CHAPTER TWENTY- ONE

Kira awoke from her nightmare in a cold sweat. Once again her senses took in the oppressive darkness, the dank smell of mold, the throbbing pain where the thin strips of rope cut mercilessly in to the flesh around her wrists and ankles.

Once again she realized with a sudden, heart shuddering start that her nightmare was real.

She had been drifting in and out of consciousness quite frequently, no doubt a lingering side effect of whatever drug Jeremy had given her. As a result she had lost all sense of time. Had it been a few hours since her brief phone conversation with Ethan or a few days?

Everything is going to be okay, sweetheart. I’m going to get you out of this, I swear.

Ethan’s reassuring words wrapped around her like a warm blanket, warding off the chill of fear. Just knowing that he was out there somewhere, fighting for her…for them…gave her hope that she would get out of this thing alive. But she couldn’t just lay around waiting to be rescued.

She needed to fight too.

But how? Kira twisted uneasily on the bed, wincing at the painful strain in her lower back from the awkward way that she was now splayed across the bed. As she attempted to adjust her position, she noticed for the first time that the mattress had shifted beneath her while she was sleeping with the top half hanging precariously over the edge of the metal bed frame, no doubt as a result of all the tossing and turning she had been doing while asleep. Utilizing as much mobility as the restraints around her ankles and wrists would allow, she attempted to maneuver the mattress back into place by twisting her torso in the direction she wanted the mattress to go. In the midst of her awkward shimmying she felt a jab of pain shoot up from her right elbow as it scraped against something sharp and metal. Looking down, she ignored the blood that dripped from the open cut that was now on her elbow, focusing her attention instead on the source of the cut. The sharp, jagged tip of the broken coil jutted out approximately one and a half inches from the side of the mattress, tearing easily through the thin cloth material covering it.

Was it sharp enough to cut through rope? Kira asked herself, her heart racing with a sudden surge of hope as she deliberately rubbed her injured elbow over at again in an attempt to further gauge it’s cutting power. Convincing herself that it was sharp enough, she began to shimmy again, this time maneuvering her body up towards the top of the mattress so that she could position her bound wrists over the broken mattress coil. A sharp prick at the delicate skin of her wrist brought a halt to her quick, frantic movements, reminding her to proceed with caution. She wanted to sever the ropes around her wrists not the veins within. With slower, more deliberate movements, she began to rub the rope against the metal, focusing her efforts on the point in the middle where her two wrists met. To her almost overwhelming relief, she felt the rope snag on the jagged metal. Ignoring the pain that shot through her back and shoulder blades in protest against the awkwardness of her contortions, she continued to rub the rope against the coil in a steady back and forth motion, causing the metal to slowly but surely saw through the myriad of tiny strains of brittle hemp that comprised the rope.

Even though the rope was relatively thin, the process of cutting through it was arduous and time-consuming but after what seemed to Kira like a million passes over the coil, she finally felt the rope begin to give way. After what felt like a half million more strokes, her wrists were free. Moving quickly now, she reached down to untie the ropes binding her ankles.

Clearly, Cheng had never been a boy scout, she thought with gratitude as she was able to undo the rudimentary knots tethering her ankles to each other and the bed frame with surprising ease.

Flinging her legs over the side of the bed, she sat motionless for a few moments, allowing the blood that had been restricted by the ropes to flow down into her numbed feet. As she waited for sensation to return to her limbs, she scanned the room and plotted her next move. When she was finally able to feel her feet again, she moved quickly. Kneeling on her knees on top of the mattress, she clawed at the torn material surrounding the protruding coil, widening the hole. When the hole was wide enough for her to slip her hand inside, she ripped viciously at the material with all her strength, grunting loudly from the effort.

“Come on,” she urged as she struggled to pry the material off in strips. After a considerable amount of exertion she had managed to accumulate about a half dozen strips of nylon of varying lengths. Layering them together, she wrapped them around her hand as she gauged the jagged coil again, this time with her eyes. Using the layers of cloth as a buffer between her hand and the sharp metal, she began to sever the protruding piece of coil away from the rest of the framework of the mattress. Pulling and twisting at the metal prong with every bit of strength she had in her, she was finally able to break off about three inches of the coil.

