by Todd Downing
He got to the third floor and froze. His door was ajar. He could hear someone banging around inside. Were they trashing his place? Idiot. The watcher must have been a lookout. Stop using tired as an excuse and think, damn it.
He set his suitcase down and flattened against the wall. He crept slowly towards the door. The frosted glass with DAVID LI INVESTIGATIONS in black letters was facing away from him so he could see through the opening fairly well. His office was dark but there was a light coming from the kitchen beyond. He could see movement there. He used his power to quietly open the door wider. He sneaked in. Slow, quiet steps to the kitchen door. A large shadow loomed in the doorway.
“Hey!” the shadow shouted. David shot a marble at the shadow’s head. It collapsed instantly. David turned toward the bedroom waiting. No one came out. After a minute he checked. No one else here. He went back to the unconscious intruder.
“Oh for the love of…” Irritated, David stepped over the husky body and into a kitchen torn up by someone who couldn’t figure out how to make coffee. Might as well make it for when this lunk woke up.
Ten minutes later, David was sipping coffee and looking out his window when he heard a groan.
“David, that you? What happened?”
“Later, Wally. Just get over here.”
Wally gingerly stood and came over. David pointed to the alley. Wally asked, “Why are the police arresting a half-naked Chinese man?”
“Because I made a call. You were followed.”
“What?” Wally sounded hurt. “No I wasn’t. How…? You don’t even know why I’m here.”
“You only come here when you need help with a case and only when the case involves Chinatown. You’re looking for a missing girl, yeah?”
“I… Sorry.”
David waved it away and gestured to the second cup of coffee on his desk. Wally grabbed it and asked, “You get anything from him?”
“He said the girl was safe and would be home soon and stay away.”
“Bull.”
David shrugged. They sat down on either side of the desk. Wally grabbed a file from his briefcase on the floor, dropped it on the desk and jumped right in. “Betsy Schneider. Society girl. She’s been gone a few days. Father’s a big wig industry type. Only child so Daddy raises her to run the business one day - business school, board meetings. But she got bored. Started hanging out her society girlfriends. She dives into the flapper scene and they hit all the fancy gin mills. Sometimes they stay out all night but nothing too crazy. Then a new girl joins up. Gives the others the willies but not ours. They spend more time away from the group. Then, poof. Betsy doesn’t come home.” Wally shrugged and sipped the coffee. “I look into it. They’ve been hitting the opium dens.”
“The Mind Mists,” David inserted. Wally nodded.
“Where else? And you know I can’t get anything out of those guys.”
“Think she’s still alive?”
Wally shrugged again. “Before this morning, no. Now…?”
“Yeah. Something else is going on. All right, I’m in. For half.” Wally started to splutter. “Save it. I’m too tired to argue and you don’t have a choice anyway.” David took Wally’s silence as agreement.
“What do you have on this new girl?”
“Not much. Name’s Angela Anderssen. Another heiress. Was engaged to a regular Joe, broke it off recently. Now she’s getting hitched to another industry type. Funny time to start hitting speakeasies and dens but rich people, ya know?”
“See what you else you can get. I’ll check the Mists. And Wally, this time…be careful.” Wally donned his hat, winked and left the office.
David finished his coffee and flipped through the file. It wasn’t just business school. The father taught her golf, tennis, riding, hunting, even had someone in for self-defense. There was a picture of Betsy. Blond bob, pretty smile, a mischievous glint in her eye. He let out a frustrated sigh. Thirty minutes ago all he was looking forward to was a long nap. He pocketed the picture and grabbed his hat. Sleep would have to wait.
David walked the four blocks to the Mind Mists. After the pulps started using opium dens as exotic locales, a gangster named Sheng Lao had a bright idea. Instead of using backrooms of old flop houses, he built a hive of honeycombed rooms exactly like what Americans think China looks like. He used a building close enough to Canal Street that Caucasians would get a thrill coming into Chinatown without having to actually come into Chinatown. It soon catered exclusively to the wealthy and Sheng rose to lead the Golden Dragons. Sheng and David had an uneasy mutual respect. He spent the whole walk trying to find an angle to use on Sheng. He had zilch unless he went in on the up and up.
