Chapter 28

Ming Na Liu

The Present

7:30 PM

Ming opened her eyes and winced. "Where am I?" She groaned. The floor was hard and cold. It smelled like cleaner and dust. After the heat and leather scent of Jim's car seats, it was like wanting vanilla ice cream but getting wasabi. You weren't quite sure how to react. Pushing herself to a sitting position, she groaned and started rubbing her eyes. The light was dimmer, less natural. She was inside. How?

"Jim? Where are you?" she asked, her voice sounding like a ten-pack-a-day smoker.

Why do I feel like every nerve ending is firing at the same time?

"You're back! Thank God it worked," a male voice said

She knew that voice. Inching her head to the sound, every movement sent waves of pain through her. Yichen sat at a desk. Relief softened his face from his usual hard mask. In front of him was Bobby's computer. She remembered it from the police station. There weren't many grown men with Motley Crue stickers on their laptops.

"Uncle? What are you doing here?" She looked down. "What the? I'm back in my body. How?" She ran her hands all over herself. "Why am I so tingly?"

"You've been almost dead for almost nineteen hours. Rigour mortis had set in, so it's going to take some time for you to readjust to your body," Yichen said. "If Bobby's notes are correct, the nanites should be repairing your tissue. That's probably the tingling."

Ming heard a noise to her right. Dean groaned off to the side of the room. Wu was standing over him, her jacket open and finally dirty. She was always so clean. Wu adjusted it and stood at attention.

"Dean!" Tears welled up, stinging her eyes. She hadn't seen him in forever. "What happened to you?"

"I had a little trouble," Dean groaned. His arm looked broken, but Ming couldn't be sure.

She turned her head back to Yichen and toppled over, like someone was probing her body with a saw. "What the hell is going on here, Uncle?"

"Your detective friend has been searching for you." He shrugged. "I didn't want him to interfere with the transfer." He stamped his cane on the ground. "I asked him to wait, but he refused, causing more trouble than he was worth, so Wu had to get creative." He turned to Wu, frowning. "You may have gone too far. I didn't want him hospitalized."

Wu nodded. "I will accept my punishment. He was more resourceful than I expected."

Yichen raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Ming stared at Yichen. "You're lying!" she shouted. She tried to stand up, but her legs wouldn't move. Slapping them was no use either. They tingled and popped as they healed. The same thing happened when she jumped into Jessica's body, but this time it was much slower.

"Rest. Recover. He won't get past Wu. She's trained too long and hard to lose to a simple detective," Yichen said, smiling. He pulled up a chair and sat in front of her. "Where were you? I couldn't find any evidence in the code to tell me."

"Nineteen forty-seven. I met Bugsy Siegel and he..." Ming trailed off and stuck her hand to her mouth. "Where's Bobby?" She looked around and didn't see him.

"I didn't need him, so I left him at the detective's place." Yichen turned his head towards Dean. "You brought him here, didn't you?"

"Yes," Dean croaked out. "Barbie's bringing him up now. We need his computer to revive him."

"I thought so." Yichen gestured to the machine. "It's almost out of power. And the save function has been disabled, probably by Bobby." He smiled. "Once that happens, the code will probably disappear. Or I could just destroy it now?"

"No! Please don't, Uncle." Ming struggled to her feet. There was no way she was going to face her uncle on her knees. "You knew what Bobby was capable of the whole time, didn't you?"

"I suspected it after Slazney had me hire him. It took him far too long to find the code."

"You knew it was in the windows?" Ming staggered to the side and bumped against the desk. Her legs still weren't moving correctly. It was as if she'd forgotten how to walk and had to relearn.

He scoffed. "Of course. The first week I was the owner, I took Slazney's suggestion and looked at some of the windows in the right sunlight, much like you did. Although I stayed in the room." His face drew back in disgust. "Too many of the windows have that cursed code embedded in them. Anyway, after I woke up, most of the code was gone, thank god. The bits and pieces I remembered were enough to know that Slazney was dangerous. I didn't know what he wanted, but there was no way I would let him tell me what I could and couldn't do. I had enough of that in the Triad."

"Why was that?" Dean asked Yichen. He had pushed himself to a sitting position. "What happened? I found your name in Stanley's files. I already know who Slazney was using. What's his connection to all of this?"

Ming watched Yichen when Dean was talking. Yichen's face went from anger to concern and back to indifference in a heartbeat. There was something Dean wasn't saying.

"Wait?" She turned to Dean. "You found Slazney? He was also in nineteen forty-seven, but had left before we got there. Where is he?"

Dean stopped talking.

