Hansel and Gretel: a Loli Fairytale

by

Sarah Lynn Morgan

Part Three

 

Noriko, and Mason were sitting in his small cubical at the station, listening to reports from the units in the field. The detectives had been following the pair from the hotel for over an hour, but for the last thirty minutes, they seemed to be taking their time. In fact, that they had been in the same small area for a good fifteen minutes, and except for a couple of phone calls, they showed no sign of moving on, or doing much of anything. This told the officers that the meeting must be soon, but even though the cops seemed pleased by this, it was little consolation for Noriko. She was in her own private hell, not knowing how she had screwed up, except for the fact that they must have been seen. She also knew that that the thing that was eating at her the most was that she had already done all that she could.

There was nothing more that she could do, and she had never felt so helpless, and hopeless in her life.

For Detective Captain Mason, it was a hard wait also. He knew that there were actually two possibilities for why the two suspects had stopped where they were. They could have made the tail, which given what he thought of Jackson, seemed the most likely reason to his mind. Marsh had not said anything specifically on the air, but several of his calls had left little doubt that Jackson had not turned particularly competent at any time this particular morning.

It was about that time, that the Chief of detectives walked into his office, and slammed the door so hard behind him that at first Mason thought he had broken the glass. It was obvious that the Chief had just gotten in, and that he was as angry as Mason had ever seen him.

"Detective, would you mind telling me just what the fuck has been going on here this morning?" Chief Detective Webber looked for all the world like a man who was fighting to get the words out without biting his own tongue off. He finished by slamming a fax that had come in from The Times on Mason's desk. "You just take a look at that god damned story that the times is asking me to comment on before they send it to print by ten this morning! On top of that, my wife just called me, and told me that the news is running a story about how we've completely fucked up the Chin Lau investigation so bad that we not only let the top members of the gang probably walk Scot free, but now we may be responsible for two child witnesses being murdered. I'd kind of like to know if it's true before I talk to these jokers, so you damned well better start telling me what's going on, and then in less than three minutes, you tell me what the fuck have you been doing about it?" Weber stopped, glairing at Mason, his breathing so heavy that he looked for all the world like a bull in a ring, who was just making up his mind when to charge.

Mason picked up the fax, mostly to cover the fact that he already knew what was written there, and scanned it, before he looked back at his boss.

"It's very simple Al. The two kids took the bag money that we thought walked away, and it looks like the Tong got to them first. In part, it was because this woman tried to get the kids out of town. In part because, thanks to that Fuck-up that they sent down here to take over for me, we lost about three hours with the boy wonder doing an impression of a detective with his head up his ass. I got here about a half hour after I got the call from the desk sergeant and one of my men, telling me that Jackson had made a collar in the Lau case."

Webber looked back at Noriko, and asked "Then, why isn't she in a cell, Captain?"

"Because she hasn't been charged. She is assisting us in this investigation." Mason said calmly.

"Well at the very least, Mason, she's a material witness in a capitol kidnapping case, and is guilty of obstruction. Would you like to explain what the fuck she is doing giving interviews to the press in the middle of the night? And while you are at it, perhaps you can give me a reason why I don't lock you both up in the same cell right now, so that I can get to the bottom of this whore house you call an investigative unit?"

"It's simple Al. If Jackson had not held her, and read her rights to her before he had any idea exactly what was going on, I probably would have. But since she was demanding that she be released already, I knew that if we did, that it would look like we were just stalling around like a second rate bunch of fools. The second she got her lawyer in here, it would take him about five minutes on the phone with judge Hanes, who is on the bench tonight by the way, to secure an order for her release. Not only would that set us up for false arrest, but also it would have prevented us from securing help from Miss Yokoshira. I thought it would be better to get her on our side. At least, I thought it would be a lot better than just locking up someone who's told us everything already, and perhaps it would even allow us to focus on the kids. I need her help if I'm to get those kids back."

"What about the Kids?" Webber asked. This time, the sound of his voice, and even his facial expression looked completely different.

"We have two of the bagman under tail right now, and we are hoping they will contact one of the top tong members shortly. Hopefully, it will be one who will lead us to them. Right now, it's the best we have. We know who has them, but we don't know where they are." Mason wanted to yell too, but knew that it would do no good. "Wherever they are, I hope the news story will keep them put long enough, because those S.O.B's will be afraid to move them."

"Oh, so that was your idea? Well tell me, Captain, what if they are in a secure place, what do you think Lau will do to them?"

Mason took another breath, as his eyes flickered in Noriko's direction. "Since they obviously know where the money is, then they would have killed the kids already. If they were going to that, then it's too late. The story is the best hope, if they are not already dead. If they are, then it doesn't matter, because we are already looking for them with as many men as we could pull in from other duties. Either way, if it makes them nervous enough to make a mistake, so much the better."

Noriko sobbed quietly, but although both men heard her, neither turned away from the battle of wills that was taking place. Perhaps it was what made them such good friends. It made them both better cops.

Al's shoulders slumped only slightly. "Jesus. If those kids are already dead, then the press and the Mayor will have a field day. You realize that the field we are talking about will be or asses? You had better not fuck this up, Mason, because if you do we are all out of a job, and before I turn in my gun and shield, I will, by god, shoot you myself. But for now, I want her locked up."

"On what Charge, Al?" Mason asked far more calmly than he felt.

"Grand theft for the money, and Obstruction." He snapped.

"It won't wash, Al. She sent a letter to the Commissioner detailing where the money could be found. If that letter shows up, which I'm sure it will, we have no grounds. The obstruction would be pretty hard to push too, considering I wanted her to talk to the press. That, and the fact that she gave a statement that she had intended to contact the police or the FBI once the children were safely out of town. The best we can nail her for is being scared and stupid. Unfortunately, it's not only you and I who will know that what she did wasn't all that stupid. If we bust her now, it's going to look like retaliation to every two-bit stringer with a course in journalism."

"Well was it your fucking brainstorm to tell them that we were the most incompetent bunch of imbeciles since the porcupine tried to fuck on an electric waterbed?"

"I think you can thank Jackson for that one, a little more than me at least, Al." Mason said flatly.

Frustrated the chief of detectives turned on Noriko. "You want to tell me why you went tried to make us look like fools. Did you think that part would help? Why didn't you come to us, before you tired to stick a knife in our backs?"

Noriko just looked back at him for a moment or two. She was too tired to care any more. She spoke her mind: "Come to you?" she gave an excellent impression of incredulity. "Just where were you? I didn't see you when that ass had me in an interrogation room half the night, with that ass doing some kind of bad sleuth impression. And while we are on it, how many people have you gone down to see in an interrogating room, because they complained about how they were mistreated treated? I suspect we both know the answer to that; and lastly, it wasn't your back I stabbed. If you look carefully, the bruise where I kicked you is a little lower than that. I just want those children found, sir, and I don't care what happens to you, or to me, or most especially not some idiot who is so obviously unfit for his job." Even Noriko was amazed at how calm and normal her voice sounded.

The Chief knew that his only chance was for the children to be found safe, and the odds of that were very poor indeed. He looked back at Mason, who just returned his stare, while he tried to assess his odds. Even if he threw his friend down the chute right here and now, and tried to save what he could, it would not be enough. Nothing he did now would matter. If this went south, then they were both screwed. He could see in Mason's eyes, that he knew all this too. Well, at least if he had to risk his pension at this late date, it was on the one man who had never failed him… Yet.

