(Okay this chapter is a bit different. I have some parts from Natalie's
POV. Well Anthony is unconscious and I thought another POV would be good
here. Once again no one is mine except for the Wong's)
*-*-*-*-*
I heard voices talking around me as I faded in and out with the pain. Some said things I didn't understand, some I understood but didn't quite comprehend. I felt a cool hand tenderly stroking my brow, whispering softly. I recognized it I just couldn't place it. If I had I would have shoved it away and called for Wong. Then I heard Her voice. It sounded tired and concerned. I opened my eyes but the brightness of the room made my head ache. I could feel the hand from stop stroking my hair and through the haze of my slightly parted eyelids I could make out a hand turning up the drip on whatever it was that was being pumped into my system. As I started to fade back to black I could make out her voice saying, "I'm here Anthony." I knew I would be fine for I had an angel watching over me.
*-*-*-*-*
Dylan called me at 3am. She sounded as my mom would have said, "out of sorts". She started rambling about a fever and infection and something about Chinese food. I told her to hold on a second and climbed out of bed so I wouldn't disturb Pete. Spike followed me into the living room where I sat and curled my legs up under me on the couch. "Dylan, okay start over from the beginning," I told her in my best calm-down voice. She told me about how she woke up to find Anthony very ill, how she contacted a suspicious doctor named Wong for him and they were now in the basement of a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown and Anthony was about to be taken in for surgery. She asked me to call Alex and meet her there. I agreed and hung up.
I crept into the bedroom, grabbed some clothes, got dressed and called Alex. She wasn't too happy to be woken up at 3am either. I didn't tell her much I just told her to meet me at Wong's Chinese Palace Restaurant and gave her the address Dylan had given me. I quickly scribbled a note for Pete and drove to the restaurant/hospital.
I made it to the location just after Alex. I spotted her car and walked over and tapped on the window. She startled awake and rolled down the window. "So what's going on," she asked. I explained what Dylan told me and said we had to go to the back door. Entering the rat infested alley my angel sense took lead and I said, "I don't have a good feeling about this."
"Me either. Why didn't Dylan just call 9-11?"
"I guess we have to knock to find out," I said knocking on the door that was only for employees. A young man answered the door.
"What do you want?"
"Hi, I'm looking for my friends."
"Don't know you and don't know your friends," said the young man. Alex looked and me and I at her. She had seen the same thing I did. The young man was sporting the tread mark of Dylan's Converse All-Stars on his left cheek, size 5.
"I think you know our friend rather well from the look of your face," said Alex with a smirk. The man reached up and rubbed his cheek saying something Chinese. Alex recognized the dialect and said something back to him. Then he attacked.
I let Alex handle it alone. She did great and when she was done he had a print from her Manolo Blahnik boots on the other cheek. While he was unconscious in the alley we went on inside. "Dylan said something about a stairway to the basement." We looked around the stairs. Both Alex and I were on alert. She didn't know what we were getting into any better than I did and if our greeting was an indication we were ready to take it on.
At the bottom of the steps was a door of old wood boards. Alex and I exchanged glances and prepared ourselves for an attack. When we opened the door we were surprised. "Wow, did we just walk into to Corwin's mainframe vault?"
"Talk about your state of the art medical facility," said Alex peering into one of the rooms. "Most hospitals don't have a money for this kind of equipment. Last time I saw something like this I did consulting for the CDC in Atlanta."
We lurked down the hall and suddenly a small bald Chinese man appeared. "Hey who are you two?" He yelled. Alex had him pinned with great speed. "Where are our friends?"
"Who?" asked the little man.
"Dylan and Anthony." Alex for once didn't call him Creepy Thin Man, I was impressed. "The Creepy Thin Man," she said stressing her point. Oh well I suppose he will always be Creepy Thin Man to her.
In a strained voice he said, "I was just going there." Alex led him where he was going, a room at the end of the long hallway.
"Miss, please tell your friends to let me go."
Just then Dylan raised her head from the empty bed and nodded in our direction. Alex let the man go and we went to her side. Hugs were given all around. "You tell people about me?" the man asked.
"They are my friends, they are 'A's' friends. They would want to be here giving him support;" she told him. "This is Doctor Wong."
