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

by Taylor Lee

  To his surprise, Alex felt someone tug on his bindings, freeing his hands and feet. He heard Bai’s voice low in his ear.

  “Easy, boy. I’ve got you, boy. I’ve got you now. Can you move? I can smell the crap they used to drug you. Can you stand?”

  Alex felt relief, only his shame was stronger. Christ, Bai did come for him and was willing to risk his life to save him. He couldn’t fight the tears flooding his face and sobbed out loud when Bai put his arm around him.

  “It’s okay, kid. Understandable. But you have to pull it together. There are at least five of them out in the hallway and they’ll be checking up on you any minute. Here, lean on me. Try to stand. Bien, that’s the way.”

  The door swung open and light flooded the cellar walls.

  “What the fuck? It’s Sammy and Ted. Christ they’re both dead!” the first man in the door shouted to the men behind him.

  He took one step, but then pitched forward, a knife in his throat, as did the man behind him.

  Bai yelled, “Okay, Alex! That’s the end of my knives. Take the one on the left!”

  Alex leapt forward at the sound of Bai’s spirit yell. He caught his man’s arm and twisted it up behind his back, hard. He smiled when he heard the snap.

  “That’s the way, brother,” Bai called out. “That’s a hell of a good sound. Let’s hear a few more of those!”

  Only after he had his man flat on the ground his foot on his back did Alex realize that Bai had taken down two men, and like a good savate fighter had kicked them both to death. Like Alex, he had his foot on the back of a third. He yelled through the doorway and to Alex’s relief Nianzu, Wyatt, and four Chinese men rushed in.

  Wyatt went straight to Alex and the two men held each other for a long moment, neither of them speaking.

  Bai pointed to the man he had pinned to the floor and chortled “This is Peter, Greg’s key man. I don’t know who Alex is standing on, but we need them both alive.”

  They heard a stampede of footsteps and Liang yelling for Bai.

  Liang charged in the door, followed by Manchu. The stricken look on his face stopped their celebration cold.

  “They’ve got her, Bai. Greg got Elena. We don’t know where he took her.”

  Bai stared at him.

  “Quitin?”

  Liang shook his head and didn’t try to hide his tears.

  Bai didn’t speak. He felt the rush of fury turn to the icy cold he had depended on all his life. The Frenchman reached down and yanked Peter to his feet. Ignoring the blubbering man’s pleas, he pressed him against the wall and held his arm at a right angle and drew a ten inch blade from his boot.

  “I lied, Alex. I always save this one for emergencies.”

  With that, he drew back his knife and smashed the cutting edge of the blade against Peter’s wrist severing his hand in one blow. Peter screamed a hideous agonized scream as blood spurted from his naked wrist.

  Bai yanked him up by his other arm and held it hard against the wall. Switching the blade to his left hand, he pressed his face inches from Peter’s horrified face. Ignoring his screams of pain, Bai’s voice was ominously soft.

  “Thirty seconds. Tell me where they are or your other hand goes. Next is your prick. Counting now.”

  Peter cried out, “I don’t know, I don’t know.”

  Bai nodded to Nianzu.

  “His pants.”

  Nianzu grabbed Peter’s belt and ripped open his pants. Peter screamed, a terrified sound echoing through the room.

  “No, God, no! He took her to his office. Second floor in the private quarters. Third door on the left. Senator Sinclair is there, too, dead.”

  “Is there more than one entrance?”

  They could barely understand the bleeding man’s choked words.

  “His bedroom… is connected. Door in the back… fourth door on the left.”

  Bai nodded and with a quick flick of his wrist, slit Peter’s throat and dropped him to the ground.

  He took off shouting orders to his men as he raced up the stairs.

  Chapter 33

  Elena and Quitin made their way to the ballroom. Beautiful sounds and sights greeted them as if the fairy land of gorgeous people, dancing, chatting, eating, and drinking was not steps away from murder and mayhem.

  Elena slipped her hand in the crook of Quitin’s elbow and gave it a little squeeze. He smiled down at her and held her close to him.

  “You know he is angry because he loves you so deeply, don’t you, Elena?”

  She sighed and nodded.

  “And you know he is not angry with you, Quitin.”

  “Yes, I know that, Elena. It is my great honor that he trusts me with the person he loves more than life itself.”

  They moved toward a crowd of people and Elena saw Quitin exchange glances with a man she didn’t know, but was sure he was one of Bai’s men. She forced herself to smile and appear relaxed. She chatted briefly with several of the men she knew from the university, then saw Dr. Oleong on the edge of the crowd. She waved to him and moved to join him when she felt a firm hand grasp her elbow and a hard brace of steel in the middle of her back. Even before she turned to the man holding her, she knew it was Greg.

  “That’s right, Elena. Don’t make a scene. Not only do I have a gun resting on your spinal cord, but the four people around you will die if you make a sound.”

  Elena looked to her left and right and saw hard eyed men standing close to the people surrounding her—all oblivious of the danger they faced. She glanced over her shoulder and saw two men holding Quitin’s inert body upright. His glazed eyes staring straight ahead confirmed what she already knew. He would never let anyone touch her if he was alive.

  Only then did Elena allow herself to look up at Greg. Elena shuddered a deep hard shudder. He was glowing. An unholy light gleamed in his eyes; his lips were curled in a victorious smile. He looked like a madman. A triumphant madman.

  ~~~

  Elena looked around the room, trying to understand where they were. She knew it was Greg’s office, but it was in another building. He blindfolded her outside of the ballroom and the men with him dragged her across a pebbly path and up a flight of stairs. She felt a momentary rush of fear, wondering how Bai would ever know where to look. But then she quieted. Bai would find her. If he had to tear the mansion apart, he would find her. She knew that in her soul. She just had to keep Greg from killing her before Bai came. Or, she thought, facing the more likely and more hideous truth, she had to keep him from raping her before Bai got there.

  The office was spacious, floor to ceiling windows looked down on the verdant grounds below. A fire burned low in the fireplace and small electric sconces cast a pleasing glow across the room. The door to the adjoining bedroom was open, a large four poster bed was visible from the doorway. The rooms were pleasant, appealing.

  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 compari
son 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 fucking 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 th
e 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.”