"Where is he, Detective?" Yichen said. "Wu has been very generous, but she will start breaking your fingers if you don't tell me what happened." The tension in his voice was rising.

Dean winced and glanced at the secretary. "No need." He took a deep breath. "After I confronted Slazney, he decided the body he was inhabiting was no longer necessary. He activated a smoke device and jumped out. The body turned to dust, but I don't know where he is."

Yichen started swearing in Cantonese and reached for the phone. Ming recognized some of the words but usually spoke in a different dialect. Her father's name stood out.

"What about my father?" she said, moving closer to Yichen.

Her uncle stopped talking, put the phone down and looked at Wu. Worry filled his face. He was scared.

"It's time, sir," said Wu, standing away from Dean and picking up a tablet on the table. "After everything that happened, she may finally believe it. She needs to hear the truth."

Yichen nodded, stood up and started pacing. "When you were a child, do you remember your father being in a car accident?"

"Yes. He spent several days in the hospital," Ming said.

"He was killed in that accident."

Ming scoffed. "My father wasn't killed when I was seven. He changed, sure. Before, he loved playing with me. Afterwards, he grew distant and cold. Something happened in that accident, and it scared him, but he is still my father." Tears started as doubt crept in. "How dare you say that?" She couldn't believe the man who took her to amusement parks and told her bedtime stories every night had died. She clenched her fists and glared at her uncle.

Yichen looked at Ming. His eyes glistened with tears. "When I bought the Shujing, I was planning to rip out all the pink windows. It was useless in a respectable hotel, and I wanted a better image," Yichen said, sitting. He was holding a picture in his lap. "I was tired of the Triad following everything I was doing and had already taken steps to distance myself from them."

Ming sank to the ground. This was everything she'd wanted, but hearing it was a shock. She patted her pants for a pen and paper, even her phone, but she had nothing on her.

"I had hired the contractors and the renovations were set to begin in a few days when I got a call from the hospital." He looked up. "My daughter and her husband were in a car accident, and he had been thrown through the windshield. I raced down there, but it was too late. He died in surgery."

"I know all that. I remember you there. What's it got to do with my father?" Ming yelled. She struggled to her feet, grabbed Yichen by the collar, and hauled him up. Adrenaline gave her the strength to push past the pins and needles running through her body. Her eyes went wide. "What do you mean by daughter?"

"I didn't want your mother tainted by my dealings with the Triad, so my sister raised her and said she was her daughter. I never let her know." Yichen smiled. "I'm your grandfather."

Ming dropped him back into the chair and staggered away. She grabbed onto the column in the center of the room to keep from falling.

"Imagine my surprise when your father started breathing again. We were overjoyed. Your mother was still unconscious, but she would recover. Your father was moved to recovery. That's where I met him." Yichen growled. His voice was harder than Ming remembered.

"Him?" Ming said. Tears flowed.

"Slazney. He has a type and jumps to multiple bodies. Accidents are recorded in papers. When a person miraculously survives, nobody thinks twice. The first thing your father said to me when I saw him was to stop the renovations at once, or your daughter will become a widow and lose her child on the same day."

Ming stared at the old man. "No," she whispered.

Yichen gave her a sad smile. "A part of you knew your father was different after the accident."

"He stopped reading to me and took longer business trips, but ...," she trailed off. "It can't be." After her trip to the past and experience with Jessica, she knew what a person using magic could do. "A person can only stay a week or so in a body!" she shouted, fists clenched, straining forward, tears staining her face.

"That's Bobby's magic. He created his through computer code and built in his limitations, they all do." He pointed to Wu. "She can't do magic, but she trained her body to the pinnacle of perfection. She had to shut down her emotions to do so. In addition, dirt disgusts her. It's not magic, but even a basic manipulation of nature comes at a cost. I don't know what Slazney's is. He seems to be working without a net."

Wu stepped forward and swiped at her tablet. "Please hurry, sir. The other woman is coming, and you sent the security away so they wouldn't be a part of this."

Yichen nodded.

Dean groaned in the corner and stood up. "I'm sorry, Ming. It's true. Your father was Slazney. He told me so himself. Your mother is in the hospital now, recovering from the shock. She was there when he dissolved."

Ming collapsed in front of the column. "No." All this time she spent searching for the man, and he was in her house.

"I tried to fight him, but every time I thought I was winning, he pulled out the threat on your life," Yichen said, pounding the arm of the chair. "When he asked me to hire Bobby, I was curious why he wanted the man, but I did it." He stared at Ming. "When you started investigating Slazney, I was worried you would find something. I know how good you are, but I didn't expect you to get this far--,"

The doors to the penthouse burst open, and Barbie stepped through. She was carrying Bobby over her shoulder and dropped him onto the floor with a thud. "Oops. Sorry, Maker." She turned to Dean. "What took you so long, detective? I was growing old just waiting for you."

