Blood Ties

by Quincy J. Allen

  Chung made it to the lower floor quickly where they found one of Chung’s men attending to a gaping slash across another man’s chest. There were four black-clad bodies and three red lying on the floor, their swords lying scattered about. Chung said something in Chinese and the uninjured man nodded his head. The injured one did too, and Jake and Chung held their positions while Cole came downstairs.

  “Follow me,” Chung said and headed towards the back of the shop. With the digger toppled over, they could now see that a hidden panel stood open in the wall behind where the machine had been standing. As they approached, they heard soft, almost silent footfalls coming up a set of stairs that disappeared into the darkness beyond the opening. Jake’s and Cole’s pistols as well as the point of Chung’s sword came up in unison. They waited as the footsteps grew closer, and then a lithe, pale figure filled the doorway.

  Aside from the dark glasses, Lady Dănești stood naked before them, most of her pale skin covered in blood. She held a narrow silver sword with a basket hilt in her left hand and a wide, curved obsidian dagger in her right. Both blades gleamed in the light, and she appeared to be uninjured, but it was hard to tell with all the blood.

  The three men stood there open-mouthed at the perfect feminine shape that stood calmly before them.

  “I was in a hurry,” she said and smiled, her gaze running up and down Jake’s naked body.

  Jake felt like she was eating him alive with her gaze, and all he could think about was how happy he was that he’d turned his gun belt.

  Chapter Twenty-two – Rock and a Hard Place

  “Jake was a lot like Lumpy when you cornered him. He just dug his heels in and plowed through whatever got in his way.”

  ~ Cole McJunkins

  “Are you all right, Lady Dănești?” Chung asked as he lowered his blade and bowed. He had quickly recovered his composure, but Jake and Cole’s mouths were still agape as they holstered their weapons. Neither of them could take their eyes off her.

  It didn’t seem to bother Lady Dănești in the least. She smiled and turned her head slowly to Chung, having lingered more than entirely necessary on Jake. “Perfectly. There are seven more enemy bodies down below as well as three of your own. I’m sorry for your loss, Chung. I fear this attack is a result of my presence.”

  “We are here to serve,” Chung said formally. “As long as you are all right, my men do what they must. We are all pledged to your safety.”

  “Will the authorities come?” the Lady asked. “The sound of gunfire must have travelled for some distance outside the building.”

  “Probably not,” Jake spoke up. “I heard alarm bells somewhere out in the city about the same time the ruckus started. I’m figurin’ it ain’t no coincidence. The San Fran Marshals probably have their hands full, and from what I understand, they’re generally disinclined to make their way into Chinatown. As long as the place ain’t burnin’ down, I suspect we won’t see hide nor hair of ’em.” Jake turned to Chung. “Whatever Qi did with them alarms and windows on this place, I suspect we’re pretty well sealed in, right?”

  Chung nodded gently. “Essentially, but the walls are still wood, albeit reinforced. Steel plate and chain cover all windows and doors.”

  “I did do a fair amount of damage to the roof, so someone could chew their way through that with one of these if they wanted.” Jake swung the chaingun around and lifted the strap over his head. “Cole, take a look at this,” he added, tossing the weapon over to his partner. “And scrounge up the rest. I know there’s at least one more upstairs.” Cole caught it and looked over the design, clearly excited to have one in his hands. “Chung, I expect you got some folks you want to be talking to about damage control.”

  Chung nodded.

  “You need some help getting those boys out of your basement?” Cole asked.

  “Perhaps it would be best if Chung’s men attended to the cleanup,” Lady Dănești suggested smoothly, but Jake thought she’d offered that a bit quickly. “We are in a bit of a state.”

  “The Lady could use a bath—and perhaps a dress or something—to make herself a little less conspicuous,” Jake agreed. He did his best to not to run his eyes over her once more, “and I need some god damn pants. It’s drafty as a barn in here.” He ignored Cole chuckling beside him, and Chung was clearly amused. The lady simply smiled. It occurred to Jake that he’d never met a lady who could look comfortable—even demure—standing there naked as a jaybird, covered in the blood of men she’d just killed. It seems, he thought, Cole’s instincts were dead on.

