"You know, if this doesn't pan out, I'm still up for that second date."
I rolled my eyes as I heard the slam of Danny's car door. We had parked on the side lot of Oriental Dragon. The sun was low in the sky not not enough to paint the sky anything other than blue.
He was still grinning when I looked over to him indifferently. "Two dates on the same day isn't tacky, is it?"
He wishes. I completely brushed Danny off as I walked around. I could feel his presence closely behind me as we made our way to the front of the restaurant. His connection to me was growing stronger. I'd have to do something about that later.
"We're gonna have to make this quick," I sighed. "Whatever you do, try not to shoot anybody."
"No promises, princess," he replied. "But I can't imagine we'll have too much trouble here."
True, this old, slightly run-down restaurant didn't look like much, but this was the last place Emily was before she disappeared. Her presence was too faint. I needed something else to connect to. Emily doesn't like to get out much, so there must have been a reason she was here. The police department didn't have a lead. That meant this was part of her personal investigation. That meant I probably wasn't welcome. Not that that was much of a change.
It took all of three seconds from the moment I walked in for the store owner to react. The middle-aged woman behind the bar whispered something insistently in Chinese to a waiter. The waiter briskly walked into the back to tell the higher ups of my arrival. Well, better get to work. Fast.
"This is an old Chu hideout," I whispered quickly to Danny.
"How can you tell?" Danny whispered back. "And why are we whispering?"
"The red dragon is a dead giveaway." I pointed to the painting above the door. "Pay attention. They were definitely here."
"They? Who's they?" His attention sharpened on what slipped out of my mouth.
"Emily and someone else," I said. "They were sitting at the bar until they went towards the back." My feet instinctually followed their general path.
"Were they Chu?" Danny trailed closely behind me so he could pick up on every word.
"I...I can't tell. Doesn't quite seem like it. Emily's reaction was...different." I couldn't quite place a finger on it. It was almost like she was intentionally hiding something from her trace. Not to mention I had no memory of the person she was with.
"The informant! Emily's informant could have gone sour," Danny suggested.
"Maybe," I allowed.
"Don't you dare take another step, Callaway." Two men in tailored suits came from the hallway in the back, blocking my way. As they emerged from the shadows, they pointed their guns straight at my head. No one in the restaurant reacted as if this was just another regular dining experience.
"Geez, princess. Do you always get greeted like this? Think I should teach them some manners?"
Danny was too cocky. Only when he drew his gun did the people eating react. There was the screech of chairs against the floor as people ran out as fast as they could. I guess not many people actually tried to resist the Chus. Danny was smiling like he enjoyed the chaos. I could feel the adrenaline rush through his body.
"I thought I told you not to shoot anybody, idiot," I hissed as I placed my hand on the barrel of his gun and pushed it towards the ground.
"I haven't shot anybody yet," Danny argued. His irritation with me was rising as well. He moved his gun out from under my hand to point at the Chu thugs. "You're the one with handguns pointed at your head."
I sighed and spoke up a bit louder. "After I came all the way here, no less. I find this a bit rude. They wouldn't be able to shoot me even if they were allowed to. It'll take a lot more to try to intimidate me."
The silence afterwards was unnerving but just as I expected. I kept my unwavering gaze on them.
"Allllllright, I'll take the bait. Now, this isn't an invitation or anything, but why can't they shoot you?" Danny asked.
The guns trembled ever so slightly in the hands of my opponents. They were too scared to even shoot straight.
"Even if their boss didn't want to handle me on his own, I wouldn't let their bullets come anywhere near my direction. In fact, they won't even leave the barrels."
Okay, that was a bit of a fib. Sure, I knew where and when they would shoot, but I probably wouldn't be able to actually stop the bullets. Probably. I wasn't quite ready to test that out yet. Their thoughts were just screaming Carrie and what horrors may await for them from a psychic.
"You're going to have to come with us," one of them bravely said. TJ, I think his name was.
"Ha! Like I'm going to let that happen," Danny said.
"Sorry TJ, I'm going to have to take him with me," I said. Everyone stiffened, even Danny.
"H-how did you know that?" TJ asked.
"I'm psychic," I reminded him. "Either way, Danny's coming with me or we're going to walk away and make your jobs a whole lot more difficult. And I'm afraid he's rather attached to his gun. He's not going to leave it behind."
Chris, the other thug, hesitated. "Is she armed?"
Danny was caught off guard when asked the sudden question. "Uh...are you?" he brilliantly directed at me.
"No," I answered simply.
Chris nodded his head towards Danny. "Pat her down."
"You're insane! I'm on her side..." Danny argued.
"Just cooperate. They're afraid to get too close, let alone actually touch me," I said. I spread my limbs apart. "Make it quick."
"This is ridiculous," he grumbled as he squatted down. For someone so reluctant, he acted pretty quickly. His hands patted down from the top of my thighs down to my ankles. The gun was still gripped tightly in his right hand and remained pointed at the Chu subordinates. He pressed against my hips and followed the curve of my body up. He lingered just a hardly millisecond longer as his fingers seemed to search for something other than a weapon. I grit my teeth. He moved quickly to my arms to finish the search.
"There. She's clear. Satisfied?" Danny reported.
Chris shared a look with TJ. "All right. Follow us."
