Don't Tell; It's Our Secret

Chapter 21

Detective Michael Taylor
Present

"Just where are we going?!" Terry asked as we hopped into the car and I sped away.

"You'll see," I took a deep breath as I drove.

It was a far fetched idea, but I had a friend from Chinatown when I was younger. The story was he'd been in the police but got booted out over conduct. He was in the private sector now, and in my mind he'd be the only one willing to help. He was very intelligent, and knew everything we'd need to know.

Lucky for us, he didn't keep residence in Chinatown, so we could just go to his place of business.

As I pulled the car over and parked, Terry piped up, "no fucking way." He stared at the sign above the building.

I sighed, "way."

"You've got to be out of your mind." Terry opened the door.

"I think this is the only time I've been in the right mind in a while." I followed him out of the car.

"What the hell do you think he could do?" Terry spat.

Terry never liked my old friend, Jack Cao. Jack was a different kind of cop, and most detested him for it. He wasn't against bruising and bribing to get information. Because of that, he happened to have an expansive network of informants and was in the know about several aspects of Chinatown.

For that reason, we needed him.

"He could fill some holes." I explained shortly as I beckoned him to follow me.

The sign above the shop read "Cao Investigations," and I recalled that Jack had a brother or two, but they probably didn't care much for what he did.

I opened the door and a bell rang.

The old place was musty and seemed to have a fine layer of dust all about it.

"Is this place even open?" I could hear Terry scowl.

"Sign says so," I pointed to the sign in the window behind me.

"This place is a mess." He complained.

"Just-Shish for a minute." I spat as I walked through a cave of boxes. "Jack!" I called, "Jackie! It's me! Mikey!"

"MIKE!" An excited voice called from some recess of stuff. "What the hell are you doing here?" Jack's smiling face appeared and he hugged onto me.

"It's good to see you Jack," I smiled back.

"It's good to see you too Mike," he looked between me and Terry. "Who's your friend?"

"This is my partner, Terry."

"Oh?" Jack smiled and winked.

"No!" I retreated my statement realizing he always jumped to conclusion about that sort of thing. "My work partner!"

"Oh!" His smile fell. "Is there something I can do for you guys?" He asked, realizing something.

"Yes actually," Terry spoke up. "Is there somewhere we can talk?"

"Of course!" He assured, "follow me."  He led us behind the boxes and through a hallway into his office.

It was immaculately clean.

"Have a seat," he point to the chairs in front of his desk. "How can I help?"

"We've got a missing witness," Terry began, "he's just a kid."

"I thought you guys were the best at the missing kid thing," he snickered, referring to "you guys" as in the police department.

"Well...it's a bit more complicated." I interjected, smacking Terry's side. I did say for him to shush.
"The kid whose missing, was a witness to a homicide. We got a local beat cop from the area to come in, but he was evasive. We got a dead man with a black dragon tattoo on his arm and a missing kid who probably knows who did it." I summed up the story.

"How can I help Mike?" He leaned in, intrigued.

"I was wondering if you could give us some information on what groups use this symbol or maybe where we should focus to find him?" I tried to explain while giving as little detail as possible.

"You said it was a black dragon?" He raised an eyebrow as he yanked a drawer open and pulled out a folder.

"Yeah," I shook my head as he opened it.

"Was it like this?" He shoved a picture on the table, "or this?" He put another picture on the table.

The two pictures were both of black dragons; one was intricate, the other was simple.

I eyed Terry and he eyed me back.

I pointed to the simpler of the two and Jack picked it up with a scrunched face.

"I got good news and bad news." He sighed as he leaned back. "Which ya want first?"

"The good news." Terry answered before I could.

I jabbed him in the side.

"I got a name for ya." Jack looked up from the picture.

"What's that?" Terry pulled out a note pad.

"Hēilóng."  He sighed.

"Do what?" Terry was confused.

"It means black dragon," he began, "if your dead man was spotting that ink he was probably a low man in the Black Dragon Gang."

"And now the bad news?" I motioned for him to continue.

"The Black Dragons are an old group; from the days when the Triads were kings around here. Word on the street is that the Black Dragons are still kings. The group may be old but their leader is young,ambitious, and venomous." He explained.

"Your point?" Terry cleared his throat.

"Most things to do with them vanish from the record...if your missing kid is wrapped up in anything regarding them, he's good as dead." He put the photos back in the folder and shoved it in his desk.

"Jackie;" I cooed, "you've got more information about this sort of thing than anyone I know. Come on; I know you've heard some chatter from that group about a new kid on the scene; he's got dark hair, dark blue eyes, kinda fair skin. Teenager." I stared at him for a minute.

He spent another full minute looking right back at me before he spoke; "well, I may have heard something about this new kid. But I don't know much! The only information I got was that he's a male teenager...but I hope it's not your kid."

"Why do you say that?" Terry shot to attention again.

"Cause the rumor is that that particular kid is being primed up and readied; ya know.."he motioned with his hands.

When Terry and I just stared at him he smacked his hand on his face.

"Oh God; you don't know..." he sighed, "the talk is...that the kid is being primed up to be taken by the leader of the group...and used...as a whore."

"The fuck?!" Terry shouted. "What do you mean used as a whore?!"

"Ya know," Jack shrugged, "for sex."

"Mike!" Terry shouted at me.

I just looked at him; there was no way that could've been the kid we were looking for, there just wasn't any way.