  One of Chung’s men came jogging down the spiral staircase and hurried up to the old man. He whispered for a while into Chung’s ear, and Chung got a look of relief on his face. Chung replied curtly in Chinese, and the man went jogging off again.

  “Qi is in and out of consciousness, but Da-Xia says my granddaughter should recover. She is bruised badly and has several broken ribs, but as a result of Lady Dănești’s teachings, the attack was not fatal. Skeeter is with them, and they are all in a secure room upstairs.” Chung turned to the Lady and bowed deeply. “You have my gratitude,” he said formally. “My granddaughter would not have survived were it not for your tutelage.”

  “So that’s what that glow was,” Jake said. “You have my gratitude as well, milady,” he said, bowing while doing his best not to look at her directly.

  “She’s an excellent student,” the Lady said with sincere praise in her voice. “She’s picked up the discipline much faster than most, although she has a long way to go.”

  Jake strode over to one of the black-clad bodies by the stairs and, being careful to squat and not bend over, ripped the man’s hood off. He half-expected to see one of Szilágyi’s men, but the lifeless eyes that stared up at him were Asian, and the face they were set in belonged to a young man, almost a boy. Jake thought about the weapons he’d seen scattered across the floors or clutched in the hands of dead assassins. They were all Asian design, but the chaingun was the same as what Szilágyi’s men had carried. “Chung?” Jake called back over his shoulder. The old man walked up and looked down at the body at Jake’s feet. “You know this boy?”

  “Pinyin Gao,” Chung said a little sadly. “I helped him get to America. I knew his grandmother very well.” The old man shook his head. “He was ambitious, and I have no doubt that the words of Hang Ming were irresistible to him. Now I must write his family.”

  “So he definitely worked for Ming?” Jake asked.

  Chung nodded.

  “You seem surprised to see him,” Lady Dănești said as she stepped closer. Jake naturally turned his head as she approached, but the sight of her pale skin and the blood made him turn towards the man at his feet.

  “Well, I just figured that these guys would be European … on account of that gun Cole’s holding. Either of you ever seen a shooter like that before?” Jake asked.

  Chung and the Lady both shook their heads.

  “And I hope I never do again,” Chung said worriedly. “If Ming has access to such weapons, I fear for the safety of the entire city, not just my organization.”

  “Let’s all get cleaned up and settled,” Jake said. “We gotta talk. Thirty minutes?”

  Everyone nodded. The Lady disappeared downstairs while Jake and Cole headed to their rooms. They heard Chung call out in Chinese, followed by the quiet footfalls of several men running to him.

  They made their way up the staircase, and Cole turned off into his room. Jake continued around the corner towards Qi’s room, stopping at the water closet. Someone had shut off the spraying water, but the carpet was soaked in a wide swath around the door. He stepped in and could see where his burst from the chaingun dotted a line through the walls and hit the pipe coming down out of the ceiling for the shower. The water had drained out of the large, pedestal tub, which also had several holes in it.

  He looked into the mirror and realized he looked like hell. There were dark circles under his eyes and quite a bit of blood spattered on his
face and shoulder. He also had dots of crimson-brown across his chest. He grabbed a towel hanging next to the sink and found it completely soaked. He wiped his face, gasping at the cold, and did his best to wipe the blood off his shoulder and chest.

  Jake stepped across the hall into Qi’s room and pressed the switch just inside the door. He spotted an arm dangling through a gap in the roof. He reached instinctively for his gun but realized the arm was connected to a corpse, not a threat. Covered in blood, the dangling appendage still dripped crimson onto Qi’s ruined bed. Jake went to the pile of clothes he’d left on the floor. He took off his gun belt and got dressed. It felt good to have his ocular back on and be able to open his left eye. He settled his Colts back around his waist, tied off the leg straps and stepped out of the room. He suddenly felt like himself again. He knew he’d never live down running around the Emporium bareback.

  As he thought about the jokes he’d have to endure, something made him pause in the doorway and turn. He took a good long look at the bare hand that dangled from the ceiling. The back had a thick covering of blond hair, not black. He stepped up onto the bed and looked closely at the hand. A ring with a distinct design decorated the pinky finger. In a flash Jake remembered the symbol, identical to the raven insignia he’d seen on the pin worn by Radu during the poker game. And then it clicked. The insignia matched what he’d seen on the tails of the white zeppelins floating over San Fran terminal the previous afternoon. Clearly Szilágyi, or at least his men, were not only in town but were working with Ming. Jake couldn’t figure how or why they might have ever gotten together.