The chief of detectives motioning his Captain to follow him out of the room, and both men walked out of the room, and all personality was forgotten, as both tried to see what they could do to improve the odds. When they had left, Noriko physically slumped in the chair. If there had been any other person in the room to hear, they would have noticed how loud the ticking of the clock sounded at that moment, and perhaps if they listened closely enough, a very small sad voice that said: "Where are you?"

 

 

It was impossible with one set of pliers, but he could not give up now. He was almost frantic trying to get the last pin out. So much so that Maggie had even stopped urging him on. He didn't respond to her anymore anyway. So she worked on the lamp, trying to pull the cord off, intending to use it to strangle the first person through the door. Perhaps in that way, John at least could get away. She had no success, until John threw the pair of nail clippers on the table. He had been using them to jam into the gap between that ring at the bottom of the pin, and the door, trying to hold it as he turned the pin to loosen. He found, however, that by jamming in pieces of the plastic fork instead, that the last pin was starting to turn finally. Feeling like an idiot, Maggie picked up the clippers, and quickly snipped off the cord at the base.

 

The call came in while Mason and Al were still outside. "This is Marsh, we have them." he said, and then as if he was talking to someone else away from the microphone. "No! Don't move. Lets see what happens."

Another voice came through "Let go of my arm, Marsh. Who the fuck you think you are…" before the click of the mic button cut off the tirade.

"Christ." Mason Whispered to himself, and walked over to the radio set that they were using to monitor from the squad room. The detective who was monitoring the set did not even look over his shoulder at Mason, as he reached past his shoulder for the microphone. "Marsh, this is Mason. What do you have?"

"We got two of them, Captain. The big scary looking one who runs around with the woman Ling, and the other big fellow who we thought worked directly for Lau himself. It looks like they are moving in to talk with the kids now. It looks like we have some the tong's top people on this one, so we may be lucky." Then, they heard the mike button snap again.

"Marsh, listen," looking at the Map that was spread on the desk, the one that the detective sitting at the desk was holding a sharpened pencil point on, "can you make it over to unit three on foot?"

"I think so, but if you'll forgive me, Sir, that's not a very good idea. It may attract their attention to us. These guys are not like trailing a bunch of kids. These are the bodyguards for the top members of the Tong. We'll be lucky to even track of them, without giving it all away."

"I know that, Marsh, but I need Jackson here, and I need him now. We have another lead, and I want my most experienced man to coordinate with the Chief Inspector on it." He hoped the Lie sounded better on the other end.

The Chief of detectives just nodded at Mason. He had been around a long time, and knew that he had been coldly had when he had one of the "top candidates" from another precinct had been rammed down his throat. He knew that he was probably going to get a fuck-up of some type. He just never envisioned it would be this bad. This guy must have been fucking the Mayor's dog for years, with full motion video, to still be in uniform.

Again they heard an argument. "I don't care what he fu…" then the line went dead with a loud snap again.

It was almost a full minute later when Marsh called in again. "Captain, when they move, Jackson and I will sit tight, and I'll let unit bravo tail them. He is in front of them anyway. Then I'll jump out, and duck through the store on the corner, and Jackson will be on the way back."

Then Jackson's voice came on. "Sir I protest this order. It could ruin my investigation when we are very close here. Is this really necessary?"

"It's necessary, Jackson. Just get yourself back here. We don't need you for this, and I'm calling in other units to join the parade. We need more men on this one, and I need you here to coordinate the larger op." He snapped his fingers at the detective at the desk, and held up two fingers. That came too late, thought, since the detective was already on the phone with dispatch, ordering in two more teams of detectives and passing the word to the uniformed units in the area that they were in play. Mason continued: "Besides you've been on them all morning. It's better for you to pull back, and let someone else take over. Out." Mason killed the mike in disgust. "His investigation! Slimy little bastard." He whispered just loud enough that no one outside of the building could possibly hear him.

 

 

The bottom of the door pin turned freely now. Two of John's fingers were bleeding, because he had only gotten it to turn by getting his finger stuck between the pin and the door; but, the pin was slowly moving, held now only by the weight of the door.

 

 

"Maggie!" he called softly, "I think I've got it." As he began twist and pull the pin as hard as he could, grunting freely with the effort. She came over, still holding the shade-less lamp and a cord in her hands.

"Good, John. Hurry!"

"I am." He grunted.

Noriko looked at the clock. It was ten, a.m. She must have dozed. While she was sleeping, her mind had not stopped, though. In her unconscious state, her Id had played the cruelest of games with her, but summoning up all manor of horrible ends for friends. The most common of which was the thought that when the thugs had seen the news, that they had slaughtered the children right in front of the TV as it blared out the news. Noriko thought she would be physically ill many minutes after she awoke.

The news story had sent the 'thugs' into consternation. Noriko could not know that it had in fact bought time for several hours while they decided what to do. Had it not been for that, the children would have been in a van on the way west, and well out of town at that hour. Unfortunately, now it looked like they would be headed east, later tonight, instead: toward the river

Ling knew that she had to recover that money, if she were ever to save face, but her uncle was already telling her to cut their losses. She had no doubts of her tenuous standing with him, family or no. When their two bodyguards got back, she was to start cleaning up. She was already on the way back to the factory to check on the little shit she had left there to watch them. She had half a mind to get rid of him as well, but did not know how to do it, without freaking out her own bodyguard. Perhaps she would tell him to stay and clean up the factory before the workers came back on Monday. The factory was just coming in sight, and she smiled in spite of herself. At least she was free to pay the little bitch, and her darling little brother back for the trouble they had caused her. Her stomach began to flutter with the excitement she always felt at such times. Soon, now. Very soon…

 

 

On impulse, Maggie knelt down, and plugged in the cord. She tentatively touched it to the metal of the table leg, causing an impressive electrical arc. She laid it carefully on the table John was grunting with effort, and bending over as she was, she could clearly see that the thin metal of the chair he was standing on was beginning to buckle. "Hold it John!" she hissed. "The chair is breaking. Here, try this," she said, as she handed him the lamp. It was too much for him to do at one time, however, and finally they wound up with him holding the pliers on the pin as tightly as he could, while she hit them from the bottom with the lamp. Suddenly the pin slipped free.

For full second or two, both John and Maggie watched the door as if they expected it to pop open by itself. The door did not move however, which confused both children.

"Now what?" John asked to himself, as he stepped off the chair, and reached over to pull the door open by the knob. For the first inch of travel, the door swung out just as it normally would. Maggie whispered, "John, be…" He never heard the rest. The door, which was much heavier than either of them suspected, slipped off of the hinges, and swing by the chain down onto metal chair, creating a series of loud metallic bangs and booms that seemed to shake the floor itself. It was the door itself, that even as it swung around, knocked John on his rear.

It seemed that the door had only just come to rest, laying sideways in the doorway, still partially blocking the door since it was held up at an angle by the chain, when they could hear the sound of a door slamming down the hall, and running feet.

In panic, Maggie rushed to see if John was Ok. He was, and he was almost back up on his feet before she could reach him. The running feet were closer now, the sound punctuated with swearing. Maggie unconsciously held the lamp in front of her as she stepped between John and the door.

The punk that had been there last night suddenly slid to a halt in the doorway. Clearly, he had been asleep, as he looked from the door to the two children. "What the fuck…" he started to climb into the room over the door, over anxious to get at the still trapped children, when finally he took notice of the lamp that Maggie held before her. He stopped, balancing precariously on the door; and, with his eyes never leaving the children he began to reach to the small of his back in an effort to draw his gun.

John and Maggie had been in this position once before, trapped in the elevator, and had tried the calm approach. Not this time. John began to push past her, but it was Maggie who sprang forward with a loud shriek, and slammed the lamp into the thugs shoulder. She had aimed at his head, but he had pulled his right hand back up to protect himself.

