"Fist For Hire"
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dochermes"Fist For Hire"
10/3/2010
I.
Leaving the senior girl 'Rose' in charge for the moment, Choon-Hee closed the door of the SUNNY DAYS SPA and glanced anxiously up and down the plain hallway. No one was in sight. There was a bench by the window that looked out on lower Canal Street, a fire extinguisher behind a glass panel and a large potted plant by the stairwell but aside from that, the hall was bare as when it had been built many decades earlier. Choon-Hee Dae was tall for a Korean woman, about five feet eight, thin and well dressed in a white silk blouse, snug black skirt and heels. Her hair was up in a bun at the back of her head and she was wearing her glasses that day instead of contacts.
It was just before nine and the spa would not open for another hour but the girls working there always tried to be early to do some cleaning and enjoy a light breakfast. Korean women tended to be a little obsessive about having everything scrubbed and immaculate. Choon-Hee trusted Rose to run things, the woman was close to fifty and had been working there for quite a few years. With any luck, she would not be gone long in any case.
Trotting lightly up the staircase to the third floor, Choon-Hee turned right and faced a door with a frosted glass panel that had the Chinese symbols for 'Chuan Lo Tsing' painted on it. She knew enough Chinese to translate this as roughly "Hard Worker Fist" or "Fist For Hire." In English beneath that was written ARGENT INVESTIGATIONS and the office hours 12 Midnight to 8 AM. She rang the bell and waited, then gave a start as she heard a door close on the ground floor below.
As she rang the bell again, the door opened and the man called Argent peered out at her. "Oh, good morning, May. What's up?"
"Please may I come in?" She turned her head to watch the stairs. Seeing the anxious expression on her face, Sheng ushered her into his office. He was just getting ready to close his office and catch some sleep. Asians and Asian-Americans had difficulty placing Sheng's ethnic origins. He had dark tawny skin, a double eyelid fold and coarse straight black hair. But the beaked, eagle-like nose and high cheekbones didn't match. Usually, people decided he was Northern Chinese, probably a little mixed, and left it at that. The truth was much stranger.
There was a bathroom door in one corner and a large closet, but most of the office was taken up by a huge desk with a swivel chair behind it, a couch along one wall and four straightback wooden chairs with red leather seats. There were two hanging plants behind the desk and a big calendar on the wall with photos of sunsets. Sheng held a chair for May. He was wearing a dark brown suit with a yellow shirt and brown tie, quite nicely tailored.
Sheng was a few inches shorter than Choon-Hee but obviously very fit and athletic. Just thirty, he looked a few years younger. He crossed over and settled in his own chair. "I never know what to call you when you're not working," he said.
"Please, Choon-Hee is fine. 'May' is just the name we give clients so they are not confused by Korean names they never heard of. Sheng, one of my girls in serious trouble."
"Because of the spa? I thought your place was nice and discreet."
"No, that is not it. The police leave us alone. We are quiet. But my girl has men following her. Big black men, not Americans I think." A door closed out in the hall and she jumped a little in her chair.
Seeing this, Sheng Mo-Yuan grew more serious. "Well, you're under Argent's protection now, tell me what's going on."
Choon-Hee took a deep breath, removed her glasses and began toying with them as she spoke. "It's the one we call 'Koko,' Mi-Cha Park. She was in France last year. A one-week tour she had been planning with a friend. Somehow she met an African tourist and gave him the spa's card, joking that if he was ever in Chinatown, he should visit."
Argent said, "Okay, go on."
"A week or so ago, a huge African came to the spa when Mi-Cha was not there. We do not service black men, I know it is considered racist, but the girls just refuse. He was not there as a client though, he said he just wanted to say hello to the girl who had given him that card and would call again."
"Yes? And then?"
"That's what is frightening. He has not called directly, but the girls and I see the same three or four big black men in the street watching this building. They do not look like Americans, it's hard to say how, but they seem like they do not belong here." She finally folded her eyeglasses and placed them in her lap, seeming to calm down. "My girls do not live at the spa, they share an apartment in Flushing. It is a very Korean neighborhood. And last night, one of the girls went to the corner market and saw the Africans across the street watching her!"
Argent frowned and leaned forward, elbows on his desk. "Yeah, you might call that suspicious. I guess you haven't gone to the police?"
"The police? Oh, no, never-" She was cut off by the scream from the floor below them.
II.
Choon-Hee had never seen Argent in action before. She did not know that Sheng Mo-Yuan could channel gralic energy in his body for enhanced speed or strength or resilience but only one effect at a time. He was on his feet and out of the office so quickly that she was not quite sure what had happened. It took a few seconds before she blinked and understood that he had whipped past her in a blur. Then she remembered the scream and she also jumped up and ran for the stairs.
