The Adventures of the Jade
Dragon
Episode
7
The Black Leopard’s
Triumph
Chapter
8
Zhuang Zhijian’s
Displeasure
Zhuang Zhijian shifted his massive
bulk as he reached for another pineapple chicken
ball. It was the twentieth one
he had eaten in the last hour.
Eating was his greatest pleasure.
He enjoyed it even more than sex.
He chewed slowly and then carefully wiped the sticky sauce from his
fat lips. “We have to do
something about the Black Leopard,” he
said. “This last caper of
hers is not only irritating, it could be
costly.”
Robert Chen,
Zhuang’s second in command,
nodded. “Yes, we now have
every heroine in
“Genius perhaps, annoying most certainly,” replied
Zhuang.
“The question is, what are we going
to do about it? Our operations
have been brought to a standstill while these pesky superheroines harass
us at every opportunity. The
problem is they think we have something that we do not
possess. If we actually had the
Jade Dragon and Scorpion, we could use them as bargaining chips, but we have
no leverage against these bothersome
women. I think it is time we
took the Black Leopard in hand.”
“And how do we do that?” asked
Chen. “She is not exactly
the most cooperative of women.”
“I have found out something about her operation that may give us an
edge. Here is what we must
do…
The Black Leopard kept well out of sight.
She had no intention of blundering into a
trap. Before committing herself
she wanted to make sure the offer was
genuine. She would let Tiger
make the initial contact. She
would wait until she was sure that no ambush was
intended.
She had chosen the place of the meeting
carefully. From her vantage point
in the bell tower of the church she could see everything below her, and at
the same time remain hidden from the
street. She watched as Tiger
crossed the square from the other side.
That little bit of misdirection should distract any potential ambushers
from her real location. Tiger
was almost to the appointed spot now.
She was carrying a few of the photographs of the Black Leopard and
Scorpion that had been taken while the two helpless women were
“entertained.” Of course,
she had made sure that their faces were
obscured. She wanted to whet
the appetite of any potential buyer, not give away valuable
merchandise.
From a parked car close to the centre of the square a man got
out. He crossed to where Tiger
was waiting. They were too far
away for her to hear what was being said, but Tiger gave no sign of
alarm. The girl was to fold her
arms if she was in danger or there was any hint of a
trap. The man took the photographs
out of the envelope and studied them.
Li Mei muttered a
curse. Perhaps she should have
picked a hiding place closer to the
transaction. It was impossible
to tell whether or not the man was
impressed. She hoped he
was. He was a buyer of pornography
for a large international syndicate.
If he liked what he saw, the sale of the films and photographs of
the Jade Dragon’s humiliation would be worth a
fortune. She might even be able
to give up crime and live a life of ease.
She smiled. How ironic
that the haughty heroine who had given her so much trouble would be the source
of her greatest triumph as a criminal.
“Mmmmm,” she murmured in
satisfaction. Tiger was leaving
the square. That was as it was
supposed to be. It meant that
contact had been established with a
buyer. Soon she would be wealthy
beyond anything she had hoped for.
She moved quietly toward the staircase leading to the bottom of the bell
tower. It was time to rendezvous
with the other Pussies and start mass producing the films and photographs
of the two captive heroines. She
moved down the stairs in absolute
silence. She was, after all,
a cat and could move like one when she
chose. Reaching the tower floor
she quietly eased the door open.
The iron hinges squeaked a little.
“Should have oiled them,” she
thought. “I’m getting
careless.” A car door slammed,
and she turned her head toward the sound.
She never saw the blackjack that came down on her
head.
The Black Leopard groaned and opened her
eyes. Her head felt at if someone
was pounding it with a hammer. She
raised her arm to touch her head, or rather she tried
to. Her eyes widened even
more. She was tied up, her wrists
lashed behind her. She tried
to move and found that she was sitting in a
chair. Rope bound each ankle
to a leg of the chair and other ropes secured her to the
seat. Still other ropes crisscrossed
her chest, binding her to the back of the
chair.
“How is the head, Black
Leopard?” The voice came
from her right and she jerked her heads in that
direction. Instantly pain reminded
her that moving her head so suddenly was not a good idea.
“Ah,” said Zhuang
Zhijian, “I see that it still
hurts. I told my men to treat
you gently but to make sure that they captured
you. I see they erred on the
side of caution and hit you a bit too hard.”
