Earlier, back in the bushes across the street from the Surfside Hotel....

 

The badger saw the animal control truck rolling slowly down the street.

 

"Time to scram Sam!" El Badgerino says to himself.

 

The furry one slides through the tall grass and vanishes....for now that is!

 

 

 

Ten minutes later we were at the Art Gallery.

 

Melonie gave me a big kiss and said, "I'll go in and go about my usual routine in my office, just as we planned." "Don't get far away from Moose here" I says pointing at her overgrown security guard sporting a .44 and a name tag that said 'Moose' on it ironically enough.

 

"Don't worry, I'll be fine" she says and then sashays off with the big lug beside her.

 

I slipped around back to the gallery's loading area and waited discretely beside a wall.

 

After about 30 minutes I observe a box truck marked 'Golden Flower Transport Services' on the side pulling in through the parking lot....

 

 

 

 

I saw Hai Yu jump out of the truck cab carrying a large pizza box. He went through the side service door of the gallery and stopped at the security desk where he deposited the pizza box and held out his hand.

I watched proceedings from behind a pillar.

Joe Bloggs with his hair combed, face washed and in a security uniform was sitting behind the desk doing the dayshift. Jack would be on nights, I guessed.

After a quick look around the room, Joe slid a slim package into the box, which had been empty. He made a show of telling Hai Yu that he hadn’t ordered pizza and to take it back again.

"Me so solly, honorable gentleman. Hai Yu go 'way now." He bowed almost to the floor and beat a hasty retreat back the way he had come with the box.

So that’s how they did it. The Bloggs brothers were key figures after all. I called Melonie on my cell phone to tell Moose the story.

Sixty seconds later the Moose charges up to Bloggs, picks him up bodily and rushes out into the ally with him, just as Hai Yu starts the  truck engine. Bloggs is screaming "Put me down, you FAQing muscle-bound maniac." Moose heeds his request and throws Bloggs onto the windshield of  the  'Golden Flower Transport Services' vehicle.

 

Stan rings me on my cell. “We've picked up Haberly�?says Stan da man. “We applied a little positive psychology on him at the precinct and he spilled everything.�?He continues, “Haberly confessed to making the forgeries for Cho.�?BR>

“Great�?I respond, “Any update on Cho?�?“We checked with the harbormaster down at the docks. A ship call the S.S. Le Ki Wan is moored at Pier 52 and it's leased to Golden Flower Transport Services.�?He continues, “Haberly said Cho's got customers lined up for the paintings and he's gonna try to smuggle them out on the ship to Hong Kong.�?

“When's the ship departing?�?I ask. Stan replies,“It's scheduled to leave port at 3pm and the tails I've got on him just called and said Cho plus some goons left his estate in two black Caddys about 5 minutes ago.�?/P>

“Haul ass and meet me at the docks, ASAP.�?the imperious one says before hanging up.

Moose was happily banging Bloggs's and Hai Yu's heads together. I yell at him, "Drop those two chimps and get the painting to Melonie....and tell her I'm headed to the docks!"

 

"Will do Mr. Case!" says Moose.

 

I jump into my Buick and burn outa the parking lot.....

Moose handcuffed the badly battered and unconscious pair inside the truck. He found the frameless painting inside the pizza box in the cab. Haberly would have needed it to copy for the swap.

It had been on its way to the archives via a young oriental technician, an Eddie Cho plant, only last night. Jack had slipped a few bags of Black Lotus dust to Wong Wai who later had handed the painting off to Joe at shift change.

Moose gave the rolled up masterpiece to Melonie who immediately took it to the senior lab tech to be checked for damage. Later it would be retouched and reframed.

Moose called the cops to have them pick up the ‘suspected�?wrongdoers and to impound the truck. A warrent was issued to search the flophouse and to pick up Jack Bloggs for questioning.

I stopped off at a second hand clothing store and found suitable attire for a seaman for a few bucks. In the dressing room I changed, put my regular clothes in a plastic bag and threw them in the trunk of my car. I put my Special in an inner pocket of my jacket where I could easily get at it. The novelty store next door had a fake beard for ten bucks. It came with adhesive and I tried it on. It looked impressive. I found a small, smooth, oval pebble which I put in my left shoe to make me limp. I got back in the Buick and zapped over to the harbour parking. I got a ticket from the machine and placed it in the window.

It was noon and most of the dock workers were in the Silver Dolphin Tavern liquidating their earnings.

I saw Stan leaning up against a wall. He had also changed his appearance to look more like a dock worker. "Now I see what took you so long, buddy" he grinned as I limped toward him. "Let’s get the lead out and board that ship."

We casually strolled and limped up the gangplank of the S.S. Le Ki Wan moored at Pier 52, acting like we belonged there.

As we're walking up the gang plank Stan whispers that he contacted the Coast Guard and that a cutter is laying off of Shark Bite Reef in case the ship tries to make an escape.....