Reaching the floor below, she saw Sheng facing a man nearly a foot taller and easily a hundred pounds heavier. The African wore simple jeans and dark T-shirt, showing off over-developed muscles in his chest and arms. His hair was cut very short, nearly shaved off completely, and he was glaring angrily as Argent appeared. The man's expression was irritated but not furious. There was shrewd intelligence in the deepset eyes that watched the approaching Sheng warily.
"Seems to be a problem, my friend?" asked Argent as he came within reach.
"I don't understand," the African said with just a trace of a French accent. "When the young lady saw me, she screamed and closed the door. I don't know what alarmed her. I have back pain and wanted a massage."
"He's one of them..." Choon-Hee said quietly.
"Look, Tiny. I understand you and some friends of yours have been watching this place. Stalking the girls." Sheng stepped closer still, and his voice held just a hint of menace. "Do you have something to say?"
"Oh, they must be mistaken," the man said. "I hate to say it, it is such a cliche, but perhaps to these women all men of my color look alike. I have arrived from Danarak only yesterday." He sounded calm and non-threatening, almost apologetic. "Well. My lower back is killing me, I will just seek treatment elsewhere."
Sheng took a step back to stand beside Choon-Hee. "Yeah right. That's so believable. But perhaps you should know. I am a licensed private investigator and am usually in my office right upstairs. These women are under my protection."
The big African did not smile. He inclined his head just a fraction and headed for the stairwell. "I am sorry for any misunderstanding," he said as he left.
As they heard the door to the street close, Choon-Hee knocked on the door to the SUNNY DAY SPA rather than using the bell and called out in Korean. The door cracked open barely an inch, then a young woman stuck her head out and they spoke to each other while Sheng listened without being able to follow. He spoke Chujiran, English and some Cantonese but Korean was beyond him at that point.
Stepping out into the hall, the spa worker was a rather pretty woman about thirty, wearing a light summer dress and high heels. The breast implants and heavy make-up were a bit obvious. She smiled at Sheng and said in English, "Thank you! We have not seen you in long time."
"Ah, I have been too busy to enjoy your company," he said. "Choon-Hee, I am going to look into this. You have my number?"
"Yes, of course. I will call you if they return."
Argent smiled and touched her on the shoulder. "Don't worry. I have flattened much bigger opponents than him." With that, he turned and hurried up the stairs back to his office. He had left the door open in his haste and it occurred to him that the commotion might have been planned as a distraction but he saw no sign anyone had been in his office. He closed the door behind him and exhaled sharply.
He had not mentioned it to Choon-Hee but now he was worried himself. The man had mentioned Danarak. Those highly defined muscles in arms and chest did not come from any gym, but from a lifetime of strangling animals and men. The Night Gorillas had come to America.
III.
Back behind his desk, Sheng drummed his fingers impatiently. Since opening his own agency, he had stepped down to reserve status with the Kenneth Dred Foundation. He still showed up for duty two days each week and he was of course always on call for emergencies. But now that he was getting used to handling his own problems, he understood more and more why Jeremy Bane had kept his cases separate from KDF business.
He decided to keep watch that day. There was plenty of paperwork to fill the morning... bills to write checks for, statements to study, letters from clients. By noon he had cleaned his IN and OUT trays. Going down to the corner, he came back with some newspapers and magazines, as well as a pepperoni pizza and a 32-ounce bottle of soda. Until late afternoon, he read and ate. It was an unprecedented day off for him, but he wanted to stay in the building. During all this, he had been sitting by the window looking down at Canal Street, keeping one eye on people moving on the sidewalk right below him. And he left his door ajar so he could better hear what went on.
At five o'clock, he took off his shoes and jacket and stepped into the middle of his office. For the next forty minutes, he went through the Doh Ra form that had been individually designed for him by Teacher Chael. It began with his bowing to Tel Shai, then going through a series of stances and poses that became punches and blocks and kicks in rapid combination before slowing again. Finally, he was holding difficult stances as he came to a close. He had broken out into a sweat and his breathing had sped up just a bit, but he felt toned and ready for anything. Washing his hands and face with steaming water, Sheng smiled smugly at his reflection in the mirror over the sink.
How far he had come from that drowsy village deep in Chujir. How grateful he was that the wise woman Tang Ming had settled there, teaching him about this real world beyond the adjacent realms. Then her friend, the Dire Wolf, had arrived one day and they had all worked together against the Smiling Brethren....
By six, some of the offices and shops in the Hartwicke Building were closing and he heard people calling cheerful goodbyes. He knew the SUNNY DAY SPA stayed open until ten, like most such places. Argent got up, stretched thoroughly and yawned like a lion, then went down the stairs and rang the little white doorbell by the door of the massage parlor. One eye peered out suspiciously through the barely opened crack, then Koko flung the door open and greeted him with a flash of perfect gleaming teeth.
"You have come to visit, yes?"
