Chapter 4

Threading their way anonymously through the crowded sidewalks of Mong Kok, the three ducked between the stalls of the ladies market, then circled the block, checking their back trail before ducking into the MTR entrance. Sun and Jun bought Xue a ticket and shepherded the young girl into the queue that was forming in front of one of the glass doors for the Tsuen Wan line in the direction for Central. It was late afternoon and the train was packed, but no one looked twice at the three young women dressed in the ubiquitous dark outfits of the denizens of Hong Kong. Changing again at the Admiralty station, they took the Island line toward Chai Wan. They let the Wan Chai (Author's note: Wan Chai and Chai Wan are two different places) station go by without notice and hustled Xue off at Causeway Bay, heading east as they emerged onto the street. Two blocks later they ducked past a Häagen-Dazs store into the Park Lane Hotel to find a reservation waiting for them, as Mei had 'said' they would. Instead of registering as Mr. Chan's 'employees, ' this time they used different aliases more in keeping with their local personae. Jun told the Bellman that their bags would be along later and to please bring them to the room when they arrived.

A quick sweep of the room verified that it was bug-free, and Sun took up position near the window that overlooked Victoria Park, while Jun, unsubtly, positioned herself between their charge and the door.

"Here is your situation," Sun began. "We cannot allow you to keep that disc. You can surrender it voluntarily, or we will take it by force - from your lifeless body if necessary."

"Since we are predisposed to hear your reasons for taking the data," Jun continued, "and are particularly well qualified to help you with whatever trouble you and your sister are in, we would prefer that you choose to give the disc to us voluntarily. The choice is yours. Make it now."

Xue's eyes darted speculatively back and forth between the two, then, without a word, she withdrew the CD from her clothing and tossed it at Jun's feet.

"Will you help me get my sister and Jin and Jing away from the Chinese?" she asked flatly.

"Tell us the story," Sun replied, just as flatly, while Jun picked up the disc and made it disappear inside her clothing.

"There were four of us. Xiu and I and Jin and Jing," Xue began. "We were created fourteen years ago upon the orders of a man named Huang, who died soon after. For the first twelve years, we were kept in a compound near Beijing where we trained every day. They were training us to be assassins. Two years ago, it was rumored that the People's Republic had no further need of us and was going to sell us to a foreign government. Within a month, we were moved to a new compound in the New Territories, less than twenty kilometers from here."

'Died soon after?' Jun thought to her sister. They must not have been told how he died.

It makes sense, replied Sun. The People's Republic would not like advertising that one of its minions, namely Master Sung, killed a government official and escaped unharmed.

"When we learned of the move, my sister and I formulated a plan for our escape. As we neared the new compound, we surprised our guards, knocking them out, then jumped from the moving trucks," Xue continued, as if deep in thought. "I was lucky. I landed in soft brush and was able to roll to my feet. I turned to see where my sister was, only to find her impaled through her shoulder upon the jagged stump of a tree branch. I started to go to her, but the guards were beginning to react and their bullets were cutting leaves all around us. Xiu told me to save myself, and we agreed it would be best if at least one was free, so that she could help free the other. That was two years ago. The money from the sale of that disc would have bought the help of enough people to get Xiu, Jin, and Jing out of that camp, and away to a country where our former masters could not reach us."

"There would have been no money from that disc," Jun told her. "If we had not found you when we did, you would be dead. You were foolish to think you could get away with it."

"What was the boy's role in all this?" Sun asked. And why hasn't she even given him a second thought? she asked the others within their mental link receiving only the mental equivalent of a shrug in return.

"Sammy Fong was my lover. He provided the computer equipment that I used," Xue replied, unmoved. "His father was quite wealthy, and he didn't mind that I was different. He was loyal to me and I will miss him."

You can't just pick up stakes and traipse around the world anymore, Darren! Stephanie 'shouted' at him as he loaded his gear on the jet. You're a public figure now, and you have responsibilities to your country.

