Hansel and Gretel: a Loli Fairytale

by

Sarah Lynn Morgan

Part Two

 

"Well! Aya." Noriko said laughing at his tone, " to tell you the truth, I was mostly considering just holding up here till tomorrow, and letting you go out to the airport from here. After that performance, and the way you handled the bellboy, I don't see any reason why we might be just as safe going to the convention after all!"

John had not even considered this option he was so nervous about how he was dressed. His slowly expanding eyes showed the girls how deeply he was shocked. "No hold on just one minute you two! You mean that I …"

A half hour later, at seven-thirty, they were on their way to the convention center in a small bus full of people who were almost all dressed more strangely than was typical for a Friday night, even for New York.

Noriko was looking out the windows across the street from the convention center. Since they were sitting behind the driver, she leaned up and asked "Excuse me, but if we buy a few things, can we send it back to our room at the hotel with you?"

"Yes, you can. People do that all the time." The driver said, now pointing at a marker he had on the dashboard, "you just mark your name and room number on the bags with that, and I hand them over the concierge when I get back. People do it all the time and we never lost one yet."

"Thank you," Noriko said, "and how often are you back here?"

"We should be here every twenty minutes, to a half hour. Tomorrow, at noon, we will start running to the airport as well, but we will have six busses in the loop by then, so it should still be about a half hour." With that Noriko thanked the man, and they got off.

Noriko gently took John by the elbow, and steered him to a quiet corner of the sidewalk. To an outsider, it looked like an adult giving last minute instructions to a younger sister. In fact that was what it was.

"Are you Ok, John?" Noriko asked quietly.

John's answer was very breathy and soft: "No."

Smiling Noriko continued, "Listen John, this will be just like the lobby only more so, so just remember to smile and have a good time. If you completely forget about why you are here, you will be all that much safer, do you understand?"

John nodded. He knew that hiding in corners and watching the exits like some spy in a cheap novel would be his worse mistake.

"Ok, then lets, go. And John?"

"Yes."

"I don't want to make you nervous, but I just have to say this. You are the most beautiful little Chii I've ever seen and I've been doing this for many years. Try not to get pregnant!" Aya was moaning as they steered him into the convention center, and helped him off with his cape.

The convention hall was packed. Even though they expected the majority of the crowd there on Saturday, when all of the contest events were planned, it looked like most of the people had shown up on Friday anyway. It was Johns worst fear, and then again it was not.

Just as he feared, John felt more like the center of attention that he would have cared to. Fortunately, at first his fear kept his throat so tight that he was unable to say much of anything at all. Then, something happened that would have completely amazed him; if he had been able to clear his mind long enough to consider just what happened. Many pretty girls had quickly surrounded him, all complementing him on how beautiful he looked, and on how wonderful his costume had turned out. Before he realized it, he was so taken up in genuine gratitude that he forgot everything else, except to say that his big sister had made it for him, and that he had only helped a little by standing still under threat of death. It always brought a knowing giggle from the other cosplay girls. For over an hour, he found himself posing for one picture after another, during which time he thought more about the enchanting scene about him, than himself.

To Maggie's horror, she found herself being pulled away by her own throng of Visual Kei admirers. She had intended to stay right beside 'Aya', but that proved impossible. Now she was surrounded in her own right by admirers, and by the other vintage Malice Mizer Cosplayers. They wanted to have her pose with all the Kozi, Gackt, Klaha, and Yuki's, which given how many there were, took quite some time. Since she was closer to Noriko she could see that she was attracting a lot of attention as well. But, to her dismay, it was nothing like the furor her little brother had started. All she could do was to hope he stayed calm.

A little later, when Noriko came close enough to her, she whispered into her ear to see if she had seen Aya. Noriko smiled, and pointed behind her across the hall. It took very little time to see her smiling little brother was having the time of his life, surrounded by all manner of chobbits and other anime characters of every sort. It was over fifteen minutes before they could get over to him.

Taking him by the hand, Maggie pulled him toward Noriko. Seeing how flushed, he was she held up her hand to two girls who were trying to get closer to John. "Are you, Ok?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think so. Wow, that was something, Huh?"

Maggie wanted to hit him, but did not dare. Smiling weakly, Maggie said, "You scared me, Aya."

"I did!" John gasped, "It wasn't me. I thought I was about to finally either loose my virginity, or give a couple of those girls the surprise of their lives!" he finished in a low but earnest voice.

Noriko stepped in, "You look like you need a rest, little one. Are you feeling, Ok?" "I could use a drink and a bathroom break." Noriko steered them to the concession area.

Once there, only Noriko's strong grip kept him from blowing it as he was steered firmly away from the men's room door. His nervousness fortunately fit right in with the general level of excitement, so the only attention he gained was well-intended admiration.

When he got to the stall, Noriko bent to whisper in his ear to remember to sit down when he was in the stall, and then darted into one of her own. John had a difficult moment keeping his clothes in good order while using the necessary, but the short skirt helped.

Later, his confidence growing exponentially with the complements, he moved to the mirror to quickly freshen his makeup, much to Noriko's, and Maggie's amazement.

If any of his motions looked a little unnatural, then the other girls in the bathroom still complementing and joking around with him masked them.

At the concession stand, John ordered iced water, because he was afraid to eat with the makeup on, and sat for a while making small talk. Noriko and Maggie were as excited as he was at their reception, and were all also busy watching the other cosplayers as much as talking amongst themselves. When they were finished he began to feel a little ill at what he had to tell them.

"Err, Noriko?"

Looking at him, Noriko was again concerned at his expression. "Problem?" she asked.

"I think so, but I did not tell you that I think I made a mistake." He had the complete attention of both women.

"Did someone figure out you are a boy?" Maggie asked earnestly.

"No, not that." John said softly, and then paused to smile in spite of himself as he thought that one over He had not even been worried about that for the past hour. He continued "while I was having my picture taken with everyone, a lady came by with some forms, and kind' a signed me up for the costume contest." Biting his lower lip, (rather prettily Noriko thought), he waited for the blast.

Both girls were silent for a moment when Noriko asked "The pretty dark haired girl with the glasses and red sweater?"

John's eyes opened a little wider as he said laughing out loud, "Yeah, that's the one" Noriko continued, "Well don't worry about it, she got me too!"

Surprised, he looked at Maggie, and her expression left little doubt that she had her appointment on stage tomorrow morning as well. "That's the way to fit in Aya. I'm, so proud of you." After such a long day, they all were tired, and they decided to go.

On the way to the sidewalk they were wished a friendly goodnight by dozens of people, with many looking forward to seeing them tomorrow. Once on the sidewalk, they watched the buss to their hotel pull away, so Noriko remembering her intention to visit the shops across the street, quickly steered them across the street.

Once inside, the shop-girls were almost as bad as the people in the convention itself. They were very interested in the costumes, and since they were stuck working, they had had little opportunity to see many up close. With a lot of help, Noriko and Maggie quickly picked out a pair of nice black jeans, and a pink knit top for their little sister, Aya. Given their state of dress, they did not even make her try it on. The girls promised that if they found it did not fit, they would quickly exchange it for them tomorrow. A half hour later, they were waiting for the minibus as it pulled up.

Finally in the room, John felt himself relax, and he began to babble about how well it had worked, about how great the conventions were, and how wonderful it had all been. Maggie was amazed at the change in him, but Noriko was more ready for it. She just smiled at her young friends excitement. She ordered some late dinner for John, and some snacks for them, and they all began to get comfortable and tell of what they had seen.

Later, comfortable in a robe, they ate the excellent dinner and watched a little of an old movie before falling asleep. Noriko noted, that John seemed to be smiling to himself as he slept soundly in the other bed. It was the end of a very long day, but sleep did not come for Noriko. She lay quietly on the bed she shared with Maggie for some time before her parade of thought drifted unnoticed into sleep.

Saturday morning, the building super in Noriko's apartment walked through the service area in the basement. His two boys did not start till nine on Saturday, and he would not be there at all except that he had a plumber coming in on a repair in 206. As he walked to his office to wait, he noticed that the trash bin was over-filled again, but that was normal. The boys would take care of it. Unfortunately, both of them had been approached, and offered a reward for the black bag. Thus, they were more likely to notice the pieces of it that had spilled out of the bag that had fallen beside the dumpster.

John awoke to the feel of his sister's hand on his shoulder as usual. Sitting up, he pulled his robe about him before the silky fabric of the pajama's he was wearing caught his attention. Noriko pretended not to notice John running his hand over them as he struggled to wake up. "How do you feel this morning, Princess? Did you sleep well?" she asked brightly while she watched him in the mirror. He smiled warmly back at her, and said "Great, really great. I had a really good dream even…" then what she called him had dawned on him.

"Hay! Who are you calling princess?"

Noriko just smiled and said, "Who else, dear Aya-sama!" as she passed Maggie in the doorway to the bathroom.

