The Ho Chi Minh Paper Trail

by chapa3

The follow-up to 'Glass Rocks'. Martin Zappala and Fred Viapiano, business associates of Luca Cavalcanti, arrive at the home of Black Lagoon Company with reconciliation and a job. After a body is found, Black Lagoon Company becomes embroiled in a violent political game between the owner of an illegal recycling racket, a Vietnamese media mogul, and the Tổng Cục 2.

11. Deal

AN: Credit goes to demonicDRAMAqueen for the Hindi dialogue and translations.

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A white 114 Hatteras Motor yacht floats in front of a jetty, the jetty surrounded by a forest. At the bow of the yacht, three Eastern European-looking men wielding Dragunov sniper rifles and dressed in military fatigues aim at an approaching black third-generation Ford Transit van. Driving down a crude dirt road, the van stops parallel to the yacht. Exiting the driver side door, a 50-something year-old Vietnamese woman dressed in a dark green Vietnamese military officer uniform and black dress shoes, and a name tag that says 'Cao', surveys the yacht with steely brownish-green eyes. Her faces shows slight wrinkles, her neck is slightly short, her chin and cheeks are slightly round, and she is sporting long, grayish hair tied to a ponytail, the ponytail reaching just below her shoulders. A CZ-75 pistol in her right hand, she approaches the rear of the van.

Her other passenger, a Vietnamese man in his early 20s, sporting a shaved head and slight stubble and dressed in Vietnamese Army fatigues, climbs onto the driver seat and then out the driver side door, walking into cover behind the van. Cao unlocks the back of the van and lets the morning sun shine onto the four occupants inside.

Stepping out first, hands tied behind his back, an Eastern European-looking man with cheap, circular glasses, a bony face, and thin blonde hair tied into a ponytail, dressed in a white t-shirt and dark jeans, and wearing grey shoes, looks toward the yacht and smiles. The Vietnamese man pulls out a combat knife and removes Daniel Vaynshteyn's shackles. Vaynshteyn rubs his now freed wrists and walks toward the jetty, not saying a word to anyone else.

Stepping out next, hands also tied, an Azeri-looking man with short black hair, the hair on his sides faded, slightly thick eyebrows, and dark chin stubble, dressed in a grey v-neck and black track pants, walking in orange tennis shoes, waits for his bindings to be removed. As the bindings are removed, he nods at Vaynshteyn and then waves at the people onboard the yacht.

Next, an Eastern European-looking man with a pointy chin, bushy black hair, chin stubble, and a mole on his nose, says "Nu shto, Kiril, Daniel (Well what, Kiril, Daniel)? Mi svobodni (We are free)?" Kiril smiles at Aydar and says "Mi svobodni".

As Aydar relishes in his release, the three Hotel Moscow men approach the jetty, awaiting their journey back to Roanapur. A Laotian man in his late 30s climbs out of the van, sporting bushy black hair, a green t-shirt, and grey faded jeans, walking in brown sneakers. The Vietnamese soldier removes the Laotian man's bindings and walks toward the driver seat. The Laotian man heaves a deep sigh and says in Vietnamese "Chung cuộc (Finally)." He rubs his wrists and turns toward the yacht. Smiling, he says in a Vietnamese accent "Hey Daniel. We are going on a yacht?"

The three Hotel Moscow henchmen ignore the Laotian man as the Vietnamese soldier walks to the back of the van, holding an AKM. As the Laotian turns around to face Cao and the Vietnamese soldier, Cao says "Bạn đang không phải là một phần của thỏa thuận này (You are not a part of this arrangement)." A sinking feeling overcomes the Laotian man as the Vietnamese soldier raises his AKM at the Laotian. "Khoan đã (Wait)!" the Laotian yells as a bullet passes clean through his gut, exits out his back, and lodges into the grass, sending a spray of blood and flesh onto the bright green grass. A second shot passes through his chest as he flinches and stumbles backwards, in shock. Gasping for air, he shakes his head in fear as a final bullet lands in his forehead, killing him instantly.

Cao motions the soldier to the van and turns to the yacht. She waves the yacht away, almost shooing it, and yells in a Vietnamese accent "We are heading out now!"

"We have our people back. Thank you Windmill. We will not forget it," the speaker on Zappala's black, disposable cell phone sounds off, as Rock smiles maniacally to himself. Standing on a rotting jetty, the Lagoon right behind him, clear sunlight beaming over his head, Rock stares at the cell phone, the clock displaying '10:18 A.M.' He is dressed in his black and white plaid dress shirt, black dress pants, and black dress shoes. He turns around and faces the Lagoon, Marty and Revy standing on the nearby portside. Marty is dressed in Rock's 'Bad Motherfucker' t-shirt, jeans, and brown sneakers. Revy is dressed in her red and black striped tracksuit top and bottom and grayish green combat boots. Both of them are enjoying a smoke break, Revy's cigarette half done, Marty's still fresh.

"I got a phone call saying that the Russians were released, and that they won't forget what Windmill did for them," Rock says, satisfied with himself. Marty pumps his left fist and says "Beautiful. Fucking beautiful. You put a tear in the eye of this weary, sleep deprived Capobastone." Rock extends his arms out and says "It definitely is. I'm calling the general now."

Turning his attention back to Zappala's cell phone, Rock hurriedly and eagerly scrolls down the address book. Reaching Hiếu Văn Phạm's number, Rock dials. After a short pause, Rock says "Outside line. I am waiting." Hanging up the phone, Rock turns back to the Lagoon and asks "Revy, you sure that the place is perfect?" Revy walks toward the railing and leans on it, saying "Ask Tuyết if you want to know the details, it was her idea. But yeah, Tân Hịêp is like ten miles away from Rạch Giá and the recycling workshop. Place is outside the town itself, no civilians to worry about. I think she called it an abandoned motel with a restaurant and laundry shop attached. A few floors, all stairs."

"Good. It will do," Rock replies, snapping his fingers in his enthusiasm. "So Marty, our pay was wired already?" Revy asks, tilting her head to Marty. Marty sighs and replies "Kinda hard to do any kind of wiring on a boat. Look, when this is done I will wire it right in front of you and Dutch and everyone. You gotta give me some trust here." Interrupting, Rock says "Don't worry Revy. I believe our esteemed client is in no position to screw us over even if he wanted." Still looking at Revy, Marty points toward Rock, glances to make sure he was actually pointing at Rock, turns back to Revy, and says "See, couldn't have said it better myself."

After a short pause, Revy, scratching her neck, asks Marty "So…does Ngoc know that our meth smoking freelancer put her boyfriend on dialysis?" Marty immediately sticks his left index finger upward, almost to cut Revy off, and says "No, and I really…REALLY…like it if you don't mention that again for the next 24 hours." Waving him off, Revy walks toward the front of the Lagoon, soaking in the bright sunlight, letting a gentle breeze sway the tips of her hair. She leans over the railing, resting her arms on top of the cold steel. Ash chips off the tip of her cigarette, sprinkling onto the bluish-green water.

Zappala's phone rings. Rock waves the phone in the air and yells "I'm taking the call!" Pressing a button and then putting the phone to his ear, Rock says "We got confirmations that the Russians have been released. However, you missed the deadline…somewhat more then sixteen hours ago. That makes it forty thousand for each briefcase…our price for Trung. I assume you have the money. Yes? Good, good. Naturally, our previous location for the exchange has been cancelled. Yes? I did specify that deviation would not be in your favor. I very clearly specified. Had you met our demands immediately, you would not be in this position right now. Yes? No, now that makes me nervous. Maybe I should put two bullets in Trung's skull and see if the sharks have an appetite. Yes? Good, now that I simplified things for you, perhaps we can proceed. Kiên Giang, the exchange is in Kiên Giang. I will specify where exactly later. Await my call." Rock quickly ends the call, checks to see that the call has ended, looks up to Marty, and says "I will stake my life that Hiếu Văn Phạm is sending his idiots to the recycling facility. That should give us a window. We take the van that Thinh left us and go straight to the motel or whatever it is…perfect…this will actually work. Wow…go wake everyone up, tell them it's time."

Marty nods and says "This works out and you all are getting a little executive bonus…just some added motivation." He turns to the door that leads to the interior of the Lagoon, pulls it open, and disappears into the ship. Revy, meanwhile, steps back to the portside of the Lagoon. She says "Nice line of bullshit. You got all that hostage talk from the cheap rental of the month?"

Extending his arms out, Rock says "You can't argue with the results." Revy knocks ash off her cigarette and says "Money talks and bullshit walks on thin ice. I'll vouch for the results when we actually get some." Slightly annoyed, Rock says "Revy, I'm trying to enjoy myself here. Trust me here, this will work." Revy lets out a forced laugh and says "It's the stuff beyond you that I have to trust…that's what's keeping me up."

Stepping through perfectly rectangular, glass, double doors, an Eastern European looking-man with dirty blonde hair combed forward, dressed in a bright orange Lacoste polo, dark blue jeans, and grey tennis shoes, carries a black gym bag in his left arm. Following him from behind is another Eastern European-looking man, slightly chubby and with round cheeks, a short neck, and a round jaw, dressed in a red cotton jacket with thick yellow stripes going down the sleeves and a zipper going through the middle, the jacket unzipped enough for a white v-neck shirt and a golden chain with an Eastern Orthodox cross to be visible. The underside of the jacket is white uneven cotton with a couple of dark chest hairs glued to it. The Eastern European man is also wearing black jeans and light blue boat shoes with white socks, and is carrying a black gym bag with each hand.

"Dehrzhiti dveir Vadik (Hold the door, Vadik)," the bald man, Pavel Baretsky, hurriedly requests. Vadim Jodorovski obliges and holds the door on the right open for Baretsky, as the two exit Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, stepping onto a wide pavement crowded with Northern and Eastern Indians and a few scattered Thais and Western Europeans standing or sitting with their luggage, their first steps onto Lucknow. At the end of the pavement, even spaced out foot high pillars separate the pavement from the road, which itself is divided in half by thin strips of more pavement and a tiny patch of shrubbery with a tiny tree in the middle. A couple of white sedans and a bluish-green hatchback drive off as a grey sedan parks itself by the pillars.

Baretsky pulls a pair of aviator sunglasses out from under his red jacket and puts them on. Yawning, he checks his stainless steel watch to find that it is now 12:02 P.M. He turns to Jodorovski and annoyingly asks "Nu, gde ohn (Well, where's he)?" Jodorovski sets his gym bag down on the pavement and answers "Ni znayu (Don't know). Kapitan skazala shto tsvet mashina zolotoi (Kapitan said that the car color is golden). Chuvak Indus, zavut Naresha (Dude's Indian, name is Naresh)."

From the distant left, a 1972 Zaporozhets-968 gently grinds to a halt by the barricade of columns, the sedan gleaming an obnoxious gold color. "Pashol ti na hui (Go sit on a dick)," Jodorovski blankly blurts out to no one in particular, dreading what he thinks he sees. Pavel lifts his sunglasses up, trying to figure out if he is hallucinating.

