Jason and Jules stepped out into the hallway. Jules dropped the phone in his pocket and glanced around the hallway. “You didn’t pack your guns?” asked Jason.
“Of course not. This is a diplomatic mission, isn’t it?”
Jason raised an eyebrow. “Then why did you just unlock the door?”
Jules grinned, “Because I know how much you like to be cooped up.”
“You’re going to blame me?”
“Okay, so I didn’t want to stay cooped up, either.”
Jason chuckled. They walked down the hall, and the elevator at the other end dinged. There was no where for them to go, so Jason decided to just face whoever was coming out of the elevator head-on. Moments after the ding, the doors opened, and a group of about eight kids, ranging from pre-tween to teen, stepped out of the elevator. They wore a uniform that looked like a gym kit – red shorts, white A-shirts, white sneakers. They were laughing and smiling, stepping off the elevator. Two of them turned in their direction, and their smiles disappeared from their faces.
One of them, a tween girl, looked in their direction and hit someone else. The hit went down the line, and soon all eight of them were staring at them. Jules stepped out from behind Jason. He smiled and spread his hands in the universal gesture of peace. “Hi,” he said. “I’m Holder, and this is Fold.”
Someone whispered something. The tween who looked at them, said in a piping voice, “I am Huai,” she said. She smiled and stepped forward. She held out her hand.
Jules took the hint and shook her hand. Jason watched the other kids. She bowed slightly, and Jules did the same. Said tall, broad boy, “You are the Americans.”
“Yes,” said Jules, releasing Huai’s hand. “We thought we’d take a look around.”
One of the youngest boys said something, and the group looked down the other hallways. “We have to go,” said Huai. “We are later to meet you.”
The youngest boy snapped something at the group, and they all started to separate down the hallways, glancing back at Jules and Fold, who remained in the elevator foyer. They went into different rooms.
“That was strange,” said Jules.
“They probably can’t stay out with us.”
Jules shrugged. He pressed his thumb against the elevator door panel. The doors opened. Both of them stepped inside. The numbers were in Chinese, except for a few floors with regular numbers on the buttons. However, as soon as the doors closed, the elevator started moving down.
“Shit,” spat Jules, pressing the button for the 34th floor. They watched as the lights lit up on 34, and kept on going down.
“Shit,” said Jules again, and Jason’s heartrate kicked up a notch, watching the lights go down. Then, they stopped, and the doors slid open.
Three men in dark suits stood on the other side of the doors, their stance wide and their arms crossed, their eyes glinting like flint. Jules gave them a weak smile and said, “Sorry, wrong floor.” He tried to press the button to close the doors.
The three men stepped inside and grabbed Jules first. Jason struck out and chopped his hand onto the man’s wrist. The man let go of Jules, but the two men reached for Jason. Jules jumped back into a corner of the elevator as Jason whirled his arm and hit another man in the neck. He kicked out, striking another man in the knee, buckling it.
One of the men pulled out a gun, and Fold struck the gun, sending it spiraling in the air. Jules reached out and caught it, expertly pointing it at the man who get hit in the neck, and was going after Jason again. The man saw the gun and stopped.
The two of them heard someone clapping slowly. Jason looked up to see a Chinese man in a white suit, He had sunglasses, and a small, thin mustache and short black hair cut tastefully. He was also much more tanned than Bau. He stepped forward, saying something to the men.
They stepped back, and Jules trained the gun on the man in the white suit. “We’re going back upstairs now,” he said.
“No, I think you’ll stay here.”
Jules loaded a round in the chamber. “Say again?”
“You don’t have the guts to shoot an unarmed man.”
Jules stood next to Jason. “I don’t.” He handed the gun to Jason. “But he does.”