John signed for the breakfast, and almost signed his own last name after having remembered to sign Aya. He had time for a muffin and Juice before it was his turn for the shower. He walked past Noriko into the shower area, as she stood at the sink brushing her teeth. His skin heated profoundly when he looked up from Noriko's body to see her watching him in the mirror. "Sorry." He muttered, but Noriko just laughed.

"You know John, when I was a little girl, it was still common for whole families to go down to the public baths and take baths there in full view of other families from our neighborhood. We even had complete strangers there sometimes."

John could only say, "Oh." Then softly he heard from the door of the shower area.

"Thank you, Aya, I think you are very pretty too." And he could hear Noriko's smile in her voice. John realized then that Noriko was very special, and in fact was just about the coolest adult he had ever met.

Instead of getting ready faster, as John had expected, this time it took much longer. Noriko fussed over them all, and had to be sure that every aspect of their costumes and makeup were just so. To John's amazement, the extra effort showed. He thought that the girls were just beautiful. Words like gorgeous, and breathtaking, words he never had felt the need to use before, came to mind. He told them so, only to be assured by both of them, that they thought he was the most beautiful of all. Looking in the mirror, his mind was just beginning to grasp what he saw, and accept that for the first time in his life he felt that he looked very good, really weird, but very good. It gave him a funny calm, and a confidence that he could not begin to describe, especially since was still so nervous to be standing in a dress and makeup.

At Nine, Noriko and his sister ushered him out like he was some kind of royal. At first he just accepted it, and then asked them to knock it off. Noriko and Maggie, just looked at each other, and broke out laughing, again.

"Come on guys, enough is enough, OK. I'm already feeling scared?"

Noriko then cleared her throat softly, and said into his ear. "Ahm, Aya? Don't lean on the door, dear. Aya, I think you need to prepare yourself a little."

"I can handle the people I think, as long as we don't have to stay all day."

"That is not quite what I mean, John." She answered, saying 'John' very softly. "We spoke to a lot of the folks last night, and a lot of them think that you may just win the costume contest."

"What?" he asked, and looked to Maggie, who was solemnly nodding her head in agreement at him.

"Oh, no way…" he said and began to back away. "

Your sister and I believe that you have a really good shot at it too."

John was silent for the ride down. "Then why go through this? We should just go!" "I thought about it," Noriko answered thoughtfully, " but it is too late for that. You see, Aya, we just wanted to make sure you fit it. We had no real idea of just how well you would turn out. By the time we realized what was happening in the convention hall, well it was too late. Too many people had seen you. Now, you have to go. If we hide out here, too many people will miss us, and no one would believe we would not show up. After thinking about it a little, it was good that you signed up. No one would expect you to do anything else, and if you had not you would have looked very out of place. Since you did, I have to believe that no one would ever think to look for you up on the stage with the other top cosplayers."

John had a moment to think about it. He could see the logic. He could also figure out for himself that to get an earlier flight, they would have to go to the airport and hang around trying to get a flight. That would be the last place they could go, since both the good and bad guys were surely watching it. Chances are they could not get another flight together, and he dared not be separated from them. If they went in looking for a flight to anywhere else, they would stick out like a sore thumb. No he was stuck.

Resigned, he looked at Noriko and said, "We can't get out before tonight right?"

"That's Right Aya." She reassured him softly.

"Well in that case, do you really think I have a chance to win?"

Noriko just stared into his wide blue eyes, floored by the question.

Margaret standing beside Noriko broke the silence by muttering to Noriko, "My god, do you realize what you have done? You've created a monster!" Then looking at John, she smiled and said even more softly "Bitch!" But by then both she and Noriko were laughing, which John was beginning to get a little annoyed with. After all, no one was laughing at them.

When the doors opened, Noriko continued, "You are right Aya, we have to wait, but I intend to get us our of there as soon as possible.

OK?" John nodded.

"And in answer to your question, I think that both Maggie-chan and I have a very good chance to win prizes, but I think you will win for sure." John's knees were shaking, this time with a little excitement as well as fear. He almost fainted when a man standing behind them called Noriko to a halt.

It was the hotel concierge. He had a photographer there, and he wanted to take some pictures of the guests in their costumes in the lobby for their future brochure aimed at future Cosplay conventioneers. He confided that he had been waiting for them in particular, because several other patrons had tipped him off that Aya would probably walk away with one of the top honors. He ended by telling them that if the would agree, that not only would he make sure that they got to the convention on time in a hotel limousine, but that they would be the guests of the hotel for a fine dinner that evening.

Genuinely flattered, they agreed, and it was all over very quickly. The photographer and another guy were discussing shots and poses, along with possible captions for the photos. In several shots of 'Aya', taken on the presumption that she might win, they even had a fully uniformed hotel maid in black dress and white apron, fussing over his costume. After about fifteen minutes, he found himself escorted by the concierge to the limousine while people standing watching ooh'd and awe'd. The concierge even kissed his hand before ushering Aya Yokoshira into the rear seat, much to the girl's amusement.

Their constant amusement was definitely getting on his nerves.

As the driver made his way through traffic to the convention center, John looked at the girls and said, "I know you guys think this is some kind of fairytale, but the swear the first one who calls me Cinderella is going to get it."

It worked. They were laughing again.

On the sidewalk, the limousine caused a little stir, and gained them all a couple of notches in social status as the bystanders all wondered who they might be. Inside, the buzz was much like it was before, but shorter lived, as the girls were all pulled away for the judging. Being on stage was not as frightening as he thought it was. Some of the judges made him nervous at first, but several of them, on making a close inspection said things like "Lovely" to him. In the end, he was deeply shocked to realize that he was mostly nervous about not falling apart if he won, rather than being afraid for being in public in the very sexy dress.

After the judging, he was standing beside Noriko, when to his surprise he realized that the pretty girl dressed as Black Chii walking up to him was Miyu. She greeted Noriko warmly, and then began to stare at John. "Miyu-sama, I would like you to meet my cousin, Aya Yokoshira." Noriko said with audible nervousness in her voice. Clearly, she had not anticipated the obvious attraction that the two characters would have for each other. In retrospect was a certainty that they would be thrown together at some point, and she had completely missed it.

Miyu just stood very still and stared directly at John with out saying a word. To their frightened amazement, they could almost see the realization dawn on her face. She was visibly vacillating between uncertainty and realization when finally she said very softly "John?" Not knowing what else to do, John could only nod his head ever so slightly, and ever so helplessly.

His eyes had already dropped to the floor in humiliation, so he like everyone else was taken in complete surprise at the loud squeal that escaped Miyu as she plunged into his arms. If Noriko had not instinctively moved in behind him, they would have both ended up on the floor. He unconsciously held on to her as the nearly hysterical girl bounced up and down, babbling rapidly in excited Japanese for a full minute. He found out, to his relief that Miyu was hysterically happy, which she told john after she had calmed down.

All of this excitement from the two little Chii characters greatly amusing all present.

For several long minutes all she could do was complement him on how beautiful he looked, and tell him over an over how much she loved how he looked. Noriko was able to pull her aside for a moment, and explain that John was to be called Aya, and that no one had as yet figured out he was male. Miyu loved it, and went along beautifully, calling John her little Aya-chan, and Chii Princess. For the rest of the morning, she and Aya were inseparable, much to the delight of the crowd, who delighted even more in taking pictures of them together.

Aya and Miyu won, the two top prizes for anime. Maggie got fourth in the visual Kei category, one of only two Malice Mizer cosplayers to win, and Noriko won third; both loosing to another girl called Princess in a Gardenia Mana costume. It was mostly a blur, in which John found himself holding on to Miyu for support, as much as she held on to him. In the end, they were finally allowed off stage, where for a time pictures and questions came even more rapidly than before. Fortunately most of the questions were answered with just a nod and a smile. The best news may have been that Noriko was asked for her card by so many people, that the contest organizer who signed them up the night before put Noriko's email address on a poster by the awards with pictures of all four winning costumes.

 

 

Across town, and by the time all of that had happened, Noriko's building supervisor was gone for the day. He was not there to see his two workers sitting in the office trying to get tickets to the monster truck rally in Jersey that night with the money they had been given for the bag. He was also long gone by the time several strangers, mostly Asian men, made their way up and down the halls of the building knocking on doors and disturbing tenants by asking questions.

John was tired, and although he was still genuinely excited by the time Maggie came for him, he was more than ready to leave. Miyu, calling her parents on her cell, got permission to go back to the hotel for dinner with Noriko and her cousins. Noriko had gone to pick up their trophies and have them brought out to the front. Then in the second biggest surprise of the day, a hotel limousine met them again. The only thing that they could figure out was that the concierge had contacts with the convention center, and he had been tipped off. Still, although it was the type of thing a good concierge does, it took them all by surprise. It whisked them back to the hotel about the time several men entered the hall from the other side, and began asking questions.

 

Of course, when they got to the hotel, the concierge also wanted a couple more pictures with the trophies. I took only a minute, fortunately. Back at the room, John was very glad to get out of the Chii costume. With Miyu there, he desperately wished for a comfortable shirt and a pair of jeans so that he could face her, but they had none. In the end, he had tried for the jeans that Noriko had bought for him, but Miyu and Noriko both insisted he wear a black jumper with a white blouse. So with only a hot shower, and a half hour in the robe, he was forced to go through having his own hair styled in a short but cute and feminine style, and then put up with Maggie and Noriko redoing his makeup for the trip out.