The force of the blow was not great enough to put him out of commission, but it did cause him to loose his balance, and he began to scramble for footing. "Fuck!" he shouted, as he finally lost his balance, and fell very heavily to the door, and slid into the table and the wastebasket just beside the door.

Both Maggie and John were frozen in place for a moment, as they watched the spectacle of the young hood crashing to the floor. Unfortunately, it was just enough time to allow him to bring the gun back up, and point it at Maggie's face. "Drop it, or I blow your frigging brains out, you little pain in the ass." Maggie was ready strike out, but John, seeing the odds clearly, reached over and pushed the lamp down until Maggie released it.

At the sound of the lamp thudding on the floor, the hood reached down without looking away from the children, and pushed the wastebasket away from his feet. Feeling that he was soaked, his eyes snapped involuntarily to look at his feet as they slipped on the wet floor, and door.

The hood put his hand down to the bottoms of his jeans, and touched the wetness he felt there. "What the fuck did you do?" he asked, as he brought the tips of his fingers to his nose…

"Oh, fuck." His eyes flashed around at the two children. "You fucking little bitch. I'm going to kill you myself," he screamed at them. Then in anger, he turned to untangle his feet, as he tried to pull himself out of the offal liquid he was sitting in. In his murderous rage, kicked the table away from him, causing the cord to fall onto his legs.

The reaction was instant. The thug tried to scream but the sound that came out was more like a prolonged grunt, as his spine arched, slamming his head back into the door. He continued to spasm, as the light in the ceiling began to dim, and the buzz of live electrical circuits began to grow louder. Again the hood tried to scream. His hand still convulsively gripped the steel doorframe, and his eyes rolled back in his head, as smoke began to rise from his lower legs.

Then the lights went out.

Maggie and John just stood there for moments, neither moving, until the lights flickered once more, as the automatic breakers tried to reset. This causing the thug's body to lurch upward once more, but this time much less than he had done when he was still alive.

That was enough. Maggie reached for John's arm, and began to move to the door.

John started to reach for the gun in the punks hand, but Maggie pulled him frantically back. "No, John! You'll be electrocuted" and just then the lights flickered again, showing that Maggie was probably right.

Looking at the door, both children were afraid to try and cross it with the electricity going on and off at random. John, then got an idea, and ran back to the couch, and pulling the cushions off. Once he got back over beside Maggie, he put them on top of the door so that they could get out. In moments they were outside, and their footsteps echoing down the corridor as they ran…

"Unit B, I think they are looking at you, I want you to pull up and pass them on the left. You are out of it, so just keep going." Once again there was the low mummer of the clear channel. Mason swore, it was the second unit that the young detective had pulled out of the tail. He was running out of units fast at this rate, but Mason knew he was right. Mason did not even consider reaching for the handset. These two were the bodyguards, and were used to looking for set ups, and traps at all times. He knew that one mistake, and if the kids were still alive, a cell call would be made…

Thank god he pulled Jackson out. The kid was doing well, bringing a twinge of personal vindication to Mason's gut for recommending him, but the odds were still foul. It was like seeing a kitten thrown into a pit with two bulldogs. The kitten was keeping away, but how long could it last. All Mason could do was to silently cheer him on for each new minute he lasted.

Mason looked back at the door to his office, wherein the woman waited. He had no real intention of telling her but he badly wanted to. However, It would do no good, and he knew that desire came mostly from his feeling so helpless. Well, there was one thing he could do. He picked up the phone, and hit the four-digit code that would connect him to the 42^nd precinct's dispatcher. It was just a few seconds when he started to speak "This is Mason at the 53^rd. I have a tail moving into your zone, and I need at least two plain-clothes backup units to assist. Subject is moving down Watson Boulevard, between Geary and Western. Subjects are armed and extremely dangerous. I also need you to get Lieutenant detective Benson on the phone, right now…" He did not think they would get there in time, but it was something.

 

 

Out on Watson Blvd., Marsh was reaching over the back seat into a bag to pull out a baseball cap, and some sunglasses. It was rapidly reaching the point that they may have to peal off too, but his instinct alone was telling him he still had one more shot in there with the hat trick. He wished it were a pair of pants. Detective Marsh was sweating so bad that he felt like he had pissed his seat.

No one had designated him in command. In fact, any one of the detectives on the detail outranked him, and at least two should have taken over. They were all listening to the same channel however, and the calls to the Captain had seemingly designated him. Besides, everyone was just too damned busy trying not to bee seen. Marsh had almost expected a call ordering him back to the precinct house too, but mostly he was just too busy and too scared to think about it.

"Marsh, this is Mason, come in!" For just a moment, he felt like he might just piss himself after all- or at the very least throw up. Slipping the hat on his head, he picked up the microphone and almost shouted, "Go, sir!"

"Easy Marsh! You are doing fine. Now listen. There is a green mustang up ahead of you, do you see it."

Marsh looked, and quickly spotted the car about two blocks up, being driven by an older woman. "I have it sir. Why?" he asked more abruptly than he had wanted to speak to the man who was to all extents his mentor.

Mason, came right back: "Now listen son. That's an unmarked pursuit car from the 42^nd. On the next turn by the suspects, the officer will pull to the side, and give you the car. I have three more cars lined up, and two more units of detectives from the 42^nd joining you on this TAC channel right now. They will be unit E in a gray Taurus, and F in a black Volvo wagon. Copy?"

"Copy Sir." Marsh said, more grateful for the sanction from Mason, than he was for the actual cars.

"Now be careful. The officer in the Mustang has been instructed to watch to make sure that the suspect vehicle is out of sight first, but when she's sure, she will stop wherever she is. You have to move fast, so that you don't cause a traffic snarl, and attract too much attention. For god's sake, don't get in an accident, because that will tip off the goons. Leave detective Burk in your unit, and get ahead of them as fast as you can. Copy?" Mason had said it all with one breath.

 

It was a few seconds more than he expected, before Marsh came on the line. So long in fact that Mason was just about to call him back. Finally, when the speaker once again carried Marsh's voice, he was speaking to the team. "All Units. This is Marsh. We just got some help. I'm going to execute a car swap into a green 88 Mustang, plate number Alpha-Lima-Echo-one-five-three. I want unit Bravo to move forward to take position behind unit Delta. Unit Echo will move into position, and get ready to take over after Unit Bravo. Unit Charlie, will drop out, and contact base on another channel, and follow at a distance. Unit A, the green mustang, will continue down Weston, and move to do a cross over. Units, Echo, and Fox, acknowledge."

Mason sighed, and looked at the Chief of detectives. He too had once aspired to be an Assistant Chief of the whole force, and had once, for two horrible years, been a precinct commander. He had found that, as he grew older, that he preferred police work to administrative headaches. His friend had those now, and he was glad that they were his babies. To his great surprise, his boss just nodded at him, and picking up the fax, turned and walked out of the room. It was unwritten, but clearly understood that once he was out of the picture, that someone would look after young detective Marsh. The boy was very good, and deserved that much at least.

From somewhere behind him, he could hear a loud arrogant, and grating voice demanding his whereabouts. Mason smiled. It did not matter any more that Jackson had the same last name as the Mayor. This was one thing that he could do, and was damned well going to enjoy it. With the Newspapers hitting the streets in a few hours, he had a free hand to deal with this particular asshole. With his retirement papers in hand, there was no way for the bastards pushing him along to retaliate it either, either. Yes, this was going to be a small pay back that he should have been able to give for a half a dozen assholes over the past thirty years, and he was going to make it count. That had been understood, but unspoken between he and his boss as well.