"I'm afraid not," Sheng told her. "But I want you and your mama-san to know I will be staying in my office tonight. If you girls need anything, please call."
"Oh thank you. Wait, wait a second please." Koko ran back into the spa and came out with a plate which held hot spicy kimchi over dark rice, with a fork and napkin. "Please, you eat. Our boss cook it herself, it has great flavor."
Sheng politely took the offered meal, thanked her and repeated that he would be right upstairs. He returned to his office and ate. To be honest, he was not that fond of Korean cooking. Back in Chujir, the cuisine had been rather bland and filling but not highly seasoned at all. But he took the gift in the spirit it was given, finished it off and realized he was getting used to it.
Leaning way back with his feet on his desk, ankles crossed, Sheng Mo-Yuan remembered all he could about the Night Gorilla sect. The late Arem Kamende had used them as assassins and enforcers, but they were a cult that went far back in history... some said they had their origins in the Darthan Age itself. The cult was called Mulongi, and its members did not live among other Danarakans but hid in the hills and mountains like bandits. As children, they were taken by the sect leaders, often sold by impoverished families, and raised in training camps out in the wilderness. Each had to strangle a grown man before being initiated. They had been brought up to be without pity or fear, living only for their trade.
There was a strong religious basis under their activities. When they made a sacrifice to their patron spirit Juhumba, the Night Gorillas strangled the victim because Juhumba did not want a drop of blood spilled. Some of the cult members took a Velkandu serum that enhanced their already formidable strength and made them unfeeling of any pain. In this state, they were terrifying, almost unstoppable.
Not that Argent felt intimidated in the slightest. His faith in his own capabilities was immense. He had more than a decade of Kumundu training at Tel Shai, as well as having been on the tagra diet all that time. Adding to that was his innate ability to focus gralic force through his body for extra strength, speed or resilience as he chose. Sheng's smug confidence was mostly justified. His abilities were why he seldom carried a gun even though he had a permit.
By a quarter to ten, he was bored and irritated. He had gone through the magazines and newspapers he had purchased that day and he did not have a TV in his office. Although he could have browsed the Web using his Link device, Sheng was not much interested in any of that. He had grown up in a rustic town without electricity or running water and would always be a country boy. At times like this, he missed the abrasive but stimulating company of his Uncle Pao, who was off that day. Just before ten, he went out in the hall and stood by the stairwell, listening. He heard Choon-Hee speaking in Korean, heard other female voices answering in low tones and then the door closing and the clack of heels going along a wooden hallway.
Sheng went back into his office and peered out the window to see Choon-Hee in a long cloth coat step onto the sidewalk and wave for a taxi that pulled over. No one was with her. He was not surprised. Despite what she had said, the women who worked in massage parlors often slept there rather than take a long ride home only to return early the next morning. It was not strictly legal, but then those establishments skirted the law in a number of ways. It meant Koko and the other girl Rose were still in the spa.
Maybe it was just as well, Argent thought. He brought a straightbacked chair from his office out into the hall and placed it just outside his office door to begin his vigil.
IV.
A scraping sound awoke him with a start. Sheng straightened up, got to his feet and cocked his head. Yes, it was definitely coming from directly below him. He glanced back into his office and saw by the clock over his desk it was three-twenty in the morning. The faint scraping continued. He undid the top button on his dress shirt, loosened the knot in his tie and began to descend the steps in utter silence.
As he had expected, the Night Gorillas were there. Four huge Africans, wearing plain dark clothing including wool caps, were huddled around the door to SUNNY DAY SPA and one had just finished picking the lock. He opened the door and nodded to his fellow cultists, standing aside for them to enter.
Seeing no reason to delay, Sheng Mo-Yuan hopped off the bottom step of the staircase and raced across the hallway to seize the nearest Night Gorilla by the shoulder. He spun the surprised man around and drove his fist deep into the African strangler's stomach. Using his enhanced strength, he expected that blow to drop the man gasping for breath but he was disappointed. It was like punching a wall with a leather covering. The Night Gorilla snarled and seized Sheng by the throat.
Those were big sinewy hands at the ends of arms layered with ropy muscles. Their grip was apalling. That cultist had choked to death dozens of men struggling for their lives. As soon as he felt the grip around his throat, Sheng had shifted his gralic charge into resilience. He did not become literally invulnerable, just very resistant to harm. In the instant he drew back his fist to strike at the man holding him, the other Night Gorilla had come up behind Sheng and seized both his arms in that same iron grip.
"Well, come on!" said the Night Gorilla behind him. "Kill him and get it over with, what's your problem?"
"I...I don't know, Molwai. I can't choke him. He is no ordinary man." The Night Gorilla increased his efforts but Sheng's throat and windpipe were reinforced with gralic energy that made them too strong to harm.
