CHAPTER EIGHT

2 Hours Before MoT

Vietnam

U-Kwon had long ago found his checkpoint and grown bored of waiting.  He and Jaehyo had had no problem locating his gun case and lifting it from the display case Tran had placed it in.  But on the way to the checkpoint, Jaehyo had been distracted. 

U-Kwon just did not understand.  What was it with their crew and getting distracted by women?  He enjoyed women just as much as the next guy, but there was a time when women were meant to be enjoyed and in the middle of a job was definitely not the time. 

He sighed and wished his checkpoint could have been a place more interesting to pass the time.  He was in a closed in balcony of sorts.  Three walls led inside the building while the fourth was a fence that blocked the multi-story fall.  Grass and weeds grew in abundance in this abandoned section of the building and U-Know wondered if some of them weren’t trees.  They come up nearly to his waist…

Needing to do something, U-Know jumped off the table that sat in the middle of the balcony and placed his gun case on it.  He caressed it for a moment before opening it.  It had been three long years since he had been forced to leave it behind.

In PD Tran’s trophy room, the case had been open and the gun visible on display but U-Kwon still felt a surge of relief when he opened the case and his gun was still there.  He took it out and tested the weight.  It still felt comfortable and fit right in his hand.  He spun it around his finger.  Gripping it in both hands he lifted it in a shooting position.  He really had missed his gun. 

A noise from one of the adjacent rooms had U-Kwon aiming the gun at a nearby doorway. 

While U-Kwon is practicing his stance

“Ouch,” the woman in the blue dress said.  She pushed herself up off B-Bomb’s chest and looked down at him.  “Smooth.  But if you wanted to be on bottom, all you had to do was say so.” 

B-Bomb didn’t have anything to say to that, he just reached a hand to the back of his head.  He was not altogether sure how they had ended up on the floor.  They had been exiting the room when one of them had tripped on something.  The next thing B-Bomb knew, they had gone down together, B-Bomb twisting to make sure the woman landed on him, not vice versa. 

The woman in the blue dress didn’t immediately move off of him.  Instead, she straddled his thighs and made herself comfortable.  With a small smile, she let her fingers drift along the skin at edge of his jeans where his shirt had ridden up during the fall.

And that was the scene Zico walked in on. 

He skidded to a halt in front of them and stared for a second before spitting out a curse.   He looked up and down the hallway to make sure they were all alone.  “What is going on B-Bomb?  Between you and Jaehyo, we’ll be lucky if we don’t all get killed.” 

B-Bomb, hands on the girl’s waist, slowly moved her aside so he could stand up then held out a hand to help her to her feet.  “It’s not what you think, Zico,” B-Bomb explained.  “You see the guys chasing-“

He was cut off when someone collided with Zico’s back.

“Sorry, Chief,” a breathless Taeil said as he ran past.  “Gotta go.”  He and P.O ran past and were down the hallway in a flash.

“If they’re running in that direction,” Zico reasoned.  “That means…”  He turned around to see their tails headed toward him. 

Before Zico could react, the woman in the blue dress stepped between him and the thugs in colored silk shirts. 

“B-Bomb, who is this chick?” Zico asked.

“Um…” B-Bomb rubbed the back of neck.  He wasn’t quite sure how to explain her. 

“Where do you two think you’re going?”  the woman asked as the two thugs stopped in front of her and bent over trying to catch their breath.

“The reward money…” Purple Shirt started.

“Forget it.  You lost the game fair and square, let them go.  If PD Tran wants them caught, he’ll send other men after them.  You’ve caused enough trouble for today, losing all that money,” She said.

“That’s why we need to…“ White shirt started.

“You idiots.  Were you even paying attention?  They weren’t even carrying a case.  Neither are these guys here.  You’ve been played.”  She let that sink in.  “I think you two have done enough damage for today.  It’s time for you to leave.  Before you piss me off,” She added when they just continued to stand there panting. 

When they finally turned away with one final glare and disappeared down the hall, she turned back to Zico and B-Bomb.  “You two better get outta here,” she said.  “The first thing they’re going to do is look for someone else to send after you.”

Zico slapped the back of his hand into B-Bomb’s chest and started walking.  “Let’s go.”

“Thank you,” B-Bomb said to the woman.  “We owe you for-“

The woman in the blue dress stepped close and placed her hands on his chest.  She lifted up on her toes and pressed her lips gently to his.  “Payment received,” she said.

While Zico and B-Bomb are saved by a chick

U-Kwon immediately raised the tip of his gun to the sky when Kyung came through the doorway and lifted his hands automatically in surrender. 

“Just me, dude,” Kyung said.  “You got your gun?  Awesome!”  They gripped hands in greeting.

“What are you doing here?”  U-Kwon asked, looking over Kyung’s shoulder. 

Kyung shrugged.   “P.O said to meet you here,” he told him.  “He and Taeil had guys tailing them.  I think they’re heading out a different direction.”

“Guys tailing them,” U-Kwon repeated.  “That wasn’t part of the plan.”

“Not the original plan anyways.”

“So, which case do you have?  Money or gems?” 

Kyung shrugged and was going to answer that he didn’t know when Jaehyo walked through the same doorway he had. 

“Zico says forget about him and B-Bomb,” Jaehyo said as he gripped Kyung’s then U-Kwon’s hands in greeting.  “They’ll meet us at the meeting point.”

“They weren’t being tailed, too, were they?” Kyung asked. 

It was Jaehyo’s turn to shrug.  “I just saw Zico,” he explained.  “But he made it sound liked B-Bomb was in some kind of trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?”  U-Kwon asked.  He looked more intently at Jaehyo. 

“You know B-Bomb can take care of himself, U-Kwon,” Jaehyo answered.

Kyung ruffled his hair.  “This job doesn’t really seem to be going well.” 

As if proving his point, a gun clicked behind Jaehyo.  Almost instantly, U-Kwon had a gun aiming back at the men in black suits that stood behind Jaehyo. 

Jaehyo shifted to the side, out of the way of the guns and held his hands up, one still holding the case.  Kyung shifted to the other side and held his case in front of him as if it would protect him from any bullets fired. 

“Well, what do we have here?” the suit without the gun said.  “I see two cases when we only came for one, looks like we’ll just have to take both of them.”

“Sorry, no can do,” U-Kwon informed him.  He lowered his voice and spoke to his crew members.  “Why don’t you guys get out of here and leave these thugs to me?”

“Whatever you say,” Kyung responded quickly.  He turned and left through a side doorway. 

“You sure you’ll be okay?” Jaehyo asked quietly as he passed U-Kwon to join Kyung. 

“I can take care of myself,” he answered.  Jaehyo smirked.  That exactly what he had said about B-Bomb.  He hoped they were both right.

“See you at the meeting point then,” Jaehyo said. 

U-Kwon waited until his friend’s footsteps were out of earshot before he spoke.  “So, what do we do now?” He asked.  “I guess we’re in a bit of a stalemate.  I don’t even have what you guys want.  Why don’t you guys just give it up before I blow your brains out?”

As soon as the guy with the gun opened his mouth to speak, U-Kwon pulled the trigger.

Only to realize his gun was empty.  Whoops.