Maze (The Ballerina Series #2) (16 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Maze

We
circled the area trying to spot all the guards surrounding the house. Will
stopped around the block. “I don’t like this, Maze. I don’t like you going in
alone.”

It
wasn’t difficult to find out where Liu lived. I just asked Will if he knew, and
he made a few calls. Dude had connections. “Will, I can do this. I’ve done
stuff like this before and I do it best alone.”

“All
right. I’ll give you five minutes then I’m coming in.”

“Ten.
And in case anyone else shows up, keep them out.” I knew this was what Tsang
didn’t want me to do, but it had to be done.

The
yards of the homes on the block were small, even if the houses appeared too big
for the size of the lots. A big tree stood between the property on the left and
the home I needed to break in to. I guessed which room was Liu’s immediately,
the corner one on the second floor. It had a balcony, and lots of windows and
seemed to be the largest on this side of the house. His wife and kids were probably
home. But I hoped the other rooms were well away from the larger corner room. I
only wanted Liu.

I
got out of the car and climbed over the brick fence of the house next door.
Using the drainpipe, I made my way to the roof. There was only one way to get
into Liu’s house both unseen and without having to fight my way in. That would
be the balcony. From Will and my count, there were two guards outside and at
least two more Will and I could see moving around inside. This seemed on the
looser side of security to me, but the address wasn’t easy to come by. The
bastard was probably over confident as to his safety.

From
the roof of the house next door to Liu’s, I jumped onto the upper branches of
the tree. From there, it was easy to make my way to the roof of the house,
bypassing the men circling the property on the ground.

I’d
tried to avoid a direct confrontation with Liu but from the time he’d called a
hit on Joe, I knew this was inevitable. In spite of everything I would have
been willing to walk away. Let Liu keep the fucking Triad and do whatever he
wanted to do with it. I told Tsang as much. I cut ties with anything Triad
related. The Tong was legitimate 100%. Joe had seen to that, inevitably paying
for it in his blood. But it wasn’t good enough for Liu. Bastard wanted it all.
The reason he had Ivy. I was not going to let that one go. I’d be spilling
blood again tonight, but not my own. And God have mercy on Liu’s soul if he’d
hurt Ivy.

I
looked over the side of the roof onto the balcony below. The night was a warm
one, so I wasn’t surprised to find the doors open. The curtains covering it
flowed gently on the breeze.

All
my senses heightened. I waited for the sentry in the front yard to move to the
other side of the house. As soon as he turned to walk in the other direction, I
lowered myself from the roof to the balcony. I stayed in the corner, letting
the night and my dark clothing cloak me from immediate sight. I strained to
listen for any sound of wakefulness from the occupants in the room. Finding none,
I took my first step into the room, then another. My eyes had already adjusted
to the dim lighting. I saw Liu’s wife lying on the far side of the bed. I
approached her first.

Taking
the vial I had in my pocket, I opened it and held it under her nose. She
breathed the sleeping potion in, ensuring she would continue to slumber and
remain unharmed. Her husband would not be so lucky. I doubted Ivy was in the
house with his wife and family but I was taking no chances.

I
locked their bedroom door then made my way around the bed to Liu. I pulled my
blade and placed it under the man’s chin at the same time I covered his mouth.

Liu
woke up with a jerk, and the knife pressed into his chin drew a sliver of
blood. I watched the older man’s eyes grow wide with fear. I smiled. I saw
Liu’s gaze dart to the side toward his wife. “She’s fine and will stay that way
until our business is finished. Your family is safe from me even if mine is not
from you. Now get the fuck up. Slow.”

I
eased off so Liu could sit up. I didn’t release the knife from below his chin
but I moved my hand from his mouth to wrap around his bicep. I pulled him
roughly to his feet.

“Is
Ivy here?”

Liu’s
eyebrows rose in surprise, and he slowly shook his head from side to side.

I
wanted a little more privacy for what I needed to do. “Bathroom,” I stated.

Liu
turned, leading the way. I kept pace with him until we got to a closed door. I
slowly pushed it open to see a large bathroom. I pushed him over the threshold,
and reached my hand on the wall to turn on the light. Then I shut the door.
There was another door in the far corner of the bathroom. I shoved Liu over to
it. It opened to reveal the toilet closet. Perfect for additional noise
reduction and privacy. I nodded toward the small room. “Get the fuck inside.”

Sweat
beaded across Liu’s brow. “What are you going to do?”

“Get
the fuck inside. Don’t make me repeat myself.”

Liu
went into the toilet closet. I stepped in after him and shut this door, also.
Liu made the mistake of trying to clip me on the knees and make me drop the
knife.

It
didn’t work.

I
read the signs of his body as soon as he thought of the move and I blocked the
blow. I delivered one of my own to the man’s chest causing him to ass plant on
the closed toilet seat.

In
a chilling voice, I said, “Now we can do this the civilized way or not. Your
choice. I’m going to ask you one question and I fucking better get the right
answer the first time.”

Liu
ran his hand over his face. “Now you want to talk. I’ve been trying to get to
you for awhile now, Maze.”

“Yeah,
I bet. Too bad I put all your boys six feet under.”

Liu
shook his head. “Believe it or not none of them, including Jai, acted under my
orders. I know what you think. No love is lost between the two of us but it
wasn’t me who killed Joe. I wanted him out. Not necessarily dead.”