What could be more important than safeguarding national security? he shot back, strapping himself in as Mei and Wei pre-flighted the aircraft. There would be no subtleties or deceptions on this flight. This jet was one of Hastings' experimental sub-orbitals that should get them to Hong Kong in just under three hours, if they could withstand the G-forces. Besides, I've got my bodyguard with me. Liam will keep me safe.

Don't do this, Darren, Steph pleaded. If the press gets wind of this, I'll be up to my eyeballs in questions to which I can't give honest answers.

Just tell them it's a matter vital to national security that you're not free to discuss, Darren replied. You know this is too big for your mom and aunts alone. Do you want us to back off and leave it to the CIA? I'm sure Donald Patterson's boys will be happy to take on the People's Republic and raid one of their camps. Just give me the word and I'll pass it off to them.

Stephanie sighed. She knew he was right, but didn't look forward to the potential media storm. Just be careful, Husband. You may be in love with Aunt Jun, but I've gotten kind of attached to you, too.

And I you, Steph, Darren's thought softened and he let her feel his affection. They're going to need every one of the abilities we've developed to pull this off, and that means I at least need to be close by. I'll try to stay out of any direct action, but they'll need my support, since many of those abilities come through me.

Will do, sweetie, Darren assured her. Now you go on back to leading the free world and don't worry about me. I'll be fine.

While waiting for Mei and Wei to finish their checks and get permission to take off, Darren turned to his bodyguard.

"Listen up, sailor," he said. "As you might have guessed, we're not going to Hong Kong for a social visit. I'm going to put you on the spot here and now and let you know that at least Mei and Wei will be in harm's way, and we'll be pretty close to the action - close enough that it might touch us. If you have a problem with that you have two options: You can get out now, before the doors seal themselves, and tell your superiors that that crazy SOB of a First Gentleman was just too much to handle. They're used to hearing that and won't give it a second thought. Your other choice is to finish strapping in and hang on for the ride, 'cause it could get rough, even after we land. I'm going to try to stay on the fringes but there are things at play here that I'm not at liberty to discuss with you, so you'll have to trust your training and mine to see us through if you decide to stay."

Liam studied Darren's face for a long moment. He was well aware of Darren's service record with the Navy SEALS, and had heard the stories about how he came to be involved with the Gemini Girls. "Sir, I haven't backed away from an assignment yet, and for now, I'm assigned to keep you alive. The fact that you're a crazy SOB and keep getting yourself into these scrapes makes it even more imperative that you have somebody watching your back. I won't say I'm comfortable with the situation, but after training with you and those women, I'm willing to bet on the three of you against almost any small army. Just be aware that if you get yourself killed on my watch, I'm going to kick your ass all the way to Hell and back... Sir."

"Spoken like a SEAL, sailor!" Darren grinned. "Welcome aboard."

The acceleration of the powerful plasma engines drove their bodies deep into the seats as the stubby wings clawed for purchase in the air that rushed over them. The Bernoulli effect did its job, lowering the pressure above the wings to less than that below, and the craft lifted swiftly from the runway, scrambling for altitude in the night sky. The howl of the engines reminded Darren of the sound effects from old Hollywood horror movies and the phrase '... like a banshee out of hell... ' came unbidden to his mind as his face deformed and the G-suit inflated to help keep at least some of the blood in his brain.

Next to him, Liam was moaning under the forces of the acceleration while ahead, Mei and Wei used the fingertip controls in the armrests of their couches to fly the craft. The Gemini girls might have been able to manage standard flight controls under these conditions, but no normal human would have been able to, and Darren mentally congratulated Hastings' aircraft engineers on their foresight. Instead of placing controls under the pilot and co-pilot's hands, the 'Command Mitts' as they were called informally, required the user's hands to rest palm up so the weaker muscles used for opening the hands didn't have to maintain the strain of supporting fingers that were several times their normal weight. Instead, the stronger, gripping muscles were employed briefly each time a control was operated, just long enough to lift the necessary fingers to touch the capacitive switches of the controls, then drop them back to rest in their foam cradle.

