As he paced the floor of his den, Paul Blaisdell could somehow sense that something was wrong. He had been called at home by the night watch commander and told that one of his detectives was missing. Not only was that officer in question one of his best investigators (even if he had an unorthodox method), he was also Blaisdell’s foster son, Peter Caine.

Stopping in front of the window, he pulled back the curtains and looked up the driveway, he hoped against hope that Peter would be coming up the road. He hated the fact that he was alone out there with no way to contact him for back up.

"Paul, what’s wrong?" a soft voice asked from behind him. He turned back to the door and saw his wife, Annie, standing there in a faded flannel nightgown. He sighed and dropped the curtains back into place. He knew that she could tell when there was something bothering him. "Why are you up so late?"

"I have to go into the precinct," he said. He tried to keep his voice neutral, but she could sense that he was holding something back. "One of my detectives is missing."

"It’s Peter, isn’t it?" she inquired. She dreaded this moment, but had long ago accepted it as part of the life her husband and foster son had chosen. "The missing detective is Peter." When he said nothing, she snapped, concerned for the child she had taken into her life and made her own. "Damn it, Paul! Tell me the truth! Is the missing detective is Peter?"

He nodded, afraid to answer her, lest his own fear and worry be betrayed in his voice. He couldn’t let his worry as Peter’s foster father cloud his judgment as a police captain organising a search for one of his missing detectives. He had to bury all traces of emotion where Peter was concerned from his mind.

"He missed three scheduled check in times before they called to let me know," he snapped. He was angry at the night watch commander for not informing him earlier, but there was nothing he could do except organise a search team and check out Peter’s last known location. "Get some rest and let me know if he calls here. If he’s out there, we’ll find him and bring him home, Annie. I promise."

She remained silent as he went back up to the bedroom and got dressed. then she heard him walk out the door, get into the car and leave. For a reason she couldn’t explain, she had to go to Chinatown and find Peter’s real father, Kwai Chang Caine.

**** **** ****

As he sat the red candle out on the table and lit it in preparation for his evening meditation, Kwai Chang Caine felt a familiar, yet unexpected, presence call out to him. It was the merest of whispers, barely heard, but there nonetheless.

"Who is there?" he asked. He heard the faint rustle of a coat brushing against the wall. He knew who was there without asking. "I will not harm you."

He was suprised to see Annie Blaisdell step into the light of his meditation room. She seemed to be troubled by something and appeared to have not slept in days. He waited for her to speak.

"I need your help," she said hesitantly. "Peter is missing and I think that there’s possibly more to his disappearance than Paul’s saying."

"What was he doing when anyone last heard from him?"

"I don’t know what he was working on." She felt herself slipping over the edge into despair. It was as if whoever had taken Peter had reached into her chest and tore out her heart. "All Paul told me is that he missed three scheduled check ins. It’s not like him to do that unless there’s trouble." She looked towards the spot where he would have been standing, if only she’d been able to see him. "I didn’t know who else to come to for help."

"Do not concern yourself. I will find him."

Annie knew that if anyone could find Peter, it would be Caine because he understood how Peter reasoned things out. He also had a unique bond with his son that bordered on the verge of a psychic link.

Caine knew how his son’s mind worked. He would try to leave subtle clues for someone to follow if only they knew where to look. He would seek out the less obvious that others would no doubt miss in their rush to find him.

As Caine put on his shoes, picked up his hat and reached for his coat, he turned back towards Annie. "You must return home in case he gets free and tries to call you."

Annie and Caine walked out the door together. She went to her car and driver while he turned and walked northward, heading for the precinct where Peter worked.

**** **** ****

Paul Blaisdell walked into the 101st Precinct in a bad mood. Several subordinate officers greeted him, but he ignored them as he strode into his office. Frank Strenlich met him at the door.

"What’s going on, Frank?" he demanded. "Why wasn’t I called as soon as he missed the first check in time?"

"I have no idea," he replied. "I was just called myself.

"I want to talk to the night watch commander," he said angrily. "He’s got a lot of questions to answer."

**** **** ****

Caine walked the familiar path that led to his son's apartment. Instead of entering Peter's building, he continued walking, letting instinct guide him in his search.

As he walked, he passed the Agrippa Club, a club Peter frequented when he was undercover. He walked inside, remaining in the background. He listened to some of the conversations going on around him. One conversation in particular caught his attention, as did the speakers. He watched intensely as they conversed in a booth in the far corner.

"The word on the street is that someone's managed to deal with the cop who's been assigned to investigate the case against Choi and his gang," a masculine voice said in almost flawless English. Caine knew that he had heard before. It was the voice of Roger Chin.

"Who was the detective?" a second voice asked him. Caine detected definite traces of a British accent. It was a female voice.

