Chapter 11

"Oh my God!" Stephanie cried, as, with a whuff of displaced air, her husband appeared in the room beside her. "It worked!"

I'll be damned! Darren agreed, So it did!

Back at their private training facility in Virginia, Master Sung, having watched Darren disappear, hopped up and down, squeaking, "Did it work? Did it work? Is he there?"

"Yes Master," Jun could barely suppress a laugh at such antics from the usually super-cool Master Sung. "It did, indeed, work."

"Hah! I knew it!" the elderly Chinese gentleman clapped his hands in glee. "My theory has been proven!"

"Your theory, Master?" Despite her infatuation with the lovely Stella, Mei was too immersed in her role to miss a training session.

"Yes, child!" Master Sung could barely contain himself. "This is why our other experiments did not work. The young lady must be the guide! Each of you, individually or collectively, has the power to move great distances at will, but only if the young lady points the way!"

Oh, I see, Darren told them from the White House. Any of us can be the engine, but Stephanie has to be the pilot.

"Exactly!" Master Sung squeaked when Sun relayed this to him.

Well, let's see if it works in reverse. Ready Darren? Stephanie broke in. After all, you can't stay here. The Secret Service doesn't know you're in the building and god help the gatekeepers if someone finds out you got past them unobserved!

Okay, send me back to the others.

Together, the two of them thought of Darren standing next to Jun, and suddenly, he was!

"Now this could be useful!" Darren laughed as he reappeared. "Imagine a courier service that not only can't be intercepted, but can get the goods there instantly!"

It was not quite that simple, of course. While none of the others seemed to have the ability to be the guide, teleportation still required them to concentrate on wanting to be wherever the guide was sending them. Any slight distraction was enough to keep the transition from happening, but it soon became second nature to Darren and the ladies.

Once out of the hospital and recuperating at home, Liam, too, learned the technique. Stephanie, it seemed, was the only one who couldn't teleport - a perplexing problem for all of them. Stephanie was required for any of them to 'port, but she couldn't move herself.

Since Stephanie was required for any teleportation practice, and she still had to keep up with the President's busy schedule, it was months before Master Sung declared them ready to make use of the technique in real life operations.

Meanwhile, the search continued for the mystery man at CNOOCO.

"Long Hsu," Stella had told them, when asked the name of the man determined to bring down Hastings enterprises, "But for some reason, most of his English-speaking acquaintances know him as 'Charlie.'"

The search had, indeed, taken a while, but no one exists without leaving some kind of trail.

"Got the company credit card he uses." Mei announced one day, as if telling the others she was going for coffee.

Another day: "He lives in a villa that is owned by CNOOCO." Jun said, as if it had taken minutes instead of weeks to find.

As each piece fell into place, the picture of Long Hsu's life began to emerge. Outside of CNOOCO, little trace could be found beyond his eighteenth year - the year he was first employed by the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company. He owned nothing in his name, and apparently had help from the State in keeping his records from the public eye.

An orphan from an early age, Long Hsu, or, by the Chinese custom of putting the family name first, Hsu Long, escaped from the state run orphanage at twelve. His name appeared in a large number of police reports after that, but surprisingly, there were no arrests. By the time he was recruited by the oil company, Charlie Hsu had become something of a power in Beijing street gangs. The word on the street was that you couldn't sneak up on Charlie Hsu - it was like he had eyes in back of his head. Somewhere along the line, he had picked up some training in martial arts, as well, and had a reputation for being a deadly fighter, with or without weapons.

His power and ruthlessness had put him at odds with members of his own gang, and when they turned against him, he turned to CNOOCO for sanctuary, finally accepting their offer to be a 'troubleshooter' for the company.

A great deal of computer stealth and a few surreptitious visits to China by the Gemini girls, and it finally became clear that, not only was Charlie Hsu the principal 'troubleshooter' for CNOOCO, but it was rumored that he held power over the leaders of the company, as well. His power, from whatever source, was sufficient to not only keep him on the payroll, but give him leverage over even the highest of executives.

"You can't go with us, Stella," Mei explained patiently, her heart heavy at the thought of leaving her lover behind. "You are too well known at CNOOCO, and might be recognized."

"I am accustomed to danger, Mei," the American woman countered, "and I'm very good at disguising my appearance. It was, after all, my business before I came to work for you."

Mei would really have liked to explain the real reason for not bringing Stella - that she couldn't teleport - but the others weren't yet sure they trusted her enough to let her in on their secrets.

"I'm sorry, dear," Mei's eyes pleaded for understanding, "but we just can't take you along on this one. Please try to understand!"

"Understand?" Stella replied bitterly. "Oh, I understand, all right! You think I'm too weak, that I need protection! You won't let me do the job I've trained for because I'm merely human and not some genetically engineered super-agent!"

"No!" Mei's heart was near to bursting. This kind of emotional outburst and the effect it was having on her were totally foreign to the sisters' existence, and she was at a loss as to how to handle it. "No, Stella! I love you! Please don't say that!"