Everyone loved the new outfit, and the black jumper over the ornate blouse looked very stylish on him. It was elegant and serine, actually. Standing in front of the mirror, he stopped himself from smoothing down the jumper with his hands for the second time, when he realized that three very amused girls were watching him. It was Miyu who got to wear his new Jeans and top, when she and Maggie popped down stairs to the boutique to buy a dress for Miyu to change into. Their departure gave Noriko a chance to talk to John, as she got ready.

John had once again drifted unconsciously over to the Mirror to smooth his jumper, not wanting to get it wrinkled before dinner. Noriko, smiling to herself, asked in a level voice, "Do you like the dress?"

John jumped like he had been kicked. "Hum, Yeah, I guess so." He said looking at the floor. Taking pity on him, Noriko came over and put her hand on his shoulder saying, "John, don't worry about it, it doesn't mean anything. Everyone likes to think that they look nice, and they like it even more if other people think they look nice too! You don't have to worry about that. You'll be ok!"

After a moment, he said, "Noriko, I'm beginning to think that something may be wrong with me." He said it far too sadly. Noriko just smiled compassionately. She pulled him over to the table, and they sat down for a talk.

 

They had a long talk, mostly about how uncomfortable John was feeling; the situation he was in, and about Miyu too. She did tell him that his dress was very beautiful, that it had come from Mana's own shop, and that many Lolita's would jump at the chance to wear it. Well, Kill to get the chance, actually. By the time Maggie and Miyu had returned from their quick trip down stairs, John's spirits had been lifted. Noriko's reassurance that he was doing well enough to fool his own family did much to ease his mind. Her assurance that it was doing no permanent damage did much more.

Noriko had also talked him into the headpiece she had made for the dress, and had fitted it to the top of his head, first with pins, and then with the ribbon tied back under his hair, at the nape of his neck. Maggie surprised them both with a pair of black patent Mary Jane's in his size, which also turned out to be Maggie's size for now.

Miyu came over and gave him a hug, and again whispered to him that she loved how beautiful he looked. Noriko asked Maggie to help her get into her skirt, and the girls disappeared into the dressing room. Now much of Johns, nervousness came back for a short time, but he was finding that he simply could not maintain a high level of fear. More and more he was feeling very resigned and tired.

Miyu and John sat together on the sofa and shortly he felt Miyu's hand slip tentatively into his, and hold on while Maggie and Noriko got ready. John asked Miyu if she might like him dressed in boy's clothes, and Miyu shyly called him silly, and told him of course she would. John asked her to the dance, and she gave him an enthusiastic yes. Then she told him that she had been hoping he would ask, and had almost asked him. Miyu was explaining that many of her old and new friends would just be green with envy when they got sight of John in his beautiful Lolita dress. She wanted to take him out with them. \

John was doing a fair job of trying to convince her that this was a once in a lifetime thing. The fact that she did not seem angry, but nor did she accept that he could get out of going out with her friends scared him.

They were still talking when Noriko and Maggie came out of the dressing area. Noriko had changed into a long gray skirt, and Jacket, under which she wore a high necked, black lace blouse. It looked elegant and very aristocratic. At her chest was a large cross, which matched a pair of earrings she had put on. When John told her how beautiful and elegant she looked, she told him that it to was once again outfit patterned after one worn by Mana, and she promised to show him pictures at a later time.

After they were all ready, Noriko took them down stairs to the dining room. At Noriko's request, they were seated in an out of the way corner.

To John's continued surprise, both he and Maggie received many appreciative looks, and not a few compliments on their dresses. Many people from the convention were having dinner before evening flights, and recognized their beautiful Lolita dresses for what they were. Where John's dress was fairly plain in a more aristocratic style, Maggie had worn one comprised mostly of lace, a favorite that Noriko had brought along for her. It was white lace, with just a touch of lavender ribbon at her throat, and on her headpiece. Two people had even asked to take their picture again, which they of course agreed to.

Soon however, they were allowed to eat the wonderful meal in quiet, all of the girls enjoying the attentiveness that the wait staff had for the quartet of pretty and elegant young ladies. They were so attentive, and the meal so delicious, that they were all soon lost in the stories told by Noriko. She told them of how her father had been a landscape artist, and how she used to go with him to visit many of the most beautiful gardens in Japan. It had been as if she had grown up in a city of gardens. Except for the occasional tear in Noriko's eye, it was a perfect and idyllic picture. They could even smell the blossoms, for a time…

At about that time, in the front lobby, the concierge noted two Asian men, and an Asian woman standing together by the front entry. Being very good at his job, there was very little that escaped his notice. What he noticed now were the eyes of the larger of the Asian men. They move constantly around the lobby, as if he had every reason to suspect that a tiger would jump out of the potted plants. The concierge had seen too much in his years to be overly worried, but he continued to watch the trio surreptitiously out of the corner of his eye. He had just made up his mind to call for security to help him keep an eye on the trio, when the woman moved to the reservation counter. He smiled slightly to himself, assuming he had diagnosed the cause of their suspicious behavior. Two of them, and the only one man enough to get the room was the woman. Well he hoped she found it worth it.

That the trio had begun to exhibit more normal "hotel" behavior helped to ease his mind. But to be honest, the fact that there were severe thunderstorms moving across the South from Savannah to Dallas did far more to allay his suspicions. Within ten minutes of the U.S. Meteorological services revised forecasts, every major carrier had called trying to secure space for passengers who as yet had no idea that they were about to spend one more night in New York. The Concierge like, many of the senior staff was just too busy calling in any staff member who could be reached. He did not notice that the trio took three separate routes upstairs…

 

 

After dinner, Noriko said she was going to wait with Miyu in the lobby for Miyu's father who was due to arrive to pick her up at any minute. John wanted to stay with Miyu as well, but Noriko thought it would be best for him to go back to the room. John and Maggie were beginning to look as tired as Noriko felt. Miyu gave him a warm hug, and then to his extreme surprise, a warm and gentle kiss on his lips. He knew from Noriko, that Japanese girls never do this in public. It was surely because Miyu had lived all over, the world, and had picked up a few new habits, which they had all found out as she came out of her shell.

"Call me tomorrow, Aya-chan", she whispered to him just before she broke the hug. John even like the startled looks on the faces of the diners nearby who had seen her kissing him. In fact the only downside was the smirk on Maggie and Noriko's faces. Noriko pressed her card key into Maggie's hand, and Miyu and Noriko then excused themselves to the ladies room.

 

John and Margaret walked slowly to the elevator. It was a chance for them to talk alone for the first time since they had been in Noriko's apartment.

"Do you think we should call the folks?" John asked carefully.

He had not realized that it had been bothering Maggie too, until she told him, "To be completely honest, I don't know." She continued, "I mean, at first I thought to hell with them. As time goes by, though, I realize that no matter what they've been like, just up and disappearing is cruel. It's just that I don't even know if calling then would just be putting them at higher risk." She looked worried.

John was silent for a few moments, and then said, "Mags, I honestly thought the fact that we had just disappeared on them would be the best protection for them and us both. Now, I think that them going nuts looking for us will just lead anyone else to us that much quicker. When Noriko comes up we need to talk about it. I think we should use your cell to call them." Neither spoke after that.

When the Elevator opened there were two older women, obviously sisters, and obviously way over the far side of sixty, who were waiting to get off. On catching site of 'Aya and Mia', one sister grabbed the other by the arm and said "Oh My, Emily, look at the pretty girls. Aren't they just lovely!" Then turning to face John and Margaret, the elderly woman asked, "Are you girls going to a party?"

At this point Margaret was about to answer, when the one called Emily actually reached out, and began to fondle the lace at her collar, which both surprise and distracted Maggie to say the least.

The woman who first spoke turned to John and asked, "And what is your name, dear?"

John almost told her before he caught himself. In a soft voice, which was genuinely soft because he was speaking from shock. "I'm Aya, and this is my sister, Mia, Ma'am."

"Oh, aren't those pretty names for two pretty young ladies. Are you girls on your way to a party?" Shocked at the attention that the two elderly ladies were giving them, John felt like telling them it was none of their business, but it was obvious that Maggie was taking it much better. John had seen it before; older women seemed to be attracted to her in direct proportion to the amount of lace she was wearing. "No, Ma'am. Our parents are strict, and we just dress like this every day." He said.

Beside him, Maggie made a soft choking sound, that may have been a stifled giggle, but John was not sure. Either way, the mild sarcasm went right past the two women, and the other sister answered. "Well isn't that wonderful, Abby. More people should be that way. I hope you young ladies realize what wonderful parents you have. My, my, you both look so lovely, I wish I had my camera." With that, Emily began to dig in her purse, which due to the fact that it was the size of a suitcase and was packed with enough supplies for a UN peacekeeping mission, guaranteed that she would find nothing fast.

