"Murders came with smiles, shooting people was no big deal for us Goodfellas." ~ Henry Hill
I arrived at Junior's Club just as it was getting ready to open for the evening. I was let in through the door by the bouncers that recognized me and I went straight for the bar to get a glass of whiskey. The bartender poured me a glass and refilled it when I downed it all in one big gulp savoring how it burned down my throat making me cough.
"Woah! Easy Gent! We're here for a business meeting, remember?" I heard O-Ushi say putting a hand on my shoulder as I picked up and took a small savory sip of my second glass.
"Sorry," I apologized to her looking down into my glass. "I just really needed to take the edge off."
"I get that," she said with a nod. She hopped onto a stool next to me. I could tell that she wanted to ask me who and why I wanted someone dead but that was business that needed to be discussed with Junior. Honestly I wanted to just blab everything here right here and now, just to talk about it and hope that she could tell me that this was a horrible idea.
We drank together in silence. There was no room for small talk when we both knew just what kind of business had brought the two of us here. I watched as tonight's DJ set up in the booth while the waiters and everyone readied the tables and chairs.
By the time I was halfway through my second glass the bartender told us that Junior was waiting to meet us in his office and we carried our drinks up to him. Junior was sitting behind his desk pouring his own drink when we walked in. He stood up to greet us and we both bowed to him in respect.
"Shatei-Gashira," O-UShi and I both said in unison, addressing Junior by his formal title.
"O-Ushi… Jaune," he said, returning the bow and motioning us to the chairs so we might sit down. Junior took his seat and folded his hands as he studied me. "So Mr. Arc… who do you want to kill?"
I swallowed, "Ryu and Michail." I told him firmly, "I think I might have a plan to take them both down at the same time."
Junior and O-Ushi both blinked and looked at me with bewilderment in their eyes. I wasn't just asking for a hit on anybody, I was asking for a hit on the two most prominent thorns in their sides.
"You have a plan?" O-Ushi asked me, finally speaking up.
"The beginnings of one," I explained to them. "But we got to act soon or the chance will slip through our fingers and other people will get killed."
"Slow down Gent," Junior said to me holding his hand up. "Start at the beginning."
I took a breath and a sip of whiskey and proceeded to tell them everything. I told them about Jun using Toshi and I's bootlegging businesses to push drugs. I told them about Cardin and how I knew him from Beacon and how his team knocked Toshi and I around. I told them about how the twins and I got even and how I recruited Cardin as muscle. And then I told them about the meeting I had with Kenzo only hours earlier. I told them all about our little plan and his demands, including paying off the Atlesians for the drugs.
"You want us to buy drugs!?" O-Ushi asked me when I had gotten to that part.
"I want you to settle their debt so they can get out from under the Atlesian's heel," I explained to her. "Just because Michail is dead doesn't mean that Nicky or the rest of them are going to forget all about that money. Flush the shit down the toilet for all Kenzo and I care. Then Kenzo can bring the 24k Dragons back into the Clan's fold."
"It isn't unreasonable," Junior chimed in. "If the price for peace with the 24k Dragons can be measured in lien then I'm willing to pay for it. But this peace will also be bought with blood and I have my reservations about letting you go through with this hit."
"It's a reasonable plan," O-Ushi said on my behalf. "And we can't just keep turning the other cheek to Michail and the Atlesians. This has gone too far for too long."
"I agree," Junior said to her. "In fact I was already planning on putting a hit out for Michail."
"You were?" I asked him.
Junior nodded and picked up his glass of whiskey. "You remember that one guy that drugged that girl, who you taught manners too?"
I nodded picturing the guy with the leopard print shirt, "Of course, you said you were going to demand Justice from Nicky for it."
"I did, and just this morning a box with that man's head was delivered to the club," Junior explained as his eyes narrowed with anger and his grip on his whiskey glass tightened. "It's an insult, Nicky was supposed to make Michail pay for his man's trespass but instead he let Michail kill the offender and send me proof of his death. As if that is enough to forgive this blatant insult."
"Hot damn!" O-Ushi said, putting her glass down with clear excitement. "so we're finally taking off the kid gloves!?"
"We are," Junior confirmed, "It might lead to war but we knew that was almost inevitable anyways, we have all the justification we need. I was going to talk to Roman about hiring Neopolitian for the job."
"She's not cheap," O-Ushi commented as she took out a cigarette.
"The best are usually worth the price," Junior said to her. "And I need this to go smoothly, this plan could work but I don't know if I'm willing to trust this Cardin Winchester… this could be a trap for Jaune and Kenzo both."
