“You’ve gotta be kidding me! I swear he’s like a ing cockroach.”

“You hit him though,” Kangin said in an effort to lessen his boss’ disappointment. “And we got Leeteuk back without any hiccups,” he added.

“Pay the right people is all it comes down to,” Sungmin spoke up.

“The refuses to die!” Heechul wouldn’t drop the subject so easily.

“You’ll get him,” Shindong tried to inject optimism into Heechul.

“He’s like Rasputin.” Everyone turned to look at Yesung.

Having Yesung participate in a conversation was a rare occurrence. Most of the time, they assumed he wasn’t listening. His eyes where always glued to the laptop screen but it always surprised them whenever he spoke up and participated.

“I wrote an essay about Rasputin when I was in high school,” Yesung added. His crew members turned away, deciding it was easier to ignore him than humor him.

“I think maybe you should scale it down a bit. Hit him quietly. Don’t let him see it coming,” Leeteuk suggested.

“I don’t want to hear that from you,” Heechul answered annoyed. He turned away from Leeteuk and continued, “I think I should go it alone and stealthily.” He reiterated what Leeteuk had said but dismissed him in an effort to express his discontent with him for getting caught after their last attempt.

“You don’t have to. I could help,” Sungmin offered. “I could break in while he’s sleeping.”

“Nah, I want to do it myself.” Heechul waved the thought of getting help from any of his crew members away. The memories of the failed drive by and club shooting were fresh in his mind. It made him question how it is they were as successful in business as they were.

Shindong spoke up, “Should we hook him up with a girl? Have her do him in when they’re about to get it on. You know, like we did the last foo’ that tried to mess with you.”

“That’d be perfect for a guy his age but we don’t know exactly how cautions he is. Besides, that’s been done before. It’s kind of an old trick,” Leeteuk said.

“But will a young gun like him be able to resist? I mean you were there. Remember that age? We thought with our—”

“I SAID I’D DO IT MYSELF,” Heechul lost his patience.

Yesung snapped his fingers after an awkward moment had passed. “I got it. Instead of going all out, why don’t you just blend in as much as possible? We still have the GPS trackers on their cars. I thought they might find the one on Kyuhyun’s when he got his windshield replaced but it’s still there. Just track and follow. Bust him on New Year’s Eve.” He raised his eyebrows at the brilliance of his idea.

Heechul bit his lip in thought as he considered the suggestion and slowly nodded his head. He made up his mind. “His new expiration date is set: New Years—midnight, to be exact. The fireworks will drown out the gunshots. Cops will be busy with other calls. It’ll be beautiful. It’s going down the way it was supposed to from the beginning.” He smiled to himself with the idea of finally being rid of his enemy.

“They chopped Rasputin’s thing off when he finally died and preserved it in a jar of formaldehyde.”

Heechul cringed and turned back to Yesung. “, Yesung! I ain’t chopping nobody’s !”

Yesung shrugged. “I was just saying.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Kyuhyun sat on the couch in his dimly lit basement. He had not been able to get out of the house since the drive by. At Eunhyuk’s urging, he was convinced that it was better for him to lay low and not so much as peek his face out the window. During that time, he discovered that he also liked being waited on, using his injured shoulder as an excuse.

Across from him sat Ryeowook tapping and sliding his finger across the screen of his phone.

“Ryeowook.”

“Huh?” he replied absentmindedly.

“How are we looking?”

“Good. Surprisingly good,” he replied, not taking his eyes off the screen.

“Didn’t think they had it in them?”

“It’s not that. It’s just… they’re young.”

“We were younger.”

“I know but…”

“But the trust isn’t there yet, is it?”

Ryeowook remained quiet.

“They’re smart,” Kyuhyun reassured. “They’ve been holding their own haven’t they? , Henry is loyal as hell and Amber…girl hustles more than any of my guys ever have; makes me want to add more girls to the crew. We have nothing to worry about. Besides, it’s just deliveries for now. Bigger and badder will come later.”