CHAPTER TWELVE

3 Years Ago

The Night Before the First Vietnam Job

Zico pulled himself onto the ledge of the open window and slipped inside, closing the shutters behind him.  The rooms only light came from a floor lamp in the far corner casting shadows across the rooms.  Soft Vietnamese music played from a boom box in the corner.  The owner of the room, a beautiful lady in a purple gown, sat at the vanity table and slowly brushed her hair as she sang along with the music. 

Zico moved slowly to her and trailed a finger over her exposed shoulders.  He gathered one side of hair in his hand and pulled it back, exposing her neck for his kiss. 

“You’re late,” she whispered. 

Zico smiled.  “Did you miss me, Mai?” he whispered back, his lips brushing her pierced ears.  He met her eyes in the vanity’s mirror.  His own eyes were both brown, nearly black in the soft light and his hair short and blonde.  “I had to convince my crew to let me go.  Took longer than I thought it would.”

Pressing one more kiss to her neck, he turned and collapsed on her bed.  He had actually been surprised that his crew had put up such a fight.  But Zico didn’t need their permission to do what he wanted.  And he wanted to be here with Mai. 

For the time he spent with her, he was able to forget about the responsibilities of being the leader of the crew, and the fact that his future with The Block rode on his success of the mission.  She let him forget about Japan and The Block and the job they were on (okay, that was probably not a good thing).  He needed to be up early to complete the last part of their mission which is why his crew had put up such a fight. 

But it also meant that their time here was almost over.  Tomorrow they would complete their mission and return home to Korea and take control of The Block.  And Zico would never see Mai again.  His crew would never be welcome in Vietnam again. 

The irony of the situation was that it was PD Tran had been the one to introduce them.  He had offered Mai to him as a form of entertainment while visiting Vietnam but Zico had seen her as a source of information.  The problem was that from the moment Zico had seen her slowly sauntering in his direction, he had known he was in trouble.  But he had ignored the feeling and convinced himself that he wasn’t going to get serious with anyone connected to PD Tran – she was a tool, nothing more.  That hadn’t lasted long. 

It wasn’t just her body and the way she moved that pulled him to her.  It was also her slow smile and the way she made him feel.  She let them forget the pressures and the dangers of his job and made him wonder what kind of life they could have had together if they were different people.  He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something about her that he didn’t want to let go. 

He hated that the thought of not seeing her again bothered him so much.  He turned to watch Mai as she poured him a drink and joined him on the bed.  The Boss had told him something when he had returned from Japan.  Zico had written it off as idiotic, but as he wrapped his arm around Mai and took the drink, what Boss had told him came back to him.

When Zico had asked why he was giving up The Block, he had said, ‘When you find the girl that makes you consider giving up this whole life, even if the thought is for the briefest moment, never let that girl go.’

“Your boys didn’t give you too much of a hard time, did they?” Mai asked, her voice still a husky whispered. 

“Not too much,” Zico answered around a sudden lump in his throat. 

“Drink that,” she said nodding to the full glass still in Zico’s hand.  “You seem a little tense.  I think I need to help you relax a little.”

Zico had grinned and swallowed back the drink.  It wasn’t until the next morning, when he woke to light streaming through the window that he realized she had laced it with something to make him sleep.  Mai had vanished leaving behind only a note and Zico’s confused and broken heart.