A slightly light-skinned North Indian man in his late 20s, sporting wavy, slightly disheveled black hair, bushy eyebrows, and very faint stubble, dressed in a forest green and white horizontally stripped buttoned, collared t-shirt, opens the driver side door of the Zaporozhets and climbs out. He is revealed to be wearing sky blue denim jeans held by a brown belt, as well as dark brown leather boat shoes. The man scans the entrance of the airport, and, using process of elimination, approaches Jodorovski and Baretsky.

The man whispers in a North Indian accent "Are you all Mr. J and Mr. B?" "Ba-lin (Da-amn)," Jodorovski mutters under his breath as Baretsky nods his head, restraining his amusement. Baretsky asks "You Naresh?" Naresh nods and says "Get in."

Jodorovski walks toward the two door sedan, a look of annoyance on his face. Baretsky walks to the sedan, extends the index finger of his left hand skywards as to catch Jodorovski attention, and says "Vot ana, vot ana, mashina moye mechti (There it is, there it is, car of my dreams). Vot ana (There it is)! Zapor blyat (Zapor, fuck)! Eta reyalni Zapor blyat (Fuck, it's an actual Zapor)!" "Excuse me?" Naresh asks. Jodorovski says "He is just having fun with your car." Laughing, Baretsky turns to Jodorovski and says "Vadik! Skolko raz ya usnul na zadnem cidenye etovo mashina (The amount of times I fell asleep in the back seat of this car)! Eto kak v ckazke, blyat (It's like in a fairy tale, fuck)!"

Naresh seats himself in the driver seat, Jodorovski follows Naresh and seats himself in the front side passenger seat. Baretsky walks to the back of the Zaporozhets, surveying it, highly amused with himself. He rubs the trunk of the sedan with his left hand and lifts the trunk door up. Baretsky carefully places his luggage inside the trunk, and then Jodorovski's luggage. Gently closing the trunk, Baretsky walks toward the right door and opens it, climbing into a bench like seat in the rear. Closing the door, he then lays sprawled on the seat as Naresh turns the engine on. The radio comes to life, playing the middle of 'Aage Aage Ladki' by Indipop singer Baba Sehgal.

"…peeche main hoon sayaana. Duniya kahe baba ho gaya hai deewana. Aage aage ladki peeche main hoon sayaana…"

"So how far is the hotel?" Jodorovski asks Naresh. Naresh sets the golden sedan in drive and drives forward, taking a left, and then another left." "In Lucknow, northeast of the river. In Gomti Nagar. Vivek Khand is the neighborhood, I got you two a nice hotel room. Shayler hotel, two blocks south of Railway Station Road."

The sedan waits for a FAW semi-truck trailer carrying a large white container that says 'Dhanikonda Logistics' in English and Hindi blue lettering, with a curvy sky blue pentagon logo on the sides of the truck that display a muscular flexing arm protruding from the middle of the logo, to turn right onto NH-25, heading up Kanpur Road. The sedan then turns right and merges with the highway. On the immediate right is a small Hyundai dealership that says 'Vijayanagar Hyundai' on a tall black sign. On the immediate left is a partially complete gas station, the interiors still under renovation. On a blue and white roof coving the gas pumps is a white round sign fastened onto the roof that says 'HP' in red lettering, two blue wings right under the HP. To the immediate right of the sign, a white flag flaps in the breeze, the flag saying 'Hindustan Petroleum jald hih ah raha (Hindustan Petroleum coming soon)'.

As the Zaporozhets drives toward Lucknow, passing open lots and occasional road side stores, Naresh says "All I could get you two on short notice is a pair of Makarovs. I literally had only hours to get them from the black market. If I had more time, I could have gotten an RPK or a Barrett M82. I could get it soon if you want to wait…" "Blin(Damn) no!" Jodorovski mutters under his breath. Extending the palm of his left hand upward, he says "No! No anti-material rifles. Pistols are fine. Seriously, I do not want you to get arrested for doing something stupid."

"Vadik blyat eta Zapor na hui (Vadik fuck it's a fucking Zapor)," Pavel Baretsky says, chuckling to himself, laying completely sprawled on the back seat. Ignoring Pavel, Vadim says to Naresh "Our boss, Balalaika, contacted you through your black market connections here. Can they help us find our person?" Naresh casually answers "Actually Ms. Balalaika gave me enough information to find him already." Jodorovski says "Oh?" Naresh nods and says "The dossier traced this Pongsak Shinasarn man to a money lending company in Vishnupuri. This was before he changed his name. The dossier mentioned that he took a large loan from them to subsidize a purchase of a department store. I didn't have time to check the business directory."

The sedan signals right, lets a grey Hindustan Ambassador pass, and then merges to a lane on the right. To the right of the highway is a university campus with scattered white buildings. The sedan passes a white and blue gate that says in white English letters 'LUCKNOW POLYTECHNIC LUCKNOW'. The song ends, cutting to a commercial break in Hindi.

"Well when you find the address, tell us immediately," Jodorovski blankly says, as Baretsky yawns audibly. Naresh says "Of course. I know what I'm doing here." The Zaporozhets reaches a fork in the road, with Kanpur Road continuing on the right. The sedan passes a bus terminal, a blue and yellow public bus leaving the bus stop. Right in the middle of Kanpur Road, a circular plot of land holds a bronze statue under a white marble roof that incases the statue in four white marble columns. Passing the statue, Jodorovski looks right, and spots a scattered array of business amongst healthy green trees. He turns left and spots a large forest on the other side of the street, a couple of stores in the foreground. Immediately to the right of the stores is an old, weathered, colonial palace. The palace, Alambagh Palace, has two watchtowers on each corner of the front of the palace, on its second floor. It has a water tower sticking out from behind, and appears neglected, its color washed out. The scattered stores become more and more numerous as Naresh says "We are getting closer. In the heart of the city now."

"ETA REIYALNI ZAPOR! NU VADIK, NU-ETA ZAPOR! YA NI VERU, SHTO ETA ZAPOR! (IT'S A REAL ZAPOR! WELL VADIM, WELL-IT'S A ZAPOR! I CAN'T BELIEVE, THAT THIS IS A ZAPOR)" Baretsky loudly blurts out, laughing, as Naresh stares at Jodorovski with a perplexed look on his face. Very annoyed, Vadim Jodorovski yells "Kakova hrenah (What the fuck)? Kakova nastoyashoya hrenah (What the actual fuck)? Ti nakonesto okhrinyel (Did you finally went nuts)?" Laughing, Baretsky says "Otvichayu na hui (Fucking answering you), eta blyat Zapor (it's a fucking Zapor)!" "Nahsh Indus okhirivayit shas (Our Indian is freaking out now)!" Vadim yells back, getting very annoyed with Baretsky. Still smiling, Baretsky answers "Vadik, yemu pizda, blyat (Vadim, he doesn't give a fuck)!" "Nu yecli tak nravitsa mashina, pakupai yebnuti Zapor y zakroi tvoi yoponi roht (Well if the car is so appealing to you, buy the fucking Zapor and shut your fucking mouth)!" Jodorovski barks back. Still in good spirits, Baretsky retorts "Mozhit bit ya budu, blyat (Might be that I will, fuck)."

Reaching a red light, the sedan stops right next to a large sign hooked to the window of a store titled in beige Hindi lettering 'Lucknoh Farsi Asanohm (Lucknow Persian Rugs)'. The sign says in Hindi "A.B. Vajpayee Bharatiya Janata Party 1998. Jai Jawan (Hail the soldier). Jai Kisan (Hail the farmer). Jai Vigyan (Hail knowledge)." Right in front of the store, a young North Indian looking man in his early 20s, dressed in a blue and grey horizontally stripped collared t-shirt and brown cargo shorts, sporting short black hair, holds a white sign that says in black English lettering 'There is a Pakistani Muslim pedophile terrorist movie star living under your children's bed, and he hates cricket. Vote BJP.'

Naresh rolls down Jodorovski's window and yells at the young man in Hindi "Zyada chalak Banta hai Saale (Very clever). Shayad congress tujhe bhainchod quota dede (Maybe the Congress will give you a 'sisterfucker' quota)." The young man replies in Hindi "Aur kya pataa Kisi din tu shiv sena Ki laund chusna band kardega (Maybe one day you will stop sucking Shiv Sena dick)!" Naresh gives the young man the bird and yells back "Accha ji (Oh yeah)? Gandhi-Nehru khandon ke peeche kuton ki tarah Dum hilake maze lo tum. (Enjoy following the Gandhi-Nehru monarchy like a filthy mutt)."

Hitting the gas, Naresh drives through a green light, as Jodorovski asks "You know him?" Naresh calmly says "Nope. Cheeky madarchod was being cheeky." "What?" Jodorovski asks, perplexed. Tilting his head right, Naresh says "Nothing. Political discussion. It's election time here in India." Jodorovski smiles and says "Ahh, gotcha." He turns to Pavel and says "Slishis Pasha (Listening Pavel)? Zdes shas vibahri (Here is now elections)." Pavel laughs and says "Kandidati pidahri (Candidates are faggots)!" Vadim starts laughing as the radio plays 'Jag Jeondeyan De Mele' by Punjabi-pop singer Harbhajan Mann.

A seagull glides over a dockyard in Roanapur. Descending, it zeros in on a bluish green Chevy Tahoe, sporting pristine new windows. It lands on the roof of the SUV, its rear hovering over the front window. Without warning, it shits on the window and waddles away.

Past a maze of shipping containers, Songxie Tong, dressed in a dark blue Ralph Lauren polo and sky blue jeans, walking in grayish blue tennis shoes, and sporting chin stubble, pulls a container door open. Peering inside, Laurent Reynolds, dressed in his Zinadine Zidane jersey and dark blue jeans, wearing sky blue boat shoes, a gold chain with a cross, and a stainless steel watch, says "Que est un grand sac putain de merde (That is a big fucking sack of shit). That is a lot of knockoff truffles." A brown burlap sack of Chinese truffles lies on the floor of the container, a few black grooved truffles lying still by the sack. "There is more in the back," Songxie says, pointing ahead. "How many? I agreed to a thousand dollars of these." Reynolds asks. "Four sacks," Songxie replies.

A seagull flies into the container. Before Reynolds and Songxie could shoo the bird away, the gull grabs a truffle in its beak, turns to Songxie, drops the truffle, gawks, and flies away.

"Pest," Reynolds mutters as Songxie picks the truffles off the floor. He stuffs them back into the sack and lifts the sack upright. Songxie then heads into the back of the container and proceeds to drag the sacks to the front. As Reynolds stands guard at the door, Songxie says "One thousand for pig feed. Incredible." Reynolds says "I got a buyer lined up for the truffles." Songxie grunts and says "Okay, good. Congrats." As Tong places the second sack near the front of the container, Reynolds says "Actually, I have something to ask you." Approaching a 3rd sack, Songxie wheezes and says "Ask."

