“What if he doesn’t show?” frets Jeff, now sweating bullets. He had accepted this job because of promised easy cash. He knew there might be complications but this is too much. “We’ll kill a lot of kids for no reason and then where we gonna be? No money, no protection. They’ll catch us sooner or later. They’ll lock us up and throw away the key.”
“Stop worrying,” says Queenie.
“I stay alive by worrying. Before we finish off any of the kids, we gotta know that it’s going to make a difference. I mean, if he just takes off, we’re screwed completely.”
“You got a million bucks and I got my whole future riding on this. We’ll make it happen,” says Jonny.
“And there’s no way that a guy who heads a foundation for kids is going want the blood of six kids on his conscience. He’ll pony up,” says Queenie confidently.
“I am not going back to the big house. Your plan has screwed up big time. He didn’t come through at the morning meeting. He didn’t come through at the afternoon presentation, and he’s not going to come through now,” says Jeff, starting to panic.
“It’s only been eight minutes, Jeff. Don’t be so hasty.”
“Eight minutes of silence. I don’t like it, Queenie. This was not part of the arrangement.”
Queenie glowers a moment. “Have it your way. I’ll give you five thousand bucks for today.”
Queenie reaches into her bag and searches. A quizzical look appears on her face as she can’t find what she’s looking for.
“No games, Queenie.”
Jeff comes over and leans over her shoulder to see what the problem is—exactly what Queenie was hoping for.
She whips out a crane’s foot with sharpened talons. Giving him no time to react, she leaps on Jeff and slices the stunned actor’s throat with the bird’s claw. Blood immediately gushes from the jugular. If anyone had a BP monitor, they would see a massive drop in his arterial blood pressure.
“No, no,” gurgles the actor in his final performance as he collapses to the floor. In thirty seconds, the actor loses consciousness.
Completely unnecessary is a second deep stab – this time to the heart. This is pure malice and not lost on anyone watching. More bleeding and Jeff’s body begins to spasm.
All of them have heard that death is fast when you cut the internal jugular, but none expected it to be that fast. And no one dares comment that another three minutes have passed by.
“Any other questions?”
Nope. A look to the kids shows that a couple of them have peed their pants.
***
While time seems to be passing by at a snail’s pace inside the recording studio where the young hostages are kept, time is racing by for Noah and the team. So little time to formulate and execute a plan, so much at stake if something goes wrong.
Noah and Wangdan have both had the strong benefit of some of the best martial arts training in the world: Noah from the private instruction of his late Sifu, Master Wu; Wangdan from the Sigongs of the now-destroyed secret Shaolin monastery, Heaven. Both of them have been inculcated by their mentors with the fifteen-hundred-year-old teachings of General Sun Tzu from his military strategy classic The Art of War. The difference between Noah and Wangdan is that Noah has seen theory put into practice more often, in his battles with Queenie’s father Chin and Queenie’s brother King. The teachings are now naturally embedded into Noah’s decision-making process as he thinks through a plan.
Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.
When able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
Hold out bait to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.
Attack him where he is unprepared; appear where you are not expected.
Noah’s ready.
First order of business is to find anything that could potentially be used as weapons. Scissors, paperweights, pens and zip drives are stuffed into their pockets.
After their pictures are taken, Olivia and Abby remove their gorgeous dresses—absolutely useless for doing anything other than highlighting their bods—which even under the circumstances can’t help but be admired by the males in the room. Olivia puts on the long jacket from the security guard’s uniform and Olivia puts on the guard’s shirt and pants. The pants are about fifteen inches too wide and they are still loose so a few safety pins used to pull in their dresses do the trick. Definitely not the fashion statements they were seconds ago but in clothes that are a whole lot more suitable for carrying makeshift artillery. They both still sport high heels, but whatcha gonna do?
No point in going back on the window ledge and climbing up from the fourteenth to the fifteenth floor. They’ve used that trick twice and no way it’ll work again … unless the people trying the trick are the ones least likely to want to do it.
“Do I have to do this, Noah?”
Noah holds back for a moment, then explodes. “No you don’t, Olivia. You don’t have to do a damn thing. Just get out of our way. You have screwed this thing up from the start and I don’t have time to play nursemaid with your ego anymore. Get lost.”
This outburst stuns Olivia. No one has ever told her off like this in her life and ... and she knows this is exactly what she needs to hear.
“It’s not me you’re playing with anymore, Olivia. I couldn’t give two hoots about that but there are six kids’ lives on the line and the only reason they’re here is so you and Abby can play ‘pretend superstar.’ So do you have to do this? Do you even need to ask?”
No point in saying anything. Abby and Olivia suck it up and head out toward the ledge.
Abby asks timidly, “What are we going to do out there, Noah?”
“Ask me after I figure that out. Right now, I haven’t a clue.” Attack on all sides.
“What about me, Noah?” says eager beaver Sam.
“You gotta go inside the equipment room. It’s part of the main studio but it’s separate.”
“What do I do then?”