TJ led the way through the hallway with Chris following. Rather than a typical behind-the-scenes of a restaurant, the hallway leave to several business-like rooms. After only a few feet before, we were lead straight past the room where Emily was with the supposed informant. As my head whipped around to try to get a better connection, I saw the slight upward turn of Danny's lips.
I flicked Danny hard on the side of the head. "Did you enjoy that, detective?" I said under my breath.
"Ow! What is your problem? You're the one who wants to cooperate with them," Danny defended.
I rolled my eyes. Each time he touched me, his attraction towards me flared up. It was subconscious and slight, so it wasn't surprising that he was unaware of how much he thought of me.
"You want to take down the Chu family, right? These guys will take us right to the top," I said.
"What?! Why would they do that?" Danny questioned.
"In case you haven't noticed, I'm kind of a big deal around here." And not in a good way.
"Looks like I'll have to keep you around then." Danny smirked at me. "If we got in so easily, think how fast we'll bring them down."
"The only reason why we're paired up is to find Emily. I'm not a detective. As soon as we find her, I'm out of here."
TJ opened a door to an old staircase heading straight down. All of the footsteps echoed painfully through the tiny, twisting stairwell.
Downstairs was much nicer than the upper level. It was like the Chu syndicate had their own underground palace. Emily had not been down here, though. That was a good thing. The person she was with, however, was all over this place.
TJ opened a door off to the right. "Get in," he said as he held it open for us.
Chris crowded us in a room and shut the door behind. Either they would guard us from just outside or stay further back to prevent witnesses.
The room was cold. Black and white tiles covered the floor like a chessboard. It was a very odd room. No chairs. No tables. It had a sort of weird, empty vibe between a waiting room and a jail cell. Either way, it was only meant to be temporary.
"Here's what I'm thinking..." Danny started once we were alone. His voice echoed slightly off of the ceramic tiles. "We..."
"I already know what you're thinking," I cut him off. My voice was harsh and low to cut the reverberations. "Don't touch him. Don't talk to him. Don't even look at him."
Danny lifted his hands in exasperation then slapped them back down. "Well, what am I supposed to do then?"
I sighed and looked expectantly at the door. I fought off the sense of dread of what was most likely to come. "Make sure he doesn't kill me."
I felt the adrenaline switch in Danny. It was stronger than what happened in the Starbucks. He had this unnatural response obsessing over keeping me from danger. The stronger the danger, the stronger his response.
At that moment, Yao Chu walked through the door. His long, dark chestnut was tied back in his usual ponytail. He had hardly changed from the last time I saw didn't wear a jacket, but kept the white button down shirt and a black vest. The top few buttons of his shirt were left open, and he rolled up his sleeves. His face was hardened with the responsibilities of Chu, just like had responsibilities as a Callaway. I doubt this conversation would end any differently from the last one.
Danny broke one of the rules I told him not to almost immediately. He glared at the Chu syndicate boss like he dismembering the crime family limb by limb.
Yao looked us over and smirked. "I never thought you'd show up so soon, Elenora Callaway. And I see you brought a new pet. I hope you can keep Detective Prince on a short leash. He's been sniffing around in places he doesn't belong. It'd be a shame if something were to happen to him."
"Bite me," Danny snapped.
"Get to the point. You wanted me here for a reason, right?" I interjected.
Yao's smile slid away slowly. "Don't flatter yourself." Yao brushed away the hair the fell around face. "I thought we had an agreement, Elenora. If you Callaways didn't mess with, if you didn't come anywhere near my family, I wouldn't mess with yours. We've got ourselves quite a predicament now."
"Well, you shouldn't have messed with Emily," I said.
Yao cursed in Chinese. "Damn it, what did you do to him? Is he even still alive anymore, or did you just kill him off just like your psychotic mother?"
Really off. If I didn't tread carefully, I really could be in real trouble. "I haven't killed anyone." If he thought I had killed someone, he really was after Emily's life.
His defenses were thrown up just like that. I couldn't get anywhere close to his mind. Our eyes searched each other offensively trying to discover the other's secret.
I was almost too late when I saw his arm snap forward. I had to quickly dodge out of the way and block his next attack.
"You've gotten better," Yao said.
"So have you," I said.
"I'm gonna need you to back off," Danny barked as Yao and I fought. There was a click as Danny took his gun out of safety.
"Put your gun away, puppy. Mommy's busy," Yao said without backing off one bit.
"We both know this isn't the time for this," I said.
"Oh yes, you've disrupted my original intentions quite regally," Yao said, his attacks getting more aggressive. I didn't know how long I could hold him off on my own.
"Then, I suggest you let me go. We're both very busy people..."
I tried to reason with him and was promptly interrupted with a hard slap across my face. I willed the dancing kaleidoscope images to stand still. I took a step back trying to gain more stability. Everything sort of sounded like I was underwater. I think I heard the crack of a gunshot. Yao Chu slipped away out the door.
"Shit, I missed." Danny stood in what I think was the doorway. I hoped he was checking for guards because someone was sure to come after hearing that stupidly unnecessary commotion. I couldn't read the connections with my head all in a j-j-jumble like this. "Princess? Are you okay?"
"God...dammit...Danny," I said. My head was light, but my body was so heavy. There was some sort of sharp, painful medium as the back of my head met the cold, hard ground.