"He need support now," said Dr. Wong. "It not going too well. Mingmei make him better. She have tiny hands better for small work. Will be long time before the surgery is done. You should go home." We could tell Dylan was reluctant to leave, wherever we were but we convinced her it was better. She looked tired and older than she was. We promised her she could come back in the morning and she agreed to leave with us.
I took her in my car and Alex followed me to Dylan's. Dylan didn't say anything the whole ride home. She definitely wasn't herself. I think if Alex or I had any doubts about her feelings for Creepy Thin Man.great Alex has me doing it again.Anthony, they were lost the moment we saw her sitting next to the bed at the Chinese restaurant.
*-*-*-*-*
I am so grateful to have friends like Nat and Alex. They really were there for me tonight. I know I should thank them more but I keep thinking about that Mingmei. "Yes, Anthony and I are very good friends." Who was she to him? As far as I could tell Anthony had always been a loner. I had a bad feeling about Dr. Wong and his associates, but what could I do. Anthony seemed to trust them more than a regular hospital so if they could make him better so be it.
Nat gave me a ride home promising that we would pick up my car the next morning when we stopped to visit Anthony. Alex followed behind us in her car. When we got to my place I invited them in for coffee and gave them more info on the situation. "You guy want to come in for some coffee?"
"I certainly do. We still have to be at the office in about 4 hours and if I fall asleep now ill never wake up," said Alex.
"I'll take some too," said Nat. I went into the kitchen and started up Mr. Coffee. "Thanks you guys for meeting me, especially you Alex. I know that you don't like Anthony very much." She came over and put her arm around me.
"I like him if you like him Dylan. I'm willing to trust you on this. You were right yesterday when you said he saved both our lives. He did. And like Jason told me, Cre. I mean Anthony had to trust you as well to come to you for help. Plus you are like the sister I never had. You too Nat; I'd do anything for the two of you, including kicking some Chinese guys butt out behind a restaurant with a hidden state of the art medical facility in the middle of the night." Even I had to laugh at that.
"You did?"
"Yeah same guy whose butt you obviously kicked earlier."
"Poor Sun-Yu," I said and we all laughed. After the last couple days it felt good just to laugh with my friends. "But tell me about the state of the art medical facility."
Alex got comfortable on the love seat which was occupied just few hours before by Pete and Nat. I sighed as I remember how quiet and strange it had been to watch old movies with my assassin on my lap, and how quickly it changed in just a few short hours.
"Well after I kicked Lung-Fu's butt," started Alex
"That was Sun-Yu," corrected Nat.
Alex gave her a dirty look and continued. "We went into the restaurant. We didn't see anyone else, Nat told me that you said there were stairs to the basement and we found those. We went down and we were in the hospital like area. I looked into some of the rooms and I don't know what they are doing there but that isn't your typical back alley illegal doctor's office type operation. They had very expensive centrifuges, protective suits, electron microscopes, the works.
"Dylan," said Nat, "did you get any idea what they do there?"
"No. I was pretty much in a daze. I didn't see anything but the room you found me in and Dr. Wong's daughter Mingmei. I said saying the daughter's name in contempt.
"Did you say Wong Mingmei," asked Alex.
"Why," said Nat and I in unison. I was getting tired of the unison stuff.
"Who is she," I asked.
"Wong Mingmei which is the correct way to say her name, you know the whole last name first, anyway she is a biochemical genius out of China. She has Ph.D's in molecular biology, virology, organic chemistry and is a medical doctor, all before the age of twenty two. Rumor has it that she used to do odd side jobs like sell biological agents- deadly biological agents to North Korea. When the Chinese government found out her execution was ordered. She was never found."
"And now she is working in an underground facility in Chinatown." Alex nodded at me. "So what is she doing with all that equipment?"
"I suspect she is probably doing what she was doing in China only now is using the US as her base of operations. We should find out exactly what she is doing and if need be stop her."
"She said she was a very good friend of Anthony's," I told them and explain what I had seen when I arrived. "She is gorgeous."
"She might be but she isn't you Dylan and you are definitely prettier than her any day,"
"Alex is right. She may be physically prettier than you but you are a better package." I smiled and said "Anyone want another cup of coffee?"
