Peter strode calmly through the library. He knew he probably shouldn't be there all things considered. Yet there he was while his father was preoccupied with the apothecary. The man in charge of these scrolls and books was his enemy as surely as Yulong Yeoh. This was the man that wanted to see Leanne dead. Peter wanted to know why. He also knew better than to ask direct questions if he wanted honest answers. So he wandered, reading the labels as he went.

Things were very well organized. He could find the subject and who it was supposed to concern on the label of the cubby where the scrolls were kept. He had completed wandering one wall of the library reading every label he could find. Not one label had anything to do with his family, or Leanne's. He supposed that Lo Si had all things Caine under his lock and key. What about Yeoh? There was no way a man like that wouldn't have some sort of prophecy written about him somewhere.

He continued walking and reading, occasionally taking a closer look at things. He made it obvious that he was there. It shouldn't take much for the guy to notice someone was there that he didn't know. Or maybe he did. Peter rounded the corner and nearly walked into the man he assumed was the librarian. He was a little disappointed that he wasn't the man he had seen in his vision trying to kill his father with a city bus.

"Ah, Master Caine. It is master yes?" Yuan asked.

"Well, I'm a Shaolin priest who teaches. So yes, It's Master Caine. Just not a Shamballa master." So this was the man who wanted to see Leanne dead. "Sorry about the invasion. The elders said to make myself at home so… here I am."

"It is peaceful in the library," Yuan said with a nod. "Is your father here with you?"

"Yeah, he went to speak with the apothecaries," Peter said. "I don't suppose you have any prophecies involving the Yeoh bloodline stored here."

"Ah, yes, you are marrying into that bloodline as I recall."

Peter gave him a perplexed look. "No. She is marrying into the line of Kwai Chang. I would have thought you of all people would understand that. I assumed people here were of a more traditional background." Now they were on the subject. Good. It would be easier to direct the conversation.

"I try to understand the modern world as much as possible. It helps when interpreting prophecy."

Peter nodded gravely. "Yeah, I suppose it would. So anyway, back to my original question, do you have any prophecies or genealogies, histories… that sort of thing. While I am here I thought it would be interesting to see. Something to tell Li Na about when I get home."

"I don't believe so, but we can take a look, shall we? I suspect that Yulong Yeoh removed the things we did have when he was active among us." He said.

"Did you meet him? I haven't yet. Pretty sure I don't want to." Peter said.

There was a pause. Barely an instant's hesitation. "No, I can't say that I have." He said, "I believe he was apostate before I was invited into the order. I am surprised that you have not met him. The stories all say that he was fiercely protective of his granddaughter."

"What else do the stories say about him and his granddaughter?" Peter asked, keeping his tone curious and neutral.

"I'm sure you know as much as I do. They say she is immortal and that your great-grandfather abandoned her when he found this out."

Peter smirked. "She wasn't immortal when he left. He thought he was protecting them when he left."

"Did she tell you this?" He asked, his tone betraying the faintest hint of disbelief and disdain.

Peter was grateful for his undercover experience. It was the only thing keeping his features neutral. "No. He did."

Yuan raised an eyebrow. "I thought he passed before you were born."

"As a matter of necessity," Peter said. "We are one and the same." He locked gazes with the librarian briefly then let it pass.

"Ah… that would explain the fixation with the girl."

Peter laughed. "You were never married were you."

"No." Yuan said, "Why?"

"Because most people call that sort of fixation love." He said. "So who was the librarian before you?"

"Master Jiang. He was killed. I was appointed in his place."

Now that was curious. "That's unfortunate. I was hoping to speak with someone who knew something about the family."

"You have concerns?"

"About Li Na? No." He said. "I have no concerns, doubts, or reservations. Her grandfather I have concerns about."

"Love can blind one to the truth," Yuan said.

"It can also ground you in reality so you don't go believing everything you hear… or read. So why don't you stop hinting and just tell me what you think I need to hear." Peter said with a calculated sigh, feigning boredom.

"That she is utterly her grandfather's creature, Master Caine. That her immortality is tainted. I fear that your emotions have betrayed you and that she will as well."

"What do you know about me, Master Yuan?" Peter asked. "I was here a few years back when you had that dark warrior problem. I'm sure someone said something."

"That at the time you were a policeman." He said, "But I see that has changed."

"I don't carry a badge and the city doesn't pay me anymore, but once a cop always a cop," Peter said. "It makes a guy less than trusting. Even so, I trust my fiancé. So if you never met Yulong Yeoh… and there is nothing in the archives about him, where are you getting your information. I'd like to speak with them, and see if they can give me a clearer picture."