“When we got the tour of the place, I noticed it was cram full of junk that nobody sees when you close the door. There’s got to be something you can use to create a diversion. You’ll figure it out when you get there.”
“You got it. Noah.” This is so cool. Think on your feet. Clandestine. Chase the bad guys.
“Walrus and Willie, it’s time for some father-son time. Do some research and make me a violent little video. Can you do video editing on a cell phone?
“Does grass grow after it rains? Do cows avoid McDonalds? Do birds turd on your heads?” asks Walrus. “I can do anything with a cell phone.”
“And Wangdan, you get to do something you’ve always wanted to do. Hit me.”
Wangdan smiles, “Now I know you’re a mind reader.”
***
Hey, this is like being Spider Man, only better because this is real. Sam climbs into the air duct. It’s tricky trying to get to the fifteenth floor because he has to push his hands and feet against the duct’s sides to ascend without making a noise or falling down.
Ten feet up, Sam loses his grip and almost topples to the bottom of the shaft before pushing his legs hard to steady himself.
Whew. If he had landed, he would have created a huge noise which would have alerted Queenie and the gang on the fifteenth.
He ascends again. It’s even more difficult this time because the near miss has made him nervous. His sweaty palms make it even harder to stick to the duct’s sides.
He inches slowly but makes it to the top of the vertical ducting. From here it splits into two horizontal air duct paths. Now which way? Sam makes an arbitrary choice. He takes the one on the left and hopes that’s the right one.
***
Things are growing tense. Queenie, Jonny, Leonard and Byr
on have been waiting in the recording room silently. There has been no action and no sound for over fifteen minutes.
“Which kid you gonna kill first?” asks Leonard. It’s a stupid question but then again Leonard, like the late Jeff, is so low level that he almost doesn’t register on the crime meter. Unlike the experienced Byron, Leonard is still freaked from seeing Jefferson killed and not at all keen on having the blood of children on his hands.
Suddenly, a bit of good news that breaks up the growing tension in the room – the power comes back on. Lights go on and exactly one minute and thirty seconds before a young kid has to make the worst decision of her young life, the elevator stops at the fifteenth floor. Wangdan steps out with Noah, his hands tied behind his back.
Wangdan marches Noah into the recording studio. Noah is battered, bruised and bleeding.
Queenie, Jonny, Leonard and Byron are elated at this unexpected sight but the kids are even more frightened than ever.
Wangdan announces simply. “I want in. What are you going to give me?”
Queenie says with a hint of seduction, “Wangdan, I knew you were the man for me the moment I saw you.”
Wangdan looks at her coldly. “I can have any woman I want. I don’t need you. I ask again. What are you going to give me?”
He’s changed. I like it. “You might be able to have any woman you want but none of them are me.”
“What I have is even better. None that you’ve ever had is me.” Wangdan’s face remains blank. “I did what your father could not do, what your brother Larry could not do, what your brother King could not do. I have brought down the mighty Noah Reid and he is going to do whatever I tell him to. Now what are you going to give me?”
“A million dollars.”
Wangdan snorts and motions to the window. “Do you want me to jump out again with Noah? I did it before and I can do it again you know. Someone will pay me properly but because you don’t want to name a number, I will. I want seventy-five million dollars.”
“Let’s be reasonable,” gasps Queenie.
“Stop wasting my time. I could go to anyone—another snakehead, the radicalists, the supremacists ... I could even go to your Russian friends.”
“But you didn’t. You came to me because you want me,” murmurs Queenie.
“Oh, please. I came to you because you are the most convenient and we can get the deal done now. Also, I know you won’t kill me.”
“How do you know that?”
Wangdan takes out his cellphone and shows her a picture. There is an ominous quiet to his voice. “Because I have control.”
The picture is of three women: Abby, Olivia and Elizabeth Watson—Queenie’s mother. With bruises and cuts, she is even worse-off looking than Noah. There is a nasty-looking black man in a policeman’s uniform standing over the senior Elizabeth Watson.
Wangdan hits the play button. The video and audio are distorted but the voice is unmistakably that of Queenie’s mom. “Save me, Queenie. I can’t take this anymore.”
The wonders of a teenage geek. Abby phoned Elizabeth and had a short video conversation which was recorded. Strung out, lonely and depressed, the long washed-up Elizabeth was happy to pose and have anyone pay a little attention to her. Walrus took that, the pictures of Abby and Olivia and his father, did a fast bit of editing and came up with the short clip.
“She’s dead to me. No big deal,” says Queenie harshly
“I didn’t think so but …” Wangdan closes his cell phone. “… I just wanted to show you what I’ve accomplished in the short time that I’ve been here.” He whacks Noah hard. “Do we have a deal?”
Queenie says faintly, “Thirty million.”
Wangdan laughs sarcastically. “Fifty and we have a deal.”
Queenie nods.
“Bring your computer over. Let’s get it done,” commands Wangdan.
Queenie snaps her fingers and points to the control room. Leonard dashes in and retrieves a laptop while Wangdan pushes Noah into a chair.
“You don’t want to do this, Wangdan,” mumbles Noah.
