The Grandmaster's Legacy (HOT Historical Suspense, Box Set)

by Taylor Lee

  Elena had recovered from her horror at the incongruous sight of Senator Sinclair’s body lying on the floor beside the desk; the puddle of blood around his head dark, dry, crispy. She didn’t ask Greg what happened. She didn’t have to.

  Elena willed her voice to be calm, but couldn’t control the stammer.

  “Is…is Alex…safe?’

  Greg laughed a mirthless cruel sound.

  “Oh, Elena, are you still so foolish? You still believe that someone is going to save you? The Frenchman? Your father? Even that insipid brother of yours?”

  Greg towered over her, his face as deranged as it had been in the ballroom. Elena drew back, desperate to hide her fear. She knew she had to keep him talking. She had to give Bai, her father, and Nianzu time, time to find her and save her. And they needed time to find Alex.

  Blessedly, he hadn’t tied her up which meant that she had a chance, a very good chance, to take him down. She watched him striding back and forth across the room, his pent up energy visible in his tight neck muscles, straining thighs. She hadn’t appreciated how big he was. He always seemed insignificant, smaller, weaker. But that was in comparison to Bai. Now he looked different. His rage made him appear larger. The insane glow in his eyes added stature. How had she missed this? Bai didn’t. He saw beneath the obsequious surface, sensed the danger, but she had chided him, teased him about being jealous of Greg. Now, because of her naïveté, they were all in danger.

  “My poor darling, you look surprised. Like you barely know me? Is that how you feel, my lovely Elena? Like you are seeing me for the first time? Wondering where the sensitive, cowering, subservient Greg is?”

  Pushing her against the wall, his fingers circled the jewels around her neck. “And you wore the necklace didn’t you, Elena?” He ripped the glowing jewels from her neck and shoved them against her face. “You joined with him to taunt me? To rub my nose in his victory? Who is the victor now, Elena? I will ask you that every time I fuck you. And Elena; every time I shove my prick in one hole or another of your tender body, you will wear this necklace in memory of that arrogant yellow bastard who thought he could take out the Chameleon. ”

  Greg’s eyes were bright. Spittle shot out of his mouth with every gloating statement.

  “You see, my ignorant little bitch, that is why they call me the Chameleon. Did you think only that yellow dog you married had a moniker everyone feared? No, Elena, in many circles and soon to be more, the Chameleon is as feared as the Frenchman.

  “Ask the little cunts your husband stole from us. Ask them what the Chameleon does to Chink virgins. To any virgins, although I do prefer Chinks. They are smaller, tighter,” He added with a hideous chuckle, “Of course, it helps if they are only ten or eleven years old.”

  Elena couldn’t hide her horror. She stared at the fiend in front of her and tried to understand why she had been fooled.

  “You took the girls…took them to Madam Torrento’s?”

  “That is but one pleasurable aspects of our organization I oversee. My forte is managing crooked politicians and, fortunately, they are as plentiful and lucrative as Chink cunts. Do you know how easy it is to control a dirty politician, Elena? All you need is a record of the daughter he fucked, the bribe he took, the whore he killed, the hush money he paid. That’s all, Elena. That’s all it takes. That and the wisdom to record each and every bribe, each and every hush payment and the money rolls in month after month, year after year, and soon you are as powerful as the Frenchman.”

  Elena planned her moves. She ripped the slit in the front of her dress to give her striking room when she was ready. For some reason Greg had shooed his men out the door. But she knew they were outside and would be back at the first sound of a struggle. She fingered the knife sheathed in her garter. She thanked God Bai insisted on hours of practice. She could hit a target at twenty paces. But she needed a gun. It was the only way she could stop the five or six men she knew were outside the door. Her attention snapped back to Greg when he stepped up to her and dragged her to her feet.

  He twisted her hair in his fist and held her head at an awkward angle. It was hard to get her breath. She tried to avoid his crazed eyes, but he was too close. She could smell the rank smell of his arousal, feel his prick against her thigh.