"But what if it isn't?" I asked him as I processed the news that Neo was a hitwoman for the Torchwick family. "This isn't just a chance to strike back at the Atlesians, it's a chance to make peace with the 24k Dragons, it's a chance to regain an ally in the streets."
"And if we have a war coming then I'd rather have the 24k Dragons on our side than against us," O-Ushi said to him. "Kenzo should have been leading the gang a long time ago and I trust that he'll keep the gang on the straight and narrow."
"We can gain an ally and deprive the Atlesians one in a single move," I said to him knowing that as much as I would like to let someone else get blood on their hands for me this was the only way I could actually make peace between the Clan and the 24k Dragons.
"We don't use associates for hits!" Junior said motioning to me. "He's only been here a couple of months O-UShi! He's not-."
"Me!?" O-Ushi said pointedly. "I wasn't in the Clan for very long when you asked me to shed blood for you. I was even younger than he is."
"That was different!" Junior said pointedly to her. "That was a long time ago."
"I don't see how it's different," O-Ushi said. "And Jaune wants to do this, he set this up."
"I don't want to kill anyone!" I said louder than a I probably should have. I looked Junior right in the eye. "But if that's what it takes for this to end this then I'll do it, if that's what it takes to prevent the 24k Dragons from going after the Clan then I'll do it. I don't want to Junior... but I will."
Junior stared at me for a long moment before picking up his drink. "Jaune… are you sure about this?"
"Can you think of a better way to do this?" I asked him with a shrug. "Because if you can find a way in the next twenty four hours to stop Michail and save the 24k Dragons then I'll happily go with your plan. But if you can't… then I'll do this. Do you have a plan Junior?"
"No," he said with a defeated sigh. He took up his glass and downed the rest of his whiskey. "Do what you have to do Jaune… you have my blessing to shed blood."
I nodded. I had just been given the order to kill two people. "Alright," I said. "I'll make the calls and get the meeting with Michail and Ryu set up."
"Good," Junior said standing up and shaking my hand. "Good work getting this set up Gent," he said, giving me a sorrowful look in the eye.
"I'll make arrangements so everyone knows to be ready for war," Junior said to O-Ushi, dismissing the two of us from his office with a wave of his hand.
I felt heavy as I walked away with O-Ushi. I was off to kill.
"I know for a fact that Ryu has aura," she told me seriously. "Shoot him first, if you can get him while he suspects nothing and he hasn't activated his aura it'll be easy."
I nodded, "Alright," I said to her as we headed for the door. "Any advice for going to war?" I asked her hating the fact that it was inevitable at this point. I had released that final spark.
"Hit your enemy first and as hard as you can. Make them hurt so bad from the first blow that they hardly have any wind in their sails to hit you back." She explained to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "If you can do that you can take the fight right out of them. That's what this hit is all about Gent, a good solid first strike to hurt them bad."
"I'll keep that in mind," I assured her as we parted ways for our separate vehicles. I got into my car and called Cardin to tell him to set up the meeting with Ryu and Michail before heading back to my little apartment for some shut eye.
Naturally I didn't sleep for shit that night. I just laid in the dark trying to keep the hit out of my mind. Eventually I gave up and spent the night watching television and eating leftovers of Hana's cooking. It did little to distract me but a couple of late night infomercials eventually helped me get a few blessed hours of rest on my couch.
I got up in the morning and I had a text from Cardin to meet him downtown so I made a pot of coffee to go and changed to go out. I drove up to the address Cardin had texted me and I saw that his partner Russel was with him as well, sitting on a bench waiting for me.
"Get in," I told them as I pulled up and they got inside with Cardin taking the passenger seat next to me and Russel sitting directly behind him.
"What's he doing here?" I asked, referring to Russel.
"I think I know where Michail is keeping those people he's kidnapped," Russel explained to me. "I was hanging around the railyard last night to keep a lookout like Cardin asked us to. I saw one of Michail's guys pull up with a stack of Little Schneesars pizzas and a case of water and take them into a warehouse just down the street from the Caboose."
"So you think that food and water is for the women they kidnapped?" I asked him.
"I'm pretty damn sure Jaune," Russel said to me. "I didn't see anyone other than the one guy enter and leave the warehouse so unless he ate all those crappy pizzas himself I don't know what is going on. Besides it's not far from the tracks so they could easily load people onto a train and send them off towards Vacuo."
"How long did you stake out the place?" I asked him, wanting to be absolutely sure that he was right about this.
