10

After sailing for almost five hours, the Black Lagoon finally reached its destination. Counterfeiting money is a lucrative business, especially if you are the best like Greenback Jane. The Indian hacker managed to amass a huge amount of wealth. She bought a five room mansion on a beach with a spectacular view of the Gulf of Thailand. Most importantly, it was on an isolated cove far away from Roanapur, the perfect place to hide if you are being chased by the CIA and one of Asia's largest drug syndicate.

Jane's beach mansion had a private port where the Lagoon was moored inside a cave to hide it from air surveillance. Dutch, Revy, Rock, Benny and Jane disembarked and walked towards the mansion.

"Very nice crib you got here, Jane" Dutch commented. It was true, the mansion was modern contemporary in design, mostly made from glass panels and steel.

"Thanks," Jane replied. "It's worth a lot of money."

"No shit," Revy commented.

Jane dialed a number on the security lock and they all went inside. The house is also beautiful inside, filled with modern furniture and state-of-the-art appliances. "Make yourself at home, guys," Jane said. "I have food and wine on the kitchen. You can use whatever you need. By the way, if the shit hits the fan…" Jane pushed a button on the fireplace and a hidden trap door opened under the staircase. "This tunnel goes straight to the cave where the Lagoon is moored."

"You have weapons?" Revy asked.

Jane nodded. She went to the den and opened a hidden safe behind a book shelf. Inside are several antique shotguns, rifles and revolvers. "This is all I got. They all work though, and I have plenty of ammo."

Revy examined an over-and-under Rizzini shotgun. The beautiful weapon is plated in gold and carved with intricate images. "This is better than nothing," she commented.

"Benny and I will try our best to hack the CIA," Jane continued. "In a meantime, I suggest you guys start planning about the next step."

After eating and showering, the Lagoon team are taking an R&R while Benny and Jane are in the computer center trying to hack into one of the most secure computer system in the world. Dutch and Rock are discussing plans to attack the 24K and clear their names. Revy is just sitting on a rock in the beach, sipping Jack Daniels while smoking Marlboro.

"Revy?" a voice called.

"Rock," Revy replied.

Rock sat beside the Lagoon Amazon. Revy offered him cigarettes. Rock took one stick, Revy lit him up with her worn out Zippo.

"What's going on, Revy?" Rock asked.

"What do you mean?" Revy inquired with a frown.

"You don't look good. Is there something bothering you?"

Revy shook her head. "No, nothing. The past few days had been just been hell for all of us."

"Yeah," Rock agreed, taking a drag of nicotine.

"Rocky?"

"What is it, Revy?"

"Earlier, while we were being chased by the CIA, I could have killed that woman. She is on my sights. One shot, I could have blown her head off with the punt gun. But…I didn't."

Rock nodded. "I saw that. You shifted targets at the last second."

"I don't know why I did it, Rocky. I want to kill that bitch, I want to kill her so bad. But I just couldn't…pull the trigger. It's like someone or something held me back."

"Maybe. But I am glad that it happened, Revy."

Revy eyed Rock questioningly. "Why is that?"

"It just means you are still human, Revy. You are not a robotic killing machine. You still have conscience."

Revy flicked the empty filter of her cigarette away. "It's not conscience, Rock. It's more of respect."

Rock was incredulous. It is not easy to gain Revy's respect. Whatever that CIA agent did to her, it really got into Revy's skin.

"Guys!" Benny called from the beach house. He is smiling ear to ear. "Get inside. We have some good news."

Titan Team field office

Roanapur Airport

Mikasa Ackerman is sitting on her makeshift office, drinking coffee while reading reports. It was not good. They completely lost track of the Black Lagoon, and they have no leads at all. Mikasa used all of her known contacts and deployed every sophisticated surveillance equipment they can use. But it was all a wasted effort. The Lagoon team effectively disappeared under the radar. It is going to take careful and meticulous detective work to find them again.

"Boss," Franz said as he approached Mikasa. "Maybe you should take a rest. You've been up for several days."

"I'll live," Mikasa replied. "Any news?"

"Negative, boss. We completely lost them."

Mikasa sighed hard. "It can't be. They can't simply disappear. There should be some clues we can use."

Nac Tius spoke as he came into the room. "Boss, those men we killed in the Indian quarter and in the port, they are members of the 24K drug syndicate, lead by Kao Zhaulong. Looks like they also want to get the Lagoon team for whatever reason."

Something hit Mikasa's brain. "Wait a minute, on his last mission, Eren is working to gather intelligence on the 24K gang. We suspected that several corrupt CIA agents are dealing drugs with the 24K. This couldn't be a coincidence."

"Maybe the Lagoon team had something against the 24K, or maybe even against the CIA," Mina suggested.

"We will know everything once we bought them in," Mikasa said. "So redouble your efforts. I want the Black Lagoon found, as soon as possible."

Thomas suddenly burst inside the office. "Boss, we have Dutch on the line," he rasped.

Mikasa bolted from her chair, grabbing the satellite phone. She gave the signal to her team to trace the call. They quickly went to work. "Who the hell is this?" Mikasa asked on the phone.

"My name is Dutch, I am the captain of the Black Lagoon," the voice said. "It's nice to speak with you, Agent Mikasa Ackerman."

"There will be no terms, Dutch," Mikasa replied, anticipating what the Lagoon captain would say. "Surrender now because it is only a matter of time before we find you and your psychotic gang of criminals."

"I doubt that," Dutch said. "We did not kill Agent Collins, or more appropriately, Agent Eren Yeager. He was killed by the 24K gang."

"Save your fairy tales for your future cellmates at Gitmo, Dutch."

"I know you wouldn't believe me, but we have something you can want, the chip that we recovered from your fellow agent before she died. It was the chip that we delivered to Yeager before he was killed."

"I don't want any chips, or any deals, Dutch. I want your heads."

"That is not gonna happen. You should know that the chip contains records of drug dealings by the CIA to the 24K, and it goes all the way to the top of your organization. We are going to take out the 24K, and if you tried to interfere, we will not hesitate."

The line went dead.

Mikasa looked at Mina on the computer terminal. "Did you trace it?"

Mina shook her head. "Negative, boss. He is using an encrypted satellite phone."

"Damn," Mikasa cursed. These bastards are smarter and more sophisticated than she thought.

"What now, boss?" Thomas asked.

"We will return to the Indian quarter," Mikasa replied. "Maybe we missed something."