Mason turned back to another detective. "Marsha, would you go and get Miss Yokoshira out of my office for a few minutes, and take her down to get some food into her. I don't want her here right now, and I'm going to need my office?"

"Yes Captain." The woman who was almost as young as marsh, answered with only a slight smile. Something in her voice however, caught the attention of everyone in the room. Clearly the joy and relief at what was about to happen to her nominated boss had reached the far corners of the room. All she had said was Yes, but she might as well have called him "darling." He treasured the relief in her eyes even more.

 

 

The third door was locked also. Two had had padlocks, and this one had a chain too. Margaret had to stop for a breath. Her hand went reflexively to her side.

"At least the inside doors are mostly unlocked, but we need to find a way out!" John was panting too.

"I know that, come on, and lets try this way." Maggie said, as she pulled him toward a room full of trash bins. Most of the bins were empty, but several were full, and there was a large square door in the wall that obviously lead to a dumpster. John lifted a bar, and slid it aside to open it to see if they could get out that way. It only led to the inside of a compactor though, and they could not get out that way either. In disgust, John pushed the door closed, and had begun to run toward the hall once more, frantically looking for a way out. When the metal door hit, the handle flipped down, causing a loud metallic boom. "Shit!" Maggie gasped over the pain, and panting in her side.

Behind them, Ling Lau was creeping quickly but quietly toward the room where the children were supposed to be with her gun already in her hand. She could see the door on its side, and knew something had gone badly wrong. Her gun was drawn, not from fear of the two children, but because she was going to shoot the first person she saw, especially that asshole she left here to make sure that nothing went wrong. Thank god that the door she had chained when she left had still been locked. She was almost at the door...

"All units, all units, subject vehicle has just pulled over! Christ, it's the old man!" There was a pause of about a half a second, then came "No, don't slow down! Keep moving. All units! Suspect vehicle has just pulled over, and the Old Man, believed to be Chin Lau is getting in the car. Unit A will move to Sixteenth Street. Unit Echo, move south two blocks, and hold. Unit Fox move four blocks north and hold. Unit Bravo will pull into the Texaco Station across the street. They must not have seen us yet, so everyone just watch it. Don't blow it now, for god's sake. Out."

Mason smiled at that one. They might just bag the old man too. If they could link him to a capitol kidnap of two minors, along with all the other stuff they had, they would be able to throw him in a hole so deep, he'd never see sunlight again. Good. The slamming of the door behind him, as Jackson stormed out on indefinite administrative leave, made him smile even more broadly…

 

 

John and Maggie had moved up the stairs, and were trying windows, but most of those had been screwed shut. John had fallen on the stairs, and had gotten a cruel bruise on the front of his shin. Now they were both limping, as they frantically searched for a way out. Behind them, they heard the same loud bang, and the sound of a shot being fired into the trash compactor. Maggie and John both froze, just as the blood in their vanes did, as the shot echoed along the long corridors.

Quickly, Maggie pulled John over to a corner, and pushed him down behind a desk.

They had gone through a bunch of rooms that had not been used for a while, and were now back in an area was being used for some kind of storage. It was full of paper drums, and the walls and lights were new and brightly lit.

"Shit, Maggie" John sobbed. Maggie grabbed her brother, ignoring the pain in her side, and hugged him too her as he began to loose it.

"Shhhhh, John. It's Ok. This Place is huge, she can't find us very quickly." John nodded his head, but he also let loose another involuntarily whimper. "Be quiet, Hon. Please. Let Maggie think." Margaret said gently, slipping into a tone that she had not used with John for many years. Neither, Noticed. Maggie was looking around the room, when she noticed some red boxes hanging down from the ceiling over the drums.

"John, listen." Maggie said quietly. "We can't get out." John started to speak, but Maggie stopped him. "Shhhh! We can't get out, John! All the doors are locked. I think I have a way to get help. Do you still have the matches?"

John nodded his head, and pulled the matches out.

"Stay here, John. When I come back, we need to go back down stairs, Ok?"

John, just nodded again, but did not ask anything more.

Maggie moved to the drums, and looked up at the sensor. Sure enough, it was a fire detector. She looked down hall quickly, and then bent to read the label on the drums, which read. "Hazardous Waste. State Regulated material. Oily solids."

 

Maggie looked at the top for a moment, and quickly figured out how to open the ring. Slipping the ring off, she lifted the drum to find it filled with oily kitty litter, mixed with metal shavings. The second drum was the same. In the next row, she found what she needed. Rags and paper, all soaked with oil. When this drum moved easily, she quickly realized that she could find these drums easily. Moving up and down, shaking the drums, she found that most of them were light, and quickly opened five drums of rags and paper. "Get ready John." She said, and then looking through the window in the door leading down the hall, she quickly struck a match and lit the waste in the barrel.

She only got to the third drum, before the whoosh of the flame in the first drum startled her, causing her to drop the matches.

Looking back in fear, she reached for the matches, and lit the whole pack, and threw them into a bin on the other side of the room. Then taking John's hand, she quickly made her way out in the direction she and John had been going, looking for more stairs to get down, and head as far away from the fire as they could get. All the while, she was praying that help would come in time.

 

 

"All Units! This is Bravo. Subject turned north. Unit F should have them in sight in sight any moment."

Unit F was just as fast on the microphone. "We have them. Subject, is moving to the left hand lane, and it looks like they are going to head onto the expressway north. Can anyone else pick them up?"

Six blocks west, Unit A responded as Officer Janet Smith, who looked old enough to be detective Marsh's mother, spun the wheel, and gunned through a yellow light as she raced for the next exit north. Marsh dropped the microphone, as he scrambled for his seatbelt. The mustang had been purchased from the state police, who had used it to chase down cars on highways that were faster than the standard police cars could catch. Marsh could see why, as officer smith saw an opening, and the acceleration pulled Marsh's head back against the rest. Officer smith did not even smile as he looked over at the speedometer, and watched it jump from forty, and past sixty in an eye blink, as she straddled the white line, and flashed between two vehicles with inches to spare. Officer Smith had three children of her own…

 

Margaret and John were on the stairs headed down into a particularly dark area, when the alarms went off. They were startled so much by the loud Siren, and by a flashing yellow light, that they jumped the last three steps to the floor. It was stupid, but it was lucky too. It had also startled Ling, which is why the bullet she had aimed at Maggie's head smashed the glass of one of the doors that blocked the lower hall behind them. The Report of the gun in the closed hall was also much louder than she was used to, and that along with the flashing amber light just above the children's heads distracted her for a few moments. That was why her second and third shots also missed.

"Run!" Maggie screamed, as she began to follow John back up the stairs. Ahead of them she could already hear the sound of the fire, and could feel the heat that followed the smoke flowing down the hall toward them. The curses coming from Ling as she reached the bottom of the stairs frightened her more, though. She had to get away, so she grabbed John, and pulled him around the corner, and onto the stairs leading to the third floor.

Ling had just reached the second floor landing, when the drum of flammable liquid that Maggie had not seen nearby, burst. It was not a loud explosion, more like very loud hiss, and the drum sprayed a mixture of alcohol, and oils all over the room. Ling hesitated, to look down the hall, even as Maggie and John reached the top of the third set of stairs, and raced down yet another long hall, seeking the opposite side of the building. Already the smoke seared their lungs as they ran.

 

 

"Unit Alpha, this is unit Fox. They are taking exit thirty-one. It looks like they are heading west to the industrial park."

