At The Point Of A Blade Part 2


    Liu Xi Xian led Jay Boaz to a little-used exit door at the Lair Mansion, so that when they appeared in the middle of Tianjin, China, he wouldn’t be too shellshocked right away.

    She was carrying a duffel bag, which she wouldn’t let Jay take since he was already carrying one of his own.

    In spite of her best effort, Jay had a distant look in his eyes, like pretty much anyone she transported thousands of miles through void, and suddenly thrust into a completely different culture.  He was looking around at people, structures, and streets he had no hope finding familiar.

    There was good reason for his look of shock - the Lair Mansion had been quiet and familiar.  This night time street was noisy, crowded with cars, and people walking and speaking words he didn’t understand.  The bright lighted multicolored signs, and even some of the building styles, were alien to him.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Here.”  Liu Xi said out loud, and tugged on his arm.  She pointed at a rather nice looking hotel with a gold colored revolving door and a neon sign.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Can we afford that?”  he asked.

    She didn’t reply, because she was already headed inside, into the warmly lit wood paneled and pattern carpeted lobby.  Then she went to the long wooden check-in desk and spoke quickly in Chinese.  Before Jay knew what was going on, she had two bright blue room key cards.  She handed one to him.

    They took a golden glass elevator up to the eleventh floor.  Jay was looking down at people milling about the lobby below.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I should learn Chinese.”  he said on the ride up.  “A pretty good portion of the world speaks it.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“And Spanish.”  Liu Xi added.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You can teach me, can’t you?”  he asked.  “Chinese, I mean.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Mmmhmm.”  She smiled at him.  

    The elevator doors opened, and they walked down a hallway with patterned carpeting and more wooden walls.  There were gold and frosted glass wall mounted lights every once in a while.

    They arrived at the room, and Jay became aware that both of the key cards went to one single door.  He figured out then that she could afford the hotel by only getting the one room.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“We’re sharing.”  she explained quickly.  Then she opened the door and entered.

    Jay was relieved that there were two beds in the room.  Small beds, but two at least.  He chided himself silently for having so little faith in Liu Xi.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What made you think of sharing?”  he asked, just out of curiosity.  “I mean, I could have covered a second room if I had to.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yes, but that’s lonely.”  she explained.  “And we’re here for new experiences, aren’t we?”  She threw her bag on a bench by the window, and leapt onto the bed.

    The room was a different theme than the lobby or the hallway.  It had plain plaster walls painted in a soothing beige, and plush carpeting.  The room itself wasn’t large - the size of an economy hotel room in the U.S. - but it was considered relatively nice.  It even had a small bathroom with a shower and a tub.  On the walls of the room were very basic landscapes.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m kind of tired.”  Liu Xi whispered as she lay back on the bed.  “Good thing it’s kind of late.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Can we get something to eat before you drift off?”  Jay asked.  He tossed his own bag on the floor along the wall.

    Liu Xi sat up and smiled.  “Sure.  I know a nice place.”


---


    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Three new foreigners came into town.  Two of them, we only recently located at a fancy hotel, our contact says one of those was speaking Chinese.”

    The Warlord was tapping his long fingernails on his desk when his aide started speaking.  Those nails looked completely normal at the time.  But he stopped at the last part of that sentence.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Really?”  he asked.  “That’s interesting.  What of the one that came into town yesterday?”

    The aide snapped his fingers, and the doors to the Warlord’s office flew open.  A man with dark hair, was brought in, his original clothing ripped off and replaced with plain a plain grey jump suit, his hands tied behind his back.  The man was thrown into the floor of the office, face first.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“He said his name is Vincent De Soth.”  the aide said.

    That name sounded familiar to the Warlord.  A family with money, perhaps, who would pay a handsome sum to get him back.  Or someone famous enough whose imprisonment would serve as a warning.  Either way, he had some value.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Put him in a cell.”  the Warlord said.  “No food...no water...no visitors, but me.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“As you wish.”  the aide replied with a bow.  He pulled the dark haired foreigner to his feet, and the two men who brought him in dragged him back out again.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Find those other two foreigners, and bring them to me.”


---


    When taken to dinner, Jay was expecting an ornately decorated restaurant in Chinese style, like he’d seen so many times at Chinese restaurants in Paradopolis.  The place Liu Xi took him to looked more like a pub or diner back home instead - sparsely decorated with a few photos, otherwise very plain.  The proprietors didn’t speak a word of English, so Liu Xi did all the ordering.

    He was ready to be disappointed, and also partly wondering just how badly Liu Xi ate out.  He had so many questions about it in his mind, since she was usually such a good cook.

    But then the food started to come to the small table, and he was shocked and surprised.  It was some of the best Chinese food he’d ever tasted, to the point where he didn’t ask or care what each dish was.

    Then a sudden moment of realization, as he figured out just how Liu Xi became such a good cook.  It was because she knew of a lot of these hidden places where only locals ate, and she learned from them.  

    He didn’t realize just how much he had eaten until they began walking back to the hotel.  It was fairly easy getting there, but very tiring to walk back with such a full stomach, even in the cool evening air.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m happy you gave that place a chance.”  Liu Xi told him as they walked back.  “I was afraid you might not.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Honestly, I was...a little afraid.”  he said with a laugh - but not too hard, since he was stuffed.

    The elevator ride back up to their room was quite a bit more disturbing than when they left for dinner, with the added weight at their cores.

    Liu Xi unlocked the door to their hotel room, and then stopped just inside the doorway.  Her jaw dropped at what she saw.  Then she cursed, first in English and then Chinese.

    Their room had been ransacked, the furniture knocked over and the contents of their bags tossed around the general area of their locations.

    Jay was calm and confident as usual in the emergency, even as stuffed as he was.  “Call the hotel desk, tell then we need security.”  he ordered without thinking.

    She almost protested at being ordered around, but she was too tired to argue.  Besides, she was the only one who could talk to hotel security fluently.  She picked up the phone and dialed zero for the front desk.

    While she waited for security to arrive, she continued cursing quietly as she picked up the former contents of her bag and began re-packing it.  Then she stopped and turned around to see Jay doing the same thing.  

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I hope you enjoyed seeing my colorful underwear,”  she said with a smirk.

    Jay looked up, unsure if she was serious at first.  When he realized she was joking, he laughed and shook his head.

    There was a knock at the door, and a man on the other side announced something in Chinese.  Jay looked at Liu Xi for confirmation, but she was already headed to the door.  He guessed the man must have been from hotel security.

    She opened the door, and let in a man in a suit wearing white gloves, and a digital camera around his neck.  He talked to her briefly, took some photos, and then talked to her some more.  Then he handed her two new keycards.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“We’re being moved.”  Liu Xi informed Jay.  He felt glad they hadn’t unpacked anything yet.

    The new room was one floor up, but closer to the elevator, but otherwise identical to the one they were in before.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I wonder why we were moved?”  Jay asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“He said he wanted to make sure whoever trashed the room didn’t come back and find us there.”  she explained.  “He said security will be watching the room for a while, and reviewing the hallway camera recordings.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I didn’t know they had those.”  Jay noted.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“This is China.”  Liu Xi shrugged.  “Privacy rules are different.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Can we find out who did it?”  Jay asked.

    Liu Xi didn’t seem to hear him at first, as she just discovered this room, unlike the one downstairs, had a private balcony.  “I think we will.”  she finally said.  “I think they were looking for us.”


TO BE CONTINUED?
    

-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2009 by Jason Froikin, and may not be 
--    reprinted without permission.  
-- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow
--  Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin
--  Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin