The Noah Reid Action Thriller Series: Books 1-3 (plus special bonuses) Page 7

  Now dressed casually in jeans and a wrinkled linen shirt, Noah slept cramped in an economy window seat.

  A frightened five-year-old girl sitting beside him, wearing glasses with Coke bottle lenses, stuck her index finger repeatedly into Noah’s side, whispering, “Mister? Mister?”

  However, Noah remained lifeless to the world as the restless girl kept poking. “Hello? Mister?”

  When there was still no response, the girl unbuckled her seat belt, climbed onto Noah’s lap and pinched his cheeks. Noah finally awakened to discover the young Shirley Temple sitting on him.

  Noah forced a smile. “Hi, cutie. I’m Noah. What’s your name?”

  “Cassie.”

  “Well, what can I do for you, Miss Cassie?”

  Throwing her arms around Noah’s neck and gripping tightly, she whimpered, “I’m scared, Noah. It’s really bumpy.”

  A sudden drop in altitude freaked everyone on board. Cassie whimpered, “Please save me.”

  “As long as you are with me, I will make sure nothing happens to you.”

  Cassie’s wide eyes glistened as she snuggled into Noah’s chest. “I love you.”

  The affection came from out of the blue. Seeing concern on Cassie’s face, Noah knew there was a little more than a bumpy ride on her mind. Pointing to the out-of-shape slob sleeping in the aisle seat with more than a few empty little bottles of brandy rolling around on his passenger tray, Noah asked gently, “Is that your father?”

  Cassie nodded. “Yes. Mommy ran away... Daddy’s having a rough time.”

  Noah’s heart caught in his throat. This was so unfair to Cassie... and he felt utterly helpless.

  Cassie hugged Noah even harder. “Mommy says Daddy is a loser. But I...”

  Cassie’s words died in the air as a nerve-racking series of bounces rocked the plane. It was probably the first time in history that every white-knuckled passenger had obeyed the seat belt sign.

  Trying to calm the young girl’s pounding heart, Noah whispered in her ear, “My mom used to say, ‘Whenever there’s a storm, it gets a whole lot worse before it gets better.’”

  And then an indistinct but chilling deep and prolonged crying came from the wind, some terrified passenger or possibly the sound of some animal howling?

  The girl screamed with primal terror. “That! Did you hear that? Someone’s trying to kill a bear!”

  “Hey, Cassie. Don’t worry,” Noah reassured her. “He’ll have to eat me first and then he’ll be full.”

  The spooked cherub pointed out the window. In the far distance was the faint glimmer of lights from another plane. “I think the bear is over there.”

  Noah squinted in the direction of Cassie’s pointing finger. “There aren’t any bears flying out there. They are afraid of heights.”

  “If it’s not a bear, it’s a tiger.”

  “You might be right. Good thing we’re here and the tiger’s over there.”

  Then, just as suddenly as the violent masses of air movement began, calm arrived. Oblivion was averted, replaced by an oasis of tranquility.

  “Now weren’t you silly to be afraid, Cassie?”

  “Noah, there’s always something to be scared about. And don’t you forget that.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  The lights Cassie spotted in the distance belonged to a Cessna Super Cargomaster EX. Its seasoned crew wasn’t worried about the air turbulence; that happened on virtually every flight. Not to the degree they had just experienced, but keeping their seat belts fastened allowed them to keep confidently focused.

  That feeling of assurance did not extend to its passengers, especially one inside its four hundred and twenty-seven cubic feet of cargo hold. In the moody shadows created by the pallets of goods, boxes and crates, a Bengal tiger was imprisoned in an iron cage. Deep indentations of bite marks on the iron bars showed the cat’s desperate struggle to be unleashed.

  The powerful, endangered golden feline with the ink-black stripes was in pain, caused when one of its long upper canine teeth broke off. The tooth was lodged in the door’s keyhole, making it even harder for escape.

  A sudden, brutal turbulence caused the turboprop to rock furiously and cargo toppled against the feline’s cage. The big cat pounced to its feet, exploding with a roar that permeated the air.

  The wide-bodied commercial airliner floated onto the tarmac in the growing darkness at the Hong Kong International Airport. Flanked by glowing red lights, the metal behemoth ambled down the runway like a giant sloth, slowing gradually until it reached the arrival gate.

