March 31st

She hadn't been lying. As Peter looked down from the window. He could see people putting up decorations for the festival. The colors of the corporation she owned were red and black and there was a sigil of sorts that was a stylized snake. It was on a fancy awning attached to the building. Others were putting up pennants representing different countries on the lamp posts,

He knew he was looking at nothing important in and of itself. Just decorations going up. But to him, it was the start of a countdown. Miranda had given him the timetable herself after all. "Dead man walking.' He said with a sigh. He looked at his wristwatch. "10:30 am," He said "Well it's five o'clock somewhere." He said going to the bar to pour himself a drink. "And the booze is top shelf." He didn't know if he was depressed, resigned, or about to fly apart at the seams. He just wanted it over and done with. But that was never going to happen.

"What are you doing?" Miranda asked

"What does it look like I'm doing." He said, his tone quiet and surly. He sat down with his glass of whiskey.

"Drinking, this early? "

"You're my kidnapper, not my wife. " He asked. " So unless there is something about me getting drunk that is going to screw up what you have planned, leave me the hell alone."

Miranda gripped his chin and forced him to look up at her. "I suppose you have earned at least one hangover. But do not ever back talk to me like that again. Or I will find out exactly how long it does take for you to break in the dark."

"After the initiation will that even be possible?" He asked as he pulled out of her grasp.

"You'd be surprised by what is and isn't possible after the initiation."

He downed the scotch in one swallow "It's not an initiation." He said getting to his feet and going back to the bar to refill his glass. "It's some sort of ritual where I end up possessed by that snake… by Nag."

"Where did you hear this?" She asked, wondering whose tongue she was going to have to remove.

"Straight from the horse's … er snakes mouth." He said "My knowing doesn't change anything for you. I'll do what I have to so you don't touch my family. It changes everything for me though doesn't it." He shook his head. "I don't know what I thought was gonna happen. I figured a life sentence I could face. But this… I'm going to be dead at the end of your festival. Sure the body will still be walking around but me… the part that is actually me that's not going to exist anymore."

"Is that what he told you?" She asked, "If he did, he misrepresented things."

"Misrepresented… you didn't say he lied though."

"You don't understand what Nag is." She said, taking a seat.

"Then why don't you enlighten me? Or is enlightenment too Shaolin for you?"

She gave him a warning glance.

He rolled his eyes "Sorry, I shouldn't have said the S word."

"Nag and Nagaina are … primordial… and eternal." She said.

"I thought you were Nagaina."

"Sometimes." She said "And sometimes you will be Nag. You won't disappear into nothingness any more than I do."

"I'll believe that when the ritual is over and I still have control."

"Now you're sure you're willing to do this. It's not an official investigation. It's a legitimate transfer as far as anyone else knows." Blaisdell said.

"I'm willing, Captain." Detective Jordan McGuire said. "Do we think that a police captain is guilty of murder?"

"I believe he is part of the cult the murder victim belonged to… the cult that we believe is responsible for the disappearance of Detective Caine," Kermit said.

"Then I am definitely on board." She'd always liked Peter even if they hadn't interacted much. He'd always been nice and it was hard to resist that smile, even when he was giving her a hard time about her 'uniform' for vice. Maybe especially then. She missed him. Not as much as the others that had known him longer, but still she did miss him.

"I've managed to pull together enough money for you to rent a place. It's not much but it will get you started. This could be a long-term cover. Ryan is careful. He's not just going to spill his guts. You'll have to play it slow and safe if we're going to get any information at all."

Blaisdell and Kermit had a stockpile of cash for if they had to bolt one day. Mercenaries had a lot of enemies even when they were semi-retired. They were financing this operation from those funds.

"I understand." She said as she took the envelope from Blaisdell. "How often do you want me to report?"

"Once a week. Right now we're not looking to make an arrest, we're looking for information. Be your usual friendly self. And Detective, if at any time you think you are in danger you come back home, am I clear?"

"Yes sir."

Caine had not slept that night. Truth be told he hadn't slept much at all since learning that his son was in danger. It was beginning to take its toll.

"I will sleep when we have found my son." He told the Ancient.

Lo Si scoffed "And you will be of no use to him because you're too tired to save him."

"I cannot sleep. I have tried. I meditate to try and make up for the lack of rest." Caine said and sighed.

"You meditate to try and reach him, not to rest. You cannot hide these things from me, my friend."

"Both statements are true." He said. "I am no closer to finding him than I was when I first felt his fear and sorrow. I should have found him by now."