The one called Molwai grunted his disapproval. "You are getting old. Let's get him out of sight at least." They hauled the wriggling Sheng into the office despite his resistance and closed the door behind him. Light from the hallway came through the frosted glass panel in the door, showing two more of the Night Gorillas holding the small Korean women terrified with grips around their throats. Rose and Koko were wearing light bathrobes and their eyes bulged in fear but they dared not speak.
"Which one is the thief, Molwai?" asked one of the stranglers.
The Night Gorilla holding Sheng's arms motionless turned his head. "The younger one. While I was in the bathroom, she must have gone through my luggage and taken the ivory wand. We will question her."
"But first..." The cultist still clutching Sheng by the throat indicated Rose with a nod of his head. "For good omens, let us sacrifice the older woman. Juhumba will be pleased and get us home safely."
"A wise thought," said the man holding Rose by the neck. He grinned wickedly, teeth flashing in the gloom. "This will be quick."
Sheng twisted suddenly, kicking back and smashing his heel through the glass panel in the door. Taken off guard, the African cultist who had been holding him loosened his grip. Argent was free in a surge of motion, seizing a jagged shard of glass in each hand. He plunged forward with them, not at the Night Gorillas but at the two Korean women, slicing deeply down their arms. They screamed in the unexpected pain.
Dropping the pieces of glass, Sheng Mo-Yuan held up his gashed palms and laughed. "The sacrifice must be done without blood being shed!" he yelled. "Well! Don't you think that's more than enough blood to make Juhumba angry with you?"
The Night Gorillas did not answer. They were staring in horror, confused and uncertain. Both Rose and Koko had bright red streams dripping down their arms and Sheng's palms were a bloody mess. Everyone was silent for a long moment.
Finally, Molwai exhaled. "The sacrifice is indeed ruined. We would be disgraced in Juhumba's eyes. Fine. You! The thief. Return what you have taken and end this trouble."
Staring wildly, clutching her gashed arm, Koko turned to Sheng. The Chujiran just said, "Give him what he wants."
Nodding, Koko went behind the counter where the mama-san took phone calls and kept the money, coming back out again with a bit of ivory the size of a human finger, carved all over with tiny symbols. Molwai snatched it from her angrily.
"This is ancient and precious!" he grumbled. "We need it for our forecasts. It has no use to you."
Koko did not answer, lowering her head like a child being chastised. Sheng came over to stand beside her and Rose, facing the four Night Gorillas.
"You saw just a knick-knack, a conversation piece to amuse your friends," Molwai went on in a furious tone. "So my brothers and I have come thousands of miles to retrieve what is rightfully ours."
Sheng raised a gouged hand in dismissal, blood trickling down his shirt sleeve. "Well. They are more frightened than they have ever been. And they will each bear a scar down their dainty arms. Have they not been punished, Mulongi?"
Unexpectedly, the Night Gorilla guffawed. He seemed genuinely amused. "Yes. I suppose they have. I do not know you, yellow man, and I do not know why you are difficult to harm. But I salute you. We have what we were sent to fetch. The thief has been punished. And there will be other sacrifices to offer Juhumba."
He turned, opened the spa door while walking over broken glass, and beckoned for his comrades to follow. "I trust you have learned wisdom the hard way. May we never meet again!" And they were gone.
Chattering frantically, just on the edge of complete panic, Rose and Koko ran into the delicately furnished bathroom beside the counter and began rinsing off their arms. With a wince, Argent wadded some tissue paper and squeezed it in his fists to stop his own bleeding. With the tagra healing factor, his gashes would seal within a few more minutes but the girls did not have that advantage.
"You two need to go to the hospital," he said after examining them. "I don't think you need stitches but those should be dressed. Have you both had tetanus shots? No? All right." Sheng got some white tape and gauze pads from the medicine cabinet and got the two women presentable.
"Now, listen. Take your handbags. We will go down to the street and I will put you two in a taxi to go to the ER. Your injuries are not that bad, you're in no danger. Your story is, I don't know, you bumped into each other because you are just so clumsy and your arms went through the glass. Just an unfortunate accident."
"But what of you? Your poor hands?"
"Aw, I will be fine. I heal quicker than bad guys can hurt me. While you are gone, I will call your mama-san and explain what happened. Those men will not come back." He moved to pat them them comfortingly on the shoulder but stopped as he remembered his wounded palms. "This all cost you both some blood and you will need to replace that glass, but it's still better than being strangled to placate Juhumba."
Pressing hard on the gauze where her arm was throbbing now, Koko seemed ready for tears. "You saved our lives, Sheng. Oh my god, so scared. We owe you so much."
Despite everything, Sheng Mo-Yuan chuckled. "Well. Tell you what. Whenever I pull a muscle or hurt my back or get beat up on a case, I will come to you girls for your best hard massage."
Grinning bravely back at him, Koko wiped her eyes with the back of one hand and said, "It's a deal."
