4. Exodus “Yin” Tan #2
Instead of using my car, I grabbed my helmet, keys and phone then snuck out the back, through a laneway behind my place.
I rode by their vehicle to Sam’s place to borrow one of his cars to drop Alisha to school. I kept watched over Alisha’s school all day. The only time I left was to restock my coffee and used the bathroom.
When the lone man appeared, I knew immediately he was armed and he didn’t belong.
Setting my coffee in the cup holder, I pushed from the car and walked across the space, jogged up the front steps and began peering into rooms hoping I’d find her before this man did.
Nothing good could come from him finding her first.
When I finally found her, I knocked softly to get her attention.
When she looked up and saw me, Alisha smiled and I motioned for her to come to me.
She said something to her students before stepping into the hall and closing the door behind her.
“You okay?” Was her first question.
She smelled like flowers and heaven.
Focus, Yin.
“I’m okay but we have trouble.” I glanced both ways. “How long until the end of class?”
She glanced at her watch.
“About seven minutes.”
“Right—any way you can speed that up?” I wanted to know.
“Hold on.”
Before I could speak, she dipped back into the room and within two minutes her students were filing out, whispering with each other.
That told me she warned them against making noise in the halls or they’d never get to leave early again.
I chuckled and entered the space once all the students were gone. Closing the door behind me, I made my way to one of the front desks and sat down. Alisha hopped onto her desk to sit, braced her hand behind her against the desk and stared at me.
Did she know the things I would do to her on top of that desk?
The fantasy of her being my teacher excited me and I knew that wasn’t time to be thinking like that, but Alisha Quinn was sexy.
“I feel like I’ve been bad and was sent to the principal’s office.” I admitted.
“Have you?” Alisha asked in a soft, coy voice. “Been bad, that is.”
I allowed the right corner of my lips to ease upward, slowly.
Her voluptuousness, the smooth brown of her skin, the darkness of her lips, the?—
Someone knocked—not just a soft sound to gain attention.
No, it was a bang to instill fear.
Alisha jerk toward the door but didn’t move.
The man barged in with his knife aiming at Alisha and that angered me.
“Finally.” He barked waving the weapon around.
“So not a good idea,” Alisha said in a bored tone.
“I have a knife!” He told her.
“I’m aware of that.” Alisha replied. “I have a Yin.”
“What?”
Alisha pointed in my direction—I’d moved, but I wasn’t sure when or how. My anger was now radiating off me.
I seemed to be moving out of instinct.
I brought a fist down into his temple.
“That’s a Yin.” Alisha spat. “Asshole.”
* * *
“You okay?” I wanted to know, walking out onto the balcony to find her looking up into the sky.
I wrapped a blanket about her shoulders from behind.
She looked back at me and offered me a sad smile.
“Trying to think about when I pissed someone off enough for them to have strange men pulling knives at me in a damn school.” She lifted her eyes back to the stars. “Who the fuck does that?”
“You probably didn’t do anything.” I stood beside her.
“And why be loyal to a gang?” Alisha added before I could say anything else. “All these people are going to prison—this idiot has a warrant. I know Tha’lab is going to collect on that.”
I murmured my agreement.
“I was finally to a place where I was okay with my life.” Alisha muttered, sadly. “After mom died, I was working in a call centre where the people were just shit stains of human beings. I was living in a hovel just waiting to die. And I thought—now, now look at this mess.”
“You should be proud.”
“I can’t be! That pride could kill me.”
“No one is dying” He grumbled.
“Why? Because you say so?” Alisha demanded, pulling the blanket off to bunch in one hand. “I have assignments to grade. Thanks for today and for dinner but I kind of feel like you’re prolonging the inevitable here.”
“Kitty.”
“Besides.” I cut him off. “When we cheat death, it finds a way to balance the scales.”
Her words left me speechless as she wandered into the house looking like the most depressed woman on the planet.
All I could do was watch her go.
Long after she was gone, Sam found me in the same place.
“Māmā, shì duì de.” I managed.
“With?”
“She thinks I should look deeper into Alisha’s father. It’s weird the father is missing and not even Bambam can find him. That’s deliberate.”
Sam stood beside me in silence. He was the brother who thought more than he talked.
“There’s something we’re missing.” I added. “I have Tha’lab running down some leads. I’m hoping her badge will put the fear of God into people and they’ll talk.”
“I don’t know if that works with gang members, brother.”
“We’ll see. I guess.”
“And if that doesn’t work?” Sam wanted to know.
“I start using my fists.”
“Yin—”
“She’s scared, Sam.” I admitted. “This whole thing terrifies the fuck out of her. I was talking to her just now, and I’ve never seen a woman so down. She’s talking about cheating death and shit.”
“Well, technically, she isn’t lying. Our luck runs out sooner or later.”
“Li Fan!” I growled his Chinese name.
“Stop that!” Sam barked. “Shit. I get it.”
“Go talk to her.” I exhaled.
“I wouldn’t?—”
“Sam. Please.”
Sighing, he left me on the porch and I called Squirrel.
“Hey, Brother.” He answered.
“I may need you after all.” I admitted. “How soon can you get here?”
“Just say the word.”
“Then yeah. I’ll have a ride waiting for you at the airport.”
“On my way.” Squirrel promised before hanging up.
Half and hour later as I wandered from the shower, a towel wrapped around my hips, a text message came through from Bambam.
—Squirrel, incoming?—
I plugged my phone to charge.
The next morning, I drove Alisha to work in silence. Her mood hadn’t changed much.
Tha’lab had called in a couple of squad cars to keep an eye on things. Even though I hated it, I knew the last person she wanted to be around was me. It wasn’t lost on me that she probably didn’t think I could protect her.
She was probably right.
I reported to my gym, waiting for Bambam to let me know when to report for airport duties.
By the time that happened, I felt like roadkill.
Traffic to Pearson International wasn’t bad.
I sped all the way there while keeping an eye out for cops. Getting there way ahead of time, I waited in a nearby mom and pop diner, drinking bad coffee and picking through soggy onion rings.
The wait was an hour, and the moment Squirrel saw me, he hugged me tightly.
“When was the last time you slept?” He wanted to know, hefting his suitcase into the backseat. “You look terrible. You training again?”
“Not officially. Get in.”
We settled in to get out of the maze that was the airport and when I was on the right highway, I glanced over at him.
“Told Mama you were coming and she sent you some xian bing.”
Squirrel perked up after a cheer.
“I can already taste them! I have to see her before heading back.”
“You have to,” I said.
“So, any leads on your girl’s case?”
“She’s not my girl.” I admitted, quite reluctantly.
“Huh? But Bambam said?—”
I groaned.
“Bambam’s an ass.” I answered. “Alisha is Sam’s friend. If she’s going to be dating any of the Tan boys, it will be him. And no, no leads.”
“Then—what’s the plan?”
“None yet. It might be time to go around the law.”
Squirrel said nothing for a bit, long enough for me to glance at him then back at the road.
“Well,” he said. “Do I have time to eat something? Never do illegal things on an empty stomach, I say.”
“Ha!” I chortled. “You make it sound like we’re about to rob a bank.”
“Meh.” Squirrel turned his attention to the city, zooming by the truck. “Close enough.”