Pawns
<<Cough, cough.>>
"Easy, my son. Slowly, take slow even breaths." Matthew guided his son back to consciousness and brought a cup to Kwai Chang's lips. "Drink."
Kwai Chang Caine took a swallow. "Father?" Caine said hoarsely as he tried to focus on Matthew's face. "What?" he asked confused.
"You are waking from a deep sleep state, one that has saved your life. You were buried alive. I am pleased you have remembered your training, my son." Matthew wiped a stray strand of hair from his son's face and helped him to sit up.
"Peter?" he quickly thought of his son.
"He thought you had been killed. He is going to seek vengeance against Masterson, the one who has done this. I could not stop him."
"We must go after him, we must not allow him to go down this path."
"You must rest, Kwai Chang Caine," Lo Si crossed over to the raised platform from the doorway where he had been standing. "Your father and I will find Peter. I have only just returned from Shambhala and learned all that had transpired. I am sorry I was not here to help your son. Please, forgive me."
"There is nothing to forgive, Master," Kwai Chang Caine said, his breath coming in ragged fits. "You did not know."
"You must rest, my son. I know where we will find Peter," Matthew said, holding up the note that his grandson had flung at him.
*****
Peter drove the Stealth down the dark streets. He was focused on one thing, revenge. Masterson got away once, he'd be damned if it would happen again. He killed his father, the most important person in his life. Hot tears of rage fell, despite Peter's efforts to control them. Each tear that fell was for all the years they had lost while father and son were apart and now for all the years they would no longer have because a madman had done the impossible, taken the life of Kwai Chang Caine.
His rage continued to fill him as he weaved his way through the traffic. A light rain began to fall, slowing Peter's progress. He remembered what the last note Masterson had left said.
"Too late, Caine. How does it feel to lose your father a second time? Does it hurt? Good! Now you know how I feel. You want me? Come and get me, I'll be at the old brewery. You know where that is. I'll be waiting for you, if you have the guts to show up.
M"
Peter remembered the reference. He and Masterson were working on a stakeout together. They busted some drug dealers. The brewery had been a cover for their own operations. It was also the time when Masterson had been busted down to beatcop having been accused of stealing cocaine from the evidence room. Peter tried to help and thought they could be friends until Masterson started to become jealous of Peter's accomplishments. He thought Blaisdell was playing favorites with Peter, giving him the choice assignments. Peter never really knew what caused Masterson to snap and go after his father previously. He only knew that this would be the last time Masterson would ever hurt him again.
*****
Masterson waited for Peter to arrive. He should have discovered one of his parents by now. After he had returned from the funeral, he discovered that his Mountie friend was no where to be found. He was probably getting something to eat. Or maybe he decided to cut out early, realizing that Masterson wanted to finish the job himself. No matter. They'd probably meet up again later back in Canada and Masterson would be sure to pay him his share.
Masterson pulled from the desk a large sum of cash and handed several bills to Peterson and the rest of the men.
"You're through here. Disappear. I'll take care of Peter Caine myself."
After the men left, Masterson again settled himself down at his desk to wait. He pulled from a drawer several photos and began flipping through them. Each time he saw the elder Caine, he could not help remembering his own loss. Though his father still lived, he was still lost to Masterson for other reasons, reasons to this day that he blamed Peter Caine for, even though Caine had nothing to do with it. But it had only been the beginning of Masterson's pain. Masterson never came to terms with it. He became jealous that Peter could be so happy while he was so miserable. Masterson would never forget the last time he saw his father.
****Flashback***
"i want to see him."
"Brother, he won't see you. You know what happened the last time."
"Yeah I know. I thought it would be different this time."
"You know how he feels. He won't accept the fact that you disobeyd and entered the academy to become a cop."
"But everything's going so well with me. I heard about this man named Blaisdell. He's captain of the 101st preceinct, the best team in the city. If everything goes well, sis, I might even be chosen to be in his precinct. Please, I have to see him. Maybe if I tell him all the things I've done, he'll see that he's wrong and be proud of me."
Against her judgement, she allowed John to enter their father's hospital room. What happened after that was a blurr. The only thing that John Masterson was sure of, his own father had totally and utterly rejected him. In his father's eyes, he was dead. And in his son's heart, he also agreed.
The days that followed found Masterson's academy record surpassed by another young man. He had become top of his class in every respect. Masterson did not seem to care, but at the same time, all he had left was the force. He remembered at one time the young man tried to console him, but Masterson had just simply brushed him off. That was the first time he had met Peter Caine.
Four years later, while on stakeout, that same young man had re-entered his life. Again Peter Caine tried to make friends, but Masterson had become more of a loner than ever. His career as a cop had been marred after he had been blamed for when the cocaine that had been seized at the scene from that bust had gone up missing. He had been the officer on record to check the stuff into the evidence room, but when it came time for the trial, the coke was gone and Masterson had been suspected in it's theft. After that, every case that came his way just wasn't the same. He watched as the young cop, Peter Caine, rose quickly in the ranks and was made detective while he had been busted down to beatcop. That was said to be the shortest record in history for anyone being a detective, only two months. Since that time, Masterson never forgot over that fact. Being a detective was all he ever wanted to be, an honor he felt that he should have received. Then Caine received another surprise. The father he thought dead turned up alive. At first, Masterson was really happy for the young man. It gave him hope thinking that some day he and his own father might reconcile, but that was not to be. He learned his father had changed his will and his sister, Katherin, was now the sole heir to their father's estate, while Caine glorified in the fact that he now had two fathers.
Another two years went by and still Officer Masterson walked a beat. When he finally made detective, it was only because his name came up at a posh party. Even so, the cases that he received weren't nearly as interesting as the ones Caine always got. Robberies, break-ins, and an occasional murder, though all proved to be open and shut cases, nothing that really required true police work. As it was, it was his partner who did most of that kind of work while he got stuck filling out forms.
But it wouldn't end there. When Simms took over the force, he thought he might get some kind of a break and receive better cases. Even when Caine had been accused of murder, he thought, for once there might have been a chance. If he could be assigned to the case and find some kind of evidence, even if that evidence had proven him innocent, perhaps he might get a break. But Caine once again beat him to the punch. Year after year Caine was always in his limelight. Then when Caine shot his father, here was the break that he had been waiting for. While he, John Masterson had played by the rules, and stood by watching Caine take chances, only to come up on top, he had decided that the only way he was going to get any retribution was to somehow show that Caine was more a liability than an asset to the force.. The files that he had placed on Simms desk that day weren't all police records. One particular file was a detailed report on Caine's recklessness and total disregard for the rules. He hoped that Simms would look at the report and bust Caine down to walking a beat, but even she stuck by Caine after what he did. Enough had been enough. Caine had to pay, but in the end, even that had been taken from him.
*****
The noise of a car approaching caught Masterson's attention and he waited in the shadows. He looked out the window to see a familiar blue car pull into the drive and smiled. 'It will be just you and me, Shaolin Cop. I've waited a long time for this.'
"Eye for an eye," Peter said aloud as he pulled the Stealth into the abandoned brewery's lot.
End of Part 15
Alisa Joaquin & Linda Schwartz Copyright@2000.
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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