Just as we get up to the deck, two black Caddys pull up at the bottom of the gangplank. We turn around and lean on the railing.

An Asian henchman of Eddy’s shouts ,"Hey, you ferrows on deck, give us hand chop, chop. Mr. Cho velly busy man."

Stan and I went down to the cars and baggage was thrust into our hands. We toted Cho’s suitcases up the plank along with all the six henchmen carrying stuff.

Cho headed for a stateroom in the middle of the ship, where the boat moved less vertically thereby minimizing the probability of sea sickness. Cabin 86 was the "lucky" one for Cho. Most Asians seem to have lucky numbers working for them. Cho had 8686 as part of the numbers on his car plates. I had 6969 on mine, but for a different reason!

We piled all the luggage in a corner. One piece of luggage was a wooden box just the right size for the stolen masterpiece oil paintings.

A couple of bodyguards has the next room attached by a connecting door via a bathroom with doors servicing both rooms. The four other honchos left in the waiting Caddys.

It was twelve twenty pm now and Cho wanted food. Stan and I were a bit peckish too. Cho showed his generosity by ordering chicken chow mein and some other stuff for all of us for helping with the bags.

We went with Wun Hung Lo to the bodyguards�?room to eat. Me Flung Dung stayed with Cho. My fortune cookie said, "Man on boat have ups and downs ... may soon call for Ralph". Stan’s said, "Beware, man with small gun may shoot off big mouth." We washed the food down with Jasmin tea in small cups. A second pot of tea tasted like boiled hay. I don’t know what kind it was, but Dung liked it. With a name like that I guess you’d ingest almost anything!

After we finished the refreshments, one of Cho's henchmen tells us we're going below into cargo hold number 4. Following the heavy, we went down 3 decks and then down a ladder into the hold.

 

"Holy freakin' Moses" I said to myself. The hold was loaded with art treasures. Ming vases, pieces from an Egyptian exhibit in San Francisco that turned up missing a few years ago, medieval Japanese armor, and stacks of other stuff that was crated up lined the room.

 

I turned and looked at Stan and his jaw was hangin open just like mine was...

 

"Put da rest of dis stuff in dos crates ova der. Hurwy up too, we reave at 3" says the goon.

Just as we were finished packing up the remaining goodies in the crates, no other than Lo Fat comes down the ladder carrying the box of paintings. He goes over and places it on top of a stack and turns around facing me.

His eyes got huge and I knew we were screwed. Fat climbed back up the ladder and commenced an animated convo in Chinese with the goon guarding the hatch.

“Oh @#$%^ we're screwed�?I whisper to Stan, “That guy recognized me.�?Stan gets a super pissed look on his face but is otherwise speechless.

Then the hatch shuts and is dogged down, locking us in.

10 minutes later the hatch opens. Down the ladder comes Cho's bodyguards and some crewmen armed with crowbars, knives, etc.. Then Cho himself climbs down.

“Justin Case, I presume�?Cho says grinning psychotically, �?If I know you well Mr. Case, your friend here is Detective Dooright.�?/P>

Stan pulls out his .45 Auto and says, “You're under arrest Cho!�?Being a team player I jerked out my .38 too. Cho's guards produce pistols and one had a sawed-off shotgun.

“I don't think so Mr. Dooright�?Cho says. Then he orders his goons to disarm us.....

The goons hauled us into another space and tied us to chairs. I knew it was coming, so I just grinned and said “Gimme your best shot boys...... �?/P>

The beatings had gone on for quite a while. Stan was out cold. I hear the ship's horn and the order to cast off over the p.a..

A fight erupts outside and then the hatch opens. A bearded guy and a badger step inside, carrying the ko'd guard.

“My name is Captain Vork of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and this is my associate Field Agent Lord Badger of the FBI�?says the bearded fellow, “Mr. Case, we've been monitoring your investigation as part of a combined American and Canadian effort to take down Cho's gang.�?/P>

Vork and the badger cut us loose and Stan wakes up bitching. The RCMP guy does another explanation for Stan and then hands us our guns.

“Now let's go get this Cho bastard�?says Vork and Lord Badger nods approvingly.

To maintain our cover we did as Wun Hung asked. Then we hurried up on deck and made ourselves scarce so Stan could us his cellular phone.

Within minutes a dozen squad cars arrived at the dock. Stan’s uncle, a judge, arrived with the cops to write search warrants as required. The FBI had been alerted earlier that something might be going down at the docks, so a couple of FBI agents arrived also to oversee things.

Stan and I put on a couple of bullet proof vests that the cops had brought with them. I took the pebble out of my shoe. That sucker was starting to really cripple me.

The captain and crew members were herded into the dining room and were informed that there would be a delay in departure.

Cho and group locked themselves in with the art treasures. There was no bathroom in the treasure room so Wun Hung had to use a priceless urn in which to relieve himself .

