Chapter 2: Cold Knife
Benny saw Revy came up from the stairs. She was in deep thoughts. Benny was about to enter his room then, carrying the carton of spare parts that he had bought.
"Oi, Revy, did you find Rock?" he asked.
Revy didn't answer. She continued towards her room.
"Oi, Revy, where's Rock? Did you find him?"
Revy didn't pay any attention to him and went on to open the door.
"Revy…"
"He's gone," Revy finally said. "He didn't want to stay." She entered in and closed the door behind her.
Benny seemed to understand what had really happened, but he kept thinking why Rock would refuse to return. He felt sad not for him or the company, but for Revy.
…
Rock decided to smoke out his worries for a while on a stool of a ramen restaurant along the road. So, I said it finally. My goodbye. I hope that this will turn out fine in the end. He gazed up at the sky. From now on, I should forget about being Rock. The soft and gentle Rock. Well, I surely gonna miss being him.
Suddenly, a black limousine stopped in his front. He didn't notice its arrival since he had been deep in his thoughts. Upon turning his head to look who might it be, the window of the car's last compartment slid down, showing the scarred face of a blonde lady.
"Rock, it's a surprise you're alone. Where's Revy? Isn't she your bodyguard?" Balalaika said.
Rock smiled. "Hey, she has never been my bodyguard. She just wanted to go with me in my walks, that's all."
"Uhm. That's good news for me."
"Good news?"
"I have a job for you, and I want you to do it alone."
"A job?"
"Yes. You are the only one I know that can do this. I need your 'business' talents in this one."
…
Balalaika had persuaded Rock to get in the car and talk about the "job." Seated face to face with the mafia queen, Rock acted his usual gentle mannered businessman self, grudgingly, considering that he had just decided to discard it a while ago.
"So, what's this job you're talking about?" Rock asked.
"Just a negotiation. I want to ask this man something in return for goods. I know, considering your talents, that you could easily persuade him to have a deal."
After almost thirty minutes of travel, they reached an old-abandoned building. Only the columns and the floors remained from what looked like an unfinished demolition. The sea was visible in the area because it was situated on a high place. It seemed that the building had been an international hotel years ago.
They got out of the car.
"Is this the place of rendezvous?" asked Rock, looking up at the building.
"Yes. The meeting will be in the second floor. Let's go."
Balalaika, followed by five men in black suit, went ahead. Rock followed behind them.
"This sure looks old," Rock said.
"This was a hotel before. A favorite meeting place of international delegates of the criminal and normal world twenty years ago," Balalaika replied.
"Oh? It's a pity that I was born too late."
"Yes. It surely is. This building stood with magnificence and pride when it was still alive. Only by looking at it, you could appreciate art's mystery."
"Why would they let this building be demolished?"
"It was bombed."
"Bombed?"
They finally reached the second floor, and Balalaika immediately dropped the subject about the building.
"We're here," she said. "Prepare yourself, Rock."
The floor area was large. By inspection, it could have accommodated twenty rooms. Through the opening between the columns that had been walls, the sea was clearly visible.
Rock walked in front looking out at the sea. "Are we too early?"
"No, not really."
"Huh?" He turned around to look at Balalaika. "Then where is the man?"
Balalaika suddenly fished the pistol from the holster strapped on her thigh and pointed it at Rock. Rock was surprised.
"You are." Balalaika's eyes were burning in excitement. "You are, Rock."
"Hey, what's the meaning of this?" Rock asked. He could see the men in black pulled out their pistols as well.
Balalaika took out the picture of the young boy out her coat's inside pocket and threw it towards Rock. "Can you recognize who he is?"
Rock recognized him, and, all of a sudden, he realized what was happening. Rock glanced up from the picture on the floor to Balalaika with his Devil's Glare. "So you know already," he said, with a dead, monotone voice.
"Yes. And I'm here to kill you."
"Do you understand what you're saying?"
"Of course. Who the hell do you think am I?"
"I don't want to kill anybody. Lower your weapons and let's forget all about this."
"Eh, very cocky for someone who's about to die. I should be the one ordering here. Anytime I can take your life."
"I will say it again. Lower your weapons and let's forget all about this."
"Don't command me!" Balalaika suddenly blurted out, pulling at the same time the trigger of her pistol.
The bullet came to Rock as if in slow motion. Easily, he dodged it. "You can't kill me with such toys. Surrender now and I'll spare all of your lives."
"Don't mock me!" This time she fired incessantly. Her men started shooting at him as well.
But Rock had been trained to handle situations like this. He dodged the bullets as if he knew where they would be coming from and began his own attack. While swaying to and fro to avoid the bullets, he approached Balalaika. And, in a matter of seconds, he succeeded. He swiftly twisted her hand and poked the pistol she held under her chin. The men behind her stopped firing at once.
"You are not my target, Balalaika, so don't push me to kill you," he said in the same monotone voice. "I don't understand why you want to kill me. I haven't done anything to you or to your gang. Are you just committing suicide? If you're intimidated of my presence, don't worry anymore because I'll be dead in two weeks. Just wait a little longer and I'll be gone."
"Committing suicide? You're a fool, aren't you?"
At that, her sniper fired at Rock.
Rock, with his incredible sense of hearing, heard the approaching bullet. Suddenly, he pulled Balalaika's arm. The bullet passed through it and blood splattered around. Meanwhile, Rock, who had calculated already, from the angle of the shot and the timing of the bullet's approach, the location of the sniper, began to attack. Using Balalaika's pistol, he aimed at the sniper and fired. He got him. Balalaika saw his feat and, for the first time in her life, felt an overwhelming fear. The confidence she had been showing him was gone.
"Kapitan!" one of his men shouted. All of them were startled at the suddenness of the events.
Rock decided to kill them all. Still using Balalaika's gun in her hand, he shot them. Five bodies fell on the floor in an instant.
I thought he only fired once, she thought, awed. Her eyes were wide like those of a fish.
"Balalaika, I will be letting you live. But I promise you this. One more bullet against me and I'll destroy all of Hotel Moscow like what I did to the ones who got in my way. Don't worry about your wound. I avoided getting your arm be hit fatally. You can still use it when it's healed." Rock took the pistol out her grasp and, single-handedly, disassembled it in front of Balalaika. "No one could destroy a person who had experienced hell multiple times since he was a child not old enough to be fed without a bottle." He stood up and walked towards the edge. "Sayonara." He jumped out.
"So…so that's how to be scared." She giggled. "I loved it. I loved it, Rock!" she shouted, and, afterwards, she laughed crazily.
