Temple: A New Journey Begins
Please see the disclaimer on the Synopsis page.
Kwai Chang Caine entered the house then rushed down the stairs. He found Vance and his uncle in the living room. Sam was lying on the floor. Vance's body obscured Caine's vision from his uncle's injuries. Rachel was beside her son.
"Oh, please you've got to help him."
"I've got to keep pressure on this wound," Vance replied. "If I don't he'll lose more blood."
"Who is doing this?" Rachel asked, her voice trembling. Memories of the past fought to prevent her from keeping her composure.
"I don't know. I just hope that ambulance gets here soon."
"Did you call the police?"
"KC, oh thank god. We thought you might have been with the monks."
"I went to the lake to meditate." KC bent down and examined Sam. He hitched in a breath when he saw what had been done. "An artery was hit." He pulled out a small pouch from the larger brown one. "This will help to slow the bleeding." He placed some of the herbs on the wound. "Keep pressure on the wound." He then pulled out a strip of cloth and wrapped it around Sam's body, being careful not to jostle him too much. 'I wish my father were here,' he thought. 'He would not hesitate to find and stop this man.' KC took a deep breath as a sudden fear gripped him. He had never voiced his fear, but now he must face it head on. He managed to avoid it so far, but this time, he had no choice.
Images from long ago threatened to freeze him where he stood. He had been a boy, no more than four years old. Someone had tried to kill him, threatening his life with a gun. His father had been there. That day had been etched into his memory for all time.
***
"Baba!" young KC cried out his fear.
"I'm here, KC!" Peter Caine called to his son. "It will be all right. Let him go Xang, your quarrel is with me."
"He's no innocent in this. He should have been mine."
"It does not mean he has to die, let him go."
"Baba," KC cried out one more time.
<Shut up kid or I will kill your father first and you can watch him die.> Xang Wong spoke in Chinese, bringing the gun closer to KC's face and threatening him further with bodily harm.
<No!> Peter cried out.
<So, you understand what I say,> Xang said, "good, then you know how your son will meet his fate." He answered in English.
****
KC did not remember much after that, only feeling the cold steel against his temple and the sudden explosion. He woke up to the rhythmic sound of machines, and the faces of his father and grandfather bending over him. He had been lucky. While his father had been talking to the man that held him prisoner, his grandfather had sneaked up behind the man and grabbed the hand holding the gun. The gun though had gone off. The wound was very deep even though it had only grazed KC's temple. Since, that day KC had been fearful of guns. He had always tried to avoid being around them, even as a priest, but today, he would be facing his greatest fear.
"KC get out here!" Kermit cut through his thoughts and the fear that gripped him. Something was terribly wrong. A silence had fallen over everything.
"You better come out here priest if you want your friend to live," another voice called out to him.
KC rose and headed toward the front door.
"Wait, you can't go out there," Vance protested. "He'll kill you."
"I must."
"What about Sam?"
"Take care of him," Caine simply stated.
Kwai Chang Caine rose and reached into the brown pouch that had been in his family since Master Po had given it to the first Kwai Chang Caine. His left hand felt the object that he sought, secure in it's place. Fear once again gripped him, but this time, he did not allow it to control him. He needed to do this if he was going to save his friend.
KC Caine walked out onto the porch and faced the man that now held Kermit Griffin at gunpoint.
"I'm sorry kid," Kermit tried to apologize. "There was nothing I could do. He got the drop on me."
"It will be all right Kermit." KC tried to reassure his friend. "What is it that you want?"
"You priest, I want you and your kind to leave Braniff and never return. It's mine and I won't give it up. You no longer have any right to it."
"I will leave when it is time." Caine replied. "What is yours belongs to another."
"You leave or I'll kill him!" the man screamed.
"You will not get away with it."
"Yeah, and who's going to stop me?"
KC was quick, quicker than even Kermit had ever seen his father react. The man screamed in sudden pain as he dropped the gun that he held. KC watched as the man dropped to his knees in horror and surprise. He took a deep breath and realized that the fear that had gripped him earlier would no long rule his life.
"Thank you father," KC stated to the four winds then replaced the silver, pearl handled beretta back into the brown pouch.
At that moment, the ambulance and two police cars arrived on the scene.
Continues with Part 55
Alisa Joaquin Copyright@2004.
This story cannot be reprinted or sold in any other form without strict permission from
the author. It is being distributed here solely for your enjoyment.
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