The Code of Conduct | I

“P-please…please have mercy!”

For a man who’s wanted on three different continents—

Who’s obtained millions of dollars through coercion, extortion, and smuggling just about all there is to smuggle—

If you take away his guns, his gang, and his power…

You get a man who’s just realized he’s only been playing toy soldiers all along.

“Please! I don’t know who you are, but I can—”

“Guards will be here in five,” Agent 309 urgently warned Agent 108, who was standing over the tied-up man, holding a gun to his temple.

“—pay you more money than you’ve ever even seen before!” The woman with the gun found his plead humorous. As if she could be deterred by money.

“Come on, hurry up!” she heard Agent 206 shout. Without a second to spare, she pulled the trigger.

“Let’s go.”

“It’s done,” she told the General.

General Sosa sat behind his desk, reading one of the dozens of case files that always seemed to occupy the top right-hand corner space of his desk, no matter how many he got through. Despite the lack of eye contact, he nodded to notify that he had heard her.

For the next two minutes and thirty-four seconds, General Sosa did not speak—too engrossed in the file he was currently reading. This was not unusual. In fact, it was a routine occurrence with the General—he was a busy man, after all.

She took the opportunity to gather in her surroundings. The General's office was spacious and decorated monochrome. Aside from his desk, some plants, a leather couch, and a liquor cabinet—the room held very little inside.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched her two team members, both upholding stone-faces in front of the General. She could tell that General Sosa’s presence made them uneasy. Agent 206 hid behind her curtain of red hair, while Agent 309 stood stiff as a board.

She had to admit, he was an intimidating man. Having been a field agent for over thirty years, it was obvious that his experiences had hardened him. However, it was a quality that was necessary if one were to oversee the entire division.

But despite being the head of ORG Sector 1-1776—General Sosa was a patient man; a virtue he had seemingly perfected over the years as an agent. He always thought before he spoke—and only listened if the conversation held importance to him.

He stood towering at six foot three; his neatly combed hair—which, in its previous years, had been jet black—was now thoroughly peppered grey with age. His black suit was crisp and his leather shoes polished, setting an example for all the other agents (it was a mandatory dress code here at headquarters).

Agent 206 had once described the General as “all business, all the time.” The words seemed to fit best when trying to describe him.

He put down the file he had been reading and turned his attention directly at her alone. “I’m giving your team a new assignment. You are to do surveillance on the South Korean gang, the Double Dragon—have you heard of them?”

She nodded, before turning to the girls to explain. “The Double Dragon—known as Ssang Yong Pa in Korean—was founded by Yang Hyunsuk. It is one of the oldest gangs in South Korea, known to be very violent and brutal during the late 1980’s to late 1990’s. Their main territory is Gwangju and their insignia is two dragons curling over each other—each member has this tattooed on their upper arm. However, after a rivalry between another gang led to the death of his wife in 1996, Yang and the Dragons have since been relatively quiet.” If General Sosa was impressed, he showed no signs of it. Not that he should have been—it was her duty as the leader of her team to do her ‘homework.’

“It seems they’ve recently come out of retirement.” General Sosa placed the file in front of him. She picked up the folder and began skimming it as he continued.

“In a span of eight days, Yang Hyunsuk has been spotted meeting with Yakuza leader Tsukasa Shinobu in Japan, Triad boss Won Lun Fat in China, Solntsevskaya Bratva founder Sergei Mikhailov in Russia, and Cosa Nostra’s godfather Matteo Messina Denaro in Italy.

“Now, it’s not every day that the biggest mob bosses in the world would give a small-time gang leader like Yang the time of day. But word is, Yang’s somehow got a hold of something valuable enough to garner the underground society’s attention.”

Agent 108 handed the folder down to Agent 206 and turned her attention back onto the General.

“Since those meetings, crime has skyrocketed in all four underground societies—most likely trying to garner up enough revenue to outbid each other for whatever’s in Yang’s possession. I need y