1/17/2016
10/3/2010
I.
Leaving the senior girl 'Rose' in charge for the moment, Choon-Hee closed the door of the SUNNY DAYS SPA and glanced anxiously up and down the plain hallway. No one was in sight. There was a bench by the window that looked out on lower Canal Street, a fire extinguisher behind a glass panel and a large potted plant by the stairwell but aside from that, the hall was bare as when it had been built many decades earlier. Choon-Hee Dae was tall for a Korean woman, about five feet eight, thin and well dressed in a white silk blouse, snug black skirt and heels. Her hair was up in a bun at the back of her head and she was wearing her glasses that day instead of contacts.
It was just before nine and the spa would not open for another hour but the girls working there always tried to be early to do some cleaning and enjoy a light breakfast. Korean women tended to be a little obsessive about having everything scrubbed and immaculate. Choon-Hee trusted Rose to run things, the woman was close to fifty and had been working there for quite a few years. With any luck, she would not be gone long in any case.
Trotting lightly up the staircase to the third floor, Choon-Hee turned right and faced a door with a frosted glass panel that had the Chinese symbols for 'Chuan Lo Tsing' painted on it. She knew enough Chinese to translate this as roughly "Hard Worker Fist" or "Fist For Hire." In English beneath that was written ARGENT INVESTIGATIONS and the office hours 12 Midnight to 8 AM. She rang the bell and waited, then gave a start as she heard a door close on the ground floor below.
As she rang the bell again, the door opened and the man called Argent peered out at her. "Oh, good morning, May. What's up?"
"Please may I come in?" She turned her head to watch the stairs. Seeing the anxious expression on her face, Sheng ushered her into his office. He was just getting ready to close his office and catch some sleep. Asians and Asian-Americans had difficulty placing Sheng's ethnic origins. He had dark tawny skin, a double eyelid fold and coarse straight black hair. But the beaked, eagle-like nose and high cheekbones didn't match. Usually, people decided he was Northern Chinese, probably a little mixed, and left it at that. The truth was much stranger.
There was a bathroom door in one corner and a large closet, but most of the office was taken up by a huge desk with a swivel chair behind it, a couch along one wall and four straightback wooden chairs with red leather seats. There were two hanging plants behind the desk and a big calendar on the wall with photos of sunsets. Sheng held a chair for May. He was wearing a dark brown suit with a yellow shirt and brown tie, quite nicely tailored.
Sheng was a few inches shorter than Choon-Hee but obviously very fit and athletic. Just thirty, he looked a few years younger. He crossed over and settled in his own chair. "I never know what to call you when you're not working," he said.
"Please, Choon-Hee is fine. 'May' is just the name we give clients so they are not confused by Korean names they never heard of. Sheng, one of my girls in serious trouble."
"Because of the spa? I thought your place was nice and discreet."
"No, that is not it. The police leave us alone. We are quiet. But my girl has men following her. Big black men, not Americans I think." A door closed out in the hall and she jumped a little in her chair.
Seeing this, Sheng Mo-Yuan grew more serious. "Well, you're under Argent's protection now, tell me what's going on."
Choon-Hee took a deep breath, removed her glasses and began toying with them as she spoke. "It's the one we call 'Koko,' Mi-Cha Park. She was in France last year. A one-week tour she had been planning with a friend. Somehow she met an African tourist and gave him the spa's card, joking that if he was ever in Chinatown, he should visit."
Argent said, "Okay, go on."
"A week or so ago, a huge African came to the spa when Mi-Cha was not there. We do not service black men, I know it is considered racist, but the girls just refuse. He was not there as a client though, he said he just wanted to say hello to the girl who had given him that card and would call again."
"Yes? And then?"
"That's what is frightening. He has not called directly, but the girls and I see the same three or four big black men in the street watching this building. They do not look like Americans, it's hard to say how, but they seem like they do not belong here." She finally folded her eyeglasses and placed them in her lap, seeming to calm down. "My girls do not live at the spa, they share an apartment in Flushing. It is a very Korean neighborhood. And last night, one of the girls went to the corner market and saw the Africans across the street watching her!"
Argent frowned and leaned forward, elbows on his desk. "Yeah, you might call that suspicious. I guess you haven't gone to the police?"
"The police? Oh, no, never-" She was cut off by the scream from the floor below them.
II.
Choon-Hee had never seen Argent in action before. She did not know that Sheng Mo-Yuan could channel gralic energy in his body for enhanced speed or strength or resilience but only one effect at a time. He was on his feet and out of the office so quickly that she was not quite sure what had happened. It took a few seconds before she blinked and understood that he had whipped past her in a blur. Then she remembered the scream and she also jumped up and ran for the stairs.
