PART 1
Peter Caine was not at all happy. Waking up in complete darkness to find himself bound, gagged and being bounced around the back of a moving vehicle definitely set him on edge. Add to that the hang over type effects of whatever drug he had been given, and you get one very cranky Shaolin cop. He listened for a moment and then extended his newly awaken Shaolin senses to try to determine something, anything, about his present situation. All he could tell was that he was alone. He reached out again to try to touch his father's mind.
******
Kwai Chang Caine was meditating when he felt his son trying to contact him. As he opened himself fully to the communication, he was immediately flooded with a raging river of emotions. He took a moment to embrace and calm his son's chi before looking further into the cause. What he learned troubled him greatly. Peter was in danger. While that in itself was not a new experience, this time he had no idea what, why or how. Caine mentally reassured Peter that all would be well. He needed his son to remain calm so that their link would be easier to trace.
******
The van pulled to a stop. Two casually dressed thugs opened the back doors and joined Peter in the van. A thin, wiry man shined a flashlight into Peter's face.
"Well, well. What do we have here? She was right, Andre, he is awake right on time."
Andre moved into Peter's line of sight. He was about 6'6" and Peter estimated his weight to be well in excess of 250lbs, all pure muscle. In his current condition Peter doubted he could even take the smaller of the two, much less do any damage to the mountain now towering above him. So he waited. The smaller man moved out of the way and watched as Andre forcefully yanked Peter from the van.
"You doubted her, Carter? She told us the drug would only last a short while, long enough for us to grab him and get him here." Andre unbound Peter's legs and roughly shoved him forward. Not expecting this, Peter stumbled and fell to his knees.
"Geesh, Andre, be careful would ya? She said that he was to be unharmed. You injure him in any way and it's our asses."
Andre pulled Peter to his feet once more and guided him, more gently this time, toward the cabin that the van had been parked next to. Peter noted the woods surrounding them. He looked into the star strewn sky and, checking the position of the moon, he estimated the time to be around 3am. He remembered he did not get home from Delancy's until almost midnight so they could not have been driving for more than about 2 1/2 hours. As the thugs led him inside, he occupied his mind with reviewing all of the possible wooded areas he knew of within a 2 1/2 hour drive from the city.
As Peter was dragged into a large room near the back of the cabin, he caught a faint scent of jasmine. Moving from the brightly lit hall to the muted lighting of the study left him feeling almost blind. He could make out only that it was perhaps a study. The wall opposite from where he stood was lined with leather backed books lent credence to this theory.
"Leave us."
The order was issued in harsh near-whisper from a figure, obviously female, seated in a shadow darkened recliner by the
fireplace. The two men holding him released his arms and backed quickly out of the room. Their fear of the shadowy figure
was palpable. As his sight adjusted, he noticed a small, intricately carved walking cane leaning against the leather chair in which
she sat. Her hair was long and gray, and was styled such that it obscured her face.
"What the hell am I doing here?" he spat, anger building as confusion refused to vacate his thoughts. "Where am I and what
in the hell do you want with me?"
The woman sat quietly for a minute. When she finally responded, in the same near-whispering tone, her words were about the
last thing Peter ever expected to hear.
"I would have thought that your father would teach you better manners than to swear in front of a lady."
"You know my father? Is that why I am here?" Peter had a cold lump in his stomach. Something was not right here and he
instinctively knew that the next few minutes were destined to throw his world into absolute chaos. When the woman rose and
turned to him his shock was complete; his instinct justified.
"Yes, baby," she whispered, moving to him and gently cupping his left cheek with her hand, "I knew your father quite well once
upon a time, as I knew you."
END Part 1
