Authors: Michael J. McCann
“
You scared Mama,” Taylor said, looking at Peter’s hand.
“
You’re right. I need to tell her I’m sorry.”
“
You never scared my other Mama,” Taylor said quietly.
“
Pardon me?” Peter frowned.
“
My other Mama, Merry.” Taylor sniffled. “She’s not scared of you.”
“
Martin,” Peter whispered, his throat constricting, “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me.”
“
It’s okay,” Taylor said.
Peter drew the boy to him, his eyes closed, heedless of the filth that stained the knees of his expensive suit as he held him tightly.
Hank turned at the sound of a vehicle behind them. Michael Chan had arrived.
Karen stood up. “That’s his father,” she said to Peter. “Let me take the boy now so there won’t be any trouble.”
Peter released him and slowly stood up.
“
Come on, Taylor,” Karen said, taking his hand. “Let’s go home.”
“
All right, Tex.”
Chuckling, Karen led Taylor out of the alley as Michael Chan flew out of his car and started across the street.
“
Stay right there!” Karen ordered, holding up her hand like a traffic cop. “We’ll come across to you.”
She led Taylor across the street.
“
I needed to know who Leung’s partner was,” Peter said to Hank.
“
Let Detective Stainer defuse the situation,” Hank said. “We don’t want any unnecessary trouble. Just stay still and don’t say anything.”
“
Who the hell do you think you are?” Michael Chan shouted at Peter. “You stay the hell away from my family, do you hear!”
“
Quiet!” Hank growled at Peter.
“
Do you hear me, you thug? Stay away from us from now on!”
Hank and Peter watched as Karen herded Michael Chan back to his car. While he was securing Taylor in his child support in the back seat, Karen released Grace Chan from the Crown Vic and ushered her to her own car. When Michael closed the door on Taylor he walked past Karen, staring into the alley, and was about to shout at Peter again when Karen cut him off.
“
Do you want to press charges here, Professor Chan? You want we should bust his ass?”
Grace rolled down her window and spoke before Michael could reply. “No! Michael, just let it go! It’s not worth the trouble!”
Michael whirled on her. “Are you serious? He kidnapped you and our son! He should be in prison with the rest of his kind!”
“
He’s my cousin!” she cried. “My family! I can’t do that to him! Just let it go.”
“
Yes or no, Professor,” Karen said.
Michael worked his jaw, eyes flashing between the alley and his wife. Then without a word he threw himself around the front of his car, got in behind the wheel, slammed the door and drove away.
As he reached the intersection and slowed to turn, he was forced to swerve to avoid a large black Hummer swinging aggressively around the corner in front of him. Karen watched the Hummer rush toward her, then turned at the sound of another vehicle behind her. It was an identical black Hummer that threw itself sideways across the street to block passage. The Hummer in front of her did the same, and the doors began to open.
“
Oh fuck,” Karen said.
All hell was about to break loose.
“
Police!” Karen shouted, holding her badge high above her head. “Stand down!”
Three Asians tumbled out of the Hummer in front of the Lexus. As Karen waved her badge she saw they were pointing Colt M4 Commando short-barreled rifles her. A quick glance told her that three more men had emerged from the other Hummer, weapons trained on Hank and Peter in the alley.
She threw herself back across the sidewalk into a doorway as the trio in front of her opened fire. Rounds punched into the Lexus and the Crown Vic, sounding like hail rattling on a tin roof. As she crouched in the doorway of the abandoned building, pressing back against the sheet of plywood nailed across the heavy walnut door, Benny Hu tumbled in beside her, crashing against the barricade in a heap. The doorway was only about eight feet deep, which didn’t give them much room. If their assailants advanced to the point where they could get a flash-bang or other grenade inside, Karen knew they were toast.
