“Samuel most pissed,” Tex says into my ear. “He no show it much but he pissed off big time.” Tex and I are sitting side by side in the monitor room looking at Samuel who has opened the mini blinds and is looking out at the walkway as he talks on his cell. Lam is sitting behind the monitors keeping one eye on the screens and one on Samuel.
“He no go crazy when he most pissed,” Tex says. “But he most pissed for sure.”
“Who’s he talking to?” I whisper, grimacing. I twist in the chair seeking a position that doesn’t hurt my lower back. I don’t think it was a kick that got me. It felt more like I was struck with one of the two-by-four boards lying around the construction site. The pain in the back of my head has finally subsided to a tolerable level. Actually, it’s more in my neck, right where it connects to my head. I was out for I don’t how many minutes so I don’t know why it doesn’t hurt more. But I’m not complaining.
Tex listens to Samuel for a moment. “Lai Van Tan friend. No not friend. Partner?”
“Someone who works for Lai Van Tan.”
“Yes, yes,” Tex says touching my arm. “Sorry. My English bad news.”
“Your English is fine. What is Samuel saying?”
“He want to meet… no, he want to have meet with Lai Van Tan.”
“A meeting?”
“Yes, yes, a meet-ing.”
“But what about Mai? Is he negotiating for her release?”
Tex shakes his head. “Sorry, Sam. Too many words I do not know.”
I space my words. “Is Samuel talking about Mai? Talking to get her back?”
“Oh. I do not think Mai is too much problem.”
“What?” I say too loudly. “What does that mean?”
Samuel twists around and gestures with a finger to his lips for us to be quiet. He turns back to look out the window and continues his conversation. Okay, I’m getting a little mad now. Samuel has kept me in the dark since I called him from the construction site.
Tex touches my arm. “Sam, please tell me what happened.”
I look at Tex and try to read his hard face to see if he has lost all respect for me. His eyes are intense, just as they were when I first met him, so if he thinks I’m as worthless as a dog turd, there is no way to know. I tell him about us coming out of the building, being taken by surprise, the fight, and the gun.
“Very good, Sam,” he says. “You fight good. No sweat. But you cannot fight a gun that is in your eye. Okay?” When I don’t respond, he lightly punches my arm. “Okay? It rule. Big rule. No fight gun in your eye.”
“Yes, okay. You’ve got a point.”
“Okay. So tell what happened.”
I take a breath…
I wanted to chase the car, but I couldn’t stand. The tendons behind my kicked knee were having a spasm fit, the slammed muscles in my lower back were contracting and threatening to bend me over backwards, and the back of my head felt like it would win a giant pumpkin contest. After a few minutes, the agony in my leg subsided enough for me to get up and lean against the scaffolding. My eyes were still watering, but not as much as when the short man was pressing the gun barrel into one of them. As soon as my lumbar muscles stopped contracting, I began hobbling my sorry self down the alley in the direction the car had gone. I made it all the way to the busy intersection, but my hopes that they had booted Mai out onto the street were dashed.
Without a clue as to which way they went, I went left. After a few yards, my eyes had stopped watering and my back had loosened up a little. Even my knee felt better, though my head was in desperate need of a half bottle of Excedrin. It was a typically nutso street with god-awful traffic, blaring horns, shouting pedestrians, and a myriad of vendors’ carts. What could I ask? Excuse me, did you see a black car go by with people in it?
Why yes, you stupid American. Thousands.
I extracted my cell and poked in my prepaid, one eight hundred number, connected with international calling, and typed in Samuel’s number from a piece of paper in my wallet. There was a series of beeps, clicks, and buzzes before Samuel’s quiet voice said, “Á-lô.”
“This is Sam,” I said, my voice a pitch higher than normal.
“Where is Mai?” he snapped, his ESP apparently in high gear.
“We got jumped, Mai and me. We were at that building that’s under construction and—”
“Where is Mai, Sam?” His voice was so calm, so controlled that it was almost chilling.