"I wouldn't know where to begin," Yuan said. "So many people speak of Yulong Yeoh. I cannot remember who told me what."

"Then perhaps you should not repeat what you cannot verify." Caine's voice startled both Yuan and Peter.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Peter asked.

"Yes. We must leave now." Caine said. "It is important."

Peter nodded. "Lead on."

Caine led the way quickly through the corridors to the same great hall where they had met with the Council earlier. Peter followed behind him silently. Caine rapped on the door and it opened for them.

"When you are ready we will come." The elder said.

"Thank you," Peter said. He hoped they could trust them. His father seemed to think so and he trusted his father. It just seemed an iffy proposition. What choice did they have?

Caine picked up his satchel and opened the book of Shamballa once more. They stepped through to the brownstone.

"So now we just need to figure out how to get Yulong Yeoh to show up instead of Hu Li," Peter said.

"Refuse to give it to anyone but him," Caine said. "If he wants it he will come."

"That will either work like a charm or someone will get hurt for being disobedient." That someone would probably be Leanne and they both knew it. "So we're going to find a way to keep her safe before this goes down."

Caine laughed quietly. "You do realize that she will have similar thoughts about you." He set his satchel on the table and took several packets of herbs from within.

"That is hardly the point," Peter said, laughing despite himself. His father was right. She'd want to be the one to meet with her grandfather. "She'll be mad but I'm going to make sure she's safe. So what are those?"

"The head apothecary believes these will counteract the effects of the red flowers," Caine said. "If I can get to the hospital quickly it may restore his vitality."

"We'll have a hell of a time getting to the hospital. I'm up for it if you are. But we're going to have to hurry. The wind is dying down but who knows how long that will last." There was no way he was letting his father go out into that alone.

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Karen lifted her head from the sofa, wakened by the sound of knocking at her door. She got up and unlocked it.

"How is he?" Strenlich asked.

"No change," Karen said. A quick look at her watch showed that it had been another two hours since she had lain her head down at his side.

He nodded worriedly. "We've got pumps going down in the cells. Not sure it's going to do much more than keep it from getting deeper down there until the rain stops."

"We'll take what we can get." She said.

He nodded again. "Powell is on the phone to the hospital trying to find out the likelihood of getting an ambulance out here for Kermit. The storm is dying down but I don't know if it's died down enough for them to send out an ambulance yet."

"Very likely not. The answer was no when I called. " She said. She understood it. She wouldn't send her people out into the storm if there was any choice at all. It didn't mean she didn't resent the fact that Kermit was the one to pay for their caution.

"I don't think they will either, but you know Powell. She's going to keep trying until she gets the answer she wants." He said. "They're going to send up sandwiches from the kitchen shortly. I'll make sure something gets in to you."

"Thank you, Frank."

"Get some rest, Captain." He said gently. "Once the storm lets up I don't think anyone is going to be getting any rest for the foreseeable future."

"I think you're right." She said. "Let's make sure everyone else has a chance to get some rest as well. There have to be enough pillows and blankets to go around. Sleeping in shifts…"

"I'll get right on that," Frank said and walked away. The captain might not be on the same level as Blaisdell in his estimation, but she was hard as nails when she needed to be and she was a good cop. It made it all the harder to see that sadness in her eyes. Everyone knew how she felt about Kermit. They hid it but they were surrounded by detectives. It was never going to be as hidden as they thought it was. Everyone liked Kermit, but she loved him.

He stepped into the center of the room. "Alright listen up." He said, taking charge as was his nature which conveniently went along with the job description of Chief of Detectives. "Blake, I want you to go down to housekeeping and see if you can't scrounge up pillows and blankets and get them back up here. Skalany go with him just in case they don't want to cooperate." She was the more intimidating of the two of them as far as Frank was concerned. "Everyone else, let's get these desks moved around to give people room to sleep. Sorry to say it's going to be on the floor people, but that's what we've got."

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Peter's clothes from his previous run through the rain had dried so he packed those and a spare set of clothes for his father in a waterproof bag and put that bag into another waterproof bag that zipped closed. It had strings not entirely unlike shoe strings with which he could carry it on his back.

He wore two pairs of socks, which made his shoes snug, almost uncomfortably so. But they would loosen a bit in the rain. He adjusted the hood of his jacket cinching it tightly so that he could keep his head dry for a few minutes out there anyway.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, and there were no visible signs of lightning.

"That's a good sign," Peter said. The storm was moving further inland. By the time it got to the next pocket of civilization, it would be nothing more than an intense thunderstorm.

"You do not have to come with me. I can make the trek to the hospital on my own." Caine said.

"I know that," Peter said. "I want to go with you. As much to get to Leanne as to make sure you make it to Lo Si."

