Chapter 2

A loud dull thumping echoed off the walls spooking everyone. It sounded like a giant was approaching the building. Da Lee suspended from the chain-link fence could feel every thump through the cuts in her back as the fence vibrated against them. It hurt, but that was nothing compared to the pain of her other wounds. She swore that her cut breast was going to burst open from the swelling.

One of the girls, terrified by the sight of Da Lee hanging at the front of the room and the noises surrounding the building, screamed, “It’s coming to get us.”

The guard at the door, jumpy from the noise, spun around and shouted, “Shut up!”

Da Lee, her head feeling light, cackled hysterically as she shouted, “It’s coming to get them!”

The guard, his fear turning to anger, stomped over to the cage. Pulling a switchblade from his pocket, he pressed the button releasing the blade. He drew the blade over the skin of her buttocks poking out through the openings of the fence. The cuts were not deep, but stung. Da Lee laughed and shouted, “That’s it. Every cut brings it closer!”

“Witch!” shouted the guard as he thrust the knife into her back.

The pain exploded in her back and her whole body went taut as she screamed out. Shao Lee looked over at her sister and begged, “Don’t make them kill you.”

The other girls were terrified. The thumping only sounded louder in the silence that followed Shao Lee’s outburst. The guard walked over to the window and looked out over the alley. Hundreds of homeless, moving as one, lifted their right legs and then stomped on the ground. Three seconds later, they would lift their left legs and then stomp on the ground. Watching the homeless men marching in place outside the window sent chills down the spine of the guard. The volume of their stomps suggested thousands of them had surrounded the building.

He moved back to the door and checked his pistol. One clip wasn’t going to have any effect on that crowd outside. He wanted to get a weapon that was a little more substantial preferably one with bigger clips and a faster rate of fire. He stood in place debating what to do. Should he leave his post to get an automatic or stay there?

Automatic gunfire from Wong’s office caused everyone to jump, including Da Lee. Her movement ignited another wave of pain, causing her to scream. The women in the cage screamed in response. The guard spun around holding the gun in front of him, not knowing what to expect to emerge from the office. Outside the stomping ended to be replaced by a chant, “Har-ry! Har-ry!”

To the people inside the building, the chant meant nothing. They didn’t know what a Har-ry was. The mob outside could have been chanting ‘Blah Blah’ and conveyed as much information. Wong came out of the office and pointed his gun at the guard.

In an even voice, he said, “You can remain on my side or die.”

The guard recognized that a coup had been attempted and failed. The fact that Wong was still walking around meant that Chin was dead. It did no good to align oneself with the dead.

He bowed and said, “I have never left your side.”

“Good.”

The guard looked around nervously for a moment and then, with a gesture to the outside, asked, “Can I get a bigger gun?”

The question struck Da Lee as funny. Now was a perfect time to push Wong into killing her and putting an end to the torture. Laughing maniacally, Da Lee shouted, “Little men with little dicks want bigger guns.”

Wong took careful aim and fired a single shot into her shoulder. The pain as her shoulder blew apart was excruciating. Her body sagged, no longer supported by the wire around her shoulder. She could hear muscles, tendons, and bones within her shoulder rip as a result of the changed stresses. Her scream echoed off the walls, cut short when she passed out.

Wong, tempted to go over and taste her blood, turned to the guard with a hard look on his face. He said, “Come with me.”

Shao Lee watched the men leave the room. Deciding that she didn’t care anymore about what happened to her, she stood up and ran over to her sister. Tears flowed down her cheeks in a constant stream as she reached her sister. She wanted to grab her sister and give her a comforting hug, but froze a step away terrified that any kind of touch would hurt her. When her sister regained consciousness, Shao Lee’s voice cracked from her emotions as she said, “I love you, Da. What can I do for you?”

“Water. I’d like water,” replied her sister. She was covered in a thin sheen of sweat induced by pain. She couldn’t believe how much pain she felt. Every time she thought it was as bad as it could get, he had inflicted another wound that raised the pain level even higher.

Shao Lee ran over to the water bucket and returned with a cup of water. She held it up to her sister’s lips. Despite her care in tipping the cup, more of the water ran down the girl’s chin than in her mouth. It was a fortunate clumsiness since if she had been given too much water, she would have thrown up. As it was, her immediate thirst was sated and Shao Lee felt better having helped her sister.