At this point, Maggie began to speak, as she took 'Aya' by the arm, and began to steer him into the now empty car. She said, "Come along, little sister, we had better get back upstairs before Mommy and Daddy send the National Guard after us… Thank you ladies, we appreciate the complements, and I'll be sure to tell Momma what nice things you said about her…" By now, she had him in the car and the door was just about to close on the two women, who were still standing and grinning at them. Then the ladies began to wave good-by, like they were getting on a damned ocean liner, instead of an elevator. Not knowing what else to do, John took the hem of his jumper in each hand, and curtsied quickly. Maggie was so shocked by the move, that she just stared at him open mouthed and wide-eyed until the doors closed

Once the doors closed, John made every attempt to stand primly, not looking at his sister, but fierce blush in his cheeks was a dead give away. Maggie fell apart, which was the end for John as well. They were both laughing so hard that they were crying. Again, only the fact that Maggie grabbed his hands prevented him from rubbing his eyes by reflex. "Don't rub you little doofus. That stuff is waterproof, but if you smear it your goanna look like a freak."

"Oh yah," he answered while laughing and flipping the hem of his jumper up, "lets not do anything to make me look like a freak, by all means."

They were just gaining control again, when the car stopped at a floor several levels below theirs. A younger couple got on the car, and punched the button for the next floor up. John leaned closer to Maggie and asked, "So is it always like that?"

"Ah Hum," Maggie answered, "It is. No matter what, when I'm dressed Lolita, the old ladies are always like that. It happens all the time. Sometimes they have kids our age; dressed in some grunge shit, and they will be looking at you like you are some kind of dangerous bug. Meanwhile, the whole time the grandmother is having a hiss fit over how pretty you are, and about how much she wishes her grandchildren could dress properly… yada, yada, yada. Its hysterical."

Needless to say the conversation got some funny looks from the twenties something couple in the car, but they were almost immediately off the elevator with just one "look at the weirdo's" glare that the woman gave them over her shoulder.

"See what I mean," Maggie said, as she dropped a short curtsy to the departing female, which, of course, had John and Maggie falling apart all over again,

The doors opened at their floor, and John started to step out, only to bump strait into a large man getting into the car. He looked up to say excuse me, just as Maggie grabbed his arm and squeezed it hard enough hurt. John did not mind though, as he was busy looking at the face of a large Chinese man. For a second or two, John thought he would pee himself.

After a moment of staring back and forth, John tried to recover by taking Maggie's hand and saying "Come on sis, Mom is waiting for us." And starting out the door. Somehow he made his legs move, but they felt so much like rubber, that he actually stumbled into the man as he brushed past him. He made it to the hallway, where he came face to face with the woman who had shot at him. He tried to say, "Excuse us"; thinking that if he could just get a step past the woman he could run.

The woman was not looking at him at all thought. She was staring straight at Maggie. "That's her", she said calmly. When John glanced back the man had his hand on his sister's shoulder.

The woman asked Maggie, "Where is your brother, Margaret, we found his school bag, and we want to give it back to him." When she spoke, Maggie looked with a start from where she had been staring at the man's face to the woman's face. "My, My…" she stuttered unable to get anything out. John could not take his eyes off of the woman from the car now. He saw her eyes narrow as she continued to stare at Maggie. She never even looked at him once. After what seemed like an eternity, "Take her", was all she said. At that point, John was almost lifted off of the floor as the man grabbed his arm at the shoulder. "What about this one," he asked.

The woman looked at his face for only the second time, but then looked quickly back to Maggie. "Yah, take her too, she's a witness. We'll figure out what to do with her later."

John started to turn and pull away but it was no use. They were pushed back into the car roughly, and Maggie stumbled backwards and hit her head on the back wall. John began to struggle, trying to hit the man, but he was shoved into the side of the car violently. He could see Maggie holding the back of her head, with a stunned look on her face.

John thought that Maggie was about to scream, and obviously the thug thought so too, because he had stepped into Maggie, clamping his hand on her mouth. John once again started toward the man, when a cloth was clamped over his face that burned his lips and eyes. He tried to struggle as he heard the woman say "parking level", but he couldn't seem to get his feet under him well enough to pull away from the woman's grip on his face. All he could think of was the terror in Maggie's eyes, and how much he wanted to tell her not to be afraid.

 

He was cold. He was laying on something damp, and not too clean judging by the strong odor of sour mildew His head hurt bad, and even moving it side to side caused sharp pains to ricochet from one side of his skull to the other. Even so, he was determined to push his face away from the smell, but for some reason he could not get his arms under him to push himself up. Suddenly, he realized the reason was that his arms were pinned behind him. He tried to free them, only to realize that he was tied at the wrists.

Slowly he opened his eyes, but had to immediately clamp them shut because the spinning of the room was going to make him throw up. He did not want to do that before he could get his head up…

"Maggie" he said very softly, but there was no reply. He wanted to say it again, but he knew he would never be able to speak, and fight the nausea was threatening to get the better of him at the same time. So he lay there, as quietly as he could, and just tried not to do anything to make it worse. If he could just lie very still for a few moments, just long enough to get his breath…

 

Noriko walked onto the elevator, and pushed for her floor. She was tired. Miyu's father had taken a wrong turn, and had wound up at the airport, so she had had to talk him back to the hotel on the girl's cell phone. It was now almost ten o'clock, and she needed to get a few hours sleep before she could decide what to do next. She had half a mind to rent a car so they could just leave. If she wasn't so tired, she might just do that, but she knew that she could never drive tonight. Not after lying awake all night. She knew, in fact, that is what she should have done yesterday, but at the time the fiction of attending CosCon had been such a good cover for her leaving the city, she had gotten too attached to the plan.

She got off of the elevator, and walked to their door, and knocked softly. She waited for at least a minute, and knocked a little louder. "Come on, you guys you didn't fall asleep already." She called out, half to herself, and half in the hopes that they would hear her and open the door. Miyu leaned her head on the door, and just as she was about to knock louder, the elevator chimed behind her, and it's door opened. Out walked a waiter with a cart from room service.

He began to push his cart down the hallway in the opposite direction, when turned to look at Noriko. "Excuse me Miss, but is everything all right." The waiter was young, and she could see that most of his interest was in just talking to her, but that did not matter.

"Yes, you can." She answered," I feel like an idiot, but I've left my key in the room, and my girlfriend is such a sound sleeper I can't wake her up. Do you have a key that you could let me in with?" She finished with a smile, willing for him to pull out a key, and let her in.

He hesitated for just a moment, and then said, "I'm sorry, Miss but I can't do that. You can go down to the front desk, and they can make you another key. It only costs about five dollars, but if the key that I have even works, and I let you in I could get fired. Sorry, I wish I could help." He finished with a shrug, and turned to push the cart down the hall as he occasionally glanced back at her.

Noriko did understand, but even thought she smiled and said thank you anyway, she still had a fleeting hoped he fell down some stairs. Noriko sighed resignedly, and stepped into the elevator, and pushed the button marked "L".

John was having a bad dream. He could hear Maggie, talking in a high and frightened voice, but he could not hear what she was saying. He only knew that he needed to get to her somehow, but that he couldn't move. He was sobbing in frustration and fear when he finally awoke again.

He stopped sobbing as soon as he was awake, but as he quickly realized where he was, and why his shoulders hurt. He moved slowly, the memory of what happened the last time he tried to move his head made him very cautious. John lifted his head and opened his eyes a little. It was dark, but not pitch black. He could see that he was in a basement, or a factory or something. As he rolled over, he could feel that he was against a wall, with the other side of the room lost in gloom and distance.

John felt much better this time. He shifted a little more, and tried to look around. The door was toward his feet. The exit sign was dark over the door. He could not see anything else, except for concrete pillars. He shifted a little more, trying to take the weight off of his shoulders. They did not hurt too badly, so he could not have been there very long.

Unable to see anything worthwhile, John lay his head back down, and tried to listen. For a long time, he heard nothing. The very silence around him seemed to buzz, and he realized that by listening so hard, he was only limiting his chance to hear. So he lay there, and worried about Maggie.

A short time later, the sound of a door closing came clearly from behind his head. Looking, he could see a small vent near the floor, covered by a metal grill. He shimmied his way over to put his head up against the grill.

He clearly heard the door close a second time, and then voices. It was a man and a woman, who sounded like the ones in the elevator. He could hear each one of them speak, but he could not hear clearly enough to make out any of the words. Slowly, some of the words came through more clearly, and they were speaking Chinese. He tired to listen to the tone of the voices, but he could not hear much – that is until he heard the woman say clearly "So, are you ready to tell us where your brother is, now."

The image of them holding Maggie race through his mind, and he thought he missed hearing her reply in his sudden sense of panic. He fought to slow his breathing, so that the pounding of his own heart, would slow enough so that he could hear. After a moment, he heard the woman again.

