Buddha exchange

Lily Ah Sun often received 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 some kind of crackseed goodies for Elizabeth. She peeked through the window, saw the familiar brown truck.

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.

He dropped the two brown envelopes in his other hand, revealing a black knife with 4-inch blade.

From inside, Lily and Rosalita Resurreccion screamed.

Lu Wi began dragging Elizabeth toward the truck.

"Hold it! Police!" two male voices shouted.

Lu Wi could almost feel them pointing pistols at his back. He kept moving, just feet now to the truck.

"I believe it's me who you really want," a male voice called. "Take me instead."

The girl in one hand, knife in the other, Lu Wi whirled and saw a young man dressed in saffron and crimson robes, his shaved head glowing.

"I am the second Lama Jey Tsong Khapa. If you are with Te-Wu, I am the one your superiors in Beijing want dead. Let the child go and I will gladly come with you."

Lu Wi's head was spinning. Yes, the lama had been Te-Wu's primary target. He was the one whose teachings posed a threat to the Motherland. If he could kill the lama, his superiors would have to promote him to be a regular agent.

He beckoned with the knife for the lama to come closer.

"Your holiness, no!" Quinn Ah Sun shouted, pointing a pistol at Lu Wi.

"Please, Jey, stop!" the lama's eternal consort, Bodhicita Guzman, called, knowing he was doing the only thing a Buddha could do.

The lama held up a hand to silence the others, stepped to within inches of Lu Wi. He reached out, took Lu Wi's hand off of Elizabeth's arm, placed it on his own.

Elizabeth ran crying to her mother.

"Where are we going?" the lama said, sounding excited about taking a trip. "Well, wherever it is, let's go!"

The young lama's placidness threw Lu Wi off for a moment. Besides, he was making this up as he went. He hadn't thought of where they were going.

He turned toward the door, too late saw the foot just before it crashed into his nose, knocking him down.

Steven, wearing only BVDs, mouth taped and hands taped behind him, leaped from the door, landed knee-first on Lu Wi's chest. Lu Wi dropped the knife.