"I need the Glass King," Reynolds admits. Songxie brings the 3rd sack to the front and asks "Why?" "I'll cut you in," Reynolds proposes. Songxie approaches the final sack and says "Okay. Thank you. Now why?" Reynolds sighs and says "The exchange is in Europe and I cannot go by plane. The Glass King can get me to the Mediterranean. You are co-boss with Ray, which means you co-own the ship as well."

Dragging the final sack to the front, Songxie pants, nods to himself, and says "Okay. Okay. I'll let you take the boat. Don't tell anyone. You need to hire crew out of pocket. Outside our people. I want 20%." "15% and I will consider it a favor," Reynolds counters. Songxie thinks to himself, nods, and says "Okay, tell me where and I will say yes." "Why do you care where the deal is?" Reynolds asks. Songxie laughs and asks "Oh, not so talky now?" Shrugging his shoulders, Reynolds says "Okay, just asking. The deal is in Sardinia. That's about as much as they were willing to accommodate." "Who you selling to?" Songxie asks. "People that are typically involved in these scams. Black market. No one affiliated to anyone," Reynolds diplomatically answers.

Satisfied with the answers, Songxie says "Okay, take the Glass King. Black Lagoon Company has a lot of sailing experience." Reynolds nods and says "I know, I know." Approaching Reynolds, he pats him on his left shoulder, saying "Remember, I get 15%. Let me get the car." As Songxie heads to his car, Reynolds glances at his recent purchase of four giant sacks of Chinese truffles. He reaches into a sack, pulls a truffle out, and inspects it. Tossing the truffle up in the air and catching it, Reynolds flinches as he hears someone yell "FUCKING BIRD!"

Crossing the Gomti River over NH-28, Naresh speaks mid-sentence "…and then the pieces of shit ignore the Ganges while using our fucking tax money to pay for HAJJ TO MUSLIMS!" Jodorovski yells out, at his limit "Blyat shut up! SHUT UPPP! Look at me! LOOK AT ME! I am a Belarusian Jew born in Baranovichi, raised in Petrozavodsk, and spent almost my entire life in the old USSR! I have never spent a single day in India before and I honestly don't plan to come back unless it is for business! Why the fuck do you think I give a damn about the BBP or the Nacholites of Bengal or whether or not Pakistan shot first or whatever the fuck else you spent the LAST HOUR rambling on and on AND ON ABOUT?! Cause I fucking DON'T!" "VADIK BLYAT ETA ZAPOR NA HUI! (Vadim, fuck it's a fucking Zapor)" Baretsky cheekily interjects. "ZAIBIS UZHE NA HUI (FUCKING FUCK OFF ALREADY)!" Jodorovski yells out. Fuming, he continues "TI OBA MENYA UZHE DASTALI BLYAT (YOU BOTH FUCKING GOT TO ME). TI PERDISH YERUNDA, INDUS IZDIVAYET NA MOYEH NEIRVI (YOU ARE FARTING NONSENSE, INDIAN IS NAGGING ON MY NERVES). GAREHLA VSOH NA HUI UZHE BLYAT (LET EVERYTHING FUCKING BURN ON A DICK ALREADY)!"

The radio concludes a commercial and begins 'Ruk Ruk Ruk' by Alisha Chinoy, from the Bollywood film 'Vijaypath'. "Fine, I'll drop it," Naresh declares, sounding insulted.

"Ruk ruk ruk, arey baba ruk. Oh my darling give me a look. Ruk ruk ruk, arey baba ruk…"

"ZAP ZAP ZAP, ETA ZAPOR! ZAP ZAP ZAP, ETA ZAPOR!"

"VSOH (THAT'S IT)! NARESH! BARETSKY WANTS TO BUY YOUR CAR! GIVE HIM AN ANSWER BEFORE I THROW HIM INTO THE RIVER!" Jodorovski yells out, about to have a conniption.

"Gussah tera, walla walla. Nakhre tere, oof oof oof. Love ah love, love ah love, tumseh love ah huaaan…"

Naresh shrugs his shoulders and says "Uh, I don't know. This car is not for sale." Baretsky quickly and eagerly says "I'll give you 300 hundred dollars, American." Naresh immediately yells "SOLD! A VERBAL CONTRACT IS BINDING IN THE STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH!" Jodorovski immediately starts clapping and yells "Pozdravlayu (Congrats)! Tehpehr vac yect tvoi dolbani zolotoi Zapor (Now you have your freaking golden Zapor). Samoye strashna shto mozhet sluchitsa, ti stanish pidarasum (Worst that could happen, you turn into a faggot)."

"Itna gussah itna anger, kyon hai tujhko frustration. Teri meri do dilon ki manzil toh hai love station…"

Naresh smiles to himself and says "Thanks, it's a good car. An old car, but good. I can get you in touch with someone to ship it to Thailand." "Ahuiyet (Fucking incredible), hook me up Naresh," Baretsky replies, pleased with himself. "You want to take over the wheel?" Naresh asks. Pavel shakes his head and says "Later, after job done."

The sedan crosses the river and drives past an oval shaped garden. In the middle of the garden is a giant bronze statue of a turban wearing Indian man holding a cane, the statue on a granite pedestal. Turning right, passing a bus stop on the left, Naresh says "I actually have a business idea you might like." Jodorovski sighs and says "If you are looking for a BBP campaign contribution I am going to hit you." Naresh snarls at Jodorovski and says "First, that is rude. I'm your only guide here. Second, no! I know of a cricket match with two batsmen that are going to swing and miss. The fix is in but the gambler I know wants five lakh, err 50 grand, in American cash as the minimum per bet. He takes five grand off the principal and the rest goes to us plus the payout from the win. Odds are 5:3 against the other team and we just need the other team to cover the spread. Interested?"

"Dil mera dharke tere liyeh. Dil mera tarpe tere liyeh. Gussah tera walla tere oof oof oof."

Jodorovski scratches his chin and says "Explain what a batsman is and how points are scored in cricket. I never watched a game." Naresh nods and says "Easy. Batsmen are like those in American baseball. You familiar, yes?" Jodorovski nods and says "Familiar enough. I think I get it." Naresh nods and continues, saying "Batsmen have unlimited attempts to go at the ball. A batsman is out if the sticks behind the batsman fall off or if someone fields the ball after it is hit. I was told the two batsmen are going to intentionally pop the ball up for fielders to easily catch it. The team that the two batsmen play for is the one from Jaipur, which has been eliminated from playoffs in their last game. They are up against Karnataka which already clinched the playoffs and has nothing to gain from winning, so they are probably going to rest their people. So no one is going to notice runs being shaven of and they will just assume that the team from Jaipur is being incompetent."

"Hey! Ruk ruk ruk, arey baba ruk. Oh my darling, give me a look. Ruk ruk ruk, arey baba ruk. Oh my darling, give me a look."

"Okay, I'll think about it," Jodorovski replies. Trying to sweeten the deal, Naresh says "The two batsmen go second and fourth in the order, so they are serious. This is not a difficult match to fix, trust me." "How much you need?" Vadim asks. Naresh thinks for a second and says "At least ten grand, but that is just to make the limit. Throw in more, you make more. We split the winnings and pay my guy's fee in proportion of what we contribute." Vadim nods and says "Okay, you give me information on the store Pongsak Shinasarn purchased and we could talk this out more seriously." Nodding, Naresh says "Good. It's free money."

The song ends, and then is replaced by 'Mera Dil Na Todo' from the Hindi film 'Raja Babu'. The sedan, now driving on Baldev Shina Arya Marg Road, passes a bank and a gaming parlor. "Almost here," Naresh blurts out, turning left onto a small two way street. He passes an assortment of clothing stores, pharmacies, and auto financing companies before turning left into a narrow street. "Vot, yeda (Look, food)," Vadim says, pointing at a restaurant with a green and orange awning that says in English lettering "Vivek Khand Best Vegetarian." Pavel Baretsky looks at the restaurant, frowns, and says "Foo, zeilehn ni budu zhraht (Eww, I don't eat fucking greens). Ya ni ohlein (I'm not a deer)." Vadim blankly says "Net, ti Zapor. (No, you are Zapor). Krepki e vanuchih (Strong and smelly)." "Pashol ti na hui, blyat, ahaha (Go sit on a dick, fuck, haha)," Baretsky replies, smirking.

Stopping in front of a five floor white concrete building that has a large vertical light blue sign that says in neon red English lettering 'Shayler Hotel', the hotel sandwich between an electronics store on the right, the store with a red awning that says in white English lettering 'ONIDA', and a sports shop on the left, the sports shop with a white awning that says in red English lettering 'PIONEER SPORTS', Naresh shuts off the engine and says "We are here."

Exiting the sedan, Jodorovski steps onto the sidewalk, spotting a North Indian couple pushing an infant in a black stroller. He turns around and watches Baretsky move toward the trunk of the car and retrieve their luggage. Naresh leans through his rolled down window and says "I booked the room for you under the names Ivanov and Pavlov." "Simple enough," Jodorovski replies. Naresh nods and says "I set things up for you inside a bit. When something solid appears, I will slip a note under the door." "Got it, thanks," Jodorovski states. Naresh tilts his head to the side and asks "You remember what I said about that game?" Jodorovski nods and slightly annoyingly says "Yes. Later. Let us shake off the jet lag." Naresh turns around and watches Baretsky shut the trunk. He turns back to Jodorovski and says "Take care."

As the sedan speeds away, Baretsky blurts out "Paka, moi lyubimaya Zapor (Bye, my favorite Zapor)!" "Ti lohch (You're an airhead)," Vadim quietly blurts out with a tinge of irritation. The two lift their luggage up and approach a glass revolving door. Vadim enters first, followed by Baretsky. Inside, the hotel reception, a dark brown wooden counter is on the right, and a set of carpet draped stairs is on the left. At the end of the hotel lobby is a white wooden double door leading to a courtyard. The entire hotel is draped in green and red carpet with golden fleur-de-lis and lion patterns.

A North Indian man dressed in a black suit and white dress shirt stands at the reception. A bowl of red and white swirl mints stands under a grey metal lamp. The lobby itself is slightly dim, with dark brown and red colors dominating the furniture and wall paint. The North Indian man looks at Pavel and Vadim and says in Northern Indian accented English "May I help you?"

Vadim nods and says "Yes in fact. We have a room booked, Ivanov and Pavlov." The North Indian man blankly, if slightly sounding occupied, says "Okay just…let me check." After flipping through a ledger, quickly scanning down the page and muttering the names to himself, he stops and says "Okay, room 301, up the steps, first door on the right." The North Indian man turns around and faces an array of cabinets with various brass keys connected to ring key chains hanging on metal bars. He grabs two brass keys and returns to the counter. Putting the keys on the counter, he says "You both get a key. Losing them will incur a 2000 rupee fee to replace the lock. We have a continental breakfast between 8 A.M. and 11 A.M. and a selection of wines for purchase, as well as room service."

