Chapter 10: Lau
Harvey had been standing on the roof of police headquarters next to the searchlight, which was sending its beam into the sky for twenty minutes when he suddenly realized he was not alone.
"You two are a hard reach," he told Batman and Huntress.
Then the door to the stairwell slammed open and Gordon, gun in hand, burst onto the roof. He looked at Harvey, Batman and Huntress, holstered his weapon and, ignoring Batman and Huntress, approached Harvey.
"You don't turn the signal on without my permission!" said Gordon.
"And you don't move on the mob without telling me," replied Harvey. "Lau's halfway to Hong Kong," he continued. "If you'd asked, I could have taken his passport. I told you to keep me in the loop."
"Yeah? All that was left in the vaults were the marked bills. They knew we were coming. As soon as your office got involved, there's a leak."
"My office? You're sitting down here with scum like Wuertz and Ramirez … Oh, yeah, Gordon, I almost had your rookie cold on a racketeering beef."
"Don't try to cloud the fact that clearly Maroni's got people in your office, Dent."
Harvey turned to Batman and Huntress. "We need Lau back, but the Chinese won't extradite a national under any circumstances."
"If we get him to you," Batman asked, "can you get him to talk?"
"Are you sure of this Batman," Oracle asked. She knew what it would mean going after Lau, leaving Gotham unprotected. On top of that it would mean crossing jurisdiction. There was a reason law enforcement didn't step on each other's toes.
Neither Batman nor Huntress responded to Oracle's query.
"I'll get him to sing," Harvey said.
"We're going after the mob's life savings," Gordon said. "Things will get ugly."
"I knew the risks when I took this job, Lieutenant. Same as you," Harvey said. "How will you get him back, anyway?"
But Batman and Huntress weren't there.
"They do that," Gordon said.
The next morning, Fox found his employers waiting when her arrived at his office just before seven. Fox nodded to Bruce, Buffy and Dawn and sat behind his desk.
"Our Chinese friend left town before I could tell him the deal is off," he said.
"I'm sure you've always wanted to go to Hong Kong," Bruce said.
"What's wrong with a phone call?"
"We think Mr. Lau deserves a more personal touch." Buffy said.
"Now about my wardrobe problem …" Bruce said.
"Come with me."
They entered a private elevator and descended to a subbasement, which housed the company's Applied Sciences Division. On the way there they filled Fox in on another task they had for him. He led them to a space cluttered with workbenches, filing cabinets, and unopened cartons.
"… for high-altitude jumps," Fox was saying. "You need oxygen and stabilizers. I must say – compared to your usual requests, jumping out of an airplane is pretty straightforward."
Buffy laughed. "Hey, Bruce, remember I said we should go skydiving last year."
"That you did, looks like we will get our chance this year," Bruce said with a chuckle.
Fox stopped at a cabinet, pulled open a drawer, and hauled out two oxygen tanks and ribbed rubber hosing.
"How about getting back into the plane?" Buffy asked.
"I can recommend a good travel agent."
"Without it landing," Bruce said.
Fox shut the drawer and rubbed his chin. "That's more like it. I don't think I have anything here. The CIA had a program in the sixties for getting their people out of hot spots. Called Sky Hook. Now –"
He pulled open another drawer. Inside were the components to new Batman and Huntress costumes. Bruce lifted a sleeve that bore scalloped blades.
"Hardened Kevlar plates on a titanium-dipped fiber tri-weave for flexibility," Fox said, pride in his voice. "You'll both be faster, lighter, more agile."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Well I'm already faster and more agile. But lighter will be good."
As Bruce inspected the gauntlet, the blades suddenly shot from the sleeve and spun across the room to embed themselves in a wall.
Dawn chuckled. "Perhaps you should read the instructions first."
Bruce glared at Dawn. "Sorry."
Fox lifted one of the costume chest pieces and bent and twisted it, demonstrating its flexibility. "Now, there is a trade-off … The spread of the plates will give you both weak spots. You'll both be more vulnerable to gunfire and knives."
