Black Karma (15 page)

When the taxi stopped, she grabbed Alicia by the hand to urge her into the cab. The girl looked confused but complied. After giving the cabbie instructions, Bai leaned back anxiously. It wasn't until Alicia tried to remove her hand that Bai realized she still clung to the girl.

“Who's Lee?” Alicia asked.

“My friend. My family.”

The girl looked confused. “Which is it—friend or family?”

“Both. There's an inane saying: ‘you can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family.' I pick my family.” She looked at the girl. “I picked him. And, I picked you.”

“What does ‘inane' mean?”

“It means stupid.”

“What if I don't want to be your family?”

“That's your choice. But if I were you, I wouldn't be too quick to judge. Stick around for a while. You might decide you like it.”

“I'm not Chinese,” Alicia stated.

“Really? I hadn't noticed.”

The girl looked away. Bai picked up her phone to call Jason. She feared he'd still be in transit. He picked up on the third ring and started talking before she could say anything. “I'm just going through customs. I'll be back in the city within the hour.”

“Lee's been shot. I don't know his condition. I'm on my way to San Francisco General.”

“I'll meet you there,” he said and ended the call.

She dialed again, this time to the hospital's information desk to find the surgical floor where Lee had been taken. He was on the fifth floor, north wing, but they couldn't tell her anything of his condition. They didn't know. She stared at the phone as her stomach churned.

“Mia padre got deuced a year ago,” Alicia said in a soft voice. “He was tecato. When Bai stared at her she explained, “He liked to shoot heroin. A Sureño capped him while he was slinging rock to support his habit. The cops let him lie in the street for hours while they picked up the shell casings and took pictures. They treated him like shit. I guess maybe he was.”

“Did he claim Norteño?”

Alicia nodded. “Um.” She seemed to reflect. “He wasn't all that. But after he was gone, no one protected me. My mother ran away when I was little. My father's asshole friends passed me around and used me until Rafe claimed me. He kept the others off of me, but he wasn't any better. He's hard, likes to hit.” She looked at Bai. “I'm a whore. I'm not the kind of person you want for family.”

“People are more than their history, Alicia. I got pregnant at seventeen, and I'm still not married. Some think I'm trash, though they're afraid to say it to my face. You can't let other people decide your worth. Stay with me, at least for a while. Take some time to find out who you are. I'm offering you sanctuary. Take it.”

Alicia stared into her eyes before shrugging and turning away. The girl snuffled and dug into her purse, leading Bai to believe she'd been moved to tears. Instead, she brought out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

Bai reached around and grabbed the pack away from her. “Sorry to act like your mother, but that's part of the package. You can smoke when you're eighteen if you still want to. Until then, you're going back to being a teenager.”

Before Alicia could respond, the cab pulled to the curb in front of the hospital entrance. Bai paid the cabbie and opened the door. Looking glum, the girl followed her out of the cab. Bai had enough experience with teenagers to know the battle of wills had only just begun, but she had more important issues to deal with. Thoughts of Lee consumed her.

They walked through sliding glass doors to the hospital lobby. Patients and visitors packed the hallways leading to the elevators. Cramming into a crowded lift, they proceeded up to the fifth floor, which had been split into four wards. Each had its own waiting room, imaginatively designated by its geographical location: East, West, North, and South.

With a reluctant teenager in tow, Bai made her way to the nurse's station in the north quadrant of the building, where she identified herself as Lee's sister. A harried-looking nurse informed her Lee hadn't come out of surgery, and they had no way of predicting how long he'd remain there. His condition had been listed as serious with multiple gunshot wounds. Bai would be paged as soon as the surgery ended or when they had more information.

She turned to Alicia. “Have you eaten today?”

“This morning,” the girl replied without enthusiasm.

Bai pulled a roll of hundred-dollar bills out of her pocket and pressed one into Alicia's hand. “There has to be a cafeteria in the building somewhere. Get yourself something to eat and bring me back a black coffee when you're finished. I'll wait here.”

Alicia looked at the bill then at Bai. “Are you rich?”

“Yes,” she said. “It just so happens I am.”