A police helicopter was hovering overhead. Then a white one appeared, flying in low and joined the police chopper circling over the ship....

 

The FBI entry team demo guy had wired the door to cargo hold #4 with breaching charges and a team was standing by to rush in once the hatch was blown.

 

POP...POP...POP..POP..POP.....BOOM

 

The hatch door falls away and two flash bangs are thrown in to stun Cho and Co. inside the hold.

 

Two muffled explosions are heard inside.

 

The entry team dives in yelling "FBI!! Search warrant!!".....and then they haul ass right back out again.

 

The first guy out yells, "MINI-GUN!!! TAKE COVER!!"

 

Stan and myself dive over the railing and into a life boat suspended 4 feet below. Everyone else scattered and ran like hell to get off of the line of fire.

 

One of Cho's bodyguards emerged from the hold and someone from below handed up the mini-gun. "Eddie planned extremely damned well for this scenario" I think to myself.

 

Next up the ladder was Cho and then another bodyguard. They worked their way quickly up ladders toward the helo pad just aft of the ship's main tower. The rear guard guy periodically sprayed fire from the mini-gun to cover their escape.

 

Once they reached the helo pad, the bodyguard menaced the police chopper with a burst from the mini-gun and it flew away to a safe distance.

 

Me and Stan had crawled back up on deck by now and were cautiously following Eddie and the bodyguards. The white chopper had set down and Eddie and one of the bodyguards got in. The rear guard guy tried stuffing the mini-gun in as well but it wouldn't fit with the passengers and pilot, so he sat it down on the deck and hopped in.

 

The chopper lifted off and I ran up on deck. I picked up the mini-gun and aimed it at the aircraft. Eddie hung his arm out of a window and started shooting at me with a pistol, missing wildly.

 

"I'll see you in hell Justin Case!!!" Eddie yells out. "You probably will a$$hole!!!" I reply.

 

Then I led the helicopter a little and squeezed the trigger. The gun lept to life in my hands like the lawnmower of the apocalypse. Following the tracer rounds, I raked the chopper from nose to tail rotor.

 

The helicopter started smoking and pitching side to side. For a second it nearly stabilized itself, but then nosed down into the ocean and broke up on impact....

 

Stan runs up to me and yells, "E'f me Case!!That was e'fn amazing man!!!

 

"All in a day's work my friend...all in a day's work..." I respond

The water started to boil as a dozen sharks ate Chinese food and fought over the tidbits. Sum Guy Cho and Yum Tu Goons were on the menu.

The Feds radioed for a truck to pick up the antiquities, including one once priceless Ming urn whose contents sloshed around.

Stan and I bogged off in our vehicles. Stan went back to the precinct to write up reports, and I headed for Melonie’s place to give her an update.

She was home and answered my knock dressed in an oriental kimono. "Justin, where have you been? I was worried sick!"

She invited me into her living room and I made myself comfortable. I told her all about the events of the day over coffee and crumpets.

I asked if I could take a shower to get rid of the day’s grime. She followed me into the bathroom and gave me a towel from a cupboard nearby. I started the shower going, and she dropped the kimono. What a day ... more crumpet!

The next day I went to the office with a fifth of Jack Daniels. I sat there takin shot after shot and musing on recent events. I tried to watch some ball games on the tube, but in the end my thoughts drifted back to Melonie and the Cho case.

 

The Cho thing is all wrapped up nicely, but what does the future hold for our old pal Justin Case?

 

The phone had been ringing off the hook all day with interview offers and more new business than I could handle in a year. Lotsa nutcases and prank calls too. I hadda unplug the damn phone before I shot holes in it.

 

I swivel my chair around and look out my office window. A huge harvest moon was rising over the ocean....It's one of those once in a lifetime, gorgeous moonrises....

 

I take the Chinese pendant out that accidentally found it's way into my pocket in cargo hold #4 on the Le Ki Won. The thing's carved out of pure jade and decorated with gold inlet.

 

"What a beautiful piece" I say out loud. Yeah and so is Miss Proudset. That girl's got it all. I wonder if our relationship will go on now that she's got what she needed out of me.

 

HONK!!

 

I adjust my view to street level and there's Melonie standing curbside by her classic Jaguar.

 

I open the window.

 

"Hey Case. I've been trying to call you all day but the phone's been busy and you aren't answering your cell" she shouts "Sorry about that babe" I say and grin my ass off to see her.

 

"Why don't I give you a ride to my place?" she offers and smiles that killer impish grin.

 

"Be right there" I respond.

 

I stood up a little shakily, grabbed my trench, my hat, and that freshly cleaned Colt in it's holster and head to the door. I open the door and look at my name on it.

 

'Justin Case, Private Investigator' it says to the world. I give it a little polish with my shirtsleeve and then shut and lock the door.

 

"Things just keep looking up" I say with a huge smile.........

 

THE END?