May 5th
Peter sat in the lotus position and meditated. It was coming easier now than it had in the past. Even as a child he had struggled with the discipline, his mind had wandered rather than emptied. His father and Master Hsiao had been directing his meditations for the past two days. Slowly he had been building a box within his consciousness. Laying the foundations one brick at a time. Nag squirmed and wiggled, unhappy with what was happening but Peter didn't care. He hadn't exactly been comfortable with anything that had been done to him during his captivity. He wasn't going to worry about their comfort. He wasn't sure what the priests would think of his lack of compassion. It was one more thing he didn't care about. Not really. He knew he should but he didn't.
He slowly opened his eyes and shifted his position. He drew in a deep breath and rose to his feet. He might be getting better at the mental and spiritual side of meditation, but he had yet to learn how to completely relax physically. It was part of what was holding him back, and he knew it. He just didn't know how to change it. He didn't know how to achieve that level of serenity and wondered if he ever would.
Kwai Chang Caine opened his eyes as well, looking up at his son. "Are you alright, My Son?"
Peter nodded "Just stiff. I need to move around a bit." He said.
Caine nodded. "It will take time to fully master meditation. You have made great improvement over the past two days." He got to his feet. "Come, let us walk in the gardens."
Peter followed his father. His memories were becoming more clear with each day. Total immersion in the temple was bringing things into focus. Lessons he had learned from his father and the other priests came easily to mind. He remembered spending time in the gardens as a child. Running and playing there with his friends. Hiding there among the plants when he was angry or afraid.
Master Hsaio was gathering leaves from the various plants. He looked up and smiled at them. "How are your meditations coming?"
"Better." He answered honestly. It wasn't going as quickly as he would like but then again, nothing ever did move quickly enough to suit Peter Caine. He lived his life at Mach speed. His crazy antics that everyone objected to were because he lost patience and found the fastest way to act rather than the safest or most logical. It worked more often than it did not. Usually, because he hadn't really cared if he came through to the other side. He hadn't not wanted to survive, he just hadn't worried about whether he hadn't.
"I sense impatience." Master Hsiao said.
"Always," Peter said.
"What you seek will require patience, Peter."
"No. It will require time. Patience would just make it less frustrating that it takes so damned long." Peter shrugged.
Hsiao laughed. "There is truth in your words. Are your disciplines improving?"
"Slowly. Yes." He said "But this is one fight I can't afford to go at haphazardly. If I screw up I lose everything… not just my freedom, but everything I ever was or ever will be disappears with it."
Hsiao tilted his head. "Because of what the snake has said about your destiny?"
Peter nodded. "Yeah."
The priest shook his head "Destiny cannot be averted or destroyed."
"So my father tells me." He said "I had wondered about a paradox. You know, if Miranda was right, and somehow they keep me from doing the impossible, then there would be no Shaolin, but if there are no Shaolin, then my great grandfather doesn't become a priest, doesn't kill the emperor's nephew because there would be no Master Po to avenge, and so on which means I would never be born. And thus couldn't be used against the Shaolin so history would right itself and the circle begins again. She told me that Great grandfather didn't have to be a priest to commit murder and flee to America."
Master Hsiao shrugged. "As long as you remain alive whatever destiny the universe has given you will still be possible. Only death can stop destiny."
Peter nodded. "What if people have my destiny wrong? What if I'm not destined to save the first temple but to destroy it?"
"Then that is your destiny," Hsiao said casually. "At the moment it is more important for us to focus on keeping you out of the harbingers' control."
Jordan sighed as she set her coffee on her desk. "Well, he's taking his time about it if he's going to make an attempt."
"He's watching you," Cavenaugh said. "The people we've got watching him, say he's watching you. He's just waiting for the right opportunity."
"Not sure what he's waiting for. He didn't spend this much time stalking his previous victims." She said.
"We have no idea how long he spent stalking his previous victims. And they weren't cops. " Captain Ryan said. "He is probably biding his time waiting for us to get lazy."
"Yeah, you're probably right," Jordan said with a frown. "But at least we know he hasn't jumped bail yet."
"Yet." Cavenaugh nodded.
"Well while he's watching and waiting I still have cases to resolve." She said and looked over at Tammy who had been silent through the entire conversation. "What do you say we hit the streets, Partner."
"Sounds good to me," Tammy said and grabbed her purse.
Jordan drank the last of her coffee and headed toward the door. "You were awfully quiet back there." She said as they walked toward the car.
Tammy stopped and spoke in quiet tones. "Because I think Bellamy is going to be the one they frame for your murder if you tell them no about their cult."
