Kermit looked around. "You two can wait until he comes back from his lunch break if you want. There's someone here I've been meaning to meet. If you'll excuse me..." With that, he wandered off into the general confusion.
Peter indicated the chair in front of the desk and offered it to his father. "Would you like to sit? We don't know how long a wait it will be."
"No, thank you," Caine declined with a small shake of his head. "I am fine."
Just then they heard a voice raised above the background hubbub. "Benny, will you please tell that animal he is not getting any of my sandwich?"
They turned toward the sound in time to catch the soft-voiced reply. "I'm sorry, Ray. I've tried discussing the problem with him, but old habits are hard to break."
The speakers came into view as they approached the desk, a slender man in a bright blue and green silk shirt and, following him, a man wearing the full dress uniform of an RCMP officer, complete with hat. Alongside the two trotted a large, white dog, which, upon closer inspection, appeared to be more of a wolf.
The first man plopped into the chair behind the desk, carefully holding a wrapped sandwich out of the wolf's reach. He looked up at the visitors. "Can I help you?"
"You must be Detective Vecchio." Peter pulled out his ID briefly. "I'm Detective Peter Caine, and this is my father, Kwai Chang Caine. You called me in to help on the Bon Bon Hai case."
The Chicago cop looked back and forth between them. "I was advised to ask for you and your computer specialist, Griffin. Why is--"
Peter knew what the question would be before Ray uttered the rest of the words and decided to set him straight right away. "Griffin is here; he's looking up a contact at the moment and will join us later. My father is an expert on various Chinese matters and Bon Bon Hai in particular."
The Mountie frowned in concentration. "Kwai Chang Caine," he murmured. "You wouldn't by chance be related to...?" He shook his head before receiving an answer. "No. Never mind."
Caine looked at him quizzically. "Related to whom?"
"When my grandparents were in China they heard a tale of a man with the same name. A priest who moved to America after committing a crime."
Caine gave a slight nod. "My grandfather."
"Oh." The Mountie widened his eyes. He and Ray exchanged glances. "Oh, I see." He made a fist, covered it with his other hand, and bowed. "Constable Benton Fraser," he introduced himself. When the animal beside him whined, he added, "And this is my wolf, Diefenbaker."
"Your what?" Peter exclaimed, astonished that he had guessed correctly.
The wolf barked a greeting. Caine looked surprised, then smiled, his eyes lighting. "It is an honor to meet you, as well."
Ray cleared his throat. "This is all very nice, but can we get down to business? We can socialize later." He focused on Peter. "I've got a restaurant owner in Chinatown who's scared to death because he claims this Bon Bon Hai character is hanging around. This man is a friend of mine and I know for a fact that he doesn't scare easily. Now, I want to hear what is so dangerous about your guy and why I was instructed not to bring him in."
Peter looked over at his father, but the Shaolin had gotten deeply into a Chinese conversation with Constable Fraser. He sat down on the empty chair in front of Ray's desk and tried to decide how much of the truth to tell. Ray watched him expectantly.
Peter took a deep breath and began. "Bon Bon Hai is a master of an aggressive branch of martial arts. He has no compunctions about killing. He...believes...he has been chosen by a creature of evil known as the Dark Warrior to spread its influence over the earth."
Detective Vecchio rubbed his eyes. "Great. A nutcase. But he's new in town, doesn't have a large following; he should be easy to nab. Why all the warning lights? To put it bluntly, why do we need you? Because, to be honest, I've had bad experiences with outsiders taking over my cases."
Peter considered his next words carefully. He didn't want to be less open than the other officer was being with him, but he also didn't want to scare Ray off before he saw for himself the things of which his adversary was capable. "He has"--powers--"well-honed abilities. My father and I have special training to handle people with these kinds of talents. He could take unprepared policemen by surprise. We didn't want to see anyone hurt."
Ray leaned forward, hands flat on his desk, sandwich forgotten. "All right then. Prepare me."