  Cassie’s father gently lifted his sleeping daughter from Noah. “Sorry about that, man. Things have been kind of rough but I’m going to make it up to her.”

  The father watched as Noah reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He took out a fifty-dollar bill and tucked it into Cassie’s pocket. “Buy something nice for her. And tell her it was from you.”

  Cassie’s father’s hand trembled as he removed the bill from Cassie and gave the money back to Noah. “I’ll buy something nice but will tell Cassie it was from you. I wasn’t passed out. I heard everything. I... I... I’m going to try harder. You’re a good guy, Noah. Thanks.”

  “No worries.”

  The two men fist-bumped.

  At another part of the airport, unloading the special caged cargo off the Cessna Cargomaster was not going smoothly.

  Four husky men, wearing thick Kevlar-reinforced gloves and jackets, were gingerly carrying the hostile tiger off the plane.

  A piece of shit slithered out of the iron pen.

  Too late to stop his foot, a handler slipped on the slimy poop, releasing his hold on the cage to break his fall. “Aah!”

  The other men steeled their grips, struggling to keep the iron-barred box from crashing.

  The mishap made the men more cautious, especially as the now fully awake feline thrashed about even more.

  Inside the Hong Kong terminal, Noah relaxed—he was home. After clearing customs and collecting the huge duffel bag that contained all his possessions, he went to catch a cab.

  Ouch! There was a lineup of twenty fares ahead of him in the taxi queue. Sighing in resignation, he shook his head, eyes wandering throughout the airport.

  And then, a jaw-dropping sight: four hardened toughs with ravaged faces and battle-scarred forearms rode on a flatbed truck carefully holding onto a cage that contained an angry, thrashing Bengal tiger. Even more astounding was the person standing erect on top of the truck’s cab overseeing the proceedings: a superbly conditioned Chinese man in his fifties, wearing an impeccably tailored navy blue Chinese suit. If martial arts superstar Bruce Lee had lived to his fifties, this is what he would have looked like. Noah didn’t know it but this was Chin Chee Fok, the renegade disciple whose greed caused Noah’s sifu’s downfall two decades ago.

  Noah stood transfixed, watching the surly feline pace and gnash at the cautious and fearful handlers.

  “Hey, Boss! Rajiv, at your service. You coming in or not?” shouted a voice speaking with a strong Indian accent.

  Noah twisted his head to see a turbaned young man holding the door open to an old Yellow Cab.

  “Sorry about that. Can I sit in the front? I like to see where I’m going.”

  “Sure.” The cabbie stuffed Noah’s duffel bag in the back seat while Noah climbed into the passenger seat. “Where you going, Boss?”

  Before Noah could answer, mayhem erupted before his eyes.

  The driver of the flatbed carrying the tiger hit a rare pothole, knocking the cage off balance. To keep it from tipping, a handler grabbed one of the iron bars. That split second was all the tiger needed. With one swift bite, the tiger chomped through the man’s Kevlar glove, severing several of his fingers.

  The victim screamed, releasing his hold on the barred prison. Reacting, the driver slammed on the brakes. With acrobatic agility, Chin remained on top of the cab, but the forward momentum carried the cage forward, smacking the other handlers. The
freaked unfortunates frantically pushed the cage off their bodies.

  That was a mistake. The tiger’s attempts to bite its way free from the cage were partially successful—the lock had been broken with one of the animal’s bone-crunching chomps. However, the broken tooth stuck in the keyhole kept the door closed.

  Until now.

  One handler yanked on the cage’s door when he tried to steady himself. The tooth in the lock loosened and dropped to the ground.

  The gentle sound of enamel hitting asphalt was a thunderous toll of catastrophe. The prison’s door burst open.

  The beast surged out, teeth bared. It chomped the arm of one of the hapless minions, severing it, then made an electrifying dash to freedom. The handlers and onlookers shrieked and screamed as they haphazardly dashed in all directions, trying to evade the striped fury.

  Chin’s reaction was completely opposite. His face steeled, transforming from respectable businessman to mammalian stalker. He leapt from the top of the cab to the ground and chased the raging beast down the walkway of the airport terminal, weaving around all the bystanders.