“They got her. Three of them. No, four. There was a driver. Three jumped us and overpowered us before we had a chance. They forced her into a car, a black one.”
“Was she hurt?”
“She got kicked pretty hard in the stomach.”
“And you?”
“I tried to fight them, Samuel. I… failed.”
“Were you hurt?”
“Some. I’ll be okay.
“Did they find Mai’s gun?”
I forgot about that. I remembered her removing it last night when she was taking off her pants.
“I see.”
Oh man, he read my mind.
“Did she put it back on?”
‘Yes,” I mumbled.
“What?”
“Yes. She should have it.”
Samuel didn’t say anything for a long moment, then, “Okay. You have my address, correct?”
“I do,” I said. It was on the same piece of paper on which I had his phone number.
“Flag over a taxi. Show him the address. You are only about twenty minutes from my house. I am here now. Tex will watch for you at the gate.”
My hand was shaking so hard that I dropped the phone. I caught it somehow and lifted it back to my ear, holding my wrist with my other hand. “You there?” I asked. When Samuel replied, I said, “So sorry. I feel so—”
“We will talk when you get here, Sam. I must make some calls now.” That’s when the connection ended.
Tex was waiting at the gate when my cab pulled up. He paid the driver and gestured for me to follow him inside.
“Has Samuel called the police?” I asked.
“No call canh sát,” he said, moving hand over hand up the stairs without effort, the muscles in his tattooed arms rippling.
“Tex?”
He turned around and faced me eye to eye. I was still a half dozen steps down.
“Any word on Mai?”
“No.”
“I don’t understand. Why no police?”
“Samuel say to you why.” Tex lowered his voice and pointed toward the back of the house. “No want Kim to know about Mai. Samuel with Lam in TV room.”
“You did good, Sam,” Tex says. He was nodding as I was telling him what happened. “Hard to fight ambush. You hurt them in fight, right?”
I nod. “But not enough.”
Samuel shuts his phone and sits on the counter in front of me.
“I heard your story, Son, and I agree with Tex. You did what you could. That is all anyone can do, right? Tell me, where did you go before you went to the high rise last night?”
“First, we went to your jewelry store, the one where Da`o worked and another lady… I don’t remember her name.”
“Hua. Did you talk with anyone else there?”
“No. Then Mai showed me around the city a little. We had noodles at a stand somewhere. Then we walked along the river, we sat by a fountain, and she showed me a busy market.”
“You did not talk with anyone else?”
“No.”
“Do you think you were followed?”
I shrug. “I wouldn’t know. I mean the streets, the traffic. It’s all new to me, overwhelming.”
“Understood. I am sure that people looked at you two, but did anyone pay extra attention? Use your police instincts here, Sam.”
“Coke, Sam?”
I look down and see Tex holding out a can of Coke.
“Thanks,” I say. I take a deep breath and blow it out. “I just can’t think of… wait. There was a young girl at the jewelry shop. A street kid. A little pimp. She asked if I wanted a girl.”
“Too many street kids,” Tex sighs, and then swings up into a chair next to a monitor. Lam has not taken his eyes off the screens since I’ve been in here.
“She couldn’t have been more than ten or twelve…”
Samuel leans toward me. “What?”
“She had a cell phone. Before we left, Da`o shooed her out of the shop. She had been squatting at the entrance… listening to us talk. A few seconds later, she was talking on a cell. You don’t think she—”
“Did she speak English?” Samuels asks.
“Yes. Lots of slang and curse words but she understood me quite well. She was listening when I was talking with Da`o. Actually, it was more like Da`o was threatening me that if I hurt Mai she would come after…” I look down, shaking my head, feeling like warmed-over caca. I look up at Samuel. “I didn’t give a second thought to the kid.”
Samuel shrugs. “She must have heard enough to understand your and Mai’s relationship.”