“
Stay down!” she shouted at Benny Hu, drawing her weapon. She quick peeked and saw one of the men edging between the Lexus and the Crown Vic in a slight crouch, looking through the windshield of the Crown Vic to see if anyone was inside. She fired twice and threw herself back down against the barricaded door, aware that the other two, still concealed behind the Lexus, would now know her position.
Gunfire was being directed into the alley by the assailants who had emerged from the other Hummer on her left. She could hear Hank returning fire sporadically.
“
Switch sides!” she said to Benny Hu, who nodded and rolled to the left side of the doorway, allowing Karen to press against the bricks on the right side. She saw that Hu had drawn a gun but wasn’t about to quibble with him right at the moment. She popped up and looked over the roof of the Crown Vic. Three men were firing into the alley at Hank. She squeezed off four quick shots and then threw herself down as the top half of the doorway exploded in a hail of bullets.
“
Switch sides!” she shouted again, and once more Hu rolled out of her way as she moved across the doorway. She stayed flat on the ground and thrust her weapon clear of the corner on the right, butt against the sidewalk. She fired three shots before pulling back. Her shots punched into the side of the Lexus, as she knew they would, but the intent was merely to drive her two remaining assailants back into cover. She was down to three rounds and although she had only one backup magazine in her jacket pocket she swapped anyway. She still had her little Kel-Tec strapped to her ankle in reserve, if it came to that. Crouching back into the back corner of the doorway, she fumbled for her cell phone to call it in.
In the alley Peter had just turned to Hank, about to say something, when they heard the arrival of the two Hummers.
“
Police!” Karen shouted. “Stand down!”
From where they were standing, next to the dumpsters against the wall of the Biltmore Arms apartment building, Hank could see the nose of the Hummer that had fishtailed into position behind the Crown Vic. He saw three Asian men appear in the street, weapons leveled, and as they opened fire into the alley he pushed Peter behind the dumpster against the wall of the abandoned building on the other side of the alley and fell on top of him.
“
Stay down!” he hissed into Peter’s ear. “Don’t move!”
He drew his gun but held his fire, not knowing where Karen was and not wanting to hit her by mistake. “Police!” he shouted. “Hold your fire and put down your weapons!”
Bullets rattled down the alley in response.
He got into a crouch, pressed his hand down on Peter’s arm to remind him not to move, and threw himself across the alley in a brief lull in the firing. Rounds hammered the dumpster in front of him, syncopated by the sound of Karen’s gun from across the street. Knowing she had made it to cover, Hank took a few breaths, listened to another burst of four rounds from Karen, then popped up above the rim of the dumpster.
He saw one of the men drop like a marionette whose strings had been cut. Hank recognized him as one of the security men who’d been with Tommy Leung outside the fence last Tuesday. Hank opened fire on the man closest to the entrance of the alley. The man sagged to one knee as Hank ducked back again.
“
Are you all right?” he called across to Peter.
“
Yes!” Peter replied. He had taken out his little Glock 27.
Hank shook his head. “No! Put it away!”
Peter merely looked at him.
Hank moved around the edge of the dumpster. The man Hank had shot was back on his feet and was being supported by Tommy Leung.
“
Abort!” Tommy shouted. “Let’s get the fuck out of here!”
“
Police! Freeze!” Hank called out. “Drop your weapons, now!”
The wounded man raised his weapon and fired a short burst in Hank’s direction before Tommy hauled him back toward the safety of the Hummer.
The rounds flew wildly above Hank’s head except one, which passed completely through his right shoulder, spinning him around with the impact. Hank fell with enough awareness to strain his head forward, trying to minimize the blow when he hit the pavement, but the back of his head struck the filthy surface of the alley with enough force to cause him to black out.
When he opened his eyes he saw Peter Mah crouching over him, checking his shoulder.
“
Get to cover,” Hank managed.
Peter shook his head. “They’re gone. You’ve been hit but it doesn’t look too bad. Don’t worry, I called 911 already.”