  Jake slipped the ring off the dead man’s finger and tucked it into his pocket. Something bothered him about the attack. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but his guts told him it should have gone different. Shaking the feeling, he stepped into the hallway, made his way down the hall, and turned around the corner. Cole stepped out of his room, the Thumper in his hands and a chaingun slung over his shoulder. He nodded to Jake as he stepped in stride, and they made their way to the lounge.

  They filled the room, and Jake realized everyone was armed for bear. Chung had changed to a one-piece black and red leather suit of armor with golden metal flanges coming up on either side of the collar. Dragons were embossed into the front with metal plates sequestered in several key areas within the leather. Chung now had two of the same curved blades strapped to his back, the red tassels framing his half-golden face. Qi wore an identical leather suit, and Jake saw a viciously curved long-knife upon each hip. The tasseled hilt of a thin, flexible Chinese sword peeked over her shoulder as well.

  Still wearing dark glasses, Lady Dănești was clothed again, allowing Jake to breathe a private sigh of relief. Instead of the flowing green dress, however, she wore intricately shaped leather armor with flanges and spikes. Scales had been etched into the leather, highlighted in gold that danced in the light. A leather helm with long emerald plumes hung on the back of the chair. The face of it, distinctly reptilian, had a wide, webbed flange flaring out on both sides that ended in short, metal spikes like the frill of a dragon.

  Skeeter had on a white shirt, brown wool pants, and tan leather spats that ran up to her knees. She wore the brown grimwig, the brim pointing down her back, and she had on the long tan leather duster Jake had bought her. The day he gave it to her, she’d modified it with a multitude of inside pockets and loops so she could carry what, Jake had to admit, was a remarkably useful armory. Her travelling goggles were perched on her head, and the long, brass oculars were set with green-tinted lenses.

  Da-Xia looked exactly as Jake had seen her last, with the shotgun resting on the table in front of her. Chung’s men were scattered around the room, some of them bandaged, all of them armed.

  “You okay, Qi?” Jake asked.

  She nodded her head. “The Lady fixed me up in a flash.” She winked her eye at Jake.

  “Mister Lasater,” Lady Dănești said as she stood up and nodded. Jake saw that the silver sword and the obsidian dagger were at her hips. “I realize that we have not had time to discuss our arrangement, and I’m sure you have questions, but it seems as if the decision has been made for us. Would you agree?”

  Jake paid close attention to her accent as she spoke. “I pretty much came to the same conclusion … no matter how you cut it, seems we both gotta get the hell outta Dodge.” Without a doubt her accent was similar to Szilágyi’s, but they didn’t come from the same place.

  “Dodge?” she asked, confused. “This is San Francisco,”

  “It’s an expression, milady,” Jake said with a smile. “It means we need to get out of town quick, fast, and in a hurry.”

  “Seems to me we had to get outta Dodge quick, fast, and in a hurry the last time we were in San Fran,” Cole muttered.

  “Maybe it’ll be different next time,” Jake looked at his ward and gave her a stern I told you so look. “Right, Skeeter?”

  Skeeter cast her eyes down. She knew what Jake was saying. “Yeah, Jake. I get it.”

  Jake held his eyes on the young girl for a few seconds. Genuine contrition filled her voice. For the first time she seemed to actually understand the position she’d put him in and felt bad about it. He nodded to himself, proud of how much the girl—young woman, he corrected himself—continued to impress him. She was willful and stubborn, but she had sense enough to know when she messed up, and was apparently mature enough to admit it. A sense of pride welled up in Jake as he smiled at Skeeter. He caught Qi looking at him and he gave her a wink.

  “So, what are we gonna do about Ming?” Cole asked. “Head on over there and start a ruckus?”