  “Follow them,” shouted Noah, pointing at Chin and the tiger.

  “That’s a plan!” yelled Rajiv as he stepped on the gas.

  The cat was fast, but its hunter, blazing like a world-class sprinter, matched the tiger stride for stride.

  With Chin gradually gaining ground, the feline terror’s innate jungle survival instinct kicked in. It sprang from the sidewalk to the top of a passing station wagon.

  The vehicle’s panicked passengers squalled white-knuckled fright as the cat’s paws slashed downward, trying to break the window. Picking up the pace, the driver swerved frenetically, trying to dislodge the unwanted passenger.

  Chin was relentless in his pursuit of his savage prey. He effortlessly sprang onto the roof of a passing SUV, then leapfrogged from vehicle to faster vehicle to keep up with the tiger.

  He was almost there when the animal vaulted to the top of a hundred-foot-long van that drove by the station wagon.

  With a superhuman leap, Chin followed suit, bounding and then landing at the opposite end of the van from the tiger.

  Tiger and man, both on top of a moving truck, with nowhere else to go except the inevitable destination: each other. The two locked eyes—hatred flared in the feline’s and confidence emanated from the human’s.

  The two charged, taking less than two seconds before the battle’s next phase. The beast, gnashing its razor teeth, leapt at Chin. Simultaneously, Chin, combining grace with power, sprang to meet his foe.

  Noah gasped in horrified wonder as man and beast collided in midair. The tiger tried furiously to sink its teeth into his captor, but Chin restrained it by adeptly grasping the feline’s nape. Crooking his forearm under the animal’s neck, he applied viselike pressure to choke the animal.

  It seemed an unfair battle. The tiger had the strength to bring down an animal eight times its size, and its bite could decapitate a deer. Strong as Chin was, he was no match for an infuriated tiger, and the tiger broke free.

  Chin lunged after the beast and leapt onto it. He held it tight and the two rolled off the van’s roof. As they plummeted, Chin positioned himself on top. The beast was his cushion when they slammed the ground. With its back now badly injured, the tiger struggled to writhe free, but Chin locked the animal’s head and secured its body with his legs, preventing its escape.

  “C’mon, boy, you can do it. You can do it,” whispered Noah, hoping against hope that there was a miracle in the feline’s future.

  Chin began grinding his knuckles into the tiger’s temples. The beast tried to bite its way to freedom, but it was too weak to withstand Chin’s relentless assault. It sagged, unconscious.

  Chin stood victoriously and stepped aside as the handlers arrived and threw a mesh net over the insensate animal.

  Rajiv drove his cab slowly by the victor and his booty. “You ever see anything like that?”

  “Never. That was one crazy, scary mother.”

  “Who? The ninja or the tiger?” swallowed Rajiv.

  Noah turned back for a final glimpse. Chin’s hard angled face with unwavering eyes seemed to penetrate his soul. “My mistake. Those are two crazy, scary mothers that I would never want to mess with.”

  “Be careful what you don’t wish for. Brahma has a habit of humbling us.”

  “Well, my karma’s good.”

  Chapter 2

  In a circular driveway in front of his gargantuan mansion in the ritzy Victoria Peak area, fifty-something Tommy Sung parked his Tesla alongside his BMW, Land Rover and Mercedes. Stepping out of the car, he did something he had never done before—spend a moment to appreciate his home. Clearly, something was on his mind as his eyes wandered from the pool to the fortified fence to the tennis court to his custom-built eight thousand square-foot home.

  The overweight balding man, dressed in satin and wearing tons of bling, walked up the six granite steps to the front door. Before he could get the house key from his pocket, the huge door swung open.

  “Hi, Daddy,” greeted his twenty-seven-year-old daughter, Abby.

  “Love you, babe,” beamed Tommy as Abby kissed him.

  “I’ve got something special for you,” winked Abby as the two stepped onto the entrance’s marble floor. She pointed to the eight-foot Steinway grand piano in the living room where Abby’s best friend since childhood sat.

  “Olivia, you’re finally back,” called Tommy, stepping quickly up to her where he got his second smooch in one minute.

  “Yes, I am, Uncle Tommy,” confessed Olivia.