Reaching the floor below, she saw Sheng facing a man nearly a foot taller and easily a hundred pounds heavier. The African wore simple jeans and dark T-shirt, showing off over-developed muscles in his chest and arms. His hair was cut very short, nearly shaved off completely, and he was glaring angrily as Argent appeared. The man's expression was irritated but not furious. There was shrewd intelligence in the deepset eyes that watched the approaching Sheng warily.
"Seems to be a problem, my friend?" asked Argent as he came within reach.
"I don't understand," the African said with just a trace of a French accent. "When the young lady saw me, she screamed and closed the door. I don't know what alarmed her. I have back pain and wanted a massage."
"He's one of them..." Choon-Hee said quietly.
"Look, Tiny. I understand you and some friends of yours have been watching this place. Stalking the girls." Sheng stepped closer still, and his voice held just a hint of menace. "Do you have something to say?"
"Oh, they must be mistaken," the man said. "I hate to say it, it is such a cliche, but perhaps to these women all men of my color look alike. I have arrived from Danarak only yesterday." He sounded calm and non-threatening, almost apologetic. "Well. My lower back is killing me, I will just seek treatment elsewhere."
Sheng took a step back to stand beside Choon-Hee. "Yeah right. That's so believable. But perhaps you should know. I am a licensed private investigator and am usually in my office right upstairs. These women are under my protection."
The big African did not smile. He inclined his head just a fraction and headed for the stairwell. "I am sorry for any misunderstanding," he said as he left.
As they heard the door to the street close, Choon-Hee knocked on the door to the SUNNY DAY SPA rather than using the bell and called out in Korean. The door cracked open barely an inch, then a young woman stuck her head out and they spoke to each other while Sheng listened without being able to follow. He spoke Chujiran, English and some Cantonese but Korean was beyond him at that point.
Stepping out into the hall, the spa worker was a rather pretty woman about thirty, wearing a light summer dress and high heels. The breast implants and heavy make-up were a bit obvious. She smiled at Sheng and said in English, "Thank you! We have not seen you in long time."
"Ah, I have been too busy to enjoy your company," he said. "Choon-Hee, I am going to look into this. You have my number?"
"Yes, of course. I will call you if they return."
Argent smiled and touched her on the shoulder. "Don't worry. I have flattened much bigger opponents than him." With that, he turned and hurried up the stairs back to his office. He had left the door open in his haste and it occurred to him that the commotion might have been planned as a distraction but he saw no sign anyone had been in his office. He closed the door behind him and exhaled sharply.
He had not mentioned it to Choon-Hee but now he was worried himself. The man had mentioned Danarak. Those highly defined muscles in arms and chest did not come from any gym, but from a lifetime of strangling animals and men. The Night Gorillas had come to America.
III.
Back behind his desk, Sheng drummed his fingers impatiently. Since opening his own agency, he had stepped down to reserve status with the Kenneth Dred Foundation. He still showed up for duty two days each week and he was of course always on call for emergencies. But now that he was getting used to handling his own problems, he understood more and more why Jeremy Bane had kept his cases separate from KDF business.
He decided to keep watch that day. There was plenty of paperwork to fill the morning... bills to write checks for, statements to study, letters from clients. By noon he had cleaned his IN and OUT trays. Going down to the corner, he came back with some newspapers and magazines, as well as a pepperoni pizza and a 32-ounce bottle of soda. Until late afternoon, he read and ate. It was an unprecedented day off for him, but he wanted to stay in the building. During all this, he had been sitting by the window looking down at Canal Street, keeping one eye on people moving on the sidewalk right below him. And he left his door ajar so he could better hear what went on.
At five o'clock, he took off his shoes and jacket and stepped into the middle of his office. For the next forty minutes, he went through the Doh Ra form that had been individually designed for him by Teacher Chael. It began with his bowing to Tel Shai, then going through a series of stances and poses that became punches and blocks and kicks in rapid combination before slowing again. Finally, he was holding difficult stances as he came to a close. He had broken out into a sweat and his breathing had sped up just a bit, but he felt toned and ready for anything. Washing his hands and face with steaming water, Sheng smiled smugly at his reflection in the mirror over the sink.
How far he had come from that drowsy village deep in Chujir. How grateful he was that the wise woman Tang Ming had settled there, teaching him about this real world beyond the adjacent realms. Then her friend, the Dire Wolf, had arrived one day and they had all worked together against the Smiling Brethren....
By six, some of the offices and shops in the Hartwicke Building were closing and he heard people calling cheerful goodbyes. He knew the SUNNY DAY SPA stayed open until ten, like most such places. Argent got up, stretched thoroughly and yawned like a lion, then went down the stairs and rang the little white doorbell by the door of the massage parlor. One eye peered out suspiciously through the barely opened crack, then Koko flung the door open and greeted him with a flash of perfect gleaming teeth.
"You have come to visit, yes?"
