The Dragon and the Lumberjack

by S. W. Ellenwood

  Chapter 48

  Recap

  O nce Jack was done telling Lei Lei what happened, she said nothing for a full minute. She didn’t break eye contact or blink as she stood in the unfinished bar area of Jack’s apartment. Two guards stood at the door, while Jack leaned on the bar island next to her. He tried to break the silence, but just as his lips moved, Lei Lei punched him.

  “Are you trying to start a war?” she asked. Jack didn’t answer, but lowered his head and posture and waited for her to finish, and so she continued. “I don’t give two shits what they have done to us or if Lóng gave you the ok! The blows they are throwing have no threat behind them! Boqin is just trying to be a show-off, get us scared. We needed to take those small hits so we can get ready to hit him back.”

  Jack was unable to stay silent. “Yu was a small hit? Have you talked to your brothers?”

  “Yes! We don’t have the resources to go against them in a fully-fledged war! I’m the only one here who isn’t getting blinded by emotions. That’s why I am helping Lóng and Li.” Lei Lei sounded as though she thought she was getting through to him.

  “If it came down to it, we can get what we need,” said Jack. She sighed at his calm response, and so he continued. “We have the numbers and are still more organized than they are at the moment. If we'd done nothing, we would have been seen as even weaker, and the small hits would've grown to bigger ones.”

  “Jack, you don’t know about Tao and Heng’s relationship, do you?” Lei Lei asked calmly. Jack shook his head, unsure where she was going. She explained, “I can do a lot of things, pull a lot of strings, but I’m near the end of strings I can pull. Our funds are starting to go dry.” Her voice was calm and together. “We need time to build our stash again, and I can’t deal with an angry Tao right now.”

  Jack folded his arms and lowered his head.

  “Don’t worry,” said Lei Lei, “we will get those bastards, and they will die by a thousand cuts - but till then, no more aggressive movements. No more recruiting. We just sit tight and do business while I take care of Tao.” Lei Lei grabbed her purse and left with her bodyguards. Before the door even closed, she walked back in and added, “Last thing, don’t forget to pick up the cash from our whore house. No one has gone to pick it up in a while since all this madness happened.”

  “No, problem. I’ll do it tomorrow night.”

  Lei Lei lingered for a few moments before thanking him and leaving. Jack didn’t wait long until Guòqù walked out of the restroom.

  “Just out of curiosity,” said Jack, “what would you have done if she needed to use the restroom?”

  Guòqù ignored the question and skipped to his business. “I have a name. A boat called Koporso.”

  Jack nodded. “Makes sense. He would stay on the move, and it would be tough to sneak up on him.”

  “No, it won’t,” Guòqù said as he removed his damp mask. He grabbed a kitchen towel and started to wipe his face and steel mouthpiece dry.

  “Anyway,” said Jack, “Lei Lei - do you think she knows about them?”

  Guòqù shook his head. Jack leaned against the kitchen counter, and Guòqù finished drying. “What if Lei Lei does know about them, and they are telling her to avoid the war?” said Jack.

  “Possible. But war can be very profitable.”

  “Only if they are selling to both sides.”

  Guòqù sat down on a bar stool and scratched his cheek right above his steel jaw. “Not outside their realm. But they work better with fewer people knowing. They would have told Lóng not to tell a soul, even on his deathbed.”

  Jack leaned forward, his eyes focused on Guòqù’s eyes. “Not even his heir?”

  “No.” Guòqù stood up as he realized the situation. Jack looked off into the distance thinking as Guòqù put on his sweater. “I’ll find Lóng,” said Guòqù as he headed toward the door.

  “But what if he doesn’t know?”

  Guòqù didn’t stop to answer and was gone as fast as he came in. Jack stood there alone, again. He thought how The Twelve would play this all out to their advantage: for their profit, of course, but of more than money. Jack knew it was for the power. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. As an organization like this, it would be simple for them to put on different faces and names to sell the weapons and then step back and watch their plan play out. He shook his head and took off his shirt as he headed toward his bedroom. His thoughts went back to why have competition when you can have a monopoly of it all. As Jack got into bed, he felt like he was missing something, like the motives were too simple.

  Money and power.

  He closed his eyes and fell to sleep, mulling over it for some time as he followed what Crumwell told him to do: play the part. A hint of fear came over him as he hoped he wasn’t playing the part of Jack too well. He wished his training had taught him how to find himself after the mission was over.

  Chapter 49

  Sea Serpent

  L i sat on the deck of the Koporso drinking his favorite cheap beer and watching the sunset. Lóng’s voice could be heard talking to Lei Lei over the phone. Li thought about Yu’s death again. He felt better, but still grieved for him, one of his dearest friends. Two guards stood on the balcony above Li, talking about the newest superhero movie. One thought it was the greatest while the other thought it was just okay, which the first one took much more as a personal offense than just an opinion. Li paid no attention to either of them. He closed his eyes for just a minute. He faded into a soundless sleep just as the guards stopped talking about superheroes abruptly. Lóng said goodbye to Lei Lei a few seconds later, leaving the ship in a peaceful state and letting Li sleep peacefully, too.

