My Asian Dragon: A BWAM Romance Story (8 page)

The
man nodded a few more times to the sound of his phone, before a smile
spread over his features.
"Of
course. Getting into the apartment will be easy. I will check it out
now."

Ten
minutes later, the man closed the door on Joy's apartment, slipping
the lock picks back inside his pants pocket. A quick glance revealed
that she was definitely leaving, the place had the antiseptic look of
a moved out room. The sheets were stripped off the bed, the shelves
were empty, even the television and other appliances were unplugged.
The man looked around, seeing if he could find any clues about where
she was going.

A
search of the living room revealed nothing. Joy, if anything, was a
fastidious cleaner. The bathroom and bedroom area also were scrubbed
relatively clean. Finally, in the kitchen, next to the refrigerator,
he thought he found something. A notepad, the type that people used
to write down quick messages on the phone or shopping lists. When he
picked it up to the light, he could see that it had been used
recently, the paper on top still bore the imprints of writing.

Curious
to try something he had once seen in a movie, the man took a pencil
and knife out of his pocket. He shaved off graphite dust and
carefully scattered it over the paper. It took him a few minutes of
tapping and work, but he could see English letters start to form over
the page. Thankfully, this was why his boss had put him on the job of
following the American journalist, his English was better than many
of the other Triads.

"Gauze....
rubbing alcohol..... DVD for Longwei....." the man read, the
last part catching his attention. He called his boss on his phone,
shifting back into Chinese.
"Sir?
Yeah, it's me. Listen, she's got a name on here, one you told me to
keep my eyes out for. I found a shopping list, and the name Longwei
appears on here. Yeah? Okay, I'll bring the paper. Heading back now."

The
man scooped up the pad of paper and left the apartment. Whoever this
Longwei person was that the American was apparently mixed up with,
sort of saddened the man. He had been tasked with watching the
American since the first of her articles had come out, and had come
to appreciate the uniqueness of her beauty in a city of Chinese. More
than once he had watched her through binoculars at night in her
apartment, clad in nothing but light pajamas. Yet, if the boss' tone
was correct, he wouldn't be able to see the chocolate skinned beauty
again.

She
soon would be dead.

Joy
wiped her sleeve across her forehead. She had been tasked to work in
the vegetable fields today, and had spent the past four hours working
on her hands and knees, carefully weeding in between the rows, making
sure the field was as pristine as possible.

She
wasn't alone, there were four other people with her. Two of them were
members of Yingtai's family, while the other two were older children
from the school. Longwei had a policy of letting the children help
out in the fields one day a week, in order to let them get hands on
practical experience as well as academic learning. "Besides,"
he had explained to her, "the fresh air and exercise is very
useful for their bodies."

Joy
didn't know about the educational benefits, but she did enjoy the
outdoor work. The villagers had a very unique style, while perhaps
not the most efficient in the short term, ensured that everyone moved
around on a regular basis, avoiding the dreaded crouching posture
that she had seen so many other poor Asian farmers adopt. Few if any
of the older women in the village had the bowed osteoporosis laden
body she had seen even in Shanghai.

Looking
up the row, Joy saw the large barrel on a cart that served as their
watering point. The oxen used for pulling the cart were gone, but
would be brought back later. She got up off the ground, exchanging
waves with the other people in the field. She still had problems
speaking much more than basic Mandarin, but she thought her ears were
finally becoming attuned to the local dialect. She could understand
some of the basic greetings and words, and was grateful to the school
children who had sort of adopted her as one of their own. Two of the
students, a boy named Dewei and a girl named Ming had worked with her
almost every day, slowly and carefully pronouncing words in
storybooks and around the classroom for her. She copied, making many
mistakes, but was making progress.

At
the water barrel, Joy dipped in her cup and took a deep drink of the
clear water. It was another thing she had quickly gotten used to.
Even without the so-called benefits of modern water treatment plants,
the water from the wells in the village was pristine. Wiping her
mouth with the sleeve of her shirt, Joy blinked. Coming out of the
forest, across the field, were two men, neither of which Joy had seen
before. Squinting, she was sure something was going on, as both men
were dressed in what looked like camouflage tactical gear. Joy looked
around, and called to one of the other people in the field with her.
"Hey!"

One
of the other field workers, a young man, looked up. Joy waved, and
pointed at the two men approaching from out of the forest. "Longwei!"
she yelled, pointing and gesturing. "Get Longwei!"

The
man didn't know what the word ‘get’ meant, but he
followed her pointing, and upon seeing the two strangers, scrambled
to his feet. He took off running back towards the main body of the
village, while the other three people stood up.

Joy
was shocked when the two strangers, upon seeing their approach had
been discovered, pulled out automatic rifles, firing on the group.
The villagers screamed, and Joy felt instincts she hadn't used in
years kick in, the instincts developed in the poor Washington DC
streets, and she dove for cover behind the cart, making sure to keep
the wheels between her and the attackers. Glancing out from behind
her cover, she saw as the attackers made their way towards them.
Luckily, nobody was hurt in the initial burst of gunfire, and Joy was
thankful to see the other three villagers scampering away as fast as
they could.

Unfortunately
for her, she saw the two gunmen making their way towards her. She
looked around desperately, looking for anything she could use to keep
the gunmen away or distracted while she ran away. However, the only
thing she could see were a couple of farm tools, small hand held
scythes they used for cutting stubborn weeds, and a hoe that could be
used if necessary. Neither was enough to allow her to defend herself
against gunmen with automatic weapons.

