The ChucksConnection Presents
Days of Destiny
by Aiden Vaughan
Illustrations and Graphics by Ricardo Carmona
A Hunter & Holmes Mystery
6
Hal Peterson Media Services, San Jose
© 2011 Hal Peterson Media Services
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between the characters in this book and actual persons or events is purely coincidence. Locations and institutions are used fictitiously.
This story is meant for readers 13 years old and up. If it were a film, it would be rated PG-13 or a television show Mature-14, due to some descriptions of violent acts including attacks on children and teenagers by predatory criminals, kidnappings, beatings, and the impact of captivity on young victims. There is also an incidence and discussion of “sexting”, the sending of explicit photos by cell phone.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
First online edition July, 2011.
ISBN 978-0-9821014-6-9
For more information about Hunter & Holmes Mysteries, go to our website at http://hunterandholmes.com
Other Books in the Hunter & Holmes Series:
1. The Kidnapping
2. Double Fugue
3. When The Chips Are Down
4. Family Matters
5. Eyewitness News
eBooks created by www.ebookconversion.com
Table of Contents
Chinese New Year
Chapter 1. A Trip To San Francisco (February 4)
Chapter 2. The Noise in the Hallway (February 4)
Chapter 3. Helping Jian-heng (February 4)
Chapter 4. Celebration and Commitment (February 4)
Chapter 5. Mrs. Liu Steps In (February 4 and 5)
Chapter 6. Searching for the Lost Sisters (February 5)
Valentine’s Day
Chapter 7. Jason and Laura Work Things Out (February 12)
Chapter 8. The Bike Ride (February 12)
Chapter 9. A Romantic Afternoon (February 12)
Chapter 10. A Song of Love (February 13)
Chapter 11. A Party To Remember (February 13)
Chapter 12. Will Love Conquer All? (February 14)
Presidents Week
Chapter 13. The Growth of Jian-heng (February 19)
Chapter 14. On the Prowl (February 21)
Chapter 15. Profiling the Human Traffickers (February 22)
Chapter 16. A Lot of Legwork (February 22-24)
Chapter 17. The House On the Cul-de-sac (February 25)
Chapter 18. Helping Robbie (February 25)
March Madness
Chapter 19. A Fantastic Season (March 2)
Chapter 20. The Pressures of the Playoffs (March 3-8)
Chapter 21. Chauncey’s Dilemma (March 9)
Chapter 22. Jason’s Plan (March 10-11)
Chapter 23. The Championship Game (March 12
Chapter 24. Post Game Celebration (March 12)
St. Patrick’s Day
Chapter 25. The St. Patrick’s Day Dance (March 17)
Chapter 26. Victoria’s Crisis (March 17)
Chapter 27. A Desperate Plea (March 19)
Chapter 28. The Investigation Begins (March 20-21)
Chapter 29. Tracking the Sexters (March 21-23)
Chapter 30. Justice and Recovery (March 24-25)
April Fools Day
Chapter 31. The Rescue (March 26)
Chapter 32. A Family Reunion (March 26 and on)
Chapter 33. Settling the Score (March 27-30)
Chapter 34. The Fabulous Offer (March 31)
Chapter 35. A Time To Celebrate? (April 1)
Chapter 36. April Fools! (April 1)
Chapter 1
A Trip To San Francisco
(February 4)
It was Friday and school was out for the week. Jason Hunter was looking forward to the weekend. Tonight he was going up to San Francisco with his friend and neighbor, Richard Liu, who was taking him and his best friend Daniel Holmes to watch the festivities for the Chinese New Year. Getting a guys night out was something quite rare these days, with the demands of school, athletics, his steady girl friend, Laura Friesen, and his foundation to assist teenage victims of crime.
Things had been going quite smoothly for Jason in the new semester. He was doing well in all of his classes, and the varsity basketball team at Merriam High School was having a successful winning season. Jason was now a starter on the team, and out of all the impressive accomplishments of Jason’s brief young life, he was the most proud of this one.
Basketball had always been an important part of Jason’s life. Playing basketball was how he kept himself fit. It was also how he had met Richard Liu. When the Liu’s had moved into Jason’s neighborhood six years ago, he noticed that Richard and his younger brother David liked to go outside and play with a basketball. One day he saw them out there and invited them to play some ball with him on his driveway, where there was a basketball hoop. The boys readily accepted and soon Jason and Richard were regular competitors in one-on-one pick up games. As the years passed by, they became good friends. Jason discovered that Richard enjoyed basketball as much as he did.
Jason and Daniel had become intensely involved with Richard and his family when a mysterious series of brazen hijackings had occurred at the microchip plant where Richard’s father was the vice president of operations. The crimes were mystifying the police and the company management. Richard asked Jason and Daniel if they would at least look at things with “two fresh pairs of eyes” as Jason liked to describe it. Ultimately they were successful in figuring out what was going on. [The complete circumstances of that case are described in the third Hunter & Holmes novel When The Chips Are Down.]
Richard had always felt that he owed Jason and Daniel something extra after solving the case, and this was his way of showing his gratitude. Not only would they see the parade and fireworks in Chinatown, but they would also be having a fabulous dinner, courtesy of Richard’s aunt, who ran a restaurant hidden from the main streets and known only to the local Taiwanese community.