"I'm afraid not," Sheng told her. "But I want you and your mama-san to know I will be staying in my office tonight. If you girls need anything, please call."
"Oh thank you. Wait, wait a second please." Koko ran back into the spa and came out with a plate which held hot spicy kimchi over dark rice, with a fork and napkin. "Please, you eat. Our boss cook it herself, it has great flavor."
Sheng politely took the offered meal, thanked her and repeated that he would be right upstairs. He returned to his office and ate. To be honest, he was not that fond of Korean cooking. Back in Chujir, the cuisine had been rather bland and filling but not highly seasoned at all. But he took the gift in the spirit it was given, finished it off and realized he was getting used to it.
Leaning way back with his feet on his desk, ankles crossed, Sheng Mo-Yuan remembered all he could about the Night Gorilla sect. The late Arem Kamende had used them as assassins and enforcers, but they were a cult that went far back in history... some said they had their origins in the Darthan Age itself. The cult was called Mulongi, and its members did not live among other Danarakans but hid in the hills and mountains like bandits. As children, they were taken by the sect leaders, often sold by impoverished families, and raised in training camps out in the wilderness. Each had to strangle a grown man before being initiated. They had been brought up to be without pity or fear, living only for their trade.
There was a strong religious basis under their activities. When they made a sacrifice to their patron spirit Juhumba, the Night Gorillas strangled the victim because Juhumba did not want a drop of blood spilled. Some of the cult members took a Velkandu serum that enhanced their already formidable strength and made them unfeeling of any pain. In this state, they were terrifying, almost unstoppable.
Not that Argent felt intimidated in the slightest. His faith in his own capabilities was immense. He had more than a decade of Kumundu training at Tel Shai, as well as having been on the tagra diet all that time. Adding to that was his innate ability to focus gralic force through his body for extra strength, speed or resilience as he chose. Sheng's smug confidence was mostly justified. His abilities were why he seldom carried a gun even though he had a permit.
By a quarter to ten, he was bored and irritated. He had gone through the magazines and newspapers he had purchased that day and he did not have a TV in his office. Although he could have browsed the Web using his Link device, Sheng was not much interested in any of that. He had grown up in a rustic town without electricity or running water and would always be a country boy. At times like this, he missed the abrasive but stimulating company of his Uncle Pao, who was off that day. Just before ten, he went out in the hall and stood by the stairwell, listening. He heard Choon-Hee speaking in Korean, heard other female voices answering in low tones and then the door closing and the clack of heels going along a wooden hallway.
Sheng went back into his office and peered out the window to see Choon-Hee in a long cloth coat step onto the sidewalk and wave for a taxi that pulled over. No one was with her. He was not surprised. Despite what she had said, the women who worked in massage parlors often slept there rather than take a long ride home only to return early the next morning. It was not strictly legal, but then those establishments skirted the law in a number of ways. It meant Koko and the other girl Rose were still in the spa.
Maybe it was just as well, Argent thought. He brought a straightbacked chair from his office out into the hall and placed it just outside his office door to begin his vigil.
IV.
A scraping sound awoke him with a start. Sheng straightened up, got to his feet and cocked his head. Yes, it was definitely coming from directly below him. He glanced back into his office and saw by the clock over his desk it was three-twenty in the morning. The faint scraping continued. He undid the top button on his dress shirt, loosened the knot in his tie and began to descend the steps in utter silence.
As he had expected, the Night Gorillas were there. Four huge Africans, wearing plain dark clothing including wool caps, were huddled around the door to SUNNY DAY SPA and one had just finished picking the lock. He opened the door and nodded to his fellow cultists, standing aside for them to enter.
Seeing no reason to delay, Sheng Mo-Yuan hopped off the bottom step of the staircase and raced across the hallway to seize the nearest Night Gorilla by the shoulder. He spun the surprised man around and drove his fist deep into the African strangler's stomach. Using his enhanced strength, he expected that blow to drop the man gasping for breath but he was disappointed. It was like punching a wall with a leather covering. The Night Gorilla snarled and seized Sheng by the throat.
Those were big sinewy hands at the ends of arms layered with ropy muscles. Their grip was apalling. That cultist had choked to death dozens of men struggling for their lives. As soon as he felt the grip around his throat, Sheng had shifted his gralic charge into resilience. He did not become literally invulnerable, just very resistant to harm. In the instant he drew back his fist to strike at the man holding him, the other Night Gorilla had come up behind Sheng and seized both his arms in that same iron grip.
"Well, come on!" said the Night Gorilla behind him. "Kill him and get it over with, what's your problem?"
"I...I don't know, Molwai. I can't choke him. He is no ordinary man." The Night Gorilla increased his efforts but Sheng's throat and windpipe were reinforced with gralic energy that made them too strong to harm.
