Stolen Bloodline

by L G Rollins

  Wrapping her hand around the next board, Ju ignored the protests in her legs, arms, and palms. She had work to do.

  ***

  “You understand what to say?” Jasper asked Mrs. Zhi.

  She nodded, her mouth pulled into a taut line. “Tell him you refused to get the papers. But I couldn’t let him—” her voice broke. She blinked several times and then continued. “So I got the papers myself and I want to see my daughter.”

  Jasper nodded. They needed a good excuse to explain why it was Mrs. Zhi meeting Leng instead of Jasper. He only hoped the little woman was up to the task. She seemed quite fragile at the moment.

  “Don’t worry,” Jasper said, offering what little comfort he could. “We’ll get her back.”

  Mrs. Zhi’s mouth worked back and forth, but she said nothing.

  Poor thing; she was nigh on ready to fall apart. Jasper bent almost in half as he leaned down low enough to wrap his arms around her. “Just follow through on this. Keep Leng occupied while I get to Ju. Tressa and Dapo will all be hidden nearby in case you need anything at all.”

  She nodded. “I will take care of the snake. You get my daughter.”

  Jasper’s mind jumped to Ju, locked up in the second story room, and his throat tightened. He gave Mrs. Zhi a tight squeeze, careful not to crush the wrinkled woman, then stepped back.

  Dapo stood only a few feet away, close to the Broxholme’s front door, shifting his weight from one foot to the next. Tressa and Brox stood near the corner of the foyer, whispering softly to one another. They kissed briefly and then Tressa moved over toward Dapo.

  “Ready?” she asked.

  Dapo ran a hand down his face, nodded, then turned toward Jasper. “Promise me you’ll get her out safely.”

  “I promise,” Jasper said firmly. “And you’re sure Wei shu and all the dancers—”

  “Everyone knows to stay away from the dance school tonight,” Dapo interrupted.

  “Good.” Jasper would hate to have anyone else dragged into this dangerous mess.

  The butler opened the door and bowed. Even he looked unusually grim tonight. By now he knew most of the details, so Jasper couldn’t really blame the manservant. Mrs. Zhi walked out, head high. Tressa and Dapo hurried down a hallway. They would slip out through a door on the side of the house, one that lead into a little rose garden. They would stick to the shadows and follow Mrs. Zhi to the dancing school.

  “This is a crazy plan,” Brox muttered, staring at his retreating wife. “Do you really think it’s going to work?”

  “Yes.” It had to. This was their last chance. If they failed tonight, they’d all be dead before sunrise, though Jasper kept that part to himself. “You have all the papers you need?”

  “I have all we’ve acquired. I guess it’ll have to be enough.”

  “After tonight, it will be.”

  Brox took his jacket and gloves from his waiting butler and pulled them on. “I pray you’re right.” With a wave of farewell and good luck, Brox also disappeared out into the evening.

  The butler bowed before Jasper. “This way, sir, to the servant’s exit.”

  Jasper followed. None of them had been sure how many men Leng had working for him. There had to be several at the abandoned farmhouse to watch over Ju and no doubt Leng would bring several with him to Wei shu’s dance school. Did that mean Leng had no one left to spy on Jasper, Mrs. Zhi, or even Tressa and Brox? They weren’t sure, but they weren’t taking chances.

  A young servant boy hurried up to Jasper, a long rope held out. “Just what you asked for, sir.”

  Jasper took it with a “thank you” and hurriedly slipped out through the servant’s back entrance. The alley behind the impressive townhouse seemed empty. With any luck, if there was a tail on Jasper, the man would assume Jasper had stayed at Brox’s place for the night after refusing to help Mrs. Zhi. At the very least, it would corroborate with her story.

  Sticking close to the outer wall, Jasper moved in the opposite direction of the dance school. It would take him just over an hour to get to Ju, but he was convinced it was still a better option than taking Brox’s offered motorcar. Motoring to the abandoned farmhouse would only draw attention.

  The longer he went before anyone realized what he was about, the greater chance Ju had of getting away.

