Chapter 13 – A Nun on the Wing
Liling lurched against the wall and fell with a liquid curse. Revy's last blow had broken her nose and she tried to stop the flow of blood.
"My ankle... it's broken." Liling gurgled. "It hurts."
Lifeng tossed aside the leg of the chair she still held and then wiggled her fingers. They felt strangely nerveless. Revy lay sprawled motionless on the ground, the parts of the wooden chair scattered about.
Lifeng knelt down and placed her fingers against Revy's throat, after a moment she nodded.
The door crashed open and two men charged in, thin and wiry. They crouched over their guns with the barrels swinging wildly about. Lifeng shrieked at them, and they stopped in their tracks, straightening and looking about the charnel room with dull eyes. They had seen this type of slaughter before.
Lifeng gestured, and they came over to her. Their dull eyes suddenly blazed as they saw who lay at her feet. A savage smile crept over the dark face of the lead gunman.
"Dutchie's killer slut," he snarled. "If she's alive, then she ours. Like you promised."
Lifeng took in the men with her empty stare. "Not yet. I'm not done with her. I have to help my sister first. Take her across the hall."
The dacoits grinned and slung their guns over their shoulders. Then each took a foot and dragged Revy roughly out of the room. Revy's face slid against the worn carpeting, leaving a trail of blood.
"AAAaaagh!" Liling shrieked, rolling on the floor as the reality of pain set in. She grabbed at her ankle in a frenzy. She couldn't decide whether her ankle or her face hurt worse. "It really fucking hurts. Tzao-gao!"
Lifeng grimaced. The room offended her, she needed to get out. She stepped by her sister and picked up Revy's guns: the two Berettas and the Taurus. Her busy hands found room for the still smoldering cigarette butt that Agent 'Cooper' had dropped.
Liling dragged herself into a sitting position by Chulunn's corpse and glared as best she could with one eye swollen shut. She fumbled with a tissue and held it to her nose.
"If you had just taken the shot this morning, this wouldn't have happened. Look at me, look at my face! Chulunn would still be alive – crap! His legs are still twitching! We could have been out of here. Qu di yu! Go to hell!"
Lifeng flinched. She swallowed and knelt by her sister. The albino bowed her head low, the items carefully cradled in her arms. The white hair touched the floor.
"I am sorry," she said contritely. "After this I will no longer be a burden for you. I've held you to your promise and in fifteen minutes or so you will be free. I know it's what you want."
"What do you mean?" gasped Liling as she touched her ankle.
"I'm serious, I am staying here," said Lifeng, her head still bowed. "Eventually they will find a way to get me in Haidho for the children I killed - you won't be able to protect me. But here in Roanapur, this city of shadows and lost souls, I am among my own kind. And after tonight I will be feared and respected."
"You can't be serious," said Liling. "You can't even take care of yourself – much less survive. They'll eat you up."
Lifeng looked up, her red eyes gleamed. "Oh, I don't think so. Lili... I've been lying to you for so very long. While you were reading Hong Kong magazines when we were kids in that crappy old house, I was reading the old books left over from the American Ambassador. One of those books was I, Claudius. I'm definitely not right in the head, but I'm NOT that kind of sick."
She giggled as Liling stared at her from the one open eye with a certain amount of fear, "Brother Cheong certainly fell for it. I would stammer and cut myself and drool around him and he thought I was such an idiot. 'Dumb as Ivory'... HA! Such a retard of a sister who certainly had no clue what the security codes were for. Just the ones for the Swiss bank accounts where the gold of Shanghai waits. We may not have had Re-BEC-ca eliminate brother tonight, but we got enough."
Lifeng rolled Revy's name with a sneer as she said it.
"Tzao-gao!" said Liling shaking her black mane, the pain overcome by the wonder of the revelation. "Who are you?"
"I'm everything you've tried to deny," said the albino her hard eyes glittering. "Hold on one second."
Lifeng put down the pile of guns and unclipped the PMR unit from her belt. "Report now, what's going on?"
The responding voice was indistinct. Lifeng's face tensed and her shoulders rose. She nodded briskly.
"I need to know the moment they move," she barked.
"We don't have much time -- like you feared," she said to her sister. "The lookout on the rooftop can just barely see the other side of the causeway. There's a line of cars just waiting there. Could be the Russians, could be Chang – either way we can't be here much longer. I got an escape launch ready. The weather works for us."