"The harbingers fuel themselves on chaos energy. The city is filled with chaos. It makes them more powerful. It gives them the strength to hide Peter from our view."

"My grandfather did not get to their victim in time. The townspeople were all dead in the streets and the young man they had taken … became possessed. "

"He was but one priest, against an entire cult." Lo Si said.

"Then perhaps it is time that we increased our numbers," Caine said. "The festival is the perfect excuse. They will not suspect that we move against them. Are you and Master Khan in contact with the other priests that survived the destruction of the temple?"

"We are." Lo Si nodded "I will begin to reach out to them. Now you can sleep, Kwai Chang Caine."

"I need to find a place for us to work. It will not be a temple but it must be bigger than your apartment."

Lo Si nodded. "Then it appears we both have work to do."

Caine nodded. "It will be good to be doing Something other than worrying." He put on his shoes and grabbed his jacket and satchel. His kwoon had been turned into a dressmaking factory. He would need to look for another place of similar size if not bigger.

He went to an Elder in the community that handled real estate, Mr. Zhang Wei.

"Are you starting a temple?" He asked. "I have no place worthy of a Shaolin temple."

Caine shook his head. "No." He said, "Merely a place for us to meditate and prepare for the festival… perhaps bring a peaceful presence to Chinatown during this chaos that has beset the city."

"I have only one place that could suit your needs, but it is in terrible shape." Zhang said, "It would be an insult to let anyone rent it."

"Show me," Caine said. "There is peace to be had in restoring a building. If it is not dangerous, I see no reason not to consider it."

Zhang Wei nodded. "Then we shall go." He said and led the way. It was on the edge of the business district in Chinatown. It was an old Victorian-era brownstone. There were broken windows, and the lawn was untended. "I will have the windows repaired." He said as he unlocked the door and let him inside. "The foundation is still strong and the framework is hardwood and still good. It's been vandalized and empty for a very long time."

Caine walked through the house, looking at the amount of work that would need to be done. It was mostly cosmetic if what Mr. Wei said was true. There were large rooms on the main floor. The kitchen was large and open. He went up the stairs. They only creaked slightly, an easy fix. There were many bedrooms on the second and third floors. Each floor had been retrofitted with a bathroom likely in the 1950s by the look of it.

There was a large yard behind the house. Old arborvitae hedges grew tall around the boundary providing privacy and a place to grow food and herbs, a place that could be made tranquil.

"This is a good place. How much to rent this?" That would be the only drawback. He had no income.

"If you make the repairs and bring more priests to our community, then you may have it rent-free. Our community suffers from this chaos as much as the rest of the city. Perhaps having more priests will soothe our people's fears."

"You are most generous Zhang Wei. Thank you." Caine knew the community would provide. They always did. "Thank you." He said again.

April 3rd

The monks and Priests had come, All who had survived the destruction of the temple in California had come to join them, and Caine was certain they had come because of Peter's predicament. It gave him hope.

The brownstone was coming together slowly. It was livable while they worked and meditated. They mostly meditated and ministered to the community. It was said that a Priest brought luck to a community. There were now ten of them, and their presence was felt throughout Chinatown. They beat back the chaos as much as possible.

Peter's location was still hidden, even from the collective meditative focus of the monks who had once known and loved him.

Caine was working in the yard, making a koi pond… a meditation tool that might increase his ability to find his son.

Paul Blaisdell wandered through the house, toward the backyard. He didn't think he'd ever seen so much orange and yellow in his life. He looked on for a moment as Caine worked on the plumbing needed for the pond.

"Lo Si said I'd find you here." He said.

Caine wiped his brow and set aside the wrench in his hand. "Yes. We thought this would help with the chaos at least a little."

"I can feel the difference in Chinatown. The tongs are still playing hardball but the random violence has dropped dramatically here. I wouldn't be surprised if this spread."

Caine smiled faintly. "The priests here, they are survivors of the fire that destroyed our temple. They all knew Peter as a boy, watched him grow from a toddler." He said. "They are here " His voice cracked " For our son. To help find him. The chaos hides him from me."

"He's been gone two months today." Paul said, "If what you believe is true and he is alive, he may not be the same."

"He was not the same as I remembered him when I found him the last time." Caine said "We will help him heal the damage that has been done. All of us. He will need both of his families."

"Kelly resigned and left town. Peter's apartment is already rented to someone else."

"She gave me the key to the storage unit where she put his belongings. There is a room here, the first finished, I have put some of his things there. When he returns to us, he will have a place for as long as he wants to stay."