The Mists wasn’t open for business in the morning although it was staffed all day every day. Clients often needed extra time to sober up. So David was surprised that the front door was propped open. Even more surprising, the great room was deserted. Decorated in green and red with a large number of pillars carved with Chinese symbols and coiling golden dragons, the large room took up most of the first of four floors. Velvet reclining couches where clients waited for private rooms were scattered throughout. David knew the mirror high in the wall concealed an office. He looked up and waved. No response. Great. The one time I’m not trying to be sneaky.
“I’ve got the heebies. Talkin’ ‘bout the jeebies…” David stopped singing as soon as he realized he was. That Louis Armstrong tune always popped out when he was nervous. Bad habit but his nerves were on to something. This was weird.
David turned slowly in the center of the room. A shadowed stairway led to the upper floors, the rooms for clients and Sheng’s office. There was another door opposite. David always assumed it led to a basement. Might be worth checking out. He continued turning. There were stacks of boxes and crates next to the front door that he hadn’t noticed when he came in.
Striding quickly over, David looked in the top box. It was filled with small packages of red powder that almost seemed to glow. This wasn’t opium. David pocketed one bag and looked at the crates. The top crate was nailed shut. He looked and listened but didn’t see or hear anyone. He strained with his power to lift the lid quietly. There was a small squeak of nails on wood but otherwise he succeeded. The crate was filled with packing straw. David moved it aside and saw a microscope and petri dishes. He examined the exterior of the crates but didn’t see any shipping labels or markings.
He set the lid back on the crate, and was lining up the nails to the existing holes when he heard voices speaking Cantonese behind him. The voices stopped as soon as he heard them. David turned innocently. He faced Sheng Lao and three Dragons. Sheng took in David, the crates and the open front door. He snapped out what sounded like a sharp rebuke to one of his men. The man stuttered, then hung his head silently. Sheng sighed.
“Sorry, David. Good help and all that.” He barked something else in Cantonese and the three mobsters advanced on David. He tried to shoot a marble at the middle one but he was so taken aback by this sudden turn he sent it wide. It hit a pillar decoration with a tink. The middle goon swung hard at David. He had learned—painfully—not to rely solely on his power. He knew how to fight. He blocked the blow high and turned to his right to block a low kick coming from the one on the right. If he could just hold them one moment…
He never saw the blow to the back of his neck that sent him into darkness.
# # #
He came to in a fog of pain. His neck and head throbbed in an off-beat staccato. His tired body wanted to sink back down to unconsciousness, into at least a parody of sleep. David squashed the impulse. He was in trouble and he wouldn’t get out of it by passing out again.
He took several slow breaths as quietly as he could, listening. The silence that came back told him maybe he was alone. Slowly forcing his eyes open, David looked around. He sat in a metal frame chair, arms and legs tied individually. A quick test demonstrated the knots were ferociously tight. Goons were probably trying to make up for leaving the door o
pen and were working extra hard to make sure he stayed put.
He was in a room with one light directly overhead, that lit only the center of the room. Small room, maybe 10’ x 10’. Hard to tell with the shadows. Two feet to his left was a small folding table. He saw his hat, his jacket, his wallet, his bag of marbles with the tie closed up tight, the picture of Betsy and the weird red powder laid out neatly. Great. So Sheng Lao knew everything and David still knew nothing.
All right, this was bad. But if he could clear the pain in his head a little he could work a way out of this. Because while Sheng might know everything about the situation, he didn’t know everything about David. Not by a long shot.
He focused on his breath, attempting to breathe through each throb of pain but it was difficult with his head and his neck unsynchronized. Plus, he was really starting to feel the ropes on his arms and legs. And the exhaustion. So it’s tough. Do it anyway. He tried again just as the door opened.
