Now, this might sound strange coming from a guy with a last name like Chiao (it's pronounced "chow", by the way), but I don't know that many Asians. My parents grew up in Beijing, but they emigrated to the States not long after they got married. I was born in a small town in Ohio called Centerton-burg-ville-city. (Ha-ha. No, of course that's not the real name.) My dad is the chair of the East Asian Languages Department at C-b-v-c College (actually, he's pretty much the whole department) and my mom teaches piano, both for the college and for kids who live in the town.
Besides them, my sisters and brothers, my Aunt Min, and Grandmaster Park, the old Korean guy who runs the local Tae Kwon Do studio, everybody I knew growing up was either white or black -- most of them farm kids or the children of college professors. The girls I dated or lusted after in high school were all Betty-and-Veronica types: blondes, brunettes, and one glorious redhead. I had never seen a really pretty Asian girl before, not live and up close (sisters don't count!) and I have to admit that I was staring.
"Indigo, ask her what her name is." That was Shelley's voice coming through the radio link. It was a Prime-to-Prime communication, meaning that the sound wouldn't have made its way outside either of our force shields. The girl would have heard nothing. When I didn't answer right away, her voice cracked out, "Indigo!"
"Uh, sorry. I'm on it."
When I was growing up, my dad insisted that us kids speak Mandarin at home, even though he and my mom both spoke excellent English. I guess he didn't want us to lose the mother tongue. My Aunt Min, who's not really my aunt, but more like a family friend, speaks Cantonese, the southern Chinese dialect, and not much else. And of course, whenever Grandmaster Park came over for dinner, which was often, we always spoke Korean as a courtesy because my dad considers him to be an honorable gentleman. So, I'm fairly fluent in those three languages. Beyond that, I speak a smattering of Japanese, just because it's one of the languages my dad teaches, and a fair amount of German. (Yeah, German. What can I say? I had to take a foreign language in high school, and the only other choices were Spanish or French. Romance languages, ugh!)
Looking at the girl again, I came to a decision. Enclave recruited from all over the world so, statistically speaking, this girl probably came from mainland China. I figured I'd try Mandarin first, then maybe Korean. After that, we'd see.
"Ni jiao shen me ming zi?" I said to her.
She glanced behind her at Shelley, then back at me. She was so scared now, she was starting to shake. "Uh, n-nee how?" she stammered. She was starting to look panicked, which probably wasn't good. "S-sorry, I don't speak Chinese."
"Indigo asked you what your name is." Shelley's voice, even altered, came out as gruff but not hostile, just what this girl needed to steady her a bit. She added, "I'd advise you to answer. Don't worry, we both speak English."
The girl gave Shelley a grateful smile before answering me. "My name is Lily. Lily Lee. What are you going to do to me?"
Good question. I had no idea. I don't think we had ever captured either a minder or a monster before.
"Tell her that we're not going to hurt her, we're just going to take her to our headquarters for questioning." That was Shelley, Prime-to-Prime.
"No. Nope. No way. Veto here, big time," Wizzit broke in. "No way I'm 'porting her into headquarters."
"Well, of course not! I'm not stupid. You're going to send the three of us somewhere that's not headquarters, but where we can control her movements and interrogate her in peace and quiet."
There was silence for about two seconds, then Wizzit came back with, "Uh, yes. Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Tell her that, Indigo."
The girl had been staring anxiously at me during this entire exchange, which of course she hadn't heard. I rubbed my chin as if I had been pondering the matter, and then I said in my best policeman voice, "We're going to have to take you back to headquarters, miss. If you cooperate with us, you won't be harmed, but we do need to ask you a few questions."
She dropped her gaze and nodded. "Okay, whatever you want. Just, please, don't hurt me." She sort of cringed when she said it, like she thought I was going to swat her down there and then.
Shelley stepped forward. "Here, you can teleport with me," she said, sounding almost sympathetic. "Give me your hand."
As she reached out, I saw a flash of something red down near the ground and felt something brush past my leg. Then I saw Lily's face go blank. Absolutely no expression, like she was a mannequin or something. It was the weirdest thing, too -- one moment she looked like she was scared out of her wits and trying not to cry, and the next, nothing.
I held up a hand. "Wait a minute, Red."
I was too late. With a speed that surprised me, Lily turned, took hold of Shelley's outstretched wrist, went down to one knee, and threw her over her shoulder straight at me. I ducked to one side, avoiding Shelley, then dove forward, trying to grab at Lily's legs. She jumped up, evading my grasp, and as I slid under her, she landed with both feet right on my head, pushed off, and ran down the length of my body.
I got myself turned around in time to see Lily leap high over Shelley's prone form, fleet as a deer. Shelley was still getting herself untangled from the throw, but she managed to take a swipe at her and grab one ankle. Without a moment's hesitation, even as she was falling, Lily twisted around and stamped her heel down hard right on Shelley's face. I winced; force shield or no, that couldn't have felt good.
Shelley managed to hang on, though. By the time I got to the two of them, Lily was on the ground, still kicking at Shelley with her free foot. Shelley, for her part, had bent Lily's captive leg almost double at the knee, with her arms twined all around it. It was one of those twisty, joint-lock-y kung fu things that she does that I've never been able to figure out. I'm more of a punch-and-kick guy, myself. Regardless, there was no way that Lily was getting away from her, not unless one of those kicks that she was aiming at Shelley's head and back managed to stun her.
I grabbed the leg that Lily was kicking with and helped Shelley to heave her over onto her stomach. In that position, lying face-down with both her legs held firmly, she was pretty much helpless, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
Just then, two things happened almost simultaneously. First, Lily went limp, so suddenly that I almost let go of her in surprise. Second, I felt something hit me in the head, hard. I staggered back, releasing Lily's leg in the process. Another shot hit me, this time in the chest.
"Enclave blaster," I heard Shelley's voice rap out. "Looks like one of the extra-heavy-duty ones. You okay, Indigo?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine," I said, shaking my head to try to clear it. "No damage, just rung my bell a little."
"Okay, good. We're taking fire, Wizzit. I've got the minder. Get us out of here!"
"Copy that, li'l buckaroo. Teleporting in 3 . . ."
Another blaster shot went bzzzt! It hit Shelley in the shoulder, and I heard her grunt at the impact. Lily suddenly sprang to life, twisting her body around and kicking Shelley in the face again with her free foot. The combination of hits loosened her grip, and with another well-aimed kick, our pretty Asian minder managed to pull her other leg free.
I dipped my hand into one of the many pockets of my battle vest, then leaped at her. I grabbed the front of her blouse, but she twisted away from my grasp and sprang to her feet.
". . . 2 . . ."
She ran down the alley a few steps, then skidded to a stop underneath a fire escape. Her gaze went right, left, up -- just that fast. She made a dash straight toward one of the buildings that lined the alleyway, and then, damned if she didn't start running up the wall!
Her momentum carried her six, maybe ten feet up. Just when it seemed like she had reached the top of her run, she spun in mid-air and jumped straight out, right towards the ladder attached to the fire escape. She grasped the lowest rung and flipped herself up like a gy
mnast.
". . . 1 . . ."
In less than the time it takes to say it, she was scaling the ladder, nimble as a monkey, heading for the top floor. I drew my blaster, thinking to disable her, but then
". . . 0 . . ."
I felt a tingle at the base of my skull that quickly spread out over my entire body, and my vision went hazy. Wizzit was teleporting us out.
Chapter 3