Lifeng helped Liling off the floor and supported her. "We better go stop those liúmáng, they're probably trying to rape the crap out of that creature and can't decide which hole to start with. Not that I care, but they can wait their turn..."
"Are we going to kill Revy now?" mumbled Liling wiping away the blood. "I guess feeding her to the sharks is out..."
"Let me just get these guns, we'll each keep a Beretta as a trophy of tonight's triumph," said Lifeng rapidly. "There's something better than death for her. She'll wish we had gone fishing. "
--
Eda stared back at the lights of the city and tried not to worry too much about her stomach. Through the mist, Roanapur was a blurry miasma above the swells. Kiwi Ken's stolen winch boat crashed and bounced on the waves, driven maniacally by Bao. The owner of the Yellow Flag was enjoying himself way too much she decided.
"We're going to go directly at that yacht of his," shouted Dutch pointing at the blazing outline of Cheong's boat, the yacht was lit up from port to stern with lights. "Then we'll sweep away and run you and Rock up to the full length of the rope – I think it's 500 feet. I'll give you the call, and then you better hope you're in good with the carpenter from Galilee."
Eda grimaced and adjusted the earpiece, "Testing, testing, yeah it's good Dutch. Oi, sailor boy! Don't bother with that, we're not concerned about safety tonight. Just get in the goddamn harness. If it comes to swimming we're screwed - no point prolonging the agony."
Rock dropped the life vest with one hand and held on to the railing as the boat careened about. He jerked his head at Dutch who was preparing the parasail. "Are you sure there isn't a better way?"
"Your idea sucked," bawled Eda. "If we go in the land route, we get shot up before we get to the buildings. If Bao drives the boat in we have to go past that floating palace of Cheong's – and believe you me he's got weaponry and manpower. So we're gonna go airborne."
Rock finished strapping himself into the harness assembly, "Then I got only one problem with this."
"What's that," Eda shouted.
"We'll be the wrong way!" Rock shouted back leaning in close so she could hear. "Usually parasailer get dragged along by the boat, we're going to get dragged by the wind – shouldn't we face away from the boat when we go?"
"Right, good point!" Eda was surprised she hadn't thought of that. It wasn't like they were going to have any control over the damn thing once they were up in the air. There were steering lines on the chute, but the whole business was as improbable as a Doug Flutie touchdown pass.
"Stay in touch," shouted Dutch. "If the situation gets out of hand, I'll come in to shore whatever the situation. If we're gonna pull an Alamo – then we'll do it together."
Rock slithered onto the flight deck, Eda followed and sat down beside him – they hooked themselves up to the lines. Bao began the turn.
"Why are you helping?" Rock said turning his head, his mouth beside her ear – the one without the radio earpiece. "You wouldn't help if there wasn't something in this for you?"
Eda thought guiltily about the scrap of paper safely secreted away. The one with Revy's handwriting – barely enough to be called evidence.
"Because..." Dutch released the canopy and the two jerked into the air.
--
The came in fast on Nakhon Ratch. Eda's fear that they would sail right over the peninsula proved groundless. The big problem was whether they would make it at all as they descended far more rapidly than she had anticipated.
They couldn't talk over the gusting wind. It was just as well, Eda tapped Rock's shoulder and he nodded. There were two boats pulled up to the beach and figures could be made out on the beachfront by the Nova.
Eda pulled hard on the toggle and they swooped in to the right. She was aiming for the rooftop of the Nova. They barely cleared the building's edge and their feet touched down. However, the parasail billowed in front of them and pulled them along despite their best efforts. Rock scrabbled for the harness clips and freed himself just in time to trip over a duct. He face planted into the tar paper with a grunt.
"Damn, damn, son of a bitch!" Eda flailed at her harness and went tumbling and flailing along the width behind the gusting para sail. Directly in the nun's path was a lone man watching over the parking lot and approach to the building. He turned about raising a rifle to be enveloped by the canopy. Eda caromed into the struggling figure and with a muffled shriek he toppled over the side.
Eda had slipped out of the harness before being pulled over the edge after the gunman. Panting she stood up with a triumphant grin and pulled down her habit.
"Best plan ever," the nun crowed. She spoke into the microphone of the radio earpiece. "Dutch -- can you hear me? We made it! C'mon Rock, don't just lay there gasping! Let's go save your girl!"
Note: I finished it on time, so I'm posting ahead of my intended schedule. Enjoy.