As Vadim and Pavel each pocket a key, Vadim says "Thank you," and turns toward the stairs, with Pavel following from behind.

Looking through thermal goggles, a 50-something year-old Vietnamese woman dressed in a dark green Vietnamese military officer uniform and black dress shoes, and a name tag that says 'Cao', stares through a Generation 0 infrared handheld camera. The woman, Colonel Vinh Thị Cao, aims the lens at a slightly washed out, grey colored, four floor, wooden building designed as a hotel with a laundromat on the first floor next to the front entrance, a Vietnamese restaurant and hall on the front entrance with large windows peering into the restaurant on the second floor, and hotel lodgings on the sides and upper floors of the building. A giant worn sign on the right side of the building says in Vietnamese lettering "Gia Long Cung Điện (Gia Long Palace)." Under the sign is a large, weathered portrait of the first Emperor of Vietnam, Gia Long, sporting his pointy beard and thick moustache, adorned in his Imperial attire, and glaring thoughtfully, almost disappointedly, at the weathered structure before him.

Next to her, Hiếu Văn Phạm dressed in his usual officer attire, asks "Bao nhiêu (How many)?" Vinh Thi Cao puts the infrared camera down and says "Vẫn còn ba (Still three)." General Phạm asks "Bạn có chắc chắn (Are you sure)?" Colonel Cao turns the general and sarcastically says "Trên thực tế, tôi nghĩ rằng tôi thấy một trong số họ phát triển cánh và bay xung quanh (Actually, I think I saw one of them grow wings and fly about)." General Phạm sighs and motions for the camera. Colonel Cao shakes her head and says "Pin qua đời (The battery just died)." The general glares at Cao and asks "Những gì (What the)? Đúng bây (Just now)?" Cao turns back to the hotel and says "Đi theo máy ảnh (Take the camera). Hãy vui vẻ nhìn chằm vào một màn hình màu đen (Have fun staring at a black screen)."

Growling in annoyance, General Phạm climbs to his feet, the two on a hill overlooking the highway, the town of Tân Hịêp in the nearby distance. Behind him, over thirty Vietnamese soldiers, mostly male, clean shaven, and in their 20s, lay prone against the grass, five green UAZ-452 military transport trucks behind them. The Vietnam People's Ground Forces soldiers all carry either AKMs, SKS-45 carbines, or RPKs. Two soldiers, one male in his in his early 20s, sporting a shaved head and slight stubble, the other female in her early 30s, inspect their Dragunov sniper rifles. They all are wearing dark green and light green camouflage uniforms and holding several pouches attached to a beige belt.

The general turns around to his force of 30 or so, points at a few scattered soldiers, and yells "Với tôi (With me)!" Three male soldiers carrying AKMs, a female soldier carrying an SKS-45, and a male soldier carrying an RPK, all climb to their feet and approach their commander. The general turns to the colonel and says "Như chúng ta đã thảo luận, gửi tất cả mọi người trong lúc tín hiệu của tôi (As we discussed, send everyone at my signal to me)."

Colonel Cao nods and says "Tất nhiên (Of course)." She tosses the infrared camera to the side, and reaches for her CZ-75 hidden in the grass. As General Phạm and his entourage approach the entrance, a smile creeps onto Colonel Cao's face.

The five Vietnamese soldiers, led by the commanding officer Phạm, approach the sky blue colored wooden double doors, and enter into a dilapidated, barely lit hotel lobby reception with a worn wooden desk in the far middle flanked by two once intricate wooden staircases leading to a platform above, that then leads to the 2nd floor. The entire floor and both staircases are adorned in red and white rose petal patterned carpets with a blood red color filling in the spaces. The walls have worn, slightly torn portrait-like wallpapers of French priest Pigneau de Behaine on the left and Empress Thừa Thiên on the right. A fallen brass chandelier rests in the middle, surrounded by glass fragments. Urine, garbage, and vomit stains swirl a foul cocktail of odors.

"Tôi không thấy bất kỳ người lang thang (I do not see any vagrants)," the general blurts out, looking slightly unnerved. "Hãy cảnh giác (Be alert). Chỉ có ba trong số họ có ở đây (Only three of them here)," the general commands to his rear guard. The five soldiers all slowly follow the general's lead, all of them aiming down their sights at perceived shadows and ambush spots. The general turns around and motions four soldiers to take the left staircase. The three AKM wielding soldiers and the SKS-45 wielding soldier divert to the staircase as the RPK wielding soldier moves in front of the general and proceeds up the staircase, with the general following. The six slowly climb up, listening for any sudden noises.

A glass wine bottle falls off the staircase and cracks on the carpet. "Đó là gì (What was that)?" the SKS-45 wielding soldier asks, as the four on the left staircase aim at the source of the noise. She looks up as the RPK wielding soldier says "Bỏ qua nó (Ignore it). Đó là tôi (That was me)."

The six converge on the platform, and then head up another set of carpeted stairs to the 2nd floor. Turning around, they discover a derelict dining hall full of worn dinner tables, some with dirty table cloth on them. Two doors flank on each side. On the opposite end is a dirty, worn cocktail bar with several shattered glass bottles on the shelves. Two opened doors on both sides of the bar reveal a brightly lit room behind it. The floor itself is laminated beige maple wood, now devoid of its luster. Several partially lit, small, glass, overhead chandeliers gives the dining hall a little light. The walls are adorned with torn, faded, slightly scratched wall paintings of the landscapes of Saigon Citadel and Gia Long's palace in Hue, casting a discerning gloom on the barely lit dining hall. One of the AKM wielding soldiers checks the door on the near left, finding it locked. He turns around and shakes his head.

The soldiers proceed to check the remaining three doors, all finding them locked. The RPK wielding soldier notices a loud speaker in the far corner but quickly dismisses it. Hiếu Văn Phạm points at the AKM wielding soldiers and assigns one each to the locked side doors closest to the bar, the two soldiers moving into position by the bar, out of sight from those in the opposite room. The remaining AKM wielding soldier, the SKS-45 wielding soldier, and the RPK wielding soldier, all then move behind Hiếu Văn Phạm as the general draws a CZ-75 pistol from a holster. They follow the general into the open doorway on the right.

They step inside to find a manager's office with Rock, dressed as he was earlier, holding his M9 in his right hand, and Dutch, dressed in his dark green flak jacket, white undershirt, and dark green cargo pants and belt buckle attire, holding his Smith & Wesson 629 revolver, both stand behind Trung Thanh Hoàng, the latter gagged with duck tape, dressed in a dark grey sweater and black track pants, struggling to stay on his feet. Rock pulls Trung up by his sweater collar and presses the barrel of his M9 against the back of Trung's head, as Dutch lifts his revolver at the approaching Vietnamese delegation. Behind Rock, Dutch, and Trung is a dark brown, weathered, leather sofa. An empty bookcase lies on the wall to the right of Rock. On the opposite wall, facing the bookcase, is a wooden door, which the remaining AKM wielding soldier rests against. Opposite Rock, Dutch, and Trung, is a blank wall with a white board and a single red marker lying on a metal shelf attached to the white board. Aiming their guns, the SKS-45 soldier takes the general's right flank while the RPK soldier takes the general's left. The three stand in front of the white board and stare down Trung and his hostage takers. The general suddenly notices a slightly unhinged smirk on Rock's face.

After a tense few seconds, the general says "So you must be Windmill. I thought there were at least four of you." Rock turns to Dutch, smiles as he presses the barrel of his gun deeper into Trung's skull, as Trung mumbles in apprehension, and says "Well...I…specifically told you to bring only three people, and two briefcases." Rock wraps his left hand around Trung's left shoulder and presses him closer, almost in a faux embrace. His pistol still pressing against Trung's head, Rock says "Now…I am an educated man, my retinas are fully functioning, and I remember that I specifically…specifically…instructed you to come with TWO briefcases and no more than TWO people. Yet, what do I see? Hmm, oh yes. Three bodyguards, no briefcases. Now…that makes me very nervous…and BELIEVE ME…I am not a guy you want nervous."

Laughing, Dutch says "Listen to what boss here has to say. It will be good for your health." As the three Vietnamese soldiers anxiously aim their guns at Rock and Dutch, the general calmly says "Relax yourself. I was under the impression from our previous talks that I would be negotiating with someone more collected. Nevertheless, I have the money. Let me repeat, I have, the money. I also have a keen interest to keep this as quiet as possible. As such, as long as you leave Vietnam immediately and never return, you will be left unmolested." Clutching tightly on his M9 and swinging Trung left and right, Rock says "And that is why we are going to take whatever transportation you arrived with and leave you with this fine gentleman." Forcing himself from smiling, the general raises his hands in faux surrender and says "Yes, yes, that is fine. I will give you four hours before I sound the alarm." "FIVE!" Rock yells out, startling everyone including Dutch, who flinches. Shaking his head, the general says "Four. That is the most I can give you without casting suspicion on myself. Now listen closely, retaliation against myself will bring the entire might of the Vietnamese military onto your heads. I cannot control my associates if I am dead, and I certainly cannot stop Hanoi from acting. Attack me, and you will be hunted to the edge of the earth, and then you will be pushed. However, I do not believe that will be an issue, as I am willing to conclude this transaction, and I believe that you are as well. I have released the Eastern Europeans as promised, and I have brought your compensation as promised. I have demonstrated most definitely that I am a man of my word. Now, as you Americans say, do we have a deal?"

Suddenly, Rock starts laughing sadistically, unnerving the Vietnamese and causing Dutch to dart an uncomfortable look at Rock. His adrenaline pumping and his ego fully stroked from the game he is playing with a military bureaucrat, from the lies that he identifies and fires right back, from the narcotic sensation pulsating through his veins as he convinces himself that, for once, he is going to win, on his terms, and reap his own rewards, Rock caresses Trung's chin with his left hand, looks upward, freezes, cracks a maniacal smile, dances the dance of the dead, and yells at the very top of his lungs "DEAL!" as he blows Trung's brains out.

Blood and tissue sprays all over Rock's face and chest, his lips tasting a few drops, as Trung's corpse falls to the ground, and as a shotgun round blasts diagonally upward through the door that the AKM wielding soldier was leaning against, punching through the upper part of his chest and neck, partially decapitating him and sending blood, tissue, and fabric into the air.

The soldier falls face forward, dead, as the SKS-45 wielding soldier looks right in terror, as the RPK wielding man pulls the trigger, and as the general's calm demeanor slowly morphs into horror as he realizes that he has been played. A bullet from Dutch's revolver strikes the barrel of the RPK as a couple of shots fly harmlessly and barely over Rock's head, followed by another .357 revolver round that clears through both the soldier's chest and the white board, lodging into the wall and taking a spray of blood and clothing along for the ride. As the RPK wielding soldier steps backwards in shock, a third .357 round punches right through his chin and out of his neck, killing him and sending him backwards, his head slamming against the white board, causing it to tip backwards as well.