"Yeah, that crossed my mind too." She said. "But there is nothing I can do about that. Do you think the judge is one of them?" Meaning the one that had granted Bellamy bail.
"I don't know but it wouldn't surprise me."
"Well fortunately I have no intention of telling them no. I may not say yes but I am not saying no. I can't seem too gung ho or they'll wonder what the hell is wrong with me."
"I'm wondering what the hell is wrong with you and I know you're not really joining," Tammy said.
"Too many years in vice. It warps the mind and soul and makes you willing to do anything to wear sensible shoes to work."
Tammy laughed "Well that would explain a lot."
Paul looked up as his office door opened and put a smile on his face that he didn't feel. "Mayor Gray, please come in."
"I hope I haven't come at a bad time." She said as she and her ever-present bodyguard entered the office, closing the door behind them.
"Not at all, I was expecting you at some point today. It is Thursday after all." Paul indicated that they should be seated. "And I have decided to accept the position of police commissioner." He said "You may regret giving me the post, " he laughed a little "As I have said I don't play politics."
"Oh, I doubt I will be disappointed, Captain." She smiled brightly, "I suppose I should say commissioner now."
"Call me Paul." He said, "I'd like a few days to wrap things up here and of course choose my replacement."
"You've been giving it thought?" She asked.
"Absolutely. I have no intention of leaving the 101st in the lurch. We've had enough loss this year as it is." He looked uncomfortable.
"Take all the time that you need." She said. "I want things to go as smoothly as possible. How is your family taking the news?"
"My family…" He shook his head "Annie thinks it's wonderful of course. She's not coming home any time soon so it's not a going concern."
"I'm sorry to hear that." She said.
"Our son disappeared a few months ago. That sort of thing is always difficult on a marriage. Doesn't matter that Peter was a grown man."
"Was?" She asked.
"It's been five months. If we haven't found him by now, well there's not much hope."
"I'm so sorry." She said.
"Thank you," Paul said in return, although his thoughts were less than charitable and certainly were not grateful.
"Well, I will leave you to it then." She said rising from the chair. "When do you anticipate being able to wrap things up here?"
"That depends on how long it takes to fill this office. I don't anticipate it being more than a week. I have a very short list of people I will be looking to give the position to. I'll check in on Monday and we'll take it from there."
She nodded "I look forward to hearing from you."
Paul rose and offered his hand to the woman. He smiled and bade her have a good day even though he would as soon shoot her as look at her. Once they left, Paul walked over to Kermit's office and went inside.
"I saw Dragon Lady and the Speed Bump come in. I take it you've put your head on the chopping block and took the promotion."
"I did."
Kermit shook his head and sighed. "So do you have a plan or are we doing this by the seat of our pants?"
"Why change how we do things now?" Paul laughed.
"Hope you have thick pants because this could bite us in the ass."
Peter picked himself up off the floor and went back to a neutral stance. It was hard not to resort to Elapidae when sparring with the monks at the temple. He wasn't here to practice that form. He was relearning kung fu. Starting at the beginning to find the path back to himself. He didn't know how it was supposed to work. He was going through the motions. Fake it till you make it. That was how he had lost himself as a teenager. How he had lost even more of himself while locked in Miranda's tower.
He knew his father was watching, with that quietly worried gaze. He could feel it as solidly as he could feel the stone under his feet. He wished he could convince him not to worry. The trouble was he couldn't even convince himself not to worry. There was plenty to worry about.
He paid attention to the next kata. The one thing he intended to hold onto from his captivity was the ability to quickly learn physical disciplines. Thankfully these instructors were less interested in punishing him for his lack of perfection.
Kwai Chang Caine moved away from the kung fu lessons and walked back toward the gardens with Master Hsiao.
"He is making progress," Hsiao said. "He will be alright."
"He doubts himself," Caine said.
"I cannot imagine anyone would not doubt themselves after such an ordeal."
"I am concerned that his doubts go deeper than the trauma from his abduction. I fear they go back to the fire that destroyed the temple."
Hsiao tilted his head, and Caine felt the slightly older man could see through to his soul. "You blame yourself for his doubts?"
"For his insecurities." The abandonment issues that Peter carried within him began with his mother's death and had increased with the temple's destruction and their separation. His time in the orphanage.
There was a few moments of silence. "You blame yourself for his abduction."
"I was seeking my path and left. It was that day that he was taken. I felt something was wrong but it passed so quickly that I assumed he had taken care of the danger himself and I continued out of town. I … abandoned him."
"Has he said this?"
Caine shook his head. "Not with his words."
