If he noticed it, then Chu was sure as hell gonna notice it was a toy gun. Maneuvering the two of them around was difficult, Nick's weight still leaning heavily on him, his partner shivering with the aftereffects of his torture.
"C'mon, Bro," he muttered softly.
Careful not to cross in front of Kenny and his "weapon" Warrick lead Nick along the banks of TV screens, leery of getting anywhere near the still standing and potentially lethal doctor. He leaned Nick against the open door frame and returned to take the gun from Kenny, afraid the nervous man might give the scam away.
Holding it loosely, hoping that his larger hand might cover the fraudulent nature of the weapon better he waved it at Chu, gesturing her towards the chairs that they had recently vacated.
She gave a small smile and appeared to hesitate, then her smile broadened and she made a show of acquiescing. She glided over to the chair and eased her body gracefully down.
"Tie her up, Kenny."
Kenny moved over to the woman, reluctant to approach her as she glared angrily at him.
"G'on Kenny. Get it done!"
The small man squatted down and took the loose ends of leather and tied them around her ankles to the chair legs, repeating the process at her arms. Warrick knew that she'd be loose very quickly, but he hoped for at least a few minutes head start. He needed to find Tina and get them all the Hell outa there.
As soon as Kenny had finished the last strap Warrick pointed with his head towards the door, trusting that the smaller man would follow. He kept his arm around Nick's waist and the two of them limped out the doorway.
The next room was small and perfectly square. An ornate altar covered in a pure white cloth stood against one wall. Above it hung pictures of various Asian faces, male and female, old and recent. On the altar sat a silver pot with incense sticks of various colors protruding. Another incense stick was lit and fragrant smoke curled above the small ivory holder it rested on.
A heavy gold-framed mirror appeared on the wall exactly opposite of the altar and as they hustled past it Warrick caught their reflections in it. Nick was pale and covered in a thin sheen of sweat. Warrick had dried tears coating his cheeks and Kenny…well, Kenny looked just plain ridiculous in the UPS uniform, obviously at least two sizes two big. The brown shorts hung like short pants on him and the polo hung like a tent.
An open doorway led out and they entered the next room. Also small and square. This one contained a black lacquered grand piano and more pictures and another mirror, this one framed in rococo silver, opposite the piano.
Room after room they moved, the only sound Nick's still heavy breathing in his ear and their footsteps on the cold tile. Each room much the same as the one prior. Ornately decorated in shades of red, gold, black, and silver. Pictures and mirrors. Laid out like a maze.
Warrick had no idea if they were entering or exiting the labyrinth. And his greatest fear was of the monsters that lived within these walls.
He eased up for a moment and Nick pulled back off his shoulder to stand on his own. Most of his color had returned and he appeared to be doing better. In fact, there was the game face smile.
"Kenny," Warrick whispered harshly. "You know where Tina is?"
"Nuh uh, Man. Only reason I found you is by wandering around the place for a while with this."
He pulled a small electronic box out of his ever-present knapsack. It had a long thin antennae sticking out of it. "I used it to track for electronic signals. Knew the guy had to have a central control area with Internet and satellite phone connections. Used my tracker to find it. But I got no idea how to get back out. And sorry, Bro, but I got no idea where Tina is neither."
"Nick- how you doing?" Warrick asked doubtfully. Nick gave him a nod and a smile, not quite up yet to conversation. His partner gave him an appraising look and realized no matter what, Nick was gonna suck it up and make it on his own.
"A'ight. You two keep moving. I haven't seen a window, but the first room you see with one you try maybe a couple rooms after that. Then you break out a window if you have to. I'm going to find Tina."
Nick shook his head and bent over to rest his right hand on his knee, still obviously weak. "No way, Rick. Kenny can keep going and call for help once he gets away from the house."
Nick saw the look the smaller man shot him but chose to ignore him. "Right now, I don't really give a rat's ass what you did, Kenny. But you need to call the police and you need to call them now. This is too much for us to handle. It's gone way beyond too far. We need help." The effort of the long statement left him winded and he continued to hang bent over gasping for breath.
Warrick shook his head at his partner's stubbornness, but realized that he had no idea how big the place was or where his wife was being held. He could use his partner's help, no matter how much it pained him to admit it. Plus the smaller man seemed to be able to slip in and out of places on his own. He might actually have a chance to get out and get help.
"Kenny, Nick's right. Get outa here and get help. Nick, you sure you're up for this?"
"Never better," Nick grunted out. He pulled himself back up to full height as if to prove it. He still wavered but he appeared to be holding his own.
Kenny, on the other hand, did not appear all that pleased to be on his own. "Warrick, Man. We gotta stick together. We gotta all get outa here. We can come back for the woman, Bro."
"She's not a woman- she's my wife, Kenny!" Warrick shouted angrily.
They were wasting time and someone was bound to find them and soon. He figured the moment their torturer got free she'd be on her way to find them, probably with reinforcements. And the only weapons they had were a toy pistol and the scalpel he had stuck in his back pocket.