  “I’m afraid that an outright war in the middle of Chinatown would cause more problems than it would solve.” Chung’s voice remained quiet, but Jake heard the anger there. “I have little doubt the San Francisco authorities would get involved under those circumstances, and my arrangements with … certain government officials … would not be of any use to us. I think it best that we avoid their involvement at nearly any cost. I agree that Ming must be eliminated—”

  “I hate to rain on that particular parade,” Jake said firmly, “but we ain’t just up against Ming.” Jake lit up a cigar.

  Every pair of eyes turned to Jake.

  “Them weapons could have come from anywhere,” Cole said. “Maybe there’s somebody selling ’em to every Tom, Dick, and Ming that comes along.”

  “If it was just the weapons, I’d be inclined to agree with you, but there’s more to it than that.”

  “What do you mean?” Chung asked.

  “There’s a body above Qi’s bedroom and it wasn’t made in China, although it’s definitely an import.” Jake looked at Chung. “Think you could have a couple of your boys scoot on up there and bring him down?”

  Chung turned to the same man who had run up to him when they were downstairs and barked out an order in Chinese. The man bowed, nodded to two of Chung’s soldiers, and the three ran out double-time.

  “If he was on the roof, how’d you know he wasn’t Chinese?” Cole asked.

  “Because his hand …” Jake said, holding up his right hand, “had blond hair on it.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring. Tossing it to Cole he added, “And it had that on the pinky-finger.”

  Cole caught the ring and examined it closely. “I don’t get it,” Cole said. Jake saw Lady Dănești looking at the ring from across the table. “What’s this got to do with anything?”

  “The night of the ruckus on the Jezebel,” Jake replied, “Szilágyi had a pin with the same insignia on it.”

  “No shit?” Cole said.

  “No shit,” Jake confirmed, and then he spotted Lady Dănești’s head tilt ever-so-slightly to the side, as if she were pondering something. “It’s also the same insignia on three white zeppelins that came into San Fran the same time as the Jezebel.” He looked at Lady Dănești. “Is there something you’re not telling me, milady?” Jake asked. “I’m starting to get more than uncomforta
ble about not knowing what’s going on around here.” There was a subtle warning in Jake’s voice that would be hard for anyone to miss, and Jake knew with certainty that Lady Dănești was a lot more than just anyone.

  The Lady looked at Jake with calm resolve. “There are many things I’m not telling you, Mister Lasater.” There wasn’t the slightest trace of apology in her voice. Jake had seen that kind of face before, across many poker tables. It meant there was no bluff—no bullshit. “There are details about my life, and even some of these circumstances we’re faced with, that I’m not prepared to discuss. We all have our secrets, yes?” It wasn’t really a question, but Jake nodded. “Some of mine could compromise not only my own safety but the safety of thousands, perhaps millions.” Jake raised an eyebrow at that one, wondering what he might be getting himself into as Qi’s warning of destiny and war echoed in his mind. “However,” she continued smoothly, “I give you my word that I will not keep any information from you that could unnecessarily jeopardize your own safety or that of anyone else. The risks you will face are right in front of you, if I understand all of this correctly. Ming is clearly after you, and this man Szilágyi is, in all likelihood, the one after my … package. They appear to be working together at this juncture. I would assume that Szilágyi has concluded that the enemy of his enemy is his friend, if you understand my meaning.” Jake nodded. He’d come to a similar conclusion. “How the two came into each other’s company is unknown to me and is, ultimately, irrelevant. I would surmise that my lengthy stay in China is what drew Szilágyi and Ming together. You know the odds. The job is essentially the same now as the day you received Qi’s telegram. Would you agree?”

  Jake thought about it for a few seconds, weighing the facts. “That I would,” he agreed, nodding. He sized her up, trying to see past the glasses into what lay behind. There was a hell of a lot more to the Lady than just rich, white folk looking to get her possibles from one place to another. But he could usually tell when someone was lying to him, and she wasn’t. Jake knew there were quite a few things not being said, but he couldn’t see a downside to the deal. It was like any other high-paying, high-risk job he’d ever taken. On one hand he had a crazed Colonel from another country with military zeppelins and chainguns plus a pissed off gang leader, both of whom wanted his blood. On the other hand he had five thousand dollars. Add to that Qi’s promise that he could trust Lady Dănești, and it made for some fairly simple math.