"We wouldn't want things getting too easy, would we?" Bruce said. "How will it hold up against dogs?"
"You talking chihuahuas or rottweilers?" Fox asked as Bruce smiled at him. "It should do fine against cats."
Buffy rolled her eyes.
Later, driving out of the city in his Lamborghini, Bruce talked with Buffy and Dawn.
Dawn had her laptop opened. One thing she had Fox setup for her network was the ability to access the cave computers from any of Bruce's personal cars as well as the Batmobile.
"I've found a Navy cargo plane in Arizona," she said. "According to the chat, the man is very nice. He says it will take him a week to get it running. And he takes cash. What about a flight crew?"
"South Korean smugglers," Bruce said. "They run flights into Pyongyang, below radar the whole way. Did you think of an alibi?"
"Oh, yes," Dawn said and when Bruce looked in the rearview mirror at Dawn he saw a pleased look on her face.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Rachel and Harvey's exciting night at the ballet became, instead, a quick cup of coffee at a café and an early return home. They had arrived at the theater to find it closed. Someone had taped the front page of a tabloid onto the box office window. There was a photograph of a smiling Bruce, Buffy and Dawn under a headline:
LOVE BOAT—WAYNE ENTERPRISES MAJORITY SHAREHOLDERS
ABSCONDS WITH ENTIRE MOSCOW BALLET
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Bruce, Buffy and Dawn seemed to be enjoying themselves. They stood on the deck of a ninety-foot yacht, watching the sunlight glittering on a calm sea, occasionally glancing over their shoulders at the dozen young woman and men lounging around the deck on towels.
Afred, standing next to Bruce, said, "They all seem to be quite healthy."
"Ballerinas and dansuers have to stay in shape," Bruce said.
Both men along with Buffy and Dawn looked upward, alerted by the buzz of an airplane, which was swooping in for a landing.
"I believe yours and Ms. Buffy's transportation has arrived," Alfred said.
"So it would seem. You look tired, Alfred. In fact so do you, Dawn. Will you two be alright without us?" Bruce asked.
"If you can tell me the Russian for apply your own bloody suntan lotion." Alfred said.
Dawn smiled. "It surprises me they aren't getting the guys to do it," she said as she looked toward Alfred. "Да, я смогу применить солнцезащитный лосьон." She laughed and walked over to one of the dansuers.
"That wasn't?" Alfred asked.
Bruce shook his head. "No that was. Yes, I will apply your suntan lotion."
Buffy laughed. "My sister knows five languages fluently. I think she might be working on her sixth. I don't know, you'd have to ask her."
Bruce and Buffy turned and faced the sunbathing dancers. "Ladies, gentlemen," Bruce shouted, "something's come up, and Buffy and I must leave your charming company. We may or may not be back. In any case, Mr. Pennyworth and Ms. Summers are your hosts. Have a nice day."
Bruce and Buffy waved, kicked off their deck shoes, tossed two large, waterproof bags into the water, and jumped in after them. They snagged the bags and began to swim toward the plane.
Hours later the smugglers stole glances at Bruce and Buffy, who were crouched in the rear in balaclava and flight suits. The smugglers signaled them and they pulled on their oxygen masks and stood up as the rear of the plane opened.
Bruce stepped to the edge of the ramp first and then jumped, followed quickly by Buffy.
They plummet toward the Hong Kong Harbor, speeding past the highest floors of skyscrapers. Seconds from impact they pulled their chutes and dropped into the water.
"That was fun," Buffy said as they swam to shore.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Bruce and Buffy stood on a public escalator looking out at the skyline and behaving like tourists. Fox joined them.
"There's a better view from the peak tram." Fox said.
"How's the view from L.S.I. Holdings?" Bruce asked.
"Restricted. Lau's holed up in there good and tight." Fox said as he held out his cell phone.
"What's this?" Bruce asked.
"I had R and D work it up," Fox said. "It sends out high frequencies and records the response time to map an environment."