As the female soldier turns around, a bullet from Rock's M9 strikes her left shoulder, causing her to misfire into the ceiling. Dutch fires two more bullets in succession, the first striking her right lung, causing her to twist to the right, the second entering through her left rib and drilling through her bowels. She drops face first and to the right, onto her rifle, yelling pain as she bleeds all over the floor.

The AKM wielding soldier on the door to the left of the manager's office, from Rock's perspective, gets up and prepares to run into the hallway, only for a burst of bullets to fly through the door and pepper the soldier, striking him in the left hand, right forearm, and pelvis. He loses his balance and falls on his right ribs, in shock. The door is then kicked down, as Revy, dressed as she was before, Heckler and Koch MP5A3 in her hands, unloads onto the wounded Vietnamese soldier, finishing him off. She spots the remaining soldier from across the bar and ducks back into cover behind a space between the doorway and the wall, as bullets zip into what seems to be a security room with a few broken TV monitors.

Suddenly, the door diagonally across from the door to the security room is kicked off its rotted hinges, as Ulagammal, dressed in her blue and white polka-dot patterned buttoned shirt and her black slacks, and wearing white and red tennis shoes and white socks, her hair tied into a ponytail, aims with her right hand a MAC-10 submachine gun at the Vietnamese soldier crouching by the bar, a Colt 1903 Hammerless pistol in her left hand. Behind Ulagammal is a hallway for a set of hotel rooms stretching to the other end of the building. The AKM wielding soldier overhears the door being kicked down and aims his rifle at Ulagammal. As he prepares to open fire, Ulagammal leaps forward and onto a dining table, the rotting table collapsing under her weight. She then rolls as bullets fly over, using the legs of another dining table in front of her for makeshift cover. She quickly unloads nearly her entire magazine in full-auto fire, spraying bullets all over the bar counter, a few bullets flying harmlessly into the manager's office, causing Rock and Dutch to flinch. She hears a man groan in pain, climbs back up, and runs toward the bar, vaulting over it, her eyes glued to her left. She lands on her ass and sees the AKM wielding soldier lying on his back, bleeding from his left ear, aiming his rifle at the dining table that she used for cover. He dares to look left, and is rewarded with the last five bullets in Ulagammal's MAC-10, shredding his head and upper chest, killing him.

Hiếu Văn Phạm falls to his knees, drops his CZ-75, and frantically speaks "You idiots have all killed yourselves! I have an entire platoon standing outside! Harm one hair on my head and your entire families will be exterminated!" Rock, still engrossed in the game he is playing, still savoring the progress of his final maneuver, laughs at the general, bows forward with his hands on his thighs, and says "I know, I put them there. And they are now ALL going to die."

Dutch walks toward the wounded female soldier that is now crawling toward the door that was broken with a shotgun blast. As the door swings inward, revealing Ngoc, dressed in a sleeveless sky blue corduroy vest, a black tank top under the vest, black and purple striped sweat pants, and light brown tennis shoes, Ngoc steps out and over the nearby corpse, Mossberg 500 in her hands. As she prepares to execute the last of Hiếu Văn Phạm's entourage, Dutch says "I got it. Go check the dining hall." Ngoc says "Alright," and kicks the dead soldier's AKM out of the dying woman's reach, and then moves into the dining hall. Ulagammal yells "Did we get them all?" As Rock aims his M9 at the general, Dutch moves over to the dying soldier and puts a bullet into the back of her head, killing her. Ulagammal responds to the gunshot "I take that as a yes."

Revy enters the manager's office, scans the damage done, and turns to Rock. She flinches at the sight of his face being covered in blood and possible brain matter. "What?" Rock asks as Revy stares at him. "Uh, your face?" Revy responds, circling her left index finger around her head for emphasis. Rock nods and says "Oh, yeah, that happened, did not expect that." Glaring at the general, Revy asks "Is it time for that shit?" Rock gestures his left hand at Revy, pointing at her with his left index finger, and jerks his head downward, yelling "Fuck yes it's time for that shit!" As Revy funnels out of the office and into the security room, Rock turns his attention to the general and says "You've been fucking us all long enough. Now it's time for my reach-around!"

Dutch chuckles and says "I don't think you know what that means." Rock ignores his boss and continues glaring at the general, enjoying himself. Revy approaches a console by the monitors and reaches toward a small black button.

Colonel Cao yells "Nguyễn (Nguyen)! Bạn và người đàn ông của bạn đi bảo vệ cửa phía trước (You and your men go protect the front door)! Phần còn lại, lẩy hai lối vào phía (The rest, take the two entrances). Chúng tôi sẽ tuôn chúng ra (We will flush them out)!" Ten Vietnamese soldiers, seven men and three women, all wielding AKMs or SKS-45s, prepare to funnel into the laundromat, as nine Vietnamese soldiers, five men and four women, three of the men and one of the women wielding AKMs and the rest wielding RPKs, run toward a rear outdoor staircase leading to a balcony on the 2nd floor. The remaining force, nine total, six men and three women, wielding a mix of AKMs, SKS-45s, and RPKs, crowd around the front entrance, as the two snipers crawl to a better vantage point on top of the hill.

As soon as the ten Vietnamese soldiers prepare to step into a laundry room, the room with four 1994 Kenmore washing machines, four 1994 Kenmore dryers, and a dimly lit set of stairs opposite the entrance, the loud speakers all over the building, including the one right above the laundry room, blast at ear splitting volumes 'Ratamahatta' by Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura.

One male and one female soldier stumble into the laundry room, caught off guard by the sudden soundtrack. An errant step by the male soldier causes a spider web of tripwire to snap, as eight individual grenades come undone inside the eight machines.

As a third female soldier enters the laundry room, the explosion sends glass, pieces of metal, and shrapnel criss-crossing throughout the room, engulfing the room in smoke and sending the entering female soldier flying backwards, her guts hanging out of her belly, chunks of wood from the house flying with her. Her AKM rifle flying over the heads of her fellow soldiers. She gargles blood as a sharp pain registers in her head, her neck slashed open by shrapnel. Blood spills out like water from a torn plastic bag, as the soldier flickers in and out of consciousness, about to die. One of the male soldiers temporarily tends to the dying woman as the other six rush into the laundry room, finding it a mess of debris and broken glass, with two mangled corpses buried under the debris, one of the corpses missing an arm that has been blown to the side, the other without a leg from the lower bit of the thigh down. A couple of fingers tilt side to side on the edge of one of the dryers. The remaining soldier returns to his squad and shakes his head solemnly, as one of the other male soldiers points toward the staircase, the music too loud to communicate verbally.

The seven proceed to run up the stairs, when one of the male soldiers grabs the other by his shirt collar and gestures at his eyes, then at the ground, then simulating an explosion with his right hand. He harshly pats the man on the back as the other soldier nods solemnly and moves up the stairs at a slower pace.

"Biboca Garagem Favela. BIBOCA GARAGEM FAVELA! Fubango maloca bocada. FUBANGO MALOCA BOCADA!"

The stairs reach a turning point and then another set of steps. The seven soldiers reach the floor above the laundry room, only to find a spiral wooden staircase with white intricate handrails that have been weathered with age. The seven soldiers then move up the stairs. At the top, mostly hidden from view, Tuyết, dressed in a light green shirt and jeans, her Madsen M50 on the wooden floor next to her, places her right index finger on a tripwire. Hanging across her, hidden behind an alcove in the ceiling, is a cluster of three loosened M26 grenades hanging above the staircase, their safety pins slightly undone and tripwire tying the striker levers together. Tuyết peers down the on the seven and quietly counts their heads, her finger not leaving the proximity of the tripwire.

"PORRA!"

Tuyết pulls down on the wire, snapping it. The three M26 grenades bounce a few steps right in front of the lead soldier, who glares in horror as the striker levers come undone and the three green lemons bounce under his feet and down the stairs like runaway dominos."Đụ tôi (Fuck me)! Lựu đạn (Grenades)!" the male soldier in front, SKS-45 in hand, yells out, as seven remaining soldiers realize what is happening.

"Um, dois, três, quarto!"

The three grenades detonate under the feet of the back three soldiers, blowing the stairs off their hinges as limbs, broken guns, blood, guts, and sawdust rain down below, followed by the corpses of three male and one female Vietnamese Ground Forces soldiers. The third soldier from the back of what is left of the squad yells in pain as shrapnel pierces his back and neck like a overused voodoo doll, the wooden step under his feet crumbling rapidly. His AKM falls out of his hands. As blood runs down his back and as the two soldiers in front run up the crumbling steps, the soldier in the back falls downward and hits his chin against the planks in front of him, before falling to the mosh pit down below. Tuyết rises from her feet, aiming her Madsen M50 down the sights, and fires.

Two bullets hit the soldier in front in the heart and upper chest, causing him to drop his SKS-45, a third bullet hits the soldier in back in his left hand, followed a bullet to his AKM, causing the AKM wielding soldier to crack his trigger finger against the jolt of his gun. As the soldier in front takes his last gasp of sawdust and gun-smoke infused air, sliding backwards against the soldier in the back, almost pushing him off the giant gap that once were stairs, a bullet hits the now dead SKS-45 wielding soldier in the head, as Tuyết's aim rises up. Two bullets punch through the AKM holding soldier's upper chest, follow by a grazing shot against his left cheek, and then a finishing shot through the left side of his temple. The AKM wielding soldier's corpse leans against the handrail and falls through it, as the rotting stairs surrender under the weight of the two corpses and collapses with them. The two bodies strike the ground with a thud, accompanied by what once remained of the stairs. Tuyết aims her Madsen downward and sprays the corpses with bullets from afar, and then sighs and nods to herself.

Nine Vietnamese soldiers, five men and four women, three of the men and one of the women wielding AKMs and the rest wielding RPKs, all run across a hallway flanked by hotel rooms on their right and a blank wall with occasional windows on their left, the floor made of laminated beige maple wood and the walls plastered and painted forest green. At the very end of the hallway, the soldiers could see a wooden door with a few bullet holes in it. As they near the door, one of the men kicks through a tripwire attached to a hotel room door on their right, door 216. Door 216 then detonates, knocking off their feet all but the male RPK wielding soldier in back and the RPK wielding female soldier in front. Shrapnel lodged firmly into chests of one of the female RPK wielding soldiers and one of the male AKM wielding soldiers, the two yell in pain as they bleed out.

