Cho's Sun
Chapter 05
(Cho's Sun, Chosen by Cho)
They were looking into a small living room. The interior of the room was a stark contrast to the outside neatness of the house, leading Jane to speculate that the owner of the house was not at home and that it had been usurped by Brandon and company for their own use. Sunny was bound with duct tape to a kitchen chair, and placed in front of a TV, in the living room. One side of her face was bruised, and there was a slight blood trail out of the corner of her mouth, but she seemed alert and relatively unharmed. The TV was on, masking any casual sounds. He could see at least three men in the room, too. "Ten minutes," Jane whispered.
"There's a bed room in the attic, I think. I'm going to try to get up there. There's a trellis next to the window." Suiting action to words, he went to the side with the trellis and began a carefully silent assent. Jane called for backup, code 2.
Cho's ascent was flawless. The single window was readily accessible. It was stiff to open, but not locked. "Some days you get lucky," he thought. "Hope my luck continues."
The room was not a bed room. The floor was unfinished, except for a few boards placed in a haphazard manner, allowing one to walk without crashing through the thin wallboard, into the room below. He stared into the darkest corner to allow his eyes to adjust to the dimness. When he was able, he carefully examined his surroundings. There was a folding stairway that was used for access, but it appeared the attic space was mostly unused. There were a few storage boxes covered with dust, but no signs of any recent activity.
Glancing around, he mentally mapped what he'd seen of the house below to his position. He was fairly certain that the stairwell did not lower into the living room, but there was a good chance it was visible from there. If he dropped it, and it was impossible to do that silently, he would probably be a target waiting to happen. Also, he didn't want to be shooting in the general direction of Sunny. He was a good shot, but even a great shot can't be perfect on a folding, rickety stairwell, acting as a target.
A diversion was needed and Jane didn't have a gun. That's when he heard one of the crew below say, "It's time to call."
"Yea, now we tell them the rest of it. I don't give a damn is Shushu lives or dies. I want the money."
Money? This was the first Cho had heard of money. "Double cross," he thought. "They are working some sort of double cross."
"Hey, I'm with you, but let's stick close to the script. We've done OK so far."
"Makes sense to me," another voice said. "Let's get it done."
There was silence, then one of the voices said, "Are you ready to deal?"
Cho really wanted to know what Jane was saying. He was going to assume that he was going to stall for as much time as possible until backup arrived. He hoped that it would be enough.
"We want one million dollars. We want Shushu put on a charter plane, fueled with enough fuel for six hours. Then we want safe passage to the airport. Once we get on the plane, we'll release this sweet little girl and we'll all go home happy."
The sound of an approaching siren split the air. There was the sound of confused motion from downstairs. "What the hell are you doing? Call off your pigs or I start shooting pieces off of this sweet little thing."
Cho couldn't believe it. "Jane called for code 2! I'm going to hand someone their head!" He'd fixed their positions by the sound of their voices. He couldn't afford to wait. He picked up an 18 inch piece of rebar that was lying on one of the boxes, picked his position and stepped onto the thin wallboard of the floor/ceiling.
He fell through, like a stone through paper. Landing in a crouch, he uncoiled like a spring released, holding the rebar straight out in front of himself. The target was the man pointing a gun at Sunny. The rebar struck him in the left short ribs, knocking him to the side, ruining his aim. The gun discharged, going through harmless space and embedding somewhere outside. Cho made an upward sweep with the rebar, striking the gunman under the chin, dropping him like a stone.
He spun to face the other two, neither of which had a gun, but both drew knives. Cho quickly stepped towards the lead man and sent the rebar crashing into his wrist as he made a pathetic slash towards him. The knife when flying and a strong kick to the groin sent him to the floor, hugging himself in the fetal position.
The third man stepped back and assumed a much more defensive stance. Lisbon, Rigsby and Jane came roaring into the room. "Drop it," Rigsby barked.
Compliance was instant. The odds had become too overwhelming and he did not have a death wish.
Cho knelt next to Sunny and cut the tape from her hands, arms and legs. She shakily stood and wrapped her arms around him. Cho didn't care if it was relief, for support or affection. He was simply glad she was alive and unharmed.
"Cho," Lisbon said, "Taker her home and let her get cleaned up and relax a little. When she feels like it, bring her on in and we'll take her statement. We'll clean up here, you get her home."
"Yes, Boss," Cho agreed. "Right away."
"Jane, you'll ride back with us. Since you were here and took the final telephone call, we'll be wanting your statement as soon as we get back." Lisbon smile at Jane's groan.
Sunny's apartment was steamy from the shower. She'd insisted that a shower was essential for life itself.
"Cho," she called. "Could you come here? I can't quite reach my back."
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