"Detective Peter Caine of the 101^st Precinct."

A dark eyebrow went upwards at his words, but she said nothing that would blow his cover. It was a gesture that Caine had seen only once before. He thought he should know her, but couldn't be sure until he saw her left arm and her face.

"Keep your eyes and ears open and let me know what you find out about the disappearance of Detective Caine," she said sternly. "I expect to find out almost as soon as you do."

Chin got up and left, leaving the woman alone with her thoughts. Shortly after he was gone, she got up and left as well, but not alone. Unknown to her, she had picked up a Shaolin tail in the form of Kwai Chang Caine.

**** **** ****

Peter Caine woke up in darkness. He then became aware of the fact he was chained to the wall. He had no idea as to how long he'd been there.

He tried to move against the chains, but the stiffness in his arms and legs soon made him stop. Even the pain was a welcome change, as it reminded him that he was still alive.

"So, you're awake?" a menacing voice asked sarcastically from the shadows. "Good. I want you to be fully aware of what's about to happen when the real fun begins, Caine."

Peter focused on the face of his captor as he came into the light, trying to place a name with it. Peter then realised that it was Jack Wong, the current leader of Tan's empire.

"So, you're taking over where Tan left off," he said. He knew that he had only one chance, which lay with his father finding the clues he'd left along the way until they had found out what he was doing. "Why did you come back, Wong?"

"It's a vast empire, Caine. I want all of it, not just bits and pieces. The only things standing in my way are you, your father and the police."

Peter said nothing as he tried to take in his surroundings, trying to commit details to memory. Anything he could remember when he escaped would be of help in the trial if, and when, Wong was arrested.

"I intend to eliminate you and your father, as the two of you humiliated Tan," Wong replied. "In this way, Tan will be avenged and the Caine lineage will be destroyed!"

Wong turned away from Peter and stormed out of the room. Peter then turned his attention to the chains that held him.

"I wish I'd paid more attention to the lessons on how to escape from any bonds," he murmured to himself, knowing that there was no one in the room to hear him. "I could've used the one where Dad escaped from the ropes and chains."

As the pain shot through his nervous system, Peter ceased struggling against the chains. It would do him no good to fight, and to continue to do so would only injure him worse.

**** **** ****

Annie sat in the darkened room, waiting on word from either Peter or Paul. She hated the fact that there was nothing she could do to help. All she could do was sit at home and take care of the girls.

At the sound of footsteps behind her, Annie turned and knew that it was Kelly, the younger of Paul's two daughters. Kelly was no doubt concerned as to why Peter hadn't come by last night.

"Mom, where's Peter? He didn't stop by last night like he said he would." She was concerned about him, even though he was not blood relation to them. "It's not like him to break a promise."

"I know. Something must have come up on the case he was working on," she answered. She didn't want Kelly to know that Peter was missing or she would needlessly worry herself sick and miss school. "Breakfast is ready and waiting. Go eat before it gets cold."

As Kelly went into the kitchen, Annie's shoulders sagged. She had not had much sleep and it was beginning to catch up with her. From the kitchen, she could hear Kelly's voice calling to her as she picked up her books lying on the kitchen table where she had left them.

"Let me know if you hear from Peter, Mom," she said as she walked out the door towards the bus stop at the end of the driveway.

**** **** ****

Peter was aware of the woman as soon as she entered the room. He was also aware that she was carrying something in her outstretched hands.

"I am to feed you and tend to your wounds," she said. "If you will not try to escape, I will remove the shackles that are holding your arms."

He nodded, saying nothing. She came up to him and unlocked the chains. Whispering in his ear while she did this, she delivered the message she was being well paid to.

"Is there anyone I can get a message to for you?"

"Yes," Peter whispered. "Go to Chinatown and ask for Caine. Tell him to get hold of Paul Blaisdell and have him organise a team to bring down Jack Wong." He took a bite of the food she had brought him, then spoke as he chewed. "Tell my father he is not to come with them, as he is also a target of Wong's"

She nodded her compliance and waited as he continued to eat. When he had finished, Peter handed her back both the plate and the silverware, making sure that she had everything. She then turned to look at him.

"My real employer will be glad to know that you're alright," she whispered so that the guard wouldn't be able to hear. "I'll tell her where to find you. Maybe she can rescue you without involving Blaisdell or your father." She then walked over to the door and banged on it to get the guard's attention. "Let me out of here! He's finished eating!"

As the guard opened the door, the woman walked out as the guard came in. He walked over to Peter and refastened the restraints on his wrists. Peter watched over his shoulder as the woman nodded silently and then left to deliver her message.