Out of nowhere, the door several meters behind them, door 214, is knocked off its hinges as Nicky Ippolito, dressed in a black and red striped tracksuit top and grey sweatpants, armed with a Steyr AUG bullpup assault rifle peeks out of cover and opens fire. As he pulls the trigger, Martin Zappala, dressed as he was before, armed with a Beretta 92, fires from a prone position behind Ippolito. As the remaining soldiers, minus the two bleeding soldiers that are now flickering in and out of consciousness, climb up to their feet, the two 'Ndrangheta gangsters raining bullets in their general direction. A 5.56 round from the Steyr passes through the chest of the male RPK soldier closest to the two Italian-Canadians, ricochets out, and lodges itself into a female soldier's left arm. As the male RPK wielding soldier jolts and gasps, a second shot cuts through his aorta, followed by another through his left lung. He drops his gun and tilts to the left, before crashing headfirst into the wall.

"Zé do caixão, zumbi, e lampião."

One of Marty's shots catches the female AKM wielding soldier in her left leg, followed by another into her thigh, causing her to yell in pain. Ippolito switches his attention to her and an AKM wielding male soldier to her right, gunning them down.

"Zé do caixão, zumbi, e lampião."

The remaining three RPK gunners, two female and one male, and the remaining male AKM rifleman, get their bearings and open fire at the doorway. A bullet barely grazes Ippolito's left knuckle, causing him to fall backwards over his boss. Marty quickly crawls to the back of the room, firing a few parting shots as bullets pass through the walls and over their heads, as Ippolito continues to shoot through the wall at a meticulous pace, just enough to discourage them from coming closer.

"Zé do caixão, zumbi, e lampião."

One lucky shot from Ippolito's Steyr AUG passes through plaster, ricochets, and pierces through one of the female RPK wielding soldier's crotch, causing her to yell in pain and fire haphazardly in Ippolitio's general direction.

"ZÉ DO CAIXÃO, ZUMBI, E LAMPIÃO!"

The other soldiers flee toward the door and burst through, as Ippolito peers once again around the doorframe, spotting the female RPK wielding soldier panting heavily in pain, resting her back against the wall. He quickly aims down his telescope sights and fires two shots into her upper chest, causing her to drop the RPK, stagger, and fall forward like dead weight. Meanwhile, at the same time, the remaining two RPK gunners and the AKM wielding man find themselves in a dining hall, a few tables broken, two of their own dead by the bar counter, and the scent of urine, blood, and gunpowder in the air.

From behind the counter, Revy yells with her own soundtrack "HELLO TRENCHTOWN YOU FUCKS!" She leaps onto the bar counter and runs sideways across the bar counter, away from the three soldiers, firing her two Cutlasses.

"RATAMAHA-ATTATATA HELLO! RATAMAHA-ATTATATA HELLO!"

One of the bullets strikes the male RPK gunner in the left shoulder, another in the female soldier's RPK's trigger, taking her right index finger with it, while a few sail inaccurately to the right. The female soldier drops her RPK and reaches for a CZ-75 in her side holster, as the other two open fire at Revy. Revy quickly thrusts herself back into cover as a few bullets barely zip over her head, taking a few strands of hair with them. "Fuck that was dumb luck over there. Well, you two want to fucking do something?!" Revy yells as Ngoc and Ulagammal nod to each other.

"VAMO DETON ESSA PORRA! EH?! PORRA!"

A shot from Ngoc's Mossberg sends the AKM wielding soldier backwards, him standing on his right leg as he falls toward the dining table behind him, crashing through it. Revy and Ulagammal vault over the bar as Revy rejoins the action, Ulagammal aiming her Colt 1903 Hammerless with one hand. The two each pick a dining table to leap onto as a springboard into the middle of the dining hall. The RPK wielding man bleeding from his left shoulder opens fire on Ngoc, who ducks and falls completely on her back, as bullets fill the bar, one gashing her slightly raised right kneecap, causing her to groan. The RPK wielding man and the fingerless woman holding her CZ-75 in her unharmed left hand turn their attention on Revy and Ulagammal, whom have met at the middle. The two then, without a word, run off in opposite directions, firing at the two closely clustered soldiers while they move.

Three shots pepper the RPK wielding man, one in the left elbow, another in his left thigh, and a third right into his upper chest, cutting through the carotid artery. He loses control of his feet and tumbles diagonally backwards and to the left, landing on his shoulder and beginning to lose consciousness as blood pools out. Two shots strike the female soldier in her gut, causing her to quickly fall to the ground in pain. She turns to have her back face Ulagammal as she keeps her gut off the ground with her elbows, immediately receiving a shot to her left ribs. Groaning in pain, she carefully reaches for a grenade in a pouch attached to her beige belt and pulls it out of the pouch, waiting.

Enjoying a silent moment in the music, Revy yells "Fucker with the machine gun is dying, how's it on your end, meth head?!" Ulagammal yawns and yells back "Sadly, just like you, she is still breathing bullshit!"

"Oh yeah? I'll feed you some bullshit!" Revy yells, walking toward the AKM wielding soldier's dead corpse, the corpse in between a broken dining table. She picks the AKM up and walks toward Ulagammal, as Ngoc yells "We done?!" Revy removes the magazine, sees that it is still surprisingly mostly full, and says, still staring at the magazine "Probably still a bunch trying their luck through the front door. Desperate stupid fucks planning on collecting some dipshit medal for their backstabbing politician in dress greens. I'm ready to get my fill." She cracks a sadistic smirk and reinserts the magazine into the AKM, as Ulagammal casually walks toward Revy asks "Should I put her out or do you want to watch?"

Revy smirks at Ulagammal and mutters under breath "Another one that likes to play with her food." The last remaining Vietnamese soldier turns onto her back and yells "Tôi chưa kết thúc (I'm not finished yet)!" She raises an M26 grenade in the air with her left hand, about to throw it, the spoon falling through her grip. Ulagammal immediately turns around and fires a shot from her pistol, striking the female soldier in the left armpit. As the grenade falls out of the soldier's hand, Ulagammal immediately leaps face first away from the grenade, as Revy ducks down and tries to turn around.

Shrapnel rips the soldier apart and flies harmlessly over Ulagammal, the latter laying prone on the floor. A shard of shrapnel strikes Revy's AKM in the buttstock, sending wooden splits barely past and around Revy's ear as she flinches. The wooden floor starts to cave in as the music rapidly accelerates its increasing rhythm and volume. Wooden tables start getting sucked into a vortex as a mob of nine Vietnamese soldiers burst through the front door of the ground floor. The mob of nine, six men and three women, all holding a mix of either an AKM, an SKS-45, or an RPK, run several steps inside the abandoned restaurant when they notice wood and bloodied meat raining on and around the shattered chandelier, followed by dining tables.

"HELLO UPTOWN!"

The entirety of the second floor dining hall rapidly caves in, as if a black hole materialized from the blast, dragging Revy and Ulagammal into it as Ngoc hurriedly and awkwardly vaults back behind the bar.

"HELLO MIDTOWN!"

Ulagammal flails around as the urine stains on the ground floor carpet become more pronounced, while Revy, taking a plane of wooden floor along for the ride, aims down at the clustered group of nine soldiers and fires in mid air. One bullet strikes a male SKS-45 wielding soldier in his chest, passes through his left lung and the back, and lodges itself inside a male RPK wielding soldier's aorta, the burning hot shell casing bouncing off Revy's nose. Another bullet strikes a female AKM wielding soldier in her right thigh. Revy could only get a third shot off, the bullet passing barely under the legs of a male AKM wielding soldier, before she and Ulagammal land hard against the wooden floor, Revy landing right behind the shattered chandelier, the plane of wood protecting her from broken glass. The two wounded male soldiers lose their footing and fall down, bleeding out, while the wounded female soldier leans against a SKS-45 wielding male soldier, in shock.

"HELLO DOWNTOWN!"

As the other six process what happened, and as three of the soldiers begin to raise their guns at Revy, and as more dining tables and the corpse of the male Vietnamese soldier shot by Ngoc rains down, the ground itself begins to cave in under the weight.

"HELLO TRENCHTOWN!"

The ground floor itself collapses, revealing a supply closet with several overturn metal shelves and a few large rats that called the place their home. The rats quickly scurry as the supply closet is filled with wood, glass, dead meat, Ulagammal, Revy, and seven angry soldiers still able to shoot.

"HELLO!"

Revy and Ulagammal descend on the remaining seven with psychotic smiles and cannibalistic lust. Revy switches the AKM to full-auto and adds more blood to the current odor cocktail of gunpowder and rat shit, gunning down two female soldiers and four male soldiers, while Ulagammal grabs a jagged shard of chandelier glass, the shard cutting into her hand as she grasps it, and pounces on the one female soldier left unscathed, violently slashing and stabbing from behind at the soldier's right ear, head, and neck. She completely slashes through her ear horizontally before digging into the right side of her neck, clawing the shard up to stretching the hole and push more blood out. As she works on her prey, another female soldier, SKS-45 in her hand, bleeding from her right thigh and her gut, climbs to her knees and prepares to aim at Revy, oblivious to Ulagammal hacking the other soldier apart. Revy quickly adjusts her AKM and pulls the trigger, only to learn that the bullets ran dry.

As the barrel of the SKS-45 aims down on Revy's head, a few bullets rain from above, one of the bullets striking the soldier in her right shoulder. Ulagammal hears the shots, pulls the shard of glass out of the dead soldier's neck, and grabs the barrel of the SKS-45 with her left hand. She yanks the barrel to the right and crosses her right hand over her left, driving the shard into the soldier's right eye. As the soldier screeches, Ulagammal continues to stab at her eye, drives the shard deep in her socket, and pushes her away as the soldier faints from rapid blood loss, collapsing on the debris ridden ground, seconds from death.

Revy and Ulagammal pant heavily and smile at each other, Ulagammal's clothes stained in blood, Revy's clothes peppered in sawdust. Ulagammal tosses the glass shard away, blood from her hand dripping onto the ground, and awkwardly walks over to Revy, carefully stepping around broken wood and corpses. As Revy tosses the AKM to the side, Ulagammal grabs Revy's left hand with her left hand and lifts her to her feet. Revy nods, almost silently saying thanks, and then hears Rock yell from above "You two alright?!"

Revy looks up and sees Rock's blood and brain matter coated head peering through the massive hole in the roof. She asks "Was that you shooting?" Rock extends his arms out and says "Center mass, like you taught me. I think." Revy slightly laughs and yells "You have really, really, shitty aim!"

Back in the manager's office, Hiếu Văn Phạm, his hands behind his head, kneels by the body of Trung, a pale, shocked look on his face. He is surrounded by Rock, Ngoc, and Dutch, the latter three all holding their respective guns. Outside, by the bar, Ulagammal leans down the hole and whistles at the sight, while Revy coolly eyes Tuyết as the latter exits through a doorway, followed by Marty and Nicky. Nicky turns his hands upside down and points them at the hole, confused, as Marty says "Woah, some fucking show I missed." Revy coldly glares at the three and nods her head toward the manager's office, saying "The dipshit is inside."