"Four hours," Russel explained to me, "If no one else was in there then that was a lot of pizza that went cold, I can't think of anything else that was happening in there that time of night."
"I'm at a loss what else it could mean," I said agreeing with him. "Good work Russel."
Russel nodded to me clearly pleased with his work, "So what are we going to do about it?" He asked me.
"Nothing yet," I said to him. "But thank you for finding this, it gives me something to work with."
I looked over to Cardin, "did you talk to Michail?" I asked him, moving into the real business at hand.
"I did," Cardin told me with a nod. "He told me to tell you he wants a meeting tonight, I already passed word to Kenzo."
"Is Ryu going to be there as well?" I asked him.
"Michail said he was going to talk to him since I made it very clear that you want assurances that the 24k Dragons are going to leave you alone for this deal," he explained to me.
"Do you know where the meeting will be taking place?" I asked him.
"This little Mistrali place in Michail's territory, name is Xi's Kitchen," he explained to me. "You're not supposed to know where we are meeting, I'm supposed to pick you up and take you there myself. One of Michail's boys will search you for any weapons."
I sighed seeing that this was when I was supposed to actually trust Cardin. "So then you should take my gun," I said pulling the little .38 snubnose out of my waistband holster and handing it over to him, "pass it over to Kenzo so he can pass it to me."
"Will do," Cardin said, taking my gun and looking at it. "Are you sure this will be enough Jaune?" He asked, popping the cylinder and looking at the hollow point rounds loaded into it. "Only five shots?"
"I'm going to need something easy to conceal," I said, lighting a cigarette. "Besides if things go right I shouldn't need more than five shots. How much protection is Michail going to have with him?"
"I don't know," Cardin said, "I know the 24k Dragons hang out at that place a lot but I don't know how much protection Michail will be bringing along with him."
"You don't know!?" I said suddenly realizing that I could possibly be facing a bunch of Atlesian gangsters with little more than five shots and maybe a steak knife.
"Kenzo and I will be there," Cardin assured me. "And if it's too many guys then don't draw, finish the meeting and we can walk out of there."
"I doubt Kenzo will be able to walk out!" I hissed at him. "They'll probably try to whack him the minute the meeting is over."
Cardin shrugged, "I don't know what to tell you Jaune, this is the best we can do."
I sighed and pulled up to let the two of them off. "I know… just be sure that you're armed too," I said knowing that Cardin really had done all I could have expected of him, "I'll see you tonight."
"Don't worry, Michail doesn't mind if I carry Executioner on me. He thinks he owns me and that I wouldn't dare go against him." He explained to me.
"You will probably have to kill tonight Cardin," I told him.
"I know," he said grimmly. "But I'm not going to work for someone like that anymore… even if it means killing."
"Good," I said, believing him.
I dropped the two of them off and went to O-Ushi's cab company to tell her everything so she could relay all the details back to Junior. Planning a hit as it turns out is driving around town a bunch to tell people the details to their face because you can't talk or text this kind of stuff over your scrolls.
O-Ushi assured me she'd relay all the details to Junior and they even had some boys out in the Forest of Forever Fall digging some graves. She even assured me that Tonen was getting some cars ready with big trunks. They would also be ready if things got really ugly but the hope was that it would go down smoothly with Cardin Kenzo and I. It's more than a little scary how easily we were making plans for murder. I wish I could say that I never got used to it.
"Don't pull the trigger if you don't think you can get out of there alive," O-Ushi told me seriously. "I don't need you committing a suicide run on me. This isn't worth it if you can't walk out that door."
"I won't," I assured her. "I have every intention of walking out of that place tonight."
"Good," she said, putting her large hand on my shoulder and leading me out the door.
After that I was left waiting and trying to keep my nerves calm while I waited in my apartment for Cardin to pick me up and take me to the meeting. Strangely enough I kept mulling over that bit of advice O-Ushi had given me about going to war. Hit your enemy first and as hard as you can.
I kept thinking about the trafficking operation on the railroad and the bit of information that Russel had given me. I had a second target that would possibly be more damaging that killing one of Nicky's captains. I was possibly going to walk into a trap tonight and do something unimaginable. It was already too late to stop what I had started, so why hold back?
I wanted to hit that operation and shut down every bit of evil that came from it. So I decided while I waited to make a call. I called Coco.
"Hello, Jaune?" I heard Coco ask on the other line.
"Hey Coco, I'm glad I was able to reach you" I greeted her nervously.