Li Mei recognized the Chinese
crimelord even through they had never
met. His immense bulk was
unmistakable. There could not
be two oriental criminals in
Zhuang Zhijian shifted in his specially
constructed chair. “Release
you after all the trouble you have caused me and all the effort I put into
capturing you? Do you know how
many men I had to send out to make sure that every part of that church square
was covered? Over a
hundred. You are not an easy
woman to trap. I think I shall
keep you for awhile.”
The Black Leopard convulsed
as she struggled to break free of her
bonds. “Let me go you fat
son-of-a-bitch,” she shrieked.
“Let me go or I’ll make you sorry you were ever
born.”
“Oh, such language out of such a pretty mouth,” replied
Zhuang
Zhijian.
“I may let you go, but not until you have answered a few questions
and I have had a bit of fun with you.” He smiled, his fat lips parting
to reveal uneven teeth. He snapped
his fingers and from behind Li Mei two men moved
forward. She had not even realized
they were there.
“What are you going to do?” she
asked. She was less hostile now,
realizing that she was totally at the mercy of one of
“Well, first I am going to find out where all those wonderful films
and pictures you took of the Jade Dragon and Scorpion are
stored. Then perhaps I shall
see if you have anything more to offer.”
“I will tell you nothing,” Li Mei
said. “Those films and
photographs are mine. I worked
hard to get them and I do not intend to share them with you or anyone
else.”
“I am a patient man,” said Zhuang
Zhijian.
“We shall find out how much you are willing to
reveal.” He nodded to his
henchmen.
Li Mei gasped as her cowl was pulled from her head,
releasing her glorious man of shining black
hair. Then she let out a yelp
as a black bag was pulled over her head, enclosing her in stifling
darkness. “No,” she
protested. But her shout was
muffled in the folds of the bag.
“Bastard, I can’t
breathe.”
Zhuang Zhijian
sat back to watch. Already the
Black Leopard was quite entertaining.
Li Mei shook her
head as the cords around the opening of the bag were tightened, securing
it over her head. She experienced
a moment of panic as she felt like she was suffocating, but she got herself
under control. She was the Black
Leopard. She would act like the
archvillainess that she
was. The ropes binding her to
the chair were being untied. If
she could just get her feet loose she might be able to catch her captors
by surprise. She was a superb
martial artist and her hands and feet were deadly weapons.
But she was afforded no such opportunity.
Instead she was untied from the chair and then picked up by the two
men who had untied her, but not before they had lashed her thighs
together.
She wondered what they were going to do with
her. She had not taken much notice
of the rest of the room. It had
been difficult to look around lashed to the chair as she
was. She only knew that they
were carrying her somewhere.
They set her on her feet, one man maintaining a tight grip on her to keep
her from falling. Her hands were
being untied, but now a third pair of hands laid hold of her to make sure
that she did not strike out as she was
freed. Not that she would have
had any idea of which way to strike with the bag over her
head.
Her wrist were now untied, but both her arms were
held. As she struggled to break
loose they were pulled out to the side.
Each wrist was still bound with a length of
rope. She felt this rope tighten
as her captors pulled on it, pulling her arms straight out from her
body. She did not like the way
things were happening.
“Zhuang
Zhijian!” she
shouted. “Let me
go. We can make a
deal. I’ll cut you in for
a share of the pictures.”
“That’s fine, Black Leopard,” came the reply, “but I
want all of them.”
“You stinking tub of lard,” she screamed in
outrage. “Those pictures
are mine!”
Zhuang Zhijian’s only reply
was a cruel laugh. He was obviously
enjoying her humiliation. Her
arms were stretched tight now, bound to a wooden post on either side of
her. And now her legs were being
untied. Her boots were removed
and ropes tied to each ankle. Then
her legs were spread as the ropes were lashed to the bottoms of each of the
posts. She could hardly have
been more helpless.
Li Mei was much more ready to bargain
now.
“Zhuang
Zhijian,” I’ll tell you
what. You can have half of the
profits. You won’t even
half to do any work. I’ll
sell the pictures and give you 50% of the profits.”
“Very generous, I’m sure, Black
Leopard. But I’ve already
told you that I intend to settle for nothing less than
100%.”
“Are you mad, you fat cretin?”
Why should I give you 100%?”
“I can think of a few reasons,” Zhuang
Zhijian replied calmly, “and one of them is
someone I want you to meet.”
The Black Leopard gasped in relief as the confining hood was removed from
her head. And then she gasped
again when she saw the woman who stood in front of
her. A chill ran through
her. What had she gotten herself
into?
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