Peeking
out again, she saw the gunmen were now halfway across the fields.
Confident in their prey, they were walking casually, not rushing into
any situation. One of them pointed his rifle at Joy, so she ducked
back behind cover before he could squeeze off any fire in her
direction. Getting to her knees, she dug her toes into the dirt,
bracing her left foot against the cart's tire. While she wasn't a
track star, there was no way she was going to just sit there and let
the gunmen come and slaughter her.

Joy
came into a crouch, her knuckles in the dirt, and took a deep breath.
With an internal yell, she sprinted away from the cart, keeping
herself low and using the cart for as much cover as she could. After
two seconds, she cut to her right, starting to zig-zag her way across
the field she was in towards the village. She heard the rattling bark
of gunfire, and dove, rolling as she did before pivoting and
sprinting the other direction. She saw a berm in the field ahead, and
dove behind it, just as automatic fire chewed up the ground she was
hiding behind.

Joy's
breath was liquid fire in her throat, the exertion of the all out
sprint combined with the fear sent her heart rate through the roof.
She regretted not wearing her running shoes today of all things,
choosing instead one of the pairs of sturdy work boots she had picked
up the habit of wearing in the two weeks since Billy had brought her
back.
At least this
wasn't the first day I wore these
,
she thought.
I never
would have made it then.

Joy
heard a sliding snapping sound, and realized the gunmen were
reloading. Taking advantage of the momentary respite, she scrambled
to her feet to take off again, seeing a large rock maybe fifty meters
ahead of her. If she could make it there, she might have a chance.

Just
as she started to sprint, a harrowing roar split the early afternoon
air. From the corner of her eye, she saw a green blur come from the
direction of the village. Not stopping her run, she dashed behind the
rock, dropping to cover just as she heard a sharp scream, and gunfire
bray in response. None of the gunfire was in her direction however,
so she turned to see what had happened.

What
she saw amazed her. Longwei, in full dragon form, had already killed
one of the gunmen, the body laying in two pieces on the ground. The
second was pointing his rifle at Longwei, who was circling him with
his jaw open, a harsh rasping sound coming from his mouth as his
tongue flickered back and forth. The second gunman was obviously
terrified, but managed to squeeze off another burst of fire towards
Longwei. Joy swore she saw Longwei's image almost shimmer in the air
before darting forward, the powerful jaws snapping around the barrel
of the gun to tear it out of the gunman's grasp. The same move caught
part of the gunman's left hand, severing it and sending hot jets of
blood spurting into the air. The gunman dropped to the ground,
screaming before passing out, and Longwei quickly shifted back to his
human form. Pulling the man's shirt off, he quickly knotted it around
the gunman's wrist before twisting, making a rough tourniquet and
stopping the blood flow.

Joy
came running up, her desire to help Longwei overriding her instinct
to flee. "What can I do?" she asked, kneeling next to him.

"Are
you all right?" he asked her in reply, before glancing around.
"The hand cutter."

She
grabbed the tool off the cart, giving it to Longwei who threaded it
through the wraps of the tourniquet to give him a better handle to
twist with. When the blood flow was fully cut off, he locked the
handle down using the man's belt. "The doctor will be here
soon," Longwei replied. "Are you hurt?"

"No,"
Joy replied, "just scared out of my wits."

"I
understand. Help me with the other."

Joy
looked on in disgust at the other body, which had been torn almost in
half at the stomach area. Longwei shook his head in frustration.
"Help me search the body, quickly!" he said. "Before
his blood ruins any documents or anything else that may help us
figure out who just tried to kill you!"

Swallowing
her gorge, Joy started patting down the legs of the half corpse,
pulling out a wallet and some papers from a pocket. Longwei took the
upper body, yanking off the remains of the man's tactical vest before
quickly emptying his chest pocket. He then grabbed the belt, setting
it with the tactical vest until he was sure the rest of the torso was
searched. Joy held up what she had found, which he took and started
looking over. His face clouded blackly, and she swore she could see
his eyes flash greenish in anger. "What is it?"

"Triads,"
he said, handing her a piece of notepaper. "I will guarantee you
once we wash this man's body, we will find a Triad tattoo on him
somewhere. The paper is a full description of you, and directions to
the village from Heifei."

"What?
But why?"

Longwei
looked down at the surviving gunman, his face tight with anger. "That
is what I want to know as well."

*****

That
night, as Joy lay in her bed, she couldn't find sleep. She thought
after the adrenaline wore off, and hours wore on, she would be
exhausted. Instead, she could tell from a quick glance at her cell
phone clock that it was now almost eleven at night, and she had spent
the past three hours tossing and turning in her bed, the lights off.
Finally, with a huff of anger, she threw the covers off, pulling on a
tank top to go with the boxer shorts she normally wore to bed.
Heading out into the halls of the temple, she headed towards the
courtyard, where perhaps she could get some fresh air and let herself
find sleep.

As
she walked near the small room that Longwei and her often used for
eating meals together, she saw a flickering light. Coming closer, she
saw Longwei sitting up, a single candle illuminating the room as he
read from a book. Joy was surprised to see the title. "I didn't
think you were into Nietzsche," Joy said quietly, trying to
avoid startling him. "You okay?"

"Mmmmm,"
Longwei replied quietly, as he turned a page on the book. "I
actually don't like him very much, he's very convoluted. But, I
thought after today it would be more fitting to my mental state than
Marcus Aurelius."

"I
see," Joy said. "Should I leave you alone, then?"

Longwei
shook his head, setting his book aside. "No. Actually, I've been
sitting here trying not to go to you this whole time. I was afraid
that if I did, I would not be in control of myself."

"What
do you mean?" Joy asked, sitting in the chair next to him. When
Longwei didn't answer, she reached out, placing her hand on top of
his. "Come on, Longwei. Talk to me."