You’re not Steven

Lu Wi had become a desperate man. Desperate men, of course, do desperate things. Sometimes heroically desperate, sometimes stupidly desperate. Time would soon tell for Lu Wi.

Using his one weapon, a black knife with 4-inch blade, he surprised a UPS carrier as he returned to his truck -- it was a nice neighborhood, he'd only be out of the truck for a minute, and didn't bother closing the door.

The driver, Steven Nakamura, kept a roll of packaging tape in the truck, and with the knife to the driver's throat Lu Wi taped his mouth shut.

"Now, take off your clothes," Lu Wi said.

It came out, Tay ah yo clo.

"What?" the driver said.

It came out, through his nose, Wpt.

Lu Wi unbuttoned the top button on the brown shirt, with the knife pointed to the others, began taking off his own clothes.

The driver followed suit, so to speak.

Once the driver was out of his browns, Lu Wi taped his hands behind his back and pushed him to the back of the truck.

With the brown uniform on, Lu Wi was ready to strike.

He drove a few blocks to the house where he'd seen the newest living Buddha, a brown-skinned girl of 9 or 10 whose head glowed.

He wanted also to kill the second Lama Jey Tsong Khapa -- that was Te-Wu's assignment from Beijing until the other eight members were arrested --Ê but didn't know where he was. He knew where the girl was. Perhaps if he just killed the girl, that would show his superiors that he could be a real agent too, not just a house boy.

Turning the corner, Lu Wi was surprised to see a car parked in the driveway and a van parked in front of it on the street. They had guests, apparently. Perhaps the lama was among them.

Lu Wi parked the truck behind the van. He picked two cardboard envelopes from the shelf of packages to be delivered, slipped the knife between them, straightened his uniform.

He rang the doorbell, opened the screen door, clutched the knife.

He saw the curtain covering the front window being pulled back a couple of inches. Inside he heard a child's voice: "It's Steven with some packages for you, Auntie Lily."

Lily Ah Sun did receive business deliveries for Ola Essences and the Honolulu Soap Co. at home, and they had gotten to know the regular delivery guy, who always brought crackseed goodies for Elizabeth.

The door flew open.

"Hold on, Elizabeth!" a male voice said. "Don't op ... "

She opened the door.

"Oh, you're not Steven," she said, sounding disappointed, just before he grabbed her arm with his free hand.