Da Lee’s head slumped forward as she lost consciousness again. Her mind was protecting itself from the unrelenting pain, trying to keep a handle on her sanity despite the assaults against it. Shao Lee ran her hand along the leg of her sister wishing that she could heal her or at least take some of her pain. She slumped to the ground in front of her sister, crying in frustration.

The sound of chanting in the street continued. Shao Lee turned to the other girls and asked, “What are they saying outside?

The girls looked around, wondering if any of them knew enough English to know what was being said. Finally, one of the girls said, “It sounds like Ree Hair. I have no idea what that is.”

The girls discussed what it could possibly mean. One of the girls recognized the word hair. Another suggested that Ree might be red. Of course, red hair was a strange thing to chant. Their discussion was interrupted by a male voice coming from the door.

In perfect Cantonese, he said, “They are saying my name. I am Harry and I am at your service.”

As one, all of the girls turned to stare at the man at the door. The elderly man wore a green robe with a bloodstain across the chest and leaned against a shepherd’s staff. Having their attention he nodded at them with a friendly smile. Standing beside Harry was an oriental man in a red robe.

Harry turned to him and said, “Jimmy, take care of the bad guys please.”

The little oriental man nodded and slipped to the front of the building. Harry looked around and then called out through the door, “I need someone that can pick a lock.”

After a few minutes, a man shuffled into the room. He looked over at all of the nearly naked girls in the cage and lowered his head as though the sight hurt. Shao Lee was terrified by his filthy appearance. His dirty skin looked like alligator hide; his hair was long and greasy; his teeth were rotten; and his fingernails were black. Rubbing his finger along the bottom of his nose, he shuffled over to the door avoiding looking at any of the girls. The smell of the man was enough to wake Da Lee, assaulting her noise like ammonia salts.

It took the man ten seconds to open the door to the cage. Turning to the girls but looking away from them, he sniffled and said, “I’m not one of the bad guys. Don’t look at me like that.”

Harry translated his words to the girls and watched the expressions of disbelief on their faces. Smiling, he turned to the man and said, “Thanks, Jeff.”

The man nodded at Harry before he turned and shuffled out of the room keeping his head down. Harry walked over to the cage and stepped inside. Looking around, he said, “You girls might want to put on some of those shirts you’ve sewed. A lot of men are outside and I’m sure you would like to be covered a little.”

His words jolted the girls out of their trace. The idea that they could wear the clothes that they had worked so hard to make was shocking. Moving in slow motion, the girls picked out shirts and dressed while watching Harry the entire time. Harry walked over to Da Lee and touched the side of her face. She looked at him thinking she must be dead. She had seen him get killed in the alley.

In a soft voice, he said, “A healer is coming. I don’t want to move you until she gets here.”

“I saw you get shot.”

“I’m sorry. I had wanted to help you in the alley, but you saw what happened. I had to wait until after I was healed,” replied Harry. He stood with his head cocked as though trying to hear something. After a minute, a smile came to his face as he said, “Good. Jimmy Lee has been victorious.”

Da Lee hung on the fence confused and in pain. Harry turned to the other girls in the room and, after clapping his hands to make sure that he had their attention, said, “In a minute, Jimmy Lee will return. Please follow him to the bus so that he can take you to a place of safety.”

Shao Lee moved across the room and put herself between Da Lee and Harry in a pathetic attempt to shield her sister. Harry turned and looked down at her. After studying her for a minute, he looked at Da Lee.

Smiling, he said, “I get it now. You are sisters.”

“I know you are not here to help us,” stated Shao Lee.

If he had been there to help, he would have gotten her sister down and to a doctor.

“Patience, little sister. Some things must wait until the proper time.”

Jimmy Lee came out of the office with a smile on his face. Speaking Cantonese so that the others in the room could understand him, he said, “You were right, Harry. They are Triad. I’ve got them tied up in the front office. It’s safe for Kelly to come in.”

Harry replied, “Jimmy. Take the girls to the bus, now. Explain to them what is going to happen to them. Be gentle, they are very frightened. I’ll take care of these two.”

Jimmy Lee winked and said, “No problem, Harry.”

Shao Lee asked, “Who are you?”

“I thought I introduced myself earlier. I am Harry and my partner is Jimmy Lee. We came to rescue you,” answered Harry.

