The Frenchman's Revenge (14 page)

An angry growl caught their attention and they all turned to se
e
Alex rush
from
the room, frustrated tears streaming down his
flushed, angry
face
.

Elena frowned and started after him
,
but
Wyatt held
her back.

“Give him a chance to get used to the idea, honey.
Remember
,
you’ve been his
best girl all his life.
It’s not surprising that he is having trouble accepting the fact that you
’re
in love with Bai.”

~~~

As guests swarm
ed
to congratulate them,
Bai pulled Wyatt and Wan aside and said in an undertone, “I need to speak with you both.
You will pl
ease come to my office after our guests leave,
oui
?”

Wyatt and Wan nodded
.
There wasn’t any
doubt why
he wanted to talk to them.
News of the attack in San Francisco was already circulat
ing
through
the ballroom.

With a shake of his head and a slight grimace, Wyatt said, “Can I assume it has to do with the incident tonight in San Francisco?”

Bai quirked an eyebrow and said with a wry smile,
“That’s a good assumption, Wyatt. A
good assumption
,
indeed.”

Chapter
6

“What do you plan to do with the girls, Bai?” Wyatt asked.
“It’s not as though even you can make forty to fifty young girls disappear.”

B
ai watched them closely
,
as
Wyatt and Wan listened without
comments to Nianzu describe
how they burned
down Madame Torrento’s brothel.
He appreciated that n
either
man
asked for additional details or
a
rationale for the
ferocity of the
attack.
Rather, Wyatt moved directly to the problem at hand
--
what to do with the young prostitutes.

Bai responded,
“At this point, Wyatt, we have them sequestered in the Sing Leon casitas.
The heal
ers are
examining
them now.”

Nianzu broke in with a
pained expression
.

“
Most
of them are in bad shape.”

“My plan is to keep the injured girls here until they heal.
I
haven’t talked with Elena yet
,
but
I am going to have her oversee the care of the girls who are badly hurt.
Unfortunately
,
our infirmary can handle
only
so many.
If necessary
,
I
hope that we can send some of them to Los Vistas, Wan
,
”
Bai said, looking to his father for support.

Wan
murmured in agreement,
his face expressionless.

“Of course, Bai.
We can make arrangements
to transport them
in the morning.
”

“Look
, Bai
.
Sheriff
Thompson already warned Wan and me that this incident will not go un
answered
,” Wyatt said
,
then continued
with a grimace.

“
Hell, this is not a criticism. You
know that
.
But
you
know who you are dealing with.
The
re is a
one hundred percent
likelihood the
m
ob
will come
down hard on this. Face it, Bai, the Costa Nostra is one fuckin’ big tiger you are t
aunting
. T
he Marcello gang is the most infamous of them all
. T
hey are going to want to send the loudest, clearest message they can that you don’t mess with
Aldo Marcello
and get away unscathed.
”

Bai took one of his
slender
Bolivian
cigars from the humidor on his desk
. Clipping the end with his
silver
wolf’s head clipper
, he
took his time lighting it. After several puffs
,
and
after
the cigar was drawing steadily, he
p
ushed
the humidor across the desk
,
offering a cigar to the three men sitting across from him
. He
reached o
ver
to refill each of their
glasses.

A slight smile crossed his lips and for a moment warmed the
hard glint
in his eyes.

“Ah, yes, Wyatt.
”
Bai
paused to puff on his cigar
,
then continued,
“It
is my expectation that our adversaries will want to respond to tonight’s
‘
incident
.
’
It
is
my intent that
they do.
However,
as they consider their response
,
I want both the
Italian
and the
Irish
mobs
to know
what happens to
those
who t
aunt
the
Chinese
tiger they call
t
he Frenchman
. To know what happens
to
anyone who presumes to come to
our
territory and attack
members of our group
,
in this case,
young Chinese girls.
”

He added with a wry grin, “I
consider tonight’s ‘incident’ my first opportunity to
give them a glimpse of the re
sponse
they can expect
from this particular tiger
.
”

He saw
Wan and Wyatt exchange a knowing look, no doubt seeing images of themselves
from
years gone by reflected in
the icy cold of his eyes. He
also
saw their love and
their respect
. He was
humbled and grateful
to ha
v
e the
support and understanding of these two legendary leaders
, his
heroes
.

~~~

Alex
threw
one hard punch after another at the sandbag in Bai’s
k
ung fu practice center.
Sweat poured down his face
,
mixed with
frustrated tears he couldn’t hold back.
He left the ballroom too angry to speak
,
after watching the indignity of
Elena’s dance with Bai
, seeking
refuge in the practice center.
He forced himself to go through the regimen that had driven his life since he was a boy
.
N
othing he did calmed or released the fury that had been building since he first learned that his sister
, his
lifelong
soul mate
,
intended to marry
the
man
he believed was
an international criminal.
As much as he loved
Lei
and honored his father and his grandfather, nothing they said had cooled the anger he felt toward Bai.
It infuriated him that they
thought he was just jealous
of Bai
. He acknowledged t
hat it
was useless to try to convince them otherwise.

The practice center was state of the art, like everything on the compound
, a
fact that made Alex angrier. It was as though even
k
ung fu had been corrupted by Bai
. A
place and a practice that
all of his life
had brought
Alex
peace was being challenged by this man
. T
his man
who had turned
everything good in
Alex’s
life to shit
.

He heard the door to the dojo open
. T
he grunts and groans of the Sing Leon fighters who were
sparring
alongside him
stopped
. T
he room grew ominously
quiet
. Alex
turned
to see Bai in the doorway.
He had changed from his formal attire and was wearing a white silk shirt and the traditional
k
ung fu black silk
gi pants
. He stood for a moment
at the entrance
,
smoking a cigarette,
then walked in.
He jerked his head toward the door
,
motioning to his men to leave.
Within minutes
,
the other fighters had packed up their gear
.
Alex and Bai faced each other,
just the two of them
in the now
silent
dojo.

Alex had expected him
, was waiting for him
.
He
had
thrown down the gauntlet and
Bai accepted
the challenge
.
A
rush of adrenalin
e
surge
d
through him
. H
e readied himself for
the
fight he sought
,
relishing the thought of crushing this arrogant
,
odious man.
There was no question in his mind that he would beat him
. H
is
righteous
anger was too intense to allow any other outcome.

Bai took a drag off his cigarette
,
tossed it to the floor
,
and ground it out with his boot. He
looked at Alex through hooded eyes
. H
olding his gaze, he toed off his boots and kicked them
off
to the side.
He rose up on his toes and flexed his feet in preparation.
In an unusual gesture for a
k
u
ng fu fighter
,
he
took off his shirt,
hung it on a hook against the wall
and stood naked
,
except for his fitted pants
.
Alex
frowned and squelched
his surprise at the sight of Bai’s bare torso.
He
knew
that Bai was a grandmaster and that he must be strong
. But
he was unprepared for
the reality of
Bai’s
b
ody.
Clothed
,
he looked lean, almost slender
. W
ithout his shirt, every muscle in his arms, back
,
and shoulders rippled with power.
His waist tapered
down
across his taut
abdomen
and his
powerful
stance revealed hard
,
muscular legs.

Momentarily caught off guard, Alex reminded himself that even though Bai was at least two inches taller, he outweighed him by
fifteen
pounds or more
. M
ost important
,
he was twenty years old and stronger than he had ever been. He had
sparred
daily for the past six months
in China
with world renowned fighters
, honing
his skills to peak
fighting
form.

“Came to see what you learned in China,
b
oy.
I
’m confident
w
e
can get this settled
quickly
,
”
Bai said, with a slight smile that didn’t reach his eyes.