The girl seemed to reflect for a moment then smiled with a look of glee. “Boo ya!”

“Yeah, ‘boo ya!' Now, go get yourself something to eat. And buy some nicotine patches if you think you're going to need them.”

Frowning, Alicia turned around to wave the hundred-dollar bill over her shoulder in reply.

Bai found an unoccupied chair in the waiting room next to a rotund man with skinny legs. He wore red shorts and matching suspenders over a bright-yellow shirt. His attire led her to believe he was either color-blind or unusually festive.

The gentleman's head bobbed in greeting as she took her seat. Tears brimmed, then overflowed slowly from his eyes. She looked away, giving him privacy.

Left to her thoughts, she carefully put all of her emotions into a box and closed the lid. Until she could come to terms with Lee's injuries without completely losing it, her feelings would stay locked away. The thought of losing him terrified her. The thought he might die because of her insatiable curiosity filled her with contempt and remorse.
Why couldn't she mind her own business?

Chapter 18

“My name is Larry Boil,” said the plump man in the colorful clothing.

“Bai Jiang,” she replied as she suffered a limp, damp handshake.

“Why are you here, Bai?”

“My friend was shot.”

“Was it an accident?”

“That seems unlikely.”

“I see.” Larry seemed to think about her answer. “What kind of work do you do, Bai?”

“I find lost people,” she explained.

He nodded and showed interest. “Is that lucrative?”

“Not so much,” she reflected. “The money is lousy, and I seem to really irritate people.”

“Then why do you do it?” he asked.

She produced a wan smile. “I've been wondering that myself.”

He nodded but appeared baffled by her answer. She looked aside and saw Alicia walking toward them with a large paper cup in her hand. She stopped in front of Bai and held out the coffee.

Bai accepted the caffeine gratefully. “Thanks.”

“Is this your daughter?” Larry asked.

Bai looked at Alicia and smiled. “Yes, isn't she beautiful?”

“She looks like you.”

“She does. Doesn't she?”

Alicia looked at Larry then at Bai and made a face suggesting all adults were idiots. Bai sipped her coffee and patted the empty seat next to her. Alicia sat.

“Did you eat?” Bai asked her.

She nodded. “Mmm.”

“What did you have?”

“Hamburger.”

“Was it good?”

She shook her head.

“Hospital food never is.”

The girl nodded but didn't reply. Bai left Alicia to her thoughts. She'd turned the girl's life upside down. It would take time for Alicia to sort through the changes. She'd open up if and when she felt ready.

A voice called Larry's name over the intercom. He got up and, with a farewell nod to Bai, walked toward the nurse's station. Time ticked slowly by until Alicia's voice interrupted her reverie. “You didn't ask for your change.”

She turned blankly to look at the girl. “I don't want it. Keep the change for pocket money.”

“I've decided to go with you,” Alicia said. “It'll be interesting to see how long your family puts up with having a Mexican whore around the house.”

Bai met the girl's gaze. Alicia chewed her lip, showing her apprehension.

“Be yourself,” Bai said. “They'll love you.”

Alicia didn't look convinced.

Jason walked into the waiting room with Martin and another enforcer at his back. He waved his two bodyguards back as he walked over to speak with Bai. A tense smile set his features as his gaze shifted to Alicia then back again. “Sorry it took so long to get here. There was traffic.”

“He's still in surgery. I haven't been able to find out anything,” Bai replied.

He nodded toward Alicia. “Who's your friend?”

“This is Alicia.”

As Jason gazed more earnestly at the girl, she seemed to melt under his scrutiny—not a good sign.

“My name is Jason, Alicia,” he said, holding out his hand. “It's a pleasure to meet you.”

She took his hand timidly.

“Jason is family, Alicia,” Bai informed the girl, “but that doesn't mean you shouldn't count your fingers when you get your hand back.”

Alicia smiled; Jason frowned.