Captain Mason snatched up the microphone. "Unit Fox, Keep going on to exit Thirty Three, or Thirty four. I know that Park. There are two gates on the main road right through the middle of it. There won't be very much traffic, and you can see down that road from end to end. All units. Let them go. I'm going to send a Marked Unit down from the opposite end, just like a normal patrol. Wait where you are, and get ready to move in. This may be it."

Mason wanted to tell them to make sure to shoot that evil bastard Chin Lau, but he knew if he did, he just might have to share a cell with him. He also knew that at least two of the older men, who had been pulling sixteen year old hookers out of dumpsters in Chinatown for far too many years would not miss the opportunity, if it should legitimately present itself. The detective on the desk with the tactical radio was already on the phone to the 42^nd's Lieutenant Benson. One of the shadowing marked cars was already moving to the north gate to the industrial park, even as the Lau was being driven in the south.

Maggie and John raced along the hall, until they came to another set of doors. Maggie thought for one horrific moment that they would be locked, and they would be trapped on the third floor with Ling. But, John hit the door ahead of her, and it flew open easily, showing another set stairs just beyond. Ling screamed behind them, having just reached the top of the stairs, but coughing choked off the scream. The coughing once again fouled Lings aim, as she loosed another couple of shots at the fleeing children, her shots hitting the door as it closed behind them.

Chin Lau said, "Be calm." to the bodyguards in the front as the police cruiser turned onto the industrial park road, and began coming toward them from the opposite end. The sergeant in the car was a good man, and knew the job. As he cruised toward the suspect vehicle, he purposely turned his head left and right as if he was taking stock of the facilities, while keeping his eyes on the car coming toward him. As he got closer, he shifted to face the oncoming car, and obviously gave them the once-over, just long enough, because to ignore them may have been a giveaway also.

Even the seasoned Tong enforcers were a little unnerved by this. Lau himself was uncomfortable, but he purposely looked toward his bodyguard in the front passenger seat, to turn his face away from the cruiser, and said, "Just continue to the other end, and lets see what happens." The driver nodded slightly, and continued slowly on.

 

 

In the police car, now well past the Lau's vehicle, the office picked up the microphone, making sure it was behind his body, and called his watch commander. It was an open channel, so he simply informed the commander that he had completed the pass, and was going to stop at the fast food place just outside of the south gate of the industrial park. At the stop sign, the officer veered to the right, and then crossed the street diagonally, to pull into the parking lot of the McDonalds.

Quickly he hopped out of the car, and was inside the restaurant before he pulled out his radio, and switching to the secure tactical channel, informed all that he was in position. He also informed all listening, that the suspect vehicle had turned around, and had headed back into the parking lot of the old Goodyear tire plant. The plant, at one time a huge complex that had been built in World War II, was now used by literally dozens of businesses. The officer knew it would be of the highest interest. He also knew that there was no way the suspects could tell that he had left his car running, with the door on his side open.

Mason felt the hand on his shoulder, which startled him, because he had been so focused on the radio speaker.

Nothing strange there. The radio was holding the same level of attention for everyone in the room. Unlike everyone else, however, Mason was trying to make the decision of a lifetime. He believed he had a shot at Chin Lau, two of his top killers, and probably several others as well. If he moved in, he could link them to whatever was going on. If the kids were there, no matter what, it was better for them to move in soon. On the other hand, years of work could be lost in an instant, if they were not there. If he were wrong…. If he were wrong, without a capitol case against Lau, they would get him on taxes, rackets, and perhaps keep him off the street for a while, whilst the old man lived in country club splendor in some state prison, buying anything, or anyone he needed.

 

 

Then there were the two kids, and the interview he had taken with the 'stepmother." For some reason, even now, it prayed on his mind that he might be the children's only hope. To his credit, Mason was fully ready to pull the trigger the moment he had any indication the children were there, regardless of the consequences to the case; but, Lau could still be leading them away from them.

 

So, thus occupied, he jumped rather high at the feeling of a hand on his shoulder, before he turned to find the sergeant in charge of dispatch standing beside him. He was another friend, and had been the voice on the radio for more years, and more tough spots, than Mason would care to remember. Oddly, the sergeant just handed him a call slip, and said nothing. It was for an NYFD three station call, for the complex they had staked out. Mason's eyes snapped to the sergeant, but before he could even ask, the man simply nodded in the affirmative, that he was quite sure that there had been no mistake.

 

Mason no longer had any doubts what so ever, because there was no decision left to make. It had been made for him. "All units. This is Mason. We have a Fire Department call to the stakeout location. ETA on the first engine company is approximately six minutes. All units start to move in. The uniform on site will call it.

If Lau steps out of the car, all units will move in on his call. If they don't, we move in two minutes." Mason looked over to the detective sitting beside him at the radio. He was on a talkie with the uniform, using a 42^nd assigned tactical channel listening to a blow by blow. He was also pleased to note that his detective was ordering the uniform not to move until the other units where there to move with him. He did not know who the man in the uniform unit from the 42^nd was, but he was going to buy him a steak dinner, and a bottle of whatever poison he cared to name. Mason clicked off the acknowledgements in his head, as they came over his own precinct's radio net.

 

It was only the longest forty-five seconds of his life.

"All units from Car 114, the suspects have exited their vehicle, and are approaching a door on the southern side of the building right now! One of the Big guys is carrying either a rifle or s shotgun, I can't tell which." The microphone clicked off with a snap.

"This is Mason. Move, now! I say again, Move in! All units are advised, we strongly suspect there is a hostage situation at the scene."

 

"Marsh Here, Units Fox and Charlie, divert to the northern end of the building, and try to gain entry." That was all he could get out. The Mustang was once again accelerating under the heavy foot of officer Smith, but this time Marsh didn't even look at her. He was focused on the buildings that were just coming into sight, and the sound of sirens coming rapidly toward him from at least two other directions.

 

 

The fire was bad. Maggie and john had made it down to the second floor, but they couldn't stay there very long. The smoke and the heat were incredible. The choking fumes, and the fact that she knew that Ling had to be nearby, groping in the smoke like they were her soul intent on killing them – forced the children to retreat. They had to resort to crawling along the floor, before they found the stairs down to the first floor, farther down the hall behind them.

 

A barrier that felt like a wall, only a few steps down from the second floor, blocked the stairs.

In a panic, Maggie realized that she would have to retrace her steps back to the third floor, and try making it past Ling, to get down the other stairs. She tugged John back, and began crawling rapidly back the way they came.

Once she reached the path up to the third floor, she hesitated trying to listen, but the alarms, and the fire were too loud. Slowly, she forced herself up to her feet - to take a step. She could barely make them move. Every muscle in them was burning, not from the fire, but from the fear induced adrenaline that she had been lashing her system for what seemed like ages. She sobbed with the effort to make herself climb, knowing for the first time that they were probably not going to make it. If Ling didn't get them, then the fire surely would.

Maggie climbed though. Slowly at first, but with determination. When she reached the top of the stairs she knew that she had better not stop again. She was not sure if she would be able to force her body to move if she stopped a second time. Now she knew what they meant when they said 'Paralyzed by fear'. She was almost there, and her side hurt. Her hand hurt where she clutched Johns arm. Her lungs burned from the fumes. Her heart ached with the thought that John would not survive either. But somehow, she was able to pull John back down, to crawl back to the doors in the corridor on the third floor.

The fumes were still bad, but the heat was a lot better. The floor was hot though; hot enough to burn their hands, due to the fierceness of the fire below them. Maggie pulled John up and dragged him toward the door. On the other side, she could see the flicker of fire coming from a room off the corridor to the left. The fire had already reached the third floor. Their only hope was to run for it.