“
I won’t,” Hank mumbled, meaning that he wouldn’t worry; he had complete confidence in Peter’s ability as a diagnostician. If he said it didn’t look too bad, then it wasn’t. He felt fuzzy. He heard footsteps somewhere down below him and the sound of Karen’s voice.
“
Officer down! Officer down! Get the fucking EMS here pronto!”
“
I’m okay,” Hank said.
“
Shut the fuck up, Lou,” Karen said, kneeling beside him.
Peter had removed a white handkerchief from his jacket and was pressing it against the wound.
“
Press hard,” Karen told him. “There’ll be an exit wound on the back and it’ll help if you press hard enough to squeeze it against the pavement.”
Peter nodded.
“
Gone?” Hank asked.
“
Bugged out,” Karen confirmed, “but they left one behind.”
“
It was Tommy Leung and his men,” Peter said.
“
I saw,” Karen snapped, standing up. She pointed a finger. “Hank better be all right or I’m going to personally hunt you down and pop you one between the fuckin’ eyes.”
“
He’ll be all right,” Peter said.
“
Where’s that fucking EMS?” Karen paced back up to the entrance of the alley. Sirens were curling down the street toward them. “Come on, come
on
!”
Hank was now becoming aware of the pain in his shoulder, a burning sensation that seemed to be increasing exponentially. He felt a little faint and closed his eyes.
He could hear Peter fumbling beside him and the pressure on his shoulder eased slightly and then was reapplied. Peter had switched to another handkerchief or had added a second to the first one. Or something.
Hank’s mind began to wander. Last week he’d been in this same alley, standing on this spot, looking down at the staged corpse of ShonDale Gregg. Was Gregg’s ghost hovering around him now, watching to see if he too would die in this place?
No, wait. Gregg didn’t die here. He died down at the river. Under a bridge. Was only dumped here. It was Martin Liu who died in this alley, four years ago. Was Martin Liu’s spirit hovering nearby, watching him?
No, that spirit was now inside the little boy. Right? Isn’t that what had happened? Martin died here, the spirit went off somewhere where spirits go, then came back down to earth to be reborn in the boy, Taylor. Right?
“
Christ,” Hank’s mother said, “what took you so long?”
To realize that it was true? Reincarnation? Don’t tell me you believe in it, Mother. Does that mean that Dad’s spirit is now somewhere else on earth, too, in some little kid’s body, slowly burrowing into a new identity? Will that happen to me, now? Will I bleed out in this goddamned alley, have coffee and scones with God and then find my way down to the next life in this sorry, never-ending carousel?
“
What’s your name?” a man asked.
You mean my current name or my soon-to-be new name? Hank wondered.
“
What’s your name?” the voice repeated.
“
Hank.” He opened his eyes a crack but the light was too bright and he closed them again.
“
I’m a paramedic, Hank,” the voice said. “You’ve been shot but it doesn’t look too bad. We’ve immobilized your right arm, so don’t try to move it. What day is it today, Hank?”
Hank tried to lick his lips, because they felt too dry to speak through. “Tuesday,” he managed.
“
Close, Hank. It’s Monday. Are you married, Hank?”
“
One, two, three,” another voice said.
He felt himself being lifted up and sideways onto a stretcher. Pain flared and subsided. “Merry,” he grunted, then immediately felt foolish.
“
Did you say you were married, Hank?” the paramedic asked as they raised the stretcher, locked the legs into place and began to move him out of the alley.
“
Lou,” Karen said, her voice laced with impatience, “answer their stupid fuckin’ questions, they’re trying to keep you from going into shock. I gotta stay here for a while, the Crown Vic’s trashed and Mr. Mah has a few more questions to answer.”
“
Merry,” Hank said again.
“
What?” She bent down close as they stopped at the back of the ambulance.
“
Merry,” Hank repeated. “Merr’dth.”
“
Oh Christ, yeah! You’re gonna miss that date tonight, Tiger. You want me to call her?”