"Barbie!" Ming shouted.

"Reporter? You're back. That's great." Barbie turned to Yichen and scowled. "You're the scab that stole the Maker's computer. Give it back."

"It's over there on the desk." Yichen pointed to the laptop. "But it's almost out of power."

"No problem." Barbie pulled a cord from Bobby's pants. "I got the power cord with me." She skipped over to Bobby's computer with a smile and plugged it in. "Where's your outlet?"

"Look out!" Ming shouted.

Wu had silently moved up behind Barbie and kicked her in the side. Barbie went flying across the floor and landed beside Dean. Flipping to her feet, Barbie's arm was dangling loose. She was cradling it and crying. "What the sugar did you do that for, you meanie?"

"Meanie?" Dean and Ming said, echoing each other. Wu stood in front of the computer, ready to defend it.

"My mother doesn't like me swearing," Barbie said, popping the shoulder back in place.

"Bobby is too dangerous to bring back," Yichen said. "I don't know why Slazney wants him, but after looking at the code, it can't be good."

"That's not for you to decide!" Barbie stomped back to the computer. Wu threw a punch, but Barbie blocked it and pushed her back. "You still smell good. Are you using a lust scent?" she asked the other woman.

"Yes. I don't like it much." Wu paused. "What do you think?"

"I like it. When I finish with the computer, we can explore it further. Now, please move," Barbie said. She squared her body and plowed into Wu. The smaller woman spun around Barbie's back, grabbed her hair and yanked it back, halting her momentum.

"Ouch!" Barbie swung her good arm behind her, catching Wu in the side. Grunting, she let go of Barbie's hair and staggered back, clutching the injured area.

Crawling around the fight, Ming moved closer to Dean. When she took over Jessica's body, the healing went quickly. This was taking too long.

Yichen had already moved into the corner and covered his mouth with a cloth. Pieces of furniture and dust filled the room as the two women destroyed the penthouse.

"Are you okay?" Ming asked Dean, checking out his face. She'd missed him. He was covered in bruises, and his arm was broken, but he was still the same. He smelt the same.

"Nothing a good shower won't cure." He paused, and guilt flashed across his face. "I'm sorry about your father. If--"

"No. This isn't the time." Ming dismissed him with a wave. The pain there was too raw. "I'll worry about grieving later. If I start now, I won't get up."

She couldn't think about her father. She'd been trying to gain his approval for years. To win him back. Deep in her mind, she'd hoped that if she found out more about his accident and the connection to Slazney, it would explain what had happened to him. To find out he was Slazney was too much. She couldn't collapse here.

Ignoring Dean's concerns, she plowed ahead. "We need to get that computer to bring Bobby back. She's stuck back in nineteen forty-seven, and Bugsy Siegel was getting too close to her. He's going to kill her."

"She? What do you mean? I can't follow." Dean narrowed his eyes.

Ming winced. She still thought of Bobby as a woman. "Not now, later. I promise."

"Okay. What can we do?" asked Dean.

"I still can't walk." She pointed to the corner where Barbie dropped the power cord. "Can you get it?"

"I think--"

They watched Barbie crash into Yichen's desk and send the computer flying.

"No!" They both shouted at the same time as they watched it fall to the ground--

-- and bounce to a stop near them. The main screen came up showing a five percent symbol.

"What the hell?" Dean said.

"Grab it, Detective. The Maker put a protective spell around it, but it's draining the battery," Barbie shouted. She had Wu in a headlock and was pounding her with her palm.

Wu punched Barbie in the kidneys and wriggled out of the headlock. She dove for the computer, but Barbie grabbed her by the back of her jacket and hauled her to the ground, sliding her back to the remains of the desk.

"Go!" Ming pointed. "I'll get the charge cord."

Dean stumbled to his feet, cradling his left arm and picked up the computer. He ran, hunched over and hid under the piano near Bobby's corpse. Ming tossed him the socket end and plugged it in. The countdown timer disappeared as power surged through the machine.

"Pull up the code!" she shouted.

Dean enlarged the minimized screen, scrolled down to the bottom and stared at it. "What the fuck do I do now?"

Ming crawled over and erased her name on the final line. She retyped Bobby's and hit return.

Nothing happened.

"You stupid, fucking piece of shit!" Ming went back to the final line, erased the space and tried Petor. "Why isn't it working?"

"It probably means he's dead and can't come back," Yichen shouted from the corner. "It's over."

The computer turned black and fizzled out with a spurt.