“So she called someone and they followed us? That fast? I mean, we left just two or three minutes after Dao`a shooed her away.”
“Son, it is possible that you have been followed since you stepped off the plane.”
He told me that before and it’s still a whole lot uncomfortable. “Who? I mean, who?”
Samuel shrugs. “Maybe the police. Maybe the government. It is not that unusual for them to follow people, but since you are not an overt threat, they probably are just keeping track of your activities. But I can almost guarantee that Lai Van Tan’s men have followed you, just as they have been watching this house.”
“Shit.”
Samuel nods. “As far as Lai Van Tan, it is likely that they used the kid because she wouldn’t raise your suspicion. They know I own that shop, and they had the girl watching in the event you and Mai went there. They probably have people watching all of our stores. When the girl realized who you are, she called her contact, told them you were there, and described Mai’s motorbike and what you two were wearing. They likely had people in the area so they were able to get a tail on you.
Then it was a matter of watching for an opportunity to get to you.”
“Assholes for sure,” Tex says, his eyes burning.
I shake my head trying to grasp the whole thing. “So Lai Van Tan’s people are following me and the government is at least keeping track of my movements. It would have been nice if the government had been watching when the goons jumped us. Or maybe they were and just laughed.”
Samuel doesn’t say anything.
For the umpteenth time since I’ve been here, I feel as if I’m on another planet. Okay, I understand Lai Van Tan’s people following me, but the government keeping track of me? What do they think I’m going to do? I feel like I’m in a nineteen forties black–and-white spy movie.
I look at Samuel. “Why haven’t the police been called? They could set up a watch at Lai Van Tan’s for the car and—”
“Sam.” Samuel says, scooting off the desk and stepping close to me. He puts a hand on my shoulder. Is he going to rip into me for losing his daughter? Kick me in the face? Well have at it. I got it coming. His eyes twinkle, as he says, “If I know Mai, and I do, she will be joining us for lunch shortly.”
*
Tex is on his cell. “Okay okay okay,” he says rapidly, his smile huge. He snaps his phone closed. “Samuel,” he whispers, louder than if he had spoken in a normal voice.
Samuel, who has been talking on his cell by the window for the last few minutes, turns.
“Mai call,” he says lifting his phone. “She come home now.”
“You’re shitting me?” I blare.
“Tex no shitting on you,” Lam says, pointing at a monitor where Mai fills the screen in living HD waving her finger tips at the camera. Other than a little dust on her clothes, she looks great. I bolt for the door.
“Do not make noise in house,” Tex reminds me—I’m running and he’s keeping up with me—as we head toward the back door. “No want Kim to know.”
Mai steps through the glass doors just as I reach the top step.
“Mai,” I breathe, enveloping her in my arms.
“Easy, easy,” she laughs. “My ribs hurt. I—whoa!” She looks down at Tex who is embracing her leg, the side of his smiling face against her thigh, his eyes looking up at her. She grabs hold of the door facing and laughs. “Tex, it is good to see you. But I am going to fall over. You two! I think maybe I was safer with those men.”
“We go to TV room,” Tex says, holding Mai’s hand. “Father there,”
“Okay,” she says, smiling at both of us. “Lead the way, Tex.”
“How did you get away?” I ask, holding her arm—I don’t ever want to let go. “I’m so happy to see you. I tried to follow the car but I couldn’t… I was so worried… My God, Samuel said that you would be home for lunch.”
She laughs.
“But how did you get away?”
“Kung fu and Glock,” she says, sounding like something Samuel would say. “Hello, Father.”
Samuel is standing on the cobblestone walkway. “Mai.” He grips her shoulders and looks her up and down. “You are not hurt?” His eyes glisten and his lips slightly tremble. Guess he wasn’t as calm and collected as he appeared.
“I am fine,” she says. We all move into the cool room. “Hello, Lam. My stomach hurts but I think it is okay. I do not think my rib broke.”
