I head toward the subway entrance, full of warm fuzzies from such a great trip. But then I hear the sound of heavier footsteps behind me, and I notice that it’s gotten dark. Also, I realize the neighborhood surrounding the hospital complex isn’t exactly the best.
I peek over my shoulder to see a scruffy guy in a dirty white and green Jets cap walking behind me, a little closer than I would like.
Maybe I should grab a taxi. But that seems silly when the subway stop is only a few blocks away.
We don’t have the Cal-Mart deal yet, and I should probably keep on saving every penny I can for this house. Adulting!
I tuck the Aggretsuko bag purse I got at Hello Kitty Land under my arm and keep moving forward like I’m a blue and yellow fish in a Pixar movie.
But then, something yanks at my purse strap hard. I look and find the scruffy Jets hat guy trying to snatch my bag.
I instinctively tug back on it. My whole life is in this purse. My phone, my wallet, everything! And it’s not like it can easily be replaced without flying back to Japan.
“Let it go, bitch!” The guy yells. His eyes are dilated under the streetlights. I’m pretty sure he’s on something.
He shoves me hard, and I stumble and hit the back of my head on one of the hospital’s brick walls.
Ow.
Pain bursts across the back of my head, and I slide down the wall, the world becoming a blur. The mugger runs away with my precious purse. I try to get up, but my head starts spinning with another blinding flash of pain.
Trying to stand was a big mistake. I plop back down to the cold concrete.
I hear footsteps, and then two people appear above me. They’re both wearing scrubs underneath black coats. And even though they’re standing right over me, their voices sound like they’re coming from far away.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“She must be on one.”
“Oh shit, I think she’s pregnant! We better get her some help.”
That’s the last thing I hear before the world fades to black.
20
VICTOR
It takes a few months and almost losing Han, but by the time Victor walks into The Silent Triad’s warehouse in Queens, he’s his old self again.
Good as new. Actually, better than new. His one weakness is gone. And the monster he was always meant to be can fully take back over.
So when he enters the warehouse with Phantom by his side after what happened in Delaware, he’s in a rather good mood.
He can’t say the same for the twelve men he finds waiting for them in one of the warehouse’s back rooms. After being hunted down over the weeks since the Delaware deal went sideways, they’ve been strung up one by one in heavy chains.
If Victor were Kuang, he would have called his men back to the compound in Connecticut as soon as they were done carrying out his orders. That would have been the only fortress impenetrable enough to keep them protected from The Silent Triad’s inevitable retaliation.
Lucky for The Silent Triad, Kuang is an uncaring fuck. He’d left his men to scatter like rats and hide away in their various holes.
No wonder Han’s Hawaii plan was actually on the verge of working.
In any case, it had only been a matter of dragging those cau hai out of their rat holes: mothers’ basements, mistresses’ apartments, and in one inconvenient international case, an off-the-books studio apartment in Canada.
But The Silent Triad stayed resolute in their mission. They diligently collected each of those rats until every 24K who tried to interfere with the Delaware deal was strung up naked inside their warehouse.
Because of this, some of the 24K literally been hanging out here for over two weeks. Judging from the intense smell, a few of them hadn’t made it. They escaped the final reckoning, but what a terrible way to die.
The first few days might have been bearable. They might have gotten used to the new normal of sleeping and shitting and pissing themselves upright. They might’ve even learned to appreciate the occasional shoves of food into their mouths and the sprinkler system that turned on like clockwork at 1 AM every morning to provide them with water.
But eventually, the constant pain would have given way to memories of their wasted lives. Regrets would have set in, stewing them in guilt and remorse until the only thing left in their minds was wanting to die. To finally shut their eyes forever on a meaningless life that ended like this.
If Victor was capable of it, he might’ve felt sorry for them.
But he’s never been particularly empathetic with anyone but Dawn. And he’s even worse now that she’s gone.
“Target practice?” Phantom suggests in the same tone most men back in Hong Kong would use to suggest a spot of tea.