When he spoke, his words were for Bai's benefit. “I've talked to a contact inside SFPD. Lee was shot twice in the back at close range with a small-caliber handgun. They think it was a silenced twenty-two. No witnesses came forward even though it happened in broad daylight on a crowded sidewalk. No exit wounds, so the paramedics made the assumption the bullets were still in him. Other than that, they couldn't tell me anything. There wasn't much blood, and nobody heard or saw anything suspicious. Pedestrians who stopped to help him thought he'd fainted until they noticed the holes in his back.”

“He was following a man in a gray suit—about six feet tall with broad shoulders and a dark tan,” Bai informed him.

“Do you know who he is?”

“No, but Inspector Kelly does. He met the tan man at Figaro's on Columbus Avenue this afternoon.”

“The man who came out of the restaurant?” Alicia asked.

Bai turned to her. “Yes. Do you know him?”

She shook her head. “No. But the fat
popo
met him once before. I saw them come out of the police station, the one on Sacramento Street, yesterday. They were arguing.”

“That's good to know,” Bai said, putting her hand over Alicia's. “Thanks for telling me.”

Jason turned to the girl. “Where did Kelly go when you followed him?”

“He hangs out at a bar down in the Tenderloin called the Sand Dab on Twenty-Third. He's a real boozer. He's always there.”

Jason's eyes narrowed in thought as Bai watched him closely. She knew he loved Lee like a brother, and she suspected he had his own ideas about how to deal with Inspector Kelly.

“Let me talk to Kelly first. He knows me. I may be able to get more out of him by asking nicely.”

He seemed to consider her argument, then nodded slowly, which she hoped was a sign of assent. If he decided to beat the truth out of Kelly, she knew there would be no stopping him.

Bai heard her name over the intercom. A disembodied voice asked her to come to the nurse's station. She turned to Alicia. “Can you wait here for me? I'll try not to be too long.”

The girl nodded, and Bai got up to walk toward the nurse's station with Jason at her side.

“So, you found another stray,” he said.

“Don't take my feelings lightly,” she warned. “I'm committed to that young woman.”

“I see.” His tone sounded serious.

Turning aside, he motioned at Martin to watch Alicia, pointing at his eyes then at the girl sitting in the waiting room. Martin nodded in understanding. She would be guarded.

A surgeon in green scrubs waited at the nurse's station to update Bai on Lee's condition. Appearing at once impatient and exhausted, the doctor's eyes searched the room as he stood behind the kiosk. Upon spying Bai, he stepped around the enclosure to take her by the elbow and draw both her and Jason aside. Her stomach knotted as she searched the doctor's face for signs of bad news.

The doctor introduced himself then guided them down the hallway. “Your brother is out of surgery and in intensive care. I removed two bullets from his chest cavity. One of them hit a rib. The bullet snapped the bone and fragmented like shrapnel. That's why the surgery took so long. We were looking for small bits of lead that proved difficult to find. The other bullet collapsed a lung and lodged against his sternum. I believe we got everything. His injuries will take time to heal, but with luck, I expect a full recovery.”

Bai let out a deep breath and almost cried with relief. “Can we see him?”

“Yes. I doubt he'll know you for the next several hours, but there isn't any reason you can't see him. If you'll follow me, I'll show you where we're keeping him in intensive care until we're certain he's stable. Once he's moved onto the floor, you can spend as much time as you want with him. In ICU, we like to keep the visits short.”

The doctor led them through a set of double doors where he instructed them to wash their hands and don white surgical masks before leading them through a second set of doors. Subdued lighting revealed a row of cloth-screened cubicles lining each side of the room. Gowned and masked nurses worked in the midst of medical apparatus. Green displays surrounding the hospital beds glowed to impart an otherworldly feel.

Lee was in the first cubicle lying on his back with tubes running out of each side of his chest and wires hooked to little round pads attached to his sternum, neck, and temple. His skin looked pale. Bai's eyes filled at the sight of him.

The doctor glanced briefly at the data displayed on the machines before busying himself checking the drains on the sides of Lee's chest. He nodded briefly toward Bai and Jason, “Don't worry about the tubes and wires; they're all temporary. He's conscious but heavily sedated. He'll be addled until the drugs wear off—a good three or four hours from now. If you don't have any more questions, I'll be on my way. I have another surgery.”