"Sonar. Just like a b—" Buffy started.
"Submarine," Fox said quickly. "Like a submarine."
"And the other device?" Bruce asked.
"In place."
Bruce and Buffy began sauntering away.
"Mr. Wayne? Ms. Summers?" Fox called. "Good luck."
Bruce and Buffy spent the rest of the day behaving like tourists.
Just after dark, they got their bags from the public lockers they had stored them in and went to Lau's office complex. There were two towers. One had less security than the other, a few guards patrolling the grounds and a handful of security cameras, all of which were easy to avoid. The more secure tower held Lau's offices. They climbed to the taller tower across from the shorter tower. There, they removed their costumes from the bags and put them on. From a distance, they would look like the costumes they wore in Gotham, but instead of a cape, they had what looked like a hard plastic pack on their backs.
Batman removed two black boxes from his utility belt, and with a few clicks put them together to form a device that resembled a rifle. Four small sticky bombs shot from the barrel and adhered to windows of the top floor of the smaller tower. Each had visible timers and were counting down the seconds rapidly.
"I'm up and ready," Oracle said. "Batman as you land activate the lenses in your cowl. I will then be able to see what you see."
"Understood," Batman said. "Standby."
Batman and Huntress then launched themselves into the empty air between the buildings. Their backpacks burst open and re-formed themselves into wide, stiff glider wings. Their descent slowed and they streaked around the shorter tower, then banked hard to line up with a window in the rear.
They cannonballed into Lau's office, a hail of shattered glass surrounding them, and with the flick of their wrists, their wings again re-formed themselves, this time into a soft cape they wrapped around themselves. They hit the floor, rolled, then stood upright.
Batman touched a small button on the side of his cowl and lenses came down in front of his eyes.
"I have visual," Oracle said. "Switching to infrared."
Huntress remove the phone Fox had given them from her belt. She took only a second to glance at the screen, on which was a diagram of the building they had just entered, then moved quietly into a corridor. They could hear shouts from below and the wail of approaching sirens.
Lau did not know what was happening. He decided caution was his best response and locked himself in his office. From a desk drawer, he took a fifty-caliber semiautomatic pistol and a flashlight. He switched on the light and swept it around the office. Nothing. Nobody here.
Then the door exploded inward and fell onto the rug, and something struck the flashlight from his hand, extinguishing it.
Lau fired in the direction of the door, then fired again.
Batman and Huntress mentally counted the seconds since they had burst into Lau's sanctum. Batman hit the man once and Lau immediately fell.
Batman removed a pack from under his cape, a smaller version of the one he and Huntress had converted into wings, then the cape itself, and strapped it onto Lau.
Still counting seconds. Ten, nine, eight …
Almost time.
Five, four, three, two …
The four small, round sticky bombs Batman had launched onto the wall exploded simultaneously, rending steel, glass, and cement, opening a jagged gap to the dawn sky over Hong Kong, just as the six cops who had ridden the elevator up followed their flashlight beams and gun barrels into the room. The air was filled with thick dust from the explosions, making it impossible for the cops to see clearly. But they could hear a low rumble, coming closer.
"Tracking plane," Oracle said. "Release balloon in three, two, one, mark."
Batman jerked a cord attached to the pack he'd fixed to Lau, and a weather balloon exploded out and began inflating, unreeling high-test nylon.
The cops flashed their weapons as the weather balloon now swayed gently in the breeze two hundred feet above them.
"Pilot radio that he has spotted the balloon, standby for evac."
Suddenly, a massive C-130 cargo plane, flying much two low, swooped over Lau's complex, its engines deafening. Huntress ran over and grabbed a hold of Batman as the large V on the plane's nose snagged the line stretching from the balloon, and Batman, Huntress and Lau were yanked through the hole in the ceiling. The C-130 began to climb, trailing the balloon and, lower, its three human passengers—Lau screaming as he, Huntress and Batman were slowly reeled into the cargo hold of the plane.