The plan was to leave by four o’clock, drive to the Mission District, park in one of the large garages there, and then take the cable car to Chinatown. Traffic, which was always difficult to navigate in the Chinatown area would be impossible tonight, with street closures and huge crowds of people. Public transportation would be overwhelmed with people, so Richard wanted to allow plenty of time for them to get to his aunt’s restaurant.
Around 3:45, Daniel arrived at Jason’s house. He was ready for the cool and chilly night in San Francisco. In addition to his normal winter wear of a band tee shirt and Levis, Daniel had on a sweatshirt and a hooded windbreaker. As always he had on a pair of black Converse Chuck Taylor high top sneakers, worn today with heavier thermal socks. Jason had also prepared for the cold weather. Over a tee shirt and jeans he wore a hoodie, and had a wool lined black leather bomber jacket to stave off the cold. Like Daniel, Jason was wearing his favorite sneakers, a pair of red Converse All Star high top chucks.
When Jason opened the door to let Daniel in, he greeted him and said, “It looks like you are ready for the cold, Daniel.”
“Oh, yes, Jason,” Daniel replied. “After going up to the city unprepared, I decided on a little insurance tonight. Do you like my new windbreaker?”
“It looks great, Daniel. What do you think of my bomber jacket?”
“It should keep you warm, especially with that wool inner lining,” Daniel said. “You also might want to wear a baseball cap.”
“Good idea,” Jason said as he grabbed a 49ers cap from the closet and put it on. The two boys then walked over to Richard�
�s house. Daniel knocked on the front door and soon Richard was there opening the door.
Richard was wearing a complete black and white adidas warm-up outfit over a tee shirt. On his feet was a well broken in pair of white Nike basketball shoes. For extra protection against the cold, he had a Lakers baseball cap and a thermal vest that he could slip over his warm-up suit.
“Hi, Jason and Daniel,” Richard said in an enthusiastic voice as he shook hands with his friends. “It looks like you are ready for the cold weather!” Richard continued as he eyed what Jason and Daniel were wearing.
“Yeah, we are ready for anything!” Jason replied with a laugh. “Bring on the New Year!”
A few minutes later, the three boys were inside Richard’s car heading up the freeway to San Francisco. They stowed their coats and hats in the trunk for the trip.
“How has your week been, Daniel?” Jason asked.
“It’s been totally crazy!” Daniel said with some exasperation in his voice. “I thought that after we played Nick’s Requiem things would mellow out at school, but it seems that we are doing more than ever. The jazz band has been doing some extra performances at local organizations like the Lion’s Club and Kiwanis to raise money for the music department, and the choir is also doing more. Word of how the choir did with the Requiem got around, and now we have been asked to sing at concerts with a couple of other community groups. Plus we have our regular schedule of performances at school and at music festivals.”
“Although your musical activities prevent us from getting together as much as we used to, it is good that you are busy making music,” Jason replied. “The fact that other groups want you to perform with them is a tribute to your musicianship, don’t you think?”
“Oh, yeah, we all appreciate that. But at the same time it means a lot more time commitment for us. In addition, my band is still trying to get the materials ready for our demo CD that we need to make. I feel bad that I don’t have more time to spend with you, Jason, but it seems that I am spending all of my time lately at rehearsals or performances.”
“Don’t worry about it, Daniel. I feel the same way. With the Merriam basketball team doing so well, and heading toward the playoffs, I am involved with practices and games just about every day! I am grateful that I have English class with Laura. Otherwise I would hardly ever see her during the week.”
“That’s why this trip to the city is so special, Richard,” Daniel said bringing Richard into the conversation. “I am really glad that I had tonight off for a change and could go with you and Jason.”
“I second that,” Jason added. “We had our game last night, and the coach promised us Friday off. It didn’t hurt that we walloped our opponents by 24 points!”
“The Merriam High basketball team has been awesome this year,” Richard said. “You guys have definitely stepped up your game lately. As far as this trip goes, I have wanted to give you guys a proper thank you for your help on the chips case for a long time. Now I finally have the chance.”
“We were rewarded quite well at the end of that case, Richard. You are our friend and we were more than happy to help you out! Don’t feel that you owe us anything!” Jason insisted.
“Perhaps, Jason, but it was more than just an act of friendship,” Richard replied. “You both put your lives on the line for my father. As a result the people that were harming DCC are in jail, and Dad is now the president of the company. He greatly admires the two of you, and was whole-heartedly behind this trip. So I plan to show you guys a real good time!”
“Well we are definitely up for some fun!” Daniel exclaimed.
After a little over an hour on the road, they arrived at the Mission Street Garage. After parking the car and retrieving their coats and hats, the three headed off to the Powell street cable car station on the other side of Market Street. The line to get on a cable car was relatively short, and after only a twenty minute wait, they were able to board a car. The three boys had big grins on their faces as the cable car wound up the hill toward Chinatown. Riding a cable car was always a special part of visiting San Francisco.