Racing to the storage room door, she pressed her ear against it and listened. Hearing only the sound of her own heart thumping loudly within her chest, she knelt down in front of the door and began manipulating the metal coil, getting it as straight as she possibly could. Then, with hands that were surprisingly steady given the amount of adrenalin she felt coursing through her body, she inserted the coil into the tiny hole located in the middle of the doorknob, using it as a make-shift pick. Calling to mind the memory of the ease with which Ethan had picked the lock on the storage room in her apartment building, she attempted to duplicate his movements. Of course, she wasn’t the master thief that Ethan was but she was a strong believer in beginner's luck. With neither finesse nor skill, she wiggled the piece of metal in the lock, up and down, left and right, round and round, praying to catch a break. After several minutes and an abundance of blind faith, she felt the piece of metal still between her fingers, as if it had gotten caught on something inside the lock. Sending up another barrage of silent prayers she twisted the metal spike to the left, almost crying out loud with relief as she felt the cylinders inside the lock follow suit.

The hand that had been steady moments before now trembled as Kira carefully turned the doorknob and opened the door just wide enough to peek out. Seeing nothing but an empty hallway, she cautiously opened the door wider, gripping the small piece of metal tightly in her hand. It didn’t make for much of a weapon but it had gotten her this far so she wasn’t about to let go of it. Besides, as weapons go, it was better than nothing.

Taking in a deep breath, she ventured out into the hallway. The path to the left dead-ended into a brick wall painted a sickly color green, the path to the right led to a glimmer of daylight. Kira moved slowly towards the light, her eyes watchful. Upon reaching the end of the hallway, she carefully peeked her head around the corner. A large dance floor stretched like a parquet ocean between her and the front door of the seedy nightclub. A long, mahogany bar bordered one side of the dance floor, a couple of dozen tables surrounded by rickety looking chairs bordered the other. The place appeared to be empty. Kira’s already racing heart began to beat triple time a she prepared to make a mad dash for the door. A soft moan emanating from somewhere behind her kept her feet frozen in place.

Whipping her head around, she expected to see Jeremy or one of his triad goons bearing down on her but the hallway behind her was empty. Once again she heard the moan, only this time it was louder and seemed to be coming from the closed door of what appeared to be a closet of some sort. Apparently, she wasn’t the only person that Jeremy was holding prisoner. A voice inside her head screamed at her to make a run for it. Once she was free she would send the police to rescue whoever it was that Jeremy was keeping in that closet. But, again, the sound of moaning kept her from running. Whoever it was inside that closet sounded like they were in a lot of pain.

What if they died before she could send help?

Kira would never be able to live with herself if that were to happen.

But she was so close to escaping....

Damn! Kira swore under her breath as her conscious led her back down the hallway and brought her to a halt in front of the closet door. Grabbing the handle of the door, she was surprised when it easily turned in her hand. Discovering that the door was unlocked tempted her to return to her original plan and get the hell out of there but, ignoring that inner voice, she pushed the door open.

Amongst an assemblage of mops, brooms and other cleaning materials the body of a man lay in a crumpled heap like a discarded dishrag. A disheveled shock of shiny, black hair peeked out from between two buckets.

“Gabriel!” Kira exclaimed under her breath as she raced to him and kneeled at his side. Dropping the metal coil in her hand, she gingerly removed the gag from his bruised, bloody mouth. His eyes fluttered open in response to the sound of Kira’s voice. His eyes were slightly unfocused as he gazed up at her in confusion.

Exhibiting what looked to be considerable effort, he struggled to push words from his swollen lips. “I’m not Gabriel,” he rasped out in between haggard breaths. “I'm Jeremy.”

Shock reverberated through Kira’s body, causing it to vibrate like a tuning fork.

