blazed brighter. Muscles in my face must've twisted. He noticed and stared at me quizzically. 'You think I'm mad, don't you?'
I didn't answer.
'Then let me show you.' He leaned over and lit a small oil lamp. The guttering flame cast eerie beams into the thick darkness. He reached atop his head, grabbed at the dirty linen, and ripped the turban off his head. Laughing crazily, he bowed. The flickering light showed a thousand scars crisscrossing the top of his head like some sort of nightmarish spider's web.
He rose and his mad eyes stared into mine.
'Do you know why these lines were etched on my skull? Do you have any idea?'
I realized that my mouth was open. I closed it.
'These scars are a badge of honor,'' he continued, 'designed to remind me that my mission in life is to find the jade skull! They were put there when I was a boy, by the monks who trained me. Monks who trained me for high position. Why me? Why the son of a common Mongol yak herder? Why should I be trained for high position? Because the monks had determined that inside here…' he pounded his gnarled fist on his chest. '… inside here resides a great soul. The reincarnated soul of a great man. The reincarnated soul of the emperor who had once owned the jade skull!'
I suppose he mistook my stupefied expression for understanding. He lowered his voice, as if we were conspirators.
'My name in this life is Ragyapa.' He waved his hand dismissively. 'Don't bother to write it down. You will find the name Ragyapa on no passport. It is my religious name only, not my official name. But centuries ago, while wearing a different body, I was known by the name of Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan and the Emperor of the entire Central Kingdom!'
He laughed through yellowed teeth.
Kublai Khan was a conqueror greater even than Napoleon. In addition to his native land of Mongolia, he ruled China and Burma and Vietnam and Korea and Tibet. He tried twice, without success, to invade Japan. The fact that this man called Ragyapa believed he was the reincarnated soul of Kublai Khan convinced me-beyond a doubt-that he was insane.
'So you see,' Ragyapa continued, 'I am only trying to reclaim my own property. And regain the jade skull of Kublai Khan for its rightful owners, the people of Mongolia!'
His eyes narrowed.
'Many men have died for possession of this jade skull, Agent Sueno
…' How did he know my name? Probably through Sooki. Or anybody else in the village, for that matter. Ernie and I were famous in Itaewon. '… and many more will die soon unless / gain possession of what is rightfully mine!' Once again, he thumped his fist on his chest. 'The dead will include this undisciplined child, if you don't produce my jade skull for me.'
'I told you, I don't have it.'
'Then get it!'
Ragyapa's voice roared so loudly that for a second I thought he had suddenly transformed himself into a beast of the jungle. The sound thundered, filling the room.
'You have until the full moon,' he told me. 'If you do not turn the jade skull over to me by then, Agent Sueno, I will wring her scrawny neck. And each time I think you are not making progress in finding the jade skull, I will send her old hag of a mother another gift. Another gift such as the one she received in the plate of dumplings. Do you understand?'
Rage made my arms start to quiver. Why not punch out this creep right now? He was only another nut case. As mad as any bum wandering the streets of East L.A. What was holding me back? Fear. Yes, that was it. Fear. And in my entire life only one thing had ever allowed me to overcome my fear. And that was rage. This man of such greed and such brutality, this man who could hurt a child who had never harmed anyone, was filling me with that rage now. I fought it back. If rage blinded me, I would act foolishly.
'I understand,' I said. 'We will find your jade skull. But while I'm looking,' I pointed at the cowering figure against the wall, 'you will not mistreat this child. Do you understand me?'
Before he could answer, something crashed through the oil-papered window. Something black. Something huge. A giant raven smashing into the chamber. Wood splintered everywhere.
I knew what it was immediately. Ernie.
I lunged at Ragyapa.
It was my rage and my desire to free Mi-ja that made me move in on him so quickly. Still, his reflexes were those of a Siberian tiger. Something whizzed out of the darkness. Not his fists because I had my eyes on those. But his foot. Somehow I sensed it coming and twisted out of the way at the last moment. The toes slammed into me like blocks of iron, missing my crotch but ramming full force into my stomach.
Air exploded out of me. I fell to the floor, clutching my stomach, floundering for breath like a giant catfish.
Ernie was stunned by his crash through the window and crawled on all fours on the wood-slat floor. Ragyapa shuffled forward and kicked him hard in the ribs. Ernie let out a groan and rolled over.
A herd of footsteps charged up the stairway. If any of them belonged to Herman, he'd be greatly outnumbered.
Whistles shrilled through the night. The KNPs. They were downstairs. Ragyapa and his Mongolian thugs would be trapped.
I still couldn't breathe. I tried to rise. It wasn't working.
Ragyapa snatched up Mi-ja, shuffled through the darkness, and pushed on something that creaked and let out a groan. Suddenly starlight streamed through a rectangle in the temple wall.
As the herd of men trampled over me, I raised myself up and took a swing at one of them but all my efforts got me was a thump on the side of the head. I fell back down.
Ernie was on his feet now, bouncing around like a marionette, throwing jabs and neat combinations. One of the thugs noticed, stepped inside his punch, and elbowed him neatly in the throat. Ernie crashed to the floor.
I heard more footsteps downstairs. Boots. Maybe it was Sooki who'd notified them. Whoever it was, the KNPs would save us. I was sure they would.
I tried to crawl toward Mi-ja. If I could hold her, protect her, maybe I could keep these foreign thugs off of her until we were rescued.
But when I looked up, she was gone.
A large plank had been laid down outside of the rectangular hatchway in the side of the pagoda. I dragged myself along the floor until I could see that the splintered board reached to the top of the stone wall, more than twenty feet across a dark chasm.
Ragyapa scurried across the plank, holding Mi-ja under his arm.
I bellowed in anger. None of the thugs even looked back. One by one, they tiptoed across the narrow causeway.
We had been so close. Why hadn't I brought my. 38 to Itaewon tonight? We never carried arms on the black market detail, but if I'd only made an exception this one time. I wanted to blow their brains out. Each one of those arrogant bastards.
Still, I admired their planning. A wooden plank through a secret opening in an ancient Buddhist temple.
No way I could've picked up on that one.
Soon, all of Ragyapa's thugs had crossed to the safety of the stone wall. I heard gruff cursing in Korean and then the cops started upstairs. I crawled toward the plank.
If I could just hold it, I thought, so the KNPs could use the plank to cross the chasm and chase those Mongols down. We could get Mi-ja back.
Still barely able to move, I slithered closer to the edge, reached out with both hands, and grabbed on to the plank. At that moment, two thugs atop the stone wall gave it a mighty tug. I held on as tightly as I could but the wood slid through my grip. A splinter needled my skin and, as they pulled, sliced deeper into my flesh.
I screamed.
The plank slid through my fingers, tearing my flesh, and fell into the chasm, clattering to the cobbled road below. The last of the dark figures leapt off the far side of the stone wall and disappeared.