  The sound of something splashing the water awoke Li. He faintly heard the sound of soothing music playing behind him. The sun was far gone, and the light to the deck was off. The only light was through the glass windows behind him. He slowly stood up, a little groggy, and walked inside. He watched his feet and rubbed his eyes as he opened the door and entered a nightmare. Lóng’s personal bodyguards laid across the table in the middle of the room. Their heads and the table were covered in blood. The bartender was on the floor, his feet poking out from behind the bar. Lóng was on the bar itself, his chest covered in blood. Li rushed over to his side, almost tripping over his own feet. Li shouted Lóng’s name as he observed the wounds. A large cut had been made on his chest, stretching from his left shoulder to his right hip. Li didn’t stare too long at it as he saw bones and organs moving in the cut. He ripped his shirt off and pressed it over the cut. Lóng coughed up blood, his whole-body jolting, his broken arms swinging.

  “Liao! Holy shit, you’re alive! Who was it?”

  “Li… Li listen, listen,” Lóng’s voice was soft and groggy. Li stopped. “It was… Assassin…Wanted…Call them…” He coughed again.

  “Who? Lei Lei?”

  Lóng mouthed no. “Twelve… Flash drive.” Lóng’s voice quivered in fear.

  “Twelve? Twelve flash drives?”

  Lóng shook his head and with his last breath said, “Password.” He tilted his head back and looked up. Li followed his eyes, down the bar to a thirteen-digit number carved into the wood. Li thought of his flash drive that he plucked from the dead hitman’s hand in Spain. Li looked back at him to ask more questions, but Liao Shang Lóng was already dead.

  Chapter 50

  Blood

  T he whore house threw Jack into a déjà vu moment. The house was more modern and cleaner than the one in Amsterdam; the freshly painted green door seemed to pop out of the old building. The windows were painted black, with colored lights shining out of them and a few girls’ silhouettes dancing in the window.

  Fu got off the bus outside his apartment, a smile on his face as he remembered their anniversary on his own.

  Tao and a group of his 49ers got into a black SUV.

  Jack knocked on the door and waited. A guy on a bicycle, paying attention to only the windows, passed behind h
im. A man in his fifties opened the door to Jack. The man’s colorful Hawaiian shirt was unbuttoned revealing his hairless chest. He let Jack in without any hesitation.

  Fu, smelling the flowers he got for his wife and peeking at dinner in the paper bag, rode the elevator up to his floor.

  Tao instructed his men on the plan as their driver paid extra attention to the traffic laws around him.

  Jack followed the middle-aged man through the living room. They passed a teenage girl in her underwear dancing in front of the purple lamp pointed at the window. She seemed bored by it all. The second room was separated by paper-thin room separators. Each small section housed a tattered fabric chair. A couple of sections had girls entertaining customers with seductive dance moves and emotionless faces.

  Fu’s elevator arrived at his floor with a ding. He exited to a deserted floor as usual.

  Tao and his 49ers parked a few blocks away from their destination.

  Jack walked up a flight of stairs to the second floor. Pictures covered the staircase, pictures of their best girls showing more skin than anything else. The smell of cigarettes and sweat grew stronger with every step as he approached the second floor.

  Fu walked up to his door and sat down his dinner to reach his keys.

  Tao and his personal bodyguard turned the safety off on their used handguns as the rest sharpened their knives before exiting the SUV.

  Jack walked past closed doors of several rooms that had no customers. Jack found this a little odd as they entered the corner room on the floor. This room was bare besides a plastic card table and a potbellied man sitting at it counting the day’s earnings.

  Fu opened the door and picked up the paper bag, saying with a cheery voice, “Happy Anniversary!”

  Tao and his 49ers reached the entrance.

  “I know, I know you are here for the payments,” said the man as he pushed his metal chair back and stood up, “but how about this?” Jack rolled his eyes. The fat man continued while the man in the flowered shirt leaned against the door frame. “Hear me out,” said the fat man. “You let me keep a little extra, and I’ll let you sleep with a fresh one.” He walked to another door to Jack’s right and opened it.

  “Fu?” responded Fu’s wife. Her voice was not near as chipper as his.

  Tao knocked on the door.

  The fat man stood in the doorway and said, “This girl is super out of it, but those can be the best ones. A real human doll to play with.” When Jack shook his head, the fat man added, “You can’t say no to something you haven’t seen.” He smiled maliciously, obviously thinking himself clever for thinking that up.

  Fu walked with a quick step to see his wife sitting on the floor leaning against the couch in a pool of her own blood and water.

  The freshly painted green door opened to Tao.

  Jack rolled his eyes and walked over to the open the door to look at the poor girl. He prepared himself to hold his frustration and disgust back. That wasn’t what he needed to hold back.

  Thomas saw her outside his mind for the first time in six months, clear and pristine, just like the night he proposed. He saw Mallory.

  Epilogue

  T wo different numbers shined on the middle monitor on a wall of screens. One a phone number, and the other an IP address. An older man sat in a black leather chair in his bathrobe, watching the numbers. The door behind him slid open, and a young man in a new suit walked in and bowed. Keeping his head low, the young man waited for the man at the monitor to give a command. The man in the chair rolled a little glass ball in his hand with a map of South Asia reflecting out of it.

  Finally, the older man voiced his question: “Is it him?”

  “The voice is the best match we have had,” said the young man. “We still don’t have visual confirmation yet.”

  The older man huffed out a chuckle. “We were lucky to get a voice.” He placed the glass ball on his armrest where it sat cozily on its own platform, and then he said, “Li must be the next number, poor thing.”

  “Did you receive the news about the whore house?” the boy timidly asked.

  “Yes,” replied the older man. “I was hoping it wouldn’t happen this fast or violently. I want you to call in Red to fix that. And call in the asset to take care of his family matters. I’ll inform the rest of The Twelve.”