At some point, the atmosphere became so thin that the bird became a rocket instead of an aircraft. At the speed she was traveling, however, even the rare atmosphere this high up heated the leading edges of the wings to a fiery yellow glow. In a very short time, the craft reached engine cut-off high over the Pacific Ocean and Darren's stomach did flip-flops as the crushing weight lifted off his chest and they became a ballistic missile. A quick glance to the side showed him that Liam, though still conscious, was looking a little green around the gills in the weightlessness of freefall.

"There's a bag in the pocket in front of you, if you need it," Darren told his bodyguard. "Please use it if you're going to hurl so the rest of us don't get coated with it as it floats around the cabin, okay?"

Liam gave him a thumbs up and attempted a smile, then suddenly made a grab for the bag.

Darren turned to watch the scene from the forward windscreen, more to give Liam some privacy than out of a sense of squeamishness.

As the pull of gravity gradually overcame their upward momentum, the aircraft nosed slowly over and began accelerating Earthward, gaining 32 feet per second of downward velocity for every second of its descent. Soon the craft was screaming downward, fast approaching the speed it had achieved in its mad dash for space. Darren could almost feel the point at which the control surfaces got enough of a grip on the air to maneuver, and he watched in wonder as the Philippines and the eastern coast of China rushed toward them at ever increasing speed. Just when it seemed that nothing could stop their downward plunge, he was suddenly thrust once again into his cushions as Mei and Wei expertly guided the jet into an increasingly shallow spiral that shed forward velocity almost as fast as it slowed their descent, bringing them smoothly into the landing pattern for Hong Kong airport.

"So what now?" Xue asked of her captors.

Sun was on the room phone while Jun spoke into her cell. Though the language they spoke sounded like Mandarin, Xue found she could make no sense of it. She had no way of knowing that the Gemini Girls, while in training as bodyguards, had developed their own language, and had since taught it to trusted employees of their security company.

"Dinner," Jun told her, snapping the cell phone closed. "You will tell us more of your story while we refresh ourselves."

Sun, too, finished her phone conversation.

As she turned back to the girl, a knock sounded at the door. Jun pushed Xue out of view of the room's door, then stepped into the bathroom, out of direct line to the room entrance.

"Who is it?" she said, borrowing Darren's 'sight' to probe the hallway. Only one person was outside the door and he seemed to be burdened with something.

"Bellman!" came the Chinese-accented English reply.

Jun stepped to the door and risked a quick peek through the peephole. A white uniformed Bellman stood outside the door. Palming a Hong Kong twenty dollar bill, she opened the door enough to see that the local G/WSS office had, indeed sent the requested items. Jun handed the money to the Bellman but blocked his passage when he made to carry the bags into the room.

"I will take them," she said with an inflection that let him know there would be no argument.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, after a pause, then turned and headed back toward the elevators. Jun watched him until he disappeared around the corner of the corridor, her other senses alert for trouble, then picked up the bags as if they weighed nothing, and brought them into the room.

Two of the bags had come from their room at the Grand Hyatt. The other two were hardcases and the girls knew they contained the requested weapons. They locked with a kind of lock that had been invented years before when Mei and Wei were guarding Steve Hastings against a number of people, including Jun and her sister. The locks could only be opened by two people who shared the same mind and had the keys to the case. It accomplished this purpose by requiring each person to have one hand on the case while the other hand turned the keys - at exactly the same time.

Jun smiled as she remembered how Hastings had outsmarted their former employer, having Mei and Wei kill him, even as Sun and Jun were in the process of invading Hastings' home to steal the plans he carried. This kind of lock on the case for the plans ensured that he would stay alive long enough for them to discover the deception and for Mei and Wei to talk them into joining Hastings' team.