The Grandmaster’s Legacy: Masters of Love and War (A Taylor Lee HOT Historical Romantic Suspense Collection) (The Grandmaster's Legacy)

by Taylor Lee

  He stood up and tossed her clothes to her. “Here, honey, you better get dressed. No telling who’s likely to come in here.”

  He walked her out to her horse without speaking to Alono, who was sitting on the fence smoking a cigarette.

  He helped her up on her horse. She gazed at him, her voice was soft, her lips trembling. “When will I see you?”

  “When I can, baby. Got a busy week.”

  He smiled and gave her horse a swat and turned to go back to the barn.

  Chapter 26

  Of all the ways Wyatt changed, Chief thought, perhaps the most significant was in his relationship with him, Joey, and Alono. In the past, most evenings Chief, Joey, and Wyatt had sat in companionable silence smoking cigars and drinking bourbon. After the rigors of the day were melted by the calming effect of tobacco and alcohol, the three of them talked a couple of hours every night.

  Those nights were gone. It was as though Wyatt couldn’t bear to sit with his closest companions. Chief knew he blamed himself for Lei’s leaving and knew they blamed him as well. In that regard he was correct. Joey did not seek him out. If anything, he avoided him. Alono, who rarely spoke, became virtually mute. But Chief continued to try to reach him. He often plunked himself down in Wyatt’s office and sat quietly for several hours a night while Wyatt worked and ignored him.

  Weeks passed and became months. Chief and Joey were sitting in Joey’s house, smoking their evening cigars and drinking bourbon.

  Chief said with a slight smile, “I don’t know who I get the silent treatment from more often, you or Wyatt.”

  Joey grimaced and nodded. “I don’t have much to say, do I?”

  “I know you are angry with Wyatt, Joey. So am I. What’s most surprising is the level of Wyatt’s anger. I expected it to lessen by now. I think what may be happening is that this whole affair with Lei has reopened wounds he thought were healed or healing with Vivian.”

  “You are probably right, Chief. You know Wyatt better than anyone does. And, yes, I am angry with Wyatt, but it is more than that.”

  For a moment Chief thought Joey might talk to him, but with a disconsolate shake of his head, Joey looked away, resuming his silence. Chief saw the pain on his friend’s face. Something was tearing him apart. Taking a firm breath, Chief determined that once again he would try to get his friend to speak, to share his burden.

  “Joey, I have asked you the same question three times. I don’t think you’ve heard me yet. Now I know Chinamen like to be inscrutable. Hell, friend, we have known each other for thirty plus years. I have never seen you like this. What’s going on, my friend?”

  Joey gazed at him with an agonized expression. Chief started. He saw a level of pain on Joey’s face he had not understood was there.

  “Please tell me, Joey. Why you are looking at me the way that you are.”

  Joey’s expression tightened even more. His voice was low, harsh. “Chief, Lei is pregnant.”

  Chief stared at him in shock then he felt a cold rush of anger flood him. He didn’t speak for well over a minute. When he could finally trust himself to speak, he said, “Joey, it is unconscionable that you have not told me this, and not told Wyatt. I am without words.”

  “I am not surprised that you are. I made a huge error of judgment. When Lei came back that awful night I went to comfort her. She asked me as her sensei, her spiritual father, to promise I would not tell Wyatt what she was about to tell me. I told her that I could never make a promise like that. She insisted. Against my judgment, I made the promise. When she told me her secret, I begged her to release me. She refused. I made a sacred oath, Chief. I know it was a terrible mistake — the worst I have made in a lifetime of mistakes. But I cannot break my oath. I have not told you because I didn’t want to put the burden on you that Lei put on me.”

  Chief didn’t speak.

  “There is another part of this that I understand better than you do, Chief. That is Wan Chang. Lei knows as I do the only way she can protect Wyatt is to pledge she will never let him see his child or know that he has one. This is a great shame in our culture, Chief; to impregnate a Chinese woman and then be unfaithful to her. It is an even greater insult that Wyatt is an Indian. I know you understand that. I do not know what bargain Lei made with her father, but I know it is a tenuous one. If Wyatt shatters that bargain, I know nothing Lei can do will protect him.”