"John we have to run." she gasped.

"I know!" He snapped.

"Then move!" she said as she pushed the door open, and jerked John into motion, as they both ran down the right side of the hall, in a desperate effort to gain their lives.

They did not see Ling.

Ling, squatting near the chained exit doors at the far end of the hall could hear the sirens approaching outside. She knew that she had moments only. She also knew that the doors on this floor were all chained for the weekend, and that the majority of these upper floors were unused, and they had been securely blocked off by the owners, to separate the various rental spaces. She was not worried about getting out, but she was worried about being seen. She knew she probably could not avoid that, but to make the cover story work, her family's small interest in the company that operated in this part of the factory, would not work if they found the children alive and able to talk. So she waited. She waited until she could both hear, and see them coming.

 

 

Marsh grabbed the door, as his car was forced to swerve toward the far right shoulder of the access road that ran through the industrial park. The uniformed unit, that had been waiting nearby had shot across the street right beside them, and continued down the left side of the road, keeping pace in the intersection only until officer smith was once again clear to accelerate. Marsh looked up to see smoke beginning to boil out of upper floors of the factory. When he looked back down at the ground floors, although still several hundred yards away, he could distinctly make out one of the goons lift the old man bodily up, and sprint with him for the car. Marsh reached down, and toggled the siren and lights. "All units, Lau is making for the car. Move! Move! Move!" But even as he made the frantic call, he knew he had them… He could see cars were coming from all directions, sirens and lights coming on as they saw all the others go code three.

 

 

Ling stepped out right in front of Maggie, and putting the gun to her face, grabbed her shoulder ant threw her to the floor away from the stairs, and into the wall. Maggie tried to scream but John had run into her side, on his way to sprawl on the floor, and all that came out was a horrible grunt of pain as she suddenly saw only a brilliant flash of light, as her mind exploded in pain. For a moment she could not see or breath, as she herself fell next to John.

Finally looking up, she could see Ling standing over them, her gun pointed unwaveringly right at Maggie's face. Ling, outlined by the ever-brighter flicker of the fire behind her, was smiling. Her black eyes were catching the reflection of the fire from Maggie knew not where, but they also burned with the fire of hell itself. For those moments, Maggie's mind was perversely preoccupied with the question of what it would be like. Would she hear the shot? Would there be a white hot flash of pain? It seemed so important, that she even forgot to be afraid. It seemed so important, that it was her body's instincts alone that slowly pulled it backwards, to place herself over John's unmoving form, and to placing herself between her little brother and Ling.

On seeing the futile gesture of her prey, Ling laughed at her. "The doors were locked?" Ling said waving a key that she pulled out on a chain around her neck. Ling laughed again.

The horror hit her. Ling had known all along that there was no way out. She was playing with them.

On hearing the Evil in that laugh, Maggie whimpered ever so softly. She didn't want to, but she couldn't help it. Desperately, she tried to pull John further behind her, even as she closed her eyes.

But the shot did not come. She felt Ling's hand on her head, pulling her up by her hair, and roughly pulled her back down the hall away from the stairs, and away from their only hope for life. When she was released, she stumbled, but turned anyway to see Ling do the same to John, who was looking dazed just before he stumbled into Maggie's arms.

"Move!" Ling screamed, and motioned down the hall with her gun. The sheer volume of the shouted order caused Maggie to take an involuntary step backwards. Once ling had her backing slowly down the hall, with the gun barely a foot from her face, it was inconceivable that she might stop. She continued until she could feel the heat of the fire actually burning her back. John was once again pressed behind her, silently trying to twist his body away from the heat of the fire, even as he stared in horror at the smile on Lings face.

Maggie could go no further. The heat felt like it was sucking the air out of her lungs as it was. "Just shoot!" Maggie screamed.

Ling just giggled at her. It was an honest to god giggle. Only Ling knew that she had no intention of shooting them. Bullets leave evidence. The fire would do the trick. Then, even if the children were ever found, there would be almost nothing substantial linking the causes of death to her. It would be circumstantial.

Ling, glanced past the girl toward the door. They were almost there: at the door of the room with the fire. Ling knew that it had been unused for many years, and had been deemed unsafe, which was why she had unlocked that door while she waited for the children to come back down the hall.

Suddenly, with a loud snapping and popping sound, the floor shook, and a rumble sounded from inside the room. One of the heavy machines had crashed through the ever-weakening flooring, and into the inferno below. A puff of sooty smoke billowed around the doors, but they held firm, because they were designed to swing in. The heat coming from the room was instantly increased. Ling knew that it was time to get this over with.

They were all startled by the sound; only Ling was less so, because she had been half expecting it. She never allowed the gun to waiver from Maggie's face, as she held it in her outstretched hand. Ling's expression suddenly changed. Before she had been enjoying their terror. She had been clearly excited, yes, like a cat with a trapped mouse. Now she was more like a shark. The humor in her eyes died, even as they still blazed with the very same fire that would take their lives. Maggie could hear a loud groan from the thick glass in the doors, as the temperature in the room behind them shot up hundreds of degrees in those few moments; and yet, he could not tear her eyes away from Lings face.

"You've cause me a lot of trouble, little girl," she said, in a voice as devoid of emotion as her face. "So I give you a little payback, before I kill you. I let you watch your 'little sister' here die when I kill him first!"

With the last word, Ling reached out with the speed of a rattlesnake, seizing John by the hair, and began to brutally try to throw him through the doors into the inferno beyond. But, it was not like in the elevator, where she had grabbed John from behind. This time, with a howl of pure terror, John began to thrash with all of his strength, as he attempted to fight his way past Ling, and away from the fire.

It was Maggie, however, who finally stopped Ling; as with an inhuman shriek she launched herself bodily at her, and attempted to actually claw her eyes out. Ling tried to shoot her, but Maggie was already inside of her reach, and was unhampered by any thought of survival, her only thought to kill Ling with her bare hands in a desperate attempt to save John.

Ling was forced to let go of John, as she instinctively tried to shield her face from Maggie's gouging fingers, even as she struggled to turn the muzzle of the gun to Maggie's shrieking face. John, who stumbled because of the sudden relaxation of the grip that he had been struggling against with all of his might, went down against both Ling's and Maggie's legs, striking his face cruelly against someone's knee.

Ling was forced to try and step over John in a futile attempt to regain her balance, even as Maggie was stumbling over him too. With animal instincts she had never felt before, Maggie sensed she had Ling now, and she pushed with all of her might against the woman's chest trying to knock her off her feet. Ling heard her own flesh sear, even before she felt the pain of the hot door, but it was too late. She grabbed for Maggie in a futile attempt to save herself, and almost succeeded in dragging Maggie to her death also.

It was John, who blinded by the blinding pain of smashing his face, had grabbed Maggie's legs and tripped her, thinking they were Ling's. A piece of the lace on Maggie's dress tore away, even as the door opened, and a gout of flame shot above Maggie's head. It missed her, sparing her life, even as it engulfed Ling's upper body.

Even though Ling's scream only lasted until she fell through the floor beyond, it was a sound of inhuman torment that would haunt both children's memories for all of their days.

Maggie could no longer breath, but she could feel John frantically trying to drag her across the floor, and away from the fire.

Mason stood in front of Lau, as the company commander of the lead engine company yelled at him. "God Damn it! Is there anyone inside the building?" But, the old man continued to just barely shake his head no, after first flicking his eyes to Marsh. Marsh wanted to spit in his face.

Behind them, one of the bodyguards was face down on the old, and broken pavement, a puddle of blood beginning to spread from a half a dozen bullet wounds.