"It's hard not to be optimistic with the way you speak of him." He said.

"He needs your optimism," Caine said. "Speak with the other Priests. They all have stories to share, things you should hear about him as a child."

"I think I might just do that. " Paul said with a sad smile.

"The festival begins tomorrow," Miranda said as they sat at the dinner table. Kline and Hendricks were back, which did not make Peter happy at all. Unless of course, they provoked another fight. He wouldn't mind another chance at payback for Lo Si's murder.

"I guess that means you'll be gone a lot until the main event," Peter said. Four days left of being himself.

"Yes, there is a great deal to do." She said "But I will be home for dinner each day. I recommend you begin to prepare yourself for the fight that will come. And it's time to stop drinking." She said.

Peter nodded. If it was a command he had to do what she said. She had made it plain what she would do if he didn't. He'd like to push her off the roof.

"And the objective of sparring is to increase one's skill, not to attempt to put the opponent in the hospital. That goes for the two of you as well." She said looking at the other people at the table. I will spar with you this evening."

Peter nodded "Guess I'd better start eating my Wheaties."

Jordan had found a furnished apartment, and moved in with enough personal effects to make it look like a home. She wasn't due to start her first shift until the day after tomorrow. She thought about going out and getting the lay of the land. She hadn't spent much time in New River City. Her grandmother lived there, in a retirement facility. She came to visit her regularly but she didn't know the area well. Her grandmother being there however had made her the perfect choice for this undercover job.

She frowned when someone knocked on her door. She opened it to find two men standing there.

"Detective McGuire?" He asked. He was a tall man 6 ft 2 or 3, broad-shouldered, leanly built. Green eyes, brown hair. He looked to be in his early 40s.

"Yes."

He smiled then. "I'm Greg Matthews. Chief of Detectives at the 14th precinct." He offered his hand to her which she shook and made note of the signet ring he wore. Gold with an onyx stone, and a snake etched into it. "And this is Detective Michael Gray."

"It's good to meet you," Gray said and offered his hand. Jordan noticed that he too had the same signet ring. He was more strongly built, well muscled but he didn't look muscle-bound. He had red hair and almost hypnotic blue eyes."

"You too." She said.

"We came to invite you to the Fiddler's Green for a drink with the rest of us. Get to know each other a bit before we're working together. "

"Sure, that sounds like fun. Ahm… come on in while I change and get my purse. I won't be a minute. " She let them in and closed the door. She got changed quickly, gaging what to wear off of what the others wore. It was a cop bar. It wasn't a little black dress kind of place but there were degrees of casual.

So there was an officer named Gray, she didn't believe in coincidences. Not where an investigation was concerned. And what was it with the matching snakey signet rings? She thought she'd figure it out eventually. Right now it was all about recon.

She joined them 5 minutes later, in jeans and a nice blouse, a light coat of makeup. "Okay, I'm ready." She said grabbing her purse.

The bar was across from the precinct, which made it the perfect cop bar. The decor was predictably Irish. Although there were subtle touches that were a snake. Odd since there were supposedly no snakes in Ireland. Okay, that was worth noting. Just how much of a hold did this cult have here?

She was led by Matthews and Gray to a back room where the other detectives were enjoying themselves. They were friendly and welcoming.

Samantha Shaw had also come up through vice, She was a cute and perky brunette, with no signet ring. Devon Riley was reserved but welcoming enough. Average height and build, and he had a signet ring. Richard Cavenaugh was a good-looking man in his late forties. Salt and pepper hair and the look of a man who had seen the wars, what her father would call a thousand-yard stare. He too had a signet ring. Tammy Li was Chinese and friendly enough. No ring, but the Buddhist prayer beads on her wrist told her why. The cult hated Shaolin, it would stand to reason that they wouldn't try and recruit a Buddhist.

Other officers drifted in and out through the rest of the evening. She made mental note of who was and wasn't a member of the cult. The last to come through was Captain Alexander Ryan. Charismatic, Attractive, and he made her skin crawl just to look at him.

"Good to meet you, Captain." She said shaking his hand.

"So what brings you here from Bayview?" He asked.

"My grandmother lives here, she's in Riverview retirement center. I'm all the family she has and it's six hours to Bayview. Besides, the transfer gets me out of vice. Believe me, I am looking forward to wearing actual clothes to work."

He laughed at that. "Yeah, Shaw was excited about that too when she transferred to the 14th. "Well, welcome aboard McGuire. I look forward to seeing what you're made of."