  “You belong to me now, Elena, and I’m going to fuck you. You know that, don’t you, Elena? But first, I need to punish you. Not the way he punishes you. That is just play. You like the way he punishes you, don’t you, Elena? I saw you. Did you know that I saw you?”

  Elena gasped and choked at the hideous thought.

  “Don’t look shocked. I’m the governor’s chief of staff. Of course, the hotel gave me your suite number. I had flowers to deliver. And, of course, I could rent the suite next to yours.”

  Vomit rose in her throat. She struggled to quell the nausea threatening to erupt. Oh God, please no. God, please let him be lying. But seeing his crazed face, the gleam in his eyes, she knew he was telling the truth. He had watched them; watched them making love. She tried to shut out his voice, go to a place deep in her soul, but his words assaulted her ears.

  “I saw him, Elena. I saw him tie you up, play with you, shove a dildo up in your cunt. I saw him strike you with that fancy crop. I saw him put his filthy yellow cock in your ass. And goddamn your soul to hell, Elena, you loved it, didn’t you? You loved that mongrel yellow dog fucking your ass, didn’t you? Answer me!”

  He grabbed her hair and shook her so hard that her teeth rattled and she tasted blood on her tongue. His face was so close to hers that they shared the fetid air between them.

  “Are you going to beg for more when I beat you? Cry out in ecstasy when I shove my cock down your throat? The way you do when you suck him, swallow his filthy seed?

  I don’t think so, Elena, because when I use my whip, you will bleed. Your scars will never heal. When I tie you up, it will be for days at a time and you will wallow in your excrement. I will make you watch me fuck little girls. You will beg me to stop when they scream in pain. But I won’t because it will make you more obedient, more willing to do what I tell you to do. Obey my commands.”

  Something snapped in Elena. How dare this disgusting man invade their love, their intimacy, their joy in one another? Her fear and shame turned to rage. But it was a quiet rage, a controlled rage. For the first time, she felt the fury she had seen in Bai. The fury that never boiled over, but rather was just amazingly effective for the job at hand. And the job waiting for her was to take down this filthy human offal so that he could never hurt another person. Her job was to beat him to death.

  She wrenched out of his arms and flung herself over the arm of the chair backing up against the wall. She tucked her hem up in her drawers and grinned at the smile that crossed his face, knowing he misunderstood.

  “You want me to fuck you, Elena? That wasn’t what I expected. I didn’t expect you to make it so easy for me to strip you. Hmm, I rather hoped you would fight. Well, later; you will fight later.”

  “No, Greg. I will fight now.”

  He pulled a gun out of his waistband and pointed it at her.

  “That’s good, Elena, because I prefer rape. Have you ever been raped at gunpoint, Elena?”

  “No, Greg, I haven’t. A question for you. Have you ever been beaten to death by a kung fu master?”

  ~~

  Too late, he jumped back when she screamed her warrior cry. Within seconds she leapt over the chair and with a flying kick to his face drove him to the floor. She whirled in the air and landed on his shoulder, trying to kick the gun, but Greg caught her foot and tripped her. She tried to crawl away from him, but he jumped on top of her and raised the gun to strike her.

  A wild cry, a fiercer yell than she had heard in all their years of sparring heralded Alex’s arrival. The gun flew from Greg’s hand as Alex’s foot smashed his wrist. Elena rolled from beneath him and jumped to her feet. She stepped back, egging Greg to his feet. Alex seconded her.

  “Get up, you f
ucking coward. Let’s see how you fight without a weapon.”

  A quiet voice from the office doorway instructed, “Kung fu, not savate.”

  Both Alex and Elena understood from the command that Bai wanted him alive.

  Greg jumped back in horror. He looked from Elena to Alex and then in disbelief across the room to see Bai lounging in the doorway, smoking a cigarette.

  For the next several minutes, Greg became the human ball in a living, screaming polo match. Elena and Alex tossed him between them, their strong mallet like legs kicked him from one to the other. They hooked, they bumped and drove elbows, knees, and feet into his face, ribs, and every joint of his body. Each strike was accompanied by a fierce yell and a fiercer scream from Greg.