"How can you say you love me? How can you deny me my life and still say you love me?!" Without a backward glance, Stella grabbed her purse and stormed out of the apartment.

"Stella!" Mei thought about going after her, but the others admonished against it.

Let her go, Mei, Wei told her gently. Perhaps she will have cooled off by the time we return.

Yes, let us go! Mei's own hurt and anger made the reply sharper than she intended.

Get yourself under control first, sister, Wei's thought was firm but not unkind. There is much at stake here, and we must all keep our attentions focused.

With great force of will, Mei calmed her breathing and stilled her chi, preparing herself, as she had so many times in her life, for the possible battles ahead.

Ready? Stephanie thought at them, when she felt that Mei had steadied her emotions.

Mei? Darren thought at her. Do you want to sit this one out?

I will do my part, Darren, Mei replied. But thank you for your concern.

"Ah, good!" Hsu Long muttered to himself as he studied the telltales on the panel before him. "It did not take them as long as I thought it would, but they are here, and I am ready."

There were video monitors keeping watch over the accesses to his company owned domicile, of course, but they were there because they would be expected, and, as expected, his enemy had made themselves invisible to the cameras. The sensors he counted on were more primitive: Mechanical pressure plates, virtually invisible threads that could break at a touch, and even paper panels that would indicate when the air flow against them was disturbed.

He waited, watching their progress through the labyrinth of his defenses, as indicated by his sensors, until one particular indicator jiggled. With a smile on his face, he went to meet his enemy.

Darren cursed when the floor dropped out from under him, and tried to use his ability to levitate to rise back through the opening, but it had already snapped shut, and he knew instantly that he and the girls had fallen for another trap. The others would know, by now, that he was encased in metal, since his chi would be cut off from theirs.

This was an enemy who knew them well. Allowing his body to settle gently to the floor, Darren seated himself comfortably against one wall of his prison, and sent his chi exploring. No sense worrying about the others. They knew what they were doing and what they were up against, and would adjust their methods automatically. This, at least, they had learned from their previous experience of being trapped this way, and had practiced such scenarios repeatedly.

The walls of the cylindrical room into which he had dropped were, indeed, metal. Unlike the room in which they had been trapped in Texas, however, this one had no electrical outlets or other breaks, except for the trapdoor through which he had fallen, and a single panel to his left, invisible to his eyes, but outlined clearly for his chi. Just to be on the safe side, Darren did what he should have done in the passage above: He scanned the floor for other traps or mechanisms, and discovered a number of pressure plates, especially near the door. Of course. Whoever might enter would like to know if he's about to be jumped. Using his chi to keep the plate he had been sitting on depressed, Darren rose and stood on the other side of the door, being careful to step between the sensor panels.

He didn't have long to wait. The man who entered expected him to be where the sensors said he was, but no sooner had the door opened than he realized his mistake and whirled to face Darren's attack, a sword flashing from it's sheath. Darren's punch landed only a glancing blow, and he barely avoided having his hand shorn from his wrist by the sword.

"Very good, Mr. Winchell!" Charlie Hsu smiled. "You might turn out to be a worthy opponent, after all!"

Darren, taken somewhat aback by the other man's avoidance of what should have been a deadly attack, stalled for time.

"Who the hell are you, and why are you so intent on destroying Hastings Enterprises?" Darren and his opponent circled each other warily, sizing each other up. Darren realized that the guy's chi was very strong, which may have explained how he was able to deflect Darren's attack.

"Your 'partners' will remember me, very soon, as will Mr. Stephen Hastings," the smaller man said. "I was very young when they killed my father. Without his protection, the state turned my mother out into the streets and she soon died, working in a factory for the meager meals it provided us. I vowed then that I would get my revenge on Hastings and those abominations who act as his bodyguards,. Now that time has come. When I discovered that you had offered Ms. Duras a job, I knew I had the perfect bait for this little trap, so I let her 'accidentally' discover my part in the attempted assassination of the Hastings girl."

"The 'Hastings girl' is my wife, asshole, and the killing of your father must have been before my time," Darren replied, noting the rhythm of the weaving sword, but watching its wielder. "I don't recall killing anybody named 'Hsu, ' nor do I remember any of the others doing so."

"It was long before 'your time' but I still must kill you," Hsu hissed, "because you are the key to their extraordinary powers, and the lover of the one called 'Jun.' Once you are dead, they will be much easier to deal with."

"I wouldn't count on it, Jethro," Darren changed the direction of his motion, noting how Hsu's body moved to adjust, and how the rhythm of the sword changed. "You really have no idea what those women are capable of, even without me."

"I have studied all of you for a very long time, even financing some of the attacks on you, just to see how you handled them." Hsu Long smirked, "I know exactly what they are capable of."

Did he really? Darren thought of the battles he and the girls had fought, and what an observer might have learned from them. Yes, he could come to some pretty insightful conclusions about the capabilities of the others, but...