Marty nods and cracks a wry smile, and then takes the lead, skipping through the doorway into the manager's office, stepping over the corpse of the soldier that Ulagammal shot to death with her MAC10. He waves his arms around like 'jazz hands' as he high steps into the manager's office, and then pauses in his tracks as he notices Rock's war face. Laughing nervously, he blurts out "Hey Rock, a real man eats his lady friend every day of the month, ey?" As a few snickers crack out, Dutch blankly says "I was looking forward to lunch."

Marty coolly smirks and snickers at Dutch, before turning to face the general with a highly exaggerated smile on his face, yelling "HEY! Hiếu! Hiếuy boy! It's been so long! A few days! You never called! You never wrote, I mean, you fuckers ain't so third world that you don't got paper!"

General Phạm glares coldly at Marty and says "It seems reports of your death have…" He turns to Rock and continues "...been exaggerated." Marty bursts into laughter and says "Well I'm a very exaggerated motherfucker! So it only fits that I die the same." Phạm bites his lip, looks down on the floor, and then raises his eyes up to meet with Rock's, the latter enjoying his position of power. The general takes a deep breath and propositions "There has been more lies told between us then we first admitted. I recall you having a keen interest in the Eastern Europeans we held captive…Windmill. Well, I had a Georgian business associate of mine fabricate the call. The Eastern Europeans are still with us."

Rock cracks a wide smile, leans to the general's level, and speaks as Ngoc aims her shotgun at the captive "…there is no Windmill. And I am not the boss. Just a former salaryman with nothing to lose and a very good Norman Stansfield impersonation." The general sighs and asks "So, you knew the call was nonsense and you still went ahead? Was everything just a stalling tactic to create an ideal situation?" Dutch yawns and says "Bingo." The general turns to Dutch and asks "Are you the boss?" Dutch adjusts his sunglasses and diplomatically says "Right now, Mr. Zappala is the boss, and I am the manager of a group of independent contractors, two of which you tried to shut up." Phạm nods to himself and turns to Rock, saying "Mr. Zappala mentioned of a Japanese man amongst your group. Former salaryman, described as very green. I assumed that man was your boat's tech. Fooled me well."

Marty snaps his fingers and walks back and forth, saying "Ah, so we are talking about foolery now, ey? How about you fooling…my people…poisoning MY people against me! Here, let me impart you some fucking advice. Might not be much of use given your current situation but…hey, you fuckers believe in reincarnation right? Am I right? Ngoc? Tuyết?" Tuyết heaves a sigh and says "No." Marty laughs and says "Well, then no shit off my asshairs. Listen here, my backstabbing friend. When you start playing with some Machiavelli, Art of War, spreading dysentery in group shit…you are only as good as…as…fuck what's the word…" He starts snapping his fingers as if it helps to jog his memory "well…the point is…I suck at these fucking moments!" Everyone but the general starts laughing as the general swallows his saliva and mutters to himself. Calming down, Marty says "Okay, I got it. The point I'm trying to say…make, is that if you think you got all the strings on your fingers, remember that you don't got eyes in the back of your head. See, that's a good one. Now, what do we do with your sorry fucking ass?"

"I still have the Eastern Europeans!" Phạm yells out, playing one more hand. Rock smirks and says "Mmm, I think not, my friend. I think not." "What? You think what?" the general interjects, confused. Dutch smirks as well and says "I think you don't have a knife-proof back."

Colonel Vinh Thị Cao walks through the doorway opposite the one Marty and company stepped through. She places her hands on her thighs, turns to the general, and slightly bows, smiling in a mocking manner, saying "Chào bạn, bệ hạ (Welcome, your grace)." General Phạm rises like a man possessed and yells "Bạn đụ kẻ phản bội lồn (You fucking traitor cunt)!" Rock quickly reacts as a man possessed and yells with a furious look on his face "DON'T GET OFF YOUR KNEES IN MY PRESENCE EVER AGAIN OR HELP ME BUDDHA I WILL PUT TWO BULLETS IN YOUR GUT AND WATCH SHIT POUR OUT OF YOUR INTESTINES!" He pauses a moment to glance at his boss Dutch and his client Marty, savors a quick glance of the fleeting moment of shock in their eyes, and turns back to the general, the latter frozen in body but indignant in spirit. After a pause to formulate what he wants to say, Rock yells "I'VE SPEWED A LOT OF BULLSHIT IN MY TIME IN ROANAPUR AND MY YEARS IN JAPAN, BUT I SWEAR ON THE SKILL OF MY RIGHT HAND THAT THAT IS SOMETHING YOU CAN ATTEST TO!"

At this point, Revy slowly, almost stealthy, wanders into the manager's office, standing behind Ippolito. She looks in curiosity as to what the fuss is about.

The general grinds his teeth and kneels at the sight of Rock's M9, and then turns his attention to Vinh Cao. Puffing his cheeks in restrained anger, he asks "Bao nhiêu tiền (How much money)?" Vinh quickly turns to Marty and, as a show of cooperation, says "He is asking me how much I was bought for you." Marty nods and motions with his right hand for Cao to continue. Colonel Vinh Cao says "Your stake, plus 5% of the stake from the guy that was crushed by the garbage."

"You sent your own people to die. Martin, is this the type of person you want to work with?" Hiếu Văn Phạm asks, attempting to find a way out. Vinh Cao counters and says "Not really my people. If you bothered to notice, most of the people we brought here were those loyal to you or the ones that I had my doubts on them keeping quiet once this operation is over. Being that I am next to take your position, I wished to sort out the people I can't trust in advance."

General Phạm's lips curl as he asks "And you think that these snakes will keep their word? You think that a Canadian outsider like Martin wouldn't toss you aside at the earliest convenience, you naïve idiot?! And you! Windmill or whoever your name is! All of you 'independent contractors'! Martin Zappala personally wanted you all dead! Yes, YES! He did! All of you! Two of you at the house after Trung's kidnapping and the other two later! It was my idea but he endorsed it! He called me a genius for it! He said that when this is all over, all of you will be in caskets! I swear this on my eyes!"

Marty laughs, a tinge of nervousness in his laughter, which Dutch notices. Marty shakes his head and says "You're just bullshitting for oxygen, and it ain't working." Colonel Vinh Cao takes a step toward Phạm and says "It's not working, Senior Colonel." Marty nods in agreement for several seconds, before blurting "What?" "What what?" Vinh Cao asks. "What you said just now?" Marty asks, as Revy, Rock, Dutch, Ngoc, and Tuyết stare at the two going back and forth. "Uh, Senior Colonel?" Vinh Cao asks, unsure of what Marty wants. Marty extends his right arm out, indignant, his palm open, and points his arm at Hiếu Văn Phạm and yells "I thought this fuck was a Brigadier General!" Vinh Cao shakes her head and says "Such a rank doesn't exist in the Vietnamese Army. Probably some bullshit he spun to make himself look better." "Motherfucker!" Marty yells out. He turns to Senior Colonel Hiếu Văn Phạm and says "You stab me in the back, you fuck with my people, but this? This shit? This is the worst. I thought I was working with a fucking Patton here. This is like finding out that Santa ain't real!"

"Enough!" Hiếu Văn Phạm yells out. Finding that he has everyone's attention, he hurriedly says "You cannot kill me! I am a serious and very connected officer and politician. If you kill me Hanoi will kill you, all of you, and all of your families! You will be hunted down until the day each and every one of you will die!"

Rock starts pacing back and forth in front of Hiếu Văn Phạm and says "Actually, we don't want to kill you. Well, okay, maybe not true, I really would like to put a bullet in your skull now and I think my colleague over there wouldn't mind doing the same, right?" He nods at Revy, who replies with a bemused smile "Sure, I got a special place in hell that I stuff in all the little pigs that fuck with me." Rock turns to Dutch and says "And you, boss?" Dutch shrugs his shoulders and says "Ain't hurting for ammo these days." Rock turns back to Hiếu Văn Phạm and says "See, there. However, as much as we want to kill you, we are being paid quite handsomely by our client not to do that. Why? The floor is yours, Martin."

Hiếu Văn Phạm turns his attention to Marty, the latter saying "Here is what has happened, shitstain. You notice Trung's rigor mortis setting in? The shit on Windmill's face here? Those three Eastern European's you had with Vinh Cao? Well, tell me Vinh, what happened with them?" Vinh Cao calmly says "I let them go with a serious yacht full of serious people." "And what about some Lotion fuck that was with them?" Marty almost rhetorically asks. Vinh Cao turns to Hiếu Văn Phạm and says "He wasn't part of the deal, so I had my people give him a new hole to see the world through." Marty claps slowly and says "And, my friend, this is where you come in…Senior Colonel Hiếu Văn Phạm. That, whatever the fuck he was, that Vinh Cao had clipped, he was some fixer that Chù Thanh Hoàng hired to act as a go-between with him and the Slavs. He is resting in a convenient place. Trung Thanh Hoàng is resting here. A shit load of Viet army fucks are decaying right now. I think, personally, that a bunch of mercs that Chù Thanh Hoàng hired through the proxy Lotian, Lation, whatever, they went rogue when the shit turned up at Vibol's safe house. You know what, don't say the mercs were Slavs. Make them Chinese, I think Hanoi will like that detail more. Anyway, they came here to do a hostage ransom shit, admitted they were hired by Chù Thanh Hoàng to do both the raid on Van Thirith's dockyard and the rescue attempt on Trung. And then when some of Van Thirith's remnants, I think you could spin Thongvan and his people as some associates of the guy, when they realized that paper boy was getting his revenge and was probably going to later bust his brother out, when Thongvan's people lit up the safe house to 'get payback for Van Thirith', the so called 'Chinese' mercs said 'Fuck it, paper boy ain't paying us enough, we need some big bucks'. And so then they started this hostage ransom shit with you, cause the grapevine knows you and the police in this part of Vietnam were looking like crazy for Trung and the mercs in order to get a payday and feathers in caps, oh I'm sorry, to bring justice and peace and all that good shit. But, but but but, you are a good Senior Colonel. You don't negotiate with Chinese terrorists, trust me use that line, Hanoi will eat it up. So, you come in, with no cash and a shit load of men, and tried to take the mercs down, but these people are like Chinese Special Forces and they had the place booby trapped and shit, and all your people went down, Trung got shot somewhere during this, you can say the Chinese did it, that fixer got shot by them, and they escaped using one of your vans. Yes, bingo. You and Vinh Cao were held 'hostage' yourselves, and they escape on one of the vans you came on. You, my fuck, got kneecapped during this all, and out of loyalty and duty to her senior commander, Vinh Cao delays sending in the dragnet on the 'Chinese' to get you to the hospital. Hanoi slaps a medal on you, maybe a bullshit fake promotion, and then you fucking better retire. You take whatever pension or shit you got, take your bonus and your new medal, and you go to that retirement villa you got lined up in Malaysia, take your entire family with you, and never fucking come back here again. You got that?!"