"She is safe at the hospital," Caine said.

"Yeah, and I could point out that Lo Si won't pass before the storm does," Peter said. "We both have people we love that need us, even if not as urgently as we need to be there. So let's just get there before the storm changes its mind."

Caine nodded and positioned his satchel underneath his jacket to protect it as much as possible from the water.

They braced themselves and stepped out into the weather. The rain fell in large heavy drops and the wind felt as though it was cutting through every layer of clothing they wore. They were able to walk into the wind, even if slowly, which they wouldn't have been able to do earlier that day. So Peter counted it as progress.

The sidewalks were covered in two inches of water. His feet were soaked before they got to the street corner.

"We're going to have our hands full with clean up. The shops are going to be flooded." Peter said. The kwoon wouldn't take much in the way of damage. They'd have to replace the straw tatami in the meditation room, and maybe do some repairs on the walls where they met the floor but everything else should be fine. Others were going to lose a great deal.

Caine nodded.

Peter stepped into the street and was knocked off his feet by the swift current of the flood waters and a hidden piece of debris that he had not seen before stepping off the curb. He reached out his hand to his father who grabbed it quickly and pulled him out of the water. "This is going to be fun." He said, not quite grumbling. Like most things that got in Peter's way, it made him more determined to get past it.

Caine shrugged "Perhaps another day." He teased and smiled at the look on his son's face. "Plant your feet. Focus your … gravity… on your steps. The opposite of walking on rice paper."

Peter nodded. It was only five miles to the hospital. An easy walk. A slow one when you had to consider the traffic. It would have been a quick one now with no cars on the road. Not so quick when crossing the street could be hazardous to your health.

"We go together," Caine said.

Again Peter nodded. He and his father grasped each other's arm, and they stepped out into the water. They took each step slowly and deliberately. Peter kept an eye out for more debris as they walked. He was relieved when they stepped onto the sidewalk on the other side.

They walked as quickly as they could while still being safe. The rain came and went, as did the wind, but they never stayed away long. They stopped at a door front that had a recessed opening when the wind grew strong enough to threaten to blow them off their feet. Peter thought it had been close to half an hour that they sheltered there before being able to continue.

'We're getting close." Peter said, two blocks later.

"Yes," Caine answered. "Three blocks in that direction."

Peter nodded. He looked up at the sky. It was getting dark. It was a subtle distinction with the heavy nearly black thunderclouds. "We need to hurry." He said. "We won't be able to see the debris in the water much longer."

He didn't know how long it took them to make those last three blocks to the hospital, but he was relieved to see the building looming ahead. "He's on the 4th floor. We'll go through the parking garage. There is a door there that opens onto that floor."

Once in the parking garage he untied the cinch for his hood and pushed it back from his head. After the five miles to get there, the steady steep incline of the parking garage felt like a gentle stroll. He led the way off the ramp on the 4th floor and found the door to enter.

They found Lo Si's room easily enough and walked inside. Leanne was up from her chair instantly, going to hug Peter tightly.

"You walked all the way here, didn't you." She said as she pushed his wet hair back from his face.

"Yeah," Peter said setting aside the pack he was carrying and stepping into the bathroom. He put his jacket in the shower stall so that it wouldn't get the floor wet. "We went to Shamballa and my father found something the alchemist there said should reverse the effects of the red flowers."

She handed him his dry clothes to change into. "There should be enough towels in there. Hand me one, so I can clean up the water trail."

Peter did as requested. He wrung his wet clothes out and hung them up over the bar for the shower curtain. He dried off and dressed before heading back out into the main room, passing his father in the doorway.

"Your father was just explaining your adventure today." She said. "Do you think it will work?"

"I don't know. If we can find a way to force his hand it should work just fine. Of course, we also have to figure out how to keep Hu Li from taking the fallout for his temper tantrum when he doesn't get what he wants."

"You still think she needs your help," Leanne said.

"Now more than ever," Peter said.

"Do not let her go back to him," Wukong said. "He will come looking for her and his book"

"Good idea. Could you and Sparrow keep her detained somewhere he won't think of while we take him down?" Peter asked.

Wukong nodded. "Yes."

"I fear this may be my doing." Lo Si said.

"Why do you say that, old friend?" Caine asked, rejoining them.

"Because I have his papers from Kunlun Shan. They are hidden in my little pagoda."

"So whatever he wants is in both his papers there and his book," Leanne said.

"I don't know that we'll have time to compare the two," Peter said.

"We can copy down the titles before we leave the bank, and we can compare those." She said. "That book doesn't leave the bank in a legible state."

"I agree," Peter said. "We'll black out the pages somehow. Once it's all over we'll burn it."