“What happened?” I ask.
“At first I could not breathe because the kick was so hard. I could not even get up to fight with you. Father, the sun blinded us when we walked out the door and the men attacked us with surprise. I do not know what happen to Sam, but I saw him suddenly on the ground next to me. He was hurt but he fight hard. He broke one man’s nose pretty good and another man’s leg. When Sam started to beat everyone up, one man pulled a gun and pointed it at my head. He told Sam to stop or he would shoot me. They did not search me. They just shoved me in their car and I was between two men. Lucky for me, they did not have time to tie my hands. They just told me to keep my hands behind my back. I thought they would take me to Lai Van Tan, but after maybe ten blocks they turned into an alley where there is an old building. I think they were going to… rape me, kill me.”
A ferocious wave of flight or fight juices surge through me, and it’s not flight that I want to do right now. I’m guessing Samuel and Tex are feeling the same thing.
“My plan was to fight them before we got to Lai’s, maybe when we were in a traffic jam. But it was better at the warehouse because there were no people around to get hurt. So I bend forward and pretend to cry, but I sneak my hand down and got my Glock. The man on my right saw me, saw what I did. He saw me with only one eye because Sam poke his other one out pretty good. Same man who had a broken leg bone.” She points just above her knee. “This thigh bone, right?”
“Yes, thigh bone,” Samuel says.
“Okay, thank you. Thigh bone poke through his pants. It was not fun to see with my eyes. Anyway, he yells, ‘gun!’ so I shoot him first.”
“What?” I say. “You shot him?”
Mai nods. “I do not want to kill him so I shoot his… uh… here.” She points at her knee.
“Kneecap,” Samuel says matter-of-factly.
“Yes, kneecap. Father always teach that hitting the kneecap causes much pain.”
“He was probably talking about kicking it,” I say.
“Yes,” Mai says. “So shooting it hurt him much more, I am sure.”
“Cool,” Tex says, from where he is perched on a chair, hanging adoringly onto Mai’s every word. “Sam break his leg, you shoot knee. I think he most for sure fucked up now.”
Mai nods. “When man on the left grab my head, I shoot him in his leg.” She points at her thigh. “Right here. The thigh.”
“Beaucoup cool for sure,” Tex says. “Mai number one, eh Sam?”
“Oh, man!” I laugh, looking at Samuel who is leaning against the wall with pride written all over his face, and concern for her. “Definitely number one.”
“Everyone was screaming in the car, and the two men in the front were trying to get out. The driver, who was real brave or real stupid, pulled out the screaming man on my left so he could get to me. I pointed my gun at him hoping I would not have to shoot him. When he backed up, I got out real fast and kicked him many times until he fell… unconscious. Unconscious is like asleep, right?”
The three of us nod.
“So I went around to the other side, pulled out the other shot man and threw him to the ground.”
“Who had the gun?” I ask.
“The passenger. He must have been a big coward because he jumped out and ran away, and took the gun with him. So now, three men were on the ground and the fourth man with the gun gone. So I got in the car and drove away.”
“You stole their car!” I laugh.
“Yes, because my motorbike was still at the building. I needed a ride and they were just laying on the ground.”
That made Samuel laugh. “Where is it?”
“Two blocks that way,” she says pointing. “I didn’t want to drive it all the way here.”
“Good,” Samuel says, looking at her for a long moment. He takes a deep breath and blows it out. “I am happy you are safe, daughter. I’ll have someone get your motorbike and bring it here.”
Mai nods, smiles.
“Why don’t you and Sam clean up and we will meet for lunch. There is much I want to talk with you about.”
“I’m so sorry about this, Samuel,” I say. “There was just no warning and the sun was piercing in our eyes when we came out the door.” Man, can I possibly come up with more excuses?
“I do not hold you responsible, Son. A fighter cannot block what he cannot see. Well, I can, but others cannot.”
Tex nods and smiles at me. “Your father pretty good.”