The other thug was face down over the back of the mustang, the unformed officer from unit 114 holding him there with his gun pressing harshly into the thugs ear, even as the officer wiped the blood away from this own pulped lower lip. Four other officers stood within two feet of them, guns drawn, but not one moved to interfere. "You have the right for me to blow your worthless brains right out of your fucking head if you move a single finger! You have the right to keep your fucking mouth shut! If you waive the right to keep your fucking mouth shut, nothing you say is going to fucking matter, because if they don't fry you, you'll never see daylight again. If you live long enough to make it to the station, and you desire to have and attorney present, but have not made enough money by beating little girls to death, I'll make sure that the court appoints the most incompetent fucking asshole in this city to represent you. Free of charge!

"Do you understand these rights as I've explained them to you? Shit Bag!" the officer hissed through his teeth, as a small trickle of blood began to well below the muzzle of his gun. The thug just nodded. Behind them, a detective lay slumped behind the steering wheel of unit C. The poor bastard had never even made it out of the car, and his killer had never taken another breath after he had opened fire.

 

 

Maggie was barely moving, but she was chanting just as she had the night before, "Run, John. Run."

John moaned, and began to scream at Maggie to move. He struggled to half drag her down the stairs, even while he tried to get her up to her feet, but she seemed to be mostly unconscious. John could not give up however, and continued to scream at her, until her eyes flickered open, and glanced dully at him…

Marsh was oblivious to what was happening to the thug behind them. He was painfully aware of the fallen detective, but he could not bring himself to look at, or think of the man right now. His eyes were on the Fire Department Captain on front of him. "Can you get us in?" He asked him.

Even as he did, he could see two firemen running from their Engine to the door, carrying a metal cutting saw. Detectives and firemen both began to gather near the door, as the fire fighters started the saw, and quickly cut into the chain sealing the door. One uniformed officer, lifted his sidearm, and aimed it at the door, hoping to protect the firemen working below him. He was quickly followed in kind by several of the detectives who waited frantically to move in, even though the NYFD company commander was yelling for them to get back.

Marsh himself had just walked up to the door, when suddenly a window fifty feet to their left shattered, and a small office table clattered to the ground. Everyone was startled, as the fireman closest to the window, rushed over, and began to break the rest of the glass out of the frame with the head of his entry tool.

By the time the fireman had dropped his ax, and reached into the window to pull out a young woman, several other fireman, and a paramedic had rushed to the window. Marsh ran for it too.

As he arrived, the fireman reached in and pulled out a young girl, and quickly thrust her into the waiting arms of the paramedic, before pulling himself up to the window to yell for anyone else who might be there. One fireman dived to his knees, heedless of the glass that covered the ground, to allow the man to stand on his back in an effort to make sure no one else lay trapped or unconscious inside. The other firemen, those with the children behind him, urgently hustled the children away toward the ambulance. The fastest, gently lowering his charge down onto a stretcher.

The older girl was just lying there in the arms of the fireman, who was petting her hair, and telling her gently that she was safe now; but, her eyes were unblinking and stared straight ahead, even as she still held her arms rigidly above her chest in a pugilistic pose.

Marsh turned to the other girl, who was sitting on a blanket that had been thrown hastily on the ground to receive her. As his shadow fell on her, she looked up at him, her eyes squinting from the tears that ran down her swollen eyes, and across her face.

Without any warning, it dawned on the detective. "John?" Marsh asked softly.

The girl nodded her head.

"Shit." Marsh said, even more softly, making the swear sound more like a fervent prayer.

The boy dropped his head as the paramedic prepared to wash his eyes. "John is there anyone else inside." The boy coughed again, unable to speak, but clearly shook his head in the negative. Marsh nodded silently, even though the child was no longer looking at him. Marsh did not know what else to say, but tried to muster at least a sense of conviction as he told the boy "You are safe now, son. Everything will be OK."

Marsh then looked at the older girl once more, and knew that it would never be completely Ok again, for either of them. He just did not know what else to say. As he walked back to the officers waiting to enter the building by both the door and broken window, one of them called out urgently: "What about the boy? Wasn't there supposed to be a young boy too?"

Marsh understood the confusion. "That's him on the ground. We have them both. You men get back out of the way, and get these cars back."

The Incident commander from the fire department nodded at Marsh began to give orders to have two teams sweep the lower floor as far as they safely could, and to give orders to set up to fight the fire from outside. He was not about to loose a man to save a building owned by some damned hoodlums.

Marsh turned away to see the old man, in one of his precinct's unmarked cars. For the first time, he showed real emotion, as his suddenly very old, and very pale face stared at the children. Marsh's eyes were then drawn back to the car with the dead detective, to see the second paramedic straighten up slightly shake his head at Marsh, while stripping off his rubber gloves. Marsh just acknowledged with a slight nod. Finally he looked back at Lau. Softly he said to himself, "You may have survived today, but you'll burn too, you bastard. You'll burn too."

The last team of fireman to exit carried the body of the younger hood with them. The body of Ling was tentatively identified some weeks later, but she had been in the hottest part of the fire, that had burned for the longest time. Officially, the identification had hinged on the testimony of the two eyewitnesses. The five companies that eventually responded to the blaze were able to contain the fire well enough, but were unable to save the old mill. Officially, the cause of the fire was never discovered.

At the hospital, John tried to sit up as the paramedics lifted him out of the back of the ambulance. He wanted to see Maggie, but the female doctor who stood over him stopped him with a gentle but firm hand on his shoulder. "No, Sweetheart. You be a good girl and lie still for me. I have to take care of you now."

John asked to see Maggie, but the doctor shook her head. "Your big sister is Ok, Honey. She's inside. We'll take you to the room beside hers, but I need to check you first, to make sure there are no surprises. OK?" She looked at his face quickly to see that he was listening. "I'm sorry I'm going to have to cut your beautiful dress off, but it's already ruined. I'm sure your Mom and Dad will get you another one when they hear what a brave little girl you've been."

The doctor looked startled at him, as he began to chuckle. When she looked like she was going to ask, he just shook his head, and chuckled again as he gave up and relaxed back onto the stretcher. She was in for a surprise, all right.

 

Thirty minutes later, John was sitting up on the bed beside Maggie, when his Father and Joan walked in. Maggie still had an oxygen mask on, and her eyes were closed, but she was awake. She periodically squeezed her brother's hand in hers, as if to make sure he was really there beside her.

"John, is she OK?" His father asked.

Maggie's eyes opened, and her head turned toward her parent.

"Oh, thank god," her father said, but only slowly began to ease around the bed "Are you Ok, too, John?" He asked seemingly as an afterthought, and John nodded that he was.

John's eyes slid to Joan, who did not move any closer, but on seeing him looking at her, asked him in an unsympathetic tone: "What were you two thinking running away like that!" So much for absence making the heart grow fonder, John thought. Even his father turned to stare at Joan.

 

It was Maggie, however, who answered her weakly from behind the oxygen mask.

"I was thinking that if I let that Chinese Bitch blow my little brother's brains out all over the sidewalk, that I might not get to go to the convention this weekend. Not to mention the embarrassment and trouble it might have caused you, …"

Only John was close enough to hear the soft "you bitch" that had completed the sentence.

Joan looked like she was ready to reply, when their father said, "For god's sake, Joan!" So she just shut her mouth, and looking angry, turned to move over to the side of the room that was farthest from the children.

Marsh, who had been waiting nearby, walked through the curtain, as soon as he heard the voices. The look on his face as he made eye contact with both parents left little doubt as to why he was there. Then to John's great surprise, his father quickly bent down to kiss Maggie's forehead, before walking around to his side of the bed pulled him into a hug.