Warrick strode up to his childhood friend and grabbed him by the baggy polo. "You are the one he wants. The second he gets his hands on you, all bets are off. So get your skinny ass moving and get the hell out of here. Now!"
Kenny squirmed out of his grip and dramatically smoothed his shirtfront back down. "A'ight, fine. I'll get gone." He flashed Nick another shitty look and took off out an open door to the left.
Warrick and Nick chose the door on the right which was closed. Warrick pulled the toy pistol out and held it to his side as if he and his partner were at a crime scene with a potential suspect on the premises. Fat lotta good it was gonna do them but a bluff might buy them some time. He tried the knob. It was unlocked, which didn't bode well as he assumed Tina was ensconced someplace more secure. The next room was a bedroom. By the looks of it it was Madame Chu's. A dark wood four-poster bed sat in one corner covered in a heavy brocade cover with Oriental symbols on it. A matching dark wood bureau sat in another corner, a huge framed mirror suspended above it. A small fountain trickled on a nearby table and expensive cut crystal vases covered a set of bookshelves along the third wall. Each vase contained several stalks of bamboo, the green stems curlicued and heavy with thin dagger shaped leaves.
There was no other door in the room, nor were there any windows so Warrick shut the door and they followed Kenny's path out the only other door in the room.
A noise emanated from somewhere behind them. Several loud male voices. The alert had been sounded.
The two exhausted men were now being hunted. They sped up, the rooms rushing by them in a blur of color and doorways. Room to room they ran, no sign of Kenny, and the voices behind them grew closer. Had they been able to speak Chinese they probably could have known what the men were saying. Probably something along the lines of "you go that way, I'll go this way."
Heedless now of what may lie in their path the two men stopped hesitating at closed doors. The last door Warrick straight-armed open led them out into the first open room they had encountered.
It was a gorgeous sight, had they had the time to stop and appreciate it. A koi pond covered the center of the room. A wooden bridge crossed the pond, banked on each end by live exotic plants in verdant gardens. Huge bamboo cages hung suspended from the ceiling, each containing a group of different brightly colored birds. Warrick noticed Nick's eyes staring at them avidly and it put a small smile on his face. Leave it to Nick to be staring at birds when his life was on the line.
The most beautiful prospect by far though, was the large red door at the front of the room, flanked by two sets of high curtain covered windows. The blue sky outside could be glimpsed through the gaps in the fabric.
Warrick cast a hesitant look back where they'd emerged from. His wife was still hidden within this maze.
He slumped, defeated by walls and doors and armed thugs. What was it that The Voice had said? "The wise general does not squander his assets for pleasure. They are kept behind the lines to insure victory."
He could only hope that the self-appointed general in this war they had stumbled into would continue to view her as an asset.
Nick had pulled his eyes from staring at the Indigo-winged macaws above him. He had just seen a documentary on them on the Discovery Channel. They were considered among the world's rarest birds; only a handful of them were believed to still remain in their native Colombia.
Before him was an even rarer sight. His partner had lost every bit of his customary swagger. He was deflated; a shell of the man he knew. Nick sighed as he realized the internal battle his partner was fighting. There was no way they could take on an unknown number of assailants, unarmed and in uncharted territory.
He put a hand on Warrick's arm and tried to catch his friend's eye which was still staring at the door they had entered.
"C'mon, Warrick. We'll come back for her."
Any protest his partner was going to make was drawn up short by the sound of voices much closer than before.
The two men made for the front door and fled out into the bright light of day.
A stone inlayed path ran in a zigzag approach to the front of the house. A massive orchard of fruit trees grew off to the left, a wide mountain stream running behind it. To the other side was a vast Oriental garden. Stone statuary poked up out of masses of brightly colored flowers, figures of Buddha among them, the smiling chubby philosopher captured in various forms and activities and manner of dress. The path continued out to a gravel drive that disappeared into a thick forest of pines. Behind the house loomed the dark forms of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Nick and Warrick had been CSIs in Vegas for over ten years. Thought they had been over every inch of land in the county. But there were no landmarks to gauge their location by. The road seemed to be their best bet and, hoping it might lead back to civilization they headed for it, running as fast as their worn out bodies would take them.
Recognizing they would be easy targets in the open area they stayed to the fringes of the woods. The sun was high in the sky; they couldn't even tell which direction they were running.
Warrick cast a look back at the quickly receding house. No sign of anyone following them yet. Wait- there. The door opened and two black clad men stepped out and scanned the area. One of them gestured to the other in their general direction and the two thugs, both carrying what had to be automatics, took off after them.
They poured on more speed, adrenaline fueling their efforts, the two men's feet pounding almost in unison as they tried to put more space between them and their pursuers. Warrick winced as he noted the pain etched on Nick's face every time his sore ankle took his weight.
They rounded a bend and there, parked at the side of the road was a UPS truck, Kenny sitting behind the wheel. Nick almost laughed with relief as his overtaxed body had just about reached its ability to carry him any further. He never thought the sight of the annoying rat would ever make him this happy.