"I was about to head to the cafetera for dinner, what's up!" she asked me casually. "You know your teammates apparently haven't heard anything about you, they can't seem to get a hold of you."
"I uh… I changed scroll numbers since leaving Beacon," I said to her, lamely trying to avoid any discussion about my former teammates and friends. "I uh… I was wondering if that favor you offered me was still on the table?"
"It is… what do you need?" she asked me cautiously.
I took a breath. "Alright… you remember that guy who tried to take Velvet?"
"How could I forget about that?" she snarled.
"Well… I've come to learn that he was involved with these Atlesian criminals who run a trafficking operation. I think I know where they have been operating out of and keeping the people they take. I know it might be asking a lot, but I don't trust the police to handle this… could you maybe do something about it?" I explained knowing that I was asking for more than a simple favor here. But if Yang could smash up Junior's club and walk away without even a lawsuit, then I saw no reason why Coco couldn't bust open a smuggling operation.
"That wouldn't be a favor Jaune," Coco said to me, enthusiasm evident in her voice, "that would be a pleasure."
"Are you sure?" I asked her. "I know I'm asking for a lot here and that it could be very dangerous."
"Danger is what a huntress craves my man," she said to me. "Besides I can't just sit around when I know something like that is happening in my town. It's not good form."
"I appreciate this," I told her. "Just uh… keep my name out of this. Don't mention me if anyone asks you how you found out about this place and what's happening."
"Why?" She asked me.
"I just don't want to be tied to this in any way," I explained to her.
"But why… Jaune are you alright?" She asked me seriously.
"I'm fine," I assured her, "I just… I can't go into the why but I really am fine. I just can't have my name associated with this."
"Alright," she said tentatively. "But you know if you're in trouble or something you can come to me for help."
"Thanks," I said to her knowing full well that going to her or anyone at Beacon for the kind of help I needed was out of the question. I gave her the address to the bar and the warehouse Russel had discovered.
"You still have a favor after this," Coco told me. "I wanted to hurt that guy for drugging Velvet but this is ten times better."
"I'll keep that favor in mind," I told her, "I'll talk to you later."
"Don't be a stranger," she said to me.
The call ended and I was again left waiting with my thoughts. I knew that sicing Coco on the Atleisans like she was some kind of attack dog wasn't in my best interests. Junior hadn't authorized it and Ozpin certainly hadn't given me the ok to unleash one of his students on the Atlesians.
But if I was going to be the one to pull the trigger tonight then I was going to choose what triggers. This was my call. I was going to hit the Atlesians first and as hard as I could and if that meant making some of my own calls so be it. Junior was afraid of escalating things so I got someone who wasn't involved with him or the life. Ozpin was trying to play a deeper game, but I wasn't interested in letting the kind of evil that was happening continue, even for one of his plans.
Eventually Cardin had arrived and I got into his car to drive off for the dreaded meeting. "Did you give the gun to Kenzo?" was the first thing I asked him as we drove off and away from the comfort of Junior's territory.
"I did," Cardin said to me, "Kenzo is going to be there so it's clear that Michail and Ryu don't know that Kenzo knows about the hit. Kenzo knows to slip you the gun when you go to the bathroom."
"How many people are there?" I wanted to keep my mind focused on the business at hand.
"Aside from Ryu and Michail… three," he told me.
"Three? Well that's not so bad." I said pleased with that report.
"Just three, for a total of five guys, you'll have a bullet for each one but Kenzo and I have your back," he assured me. "We'll be read for action the minute you pull the gun."
"That's good to know," I said trying to shake my nerves with a cigarette. I couldn't very well sit down with Michail looking like a nervous wreck.
We pulled up in front of Xi's Kitchen and I got out, tossing away my half smoked cigarette. I followed Cardin inside as we passed by the various tables. It was a surprisingly nice restaurant. Nice red carpets, good Mistrali decor, the waitresses were attractive and wore silky black cheongsam dresses. I absorbed the area as I could while Cardin led me to a back room.
There was a broad shouldered Atlesian man waiting outside who proceeded to frisk me for any weapons. Naturally I didn't bother coming with anything on me so his search only turned up my scroll, wallet along with my lighter and cigarettes. And the diamond ring that Neo had tipped me the first night I met her, he gave me a curious look for having it but returned everything to me all the same.
"This way," the man said to me, opening the door so I could step inside the back room.
I saw both my targets instantly, they were the only two sitting at the table when I stepped in. Michail was hardly what I had expected. I had been imagining some big square jawed tough guy. But instead I saw a squat middle aged man who was balding sitting at the head of the table.