John did not resist, but then neither did he move. His arms did rise slightly out of reflex, but that was all. His expression barely changed. It was Margaret's face that changed the most, as the look she gave her father became a mixture of surprise and poison.

"You gave us a scare." He told the children.

The situation might have gone down hill from there, but just then a young nurse walked in chuckling. "Well, that's one resident who won't think she knows everything for a while," she said smiling at John as she admiringly brushed his hair on the side of his head to a neater position back behind his ear. John smiled weakly back. Perhaps it had been mean, but he could still hear the tray of instruments hitting the floor, and the doctor exclaiming "Oh, Jesus!" As the nurse had whipped his Panties and what was left of his tights off of him.

John smiled back at her as she gently placed her palm on his right cheek.

"Is that nurse OK?" he asked.

"Oh she's Ok, except for the fact that I think she just took up smoking again. She even asked for a picture of you, which is when doctor Helene lost it." The young nurse chuckled once more. "Well, do you two need anything? Would you like another drink?" she asked.

Both children shook their heads, and murmured "No thank, you," at which the nurse reached across John to slip the oxygen mask off of Maggie, and turn the oxygen off.

"Well, I think we can get rid of this for now, but you tell me if you feel short of breath, or if you feel light headed or any headache. Ok?" She said brightly.

Maggie sat up, beside John, and nodded at her, while she rubbed her nose and eyes with both hands.

The nurse, reached over, and pulled up the rail on the opposite side, and with a pat on Maggie's thigh she headed toward the curtains.

Joan chose the lull to chime in again. "Well if she can talk, perhaps she would like to explain why she felt it necessary to make him look like that?" The disgusted gesture she directed at John made it obvious to whom she referred. "Or perhaps John could explain the message he got from a girl calling herself, Me-You, or some such silly thing, and saying that she had gotten permission from her father to go out to the movies with him this week, and for his sister Aya to come over next Friday for a sleepover?" She finished in a huff, and then just stared accusingly at the children.

No one else said a thing, much to Marsh's surprise, but he had had enough. He caught the eye of the detective standing at the door, and nodded at Joan across the room. Quickly the detective moved over to Joan saying, "Ma'am, I'm sorry to intrude, but we still have a few questions we need to resolve, and we need your help."

Joan looked at him as if he were a bug, and turned away saying "I'm not going…"

But, the detective had slipped his hand under her arm, and hauled her to her feet "Oh, don't worry, Ma'am. It'll only take a few minutes." And Joan never had more than one foot in contact with the floor, as he practically hauled the dumfounded woman from the room.

Their father, looked shocked to, but said nothing. The Children just looked at the doorway with expressionless faces, before they both looked down toward the floor.

 

The silence in the room had grown almost unbearable, when it was shattered a few moments later by a very soft voice from the door. "Maggie-sama?" a badly trembling, but unmistakably voice said, just loud enough to heard from across the room. Both children looked up to see Noriko standing, with her hands clasped tightly together in front of her mouth, her brown eyes wide with a mixture of fear, and uncertainty. An older man was smiling behind her, and holding her with both his hands on her shoulders, to steady her as tears ran down her face.

 

"Noriko?" Maggie began to cry all at once, and fought weakly to get up, but Noriko was at the bed before she had moved very far. Noriko paused only for a moment to look at Maggie's face, before fiercely hugging the girl to her breast.

Maggie could no longer speak, but clutched at Noriko with all the desperation of twelve years of loneliness and of yearning. Noriko, in between sobs of her own, whisperd "Kimi wo Usinatta to Omotta." She repeated this softly several times, before more firmly finishing, "I thought I'd lost you."

After a few moments, Noriko opened her eyes, to see John sitting close beside them. Without lifting her cheek from the top of Maggie's head, she reached out to slip her hand behind John's head, and pulled him into the embrace as well. "I'm so glad you are safe. I don't know what I would do, if…" but she said no more.

The three men watched in silence as the woman lovingly rocked the children in her arms. It was doctor Helene, now standing at the door, who looked the most pleased to see the children finally letting go, and who motioned the men out of the room.

The doctor asked Mason, as he passed, if Noriko were the children's real mother, but he just shook his head before he left.

Their father did not look pleased, but knew it was not the time.

After the others had left, the doctor just stood there, silently watching. The girl would need some serious support counseling to get through this, but this was a good start, and she was very strong. Doctor Nancy Helene had spoken at length to the young detective who had brought them in, and had witnessed some of the interaction with the father and stepmother. She was relieved to find that there was at least one source of comfort and love outside of the love the children obviously had for each other - no matter who she was. She listened a little longer to the girl, weeping out all the tortures that she had been through; tortures that she was far too young to have been forced to bare.

The doctor heard John say softly to the woman. "You saved our lives, Noriko.

Thank you."

"I cold have gotten you killed, John." The woman sobbed softly while trying to wipe her eyes without letting go of either child.

"Yeah, but you didn't." John sighed, "At least now I have a real date this week, and Aya has a date on Friday, after which, of course, I'm really going to have to leave town…"

All three laughed at that one, along with the doctor herself. The doctor appreciated the joke, even though it was still hard to believe how John had completely fooled everyone.

 

As she walked silently back down the hall, her thoughts turned more serious. The case appalled her. No matter how many times she saw this kind of thing, it still shocked her. The children were, smart, polite, well spoken, and even pretty. Any sane person would hope to have children as nice as these; and the parents acted like they were a plague. She saw it often enough, but she never got used to it. Well, she thought bitterly, thank god that most children were so much stronger than most adults gave them credit for. She could only assume that God had planned it that way for the sakes of kids such as these.

 

Of one thing was certain. If and when she finally had children of her own, and they somehow and for inexplicable reasons burned down the house, she would remember these two, and she would remember to love her own all the more.

Out in the hall, Mason and Marsh watched the doctor walk down the hall before Mason turned to put his hand on the younger mans shoulder.

Marsh had not had time to think about the day's events, so he was actually shocked to see the look of pride in the older man's eyes. When Mason started to speak, Marsh thought he was going to say something about his loosing a man the way he did. In a way he was right.

Mason looked down at the leather case that appeared in his hand, and rubbing his thumb across the top of it, before again looking Marsh in the eye. "I want to give you something. It's been pretty important to me for quite a long time now, but I guess I don't really need it any more. I think that you just might be able to put it to good use some day."

With that, Mason pressed the leather case into the younger man's hand, and without another word turned and walked out of the ER. He would have to make a call on another man's widow tonight. He would tell her just what he would tell Marsh in a day or so, once he knew the man was thinking clearly again. He would say that when you go after bad people with guns, that sometimes the bad guys shoot first. There is nothing anyone can do about it. What mattered was that if you had to go, that it was worth the sacrifice. To do so saving the lives of two good children was some small compensation. He hoped, that in time, the man's widow would come to understand that it had been a tragic blow, but in her husband's mind – probably worth it. But, first he was going home to tell his wife that he was taking leave until pension.

It was only after Mason was out of sight that Marsh looked down at the case in his hand. Today he understood why it had always felt so heavy. Tentatively, he flipped it open and ran his fingers across the gold Captain's shield that lay there shining up at him. Looking back up where his boss had gone, Marsh slipped it reverently into his pocket. Absently then, he looked back through the curtain, toward the three sitting on the bed. He did not know if he would ever get the chance that Mason alluded to, nor even if he would truly want it if it came; what he did known there and then, was that if it was ever offered, he would take the job.

 

Finis

  

  

  

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