CHAPTER 13: LITTLE GIRL LOST

“Where is she?!” Louis screamed as he pulled his gun at me. Jordan and Ah Fei reacted by pulling theirs too. Somehow I found it rather funny. Within a week, I’ve had guns pointed at my head so many times, it seemed as though it was an everyday affair. I placed my hand on Jordan’s extended arm and pushed it down, making him lower the weapon. I felt him resist and I increased my strength. Reluctantly he brought it down. I then shoved him aside so that only Louis’ revolver stood between us. I glared right at him.

“What happened to Jess? Where is she?” I asked calmly even though I was really worried. What had caused him to come screaming in here alone? Surely he knew it was seriously to his disadvantage? We hated cops. Full stop. Coming into Double Pleasure, brandishing his revolver, wrecking the place – he had to be mad. This was our turf. Here, there were different rules. The only law that applied was our own. I could have taken him down there and then with a snap of my fingers. Yet he still came, barging in without a care for his own life, demanding to know where Jess was. A feeling of dread crept up my spine and I shivered a little.

“You tell me,” Louis growled, his gun still pointed at me.

“I would if you’d tell me what the @#&% you’re going on about,” I retorted.

I was beginning to lose patience. He irritated me. He irritated the shit out of me. I had been walking closer to him all this while. The tip of his revolver now touched my shoulder. I could feel the cold of the steel through the fabric of my shirt. I moved even nearer, pushing myself against it, feeling it eat into my shoulder blade. I was daring him to pull the trigger. Somehow I just had a feeling he wouldn’t. I was fuming with so much anger that all I wanted to do was teach this cocky bastard a lesson. I pushed him hard so he fell backwards onto the chair. Then I grabbed his collar and yanked his neck up towards me so that our faces were almost touching.

“You’re not the only one who worries about Jess. Now, if you don’t @#&%-ing tell me what the hell’s going on, I’m going to make you regret ever coming here. I’m done playing nice,” I gnarled at him.

Louis just stared back at me – his big, brown eyes, a picture of astonishment. I had caught him by surprise. That seemed to break his ice cool demeanour a bit. Shaken and in a trembling voice, he told me how he had been out with Jess when she was suddenly abducted. He had given chase, first on foot before commandeering a car to pursue the kidnappers. But he had lost them after awhile. He had no idea who those men were and what they wanted. I could tell from his voice how frustrated he was. Maybe he really cares for Jess.

“All I could think of was that it had something to do with you,” he continued.

I slowly released my grip on his collar. Louis too relaxed his arm and drew back his revolver. It took all the strength I had to keep myself from collapsing onto the floor. Two words flashed vividly in front of me. Hung yeh. No. No. No. No. No! He wouldn’t dare. The lounge began to spin like a top. The lights blurred my vision. It was as if I was drunk. Like a zombie, I walked back towards my office leaving them all behind in the lounge. My head hurt so much and it felt as if my brain was going to explode. Even my lungs seemed to be pressing against my ribcage as I gasped for air.

I opened my office door and walked in and behind my desk. With quivering hands, I pulled at the drawer. Inside was a .45 ACP Smith & Wesson pistol – a ‘gift’ from my father. I wrapped my fingers around the cold steel handle and lifted it up. Having not held a gun for so long, the weight of it felt foreign to my hand. Deftly, I clicked at the catch to release the magazine. Satisfied that it was fully loaded, I pushed it back in, locking it back in place. I pulled back on the slide, loading the bullet into the barrel. This little baby packed 7 rounds plus 1. All I could think of was pumping them into Hung yeh.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Jordan was standing at the door staring at the gun in my hand.

“I’m going to get Jess back,” I said. Hell, I didn’t even know where she was. I didn’t know if it really was Hung yeh who had taken her. I didn’t know shit.

Jordan walked towards me and carefully removed the pistol from my clutches, slowly prying my fingers away. My knuckles were white from holding it so tight.

“What you need to do now is calm down,” he said.

“Calm down?!” I screamed. To hell with controlling my emotions. My mind was swirling with a million and one questions. I couldn’t think straight anymore. “You’re asking me to calm down?! Jess is in danger and you’re asking me to calm down?! How do you expect me to calm down?!”

I was ranting and I knew it but I couldn’t help it. All I knew was that I had to save Jess. How, I didn’t know. I just had to save her. My anger gradually gave way to fear. If anything happened to Jess, I didn’t know what I would do. I would give anything to get her back.

Jordan grabbed my shoulders and shook me. “Get a grip of yourself. Going insane isn’t going to help Jess at all.”

I sunk back into my chair. My body felt drained of all energy. What Jordan said was true. I had to be rational. I had to think. But damn it, I couldn’t. My mind was a sea of confusion. I felt really helpless. Totally and utterly helpless. I buried my head into my hands. I couldn’t control my feelings any longer. Tears of worry and fear flowed without restraint.

“I’m scared, Jordan,” I sobbed. “If anything happens to Jess, I…” I couldn’t finish those words.

“Look, we have no idea who took Jess or why they took her. We don’t know if it’s Hung yeh for sure.”

“I know it is!” I interrupted.

Jordan sighed. “If it really was Hung yeh, don't you think we'd hear from him?”

Just then the phone on my desk rang.