J.A. Johnstone - The Loner - Crossfire

Ling Yuan reached for the man, but the captain got a leg up and kicked the hatchet man in the stomach. Ling Yuan doubled over and took a step back, giving the captain time to scramble to his feet. He reached into a pocket with his left hand and brought out a derringer. The little weapon had two barrels, one on top of the other. At close range, it would be lethal.

From several yards away on the deck, Frank saw the range was practically point-blank. He was too far away to tackle the man before the derringer went off, but couldn’t let the captain shoot Ling Yuan in the head. He palmed out his Colt again and tilted the barrel up as he squeezed the trigger. No time to be fancy, he aimed for the man’s body.

Another shot sounded just as the Colt roared and bucked in Frank’s hand. The captain reeled backward as two slugs ripped into him. He struggled to raise the derringer again, so Frank shot him a second time. The captain went down, landing heavily on his back. The derringer slipped out of his fingers and slid across the deck.

Frank turned his head to see who had fired the other shot and was shocked to see Conrad with a smoking pistol in his hand, halfway through a hatch leading belowdecks.

“Frank?” the younger man exclaimed in obvious surprise. He hadn’t been aware his father was anywhere within a thousand miles of San Francisco.

Frank hurried over to the hatch and extended his left hand to Conrad, who gripped it and let Frank help him out on deck. Conrad was battered and bruised and had dried blood on his face.

Frank looked him over. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Conrad said, “and I’m a lot better now. How in the world—”

“No time for that,” Ling Yuan interrupted. His face was a little gray from the vicious kick the captain had landed in his belly, but he was able to straighten up. “We should go.”

Scattered fights between the hatchet men and the crew of the Nimbus were still taking place around the deck. Bodies sprawled here and there. Diamond Jack had been right. Some of his men had lost their lives in the rescue.

Frank gripped Conrad’s arm and steered him toward the gangplank. Ling Yuan recovered his hatchet and flanked Conrad on the other side. The three of them clattered down to the wharf. Ling Yuan shouted something in Chinese. Probably an order to retreat, Frank thought. They didn’t wait to see if the other hatchet men got away. Ling Yuan hustled them toward the safety of the dark alleys along the Embarcadero.

“I never expected to see you here, Frank,” Conrad said as Ling Yuan led them through the maze and the sounds of battle fell behind them. “How did you—”

“Claudius and that friend of yours, Arturo, decided you needed a hand whether you wanted one or not,” Frank said. “Not sure you did, though. You’d already gotten loose somehow.”

“Yeah, but I might not have made it off that ship without your help. Thanks, Frank.”

“You can thank Diamond Jack, this big fella’s boss. He’s the one who decided to step in and get you away from whatever Lannigan has planned for you.”

“You know about Lannigan?” Conrad asked.

“I know about all of it,” Frank replied grimly. “About the kids and what Pamela did and Lannigan’s part in it. I hope you’ll let me play out the hand with you, now that I’m here.”

“Damn right I will,” Conrad said. “And unless I was locked up down in that hold longer than I thought I was, I know where Lannigan is tonight. I think it’s time we go and introduce ourselves to him.”

Chapter 25

Ling Yuan insisted they accompany him back to Diamond Jack’s stronghold in Chinatown. Since it was unlikely Conrad would have escaped without the tong leader’s help, he supposed he could take the time to do that. The ball at the Kimball mansion would be going on for several hours yet.

“What will happen back on the ship?” He asked as they made their way through the streets.

“The police will arrive, yet again too late to do anything but clean up the mess left behind and blame the violence on the tongs.”

“Well, you fellas did have something to do with it,” Frank pointed out.

“Because we were helping your son.”

“True enough,” Frank admitted.

Conrad said, “If they search the ship, they’ll find something interesting. There are several crates hidden down in the hold where I was locked up that I’m pretty sure are full of brand-new Winchesters bound for China.”

“As a power in the criminal underworld, Lannigan has numerous connections with smugglers. No doubt those rifles were intended for one of the warlords who controls China.” Ling Yuan paused. “If I had known about the guns, I might have burned the ship.”

Conrad looked over at Frank, who said, “Ling Yuan has some old grudges against the warlords. I’ll tell you about it later.”

Conrad nodded. “The ship won’t be sailing tonight, not after everything that’s happened. I’ll talk to Claudius and he can make sure the authorities get tipped off about that cargo.”

“We need to let Claudius and Arturo know you’re safe,” Frank said.

“Wong Duck can telephone Mr. Turnbuckle and inform him,” Ling Yuan said. He added dryly, “We have some modern conveniences in Chinatown.”

“You don’t call him Diamond Jack?” Conrad asked.

“I prefer the more traditional customs.”

“Like hatchets.”

One of those rumbling laughs came from Ling Yuan. “Sometimes the old ways are still the best.”

He took them through yet another old abandoned building and into the opulent headquarters of the Woo Sing tong.

Frank said, “This place is honeycombed with tunnels and secret passages, isn’t it?”

“Our people have many enemies,” Ling Yuan explained. “Deception and subterfuge are valuable weapons in our ongoing battle with those who would destroy us.”

He ushered them into Diamond Jack’s sanctum. The slender, well-dressed tong leader stood up to greet them.

“I was already informed you had been rescued successfully from the Nimbus , Mr. Browning.” He smiled as he held out his hand to Conrad. “Welcome to my home.”

Conrad shook hands with him. “I understand I have you to thank for what happened tonight.”

Diamond Jack shrugged. “Don’t think me too altruistic. If Dex Lannigan wants something, I want to deny it to him. Clearly he wanted your death, or at least your exile.”

Conrad smiled. “He’s going to be mighty surprised in a little while when I walk into that party at the Kimball mansion.”

Diamond Jack arched his narrow eyebrows. “You’re going to a society ball? Not looking like that, I hope.”

“I guess I could clean up a little.”

Diamond Jack spoke to Ling Yuan in Chinese. The big man nodded and said to Conrad, “Come with me.”

Conrad frowned. “Where?”

“By now you must trust us.”

Conrad didn’t, not completely, and he was all too aware he was in the middle of another place where escape would be very difficult. But Ling Yuan had a point. So far no one connected with the tong had done anything except be helpful to Conrad.

“What about you, Frank?” Conrad asked.

Before Frank could answer, Diamond Jack said, “Your father will stay here with me while your needs are attended to. He can tell me more about the quest that brought you here.”

“I reckon it’ll be all right,” Frank put in. “If Jack wanted us dead, his men could have seen to it before now.”

That was true enough, Conrad supposed. He nodded to Ling Yuan and allowed the big hatchet man to lead him out of the room.

They took just a few twists and turns in the corridors, but it was all that was necessary to get Conrad lost. It was just another indication of how much he and Frank were at the mercy of their “hosts.”