A woman wearing a green robe entered the room even as Jimmy started to lead the girls out of the building. The homeless had created a path through which the girls could walk. The path led from the back door to the door of a large bus parked at the mouth of the alley. The girls followed Jimmy, crowding together in fear of the mass of ugly men that surrounded them. It was difficult for the girls to tell if the men were threatening them or protecting them.

The woman walked into the cage and looked at the girl hung on the fence. Kelly examined her for a moment, taking in each and every injury. A shiver went through her body as she saw the cut through the girl’s nipple. Taking a deep breath, she said, “We shall have to take her down. She’s hurt, but I don’t see any injuries that will kill her.”

After translating what Kelly had said, Harry turned to Shao Lee. With a very serious look on his face, he said, “Go to the door. Pick three men that you can trust to help us with your sister. Point to them and say, ‘Harry.’”

Shaking, crying, and afraid, Da Lee said, “Please do it, Shao. I want down.”

The idea of picking three of those ugly men scared Shao Lee, but for her sister she would do it. At the back door, fifty homeless men remained waiting should Harry need some help. The man that had unlocked the cell door was one of the men waiting around in the alley. She pointed to him and said, “Harry.”

Jeff looked up with a cringe and saw that a very naked young girl was pointing at him. He pointed to himself and looked at her with a question of his face.

She nodded and again said, “Harry.”

Hands shaking, Jeff walked towards the door with a wary step. He stopped a distance away from her and avoided looking at her. He didn’t want to get too close to her. Bad things happened to him when he got too close to girls. Jeff didn’t do well with people. The exception was Harry and he’d walked through fire for Harry.

The Druid knew that Jeff was terrified of girls. When he was a little boy, his mother had caught him playing doctor with the little girl form next door. She had whipped him to within an inch of his life with a length of barbwire and locked him in the closet for a week. When she later caught him looking at the neighbor girl in a manner that she didn’t approve, she had taken more direct action to make sure that he never touched a little girl again. The damage had been significant and he could never get hard after that.

“Harry,” said Shao Lee as she pointed at another man. This one had little tufts of hair amidst large bald patches on his head. She wondered how it had happened, but her question was answered when he nervously reached up and pulled on his hair.

The man looked around and, twitching nervously, moved over to join Jeff. His hand came up to pull on his hair as he said, “People call me Twitch.”

“Jeff,” replied the other man still trying to avoid looking at Shao Lee. He actually knew of Twitch, but they hadn’t ever talked. Jeff didn’t talk with people except to ask for work.

Shao Lee looked over the rest of the men there. A few wouldn’t meet her eye and a few looked at her with too much interest, but most just waited to be called upon. She spotted one man that was tall and rail-thin.

She pointed at him and said, “Harry.”

The tall man went over to join the other two men she had picked. She gestured for them to come with her and went back to her sister’s side. Harry was surprised by her choice of men. Jeff, Twitch, and Too-Tall made a very interesting group. He called over to the men in a commanding voice.

“I need some help getting this girl down from here.”

Looking away from the two girls, Jeff replied, “I can’t touch a little girl. Bad things happen to me when I even look at them.”

Kelly looked over at Harry with a question in her eyes. Her maternal instinct didn’t like it when men talked that way about a child. Harry whispered, “I’ll explain later.”

Frustrated by the delay, Shao Lee said, “I picked three men. Get my sister down now!”

Harry said, “Too-Tall. Come here so that you can hold her. Jeff and Twitch, I want you to start removing the wires holding her up.”

Without saying a word, the tall man came over to where Harry was standing. Even though the girl was tied so that her feet were three feet off the ground, her head only came to his shoulder. In a way, he was the perfect man for the job. It took Jeff and Twitch a long time to remove the wires. Anytime Da Lee made any kind of noise suggestive of pain, both of the men backed off afraid that they were hurting her.

When the last wire was removed, Too-Tall carried her away from the fence. He followed Kelly to where she told him to put her down. With a gentleness that came from a spirit that was as large as he was tall, Too-Tall laid the girl on the ground. Steeping away, he looked down at Da Lee with tears in his eyes. He looked up, finding Shao Lee staring at him wondering why this man was crying over her sister. She was the only one in this world that cared about her sister.

Kelly lay down on the ground next to Da Lee and caressed her face. The oriental girl looked at her in confusion, not knowing what was happening.

Harry knelt down next to Da Lee and said, “This is Kelly. She is a healer. Two hours ago, I was in a hospital with a bullet next to my heart. She cured me, and she will cure you.”