  They sat without speaking for over an hour. Chief muttered to himself his ancient Indian chants. He begged for mercy, for guidance.

  Chief looked up and saw that Joey’s face was streaked with tears. It moved his heart.

  “This is a terrible burden you have carried, my friend. My heart weeps for you. But you know what I must do. I must tell Wyatt that he has a child.”

  “Chief, you can’t do that. I made a sacred oath.”

  “You made an oath, Joey. I did not.”

  “Chief, if you do this, you are signing his death warrant. Wyatt will not stop until he has that child. Wan will kill him before he does.”

  Chief shook his head. “Joey, I have no choice. Just as you would have had no choice if you hadn’t promised Lei. You know Wyatt has a right to know he has a child. You know that, Joey. I am going to tell him now. You may come with me or not. It is your choice.”

  He stood to go. Joey hesitated. With a sigh he nodded and stood up to follow him.

  ~~~

  Wyatt was working in his office. He looked up as the two men came in. When he saw Chief close the door behind him his surprise became annoyance.

  “I’m sorry. I am busy. Whatever it is it can wait until morning.”

  To his surprise, Chief ignored him and sat in one of the chairs in front of his desk. Joey took the other chair.

  Wyatt stiffened assuming that his friends had decided it was time to confront him on the situation facing them.

  “I do not want to be rude to either of you. But I do not want to have a conversation with you about anything in my personal life. It is my life. I expect you both to respect that. I’m asking you again to leave. If you wish to talk with me about business or the dojo, I will meet with you in the morning.”

  When they stayed seated, Wyatt’s anger flared. He stood up. “I see you will not respect my privacy or my request. Good evening to you both.” He turned to walk out of the room.

  Chief said, “Wyatt, Lei is pregnant.”

  Wyatt froze. Shock flooded him, immobilizing him. He slowly turned. He walked back to his desk and sunk down in his chair. Seeing their faces he knew this was not a mistake, but he still asked the question.

  “How do you know?”

  Chief said, “Joey was sworn to secrecy, but I was not.”

  Wyatt stared at Joey dumbfounded. “You have known this and you did not tell me?”

  Joey said, “I told Chief tonight. And yes, I have known since the day Lei left.”

  “She knew she was pregnant when she left?” The image of her wavering in the bathroom door at the hotel flashed through his mind. She had whispered to him that she was not feeling well.

  Joey nodded.

  “She told you more than three months ago she was pregnant and you are telling me tonight?”

  Joey responded, “I told the Chief tonight. I did not tell you.”

  As if he was discussing the gestation of one of his mares, Wyatt asked, “How far along was she when she left?”

  “I’m not sure. She said she had missed two courses.”

  “You have known that I have a child that is approximately five, maybe six months along and you are telling me this evening?”

  “I am not telling you, Chief is.”

  “How long did you intend to keep this information to yourself?”

  “I had hoped to my grave.”

  Wyatt stared at him, his shock slowly replaced by cold fury. Disbelief, then anger and finally rage overtook him. That it was his beloved sensei and spiritual father who had betrayed him only added to his fury.

  Chief said, “Wyatt, Joe
y made…

  “Please be quiet, Chief. I am talking to Joey. I need to get something straight. You would have been willing to go to your grave knowing that I had a child and not tell me? Yes? How could you, Joey? How could you? Knowing I was abandoned by my father. How could you allow a child of mine to grow up without a father?”

  Joey responded, anger as potent as Wyatt’s surfaced. “How could you, Wyatt? When Lei came to me that night I made the mistake of a lifetime. But she would not speak to me unless I first promised that I would not tell you what she told me. At first I refused. She asked me to leave. She was shattered, Wyatt. I tried to comfort her then gave her my sacred oath. I thought she was going to tell me she saw you with another woman or something of that nature. When she told me her secret, I begged her to release me. She would not. She said that I had made a sacred oath as her sensei, her spiritual father.

  “There is a reason for her secrecy, Wyatt, and you know what it is. Lei has been deeply shamed in our culture. The only reason Wan Chang has not had you killed is because Lei has made some bargain with him. Knowing Wan, that includes her never seeing you again or ever letting you see your child. Both Lei and I were trying to protect you.”

  Wyatt’s voice was ominous. “I protect myself. You don’t. Lei doesn’t.”

  “Unfortunately, that isn’t true.”

  “Where is she?”

  Joey stood up and glared at Wyatt, months of anger and anguish bubbling to the surface. His voice was harsh. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t tell you if I did.”

  He added, “You know the view in the Chinese community is that you abandoned her because she is a Chinese girl.”

  Wyatt stepped back in shock. “You don’t believe that, do you, Joey?”

  Joey shrugged his shoulders, his face tight with anger.

  Wyatt trembled with rage, his fists clenched at his sides. His voice was low, fraught with fury.

  “Joey, if you weren’t my sensei, I would break your neck.”

  Joey’s voice shook with quiet rage. “If I wasn’t your sensei, Wyatt, I would encourage you to try.”

  “Goddamn you, Joey.”

  “And goddamn you, Wyatt.”

  Chief stepped between them shaking his head, tears shimmering in his eyes.

  Tears streamed down Joey’s face. He turned to hide them, then fled the room.

  Wyatt was shaking with anger. He turned to Chief. “Do you know where she is, Chief?”

  “No, Wyatt, I don’t.”

  “Find her.”

  He added, “By tomorrow evening at the latest.”