"I told you, little girl, that you will talk to us. Just tell us where your brother went, and we'll let you go. All we want is what he took from us." There was silence for a moment, and then he heard her. "I told you, John went to school, I was behind him when the accident happened at the buss stop. I thought he had already gone to school, and haven't seen the little squirt since I left for school that morning." "

So," the dragon lady continued, " You did not see him at School?"

"I told you, I cut school to get ready for the convention." Maggie said, obviously showing her frustration after answering these questions many times.

There was another brief conversation amongst the Chinese again. John could hear two male voices now, each distinct, talking with the woman. Then he heard: "We know that you and your brother were not in school. All the kids we asked said that you were not there. Look, you may want to play games all night, but I just don't have the patience or the time. We found this in the apartment building where the costume lady lives." There was silence for a moment. Followed by a slap, and a grunt from Maggie.

John's eyes were tearing again, but he had to keep listening. It was no problem, because the dragon lady was yelling now. "You know what it is, you little bitch. Now you are going to tell me where your bother is, and your going to do it soon. The only thing that I don't know is how many fingers you will have left when you finally decide to talk!

John was sobbing louder. Tell them Maggie. Please tell them. But he didn't have long to wait to find out how it would go. Maggie shrieked back at the woman at the top of her lungs, "Fuck you, you fucking slimy cunt!"

This time the blow wasn't the sharp crack of a slap, it was the heavy thud of someone being punched, and sound of a chair and furniture and a body hitting the floor. Dragon lady yelled again "Get the other one in here! Maybe we can use her, but if we can't we can at least get this over with."

Back at the hotel, Noriko was sitting on the end of the bed, looking at the cell phone in her hand. She had to call, but she did not know what to tell them. She did now that she had to get out of the room, because they knew where it was, and even thought they had torn it apart, they could come back at any time.

Quickly she grabbed her purse, and headed down to the bar on the first floor. She ordered a glass of wine, was just about to dial 911, when the concierge approached her.

"Is everything all right, Miss Yokoshira?" He asked, with a look of genuine concern.

She looked at him, and calmly said "No. My room has been ransacked, and I think my Nieces have been kidnapped. I'm about to call the police."

The concierge was one of the most unflappable men you could ever wish to meet, but given that expostulation, he could only stare at Noriko, his mouth moving up and down like a guppy's.

Noriko pushed the send button to dial 911. The Concierge suggested that she could come with him to her office, but Noriko just refused with a shake of the head. He leaned over and picked up the hotel phone, and punched in the number for security.

Meanwhile, in a quit voice, unnoticed by any of the customers, Noriko told the 911 operators that she believed that her two young friends were about to be murdered. After the usual interminable questions, she hung up the phone. She refused again to accompany the concierge to the private offices. She just took a sip of her wine, and silently began to cry, while she waited for the detectives to arrive.

John could hear them coming up the hall before they arrived at his door. He heard them just outside, and the sound of keys in the door. When the door opened, even thought it was not that much brighter in the hall outside, the light blinded him. As he squinted from the brighter light, he could barely see the hulking form that quickly moved to his mattress, and effortlessly hauled him to his feet.

John bit his tongue at the pain in his shoulders, as he was propelled out into the hall. Still blinded by the light, he could not see much, but He did quickly pick up that where the large room he had been in looked abandoned, he could see what looked like a working factory floor a level below him through the glass windows in two sets of doors to his right. No one was there, though, the factory having been shut down for the night.

Even if there was someone there, not only could he not have gotten away from the man who was propelling him rapidly down the hall, but the doors had all been chained shut.

As they entered the still brighter room, John was once again barely able to see. His first view was of the Dragon Lady staring down at the floor. His second was of his sister struggling to push herself up into a sitting position using the wall for leverage. He could see by the way her head hung down that she was hurt, and struggling for the little bit of balance she had managed to hang on to. John's voice caught in his throat, as Maggie slowly lifted her eyes up to stare defiantly at the Dragon Lady.

There was blood at the side of her mouth and nose to go along with a fiery red handprint on the side of her face. John could see that there was dullness to her eyes, like she was dazed and not completely aware of what was going on. He could also tell that she was in pain by the way she was fighting for a normal breath. He could not see too much more, because the tears in his eyes blurred his vision.

The gorilla who had him by the shoulders practically threw him into a folding metal chair on the opposite side o the room from Maggie. He could see that there was a much smaller, and younger man standing bye the door. This one wore a sneer of sadistic enjoyment as he watched Maggie quietly suffer on the floor.

The dragon Lady just laughed at Maggie's defiance openly, and turned away to look at John, and said, "So Margaret, who is your little friend?" She looked at John closely for the first time, and again he felt himself unable to turn away from her, even as he felt a thrill of icy fear racing from his spine to his stomach and then his knees.

"What's your name, honey?" she asked with a sickening smile on her lips. John did not answer, not because he was defying her, but rather because he could not get his voice to work. The woman's smile twisted a little, and then looking between his face and clothes, she tried again in both Chinese and Japanese. Now John could only stare in complete confusion. The Dragon lady then turned to her companions, and said something to them that made them both chuckle evilly.

She now stood directly in front of John, and took his chin in her hand, and forced his head back to look up at her. "Another spoiled little rich girl, I see. Well honey, let me tell you a little something. Your friend over there on the floor is going to die tonight if she does not start talking soon, and you are going to go right along with her." She paused to look at John's face, and waited for the terror of what she just said to sink in.

She sensed something wrong in his reaction though, because her smile slowly turned to a frown, as she puzzled over his failure to show the expected reaction. She leaned close, and gently rearranged the hair on his forehead, and the headpiece on his head before saying, "Start by telling me your name, little one and you'll see how easy it is. My name is Ling Lau, and I don't want to hurt you, so why don't you tell me your name?" The way the woman had smiled when she said that she did not want to hurt him, almost made him throw up. There was no doubt that she would thoroughly enjoy doing the most horrible things to him or anyone.

"Leave… Leave her alone you bitch, she doesn't know anything." Maggie said softly from the floor, but John could see that her eyes were on him. The small shake of her head was all that stopped him from telling the truth to end this. Ling Lau just nodded at the young punk by the door, and he walked over Maggie, and kicked her in her side. Maggie went down to the floor like a rag doll, at the sight of which John screamed for Maggie, and threw himself blindly in her direction. He did not get very far, but he did manage to accidentally plunge his shoulder into the dragon lady's stomach before the gorilla behind him, yanked him off of his feet, and back into the chair by his hair.

Ling was on him in a moment, and had already drawn her arm high to strike as he looked up at her. The slap sent a brilliant cascade of stars blazing in front of his eyes, so he had even less warning before her second blow caught him in the side of his head.

The floor was almost welcomingly soft in comparison, as his body fell onto the concrete.

"Now I kill you first, you little cunt, right after my friends have a little fun with you!

You like anal sex, you like to give good blow-job after, huh." She screamed, her English broken by her anger, and then she drew back to kick John.

"Ling." The quiet voice came from the door, but soft as it was, it instantly stopped all motion in the room as effectively as if it had been a booming cannon shot. An old Asian man stood in the door, with another large goon behind him. Ling stopped, slowly walked over to him, where they had a very soft conversation. It was the reactions of the two goons already in the room that impressed John the most. They had both gone from outright sadistic glee to visible nervousness in the space of a heartbeat.

John felt himself picked up and put back in the chair, while the punk did the same to his sister putting her on a small couch in the corner of the room. The ringing in his ear had started to subside only a little, when he asked hoarsely, "Maggie, are you ok?" It got him a cuff on the back of the head, but he hardly felt it after the blow landed by Ling. Maggie, still unable to speak, only grunted, and tried to nod her head, but she did not look up at him. So, they sat in silence for a little while longer.

Then the man told Ling to close the door, which she did, locking it with a flip of the bolt high on the door. John's confusion quickly turned to a moment of stark terror, when at a soft order from the old man, the young punk flipped open a butterfly knife, and reached for Maggie. John tried to lunge again, but his legs did not move. He only had time to say "Stop" softly, before the punk had reached down and cut the plastic tie from his sister's wrists.

John saw Maggie reach for her left arm with her right hand, and then gently lift it to cradle both at her abdomen. The punk was then at John's side, and roughly pulled him forward to cut his bonds as well. John's only thought was to reach Maggie, so he began to stagger up to reach her. The punk pushed him back, but at another word from the old man, stepped back, and watched as John moved to his sister, and cradled her in his lap as she slowly started to cry silently.

 

"What you have not told us, Miss Yokoshira is why?" the detective said tersely. He was a large black man, and it was obvious that he viewed her Asian ancestry with a great deal of suspicion. He had practically told her that he thought she was involved with the Tong. "I told you already, sergeant, there was money in the bag, and a book. What don't you understand? That little girl and boy are out there in the hands of killers who think they have something that they don't. Why don't you get off your callused overpaid ass, and go and look for them!"

Noriko had not actually raised her voice, but for the look on the detective's face, she might have screamed it. After a full minute of silence, the detective asked again. "How much Money was in the bag?"

"I didn't stop to count it." She said softly.

"What was in the book?"

"Names, and numbers. I don't remember what they were." She stared at him with an unnatural calm.

