CHAPTER SIX

3 Hours Before MoT

Vietnam

Kyung knelt on the floor and slowly smoothed the knife over the sharpening block before him.  He wasn’t a cruel person whatsoever.  He wanted the knife nice and sharp before he started using it. 

his lips, he looked across the room at the hen pecking away at the floor.  Zico had sent him off to do his job late last night without any pocket money.  So, while the other members had probably eaten hearty meals before starting their tasks, Kyung hadn’t eaten for a good half of day. 

His stomach growled and he his lips again.  He was ready to start eating his shirt he was so hungry at this point. 

Thankfully, his checkpoint (the room Zico had told him to secure) had been a kitchen as one point.  A stove and refrigerator sat in the corner.  There was a door leading to an open courtyard behind him and crates had been recently stacked outside the door.  Kyung’s luck was sure spot on.  Upon inspection of the crates, Kyung discovered several vegetables and fruits.  Even better was the hen wondering around the courtyard.

Kyung had gone right to work inspecting the kitchen.  The stove wasn’t connected to the gas.  The fridge wasn’t plugged in and was no longer in use.  But he had managed to find a pan, a portable stove and a bottle of expired ketchup among the clutter of unused objects in the room.  Click clack, boom pow.  The game was on. 

He lifted his knife up to the light and inspected the edge.  Judging it to be finally sharp enough, he his lips again and swallowed.  He could already taste how delicious this meal was going to be.  He looked at the chicken and then slowly turned away towards the pan.  Kyung quickly used it as a cutting board and began cutting up the green bell pepper and red onions that he had found earlier. 

When he was finished, he held the pan in one hand and had just started the portable stove when a commotion outside had him standing, pan of chopped veggies in one hand and not even a weapon of any kind in his other hand (not that he even noticed he lacked a weapon to defend himself).  He slowed down when P.O. and Taeil burst through the door. 

“Why are you guys in such a hurry?”  Kyung asked.  No one was supposed to know anything had gone down yet. 

“No time,” P.O gasped.  He shoved the case with the diamonds into Kyung’s chest.  “Hold on to this.  Meet up with everyone at the other check point.”

“P.O, we gotta go,” Taeil said motioning him to hurry up. 

“We’ll catch up later.”  P.O turned and followed Taeil out of the room through another doorway.

As soon as they disappeared, two shouting men (one with a gun) appeared in the other doorway.  Kyung quickly held the case out of sight behind his back and watched as the men ran through the room right in front of him and out the doorway Taeil and P.O had gone through.

Kyung stood silent for a second and tried to reason out the situation.  The plan had been for Taeil and P.O to accompany him to the final meeting place, but he did not remember the plan involving men with guns.

His concentration was distracted when the chicken began clucking hysterically and flew straight into Kyung’s face.  Nearly knocking him over, the briefcase fell from his hand and went sliding across the floor.  He kept his grip on the pan, but the vegetables he had taken such care in chopping flew everywhere and scattered across the floor.  

When he finally regained his balance, he stared down at the now empty pan.  Then he looked up at the chicken across the room that had gone back to happily pecking at the floor.

“You,” Kyung said with tempered anger.  “You are so dead.”  He gripped the pan in both hands now and held it as a weapon.  Step by slow step, he advanced on the unsuspecting chicken.

While Kyung is losing to the chicken

At the intersection, while P.O and Taeil had gone left, Zico and B-Bomb had gone right.  While the thugs in colored shirts had followed left, the men in suits had followed right.  Zico let out a string of curses.  Being followed hadn’t been part of the plan. 

“Any ideas?”  B-Bomb asked.  They slid and nearly fell as they rounded a corner too sharply. 

“Ehhhh…  I suppose outrunning them isn’t much of a plan is it?”

It was B-Bomb’s turn to curse.  “Here, take the case and hide,” B-Bomb said.  “I’ll draw them away.” 

Before Zico could ask how he was going to do that and how he planned on losing them after, B-Bomb shoved him and the case into a side room then continued racing down the hall.

Zico cursed under his breath but stood flat against the wall, case hugged to his chest and listened. 

As B-Bomb’s footsteps faded down the hall, a twin set of heavy footsteps quickly approached from the other direction.  They passed by Zico’s hiding space without hesitating and Zico heaved a sigh of relief.  As the footsteps faded after B-Bomb and the hallway behind him was silent, Zico peeked out from the doorway and looked both directions.  The thugs chasing B-Bomb turned down a corner at the end of the hallway.  Zico immediately stepped out and took a step in that direction, intending to help B-Bomb get rid of them but stopped.

He looked down at the case in his hand.  His head fell back on his shoulders and he cursed some more.  He needed to get rid of the case before he went to help B-Bomb.  He his heel and raced back down the hallway they had come from.  He would get the case to U-Kwon and Jaehyo at the next checkpoint then come back to-

Zico skidded to a stop in the middle of an empty hallway.  He heard laugher coming from nearby.  Masculine and feminine laughter and Zico would recognize that male laughter anywhere; especially when it was occupied by a female voice. 