The two men ran up to the side of the truck and pulled open the back doors. Both so out of breath that speech was not an option, Warrick waved a hand at Kenny. "Go! GO!" he managed to gasp out. He hadn't even finished grabbing the back door before it swung back open and Kenny had peeled away, leaving a dusty cloud in the air.
Nick had collapsed against a pile of packages, holding on to himself as if he might fly apart at any second. He rocked back and forth for a minute, taking in huge gulps of air. Warrick fell next to him against the back of the front seat, his chest heaving with exhaustion.
The two men's gasping quieted as they caught their breath, each looking at the other in disbelief that they had escaped relatively unscathed.
"Kenny, Man…," Warrick said between deep breaths, "…don't take this the wrong way, Bro, but why are you still here?"
"I only just made it out to the truck a little before you two. I got lost in the house. Found a back door and had to sneak around the side of the house. Dude's got a huge place, Man."
"Yeah. Yeah, that he does, Kenny."
"I was just about to take off when I saw you guys coming. Where's Tina?"
Warrick sobered at the question. When no reply seemed to be coming from his partner Nick spoke up. "We had to leave her, Kenny. But we're going back for her," he said, seeking out Warrick's face, now speaking directly to him.
Kenny turned his head back to glance at the two men. "What do ya mean we're going back? Are you crazy?"
Warrick spoke up, finally finding his voice. "We are getting help. And I'm going back. Nick, you're going to a hospital, and Kenny, you can go back to our hideout. The Voice still hasn't found it yet. Nothing saying he will. I'll get you some money or something and you can leave town."
Nick shook his head. "No way. You're not going on your own, Bro. I'm fine. We'll get Kenny hidden and head back together."
"You're not fine, Nick. Your hand is broken, and God only knows what those needles did to you. Look at you- you're shaking like a leaf."
"My hand can wait and the pain from the needles is almost gone," Nick lied. "And I'm shaking cuz it's cold. You try running around the mountains in January without a shirt on."
That did the trick. Warrick pulled a small tired smile on his face. "Yeah. You must be cold, Bro. Kenny- you got a shirt for Nick?"
Kenny cast a quick annoyed glance back at him. "What I got wouldn't fit him," he mumbled.
Nick rolled his eyes at that and shrugged. He began to dig through the piles of boxes around him.
Warrick pulled himself up to put his head facing up front next to Kenny's driver seat.
"I gotta ask, Kenny - a UPS truck? How in Hell did you arrange this? In fact, come to think of it…how in Hell did you know where we were? I thought I told you to go back to the hideout?"
"Yeah, well, I followed you guys. I … I thought maybe you were gonna call The Voice and turn me in. After you found out that your wife got taken I figured maybe you'd rat me out to get her back."
Warrick sighed and shook his head. Not that the thought hadn't crossed his mind a hundred times.
"Well, we weren't doing that, Kenny. We were headed to the lab for help. So…the truck?"
"I had this toy gun I found on the street a week or so ago. Just kinda picked it up, you know? Just in case, like. Anyway, I used the fake gun on a UPS guy that was delivering at your lab. I made him give me his clothes and I followed you guys."
"How did you keep up? I mean, it had to take time to find the UPS guy and change."
"I stuck a GPS locator on the truck that took you. I pulled up on my bike next to you guys at a light and slapped it on. I got a whole bunch of 'em in my back pack."
Warrick shook his head. The little guy continued to surprise him. Though he shouldn't have been too shocked that the tech geek would carry an assortment of electronic goodies around with him. "You got anything else we can use in that pack of yours?"
Kenny just shook his head.
Warrick cast a sideways look at the smaller man. Briefly considered grabbing the sack and searching it, but as the man had saved their asses he was going to have to give him the benefit of the doubt.
He turned back to see that Nick had begun opening various parcels. He was a bit surprised to see Mr. By the Book breaking Federal law by messing with the mail, but figuring necessity being what it was, he picked up a box and ripped it open, joining in the hunt.
He gave a small cry of discovery as he opened the fifth box he'd found. He pulled an orange colored sweatshirt out of the box and held it up in front of him. It looked big enough to fit him and Nick was a size smaller. He held the garment out to his friend who recoiled like he'd tried to hand him a live hand grenade.
"What? Here. Put this on."
"Nuh uh. No way- that's a Longhorns shirt."
Warrick turned the clothing around to look at the front. A large red bull's head covered the front of it. He rolled his eyes and shoved the shirt back at Nick.
Nick held up his hand and shook his head. He was smiling in spite of himself and Warrick grinned in return. A college rivalry was keeping the man from staying warm.
"C'mon, Fool. Take the damn shirt."
"Uh uh- better dead than the red head they say. Keep looking." He coughed and scratched at his neck while grinning at his partner.
Warrick flung the sweatshirt at his friend with a laugh. "You're being stupid, Man. Put the damn shirt on."
Nick was now laughing, his face turning bright red and Warrick found himself chuckling. Then noticed that Nick still hadn't moved to put the shirt on.
"C'mon, Nick. Don't be an idiot. I'm not opening any more packages for you. Nick. C'mon, Bro. It's not that funny …Nick. Nick?"
It was then that he realized Nick wasn't laughing. He was drowning.
tbc...