"So you don't remember even one name?"

"I've told you," she said, again loosing patience, "go and get the book, and you can read it all you want."

"We are getting a court order for that now, Miss Yokoshira, and I have to tell you that if you don't start cooperating, you will be charged with the theft of the money, and kidnapping of two minors. No how about something that resembles the God Damned truth!" The detective ended by leaning over, and yelling into her face.

Noriko could only stare in horror. Then her mouth formed a straight line, and then her anger was let loose on the detective, and at the mirror on the side of the room. "OK, Here is your cooperation. You charge me and give me my phone call. I've already told you, that I sent a registered letter from the Hotel to the police commissioner's office telling him where the money was. If you can make that charge, you'll have to be one lucky Sonofabitch. You can also charge the woman who tried to get those two kids away from cold-blooded killers with kidnapping. You can explain that you wanted to interrogate me while they are probably being murdered. But I'll tell you this, detective, in two hours, no matter what you do, I'm going to walk into the offices of the New York Times. In six hours everyone in the country is going to know just how large and incompetent an asshole you and every other asshole detective in this department really are. And, if those children are harmed while you sit here on your incompetent ass, one week from today, you will be filling out applications to pick up dog shit in central park, and praying that you get the job. But you had better charge fast, you dumb Son-of-a-bitch, because that's the only way you are going to keep me in this room even one minute more..."

Noriko had risen to her feet, and was even debating taking a swing at the dumbfounded detective, when she heard the click of the doorknob being turned behind her. The older man, who walked in, just looked at the dumfounded detective and said, "Get out, Jackson."

John flinched as the dragon lady took his chin, and lifted his face from the back of Maggie's head. She was being gentle, this time, but John could still see the hatred in her eyes. John was pulled to his feet, to stand before the old man. For his part, the old man just looked him up and down for a moment, and then moved toward Maggie, who was now sitting up on the couch, but leaning heavily on the arm for support. The old man turned and took a cloth from the gorilla, and then gently reached out to wipe Maggie's face with the damp cloth. Maggie closed her eyes, in spite of herself, as the cool cloth brought the first relief to her in hours.

"It is a shame that you are going to force us to kill you", the old man said in a kindly voice. Maggie, reacted like she had been slapped again, and recoiled from the gently smiling old man in front of her. "This could have been so much easier, and you are such a pretty little girl. Oh we won't kill you tonight, don't worry about that. We will find out where your brother is, and then we will send you off to some friends of mine. They will arrange for you to be sold to a rich client, and you will be treated well for a few months, - well most of the time anyway." The old man smiled at her more broadly.

"After that though…" the old man continued as Ling beamed over her brother's head at her, "when he or she tires of playing games with you, and if there is anything left, we put you in a place where you can work to make some of our money back. After two or three years, when you are no longer a cute little girl, you have to work very hard to pay us. If you not work hard, we put you in a film for other special clients. Do you know what a snuff film is? NO? Well let's just say that it's a film for people of a certain rare taste. They like to watch some whore get gang raped, and then slowly strangled or suffocated. I'll even make sure your Father gets a copy. Now, if you were alone, we could never make back all of our money, but most of it, probably.

However, since you have thoughtfully brought your pretty little friend along, we can probably make back more than your brother took from us. So you see, when we do find him, and we have our money, it will be simply a matter of honor for us to make an example of him."

The horror of what he was saying, combined with his saintly smile, and his gentle voice and ministrations were more that Maggie could endure. She felt as if she was going to loose her mind. She was so filled with horror at the evil man's pronouncement that she could only stare mutely at him as he gently finished wiping her face with the damp cloth.

The old man then walked over to a small table, and picked up a pair of tin snips and examined them for a moment. He then placed them back on the table, and instead chose a large pair of pliers. He then walked over to the young thug, and handed the pliers to him. Turning to the gorilla, he nodded, and Maggie felt her arms once again pinned behind her, as she could only stare in horror at the old man. He stared back at her for an eternity.

Then the old man turned to ling, and nodding at John said, "Take off her shoe and pull her toes off, start with the little toe on each foot." John tried to push back against Ling, and Margaret thought he had fainted, but then she heard him whimper as ling put him in a headlock.

It was too much for Maggie. She had tried so hard, but just could not think any more. She knew that they were both dead either way, but that did not matter. All she new in her tortured mind was that she had to stop them from hurting John, or die trying. She did not even realize that the animal shriek had come from her. She flailed and twisted from the large man's grip, heedless of the tearing sound coming from her shoulder. "No!" she shrieked again. "Don't hurt him, he didn't do anything. Leave him alone, please. Please don't hurt him, it was me! I took the money, it was me, he doesn't know

Where it is…" The gorilla had finally worked loose one hand, and slapped her on the back of the head, which made her vision go black, but still Maggie pleaded, weakly. "Run, John. Don't hurt him, please…."

John watched the old man quickly step across to the gorilla and with a full swing of his arm, slap the gorilla right across his face. The gorilla didn't move, either from the heavy blow, or in an effort to shield himself. John could see his eyes, though and he knew that he would probably be the one to kill both he and his sister that night.

The old man barked an order, and the punk dropped the pliers on the couch, and moved behind John to lock his arms, and hoist him fully up on his feet. The dragon lady came around to look at his face with an expression of awe. She slowly looked more closely at him, and shook her head chuckling. The old man just watched as if he had no particular interest in any of this.

Then the Dragon lady slowly walked right in front of John, and lifted the hem of his dress. John felt her fingers on his belly, as they slipped beneath the waistband of his panties. John turned his head away, and began to whimper, "NO" as he began to cry.

Ling just smiled and pushed her hand down into Johns Panties, and examine what she found there. Her eyes were wide, with wonder as she squeezed, and then pulled the panties out further so that she could see. John continued to whimper, and dance on his toes in an effort to escape, but it was no use.

Then to John's horror, the old man walked over beside Ling, and also looked.

For one horrible instant, as Ling finally removed her hand, John thought the old man would give him the same examination. In the end, though, he only looked down the panties that Ling held open for his inspection. John tried to sidle away, but the punk wrenched his arms viciously. "Carefully, Mister Le. Don't hurt him." and the old man took John's chin in his hand and gave him a most minute inspection. "This little one is probably worth a hundred times what his sister is to our friends in Singapore. No marks. Let him go."

Once again released, John stumbled over to Maggie to again cradle her in his lap. She was still chanting softly for him to run, while at the same time clutching fiercely to him. He tried to comfort her, oblivious to a brief conversation between Ling and the old man.

It surprised him when he realized that Ling was once more standing over him, and he flinched out of instinct, but she did not strike this time. "Where is the money?" Ling asked him as she grabbed Maggie's hair and slowly entwined it about her fingers as she braced to pull her brutally away from him.

"It's in the hotel safe." he heard himself say as he reached out and began to gently untangle Maggie's hair from his tormentor's fingers.

"And the Book?" Ling asked sharply "It's in the safe."

Ling was laughing at him as she picked up the tools on the little table and left with the old man and both goons.

They were alone. The sound of the door slamming still echoed when the sound of a chain being pulled through the door came loudly from the other side. John did not know how long he cradled Maggie, it could have been hours, or it could have been days. He only knew that she continued to plead for him to run for as long as he remained awake…

 

 

Noriko walked out of the offices of the New York Times, and paused on the sidewalk in the early morning gloom. It was never quite in the city, but this was the quietest part of the day. She took a deep breath, amazed at how calm she felt. She knew that it was only temporary. The weak feeling in her stomach was still there, still threatening to overwhelm her at any moment. So with one more look at the lightened sky in the east, she walked over to the unmarked car that waited for her at the curb, and slid in.

Mason, Chief of detectives in the 53 Precinct sat sideways in the seat beside her. He said nothing for perhaps a full minute, and then in a quiet voice asked, "How did it go?"

Noriko did not look at him, and did not answer. She simply nodded her head. Mason continued to stare for a moment or two more.

"Did you tell them what I told you?" He asked.

"Yes," Noriko said calmly. "I told them the story just like we agreed. They just loved it. An exclusive interview, two kidnapped children, and police incompetence.

The night editor looked like he needed a smoke. It'll be on the six a.m. news."

Mason laughed bitterly, "Yeah, Old Charlie has been doing this job for ten years, and will probably be doing it until his ulcer explodes, or someone steps up and kills him. You are sure you did not give them any information that would allow them to identify the kidnappers right away?" He asked with genuine concern.

Noriko once again, just nodded her head mutely.

"Good," the detective continued, "we want to put some pressure on so that they will be afraid to move the kids, but not too much. If they think we have them, we'll never find the small pieces…"

Even in the pale light, the detective could see he had made a mistake, and felt sorry for his choice of words, but he had a job to do. It was bad enough to risk the chief ever finding out that it was his idea for Noriko to expose the incompetence of the detectives who would replace him when he retired. If he did find out, then Mason would be out, with no hope of parole as they say, less than two weeks before he was to trade his gold shield for his pension. Either way, though, it would be a gift for the citizens of New York if he succeeded in burning this bunch. They were the worst he'd seen.