“What are you talking about?” Kira asked, her face mirroring the confusion on that of the man looking back at her as she took note of his tousled hair, appreciating for the first time just how superficial the physical differences between Yi’s two sons really were. Visually, the only thing that separated one from the other was their hairstyles and choice of clothing. In his current disheveled state, she had no idea who the man before her was. She had just assumed that the man bound and gagged in the closet was Gabriel. Because if he wasn’t…

“You…you can’t be Jeremy,” Kira stammered, shaking her head with disbelief.

“Bloody hell, woman, I know who I am!”

The familiar insolence in the man’s tone sent another shockwave through Kira’s body. She ran her hands nervously through her hair, unsure of what to make of the situation. Numbly, she rose to her feet and began to back out of the closet. The onslaught of questions jumbled in her mind, preventing her from noticing the man standing in the doorway until she'd backed into him. A startled yelp exploded from her mouth as she felt a pair of hands wrap tightly around her arms, halting her movements.

“You should have stayed where I put you, Kira,” a voice whispered softly into her ear.

Pulling her arms from his grip, Kira turned around to face the source of the voice, her eyes wide with shock as realization suddenly hit her smack in the face. “Gabriel.”

“Oh, dear. I see you’ve uncovered my little secret,” he said regretfully as he stood blocking the doorway. “Now you’ve ruined everything.”

“I don’t understand. You’re the one who locked me up in that room?”

“It was only supposed to be for a short time. If you could have just exercised a little patience you would have been rescued soon enough,” Gabriel chastised.

Kira cupped her forehead with one hand, trying to keep her head from spinning. “So it was you who met me at The Atrium, not Jeremy. You’ve been impersonating your brother.”

“It was very nice of you to tip me off about your plans to set up Jeremy ahead of time,” Gabriel said with a smile. “If you had met with the real Jeremy, my little game would have been over. Instead, I had plenty of time to intercept him before you called him.”

“And take his place,” Kira added. “Or rather take his place, again. You have been impersonating your brother for quite some time, haven't you?”

“It was an unpleasant but necessary charade,” Gabriel acknowledged almost sheepishly. “Father needed to be able to see for himself how foolish it would be to hand over the reigns of Gau Lung to Jeremy.”

“I always knew that “good twin” routine of yours was one big act,” Jeremy grunted as he gingerly moved himself into a sitting position, glaring up at his brother the entire time. “I tried repeatedly to warn Father about you but he wouldn’t believe it.”

“But he believed it the night he was murdered, didn’t he Gabriel?” Kira deduced as the pieces of the puzzle slowly began falling into place. “You may have been able to fool the rest of the world into thinking that you were Jeremy but there’s no way that you would have been able to pull the wool over Yi’s eyes. He would have been the one person on earth who was able to tell the two of you apart.”

Gabriel’s lips twisted as if he had just tasted something bitter.

Kira nodded knowingly at Gabriel’s sour expression. “He hired that private investigation firm to look into the discrepancies regarding The Wayfarer’s cargo. Their investigation led them to Jeremy. Only it wasn't Jeremy, it was you pretending to be Jeremy and Yi knew it. That’s why you killed him.”

“It was his own damn fault!” Gabriel snapped, his eyes bulging with malice. “If he had just handed over the reigns of Gau Lung to me outright instead of amusing himself by pitting me and Jeremy against each other, all of this could have been avoided. After a lifetime of kowtowing to him, I earned at least that much. Having to compete with a ne’er-do-well like Jeremy was an insult!”

The anger and hatred emanating from Gabriel came off of him in waves, causing Kira to instinctively take a step back.

“You should have seen him the night he confronted me,” Gabriel ranted on, squeezing his hands into tight fists. “He was so full of self-righteousness. Telling me what a disgrace I was. Threatening to disinherit me. He left me no choice but to kill him. I only wish I had plunged the real Dragon’s Breath into his back instead of the fake one. The irony of his death being brought about by the thing that he loved the most would have been delicious.”