Sheng Lao and the remorseful tough from earlier walked in. Sheng wore a sympathetic smile. “I really am sorry about all of this, David.” He gestured and the tough opened up a small canvas folding stool and set in front of David. Sheng sat gracefully. “I told my man to kill the fat one before he came to you. The fool got it in his head that he should take both of you out. Your solution was amusing. I was tempted to let him stew like that, but I cannot have my men shamed publicly.”
“How you deal with your boys is your business. I just came here to talk.”
“I’m sure you did. But you’ve seen rather too much at this point. I need to determine the extent of your knowledge and if you’ve spoken to anyone else and then I will have to kill you. Painful or quick is, of course, up to you.”
“Damnit, Sheng…” Louis Armstrong’s horn started to braw braw brawp in his head but David shoved it aside. He couldn’t afford to get slapped around. His concentration was suspect already. A few hits from the tough, who was looking eager to atone, and there would be no way he’d be able to use his power effectively. And his power was the only way out of this. So stall, focus, prepare.
“All right, yeah. Wally came to me. He wanted help finding a girl.”
“Yes, he was sniffing around the other day. We sent him on his way but it was clear he would go to you next.”
“Yeah, good ol’ Wally.” David kept his breath even. He envisioned what he wanted to do. His power was more than throwing things through the air. He could reach out with his mind and pull forth and manipulate a malleable substance, an ectoplasm.
“And…” Sheng prodded impatiently.
“And nothing. The trail ended here, so I came to talk. You had your thugs grab me.”
Sheng shook his head. He picked up the packet of red stuff. “And this?”
“That was a weird thing I saw and I took a quick peak. Sorry I pocketed it but you startled me.”
“Come, come, David. There must be more to it than that.”
“No. There mustn’t.” The desperation creeping into his voice was real. He wasn’t sure he could keep up the conversation and prepare his escape. “I have no clue what that is. Tell me it’s food coloring for a new kind of Gin Fizz and I’ll believe you.”
Sheng tossed the packet back on the table and cocked his head at David. He was still for several moments which suited David fine. The bastards had to tie all four limbs separately. He had never handled four different flows of ectoplasm before. He exhaled and stretched his mind out into… wherever it was that made this possible. If he survived this he needed to find someone to teach him more about his powers. And Cantonese. Damn it, David, focus.
He almost missed when Sheng said, “Don’t breathe a sigh of relief, my friend. I am just trying to determine why you are stalling.” David spluttered but Sheng waved it away. “Don’t try to deny it. Talking so freely and yet giving nothing away. What else could you be doing? But I truly do not understand why. You can’t be expecting help to arrive. My men have already brought the fat one in. He’ll be talking soon. You cannot stop that. So what is it?”
David shrugged. “No idea. But if you want to play along and tell me the whole plan, I’ll listen attentively.”
Sheng’s laugh was genuine, deep and long. “Oh, David. I will miss you. I am going to check on your friend. We’ll see if you are more honest when I return.” He then turned to the tough, said two short words in Cantonese and left the room. The tough advanced pulling a long steel knife from behind his back. Now or never.
David unleashed his ability and the power surged. On each of his limbs, directly below the ropes, silver viscous material appeared. Each stream quickly formed and hardened into razor sharp knives that sliced his ropes effortlessly. David stood. The tough hesitated, not sure what he had just seen. The four knives melted and flowed up his limbs, consolidating in his hands. They melded together into the shape of a curved sword, two and half feet long, solid and sharp. The tough tried to lunge with his knife. David parried and thrust. The tough reacted too late. David ran the sword through the man’s chest.