At Washington Street, they got off the cable car and began walking down the narrow streets of Chinatown. The streets were bustling with people shopping at the many little food markets with outdoor displays of all kinds of fruit and produce. Eventually they turned off the regular streets into a narrow alley. When they arrived near the end of the alley, Richard turned, went up to a door, and pushed the doorbell.
A minute later the door was opened. “Hello, Aunt Mai,” Richard said in English and then proceeded to talk with her in Chinese. Aunt Mai was a pleasant looking woman about five foot two inches tall. She was dressed in a beautiful kimono and her black hair was perfectly coifed on her head. She smiled at Jason and Daniel. In perfect English she said, “Welcome to my home and restaurant, Jason and Daniel. Richard has told me so much about you. I am pleased to meet you at last.” She held out her hand, and allowed Daniel and Jason to shake it.
“It is a pleasure to meet you as well,” Jason replied. “Thank you for allowing us into your home on such an important day.”
When the three boys were inside the entryway, Richard’s two cousins came up to say hello. There were introductions all around. Lucia was a shy thirteen year old. Selwyn was sixteen and as tall as Daniel. As both cousins worked with their mother in the restaurant they were dressed in black shirts and pants. Soon the boys were ushered into the restaurant area and seated at a sunken table after they took their shoes off.
After they were seated, Daniel asked if there were menus to look at. “No, don’t worry about a thing, Daniel,” Richard told him. “Aunt Mai said that she wanted to prepare a special dinner for you since this was your first time at a true Taiwanese restaurant. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.”
Soon Lucia came over with a tray of iced teas for the boys. Then she brought them bowls of Danzi noodle soup for their first course. The soup was made from shrimp stock and featured a large prawn in the center of each bowl surrounded by noodles and stir-fried minced pork. “This is delicious,” Jason raved. “You know who would really like this soup is Eric. I just recently discovered that he totally loves shrimp in all shapes and forms. How is Eric doing, by the way? I haven’t even had a chance to talk to him for over a week!”
“Eric continues to quietly amaze me,” Daniel replied. “He is so modest about his accomplishments, he sometimes doesn’t let anyone know. He recently set a league record at a swim meet and didn’t even tell anyone! And his bass playing continues to improve by leaps and bounds. Sometimes Eric and Nick go off and jam together to design new ideas and riffs for the band to play. Nick tells me that Eric will come up with the coolest ideas, totally unexpectedly.”
“There are times that I am totally in awe of Eric,” Jason followed up. “When I think of what he was forced to endure when we first met him, and how he has thrived ever since, it justifies every risk I ever took as a detective!”
The next course that came out was an oyster omelet. This dish was made with shucked oysters, greens, and eggs mixed with a potato flour that gave it a almost a pancake quality. The omelet was divided up onto individual plates and topped with a spicy red sauce and chopped fresh cilantro.
“This is one of my absolute favorite dishes,” Richard told his friends. “I have even learned to make it myself, but I can never make it as good as Aunt Mai.”
“I didn’t know you had an interest in cooking,” Daniel said. “I’ll have to tell Diana that there is another aspiring chef among our friends!”
“It’s nothing that I want to brag about, but I think everyone should learn how to cook food for themselves,” Richard replied.
“This dish is really great,” Jason added. “You will definitely have to make it for us sometime.”
As the boys continued to eat, Daniel began talking about his band. “Although it seems that we have less time to work on it, we are still trying to get together enough original material for a demo CD. The m
ore we work at it, the more I realize that composing and recording music is a full time occupation. We are fortunate to have the studio at Tim’s house to work in, which saves us a lot of time, and allows us to evaluate our new material on a regular basis. But it still is a struggle to get things completed at the standard we want.”
“I say don’t stress about it, Daniel,” Jason said. “Be sure to take enough time to make quality tracks. If you rush into it, I don’t think you will be happy with the results.”
“I think you are right in one sense,” Daniel answered, “but at the same time we are getting calls from agents interested in taking us on. We need to have a substantial demo and we need it soon!”
“You guys sure have exciting lives,” Richard said. “My life seems so boring in comparison.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Richard,” Jason replied. “You have to be you. And who knows what life will bring to you. The most important thing is that you are happy and able to support yourself. I think you are well on the way to doing that!”
“Thanks for the encouragement, Jason. I know your friendship means a lot to me even if it just involves playing some hoops on your driveway.”
“Hey, playing hoops on my driveway is one of the most important things we do!” Jason said with a laugh. “You had better continue to show up!”
Just then Selwyn came with a large tray holding three plates. It was the main course, steamed dumplings filled with chopped pork, sausage, minced vegetables and black mushrooms. The dumplings were large and puffy, and served with a wonderful sweet and sour sauce.
Once the plates were set out, the three friends quickly began eating. “Wow, this is the best dish yet!” Daniel exclaimed between bites. “Your aunt is a great cook!”
Chapter 2
The Noise in the Hallway
(February 4)
After the boys received their plates of dumplings, there wasn’t much talking as they eagerly cleaned their plates. Then Lucia came and cleared away their dishes. “Would you like some dessert now?” she asked. “I can bring you some pearl milk tea and green cakes.”
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