“Hey, it’s that security fellow,” Jake said. “How you doing?”
“Hurry,” Chan Lee said. “We need to get the two of you out of the building.”
“What about Lin?” Alexandra asked as she passed the Taiwanese man and he closed the door behind them.
“She is fine. Come this way.”
Suddenly Jake pulled away from Alexandra and found a garbage can. He puked his guts out and then wiped his mouth with the bottom of his shirt.
Alexandra saw the bruises to his chest and she almost gasped. He had taken a beating. “You have a concussion,” she said, and then put his arm over her shoulder to help Jake walk.
“Yeah,” Jake said. “I got one of these a couple times a year playing football in high school. Where the hell are we?”
“Taiwan,” the security man said, waving his arms for them to hurry.
“How about a little help,” Alexandra said.
“Sorry.”
The man got to the other side of Jake and their progress was much faster. They went through a security door and then down a couple sets of stairs, entering a back door to the building security office. Finally, they ended up in Chan Le’s private office without going through the banks of personnel in front of security monitors.
They set Jake on a black leather sofa, and Alexandra checked his eyes. They seemed to be swirling around in his head.
Chan Le handed Alexandra a first aid kit and she found the supplies she needed, immediately patching Jake’s shoulder wound. Most of the bleeding had already dried up, though, turning from a frothy red to a rust color. He was lucky the bullet had entered from the front, clipped the top of the clavicle and exited immediately. Next, she wiped the wound on Jake’s head and then patched it with a large bandage. Then she checked his body for any more wounds, but found only bruises.
“How did you find Jake?” Alexandra asked.
“I was watching from my computer,” Chan Le said. “I had to make sure to cut certain feeds at the right time. But when I saw General Wu Gang try to escape into the dampen ball chamber, I was about to notify Lin when I saw Mister Adams follow him in. So I kept the feed running.”
“Did you keep a copy?” Jake asked. “I can’t remember a damn thing.”
“I did. Just in case you were caught. They would see you acted in self defense.”
“I did?” Jake said. “Good to know. Where’s that other woman? What’s her name?”
“Lin,” Alexandra provided. She turned to Chan Le. “Where is she?”
The security officer checked the large computer screen on his desk, obviously clicking through various monitors. “There she is. She’s on her way here.”
“How did the police get up to the eighty-eighth floor?” Alexandra asked.
Chan Le smiled. “As planned, with the elevators locked, they were forced to walk up the fire stairs. I made sure to call Lin when they got close.”
“That’s why she told me to go find Jake.”
“Exactly. When I saw Mister Adams collapse, I hurried up to check on him and to make sure he got out.”
The main door opened and Lin rushed in, her eyes scanning the room. “Is Jake all right?” she asked.
“There’s that hot Asian girl,” Jake said. “What’s your name again?”
“Lin.”
“Right.” Jake tried to access his brain, but he was having a hard time.
“What happened to General Wu Gang?” Lin asked.
Chan Le said, “He’s dead.”
“Good.” Lin nodded her head with approval. “He was an evil man.”
Alexandra crossed her arms over her chest and said, “Now what?”
Lin sighed. “You need to give me your guns and we need to get you out of this building and out of Taiwan.”
Jake felt his body for weapons. “I’m all out young lady.” He found an extra magazine in his pocket and handed it to Lin. “That’s all I got.”
Alexandra pulled her gun and removed the magazine. She was down to her last magazine with only two rounds remaining, one in the magazine and the other in the chamber, which she removed and handed to Lin. “Jake must have lost his gun in the struggle,” Alexandra explained.
“I’ve got my gun right here,” Jake said, his hand over his groin. “Never go anywhere without it.” He smiled broadly.
Lin pulled Alexandra aside and whispered, “He should see a doctor before he leaves.”
Alexandra knew she was right. “I know. But we can’t risk the questions. I’ll put him on a first class flight. I’d like to sedate him, but I know I should keep him awake.”
“I’ll drive you to the airport,” Lin said. “We can stop to pick up some drugs once the stores open.” Lin turned to Chan Le and said, “We should get going. I hope you have a plan to get us past the police.”
Chan Le smiled. “Of course. I have some security uniforms for each of you. His shirt is full of blood anyway.”
Alexandra shook Chan Le’s hand and thanked him for his help. Then she hugged Lin and kissed the younger woman on the cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered into her ear.
“No, thank you,” Lin responded. “I could not have taken down the general without you and Jake.”
Jake got up from the sofa and almost fell back down. Lin caught Jake and gave him a big hug. “Thank you, Jake. I will not forget this.”
Once they covered their clothes with the security uniforms, Chan Le simply escorted the three of them to the elevators, past the police check-point, and out the building into the night air. Then he pretended to give them orders and the three of them wandered off to Lin’s car across the street.
Lin drove them to the airport and Alexandra and Jake found a flight to Vancouver, Canada. First class.
34
Jake had finally cleared the cobwebs from his brain about the time they got to Vancouver, Canada. From there they had caught a flight to Frankfurt, Germany. Then on to Rome and a short flight to Calabria. It had been a number of years since Jake had traveled to the southernmost region of Italy, but the weather there was nearly perfect this time of year.
A week had passed and they were staying at a villa on a cliff with an infinity pool. Jake wore just a pair of shorts and sun glasses as he gazed out at the Tyrrhenian Sea toward the island of Stromboli. He felt a bruise on his ribs that had changed from dark black and blue to yellow and light green. The bruises hurt more than the bullet wound to his shoulder.
Alexandra wandered out to the terrace in her bikini carrying two large yellow drinks. She handed one to Jake and took a seat in the lounge chair next to him.
“What do you have for me this time?” Jake asked. He lowered his sun glasses and looked at the drink. “This better not be some kind of grappa drink. I’m not a fan.”
“It’s a Limoncello. Very tasty.”
He sipped the drink and shook his head. “And strong.”
“You’re still healing,” she said.
Jake pushed his glasses up and patrolled her body from top to bottom. My God, she was beautiful.
“Where do we go from here?” she asked, and then set her drink on the table between them.
He looked out at the crystal blue water and said, “I don’t know. Maybe we should find a place down here.”
“I am sick of the cold and wet weather,” she said.
Smiling, Jake said, “And I like your attire much more down here.” He set his drink down and reached his hand across the table, taking her hand in his.
“Sounds like a plan,” she agreed.