The power ebbed from David as the man collapsed. It had been too complex to hold long. He grabbed his bag of marbles from the table and quickly stepped into the hall. Sheng was two doors down speaking with a goon. They turned at the sound of David’s footsteps, eyes widening in surprise. No time to untie the bag. David used his power and hurled the entire bag at Sheng. Sheng ducked. The goon charged silently at David. The goon feinted high with a fist and struck low with a kick. David blocked the kick and thrust a punch at the guy’s chest. He blocked easily with his left hand and struck hard at David’s face with his right. David dodged, stepping back quickly. The goon followed up with a flurry of blows aimed at keeping David off balance. It worked. David blocked or dodged each but wasn’t fast enough to get a counter strike in. He was being pushed back. He couldn’t win like this. Fortunately, he didn’t have to.
At the next punch, David blocked and stepped forward quickly. He got inside the goon’s reach and briefly grappled him. David got the left arm pinned but the right was free. The goon feinted with his right. David flinched. The goon used that distraction to break free. His left arm snaked out of the pin and quickly pinned David’s right, bending it at a bad angle. He could snap David’s arm in a second. He didn’t have a second.
The bag of marbles that had been lying on the floor down the hall was once again flying through the air. It struck the goon in the back of the head. The man’s eyes flared and then dulled as he collapsed onto the ground.
David looked up. Sheng gave him a quizzical look then called out loudly. The door the goon was guarding opened and yet another Dragon came out. For the love of… How many guys does Sheng have at the den on a Sunday morning? The Dragon smiled and it highlighted the scar running up his neck and ear. Oh, this guy. He’ll be wanting payback.
Ear Scar advanced slowly on David waving a wicked looking knife, dripping blood. Farther back, David saw Sheng hightail it down the narrow hall and up a set of stairs. David slid into a defensive stance. Ear Scar lifted the knife in front of his own face.
“Your friend bleeds really easily.” He stuck out his tongue and licked the blood on the knife. What the—? Who licks blood? David didn’t hesitate. He slung a glob of ectoplasm right at Ear Scar’s mouth. It hit the knife, the hand holding it and the tongue and instantly hardened. Tongue and hand were now stuck to the knife. Ear Scar wailed a confused, scared, stiff-tongued wail.
David quickly stepped to his opponent and grabbed the side of his head. “Never show off in a fight.” Then he slammed Ear Scar’s head into the wall. It connected with satisfying thunk and Ear Scar collapsed.
Not sure what awaited him behind the open door, David first ducked back into “his” room. He put on his jacket and grabbed his things. He called the bag of marbles to him, untied it and placed it back home in his pocket. Now he was ready for anything. Like rescuing his friend and the missing woman while fighting his way through a building filled with a seemingly endless supply of goons
to face down a crime boss and discover the secret plan. David was going to have to rethink taking cases from Wally.
Speaking of whom, David quickly went back out and down to Wally’s room. A quick peek around the door showed only Wally, tied like David had been. But Wally had been worked over extensively. He was shirtless which showed off the bruises and cuts all over his chest and arms. His right eye was swollen shut and his lower lip was split. David entered saying, “This is you being careful?”
“Ha ha, Mr. Li. Just get me out of… What the hell is that?” While Wally was talking, David formed an ectoplasm knife to cut the ropes. Wally didn’t know David had powers, until now.
“This is me helping.” David reached down and sliced the ropes.
Wally stood up and looked at David warily. “You going to explain that later?”
“Later, yeah.”
Wally nodded. This room also had a table in the center with Wally’s things on it, including a .45 and its clip. Wally started putting on his shirt. “They jumped me right after I left your place. Wanted to know what I knew about some Latin sounding group.”
“Latin? Wait. Astrum Argentum?”
“Yeah that’s the one.”
“Damn it. The Silver Star. We need to find Betsy, get out and get some help. This is bigger than us.”
“Guess we’re going to have a really long talk later. What’s the plan?”
David shot him a pointed look. “You up for a fight?”
Wally snorted. “Please. I’ve had worse in the ring. You know, I used to spar with John Mabry, when he was a heavyweight contender.”
“Really,” David deadpanned. “I’ve never heard you mention that before. We need to grab someone and find out where they’re holding Betsy. Move as fast as we can.”