enough for Noah to leap and double kick the Tiger Master. Once, twice, three times.

  Noah was possessed—acrobatic, artistic, awe-inspiring and totally aggressive.

  Noah spun and hooked his foot, landing it hard against Chin’s shoulder, knocking him to the floor. Chin was down, but then... another problem.

  The tiger regained consciousness and raced toward Noah.

  Noah rapidly stepped to a computer, picked it up by its cord and whirled it like a modern-day David with his slingshot. He released it, and the projectile smacked the tiger full force in the side of its body. Incensed, the tiger leapt at Noah. The young lawyer dove out of the way of the beast.

  As the tiger came back, Noah picked up Chin and threw him directly at the open jaws of the feline.

  The tiger caught Chin in his mouth midair. With a bite force of over five hundred pounds, the tiger sank its jaws into Chin’s chest. With the sound of crunching bones and Chin’s screams filling the air, blood gushed like a river.

  Noah raced behind the animal, grabbed it by the nape and gave it a sharp blow to the middle of its head, knocking it unconscious.

  The war was over. The blood-drenched Noah had triumphed. He panted at Chin, “You lose, I win.”

  Olivia and Abby ran to the exhausted Noah, propping him up.

  Chin lay on the ground, in the spasms of death. Noah’s crossbow was beside him, and he slowly put an arrow in it.

  Staggering, he rose unsteadily, aimed it at Noah and shot. The arrow sliced the air as it sped toward its destination. Noah ducked, but he was not the target. The arrow embedded itself into a wall socket.

  Noah heard a short hissing sound, then flicked his head in time to see the flash of the electrical socket flaring ice-cold cobalt blue, igniting everything in its path.

  Tongues of flame curled upward, creating frantic strobing shadows. Noah fought his way through the snarling fire, when the overheated floor exploded outward. A piece of flying pipe hit Noah on the head, sending him crumpling to the floor.

  Head woozy and his whole body aching in reluctance, Noah tried to orient himself as waves of flames leaped up around him.

  “Noah!” screamed Olivia.

  The sound of her voice jolted Noah to look in her direction. Behind her, Noah saw Chin, with crossbow ready, firing at another wall socket on his left and shot another arrow. It found its target on the other side of the room.

  Now, there were two fires on opposite sides of the room, igniting walls and furniture. With the blaze licking the ceiling now on two flanks, black clouds drifted murderously throughout the room.

  Noah struggled to his feet and dashed to Olivia and Abby as Chin picked up another arrow and shot it at a socket on his right.

  The socket exploded and flames burst out. From left, right and behind, three blazing infernos surrounded Noah, Abby and Olivia. With no place of refuge, Noah picked up a chair hoping to shield the girls but a huge piece of burning ceiling broke off, knocking the chair from Noah.

  Chin readied another arrow, aiming at the socket directly behind the trio. If another fire started, holocaust was inevitable.

  A bleeding Garret somehow rose to his feet. With a broken leg, he falteringly hopped on his good leg to the staggering Chin, moving so slowly that his clothes ignited.

  With howling flames bellowing up his legs and scorching chunks of plaster crashing around and on him, Garret embraced Chin tightly. Chin struggled, grabbing Garret’s throat but the lawyer refused to release his grasp. The two began to burn as one. Searing pain ravaged their bodies.

  Chin gasped, “I can still make you wealthy beyond your wildest dreams.”

  “You still don’t get it do you, Chin?” Garret said hoarsely. “This is not about money. This is not about honor. This is about Mary. And Jocelyn. Tommy and I planned this for years. Finally, we have redemption.”

  Garret saw Olivia trying to approach them, but with fire devouring the room, the conflagration was too intense. He called out to her. “Stay there, Olivia. It’s okay. I have waited until now to avenge your mother. You were always right. It was my fault. But I hope that I’ve made it right. I love you, Olivia.”

  “No!” screamed Olivia. She saw the ceiling above Garret collapse with screeching white hot steel falling on and around him. She got a final glimpse of her father holding Chin tight and burning like a single candle before flames shot outward, upward and downward, engulfing the pair, then disappearing into the inferno.

  With the blazing maelstrom consuming the room, Noah, Abby and Olivia desperately tried to find a way out but no solution appeared in sight.

  Suddenly, sunlight broke out from the far side of the fiery wall on the other side of the room. Master Wu stood on the balcony, beckoning them. “Hurry. Come! Now!”

  Noah turned to Olivia and Abby. “Trust me.” With that he picked up Olivia and hurled her to Master Wu. Olivia shrieked as the flames surrounded her but Noah’s idea worked—she was safe.

  As soon as Master Wu caught Olivia, he put her beside him. Noah then picked up Abby and threw her to his Sifu.

