Title: Hindsight
By: Amaniblue
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: talk of violence
Disclaimer: Not mine despite my wish. Yoh and Fei Long belong to Yamane Ayano. Not betaed, so pardon the grammar. Written for the 2009 YA-LJ FeiLong Birthday Contest.
It was all over the news by Monday morning. One TVB's news anchor dubbed it as 'the massacre at Shap Sze Heung.' The catch phrase would light the airwaves like the latest Canto-pop star days later.
"It was a turf war between triads," the fat local police chief, Wang Yin Wai eagerly insisted. "This kind of display always manifests when one group flexes their strength against a weakening group. Fortunately no bystanders were caught within the crossfire, though surrounding properties were damaged." He then vowed his taskforce will clean up the mess and arrest all of those involved.
As Liu Fei Long walked away from the offending screen, he vowed to have Mr. Wang sent to patrol Sha Tau Kok by this afternoon. He nodded absently to a set of underlings who greeted him outside his office at the Baishe headquarters and head towards the lift. A trail of three bodyguards followed quietly behind, being mindful not to be a target of their fuming leader.
How dare these filthy mainlanders tread mud and blood allover my territory. They must have a death wish, he thought grimly.
To say Fei Long was pissed was putting it mildly. Lucky for them, the Baishe leader was a generous man to grant them their wish. The problem was: none of his remaining loyal men were stepping up to take the reins. Not after what happened to the team he'd sent out to sniff out these rats.
After the restructuring of Baishe, Fei Long knew that loyalty and self-perseverance were two sides of a wavering coin his men still face. Each decision and move he made thus far had been thought-out like pawns on a chessboard.
He knew the mainlanders were hiding out somewhere in New Territories, but that was as far as the information flowed. The local citizens weren't talking, not after what happened. Impending threats and repercussions were useless. He needed an infiltrator to smoke them out.
He swore as the forbidden idea entered his thoughts once more. As much as he denied the idea, his leadership senses acknowledged that it was a win-win situation. He would kill a flock of birds with one stone. Either way he would be rid of the recent trespassers or a once valued comrade now turn traitor. However, there was another problem. One he didn't want to acknowledge and was reluctant to admit. He hadn't thought of the latter issue for weeks now because he simply didn't know what to do about him.
Fei Long knew what he had to do. One would kill a traitor and set an example. One does not turn his back on a traitor without putting a bullet between his eyes first and then continue to let him live for weeks on end. But he did just that.
He loathed admitting this, but the Baishe leader couldn't think of another more beautiful solution. Thus, he squashed the growing pang of guilt down to its embers.
"Tsim Sha Tsui," Fei Long commanded as he entered the unmarked black sedan waiting outside the headquarters' lobby.
****
"I didn't know you were part of the tourist attraction," Fei Long remarked with a twist of his lips in disgust as he surveyed the solemn figure leaning against the cabin of the dingy sampan he was facing.
The Baishe leader jumped aboard from the pier and held a hand to halt his bodyguards from following. The wooden boat bobbed unsteadily with the added weight for just a moment.
Despite the bustling noise of the passing sampans, distant chattering of tourists and vehicles stop-and-going at the harbor, there was a tension thickening silence settled between the two on the small sampan.
The figure never budged from his pose, except for the tell-tale stiffening of his shirtless back. The man didn't say anything, just stood there, waited, and listened. As he always does. It irked Fei Long somehow and the overwhelming urge to flee— no leave, he corrected pushed forward in his thoughts. He didn't want to be entangled with the traitor once more, but it was undeniable that this man was the best person for the job.
With a wave of his hand, Fei Long alerted one of his bodyguards to throw a black duffle bag behind the figure. It fell with a resounding thump against the buoying wood.
"You have a month," the Baishe leader informed the figure and turned around to leave. He heard a quick shuffle of feet as the other turned to face him. Not wanting to find out what the other wish to say, Fei Long halted all further conversation with his following words, "either with their death or yours, consider all debts repaid."