I
snorted and crossed my arms over my chest, still holding the blade in a way if
he so much as twitched the wrong way he’d regret it. As he watched the knife in
my hand, I thought he knew it, too.

“Bullshit.”
My voice was soft but Liu shivered at the one word.

“Look,
my father put a hit on Joe a long time ago but he survived, and Joe and I came
to an understanding.”

“My
mother didn’t survive that fucking hit.”

“Neither
did my father. Which is why as far as I was concerned your family lost
something and so did mine.”

“Fucking
ancient history, man. Let’s talk current. You killed Joe, tried to kill me, and
now you took Ivy. I was willing to walk away but no, you had to be greedy.”

“I’m
telling you I did not put out the order to kill Joe, loose cannons went after
you and I did not take Ivy.”

My
hand with the knife flashed out fast and sliced through his shoulder. By the
time Liu registered the pain I’d returned to standing in a neutral position.

“Shit,”
he yelled and glanced at the blood seeping through his light blue nightshirt.
His hand went up to the cut.

“The
next one will be deeper,” I growled.

“Maze,
I swear to you on the heads of my kids. I did not put the hit on Joe, or you,
and I’m not the one who took Ivy.”

“Then
if not you, then fucking who?”

He
bowed his head, then raised it to look me in the eye. “The same person who
killed my father.”

That
shocked the shit outta me. “What the fuck?”

“He
and Joe were like brothers. But when your mother was killed Joe seemed to lose
the will to lead. I took my father’s place at the Triad table. It’s no secret I
wanted to lead. I have no love for the Tong and I did what I could to ensure
the Triad controlled it. The only way to do that was to control Joe. And the
Triad did until recently. There was a power play all right, but I wasn’t the
one behind it. I want you to think about something. How did I know the route
Joe was taking from the hospital in advance enough to block the road? That took
timing and pre-planning. How the fuck would me or my people know?”

I
didn’t like where the thoughts driven by his words were taking me. “You could
have been watching the hospital and followed them the same way you’ve been
following me.”

He
shook his head. “I could. But I wasn’t. And even if I was how did I get far
enough ahead of them to set the ambush?”

My
body went rigid. The blood traveling through my veins flowed hot. “And Ivy?”

Again
he moved his head. “Why would I take her? You were out. You’d agreed to head
the Tong.”

“And
took the money and political influence with me.”

“Yes.
Not lying that’s a setback for us, but still what would taking Ivy get me but
dead? There is only one person who benefits from my death. One person who
wanted it all more than I did. One person who had his feet deeply embedded in
both sides.”

“No,”
I whispered. The fear snaking down my spine almost numbed my mind. It already
numbed my soul. Each word out of his mouth confused the shit out of me. My
thoughts seemed impossible. My entire life took on another meaning. Something
sinister had ingrained itself in Joe’s life and mine, and Joe had died as a
result. Ivy was endangered as a result. “No,” I spoke again. “You’re lying.”

He
had to be.

“If
I am then I’m as good as dead. I’ve had my people watching some of the warehouses
Joe owned. I got a text earlier tonight. Check my phone. There’s an address in
there. If you look into it you’ll see who owns that warehouse. Joe didn’t own
it by himself.”

I’d
gotten a list of all the properties Joe owned. It included a couple of warehouses,
but only one had a co-owner. “Where the fuck is your phone?”

“In
the bedroom on my nightstand.”

“Take
off your fucking shirt.”

“What?”

“You
heard me.” After he did I tied his hands behind his back and opened the
bathroom door. Holding onto his arm, I marshaled us back to his room over to
the bed. He glanced at his sleeping wife.

“She’ll
be fine,” I said. “She’ll sleep till morning and wake up feeling refreshed.
Provided you are truthful.”

We
went around the bed and his cell rested right where he said it would. I picked
it up and pressed the home button. It was locked but he gave me the code. I
glanced at the last message and sure enough it was an address. One over in
Chelsea where I remembered one of the storage places was listed. I scrolled
back through the conversation and my heart skipped a beat as I found more proof
of what he said was true. From the text when he’d been alerted Ivy had been
snatched, to when he’d gotten a report she’d been seen taken into the
warehouse.

I
put the phone back down on the nightstand and turned to look at Liu who sat on
the bed. I untied his hands.

“Yeah,
I’ve had some of Tsang’s people followed. I was never your enemy, Maze. I was
even willing to let Joe leave for a price. That price was you taking the fall
in the fight. Which you won, costing me. But even then Joe covered my losses.
He made things right.”

What?
I didn’t know that. What the fuck was going on here? Liu kept talking. “Yes.
Joe wanted out and he wanted to make sure there’d be no negative repercussions
for you. Do you know he called me and I went to see him at the hospital?” Liu
sighed when I didn’t respond. “Yeah, didn’t think so. You should have come to
see me before this. It would have been almost impossible for me to try to come and
see you. As far as I’m concerned the blood spilled between us is even. Stay the
fuck outta my business and I’ll stay away from yours.”

I
studied this man who had just turned my world upside down in so many ways. “If
you’re lying…”

He
shrugged, like a man who spoke the truth. “You know I’m not.”

He
was right. Without another word I walked out of his bedroom door. I didn’t give
a fuck who tried to stop me. When I reached the bottom stairs a guard stepped
out of a side room. He paused when he saw me then drew his gun.