CHAPTER ONE

5 Hours Before MoT

Vietnam

Zico nodded his head at Mimi and then took a seat at the salon’s single chair as she bowed back.  Mimi’s salon was situated in a small alcove off one of the big building’s many hallways.  Her business was one of the many that catered only to the employees that worked in the within the compound. 

Mimi stepped up beside the chair.  “You’re later than I expected,” she said quietly.  She turned to the table against the wall under the mirror and took a damp washcloth from a bowel.  “I hope you were able to complete everything on your end properly?”

 Zico scoffed.  “Of course.”  He smacked his gum and relaxed into the chair.  He propped a foot up against the table and the other on the edge of Mimi’s stool.  His eyes never stopped wandering the small space. 

Mimi rolled her eyes.  “This cloth is to put over your eyes,” she told him.  “It has been soaked in water with herbs and is good for the skin around your eyes.”  She leaned close and laid the folded cloth over his eyes.  “It will also keep anyone who passes by from recognizing you,” she added softly. 

Zico smirked.  “You think of everything, Mimi.”  Mimi wasn’t her real name.  In fact, Zico wasn’t sure he knew her real name.  But he had never called her anything else.

Zico could now see absolutely nothing, but he kept his ears sharp.  The small fan buzzed loud on the table in front of him.  Vietnamese music played from an ancient boom box behind him.  He could barely make out the loud voices of the children that played on the street three stories down from the open window to his left. 

He continued to listen closely as Mimi shuffled bottles around on the table until she found the one she wanted.  Her small stool scratched against the cement floor as she dragged it closer to him and took one of his hands in hers.  The smell of the lotion she had chosen hit him like a punch to the gut.

“Flowers, Mimi?!”  He hissed at her.  “My hands are going to smell like that lotion for the rest of the day!  Do you have any idea what this is going to do to my image?!”

“I thought the Rose and Lavender scent was fitting.”  Zico could hear the smile in her voice.  She began to slowly massage the lotion into his hand.  “It matches your clothes.” She was referring to the floral patterned trench coat he had chosen to wear for this mission. 

“Wearing flowers is completely different from smelling like them,” was the only retort he could come up with.

“Despite the fact that you took longer this morning than I expected, everything is going as planned,” Mimi said, ignoring his complaint.  She spoke just loud enough for Zico to hear her over the other noises in the room.  “The package is on route.  Assuming that the original recipient of the package won’t be showing up-?”  She trailed off and waited for his confirmation.

Zico smirked again and remembered the wonderful sight of said original recipient bound and gagged in a closet before Zico shut the door on him.  The bugger had put up a good fight, resulting in Zico being later than planned, but he still hadn’t been a match for Zico.  “He won’t be causing any problems anytime soon.”

“You won’t have any problems posing as him.  The deliverer isn’t from Vietnam, so he shouldn’t recognize you.  He has been ordered to simply prove what he carries is the real deal and then leave it here.  I’m not to be a part of the transaction so you have to make sure to send me away.”

Zico said nothing and continued to smack his gum.  Mimi glared at him and although he couldn’t see it, he felt the change in pressure as her fingers dug into his hand.

“They’re here,” she said. 

He could hear the footsteps on the cement hallway.  Two people – men.  Probably heavy men given the weight of their steps. 

Zico lifted his head slightly at the sound of latches clicking open.  Click, click, click. 

Without a word, he raised his hand and pointed to the washcloth Mimi had put on his eyes.  She stood and removed it, allowing him to sit up.

Mimi rubbed at his shoulder and leaned in close to whisper in his ear.  “Be careful,” she said.  “Now send me away, I’m not supposed to-“

Zico lifted a hand to cut her off.  “Leave,” he ordered, loud and harsh. 

Mimi let none of her anger show on her face and simply walked to a room further down the hall.  Once she was out of sight, Zico leaned closer to the mirror in front of him.  In it, he watched the guy dressed in a suit behind Zico’s chair bend to turn an opened briefcase on the end table before him.  Zico could clearly see his prize resting in a display of red velvet. 

Pleased with how easy this had all turned out to be, Zico smirked and leaned back in his chair.  Folding his hands behind his head, he addressed the two men that had brought it.  “I’ll take it from here, men,” he said.  “You’re free to go.”

“Our payment-“ One of them started, but Zico cut him off.

“Yeah, yeah,” Zico waved a hand.  “You’ll get it.  You don’t think PD Tran would ever go back on his word, do you?”  Zico caught his eye in the mirror. 

The men closed the briefcase and latched it again before they turned and left down the hall they had come from. 

Zico sat forward and watched them leave and then shifted his gaze to look at himself in the mirror.  He had colored his hair again the same light-pink/ blonde so it matched the color of his hair on the wanted poster beside the mirror.  Except this time he had added dreads of the same color.  But it was his eyes he focused on now.  One was the normal dark brown, but the other was an eerie light blue – almost white. 

He grinned to himself and wondered why it had been so long since they last had pulled off a job. 

 “Mimi, you there?”  Zico called out as he stood to grab the briefcase. 

“I really hope you know what you’re doing, Zico,” Mimi said.  Zico turned to see her leaning against the wall, arms folded over her stomach. 

Zico held his hands out wide, one of them holding the handle of the case.  “Baby, I’m the leader of Block B,” he said with a smirk.  “I always know what I’m doing.”

Mimi snorted and unfolded her arms. 

“I really wish you’d let us pay you for helping us this time,” Zico added, dropping his arms.

“Pissing PD Tran off is enough of a payment,” Mimi said.  “We’ll all be glad when he’s gone.”

Zico stepped forward and wrapped an arm around her waist and tugged her to him.  Before she could protest, he pressed a quick kiss to her cheek.  “You are the best, sweetheart.”

Without another word he took off down the hall.  Mimi watched him go with a hand pressed to her cheek.  “He’s going to get himself killed one of these days,” she said with a sigh.  “Leader of Block B, yeah right.”  With a smile, she turned and picked up the phone.