Even more than his own worries, though, he wanted those kids back. If anything happened to them, he'd live with it for the few years he had left. These two he needed to find almost as much as the woman sitting beside him. Their pictures were still warm in his pocket, where he had been examining them while Miss Yokoshira had been interviewed. Given what he had seen when he interviewed the parents, he was sure that they needed him, because they had no one else. He needed to be the best, just one last time. At least that's what he had prayed for.

"Miss, Yokoshira, we still have a chance, but I will need your help. O.K?" He said, hoping she had had enough time.

"Just get them back." was all she said.

The detective slid back into the seat behind the wheel, and started the car. "If the children are killed, there could still be trouble for you, if the father wants to make it." He said as he looked in his mirror, waiting for several cars to pass.

"That doesn't matter," Noriko said quietly and after a pause continued, "Is there anything else we can do?"

The detective slipped the car into gear, but did not look at her as he answered, "Well we have photos out to every patrolman in the city. Our detectives are at the hotel, and in your neighborhood. We know where some of the lesser members of the gang can be found so we are watching them to see where they may lead us. If they make a mistake we have a good chance to…"

Her voice was so soft, that were it not for the dead flat tone, he might not have heard her at all. "Is there anything else we can do?" the flat little voice had said. Even with all his years, it made the hairs on his neck stand up. Still not looking at her, the detective shook his head slightly. "No. Not a God-Damned thing." He pressed the gas pedal, and the car moved out into the light traffic.

 

 

The night man on the desk at the Hilton had been busy for several hours. Unlike most of the city, he had guests who were racing to fill planes to all points. The kitchen was running close to full staff already, to meet the needs of their overnight guests, most of whom had been too tired from long stays in terminals to eat when they arrived. They were already there to prepare for another day of banquets and receptions. He, on the other hand had only two clerks with which to get the people out and on their way. To make it worse, he was still trying to confirm that housekeeping would have the staff to re-clean fifty more rooms by ten, so that he could meet his reservations for the coming morning. If they could not, he would have to upgrade some of the reservations to better rooms, by noon. It would start a cascade of room shifting, which would go on for days in this busy season, and worse it would cost the hotel a lot of money. He would certainly get a good part of the blame. In short, while most people in the city still slept, he had already had a long bad 'day.'

He looked up for the minibus driver, hoping to direct his attention to some luggage behind a post on the other side of the lobby, but saw one of his junior clerks already caught the man with a sharp snap of her fingers. Ordinarily, it would have merited a quick talking to in the back office, or at least a dirty look from the driver, but this morning it only got a nod. He noticed too, that there were two more people approaching his counter.

He looked them over, and seeing how young they were, and their manner of dress, he looked behind them for older adults in the party. In this day and age, he knew that people seldom dressed very well to travel, but they usually dressed better than this. Even though he was tired, his curiosity was piqued. At certain times of the day, all kinds of people wandered into lobbies of hotels. Most of the worst sort knew instinctively that they would not be tolerated, but there were always a few. Those few seldom showed up at five a.m., however.

The manager took a call, but continued to watch the two young men talking quietly to each other. He did not have the instincts of the concierge, but even he could not miss this. He finished the call, without even remembering what it had been about, just as the two young men finally walked to the reservations counter.

"Good Morning," he greeted them with the same level of cheerfulness he would have used for a movie star, the automation of too many years of practice.

"Ahm, yah, excuse me," the one he looked at began to speak, "but I was wondering. We were in the other day, and put something in the safe, and we would like to get it back. Are you the one we talk too?"

Now of course the desk manager had some idea of what had gone on in the hotel the night before, everyone did, but he had almost no details. Even though he did not immediately connect the strange request to those events, he knew these two did not have anything worth putting in a safe. He had learned, like anyone who had long been in the hotel business, that when someone had money, but they still 'dressed down', there were clues. Five-dollar shoes - but a two hundred dollar hair cut. Or perhaps it might be ten-year-old blue jeans, and a ten thousand dollar watch. It was something you had to be able to spot, or you could piss off the son of the guy who would buy the hotel just to put you out on the street.

He was fairly good at knowing who was who, from who was Who's Who – as the old hotel joke went, which is why he lasted so long.

He looked at them for almost a moment too long, and the young man spoke again under the pressure.

"We have our room number." The young man ventured hopefully, but his nervousness showed. He was wishing very hard that he had turned down the offer of a hundred bucks for each of them to 'run a little errand,' but he was still determined to brazen it out, unlike his speechless friend. After all he would have to slave for the super for two weeks to clear that much. He quickly changed his mind, however, and began to loose his nerve.

The desk manager responded, without ever loosing his smile. "Of course, Sir. I am the person you need. If you will just give me the room number and guest name, I'll check the inventory. I'll also need a picture ID on you, to verify our records, please."

The desk manager even put his hand on the counter, in the impossible chance that the young man actually produced ID. For just a moment the silent one beside the speaker actually twitched like he was ready to reach for his pocket, but he too stopped short.

"Ahm, I'm not sure if I have my ID, I might have left it in the car. Can't you give us a break?" the speaking partner almost squeaked.

The Desk manager almost called the bluff, but something he could not quite put his finger on held him back. "Well I'll see what I can to, Guest name, and room number?"

"Room seven-eighteen, under Noriko Yokoshira, she's my friend… My girlfriend!"

It clicked at the mention of the name. Even the deskman was nervous now, but sought to cover it up by typing in the room.

Of course, it came up as out of service, police permission required for entry, "report all contacts." But it gave him the chance to click the mouse button four times on an icon at the top of the screen. If they were awake back in the security office, it should call his station to their attention, and enable them to even pull up the same screen he was viewing. They were awake. Out of the corner of his eye, the deskman saw at least two different cameras swing toward him.

"And your name sir?" he asked as casually as he knew how.

"Aaah…, Brad."

"And your last name, sir." Knowing that the first name was fake, he hoped to take one last chance to rattle him.

"Ahm… Williams. Hey look, if I need to I can get my girl to pick this thing up later today. Will you be here?"

The Deskman was about to try to keep the young man talking, but he saw at that moment, a house detective step through a door into the lobby, and give him a sight nod. "No, Sir, but anyone can help you, I'm sure. Just come to the desk." he smiled, a little sickly this time, but still nothing to tip the two off.

The two boys were already headed to the door at an admirable speed, so they did not even have the chance to wonder at the out of place nature of his smile. That was ok.

They now had a house detective, and two NYC detectives in tow…

John awoke, with not so much of a start, as with overwhelming confusion. Margaret, who was lying against him, had moaned in her sleep. For a moment or two he could not understand why his sister was curled up against him, and clutching him so tightly in her sleep that he could not move. He wanted to do so badly, because something was digging into his hip. Then it came back to him. He quickly looked about the room, like a trapped animal, fearing that there may be some physical danger about to fall upon them.

John began to shift as carefully as he could, so that he did not hurt Maggie. He had not been able to get her to respond to any questions last night, but he was pretty sure that she had been hurt inside. All he had been able to do was to hold her while she kept calling for him to run, as if she did not really know that he was there. He did know that when he touched her left arm, or her left side, she flinched and tired to turn that side away from him to protect it.

Never the less, John was finally able to lift himself without waking, Maggie. Reaching down between the cushions, he was surprised to find that he had slept on the large pair of pliers that they had threatened to pull his toes off with. Carefully, he slipped the pliers back under the cushion, and ran his hand along the crack as far as he could reach, to see if there was anything else useful. There was nothing else of value but a book of matches, and a plastic fork and napkin packet from some fast food restaurant. Mostly it was just some candy wrappers, and a few small coins. John placed some of the items on the arm of the couch for the time being. After searching one more time, he slipped what he had retrieved into a small pocket in his jumper.

John then began to examine Maggie. She had a black eye, and her face was bruised on both sides, but her left cheek was the worst. She had dried blood on her dress, and in her nose. Looking at her head, he could see where she had some blood in her hair, but as he carefully moved the hair, he could tell that the cut he found there was not very deep. He prayed that she did not have a concussion, because he did not really even know what one was, let alone how to help if she did. He only knew that it was bad

Then, most carefully of all, he began to run his down Maggie's left arm. He could feel that her elbow was swollen, and her wrist looked swollen too. He moved her wrist and hand, which caused her to moan.

John began to cry softly over his sister. He knew that it was a stupid thing to do, but he could not help it. The fact that he knew that he should be trying to find a way to get help, or at least think of a way to keep them from killing them outright, made him feel even worse. He had always known that he owed Maggie more than he could ever repay for all that she had done for his whole life; and, now that she needed him so badly, he had no idea what to do. What she had done last night had stunned him almost as much as it had broken his heart. All he could seem to think about, was how she had been willing to let them beat her to death – to protect him.

In the end, all he could do was to pray that she was OK. Not knowing what to do for her was almost worse than when they had come at him last night. So he cried silently, so as not to wake his sister to the horror of where they were.