“Yes, I do. I’m not interested in being a monk. Nor am I interested in groveling to you for the rest of my life. Why do you think I came to New York? I came to conquer it, not to visit it.”
Leonard leans over and puts the computer on the conductor’s music table in front of Noah.
When Leonard stands up, Byron locks an arm around his fellow actor’s neck and squeezes the life out of him. “He was useless,” shrugs the CEO of Manhattan Investors Syndicate. “I’ll take his share.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Looking at the battered Noah, it’s hard to believe that this is exactly what he wanted Wangdan to achieve when he told the martial arts master to hit him. With the lives of six innocents at stake, a straight-line approach to save them is not going to work. In order to have any chance of success, a multi-dimensional plan of diversions and trust will be required. Some things will work, some things might not. Noah knew that the video with Queenie’s mom would likely have no effect on her in terms of negotiation. Queenie and her mom were long ago estranged. It would however make her feel that Wangdan really had turned and that his reach was substantial. Hopefully this will allow him and Wangdan to get closer to the children.
That is assuming that Sam comes through with something ... anything.
The missionary’s kid offers a silent prayer.
***
Out on the ledge of the fifteenth floor, Abby and Olivia inch toward the open window, trying hard not to think of the consequences. There’s a strong wind out now, something that wasn’t there a few minutes ago when they were out before.
“He’s right, you know,” says Abby.
“Who’s right about what?” says Olivia.
“Noah was right to tell you off. I mean, wow! Actually you know, his being tough was kinda macho, kinda sexy.”
This whole time, Olivia has been fixated on the ground, many stories below. “How on Earth can you think about that right now, Abby? We’re like an inch or two from death.”
“Exactly why I’d rather talk about men. It’s a distraction.”
“Well if it makes you happy, maybe Noah’s not the wimp I thought he was. How about you and Wangdan? If I read you correctly, you’re thinking of breaking your ‘no Asian guys’ rule.”
Before Abby can answer, a strong gust blows them off-balance. They fall and only by grabbing the bottom edge of the window do they avoid death.
They pull themselves back up onto the ledge.
“I should have stayed in Hong Kong.”
“You keep talking like that, I’ll push you off the edge,” retorts Abby.
***
Sam crawls out of the air duct and drops down silently into the equipment room. Phase One—complete. Now the real work begins. Caution and sensitivity are the operative words. One wrong move and he is toast. Equipment rooms in studios are like most storage rooms – piled and crammed with lots of stuff. Sam looks around and amidst the microphones, music cases, and cleaning supplies all piled together are two cases of compressed air and a case of isopropyl alcohol—perfect. These are standard accessories for any recording studio. Compressed air is used to blow away dirt and any fine particles of dust away from the equipment. Isopropyl alcohol is used to clean analogue recording equipment and is also great for rejuvenating guitar, mandolin and banjo strings.
Sam quickly takes the cans of compressed air out of the box and places one dozen cans about a foot apart from each other. The other dozen cans he places strategically by the door, aiming them outwards. He then opens each bottle of isopropyl alcohol, douses the cans of compressed air liberally, and pours the rest of the cleaning agent on other equipment and on the floor.
He then scrambles back up onto the air duct.
Sam takes a book of matches, courtesy of Walrus’ father’s pack-a-day smoking habit, and lights it. He throws the lit matchbook onto a little pool of the cleaning alcohol. He sees that it catches fire and scra
mbles quickly down the air duct.
***
BOOM! BOOM! A series of explosions blows open the door to the studio and a blast of fire comes raging out. Positioned by the equipment room, Queenie, Byron, Leonard, Jonny and all six of the young choir members are knocked to the floor.
Thanks, Sam! Wangdan and Noah knew they had to be prepared for something like this, so when the blasts come, they just fall to the floor.
After the final blast, Noah and Wangdan jump up and kick Byron, Jonny and Queenie in the head, making them woozier and buying an extra bit of time.
Noah and Wangdan each grab two of the unconscious kids and run out of the studio.
They dash to the boardroom. Noah leaves his two kids with Wangdan and rushes back into the studio.
Queenie and Byron slowly get up and shake the cobwebs out of their heads while Noah picks up the last two choir members.
Jonny, fumbling, determinedly crawls on his hands and knees to the equipment room.
Byron and Queenie stagger towards Noah, who shoves the kids out of the studio and closes the door, remaining inside the room to fend off Byron and Queenie from going after the kids.
And then the sprinklers turn on. No gentle downpour, it’s like a driving rain, extinguishing the fire and drenching all in the room.
***
Wangdan hands the kids to Abby and Olivia, who gently lower them to Willie Mays and Walrus on the fourteenth floor.
He then rushes back through the hall where Noah has dropped the final two unconscious young singers. Wangdan carries them back to the boardroom and helps Abby and Olivia lower them to the awaiting Willie Mays and Walrus.
After all six of the choir members have been saved, Wangdan grabs Olivia’s hands and hands her off to Willie Mays on the floor below.
The Noah Reid Series: Books 1-3: The Noah Reid Action Thriller Series Boxset Page 56