“That’s why you stole it from him to begin with. Because you believed that he loved it more than he loved you.”

“Oh, I know that he loved it more than he loved me,” Gabriel said bitterly. “It’s really too bad that he didn’t live long enough to find out that his precious dagger had been switched with a fake. I went to a lot of trouble to set up that particular humiliation for him but, as usual, he had to spoil everything for me. And unfortunately, it seems you have taken up where he left off. I had come up with the perfect denouement for this little charade and now you’ve ruined it.”

“What do you mean, the perfect denouement?” Kira asked. “It seems to me that you've backed yourself into a corner.”

“Correction, it seems that Jeremy has backed himself into a corner. He is the one who’s wanted by the police for kidnapping and murder, remember? He's the one who’s got The Chance brothers breathing down his neck. Even that dumb twat, Jade, doesn't realize that the two brothers she's been sleeping with for months is the same person.”

“How did you manage to pull that off?” Kira asked, buying herself some more time to try to find a way out of this.

Gabriel gave a nasty snicker. “It was really quite simple. As Jeremy, I convinced her that it was in her best interest financially to keep our relationship a secret. I forbade her from even approaching me unless I summoned her. Thinking that she was setting herself up to be the Queen of the Wong empire, she was more than willing to let me initiate all of our private encounters while, in public, she and the real Jeremy continued to be at each others' throats.”

Confusion caused Kira to furrow her eyebrows. “But why go to all of that trouble?”

“In order to kill two birds with one stone,” Gabriel explained. “Jade was making too many inroads at Gau Lung for my liking. I wouldn't have been at all surprised to see Father put her in contention to run the company once I got Jeremy out of the way so I needed her out of the way as well and what better way to accomplish that than to make her Jeremy's partner-in-crime? It really was quite an elegant little plot, if I do say so myself. As Jeremy, not only did I reveal all of my nefarious activities to Jade, but I even got her to use her position at Gau Lung to embezzle money from Gau Lung and then seduce me, as Gabriel, into covering it up for her.”

“I don't understand. Why would you deliberately implicate yourself in the computer breech at Gau Lung?”

“You really aren't as bright as I thought you were,” Gabriel said as he let out an exasperated sigh. “That computer breech was the first domino designed to set off a chain of events that would lead to Father finding out all that Jeremy and Jade had been up to. I needed Father to come to me so that I could point him in the right direction.”

“Oh, I get it,” Kira said as she began to follow Gabriel's twisted logic. “You wanted Yi to find out that you hacked into Gau Lung's computers. And when he confronted you about it you would have, what? Told him you that did it because you suspected Jade of embezzling money from the company?”

Gabriel nodded, smiling proudly. “Father would have investigated and found proof of her guilt easy enough. And then Jade, being the disloyal bint that she is, would have ratted out Jeremy in an attempt to save her own hide.”

“Leaving you as both the head of Gau Lung and the good twin,” Kira concluded. “How clever. Just not clever enough to actually work.”

“That's where you're wrong. As far as everyone outside of this room knows, I am both the head of Gau Lung and the good twin. And if you had stayed put, I also would have become the heroic twin by single handedly rescuing you from your captors' evil clutches while Ethan and his brothers were otherwise occupied with bumbling around trying to come up with Jeremy's ransom money. Sadly, in a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, I would be forced to kill both my brother and my stepsister in the process, thereby wrapping this entire affair up with a neat little bow. The police would have their murderer, I would have control of Gau Lung and you would have been free to return to whatever it was that you were doing with Ethan Chance. Everybody would have lived happily ever after. But now, thanks to your inability to stay put, this whole business is going to have an even more tragic ending.”

“What do you mean?” Kira asked even though the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach had already given her the answer.

“It means that my valiant attempt to rescue you from Jeremy and Jade won’t turn out as originally planned,” Gabriel explained almost regretfully as he pulled a gun from inside his jacket and pointed it at Kira. “Sadly, by the time that I reach you, you will have already died at the hands of your captors.”