  The further away from Brox and Tressa’s home he got, the more confident Jasper felt that no one was tailing him. He broke away from the deepest shadows and hurried even faster down first one street and then the next.

  At least this time he wouldn’t have Tom to worry about as well. The young boy was back at Westwood and Tressa had seen to it that the full orphanage was on what she’d called “high alert”. It must have been a phrase she picked up while working on a submarine. Whatever it entailed, Tressa reassured him most adamantly that no one would be secreting away the boy tonight.

  So far, Jasper’s plan was coming to life. Mrs. Zhi was in place and determined to stall Leng for as long as possible. Dapo and Tressa were waiting in the shadows to pull her out if things turned south.

  Meanwhile, Brox would be working with Mrs. Hedgecock on another part of the puzzle.

  That left Jasper to get Ju out of the house and see she got somewhere safe. It would work. Every time he moved the pieces through his mind, twisting them over, studying each side and every foreseeable outcome, it made sense.

  The only part he didn’t yet know was how he was going to get Ju out of the farmhouse. He had a good sense of the building from the outside, but he hadn’t so much as glanced in a window earlier. He had no idea how the house was laid out on the inside.

  He would just have to figure that part out when he got there. Jasper slowed as he neared the outer reaches of the abandoned farm. Then again, there were few things Jasper had as much practice at as taking life minute by minute and figuring it out as he went along.

  By the time he reached the house, the sunset had faded and the blanket of night had covered everything in darkness. It was a new moon, and weak starlight alone lit the area.

  Though all the curtains were drawn tight, a few slivers of light escaped the window next to the front door. The curtains, no doubt, were far too tattered to effectively block all the light. Jasper checked that his picks and guns were still secured where they belonged and could be easily reached. He pulled the rope he’d brought up higher on his shoulder and moved toward the east.

  Jasper rounded the house, searching for anyone, any exit, any hidden traps he needed to know about before breaking in. There was still one guard, masking as a farmer relaxing at the end of the day, leaned back in a chair on the front porch. He sat several strides away from the window and the light coming from it. No doubt, he didn’t want the light from inside the house to affect his ability to see out into the dark.

  There was no door and only a single ground level window along either side of the house. There was a door in the back. Jasper slipped up close to it. He’d still not seen another guard other than the first. Had Leng only left one man behind? Or were there more inside? Jasper placed a hand on the doorknob. It was locked. No surprise there. He pulled out two thin picks.

  A squeak-squeak-squeak echoed above his head. What in the blazes? Jasper stepped away from the door, keeping his back pressed up against the wall where he’d be harder to see.

  The squeaking continued. Jasper rounded the corner, standing along the side of the farmhouse and just below the window he’d seen Ju out of earlier that day. That’s clearly where the noise was coming from. But, without any light it was hard to tell what was happening above him. The squeaking ending with a low crack—it was the sound of wood splintering, or perhaps wood breaking free of something.

  There was silence. White, beautiful, slender fingers stretched out between the boards, then wrapped securely around either side of one. She was working them lose. Brilliant, determined, fiery Ju was breaking out of her own prison cell.

  This was perfect. If he could get her out without any of the guards k
nowing, they could be long gone before Leng was any the wiser. Jasper dropped the rope from his shoulder into his hands.

  “Ju,” he whispered. “Ju.”

  The squeaking from above stopped.

  “Catch.” He’d just have to trust that she recognized his voice. He didn’t want to risk saying any more words than absolutely necessary since there was a guard just around the corner near the front door.

  Jasper gave himself plenty of slack and then tossed one end of the rope up toward the window. It hit against a board and then fell back down into the tall grass.

  Ju’s hand reached out, open, into the night air. Jasper pulled the rope through his hand until he had the end again. Aiming for her hand, Jasper tossed it up once more. Her fingers closed as the rope drew near, but missed. A third, then fourth toss and Ju had the rope.

  She pulled her hand in, drawing the rope in with her. The rope whizzed as she pulled quickly on it. She seemed intent on pulling up the entire length. It wasn’t what Jasper had had in mind, but he let her have it all.

