CHAPTER EVELEN

MoT: Moment of Truth

Vietnam

“Are you sure we shouldn’t go look for them?”  Taeil asked P.O again.  They had been the first to reach the meeting point and it was long past the time they had agreed to meet there.

“It’s expected that everyone is running a little late,” P.O explained.  “We ran into some difficulties we hadn’t planned on.”  Difficulties meaning men with guns and the desire to trade them in for money.  “Give it another hour and we’ll go check on them.”  What he didn’t say was that he really didn’t want to go back there.

Taeil was going to say something else when movement in the direction of the stairwell caught their attention.  The breath he had been holding came out in a whoosh when Jaehyo and Kyung appeared.  “You guys alright?”  He asked as they walked around the pond in the center of the small roof to join them.

“Yeah, we’re good,” Jaehyo said.  He and P.O gripped hands in greeting as Kyung and Taeil did the same.  “Any word on Zico and B-Bomb?” 

They shrugged.  “They were alive the last time we saw them if that’s what you mean,” P.O said.

“Weren’t you two supposed to meet up with U-Kwon?” Taeil asked.  “Where is he?” 

It was Jaehyo’s turn to shrug.  “Alive,” he said, borrowing P.O’s vague response.  “I’ve got the case Zico gave me.   What’s in it?  Cash or diamonds?”

“You have the cash,” P.O said.  “We handed the diamonds off to Kyung.”

“You trusted Kyung with the diamonds?” Jaehyo asked, his jaw slack.  “Never mind.” He held up a hand when P.O opened his mouth to reply.  “Both cases got here that’s what matters.”

“We should open them,” Kyung suggested.  “Just to make sure.”

“No,” P.O argued.  “We wait to make sure everyone is safe before checking the prize.  Has it been so long since the last job that you’ve forgotten what bad luck it is to do it the other way?”

“Like we could possibly have more bad luck on this job,” Taeil said.  “I’m starting to think coming here at all was bad luck.”

Ignoring the talk, Jaehyo walked over to the railing and looked down at the street below.  He thought U-Kwon would have been right behind them. 

More footsteps on the stairs had them all looking that direction again.  Zico and B-Bomb jogged across the roof to join them.  He looked from the case Jaehyo carried to the case Kyung held in his hands.  Both cases had got here safely.  “Where’s U-Kwon?” He asked as he looked around and gazed at each member of his crew. 

“On his way,” Jaehyo said.

Zico’s eyebrows rose.  “On his own?  Who was supposed to meet up with him?  I specifically said no one goes alone!”

“We ran into a bit of trouble,” Kyung explained hesitantly.  “U-Kwon said he would take care of it and catch up to us.”

“Then where is he now?”

“I’m right here,” U-Kwon called out, rounding the pond.  Everyone turned to look at him and slowly took in the bloody lip, bloody cut on his cheek, the ripped clothes, and the way he walked favoring his right leg. 

“Are you okay?” B-Bomb asked and hurried to him.  “I knew I should have brought my med kit,” he added under his breath.

“I’m fine,” U-Kwon assured him and waved him off.  “If we’re all here, let’s check the prizes and get out of this country.”

Zico was silent for a moment.  But when U-Kwon met his eyes and gave a small nod, Zico turned to Kyung.  “Any problems?” Zico asked as he took the case from him and turned to set it on the edge of the pond. 

“Nope,” Kyung said rubbing his hands together.  “They were perfectly safe in my hands.”

Zico smiled a little as he bent over the case and his crew gathered around him.  He lifted the latches and went to unlatch the third that Taeil had found that morning.  “Taeil,” Zico said.  “The case we opened earlier had a trick third lock, right?”

“Yeah, right there in the middle.”

“This case doesn’t have one,” Zico told him.  Everyone froze.  “This isn’t the case with my diamonds.”

Zico lifted up the lid to reveal a case similarly lined with red velvet but empty of sparkling diamonds.  He threw the case to the ground and Kyung.  “Perfectly safe in your hands, huh?  What the hell happened to my diamonds?!”

“And here I was hoping to avoid nasty Zico today,” U-Kwon muttered behind him. 

“What was that?”  The sound of a gun cocking was loud in the sudden silence. 

1 Hour After Zico’s Flip Out

U-Kwon was the first to approach Zico once again.  As the adrenaline junkie of the crew, it was fitting that he be the first to enter the potentially hazardous situation.  And the remaining crew members agreed that if Zico would take pity on anyone, he would take pity on the guy that had already been beaten up that day. 

U-Kwon deliberately made noise as he walked around the pond so he wouldn’t startle Zico and stopped just out of arms reach of where Zico sat on the edge of the pond.  Better safe than sorry.  He really didn’t want to be beaten up again.  He kept one eye on the gun hanging from his right hand but was more interested in the piece of paper Zico held in his left.  The fake case lay at Zico’s feet, open with the decoration torn out. 

“Was that in the case?” U-Kwon asked quietly. 

Zico smiled.  “The job isn’t over yet,” he said.  “There’s one more person who wants to mess with us.” 

“What’s it say?” 

“To meet at an abandoned bar by the docks at sunset if we want the diamonds back.”

“No other demands?  Think they want a trade?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Zico said as he stood.  “They’re all going down anyways.”

U-Kwon nodded.  “Did we ever have the diamonds at all?”  He asked.

Zico nodded.  “I verified that they were there when I met up with Taeil.  The case didn’t leave my sight until we split and Taeil took it with P.O.”

“And they passed it off to Kyung who brought it here,” U-Kwon filled in the gap.  “Somewhere in there, someone switched out the cases.  They took the diamonds and left us with a note.  Someone went to a lot of trouble to get us to that bar.  Why wouldn’t they just take the diamonds and leave us wondering what happened?”

Zico ruffled his hair.  “Who cares?  Let’s gather everyone and get back to the boat.  We need to gather our supplies before we hit this bar at sunset and take back my diamonds.”

Zico was ready to do anything at this point.  Failure was not an option on this mission.  Not after he screwed everything up on the last Vietnam mission.