  Noting she couldn’t hide a bit of bitterness, Tommy offered, “Do you want a drink? We have...”

  “No, no, no. Abby and I have been practicing.”

  “Sit down, Daddy,” ordered Abby, leading her father to the oversized leather sofa.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Abby stepped over and stood beside the piano as Olivia seated herself on the piano bench. Abby nodded and Olivia’s fingers began caressing the keyboard.

  Abby’s luscious, soulful voice crooned:

  Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling

  From glen to glen, and down the mountainside.

  Tommy’s eyes misted. It was his favorite song. At the same time, he hated it because it always reminded him of the past...

  HONG KONG - FIFTEEN YEARS EARLIER

  The Hong Kong Business Aviation Centre was a small airport where private planes could get in and out discreetly and quickly. Garret Southam, a ruggedly handsome man in his early forties, stood by one of the windows watching his cute-as-a-button eleven-year-old daughter, Olivia. She, in turn, looked in wonder and anticipation at every incoming plane.

  “Is that the one, Daddy?” asked the skinny young blonde.

  “No, not that one. But I’m sure it will be soon,” said Garret with a rich baritone voice.

  Tai Shan, or “Tommy” Sung, a robust Chinese man in his late thirties, approached Garret with his ten-year-old daughter, Abby. Tommy appeared like a bad boy caricature from a kung fu movie, whereas Abby was the Chinese version of Olivia. Both girls are jailbait now, and in a few years, they will be objects of attraction to any male with a pulse. Abby saw Olivia and ran to her in delight.

  “Olivia. Olivia! What are you doing here?”

  Olivia hugged Abby. “I’m here to see my mommy.”

  “Me too!”

  Garret gazed upward to the glimmering tapestry of stars and pointed, “Well, we won’t have to wait too long. I’m pretty sure that’s her plane landing over there.” He turned to Tommy. “I thought Jocelyn was coming in tomorrow.”

  Tommy shrugged. “Chin pulled a rabbit out of the hat. This flight was fully booked, but somehow he got her onboard.”

  Garret hid his sudden chill. Both men worked for Chin Chee Fok. The three of them had known each other since they were all young idealistic martial artists being discipled by Master Wu. Wanting to spread the news of Master Wu�
��s martial arts style of Hung Gar, the naïve disciples persuaded Master Wu to expand his operations, a move that proved financially disastrous. Master Wu lost everything and it was at this low point that he met Noah. Chin decided to form his own criminal organization. He persuaded Garret to return to school and become his lawyer. The ebullient Tommy was great at glad handing and bringing clients into Chin’s burgeoning empire.

  However, Garret and Tommy had enough and wanted out. Surprisingly, Chin agreed. Garret and Tommy would exit the operation and were just waiting for their wives to return before finalizing details.

  “I wish our wives would stop trying to save the world,” said Garret. “Going to Thailand right after a tsunami was hardly a smart idea. They could have had a building topple on them or got typhoid.”

  “Would you rather they stayed home and played mahjong? Besides, what’s the point of having a trophy wife if you can’t show her off? Having them do charity work is good for business.”

  “You’re incorrigible, Tommy.”

  “As if I knew what that meant, Mr. Fancy Lawyer,” snorted the high school dropout.

  “It means...” But, before Garret could finish, Olivia and Abby began waving and jumping in delight as the plane taxied closer to the arrival bay.

  “Hi, Mommy. Hi! Welcome back,” called the excited young girls in their high-pitched voices.

  “It’s about time,” muttered Garret. “We have some things to discuss.”

  He grimaced at Tommy, who nodded solemnly. “Yes, we do. Does Mary know?”

  “She will soon. Jocelyn?”

  “Same here.” Knots began forming in Tommy’s stomach. “This was a bad idea from the beginning.”

  “The plane’s coming! It’s almost here!” shouted Abby.

  All spun their eyes to focus on the plane crawling toward them. It seemed like an eternity to the young screaming girls, who hadn’t seen their mothers for seventeen days.

  BOOM! BOOM! The plane suddenly exploded! Instead of a plane on the tarmac, there was a long cylindrical inferno burning out of control. Pandemonium burst inside and outside the terminal.