  The porch groaned and footfalls drew close. Jasper darted around the corner of the house, toward the back once more. Jasper leaned his head back against the wall. Please, let Ju have heard the noise, too. They only needed to remain undetected for a few more minutes and then Ju would be free.

  The footfalls drew further away again. Jasper peaked around the corner. No guard. Good. He moved back under Ju’s window. After a minute, Ju’s hand, holding the rope, reappeared. She wrapped a bit of the rope around a beam several times then moved deeper into the room. Jasper could see the board bending in the center as the rope strained against it.

  The board flew away from the window and crashed against something inside. Probably the floor, very possibly the opposite wall.

  The footfalls hurried toward Jasper once more. That noise had not gone unnoticed. Jasper dropped to his hands and knees in the tall grass against the house wall. He would be deep in dark shadow here and, with his skin and clothing all black, he’d be hard to see even to the well-trained eye.

  The guard jumped off the porch and stalked up close. He lifted a rifle and held it toward the window.

  “You, up ther—”

  Jasper leapt forward, bringing his fist up and catching the man across the face. The guard crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Jasper pulled the rifle from his limp hands.

  “Now Ju, before more show up.”

  Ju’s hands reappeared, once again holding the rope. This time, instead of wrapping it around a beam, she knotted it tight. With hands tight against the rope, she squeezed through the small, newly created opening, stretching and contorting her body far more than Jasper would have ever been able to do, even if he did have her decades of training.

  Working hand over hand, Ju kept her feet against the side of the house and lowered herself down. Jasper moved up under her, arms out. The moment she was within reach, he wrapped her close to him, one arm around her back, the other under her legs. Her face close to his.

  The feel of her in his arms, close to him and safe, was like the coldest of water on the hottest of days. It was tenderness and relief and resolve to never let her go.

  Ju wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on tight. “You came.”

  “Of course I came,” he whispered back. “You are my future, and I’m not letting Leng take that away.”

  Letting her feet drop softly to the grass, Jasper glanced around. No other guards had come out and the first was still unmoving on the ground. He took hold of Ju’s hand and they hurried away from the house.

  Ten more steps and they’d be behind the cover of the nearby clump of trees.

  Five more steps.

  Three.

  The blare of a gunshot broke through the still night. Jasper dropped, pulling Ju along with him. He tucked her head and half her body underneath him before they hit the ground. They’d been spotted. There must have been another guard inside the house.

  Jasper slowly lifted his head, the first guard’s rifle up and aimed toward the house.

  “Well done, Mr. Wimple.”

  Jasper spun around toward the speaker. Ambassador Leng stood among the tall grass with two—no four—guards flanking him.

  Cold fear trickled down Jasper’s spine. There would be no slipping away now.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Jasper cocked the rifle loudly. “I am an excellent shot, ambassador.” Jasper kept his rifle trained on Leng, but his eyes moved to the scattered trees along the farm’s property line. He only had to keep Leng talking until he saw the signal.

  “And if it were only you and I in this field, I might be concerned,” Leng said. “However, seeing as we’re not . . .” He motioned toward the guards on either side of him and then back toward the house.

  Jasper risked a glance over his shoulder. The front door banged open and nearly half a dozen more guards poured out, guns all raised.

  “Let us not forget the most important guests who have joined us tonight,” Leng continued, waving a little behind himself.

  A guard moved forward, two forms tied up and trailing behind him.

  “Mama,” Ju’s choked cry sounded from next to him.

  Leng pulled Mrs. Zhi in front of himself and then the other prisoner as well. It was Tressa. Jasper’s sister stumbled, then stood directly next to Mrs. Zhi. They were both bound and gagged. Jasper rocked back slightly. What had happened? Where was Dapo? How had they been found out and overpowered?

  “Let them all go,” Jasper said aloud. “And I’ll get you the papers you need.”

  “Too late.” Leng pulled out several sheets from his jacket pocket. “I found someone else to assist me, someone who was far more reasonable than you. Now, he and his loved one are safe.”