  As soon as Abby was airborne, Noah glared at the hellfire in front of him. He had thrown Olivia and Abby over and through the flames but the heat was so intense for him to try and run through it.

  He spun his head... and heard the answer.

  The tiger had regained consciousness and bellowed its displeasure at the prospect of being barbecued. It was standing on a ceiling segment that was not on fire!

  Noah
quickly stepped to the tiger and stared right into its face. “Okay, boy. Hang in there with me and we’ll both get out of here. Okay?”

  He pushed the feline off the unburnt fragment. With the tiger following behind him, Noah used the ceiling section as a shield, battling his way through the inferno to join Master Wu and the girls on the balcony.

  The only problem was that they were fifty-four floors above ground. But, even here, they couldn’t escape the flames, and the fire reached out to touch the balcony.

  There was no choice. Noah, Abby and Olivia leapt over the balcony. Screaming, plummeting down, down, down. Then they heard a familiar roar and looked up. The tiger had leapt, too!

  All four accelerated to their inevitable end—the deep end of the Tiger Palace’s swimming pool. They hit the water, which broke their fall, but the momentum carried them another fifteen feet down. They touched the bottom before rising to the surface.

  Gasping for breath, they bobbed up and down in the water.

  Eyes searching frantically, Noah saw Abby and Olivia but there was someone not there. He shouted, “Where’s Master Wu?”

  Olivia pointed to the high rise. Master Wu was descending the building like an experienced cat burglar.

  “Just jump in!” yelled Noah.

  Master Wu shouted back. “No way, Noah. That’s too dangerous. I might drown.”

  Chapter 46

  Master Wu conducted a tea ceremony for Noah, Olivia and Abby on the upper floor of his studio. There was a gas burner boiling some water in a teapot, and tiny earthenware teacups and pot were all arranged on the table. Sitting cross-legged around the thirty-foot-long rosewood table, Olivia and Abby marveled at the tiger and crane carved on the table top.

  “Your fathers gave it to me,” explained Master Wu. “Actually, they gave me everything you see... This was our war room, where we planned for what happened today.”

  Noah shook his head. “They couldn’t have planned for everything, Master Wu. Like today.”

  “No, but this is where we planned your future, Noah. Your scholarships to the United States, your job with Pittman Saunders. We had only a sketchy idea and you more than fulfilled what we had hoped for.”

  Master Wu gazed into his pupil’s eyes with fondness. “And now you are free. You can go wherever the wind will take you.” He turned to Abby and Olivia and pointed to the tea set. “Please take them off the table.”

  A strange request but Olivia and Abby took the tiny cups, pot, tray and burner and put them on the floor.

  Master Wu stood up and went to one end of the table. “Noah, take the other end, please.”

  “Sure.” An even stranger request, but Noah was used to those from his sifu. He obediently went to the opposite end.

  “Let’s lift the top off and put it to the side.” Master Wu and Noah gripped the edge of the elongated table top—it was easily five hundred pounds. “One. Two. Three.” They squatted and hoisted the cover and laid it gently to the side.

  “Omigod,” was the collective comment. Noah, Abby and Olivia gasped at the sight of what was hidden beneath the lid. Billions upon billions of dollars in various denominations and currencies were stored below the table.

  Noah was stunned. “How many times have I been in this room and not known what was here? There’s Chinese RMB, Canadian, Australian, Hong Kong and US dollars, Philippine and Mexican pesos, euros, British pounds and I don’t know what else.”

  Master Wu nodded. “And what you see is just the tip. It goes down another eight feet.”

  Noah exhaled. “This explains why we couldn’t find the money anywhere. It was pretty clever.”

  “Your fathers knew that if the funds were kept in any bank, sooner or later Chin would find them,” stated Master Wu simply.

  Olivia fought back tears. “That’s why there was never any paper trail, bank or computer records. It went directly here... Cash is king.”

  She turned to Master Wu. “But my father was willing to let me die for the sake of not revealing the hiding place. How could he do that?”

  “That was part of our plan. Garret could do that because he never knew the location. Only Tommy and I knew about this. Chin thought Tommy was too much of a buffoon to know anything about money.”

  Noah nodded in sudden understanding. “That’s why Chin killed him. To Chin, Tommy was expendable.”

  “Exactly,” continued Master Wu. “Garret didn’t want to know the whereabouts of the money. He knew that if he did, Chin would eventually force it out of him, either by direct torture to him or to you. Tommy chose me because I was the one person Chin would not suspect. I was too stupid and old-fashioned but, most important, I couldn’t care less about money. That’s something Chin couldn’t understand, so that’s why it would never even cross his mind to think about me.”