  Bai watched their expert moves from the sidelines and decided he was a hell of a good teacher. He was amused that Elena and Alex were more interested in his reaction than in crushing Greg. He nodded when each of them looked over to him, seeking approval for a particularly effective hit. He praised their choreography and made as few suggestions as possible, confirming their expertise.

  Bai told Nianzu to send for the sheriff to pick up the bodies at the door. They had found Greg’s office easily. Drawing on their study of the mansion blueprints, they entered the private quarters through the servant’s passages. Wyatt and Alex snuck in the adjoining bedroom that Greg foolishly left unguarded. In contrast, there were six armed men positioned on either side of the office door, but Bai’s flying knives reduced that number to two before he and Nianzu turned the corner. They quickly took down the final two and hovered in the doorway, waiting for the opportune moment to enter.

  Long before a regulation chukka would have ended, Bai stopped the fight. Alex and Elena stepped back, shaking with exertion, their faces flushed with an angry triumphant glow.

  Greg was a quivering mass of bleeding, sobbing humanity thrashing on the floor. Trained polo ponies stomping him at will couldn’t have done as much damage as Alex and Elena.

  Bai held out his arms and Elena flew to him. They stood together for a long moment. Bai murmured comforting words and held her close, rubbing his hands over as much of her body as he could reach. After a moment, he handed her off to Wyatt, whose face was grey, his eyes dark with worry. If anything, he held her more tightly than Bai had. Bai motioned to Alex and Nianzu to drag Greg to the center of the room.

  Bai stood over him, looking down at Greg, struck as always how pitiful, how weak evil men were when they were stripped of their power. Greg’s eyes were almost swollen shut and he curled himself in a protective ball. He looked up at Bai and spit out a mouthful of blood, then choked out the question he already knew the answer to.

  “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?”

  “Oui, we are going to kill you, Greg. The manner in which we kill you will depends on how quickly you give us the information we request.”

  Bai lit another cigarette, then turned to Nianzu and Alex.

  “Strip him.”

  “Oh God! Please, no! Please!”

  After they had him spread eagled naked on the floor, Bai motioned to Elena to come over beside him.

  “I understand that you are quite proud of your sexual exploits, Greg. Particularly with young children. I assume you believe your equipment is worthy of regard, yes? Here, Elena, I’ll let you be the judge.”

  Greg tried to cover his shriveled up cock, but Nianzu and Alex held him firmly in place. Elena walked around his naked body, pursing her lips in concentration. After a lengthy look, she shook her head.

  “What can I say, Bai? There is no comparison. Now I understand why he wants to fuck children. I’m not sure even at full staff he could get past my nether lips.”

  Wyatt shook his head and raised an eyebrow. Alex blushed while Nianzu gave Elena a wink. Bai chortled.

  “Mon Dieu, Wyatt, she’s your daughter.”

  “Hell, Bai, I never taught her that!”

  Elena gave her father a quick smile.

  “No, Father, you didn’t teach me to use such ribald language, but you and Lei gave me a longing for a passionate love and taught me not to settle for less.”

  Wyatt hugged her.

  “If I taught you that, honey, I gave you a great gift.”