  What did he mean?

  “Dapo,” Ju whispered beside him. “Leng took Shuang.”

  “And forced Dapo to work for him.” Jasper’s stomach flipped, both in anger at what Dapo had done and in sympathy for the desperate situation Leng had put Dapo in.

  Hang it all, the people he cared most about were here, in Leng’s grasp and he had nothing with which to barter.

  “You’re a blackguard, Leng,” Jasper spat.

  Leng laughed. “I’ve been called worse, and in more languages than you speak, I might add.”

  There it was. A small flicker of light from the clump of trees several yards past Leng. He hoped the signal meant Brox had been successful. If not, they had reached their end.

  Jasper needed only the smallest distraction, just enough to give Ju a head start. Since the jack-a-napes seemed content to speak on, Jasper felt it was only best he let him.

  “It’s only a few sheets of formula,” Jasper shouted back. “It can’t be worth so many lives.”

  The ambassador laughed again. “Only a formula? My, my, but it is far more than that.”

  Ambassador Leng talked on, but instead of focusing on what was being said, Jasper carefully studied the guards surrounding him and Ju. The constable in London had told Jasper once that some villains enjoyed laying bare their idiotic plans. Good thing Ambassador Leng was one such individual. Not that Jasper needed to hear it—they’d already figured it all out—but it kept Leng and his guards distracted.

  Jasper pulled Ju to his other side and whispered as quietly as he could manage. “When I say to, run directly toward that guard.” He pointed ever so slightly toward their left.

  She nodded once, indicating that she understood. Perfect. Jasper pulled out one of the pistol’s he’d brought and pressed it into her palm. It was time to see if all their time together shooting had added up.

  Ambassador Leng said something about werewolves and what he would do next. Jasper couldn’t care less. The man could have been saying he was going to march into Antarctica and claim the ice for himself for all Jasper cared.

  Still, Jasper acted surprised. “I’ll see you behind bars, Leng.”

  “No, I do not believe you shall.”

  Behind the amba
ssador the tall grass rippled as Brox and those he brought with him inched forward. Jasper raised his voice. “I am a British citizen, and ambassador from China or not, you have no right to hurt me or Miss Zhi.”

  “You talk as though you think I need the right.” Leng shook his head, as though he was talking to a slow child. Jasper really hated it when the man did that.

  “Now,” Jasper whispered to Ju.

  She broke off in a run, shooting forward even quicker than Jasper had anticipated. Swinging his rifle to the side, Jasper shot over her shoulder at the guard in front of her.

  It was risky, but the bullet sailed by Ju and planted itself in the man’s shoulder. He bowled over backward and landed in the grass.

  Jasper flipped his rifle back around and fired twice more, hitting either guard standing to Leng’s side. Tressa kicked out against the man holding the bindings to her and Mrs. Zhi. She shouted something and both she and the old woman dropped to the ground.

  The guards were yelling and trying to reorganize themselves. But, standing in a circle, they couldn’t risk shooting either Ju or Jasper just yet, or they’d more likely hit their fellow guard.

  A gunshot to his left rang out—from the very place Ju had been heading. Jasper’s heart flew up into his throat, until his brain registered that it was the sound of his own pistol, in Ju’s hand, firing.

  Jasper risked a peek toward Ju. A guard crumpled not far from her. Jasper smiled to himself—good shot, Ju—and then turned toward the other guards and aimed his rifle.

  Jasper fired and another guard fell. They swarmed around him, moving to stand in front of Leng, lifting their firearms. A breath more and they’d be shooting at him, too, and in the open field there was no place for him to duck or hide. If they didn’t fire on him immediately, they’d probably hold Tressa and Mrs. Zhi at gunpoint to force him to stand down. However, he couldn’t see either of them among the tall grass now. Hopefully, they’d gotten away.

  Jasper dropped to the ground, curling up and making himself as small a target as possible. Bullets showered the ground around him. Blessed new moon, the guards had next to no light to aim by.