*-*-*-*-*
I heard voices talking around me as I faded in and out with the pain. Some said things I didn't understand, some I understood but didn't quite comprehend. I felt a cool hand tenderly stroking my brow, whispering softly. I recognized it I just couldn't place it. If I had I would have shoved it away and called for Wong. Then I heard Her voice. It sounded tired and concerned. I opened my eyes but the brightness of the room made my head ache. I could feel the hand from stop stroking my hair and through the haze of my slightly parted eyelids I could make out a hand turning up the drip on whatever it was that was being pumped into my system. As I started to fade back to black I could make out her voice saying, "I'm here Anthony." I knew I would be fine for I had an angel watching over me.
*-*-*-*-*
Dylan called me at 3am. She sounded as my mom would have said, "out of sorts". She started rambling about a fever and infection and something about Chinese food. I told her to hold on a second and climbed out of bed so I wouldn't disturb Pete. Spike followed me into the living room where I sat and curled my legs up under me on the couch. "Dylan, okay start over from the beginning," I told her in my best calm-down voice. She told me about how she woke up to find Anthony very ill, how she contacted a suspicious doctor named Wong for him and they were now in the basement of a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown and Anthony was about to be taken in for surgery. She asked me to call Alex and meet her there. I agreed and hung up.
I crept into the bedroom, grabbed some clothes, got dressed and called Alex. She wasn't too happy to be woken up at 3am either. I didn't tell her much I just told her to meet me at Wong's Chinese Palace Restaurant and gave her the address Dylan had given me. I quickly scribbled a note for Pete and drove to the restaurant/hospital.
I made it to the location just after Alex. I spotted her car and walked over and tapped on the window. She startled awake and rolled down the window. "So what's going on," she asked. I explained what Dylan told me and said we had to go to the back door. Entering the rat infested alley my angel sense took lead and I said, "I don't have a good feeling about this."
"Me either. Why didn't Dylan just call 9-11?"
"I guess we have to knock to find out," I said knocking on the door that was only for employees. A young man answered the door.
"What do you want?"
"Hi, I'm looking for my friends."
"Don't know you and don't know your friends," said the young man. Alex looked and me and I at her. She had seen the same thing I did. The young man was sporting the tread mark of Dylan's Converse All-Stars on his left cheek, size 5.
"I think you know our friend rather well from the look of your face," said Alex with a smirk. The man reached up and rubbed his cheek saying something Chinese. Alex recognized the dialect and said something back to him. Then he attacked.
I let Alex handle it alone. She did great and when she was done he had a print from her Manolo Blahnik boots on the other cheek. While he was unconscious in the alley we went on inside. "Dylan said something about a stairway to the basement." We looked around the stairs. Both Alex and I were on alert. She didn't know what we were getting into any better than I did and if our greeting was an indication we were ready to take it on.
At the bottom of the steps was a door of old wood boards. Alex and I exchanged glances and prepared ourselves for an attack. When we opened the door we were surprised. "Wow, did we just walk into to Corwin's mainframe vault?"
"Talk about your state of the art medical facility," said Alex peering into one of the rooms. "Most hospitals don't have a money for this kind of equipment. Last time I saw something like this I did consulting for the CDC in Atlanta."
We lurked down the hall and suddenly a small bald Chinese man appeared. "Hey who are you two?" He yelled. Alex had him pinned with great speed. "Where are our friends?"
"Who?" asked the little man.
"Dylan and Anthony." Alex for once didn't call him Creepy Thin Man, I was impressed. "The Creepy Thin Man," she said stressing her point. Oh well I suppose he will always be Creepy Thin Man to her.
In a strained voice he said, "I was just going there." Alex led him where he was going, a room at the end of the long hallway.
"Miss, please tell your friends to let me go."
Just then Dylan raised her head from the empty bed and nodded in our direction. Alex let the man go and we went to her side. Hugs were given all around. "You tell people about me?" the man asked.
"They are my friends, they are 'A's' friends. They would want to be here giving him support;" she told him. "This is Doctor Wong."