Some time later, when his head began to clear, he managed to get up, and move around. He looked around the room for any sign of escape, but found nothing. He also tried to call out softly at the door to see if there was anyone on the other side. If there was, he did not hear any response. It was while checking the door that Maggie began to shift, and trying to sit up.

John rushed back over to his sister, and helped her up gently. She was sitting up, before her eyes rose to see his face. She did not say a word, but simply slipped her right arm around his neck, and pulled his head tightly to her shoulder. He felt silly that he was crying again, but not that much. This time it was relief.

"Are you Ok, Maggie?" He whispered softly.

Maggie groaned, and released him slowly. She tried to say something, but could not until she cleared her throat, an action that clearly hurt her, judging by the face that she made the first few times she tried.

"I'm… I'm OK." she managed.

"Can I look at your side?" John asked.

Maggie tried to raise her dress up on the left side, but she could not make it. John helped her, seeing more bruises on her legs, and then on her side, just at the bottom of her ribs.

"God, Maggie," he said as he looked at her side, "That looks bad. I'm so sorry."

"Not you, John." The effort of talking clearly cost her.

John asked if there was anything he could do

"I hurt, John, but I'll be ok, I think." Maggie said probing her own side gently.

"What did they hit you with?" John said, looking for the cloth they had used last night, and gratefully finding it, along with the napkins, on the side of the couch. Of course, by now only very slightly damp, so he licked the corner, as he gently tried to clean his sister's face.

"Didn't." Maggie began. "Bitch knocked me off the chair. Big one, picked me up, and threw me back, but the chair fell over, and I fell over the side of it." Maggie finished panting for breath. "Hurts. Hands tied, I fell over side of chair. Think I passed out, because I woke up on the couch."

"I'm so sorry, Maggie. You should have told them." John began…

For the first time, Maggie moved quickly, as she looked up, and looked at his face, but clearly she was not focused on him. She was remembering what had happened last night.

"Oh god, John. I'm sorry. I told them it was you…" She began to sob freely.

"It's OK, Maggie. You had to. If you hadn't we would be dead. It's ok." John said to her as convincingly as he possibly could. Maggie just nodded her head.

"I have to Pee." She said softly, looking about the room. "Bad" And then she tried to smile at him

He almost laughed, because it had come out of nowhere. But the humor only lasted for moments – as he realized that he did too.

Detective Alan Marsh had only been on the job for two weeks. He had spent most of his career in uniform for the 53^rd. He loved the people he worked with, or most of them. He loved the job – usually. Not today. Detective Jackson had transferred in from another precinct four months before. He was supposed to be training Marsh, but Marsh had forgotten more about police work than this guy ever knew. His mother had forgotten more about police work than this guy ever new. He had almost blown the tail two separate times.

It was good though. Mason had pulled him aside, and talked to him before they left the station. "I know you've been here since you were born; but, just keep your eyes open. You are a detective now, Marsh. I recommended you, so I want you to do well, but more than that, I want you to get those kids back. You watch yourself out there. If you find them, don't do anything, unless they try to move them. These are bad people; as bad as any you will ever meet. If they do try to move them, and you have to move in, shoot first, and don't stop until they are down. We'll do what we have to afterwards. Understood?"

Marsh had been a little shocked, but he knew the score. This was one of those jobs where cops would die the moment they screwed up. These Asian hoods were always having their wars, like in the old west. They would not hesitate to pop anyone who got in their way, cops included. The few guys in the Tong, whom he had met personally, would have gladly come at him the first chance they got, and he knew it. So be it. It would be no quarter if it came to it. Now if Jackson could keep from blowing the tail… "Jackson, unit C is in place, and we should turn off now. I think we should ease back a little, and take the next left, and follow on 83^rd." He said as casually as possible, when Jackson had missed his turn off.

 

John was looking around for something for them to use, but all he found was a small office type plastic trash can under the table with the lamp that had been placed just beside the door. So first he dumped a couple of pieces of paper out of it, he didn't know why really, and then he helped Maggie over to where he put the bucket behind the upholstered chair in the corner. After her, he used it too.

Maggie was still in pain, but she was moving much better now as she carefully flexed to find the extent of her mobility. John took the opportunity to search the rest of the couch, and then the chair. The only other things he found were some nail-clippers on the floor under the chair, and a dime. Maggie looked over what he had, then she looked around the room, and then moved to look at the door herself.

There were no windows, and just a ventilator pipe on the ceiling, which she could never reach. John picked up the pliers, and walked over to the door behind Maggie. Again, he called softly, and when he received no answer, he tried the knob. To his complete amazement, the knob turned, and the door opened two inches. Unfortunately, that was all it would move before a chain stopped it.

Maggie quickly pushed him aside, and moved to listen at the crack, before she reached out to feel the chain for as far as she could reach. However, Maggie could not stand the pain it caused for her to reach out and around the doorframe, so she called John back over.

"Just look for a hook or a lock." She said softly.

John got his arm out, and began to feel the chain, but he could not do it either. Then he got an idea, and began to slide the chain through the hasp as quietly as possible. He wend as softly as he could, but in the empty building, it sounded like an ongoing freeway pileup. Soon, however, a padlock came into view, and they knew that the chain was there to stay. In a moment of inspiration, John sat on the floor, and taking hold of the edge of the door near the bottom, and bracing his feet on the wall, he tried to pull the door to enlarge the gap, hoping they could slide through - but it was no use. It was metal, and very solid.

Looking at the door again, Maggie moved to the other side where the hinges were.

"Close the door, and bring the pliers here, John." she whispered.

They began to examine the hinges. If they could pull out the pins, they could get the door open. They might just get out of there yet. John began to work on the pins, while Maggie looked at the rest of the furnishings in the room.

John quickly got the middle pin out of the door, but the top and the bottom had some kind of ring on the bottom of the pin. He did not try to force it, because he felt that to damage the door, and not get out would only ruin their last chance. He wanted to check it out a little more before he began to hack at the pins. Maggie agreed, and they both looked around again.

"Any Ideas?" Maggie asked.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure that the thing on the bottom of the pins unscrews. I can probably pull the pins out, but I'm not going to be able to get them back in, and the door looks pretty heavy. It may fall, and make a lot of noise if we move it. Also, we have the lamp, but It's too light to do much damage," John paused in thought for just a moment, and then continued "but we could take the cord off, but I'm not sure what good it would do." He finished, shaking his head with worry, and disgust.

"What do you mean about the cord?" She asked.

"Well, we could pull the cord out of the lamp, and then plug it in to give them a shock." He started to explain, but she interrupted him as she began to get excited.

"That's right, we could electrocute the bitch…" She began, but stopped when John put the tips of his fingers on her lips.

"Maggie, I don't think that will work. I mean did you ever get a shock from an outlet?"

"Yes, you know I have?" she said wondering what he was getting at.

"Well, so have I, and Neither of us are dead, are we." He asked.

"Right." She said as she thought little more. "When people get in water or something, and get really grounded, then they fry. If not, then you get a jolt."

"That's what I'm afraid of. We don't have any water, and without it, I think it would just piss them off." He finished, as he looked back at the door. When he looked back at

Maggie, she had this really funny look on her face.

"What is it, do you hear them?" he asked while trying to listen.

"No, it's just something that you said. It made me think that we do have something. It's in the trash can." She said this while looking at the lamp. Then Maggie took two steps over to retrieve the trash bucket, and placed it on the floor in front of the little table with the lamp.

John had a dubious, and distasteful look on his face as he spoke "I suppose you're right, but I don't think that we should try anything cute. I say we just pull the pins out of the door, and get the heck out of here. Can you Move, Maggie? I don't want to be here when they get back." he was really terrified, and it showed.

"You're damned right I'll move; but John, even if I can't, you have to keep going. You have to get away." He began to argue, but she stopped him by placing her hand on his mouth this time. "John, I'm sorry, but you know what Nor said. As long as one of us is loose, the others are better off. If you have to go, you go; and please, we don't have time to argue.

"What about Noriko?" He asked.

"I don't know, John. I think that if they found her, that they would have brought her in here too. If they found her, and killed her, then they would have said something I think, but they haven't. I just don't know. All I know is that we can't wait for her to find us. I don't think that we have that much time. Even if she is still alive."

John could see that just saying that had cost his sister dearly. Tears were sliding down her face, and she made no effort to wipe them away. "Hurry, John."

It was clear that Maggie thought they should not have wasted even the few minutes they had taken to look for other ways out. John had seen it in the eyes of their captors too. If they could not get away before the bad guys came back, then they were dead.

John did not say any more. He simply turned back to the door, and began to work on the bottom hinge pin. It took him longer than he thought, but he finally figured out that he had to unscrew the bottom, which was hard since he only had one pair of pliers. He got it finally, though, and then pulled one of the metal chairs over to begin working on the top hinge, while Maggie unplugged the lamp on the table beside him…

 

(continued)

  

  

  

*********************************************
© 2004 by Sarah Lynn Morgan. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, and compilation design) may be printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without the express written consent of StorySite and the copyright holder.