  ~~~

  Wyatt walked over to the dojo. He started to enter then turned and walked across the yard to Lei’s room. The door was unlocked. He hesitated for a moment, then went inside. The light from the moon cast shadows in the empty room lighting the dust on the once immaculate polished floor. Ash from the fireplace had blown over the hearth, settling in the cracks of the wood. He stood in the doorway then walked to the wall where the bed had been. He stared at the empty space.

  Wyatt had cried so infrequently in his life that unlike everything else he did, he wasn’t good at it. He cried as a child when the men who used him beat him. When he was ten years old, he swore no one would ever make him cry again. He didn’t — until Vivian. Even then he raged rather than cried. He hadn’t done that for nearly six years.

  When the sobs overtook him, he leaned against the wall for support. He slid to the floor his head in his hands, his back against the wall. How long he sat wracked with the physical and spiritual pain he allowed himself to feel he didn’t know. When the sobs finally stopped, he found his rage again. He walked stony faced from the room, closed the door behind him and went to the dojo.

  The sound of the punching bag slamming against the wall could be heard in the dormitory five hundred yards away. The students didn’t wake. They had become accustomed to the sound.

  ~~~

  Chief wasn’t surprised that Wyatt had not tried to find Lei after she left. He was sure Wyatt had told Lei if she chose to leave she would never see him again. And she wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for the child. No one closed doors in Wyatt’s face but Wyatt. No one ever walked away from him without his consent. But Lei had and she had taken his child with her. Unforgivable.

  Wyatt’s network was like no other except Wan Chang’s. Chief knew if Wan wanted to hide Lei it was unlikely they could find her. His biggest fear was that she had gone back to China. But Chief felt in his gut that Lei may have wanted to be found. He hoped so because whether Wyatt admitted it or not Wan Chang’s resources were as formidable as his. Chief also knew that no matter where she was Wan would have built a wall of dead eyed men around her that would be impossible to scale.

  When he left Wyatt’s office, he woke Alono and relayed Wyatt’s charge. Alono’s connections to the Apache tribes that had been decimated, but still active throughout the West were stronger even than the Chief’s. A request much less an order from Wyatt would be a sounding bell for a race. If it could be won, it would be won. The word spread through Alono’s network as quickly as the telegram Chief sent to the Caballeros throughout the country. The telegram was short, two words: Find Lei.

  Chief knew it was useless to ask Joey to help him though Joey’s connections in the Chinese community were as strong as Wan’s. But Wyatt had built a reserve of respect among the kung fu masters who had trained at his dojo that Chief could tap. Whether they would take on Wan Chang was another question, but there had to be a chink in the armor somewhere. Chief needed to find it.

  By Noon he had found her. It was almost too simple, brilliant, even. It smacked of Lei. She was in plain sight, within reach. But she was as unreachable as in a medieval fortress guarded by dragons. She was living in the penthouse of the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver eight stories above the ground. The only access was a narrow winding staircase easily guarded by men who would give their lives rather than let him pass.

  There was another element to Lei’s choice of the Brown Palace Hotel. It made Chief shudder. The photograph of Vivian and Wyatt that had stood on his desk for six years, the only one he had of her, was taken at the Brown Palace. Chief knew Lei chose this site purposefully. She put up a barrier that would be harder for Wyatt to confront than a hundred of Wan’s men; his obsession with his dead wife.

  When he told Wyatt her location, Wyatt looked at the picture and nodded. A bitter smile crossed his face. He shook his head and said, “That bitch.”