**** **** ****

As she arrived at her apartment, the young woman he'd followed from the Agrippa Club became aware of her shadow. She quickly turned and faced him.

"If you have something you wish to ask, Kwai Chang Caine, you have but to ask." She turned and put her key into the lock and turned it, opening the door. She gestured for him to follow her inside. "I will do my best to give you some answers."

"How do you know who I am?" he inquired. It surprised him that she knew who he was and where his son worked.

"I know who and what you are, and I think you have some idea as to who I really am, so why don't we dispense with the pleasantries and get down to the business of rescuing Peter?" She hung her coat on a hall tree and walked back into the living room where he stood. "Sit down and I'll tell you what I know while I make some tea for us."

He remained where he stood. "You have not answered my question."

"You taught a young woman at the temple against the advice of your fellow priests," she said. "Your son, Peter, was the only one who showed her any type of kindness."
Caine watched as she raised the left sleeve of her shirt. He stared at the tattooed dragon on her arm.

"Yes. I am that child, now grown. I have guarded my secrets, but in the passing years, I have never forgotten the one child at the temple with whom I shared so much." She looked at Caine and knew she had to help him rescue Peter, if only to repay his son for his kindness. "I never got to thank him for that. I was too late to prevent them from taking him, but I also knew that if he'd been grabbed, you'd be looking for him."

"If you are planning to rescue him, then there is one other person we must contact." Caine paused for a moment, then continued. "We will need his knowledge of the city and his skills as a mercenary."

She looked at him suspiciously, trying to figure out what he had planned. She really hadn't wanted to bring anyone else into this unless absolutely necessary. "Who?" she finally asked after a tense silence.

"Peter's foster father, Paul Blaisdell. He is the commanding officer of--"

"I know him," she said, cutting him off in mid-sentence. She thought about it for a few minutes then asked, "What precinct does he work at?"

"The 101^st," he responded. As she walked over to the telephone to place her call, it rang loudly. Caine looked at her and shrugged. "Are you expecting a telephone call?"

"Only one person knew that I'd be here tonight." She picked up the receiver and answered the call. He watched as she talked to the person on the phone. "No. Do not go to Chinatown. I know where Caine is and I will contact him and Paul Blaisdell." Her eyes lit up with anticipation. "There'll be a BIG bonus in your next paycheck. Thanks for taking the risk for me. I owe you one."

"Who was that and what did she say?" Caine asked as she hung up the phone.

"It was someone I employed to help me find Peter. As I said, I knew that he'd been grabbed and by whom, but I didn't know where they were holding him. I arranged to have someone on the inside. Does the name jack Wong ring any bells?"

Caine nodded his head. "Peter and I defeated his one-time boss, a renegade Shaolin named Tan. He would have taken Peter prisoner in order to make sure that I would have to face him in order to rescue my son."

"I suggest we give Blaisdell a call right now and go after him." She picked up the receiver and dialed the number of the 101^st. Sargent John Broderick answered the phone. "I need to speak to Captain Paul Blaisdell. No, it can't wait. Tell him it's in regards to the disappearance of Detective Peter Caine." A voice told her to remain on the line. A few seconds later, she heard the voice she wanted to hear. " I have information you might find be able to use in rescuing Peter Caine. As in a location. I know where he's being held. I thought so. Meet us at this address." She gave him the address. "I already have a couple of people on the move, so come alone."

She hung up the receiver and moved towards her bedroom. "I need to change into something dark." She handed him a neatly handwritten list of items. "Go into the spare bedroom and get all the items on this list. Don't jostle the nitro, pack it in the container with the warning written in red on it and above all, don't sneeze, or we'll go up in the biggest bang this city will ever see."

**** **** ****

Ten minutes later, after picking up Paul Blaisdell at a coffee shop near the precinct, they were on their way to rendezvous with her people. They all had to work together or Peter would die.

"How did you find out where he's being held?" Blaisdell asked. He had no idea as to who this young woman was or why she was helping them rescue Peter, but he was grateful for her help in locating him. "All our contact on the street turned up nothing."

"You didn't know where to look or the questions to ask," she said. "It also helped that I had someone on the inside spying for me." She pulled her car into a parking lot half a block away from where they were holding Peter. Blaisdell and Caine looked at her curiously. "We walk the rest of the way, unless you want them to kill Peter the moment they spot us."

As they approached the building, they were met by her two teammates. They approached the small group almost silently. She nodded to them.

"He's in a cell on the basement level. Mei Leing said that he's in pretty good shape, but if we don't get him out of there now, Wong's planning to kill him in order to send a message to the kid's father."

She looked over at Caine and saw his pained expression. Willing herself to be calm, she handed him the pack she had brought with her.