Next to him was Ryu. He was around my age and wore his 24k Dragons jacket and his black hair was gelled up and shaved on the sides.
"Mr. Arc," Michail greeted as he waddled out of his chair and approached me with an outstretched hand. "Or should I call you Gentleman?"
"Mr. Arc will do fine sir," I said, shaking his meaty hand and suppressing a shudder. I looked into his grey eyes and forced myself to smile at him. I was shaking hands with a slave smuggling piece of shit. That alone made me want to burn my clothes and jump into a shower.
"Cardin here says you're interested in moving up," he said motioning for me to sit across from him at the table. I looked back over at Ryu and spotted Kenzo standing behind him with another Dragon I didn't recognize. Everyone was here.
"Well I happened to catch one of your dealers using my business to sell your drugs," I said, putting my focus on Michail and pretending that this was a normal meeting. "I corrected this naturally but I saw a business opportunity."
Michail laughed, "Yes well I could certainly use some tougher guys in that neighborhood as I expand," he said pleasantly while casting a disapproving look in Cardin's direction. "Did you really thrash up Cardin and his Team all by yourself?"
I looked at Cardin. It wasn't by myself but I realized that mentioning the Malachites would have probably cast some suspicion on this meeting. "No, the shotgun helped," I joked at him.
Michail burst out laughing, "the shotgun… get a load of this guy." He said, slapping the shoulder of one of his guys, making him laugh at my attempt at humor.
"But seriously, we're going to need tough guys like you moving my product on the street. Why should I think you're different that Jun?" He asked me as a waitress with her black hair in long pigtails poured his wine. Who drank red wine with Mistali cuisine? He was also handsy putting his meaty hand on her rear as she poured. She just poured his wine without even a sound of object or protest, she silently endured his lecherious gropes.
"Well I am tough," I assured him. "I defended my business didn't I? And like Cardin here I went to Beacon and learned a thing or two about fighting."
"That's true," Michail said to me. "Cardin already told me a little about your time at the academy, it's impressive I admit."
"And this time I am hoping that I can look to the 24k Dragons as allies in my business ventures," I said looking over to Ryu. "If I need extra muscle I want to know that the gang will have my back."
The guy stared at me for a long quiet moment through his sunglasses. "Well if it means my guys have fewer trips to the hospital," he said bitterly. Apparently I even had a little bit of a reputation with the 24k Dragons. Ryu however clearly wasn't a fan of teaming up with the guy that had knocked around his men and destroyed his drugs.
"Hey!" Michail said. "There's no hard feelings Ryu, we're here to make friends and form profitable partnerships. That was the past and tonight is about the future."
"Indeed," I said, taking my glass of wine after the waitress poured it for me and raising it to him. "That bit before was just business and I'd like to put it all behind us tonight."
"This man has put some of my men in the hospital!" Ryu complained, not touching his wine glass. "Not to mention he's cost me a lot of money from your lost product! He's O-Ushi's dog!"
"Ryu!" Michail bared dangerously, his face turning beet red. "You're being rude to my guest and quite frankly it's upsetting me."
Ryu picked up his wine glass and raised it to me, he looked like he wanted to throw it in my face. "To new beginnings," he said, barely hiding the bitterness in his tone.
"So I have your assurance that the 24k Dragons will leave me alone?" I pressed trying to make my acting somewhat convincing. I needed both of them to relax and think that I truly was here to buy into their narcotics operations.
"Oh you'll have it," Michail assured me, taking a heavy gulp of his wine. "I am glad you are a lot more forward thinking than your Mistrali bosses. Won't deal with drugs… What kind of nonsense is that? Like they didn't have opium dens back in the day? The old Mistrali clans were practically built on poppies."
"It certainly is too lucrative a business to ignore," I said, idly drinking my glass of wine. I didn't want to drink too heavily before things went down. It was good wine, I'm not an expert but I was a little disappointed that I wasn't able to truly enjoy it that night. I wish I had remembered what vintage it was.
"Exactly! Do you know much we made last year off of my dope sales alone? Millions! And the only place this business can go is up!" He said as the waitress silently brought us our food.
"Really?" I asked him, pretending to be interested in the money. My plate came down and I looked at the sizable steak he had set in front of me. Who gets Atlesian style steak in a Mistrali restaurant? I was beginning to think that the only reason Michail had chosen this restaurant was so he could grope the waitresses.