  ~~~

  The bigger question in Chief’s mind was not whether they would find Lei, but what the hell they would do when they did. He had to find someone more loyal to Lei than to Wan. Only Lei would be able to order the guards to let Wyatt in. There was one person he knew who would challenge Wan if Lei asked him to. That was Ri. He sent the note to Ri, asking him to give it to Lei. Chief begged him to let Lei decide. The note from Wyatt was simple. It read, “Lei I need to speak to you. Please see me. Wyatt.” Three days later, Ri told Chief Lei agreed. Wyatt was to come to the Brown Hotel alone the next night at ten o’clock.

  When he got to the hotel, Wyatt walked up to the second floor ballroom and stood where he and Vivian had danced the autumn before she died. His anger at Lei boiled up like a cauldron of bile. She was rubbing his nose in his pain; taunting him, challenging him. He was filled with rage. He wanted to hit her, drive his fist through her face, smash his elbow into her ribs and break them again. When he thought about what she was carrying in her body, more than anything, he wanted to hold her.

  “Goddamn you, Lei,” he whispered.

  He waited for Ri in the atrium. When he saw Wyatt, Ri refused to meet his eyes. Looking away, he motioned to Wyatt to follow him. He knocked on the door of a room on the first floor. One of the cold eyed white men Wyatt had last seen at the hotel in Cheyenne opened the door. In the room were what looked to be twenty to thirty Chinese men.

  Wyatt grinned. “Well, good to know you fellows believe in a fair fight. Any more than thirty of y
ou at one time might have been too much for me.”

  No one smiled.

  One man stepped forward. Wyatt knew him by reputation. He was Longwai, Wan Chang’s prize fighter. He was known within kung fu circles as the strongest kung fu grandmaster in the Sing Leon. He motioned to Wyatt to remove his weapons. Wyatt took his gun from his side holster and put it on the table. He drew the two from his back and put them by the first, then reached into his boot and threw down the one hidden there. He took off the holsters and put them on the table with the guns. He reached into his other boot and drew out a bowie knife and then took a nine inch stiletto blade from the sheath on his belt. When the weapon count reached six he smiled and reached into a hidden place on the inside of his belt. He drew out his retractable custom designed Jian — the traditional Chinese fighting blade that had killed more opponents than any weapon Wyatt carried. He put his hands in the air, indicating that was the last.

  Longwai motioned to him to take off his clothes. Wyatt kicked off his boots, took off his vest and shirt, unbuttoned his pants and stepped out of them. He turned in a slow circle with his hands up, then turned back to meet Longwai’s eyes. He knew the killer was sizing up a likely opponent. Wyatt didn’t have to see Longwai naked to know the body that lay beneath his clothes.

  One of the white men handed Wyatt his clothes. He dressed, then waited. There was a knock at the door. When it opened he saw another eight or so men. The one in front sneered at Wyatt and motioned him out of the room. They surrounded him in a tight circle and walked to the stairs where Ri waited. The group, led by Ri, moved as one up eight flights to the door of the penthouse.

  ~~~

  Ri knocked and called out to Lei. The door opened and the group moved inside. Lei was standing across the room with her back to him, looking out the wall of windows at the city below. It was a majestic sight, but Wyatt only saw her. The men around him flattened out to a protective wall in front of the door three men deep.

  When he saw they weren’t leaving, Wyatt, said, “Lei, I need to speak to you.”

  Not turning she said, “Speak.”