"He need support now," said Dr. Wong. "It not going too well. Mingmei make him better. She have tiny hands better for small work. Will be long time before the surgery is done. You should go home." We could tell Dylan was reluctant to leave, wherever we were but we convinced her it was better. She looked tired and older than she was. We promised her she could come back in the morning and she agreed to leave with us.
I took her in my car and Alex followed me to Dylan's. Dylan didn't say anything the whole ride home. She definitely wasn't herself. I think if Alex or I had any doubts about her feelings for Creepy Thin Man.great Alex has me doing it again.Anthony, they were lost the moment we saw her sitting next to the bed at the Chinese restaurant.
*-*-*-*-*
I am so grateful to have friends like Nat and Alex. They really were there for me tonight. I know I should thank them more but I keep thinking about that Mingmei. "Yes, Anthony and I are very good friends." Who was she to him? As far as I could tell Anthony had always been a loner. I had a bad feeling about Dr. Wong and his associates, but what could I do. Anthony seemed to trust them more than a regular hospital so if they could make him better so be it.
Nat gave me a ride home promising that we would pick up my car the next morning when we stopped to visit Anthony. Alex followed behind us in her car. When we got to my place I invited them in for coffee and gave them more info on the situation. "You guy want to come in for some coffee?"
"I certainly do. We still have to be at the office in about 4 hours and if I fall asleep now ill never wake up," said Alex.
"I'll take some too," said Nat. I went into the kitchen and started up Mr. Coffee. "Thanks you guys for meeting me, especially you Alex. I know that you don't like Anthony very much." She came over and put her arm around me.
"I like him if you like him Dylan. I'm willing to trust you on this. You were right yesterday when you said he saved both our lives. He did. And like Jason told me, Cre. I mean Anthony had to trust you as well to come to you for help. Plus you are like the sister I never had. You too Nat; I'd do anything for the two of you, including kicking some Chinese guys butt out behind a restaurant with a hidden state of the art medical facility in the middle of the night." Even I had to laugh at that.
"You did?"
"Yeah same guy whose butt you obviously kicked earlier."
"Poor Sun-Yu," I said and we all laughed. After the last couple days it felt good just to laugh with my friends. "But tell me about the state of the art medical facility."
Alex got comfortable on the love seat which was occupied just few hours before by Pete and Nat. I sighed as I remember how quiet and strange it had been to watch old movies with my assassin on my lap, and how quickly it changed in just a few short hours.
"Well after I kicked Lung-Fu's butt," started Alex
"That was Sun-Yu," corrected Nat.
Alex gave her a dirty look and continued. "We went into the restaurant. We didn't see anyone else, Nat told me that you said there were stairs to the basement and we found those. We went down and we were in the hospital like area. I looked into some of the rooms and I don't know what they are doing there but that isn't your typical back alley illegal doctor's office type operation. They had very expensive centrifuges, protective suits, electron microscopes, the works.
"Dylan," said Nat, "did you get any idea what they do there?"
"No. I was pretty much in a daze. I didn't see anything but the room you found me in and Dr. Wong's daughter Mingmei. I said saying the daughter's name in contempt.
"Did you say Wong Mingmei," asked Alex.
"Why," said Nat and I in unison. I was getting tired of the unison stuff.
"Who is she," I asked.
"Wong Mingmei which is the correct way to say her name, you know the whole last name first, anyway she is a biochemical genius out of China. She has Ph.D's in molecular biology, virology, organic chemistry and is a medical doctor, all before the age of twenty two. Rumor has it that she used to do odd side jobs like sell biological agents- deadly biological agents to North Korea. When the Chinese government found out her execution was ordered. She was never found."
"And now she is working in an underground facility in Chinatown." Alex nodded at me. "So what is she doing with all that equipment?"
"I suspect she is probably doing what she was doing in China only now is using the US as her base of operations. We should find out exactly what she is doing and if need be stop her."
"She said she was a very good friend of Anthony's," I told them and explain what I had seen when I arrived. "She is gorgeous."
"She might be but she isn't you Dylan and you are definitely prettier than her any day,"
"Alex is right. She may be physically prettier than you but you are a better package." I smiled and said "Anyone want another cup of coffee?"