Time Is Running Out

A clock was ticking somewhere. The ticking had a weighty, clickety sound to it. Tick, tick. Tick, tick. It was loud, evenly paced. Incessant. Counting down the seconds to…

"Five minutes."

Yao strained against his bonds again, bit his lip as he twisted his shoulder wrong. A numbing pain bloomed where he had wrenched at a muscle. He went limp. Shut his eyes. Willed for the pain to subside.

"One would imagine you aren't enjoying my… hospitality."

The room was dark, but he could almost see that manic smile lighting up his captor's face.

"Ivan, you can't do this," Yao said with a new, panicked urgency. "You can't do this. There are innocent people in there, do you hear me? You can't do this!"

Ivan let out a childish little giggle that, coming from a man of his stature, sounded slightly unhinged.

"No-one is innocent in there," he said with bitter conviction. Yao decided to change tack.

"Just let me go, Ivan. I will fetch the entire force of the Shanghai Municipal Police, and I promise you, I swear to you, we will crush every one of th-"

Ivan cut him off with a sudden kiss. It was hard and bruising, and left him no air; no escape. When he tried to turn away, Ivan wrenched at his hair and he cried out before he could check himself, giving Ivan the perfect opportunity to plunder in with his tongue. He swallowed another cry as Ivan took from him, stayed as still as possible even as his muscles strained against the hemp rope keeping him bound to the chair. He tried to ignore the wet, slurping sounds that filled the room, and the hand releasing its hold of his hair to gently cup the side of his face.

When Ivan finally pulled back, he took a gulp of air and tried to ignore the saliva trickling down his chin. Ivan's hand was sliding to the back of his neck, fingers feeling the rough edges of his short hair.

"You cut your hair," he said with what sounded like regret.

He drew away and walked towards the grand window, rested a hand on the window sill as he gazed at the building opposite. It was packed with explosives, set to go off in…

"Four minutes," Ivan provided helpfully, as Yao continued to draw in gasping breaths.

The ticking came back louder than ever. Tick, tick. Tick, tick.

A hush fell over them; calm and contemplative on Ivan, horrified on Yao who was wracking his brains for something, anything, that could persuade Ivan to call things off.

"You know," Ivan said. Yao glanced up to where he stood at the window, a dark, solitary figure limned in moonlight. "I have been waiting for this night since… as far as I can remember."

The silence now hung heavy. Then…

"Three minutes."

Yao was close to giving up.

"Look. I know I can't change your mind whatever I say." He thought he could hear Ivan shift closer. His heart was beginning to race. "I-I won't try to change your mind, anymore. Just – could you untie me? It's uncomfortable. I, uh, I promise, I won't run away."

Ivan cocked his head to one side, as if seriously considering his request.

"…You know you have a habit of hesitating with your words when you're lying?"

Yao cursed silently to himself.

"Two minutes," Ivan said on a small laugh.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang. Ivan stiffened. Somebody had entered their building and the bang must have been the door; they could hear his clomping footsteps around the first floor.

"Detective Inspector, are you in here?"

It was Arthur Kirkland, the British officer they had tagged on him for the case, and Yao had never been so glad to hear his voice – or so afraid. Ivan's hand clamped around his mouth from behind him before he could answer. There was a click, and Yao saw from the corner of his eyes the muzzle of his .32 Colt.

"Not a sound," Ivan said warningly.

"Detective Inspector?" He sounded closer.

The silence ticked by excruciatingly slowly. Then they heard the creak of wood as Arthur Kirkland began ascending the stairs.

Ivan's grip tightened around the Colt.

Deciding he would rather risk himself than see another one of his partners gunned down, Yao bit Ivan's hand and twisted out of his grip to yell, "Kirkland, he's got a gun! Get away and warn headquarters tha-"

He accidentally bit his tongue as the butt of the Colt slammed to the side of his head. Blood pooled in his mouth as the world around him exploded into a roar of white noise.

"Not another step."

It took some effort for his vision to swim back into focus. Arthur Kirkland was standing at the doorway, frozen with his own gun out, and Yao wanted to shake him for being such a colossal idiot at a time like this.

"Drop your weapon."

Arthur obeyed immediately. Yao briefly wondered why before he felt the Colt piece jabbing into the side of his head, right where he had been hit. He hissed from the pain.

He could tell Ivan wasn't smiling anymore.

How much time was left?

"Mr Kirkland, was it? Well, Mr Kirkland, here's what you will do. You will leave this building quietly. You will not make a fuss. You will go straight to your superiors at headquarters, just as our Detective Inspector wishes, and you will tell them not to look for us in the eventuality of… a building exploding with all members of the Tongs inside."

Arthur's eyes widened at that, flicked out of the window.

"Now leave." The tone of his voice left no room for argument, and the Colt squeezed harder against Yao's temple. Arthur took a couple of steps backwards, stumbled, and then he turned around and was gone. They heard him race down the stairs and exit the building with another bang of the door.

"We have less than a minute now."

Ivan drew the Colt away, and Yao let out a breath he hadn't know he had been holding.

"What will you do after this?" he asked in spite of himself. Ivan gave a dark chuckle.

"Why, have you truly given up, Detective Inspector?"

Entry for Day 6 of the 30 Days Of Writing A Drabble A Day Challenge.