The one called Molwai grunted his disapproval. "You are getting old. Let's get him out of sight at least." They hauled the wriggling Sheng into the office despite his resistance and closed the door behind him. Light from the hallway came through the frosted glass panel in the door, showing two more of the Night Gorillas holding the small Korean women terrified with grips around their throats. Rose and Koko were wearing light bathrobes and their eyes bulged in fear but they dared not speak.
"Which one is the thief, Molwai?" asked one of the stranglers.
The Night Gorilla holding Sheng's arms motionless turned his head. "The younger one. While I was in the bathroom, she must have gone through my luggage and taken the ivory wand. We will question her."
"But first..." The cultist still clutching Sheng by the throat indicated Rose with a nod of his head. "For good omens, let us sacrifice the older woman. Juhumba will be pleased and get us home safely."
"A wise thought," said the man holding Rose by the neck. He grinned wickedly, teeth flashing in the gloom. "This will be quick."
Sheng twisted suddenly, kicking back and smashing his heel through the glass panel in the door. Taken off guard, the African cultist who had been holding him loosened his grip. Argent was free in a surge of motion, seizing a jagged shard of glass in each hand. He plunged forward with them, not at the Night Gorillas but at the two Korean women, slicing deeply down their arms. They screamed in the unexpected pain.
Dropping the pieces of glass, Sheng Mo-Yuan held up his gashed palms and laughed. "The sacrifice must be done without blood being shed!" he yelled. "Well! Don't you think that's more than enough blood to make Juhumba angry with you?"
The Night Gorillas did not answer. They were staring in horror, confused and uncertain. Both Rose and Koko had bright red streams dripping down their arms and Sheng's palms were a bloody mess. Everyone was silent for a long moment.
Finally, Molwai exhaled. "The sacrifice is indeed ruined. We would be disgraced in Juhumba's eyes. Fine. You! The thief. Return what you have taken and end this trouble."
Staring wildly, clutching her gashed arm, Koko turned to Sheng. The Chujiran just said, "Give him what he wants."
Nodding, Koko went behind the counter where the mama-san took phone calls and kept the money, coming back out again with a bit of ivory the size of a human finger, carved all over with tiny symbols. Molwai snatched it from her angrily.
"This is ancient and precious!" he grumbled. "We need it for our forecasts. It has no use to you."
Koko did not answer, lowering her head like a child being chastised. Sheng came over to stand beside her and Rose, facing the four Night Gorillas.
"You saw just a knick-knack, a conversation piece to amuse your friends," Molwai went on in a furious tone. "So my brothers and I have come thousands of miles to retrieve what is rightfully ours."
Sheng raised a gouged hand in dismissal, blood trickling down his shirt sleeve. "Well. They are more frightened than they have ever been. And they will each bear a scar down their dainty arms. Have they not been punished, Mulongi?"
Unexpectedly, the Night Gorilla guffawed. He seemed genuinely amused. "Yes. I suppose they have. I do not know you, yellow man, and I do not know why you are difficult to harm. But I salute you. We have what we were sent to fetch. The thief has been punished. And there will be other sacrifices to offer Juhumba."
He turned, opened the spa door while walking over broken glass, and beckoned for his comrades to follow. "I trust you have learned wisdom the hard way. May we never meet again!" And they were gone.
Chattering frantically, just on the edge of complete panic, Rose and Koko ran into the delicately furnished bathroom beside the counter and began rinsing off their arms. With a wince, Argent wadded some tissue paper and squeezed it in his fists to stop his own bleeding. With the tagra healing factor, his gashes would seal within a few more minutes but the girls did not have that advantage.
"You two need to go to the hospital," he said after examining them. "I don't think you need stitches but those should be dressed. Have you both had tetanus shots? No? All right." Sheng got some white tape and gauze pads from the medicine cabinet and got the two women presentable.
"Now, listen. Take your handbags. We will go down to the street and I will put you two in a taxi to go to the ER. Your injuries are not that bad, you're in no danger. Your story is, I don't know, you bumped into each other because you are just so clumsy and your arms went through the glass. Just an unfortunate accident."
"But what of you? Your poor hands?"
"Aw, I will be fine. I heal quicker than bad guys can hurt me. While you are gone, I will call your mama-san and explain what happened. Those men will not come back." He moved to pat them them comfortingly on the shoulder but stopped as he remembered his wounded palms. "This all cost you both some blood and you will need to replace that glass, but it's still better than being strangled to placate Juhumba."
Pressing hard on the gauze where her arm was throbbing now, Koko seemed ready for tears. "You saved our lives, Sheng. Oh my god, so scared. We owe you so much."
Despite everything, Sheng Mo-Yuan chuckled. "Well. Tell you what. Whenever I pull a muscle or hurt my back or get beat up on a case, I will come to you girls for your best hard massage."
Grinning bravely back at him, Koko wiped her eyes with the back of one hand and said, "It's a deal."
1/17/2016