  Both Bai and Elena murmured in agreement.

  ~~~

  Bai turned back to Greg and didn’t mask his revulsion. He motioned Elena and Alex over to him and pointed to the quivering, blubbering mass at their feet.

  “There is one savate strike I didn’t teach you. I wasn’t sure I wanted to give Elena this weapon,” he said with a grin. “No telling how she would use it. Men are always protective of their equipment, especially like our friend here, who thinks he is well endowed,” Bai said with a sneer, nudging Greg’s shriveled up prick with his boot.

  “Understandably, a man wants to protect his bollocks because one or two strategic kicks never fail to be problematic for the victim.”

  He raised his heel and drove it in one testicle then the other. Greg screamed in agony and rolled from side to side clutching his groin, blood oozing between his fingertips. Bai waited for a moment to allow the full damage of his kicks to be felt, then motioned to Nianzu and Alex to spread eagle him again. Once he was stretched out on his back, Bai moved closer and in full teaching mode pointed to Greg’s penis.

  “However, a true savate fighter knows that as tender as the testicles are, there is nothing quite like a full on strike to the cock.”

  He nudged the end of Greg’s prick with his boot, causing Greg to scream and beg for mercy.

  Bai continued, “While I’m not interested in demonstrating the move…at the moment--do know that with a single well-placed kick of your boot, one can remove the penis completely.”

  He paused for emphasis.

  “It’s a move that has served me well in the past.”

  He took a drag on his cigarette and crouched down beside the sobbing man.

  “I’m short on time, Greg. We can make this as fast or as slow as you wish. Where is your record book? Ten seconds; counting now.”

  Before the words were out of his mouth Greg screamed, “Bottom drawer, left-hand side of my desk. It’s... it’s…in the lockbox.”

  “The key?”

  Through muffled sobs, Greg gasped clutching his swollen, bleeding testicles.

  “In my bedroom closet, top shelf on a hook.”

  Nianzu retrieved the book and he and Wyatt thumbed through it, comparing the list of corrupt politicians and lawmen with the list Tom had sent. Wyatt was amazed.

  “Christ, Bai. If anything, this fucker had twice the number of crooks on the take as Tom thought he did. This is a gold mine.”

  Wyatt and Nianzu continued to leaf through the pages, amazed grunts coming from one then the other at the range of men trapped in it pages.

  Nianzu looked up from the book stunned.

  “Fuck, Bai, Senator Chisholm paid this son of a bitch over seventy thousand dollars in the last two years. According to Greg’s little legend key ‘IWC’ means…Holy Christ; it means ‘incest with child.’”

  “Yeah, and we didn’t have Chisholm on our list. Just think of the evil power that is contained in this small ledger,” Wyatt said with an impressed sigh.

  Bai allowed himself a satisfied nod to Wyatt and Nianzu.

  “Oui, evil power used to further evil ends. I expect the men in that book will be relieved to face the public and the courts rather than living under the boot of this monster,” He grinned outright, “And it will be my pleasure to see that they do.”

  Wyatt and Nianzu continued to page through the ledger, commenting on one entry after another.

  Elena watched Bai standing over Greg’s bloody shattered body. Bai looked thoughtful – relaxed. Those who knew the Frenchman knew what that meant. Most fighters tensed before battle, readying muscles and mind. But not Bai. The more relaxed he was, the more dangerous. His rage settled over him like a comfortable cloak.

  Elena had seen the l
ook in his eyes before and now more than ever she knew what it meant. She felt it when she attacked Greg.

  Bai ambled over to the fireplace and removed the poker from the rack of fireplace tools. He crouched down and nudged the pointed end in the burning embers. He stared at it for several moments, then looked over his shoulder and asked in a quiet voice, “Were you alone, Greg, at the Palace Hotel, when you spied on Elena and me?”

  Everyone froze at the question. Wyatt closed the ledger and exchanged a look with Nianzu. They both straightened and stood closer together. Wyatt’s face was stone cold and Nianzu looked like an emissary of death.

  Elena felt the same rush of nausea she had when Greg told her he had watched them. She saw Bai’s narrowed eyes, gleaming yellow, and knew that he had heard Greg’s ugly words. With a sickening jolt, she realized that her father and brother and Nianzu heard them as well.

  Bai lit a cigarette and took a deep drag, then repeated his question.

  “Were you alone, Greg? Or did you bring a bunch of your buddies to share in the fun?”

  “No Bai! No, God, no! I promise you I didn’t do that. No one else was there.”

  Bai nodded and looked down at the poker. He rolled it back and forth in the embers then seemingly satisfied with the glowing white hot end tossed his cigarette in the fire and walked back to Greg with the poker in his hand.

  Wyatt stepped forward raising a cautionary hand. He caught Bai’s eye and nodded to Elena with an imperceptible shake of his head.

  “You’re going to kill him anyway, Bai.”

  Bai quirked an eyebrow. A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. He held Wyatt’s gaze without blinking.