"Really… Narcotics are the future kid. They pull in over ten times what the governments spend to stop them." He explained as he picked up his steak knife and began cutting into the slab of meat. "It's an unstoppable wave and believe me you want to be riding it."
We talked a bit as we ate. Mostly business as I gave Michail false details about my bootleg operation and how many guys I could get out onto the street pushing his product. Ryu didn't talk very much except to agree with Michail and give me assurances that I wouldn't get hassled by the Dragons and that they would help give me muscle for my operation and protection from Junior.
Honestly if Michail wasn't such a massive piece of shit with his drugs and flesh trafficking and clear sexual harrassment I might have actually liked him. To his credit he was actually trying to be friendly with me and was making a very nice sales pitch to me. If I didn't already hate him so much I might have actually considered a partnership.
Halfway through dinner I set my fork and knife down and pulled my chair out. "I need to go take a leak," I said to them standing up, "I'll be back so we can talk numbers."
Ryu looked at me and narrowed his eyes in my direction.
"I'll go with him," Kenzo said, offering to keep an eye on me just as planned.
"Use the bathroom in the back over there," Ryu said motioning to a different bathroom attached to this room. He probably figured that it would be harder to sneak a weapon or something in there opposed to the normal bathroom.
We went in and I pretended to do my business while Kenzo watched over me.
"Focus on Ryu and Michail," Kenzo told me as he passed the little gun for me to slip into my pocket. "Leave their protection to Cardin and me and we'll keep them off of you."
"Will do," I said, confident that with that one guy standing outside to watch the door that Cardin and Kenzo could handle a single guy apiece before the third guard came in. I took a moment to splash some water on my face to calm my nerves.
I was going to walk back in there and kill two men. I can't even begin to explain how nervous I was.
I came out of the bathroom and stepped back into the room. Only to see that three more of Michail's guys had suddenly arrived.
Fuck! I inwardly cursed as I forced myself to remain calm and go back to my seat.
"Is something wrong?" I asked, noting the new arrivals to the restaurant.
"No no," Michail said unconvincingly with a wave of his hands. "There's been a bit of a development so I'm afraid I'll have to leave as soon as we've finished dinner, feel free to enjoy dessert without me. So let's talk about those numbers."
I nodded and took my seat. I looked at the three other guys. One had pulled up a chair and was sitting to my left as Michail began talking. We were suddenly faced with six guys, maybe more outside. I didn't know what these new guys were capable of, if they had aura or special weapons. When it was three guards I knew that it would at least be an even fight after I shot both Michail and Ryu. But now I had no idea what would happen when I drew my revolver.
This could get very ugly very fast.
Michail started talking numbers. I didn't listen to him as I considered my options. I could just finish the meeting and leave without anything happening. O-Ushi told me not to do anything unless I was certain I could walk out of this alive.
But I knew that if I did that things would fall apart. Kenzo was already risking a lot being here among people that wanted him dead. There would not be a second chance to do this.
My heart pounded in my ear and it took every bit of self control I had not to start hyperventilating. I felt stuck in a lose lose situation, if I pulled the gun then the other five guys would jump us and even if I managed to get Kenzo and Ryu then Cardin Kenzo and I would get killed. If I didn't then the best chance we had to do this would slip away and others would die.
I pretended that I was listening as my head was awhirl with indecision. I didn't want to kill anyone, I didn't want to be here. The plan had completely changed. Junior and O-Ushi would understand, they didn't want me committing suicide.
My heart kept drumming in my ear. I could barely even focus on what Michail was droning on about. The waitress stepped close to my left and refilled my wine glass that I had hardly touched. I reached into my pocket to touch the diamond ring I carried as my mind raced with the possibilities.
I looked over and locked eyes with the waitress. Her features seemed familiar for a second as I studied her pretty face. She blinked and the emerald green eyes turned to brown… and pink.
Neapolitan.
She gave me a smirk and a wink and gazing into her alluring eyes I saw only serenity and confidence and predatory ease. I didn't know how, I didn't know why, but she was here and she was with me. The drum of my heart subsided in my head and my mind found clarity.
"Mr. Arc?" Michail said as my hearing returned. "Mr. Arc?"
I looked away from her mesmerizing eyes and right to Michail. He laughed at me. "She is a pretty little thing isn't she?" He asked me with a sickening grin.
I shot up out of my chair letting it fall down behind me as I pulled out my revolver and leveled it right at Ryu. He hardly noticed anything as he rested his head on his elbow looking bored.
I lined up my shot and squeezed the double action trigger. The hammer pulled back and dropped.
Bang!