"Then how do you know that is what he is actually saying?" Master Hsiao asked. " You reflect your fears onto him just as he reflects his onto us, onto the Shaolin. Which includes you. He is not the boy he was when you lost each other. You do not know each other as you once did. You held back because of your mission to redeem your family's honor, and he held back because that is what orphans do."
"I do not know how to reach him."
"Neither does he. I suspect he lost touch with himself with the fire that separated you. It was good to bring him here. He may not choose to finish his training or to become a priest as is the tradition in your family, but he will heal. He will find the boy he was and with luck, welcome him into the man he has become."
"He is a good man," Caine said.
"Of that, I have no doubt. He works too hard to shed an imagined stain on his soul for me to believe that he is at all tainted by the Harbingers' evil."
"Now if we could only convince him of this."
Master Hsiao smiled indulgently "No one can convince him of this. He must convince himself. As he grows in his disciplines he will discover who and what he is. I am concerned that once he does this, he will need to face the cult once more."
"He will not face them alone."
Miranda studied Russell Cage, as she walked around him. "You could be his brother." She said. "Are you?"
"Whose brother?" Cage asked although he knew precisely who she was talking about. "Where's Max?"
"Ah, your would-be bodyguard. He's… indisposed." Miranda said. He was dead if her people had done their job. If not well, he would be soon enough.
Russell frowned, "What does that mean?"
"It means you have more important things to worry about than Max Larkin." She pushed a stray lock of hair from his face.
Russell pulled back from her. "Why am I here? What is it you want?"
"What I want is Peter Caine. You were put in place as a decoy by Paul Blaisdell. Which of course means he knows more than he pretends to know. He's not as good at hiding things as he thinks he is."
"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a federal witness. Captain Blaisdell just provided a safe house. Max Larkin was the US marshal assigned to me. I don't know anything about a Peter Caine." It was the cover story they had come up with in case things went south. It wasn't the first time he'd been captured by an enemy. It was a risk that came with the job.
Miranda backhanded him and he hit the floor hard. He had expected the martial arts blitz that had come through the door and captured him. He hadn't expected that kind of strength from a woman who looked to be 110 pounds soaking wet. He managed to get to his feet again, albeit awkwardly as his hands were tied behind his back.
"Don't lie to me again." She said. "I always know. I can taste it in the air as easily as I taste your fear."
"You are a crazy woman," Russell said, glaring at her. He had thought that the captain was overstating things because his son had been hurt. Now he was starting to see that the man wasn't aware of how bad it had truly been. "And no amount of air tasting is going to change the fact that I don't know Peter Caine."
She struck him again and knelt beside him as he struck the floor and rolled over on his back. "Your defiance isn't going to help you, and it isn't going to protect your friend's son. Peter belongs to us," she told him. "And you will too."
"You can't own people. Slavery was abolished, remember? Or don't they teach history in crazy lady school?"
She laughed a little. "I always worry about recruits like you. So much defiance."
"Yeah well let me go if you think I'd be a bad addition to your little family or whatever the hell you call it." His hands were growing numb from the combination of tight ropes and the pressure of his body pressing them into the floor.
She laughed again, and the sound was like tinkling brass. "No, I worry that breaking you will take so long that your mind will snap in the process. But it will be a joy to see where the path takes you."
"Is that supposed to frighten me?" He asked.
"Not yet." She said, rising from the floor. "But it will."
Two men moved in to pull Cage to his feet. He tried to shrug out of their grasp.
"Take him downstairs and put him in time out." She said. "Let's see if he can break Peter's record."
Russell Cage struggled as they pulled him to the door leading down to the sub-basement.
Tyler Beckett stood behind Miranda, frowning. "What is it you wish me to do, Nagaina?" He asked.
"Make sure that Max Larkin is dead." Recent history had told her how little she could depend on her followers to actually do what she sent them to do. She was surprised they managed to bring Cage to her.
"Yes, Nagaina." He said with a slight incline of his head. He had been warned to be respectful always of this woman. There were doubts among the elders of the order about whether she was still competent to lead after the Peter Caine fiasco but they could do nothing about her until a new Nag was chosen. The reliquary could only house one of their gods at a time. In the meantime, they positioned him as her guardian to keep tabs on her actions.
He gratefully left her presence and the penthouse.
Miranda took her cell phone out of her purse and dialed her personal assistant's number.
"Yes, Miss?" Victoria answered on the second ring.
"I need you to call Adam Cross and have him come in tomorrow morning. Call it 10 am." Miranda said looking at her day planner. "We're going to track down everyone who has ever meant anything to Peter Matthew Caine."
"Yes, Miss." She said.