"Do not worry, Master Caine. We'll get him out." She turned back to her friend. "See what you two can do in the ways of creating a diversion for us. We need to get in, find and rescue Peter and then get out with a minimal body count."

"Consider it a done deal," he said as he put the pack over his shoulder. "Hope you brought some nitro."

"In the box," she replied dryly. She looked at him seriously, then spoke again as he left. "Be careful and come back in one piece."

"I intend to. You still owe me a steak dinner." He vanished into the night while everyone else made sure that there had been no visible trail left by them.

As they waited, Caine tried to focus on the presence of his son's chi within the building. He had almost established contact with him when they heard a distant explosion. The three of them moved as one towards the building, Caine taking the lead.

"I must go find Peter. As your friend said, he is somewhere in this building's lower levels."

Moving silently through the shadows, Caine tried to avoid the guards as much as he could. Those he couldn't, he quietly took out with short and effective blows. He knew that the others would also be looking for Peter in case he was captured.

Taking out the guard who had startled him, he checked to make sure that he'd not seriously injured the man. He felt the fear and confusion of someone who had no wish to fight him.

"I will not harm you if you take me to my son," he said gently, trying to reassure the man that he would not hurt him if he would do what he'd been asked. "All I want to do is find my son and leave this place."

He nodded as he moved back the way he'd just come. Caine followed a discreet distance behind him, in case of trouble.

**** **** ****

Blaisdell and his companion tried to catch up with Caine before something happened to him and they lost any chance of rescuing Peter. They had to take advantage of what time they had in order to find him.

"We have to find Caine."

"No, we're not going to go off on what could end up a wild goose chase," she stated as she led him by the arm. "Remember, we're on a time schedule. If we're all not out of here by the time my friends set off the nitro, we go up with this building." She saw the look on Blaisdell's face when he realised that she was serious. "I couldn't help Peter before when he really needed someone to take him in. I intend to remedy that little oversight by saving him now."

Blaisdell realised that he had to follow her or risk being left behind when the building exploded. He fell into line behind her and moved as quickly as he could.

**** **** ****

As they approached the room where Wong was holding Peter, Caine felt an intense rush of agony from his son. Obviously, someone had hurt him in the initial kidnapping and the bonds hat held him were doing nothing to help his condition.

'At least he's alive,' Caine thought to himself. 'I have a chance of rescuing my son.'

Walking into the room, he could see Peter bound to the walls with chains. He went to him and had begun to undo the chains that held him when Jack Wong stepped from the shadows into the room.

Neither combatant spoke as each of them assumed a ready stance, Caine's the more relaxed of the two. He had no desire to fight this man, but Wong was giving him no choice if he wanted to free Peter. He would fight only to protect his companions as well as his son.

Wong attacked with a spinning kick that would have taken his head off, if it had made contact. Caine countered the blow with little difficulty. As he kicked, Caine spun and made contact with Wong's chest, landing a blow that made the younger man stagger backwards.

As the two men fought, Blaisdell and the others came into the room. Paul saw Peter chained to the wall and went to free him while Caine fought the man who held him prisoner. After freeing him and making sure that he was alright, Paul drew his pistol and started to fire, but Peter's voice stopped him.

"No, Paul!" He turned to look at his foster son, a confused and stunned look on his face. "He had to do this himself. It's a matter of honor to him."

Blaisdell holstered his sidearm and stood beside the young man he considered to be his son. He had to trust his judgement on this, as he knew nothing about what honor meant to a Shaolin priest. They watched as the two of them continued to fight a silent, but deadly, battle.

Wong attacked again and almost as swiftly, Caine countered and landed a blow that knocked the younger man unconscious. Blaisdell dashed over to where he was lying and handcuffed him. They all looked at each other. Peter thought he should recognise the young woman, but he couldn’t place a name with a face. He also knew that it wasn’t the time to pursue the question if they were to escape in time.

Blaisdell and Caine both took one of Peter’s arms each and helped him through the corridors. The young lady in question knew that they had scant seconds in which to get clear of the building before the nitro went off, so she picked up Wong and carried him out over her shoulder.

"Let’s move it, people. We’re on a tight deadline and if we don’t move, we’re going to join this building."

As they cleared the door, Peter and the others felt the heat from the explosion on their backs as the building exploded. When the explosion died down, everyone picked themselves up off the ground and brushed the dirt off of themselves.

Peter looked at the woman who had rescued him with his fathers. He finally knew where he’d met her before.

"It’s been a while," he said to her.

"Yes, the bomb class in DC," she answered, then smiled at him. "As I recall, you slept through most of it."

Blaisdell and Caine watched as the two of them laughed and began to catch up on old times. The fire trucks arrived five minutes later as did cars from the 101^st Precinct to cart off the suspects to the nearest jail.