A bird in the hand has suddenly become a bird that promises to be found maybe in a week. Not exactly the same commitment.
Olivia snaps, “What the hell is that about? There are no board members in Hong Kong that you need.”
“There’s Sam.”
“He’s just a kid you put on the advisory committee. You and Wangdan are the only ones on the board and he’s a ten minute cab ride away.”
“We need three active members to be a quorum. You and Abby vacated the board spots so Sam is temporarily filling in until you can be replaced.”
Byron steps in. “I thought we had an agreement, Noah, that this would be an immediate joint deal.”
“I know, and I’m really sorry I jumped the gun.”
“You were the one that got me to commit right away and I did. And now you’re playing games?”
“I’m not playing games, Byron. I’ll be back in a week.”
“Of course you are,” Olivia snaps. “This is nothing to do with the foundation. This has nothing to do with the New Amsterdam. This is all about your feelings being hurt because I dumped you. Stop pouting, Noah.”
“That is low, Olivia, as well as not being true.”
Ignoring him, Olivia looks at Abby. “Did you actually resign from the Foundation board? I didn’t.”
“No. Too busy.”
Olivia glares at Noah. “So we have four members in New York now.”
Noah sighs. “Let me get a hold of Wangdan and we’ll have a meeting at our hotel.”
***
Queenie’s thoughts are racing. What the hell has happened? Why did he change his mind? There is no time to think anymore and Queenie knows that if Noah walks out the boardroom door, she is toast. She has less than five days to pay Alexei back or pony up with the smack. More than that, her whole sham will be exposed if Noah spends time following up on anything. He will find out the New Amsterdam is phony, the Manhattan Investment Group is phony, that the whole studio/company situation is bogus and that the showcase at Café du Music was a mockery. He cannot be allowed to leave.
Deception on this scale can only be hidden for a short time. Any delay is death and this fragile house of cards she’s been carefully building is about to come crashing down.
Noah cannot be allowed to leave.
Forget brains. Muscle is the only thing that works. She is going to have to start Plan B. Once she does, she can never go back but this is her only chance to save her skin. With a bit of luck, she’ll have enough cash to hide in some criminal friendly haven forever.
Without it, she’s dead meat, or in jail or even worse ... just another person on the street trying to cop a deal.
She’s in the process of motioning to Jonny and Byron to institute Plan B when ...
***
“We don’t want to go to the hotel,” states Olivia. “I want to have the meeting now.”
“We should have as many board members present as possible.”
“We only need three to have a quorum and we have three here. I think you’re planning to railroad Wangdan and get him to side with you so that it makes two votes each so there is no choice but to fly Sam here to be the tie-breaking vote.”
“I don’t get in the midst of a family squabble,” says Queenie. “But if it helps, you can have your meeting here.”
“Thank you, Queenie,” says Olivia.
“Not here. I want to have a private meeting with just the board,” says Noah dejectedly.
“No worries. Just stay here. Queenie, Byron and I will leave,” says Jonny.
Queenie, Byron and Jonny exit the room.
As soon as the door closes, Noah shows Olivia and Abby a note that he has typed on his cell phone.
Don’t ask any questions but just do this. I WANT US TO HAVE A HUGE LOUD FIGHT.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Wangdan has run the twenty blocks from the hotel to the Vector Building. In the brief time he’s been in New York, it hasn’t taken a genius to figure out that traveling by foot is usually the fastest way to get from Point A to Point B here. As he runs, he passes cars waiting in traffic—and tries repeatedly to call Noah on his cell.
Every time there’s been no answer. It’s now 7:30 p.m. and the front building doors are locked. He bangs on the glass doors at the night shift security guard, but the guy is either ignoring him or is too engrossed with his online poker game to pay any attention.
Finally fed up, Wangdan kicks out at the door and smashes it with one deft punt.
Now he’s got the security guard’s attention. The guard whips out a gun and fires, but Wangdan has seen this movie before. He dives in the guard’s direction and hides below the entrance counter.
Wangdan’s planning his next move when a second guard appears. This time two pistols are trained on him, ready to fire.
***
Rebellion and an insatiable need for excitement are part of every teenager’s genetic make-up. There was no way that Sam was going to stay stuck in Hong Kong while Noah and Wangdan had all the fun. As soon as he found out they were going to New York, Sam called the same buddy who helped him find out who Queenie was, IAMTHEWALRUS. Walrus was stoked about the possibility of meeting his gaming ally in person. Walrus and his parents insisted Sam stay with them when he came.
Because Sam traveled with Noah occasionally on foundation business as a young ambassador for the foundation, he had his own passport. And like any self-respecting once-upon-a-time juvenile-delinquent, he knew how to forge a permission letter from a guardian and bamboozle the goofballs to get a rush visa to the United States. His only hitch was getting a flight at short notice.
No problem said Walrus. His father was an NYPD cop and Walrus “borrowed” a letter written on NYPD letterhead signed by his dad. Five minutes later, Walrus sent the following to Sam.
Dear Mr. Sam Xi: You are requested to make an appearance in New York as an expert witness in a highly sensitive investigation. Please make arrangements to come ASAP.