Zico backtracked and followed the noise.  As he approached, the music became louder as well.  When the laughter and voices died, Zico continued to follow the music into a bar.  Two figures sat together on bar stools with half empty drinks on the counter in front of them.  Zico recognized one figure instantly.  He was familiar enough to Zico that he recognized his back and brown hair that had been pulled back into a ponytail.  Zico knew the guy had a pretty face that women adored and that his shirt would be open to reveal a body that was naturally fit and carefully sculpted to attract the female eye. 

Even more familiar was the fact that this guy was bent forward toward the woman in a kiss. 

The situation was so typical.  The crew was in trouble running for their lives from PD Tran’s men and Jaehyo was sitting at a bar seducing a woman.  Zico didn’t know whether or laugh or cry. 

He rushed forward to grab Jaehyo’s shoulder and jerked him away from the girl.  “What do you think you’re doing?” Zico asked him.  He shoved the case into Jaehyo’s bare chest before he had a chance to answer.  “I don’t know why you’re not at the checkpoint with U-Kwon, but you need to get there now.”  Zico jammed his finger into the case to indicate how serious he was. 

He turned to leave the bar from a different door but hadn’t taken two steps when he caught a glance of the woman he had interrupted Jaehyo with.  He jerked back and looked her up and down, taking in the sleeveless red dress that showed off long legs, elegant shoulders, and just the right amount of cleavage.  He nodded and slowly clapped his hands.  Pointing a finger at her, he said, “She is so your type, Jaehyo, it’s not even funny.”  His finger moved with every word to emphasize his point as he ce again to leave the bar. 

Jaehyo watched Zico walk away, his mouth open in protest.  He stood and pointed at Lan.  “Don’t move,” he told her.  “I’ll be back to finish this later.  Don’t move.”

She waved at him from her bar stool as he walked away.

“What the hell, dude?” Jaehyo asked as soon as they were alone in the hallway.  “You should know better than to interrupt me when I’m –“

Zico turned, grabbed Jaehyo by the collar and shoved him into the wall.  “Don’t,” Zico started slowly, his icy tone when sharper with the addition of his single blue contact.  “Don’t piss me off right now.” 

“Whoa, man, okay,” Jaehyo said gently.  He raised both his hands slowly, one still gripping the handle of the case. 

Zico closed his eyes.  He took a deep breath and slowly let go of Jaehyo’s collar.  “Take the case.  Go meet up with U-Kwon.”

“Alright,” Jaehyo said, still cautious.  “What are you going to do?”

Zico’s eyes flew open and his fist slammed into the wall next to Jaehyo’s head.  “I need to go save B-Bomb’s .  You need to go, now.  Tell U-Kwon we’ll meet up with you at the meeting place.”

Jaehyo said nothing.  Hands still raised, he slowly ducked under Zico’s arm and disappeared around a corner.  Zico was damn scary when he was in one of his moods.  Jaehyo groaned and wished he was back in the bar with Lan.  But he did as Zico ordered and headed up stairs to meet U-Kwon. 

While Jaehyo is womanizing

B-Bomb was seriously regretting his decision.  He really should have kept the case and convinced Zico to distract the thugs.  He skidded to a near stop and turned a corner.  He didn’t know how long he had been running for but his lungs were burning and his legs were starting to hurt.  Good thing everyone knew the maze-like hallways like the back of their hand. 

B-Bomb had just turned his head to look over his shoulder (the thugs in suits hadn’t turned that last corner yet) when a hand grabbed him by the collar of his blazer and nearly pulled him off his feet.  He was jerked out of the corridor and through a doorway.  He stumbled into a small room. 

“Into the closet, quick!” a female voice commanded.  Before he was able to find his balance someone pushed him forward. 

And that is how B-Bomb ended up stuck in a closet. 

But at the moment, he was not about to complain.  Instead, he bent over in the small space and rested his hands on his knees and took a moment to catch his breath.  All too quickly, he heard the pounding of footsteps. 

“You boys look like you’re working hard,” the female voice said.  It was low and husky and B-Bomb thought it sounded familiar.  Peering through the slates that made up the door of the closet, B-Bomb couldn’t make out exactly what was happening at the doorway, but he could make out a lot of blue…

“You see a guy dressed in black run by here?” B-Bomb heard one of the men ask.  He felt a little better hearing that the thug was more out of breath than he was. 

The woman laughed.  It sent chills down his spine.  But when it died, she spoke too softly for B-Bomb to hear her despite the fact she stood no more than five feet from her. 

“Yes, ma’am,” one of the men said after a moment.  More pounding of footsteps indicated the thugs were leaving. 

B-Bomb let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding and slowly opened the closet door.  A woman in a blue dress had one hand on the doorway frame and was leaning out into the hallway.  She stepped back, turned, and confirmed B-Bomb’s suspicions that she was the blue-eyed woman that had been at the tile game.