  Olivia and Abby exchanged meaningful stares. Both were thinking the same thing. My father was willing to risk my life for this?

  Master Wu continued, answering the unspoken question. “Abby, Olivia, your fathers had no choice. If Chin continued, the tears would never stop flowing. Garret and Tommy did not have the kinds of networks Chin had. Your mothers were the loves of your fathers’ lives. They tried to stand up to him. Then look what happened.”

  Master Wu shook his head sadly. “They never forgave themselves for what happened to Mary and Jocelyn. But it wasn’t simply about them.” He smiled at Abby and Olivia. “You are both beautiful young women. Chin had an insatiable appetite for forbidden fruit. He would taste it, then dispose of it. But, even if he had no sexual interest in you, he would never have stopped until he destroyed your souls and ravaged your bodies.”

  “Yeah, there’s nothing a guy wants more than to conquer the unconquerable... except me, of course,” said Noah, pulling his foot out of his mouth.

  “A sad truth,” Master Wu nodded. “The only chance to keep you safe was to put you into danger. Garret and Tommy knew if they didn’t, you would be dead anyway. Terrible odds, but the only ones available. Honor and revenge are important, but the real reason they did this was because of love.”

  Abby and Olivia began crying. The guilt of a lifetime of hatred for their fathers weighed them down like heavy stones. Noah stepped over and put one arm around Abby and the other around Olivia. Olivia buried her face in Noah’s chest.

  “But they knew they could not accomplish it alone. I told them about the Reids and their young son. They were skeptical but...” Master Wu chuckled, “...they didn’t have a lot of choices.”

  Master Wu made the Shaolin hand sign. “You did it, Noah. I’m proud of you.”

  Olivia and Abby broke away from Noah’s hold. The healing had started. There was a twinkle mixed with the tears in their eyes.

  Noah’s eyes caressed Olivia. “Well, Counselor, what are we going to do? I believe you and Abby are a few dollars richer than you were one minute ago.”

  “You decide, Olivia,” encouraged Abby. “It’s doubtful that the original owners are in a position to make a claim.”

  Noah looked at Olivia. Olivia looked at Abby. Abby looked at Master Wu. Master Wu looked back at Noah.

  Noah took a bundle of cash and removed the teapot from the burner. He put the money directly above the flame and asked, “What would the virtuous man do? Would he say that the proceeds of Hell should go to Hell, or would he use them to bring Heaven to earth?”

  Chapter 47

  Chin’s hideout was barely recognizable. Walls were stripped bare, the rooms opened up and brand-new hardwood floors put into place, creating two basketball courts, a few lounges and some executive offices.

  Noah and Olivia played basketball with the same youngsters Noah and Chad played with on Noah’s first day on the job with Pittman Saunders. In this brand-spanking new facility, and with the teams wearing their brand-spanking new uniforms, these players were ready for serious action.

  Sam drove down court and passed Noah for an easy lay-up. The buzzer rang, and the scoreboard read, NOAH’S TEAM—45, SAM’S TEAM—46.


  Sam pumped his arm. “Yes!” Then Sam, Noah and Olivia walked toward the dressing rooms.

  “You really gonna give me a job, Noah?” asked Sam, not daring to believe that a dream might come true.

  “Of course,” said the ex-lawyer of Pittman Saunders. “We are building a hundred gyms, and we need to hire a lot of people.”

  “Oh, great. Is that the only reason you hired me, because you’re desperate?” frowned Sam.

  Noah clapped Sam on the back. “No, man, it’s because we need someone with your abilities, your skills, your know-how, to reach kids just like you. We old farts can theorize about it, but it takes a real young person to do it.”

  “Okay. I accept.” Sam rushed off, waving his arms, crazy happy.

  “Who you calling an old fart?” asked Olivia in mock dismay.

  Noah rolled his eyes. “I dunno. Maybe someone who wants to be the musical director of the Chad Huang Foundation?”

  “Can I apply?”

  Noah kissed her. “I think I need to interview you personally. In private. And multiple times. But I think we need to give Abby a job, too.”

  Olivia chortled “She’s lost her mind and plans to go to law school. If being musical director doesn’t work out, she and I can be partners.”

  “Uh-oh. Watch out, world. Maybe I should convince her to work for me instead.”

  “You’re really serious about this foundation business, aren’t you, Noah?”

  “Someone has to care for the kids. And, with a few billion dollars, we could do some serious damage. I just said ‘billions.’ Has a nice ring to it, wouldn’t you say?”

  Olivia’s eyes sparkled. “I certainly do, Noah Reid, Mr. President of the Chad Huang Foundation.”

  HEAVEN SHATTERED

  A Noah Reid Thriller