Yours truly.
Willie Mays Potter
New York Police Department, Badge Number 74309A
Direct Line: (997) 428- 3920
The ticket seller at Cathay International looked skeptical but when Officer Willie Mays Potter answered the phone and verified the letter, she sold a First Class ticket to the underage Sam right away. The seller had no way of knowing that the phone number was a VOIP number that Walrus set up to go to a local actor who was happy to make fifty bucks. Sam was on his way. When Walrus and his cop father picked Sam up at JFK, the unsuspecting dad remarked how little red tape Sam had to go through to come on such short notice.
Walrus, of course, was not Sam’s friend’s real name. He chose that moniker because he hated the name his parents gave him—Gaylord. He got that name because his family were rabid baseball fans. Walrus’ father, Willie—named after the “Say Hey kid,” Willie Mays—gave his first son the name Gaylord because he was born in Williamston, North Carolina and Williamston’s most famous son was Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry. The young Gaylord started calling himself Walrus by the time he was seven because of merciless teasing from the kids in his neighborhood.
The young Chinese teen from Hong Kong and the young black teen from Williamston get along even better in person than they do online. Walrus’ bedroom is now littered with leftover Chinese and American junk food: dried squid packages are there with beef jerky, deep-fried shrimp chips there with potato chips.
When Sam got the call from Wangdan, his first instinct was fear that he had been caught. But when he found out Wangdan’s intention, he dove into the task furiously and Walrus was glad to show off and help. Walrus is only thirteen but he’s a bored kid who loves to do the impossible, especially if it means bending rules. He had been hacking into his father’s NYPD account since he was eleven. What a joke that so-called firewall was. To do what Sam wanted was a little more challenging and he used a facial recognition algorithm to check on the identities of the Samaritan, Gorilla and Elizabeth Wa
tson. If the guys Sam’s looking for so much as jaywalked, they’ll be somewhere in New York’s finest’s database. Eazy Shmeezy.
However, after Wangdan went offline, Sam and Walrus did more research. The more they researched, the more concerned they got.
These are very bad people that Wangdan and Noah have hooked up with, and they need to be warned, now. Actually, more than just a warning, they need help. So Walrus and he have boarded the subway to Manhattan. Just before they left, they checked the IP address from Wangdan’s final messages and they are going directly to the The Seventh Hotel.
One final thing about the crazy habits of teenagers. Even if they’re in the same room, they often still communicate with their wireless devices. When Wangdan contacted Sam, Walrus was lying at the other end of the bed, texting with Sam on his cell.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“We gotta be ready to act. The way Noah’s talking, I don’t think he’s going to pony up the money soon enough,” says Queenie.
“I thought you were the one that said don’t kill anybody yet,” murmurs Jonny.
“Times change and you gotta go with the flow. Right now, I’m damn worried. If it takes three days to transfer money, that’s long enough to blow the cover off everything.”
“So what do you suggest?”
“If we get an okay, I gotta get Noah to start the ball rolling on the transfer. We let them leave, and then you kill Olivia and Abby, making it look like a random mugging on the street. He and Wangdan will be so wrecked that three days will pass, the money will be in our account, and game over.”
“Is that the only play?” asks Jonny skeptically. “A lot of maybes in that plan.”
“I don’t like the odds of anything else,” says Queenie.
Before Jonny can respond, screaming is heard through the door.
It’s muffled but every word Noah says is clearly understandable. “I could say the same for you. I’ve never met such a spoiled, self-serving person in my life. Just because you are a rich man’s kid doesn’t give you any right to treat me this way.”
“Don’t talk about my best friend that way,” says Abby.
“If the shoe fits, wear it,” is Noah’s comeback.
Olivia throws in a jibe. “Oh, I thought you helped people out of the goodness of your heart. Well excuse me for living.”
“Listen, Olivia. At least I don’t play games with people’s heads. My ‘yes’ is a ‘yes’ and my ‘no’ is a ‘no.’”
“I never said ‘yes’ to you, Noah. You just read too much into it.”
“How much do I have to read into ‘You are the one I want to live with for the rest of my life’? Answer me that, will you? Or don’t you have an answer?” yells Noah.
There is silence. Not surprising really. That last comment was pretty harsh. However, when thirty seconds become fifty become eighty without a response, concern develops and Queenie tries to open the door to the boardroom.
While the handle moves, the door doesn’t budge. Queenie shouts, “Olivia, Abby, open the door. It’s stuck.”
There is no response. She and Jonny start shoving the door but they can’t get in. Jonny grabs an axe from the fire extinguisher box and starts hacking the door away.
***
In the lobby of the Vector, with two guns trained on his eyeballs, Wangdan looks for a means to escape. He may be a Shaolin master but he’s not Superman.
Wangdan drops to the floor as the security guards fire. As the bullets keep coming, Wangdan rolls rapidly to one side, then leaps up, narrowly evading the deadly little missiles.
He dashes for the exit, then dives in the air. The bullets pass by harmlessly underneath his body as Wangdan grabs the top of the front door and swings to the side.
Perpetrator no longer a threat, the security guards leave Wangdan alone. Poker’s waiting and they’re down two hundred bucks.
Standing on the sidewalk, Wangdan takes a breath as he gazes up to the floor where the Skyscape studios are. He sees the most unexpected sight—Noah is standing on the window ledge of the fifteenth floor.
Wangdan punches in Noah’s cell phone number. “Is that really you I see up there?”
“Guilty as charged,” replies Noah. “I’m gonna jump.”
“You’re crazy.”
“I’m all ears if you’ve got any other ideas.”
***
After hacking away at the solid wooden door for two minutes, Jonny manages to break through it. He and Queenie discover the reason it wouldn’t open is because Noah, Olivia and Abby had barricaded the door with chairs and the boardroom table. There’s a sickening feeling as they realize they’ve been had. The argument they heard was just a ruse to deflect attention.
Olivia and Abby are nowhere in sight but they see Noah facing them as he stands on the window ledge outside.
“Get him,” yells Queenie.
Jonny rushes at the foundation president but Noah leaps off.
Jonny and Queenie rush to the open window to see accelerating Noah somersaulting in the air as he descends the fifteen stories to the ground.
Queenie freaks. If he’s dead, I got nothing.
***
After his phone call with Noah, Wangdan backed up two hundred feet from where Noah would land. When Noah leaps off the ledge, Wangdan sprints toward Noah, the extra distance giving him more force as he leaps onto the top of a parked car. Wangdan then does a handspring, plucking Noah’s outstretched hands in mid-air about ten feet above the ground. Wangdan’s sideways momentum breaks Noah’s hurtling downward force and Wangdan, holding Noah’s hands tight, does an aerial somersault...
... Twisting, turning ...
Just as crazy as Wangdan and Noah are a couple of kids that snag a fruit cart and push it furiously in their direction.
With a thud, Wangdan and Noah land on top of the cart, smashing it and sending the fruit flying everywhere. Apples, oranges and strawberries don’t make great pillows but they are enough to cushion Noah and Wangdan from serious injury.
***
Jonny pulls his head back inside.
“Now what?” he asks Queenie.
“There’s no sign of Olivia or Abby, so they’ve got to be in this room somewhere,” says Queenie.
Sticking her head back out the window, Queenie confirms that there’s no one else out on the window ledge.
Queenie and Jonny check the boardroom closet but nobody’s in there either.
Looking at the ceiling, they notice that some of the tiles are not seated properly. Aha!
They grab chairs and start poking the ceiling tiles, pushing the lightweight panels out of their slots, but there’s still no sign of either of the women.
“Jump. Jump.” Faint shouts come from outside at the ground level.
Queenie and Jonny rush back to the open window to see a gathering mob on the ground below shouting, “Jump! Do it.”
“They must be around the corner on the ledge.”
Jonny and Queenie run out of the boardroom and into the corner office. They look out the window. Outside standing on the window ledge are Olivia and Abby, too frightened to move.
***
Abby and Olivia look down the fifteen stories to the ground. This isn’t their first experience in dealing with heights. A few months ago, they jumped fifty-four stories from Chin’s penthouse hideout, but that was into a swimming pool.
Just like Noah, they were supposed to jump too. They saw Wangdan catch Noah and land on the fruit cart but figure there’s only a once-in-a-million-lifetimes chance that little trick will work again.
There’s a tap on the window behind them. They turn to see Queenie and Jonny staring at them.
Queenie opens the window and offers, “You can die from falling two hundred feet to the ground or you can take your chances with me.”
Abby looks at Olivia – neither option sounds that great.
Trading fear of death by falling to fear of death by Queenie, Olivia and Abby meekly go back down the ledge and enter back i
nto the boardroom through the window.
***
Noah and Wangdan push themselves off the ground and the gooey fruit mash that covers them.
“Hello Noah. Hello Wangdan,” calls a familiar voice.
Wangdan and Noah whip around to see Sam grinning at them. Beside him is a tall lanky black teen.
“What the hell are you doing here?” asks Noah. They are the two that pushed the cart.
“Uh, I think I just saved your sorry butts ... again,” says the cocky teen. He puts his arm around Walrus. “And you can thank my buddy Walrus for getting me here.”
An angry fruit vendor comes up to them. “You stole my cart. I’m going to have you arrested.”
“Hey, we just saved these turkeys’ lives,” snaps Sam.
“Gobble gobble. That’s four hundred bucks of fruit and a thousand bucks for the cart you wrecked.”
Noah takes out his wallet and peels off fifteen hundred bucks. “Take this.” He nods at Wangdan. “You don’t want to get this ninja mad.”
The vendor takes a scared look at Wangdan, then runs off.
Noah turns back to Sam, is about to open his mouth, then stops. “There’s no point in asking, is there?”
Sam grins, “Nope.”
All of them look up to the fifteenth floor.
“So what do they want this time?” asks Sam.
“Man, you are so stupid,” says Walrus. “What do all bad guys want? Money. And the more of it, the better.”
Talk about cutting to the chase.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The Noah Reid Series: Books 1-3: The Noah Reid Action Thriller Series Boxset Page 54