"And if I refuse?" Hiếu Văn Phạm asks, defiantly, almost steaming with rage. With a fake surprised look, Marty says "Oh. Oh! If you refuse? If you refuse…if you refuse, listen closely now. It's what, almost 4:30 now? January 10th, the eighth was a Thursday so today is Saturday. Usually around this time, according to Vinh Cao here, your wife is picking your younger daughter up from ballet classes. Teenager, now has her hair in a ponytail, goes to the high school across from some big carpet emporium? It's Saturday so I think black pudding is for dinner."

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Hiếu Văn Phạm yells out, as his normally collected façade crumbles once again. Turning his back to the senior colonel, Martin Zappala says "Skip a single detail from what I said, and I'll wipe the Phạms off the face of the map. And I don't give a shit what Hanoi does, I'll get to your family before Hanoi gets to me. You better fucking believe that."

All the color in Phạm's face flees in a rout. He kneels, defeated, silent. Marty takes it as a promise of cooperation. Satisfied in the victory, he says "Remember, we got to sell this. WE…got to sell this story, which means you need to get ruffed up a bit. It won't look right otherwise, given that Vinh Cao came inside last. Now, 'Windmill', since this was your idea, and I kinda got some tension here, some sign that you really want to give this 'senior colonel' a piece of 'the Rock', so, I let you have the honors. Kneecap the cocksucker."

Senior colonel Phạm stares at Rock with a blank look on his face, bracing himself, resigning to his fate. Rock raises his M9 to Phạm, a bemused look on his face. It unnerves Revy and Dutch, the latter muttering "What the hell happened?" Looking down at Phạm, Rock lowers his pistol and says "It is funny, really. I'm going to remove the mask I was wearing before and speak plainly. Yeah." He pauses for a second as Marty and Vinh Cao stare at Rock in confusion. Ignoring them, Rock continues "You remind me of someone. The way you talk, your choice of words. Honestly its more because of how much this situation we are in right now, me with a pistol in hand, you on your knees, that reminds me of a job we worked for him. We were hired, well…I specifically was assigned the job of pulling a few unwanted elements out of the city I live in without creating too much of a fuss. Suffice to say, this wasn't the first time I pulled together a few smoke bombs and some mirrors for a magic show. To tell you the truth…" Rock cracks a wry smile and grips tightly on his M9, as Dutch stares on, growing more concerned.

"To tell you the truth, I created a scheme that achieved the goal of getting the unwanted elements out, but I set it up in such a way that, by incredible luck, most of the people involved came out alive. It was my attempt to show him up, really. To prove it could be done." Rock trails off, almost out of instinct reaching into his left pocket. He pulls out a pack of cigarettes, and then decides to put it back in, saying "Later. Regardless, I pulled it off. Both of the key individuals came out alive, though one was left wheelchair bound, nothing could have been helped about that. I thought I earned their gratitude. I instead earned a congratulation that I finally fit in my new home, and a few broken ribs in my chest, courtesy of some kind of fake bullet. I thought I changed the status quo, I thought I changed Roanapur."

Smiling, with a touch of sadness behind the smile, he continues "The client proceeded to call me on my bullshit and pay me a nice bonus. It is funny, really. I bet on the lives of others. I won so well that I lost everything." His smile growing more and more sadistic, Rock raises the M9 at Phạm as Marty asks with a look of worry "What the hell are you talking about?"

Revy raises and eyebrow as Dutch turns to her and says "You're around him more than me, what the hell is he trying to pull?" Revy shakes her head and stares dumbfounded at Rock, who, from her POV, looks like an idiot on a stage trying to make a speech about nothing.

Aiming his pistol at the senior colonel, Rock says "Someone, somewhere on this planet, stole my victory. They stole my thunder. I was going to win on two counts, win big, and win in style, and like a thief in the night, they stole my win away. I…was undermined."

His aim shifts from Phạm's left knee to right above his groin. Smiling sadistically, Rock steadies his hand, takes several steps forward to close the distance, and says "Blanks, rubber bullets, silver bullets. This one is made of simple lead." Phạm looks on in fear, slow to react, or even move. Realizing what he is doing, Revy yells "Rock don't be fucking stup…"

*BANG*

The bullet lodges itself in the bottom of Phạm's large intestine, right above his penis. It drills deep but fails to penetrate through the back. Blood sprays onto Rock's shoes as he slowly falls backward, grasping onto his wound with both hands, in shock, his knees bending. Marty places both hands on his head in complete shock and boiling anger as Ngoc and Ippolito aim their weapons at Rock. Vinh Cao glares at Rock in confusion while Tuyết cracks a bemused smirk. Revy, caught midsentence, simply blinks, as Dutch hurriedly walks to Rock and grabs his right wrist, yelling "What the hell are you doing?!"

"You stupid fuck!" Marty yells out as Dutch pulls Rock's arm behind his back and disarms him. Vinh Cao tends to Phạm, the latter in shock, as Rock yells "You want to make this believable?! No one shoots themselves in the gut! He'll live!" "AND YOU EVER HEARD OF INFECTIONS, EMPEROR BRAINLESSJIMA?! PEOPLE DIE FROM THAT SHIT!" Marty yells out, boiling in rage. Indignant, Rock yells "All the more reason why you, Colonel Cao, should move fast and get us into the van! I'll keep Phạm up while someone could hold Cao 'hostage'!"

"I make the decisions here!" Dutch yells out, taking control of the situation "Ippolito! You carry Phạm! Revy! You pretend to hold Cao hostage! Rock! You stay as far out of my fucking sight for both of our good!"

Exiting the motel/restaurant through the front, Revy keeps her Cutlass pressed against Cao's neck, the latter with her hands raised as two snipers aim their rifles at Revy and the others. Ippolito carries Pham on his right shoulder as Dutch aims his revolver at Phạm's head. Solid feces seem to poke out of his gut, filling the air around him with a strong, horrible stench. They are then followed by Marty, Ulagammal, Ngoc, Tuyết, and lastly Rock. Vinh Cao yells out "Mạc! Nhận các van (Get the van)! Tạ! Radio cho xe cứu thương (Radio for an ambulance)!" The female sniper drops her rifle and runs back to a van, jumping into the driver seat, while the male sniper reaches for a PRC-77 portable radio. The female driver quickly drives the UAZ-452 van closer to the road and the group as Ippolito lets the senior colonel fall off his shoulder and onto the grass, back first. Cao says "You can stop," and waits for Revy to slowly holster her Cutlass. She then runs to Phạm and presses on his wound, her hands becoming stained in a mix of blood and shit.

As the female sniper runs to assist Cao, Tuyết jumps into the driver seat, with Ippolito taking the front side passenger seat. The rest funnel into the back of the van, the back having two black leather benches on opposite sides. Ngoc takes the spot right behind Tuyết's seat, followed by Rock and then Revy. Marty takes the spot behind Ippolito's seat, followed by Dutch and then Ulagammal. Ulagammal pulls the van doors shut as Tuyết slams on the gas and takes a turn right onto a sparse highway, known as QL-80.

As the group drive southwest bound toward the water, Rock mutters, smiling, cupping his hands, looking at the floor "Benny is going to pick us up with the Lagoon, everything else is elementary." "YOU STUPID FUCKING IDIOT FUCK!" Marty yells out, still boiling with rage. Thrashing his hands around, having a conniption, he yells "HE FUCKED ME WORSE THEN I DID! WHAT WAS YOUR FUCKING DEAL WITH HIM?! I SAID SHOOT HIM IN THE FUCKING COCKSUCKING KNEE, YOU SHOOT HIM IN THE KNEE! NOT GO OFF ON SOME SHIT THAT I DON'T EVEN FUCKING KNOW! I DON'T GIVE A FUCK WHAT HAPPENED ON SOME FUCKING JOB OR WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WERE RAMBLING ON! IF THAT TWAT CROAKS I'M FUCKED OUT OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS YOU STUPID JAP SHIT! FUCK!"

Rock looks up toward Marty and says almost indifferently "Just because I saw Vinh Cao as the missing link doesn't mean I automatically trusted her. It's hard to die from an open gut if help comes quick enough. This way, even if Vinh Cao wanted to double cross us, she had to focus on Hiếu Văn Phạm's bleeding. Would give us time to escape."

Calming down enough to stop flailing his arms, Marty angrily asks "And how the fuck you know that the bullet won't kill him? Tell me what fucking medical university you graduated from, dickfuck! He had fucking turds crawling out of his guts, do you think human beings are find with turds rubbing on major organs?! Who the fuck told you this was a good idea?!" Rock shrugs his shoulders and turns to Revy, the latter trying not to be noticed. He says "Revy, you said a bullet to the gut takes several hours to kill. You said you knew from experience." Marty and Dutch turn to Revy, Dutch himself repressing a torrent of rage. Revy slightly grimaces and says "Yeah, usually. I don't know, bullet wounds vary. From the shit I been in, I'd say four, maybe five hours is how long it takes to bleed out from that entry. It all depends on the person and shit. For the record, Dutch, I had no idea he was going to pull this shit. He asked a question, I told him an answer."

"See?" Rock motions his right hand at Revy, while staring at Marty. He doesn't notice Dutch practically shaking in anger. Marty himself still furious, he yells "Usually? Fucking usually?! If that twat bites it I'm going to blame a few certain motherfuckers in this car, fucking believe that! And don't even think about asking for the pay wired now! Until senior colonel fuckface stabilizes in the hospital I'm not wiring you dick! Crazy fuck here thinks it's funny to play slots with valuable people's lives!"

Rock cracks a bemused smile and says "Wouldn't be the first time I did that." At his limit Dutch stands up, his head kneeling forward as the van roof is too short. He yells "I gave you a lot of leeway and a lot of rope with this last job! Never again! Everything was so fine until you suddenly transformed into a retard and FUCKED EVERYTHING UP!" Ulagammal nudges away from Dutch as Ngoc glares in apprehension. Ippolito turns around to make sure everything is okay, as Marty slightly opens his mouth and nudges away. Revy forces herself to stare straight into nothing. She has enough experience when Dutch is angry, genuinely, no rules angry, to know better than to get involved.

Rock, too absorbed in his victory to take Dutch as seriously as he should, says "I don't see what the problem is. My plan worked fine. Hiếu Văn Phạm will probably be fine." "Probably?" Dutch hovers on that word. His eyebrows twitch. He curls his right hand into a fist and reaches for Rock's chin with his left hand, grabbing it, his entire hand engulfing Rock's face from under his chin to his eyes. Dutch squeezes tightly, almost ready to crush Rock's chin in his giant hand. He yells "PROBABLY?! MOTHERFUCKER YOU COST ME MONEY!" He slides his left hand down to Rock's neck, pulls his head toward him, and drives his right fist into Rock's nose, breaking it.

Marty quickly turns to Ippolito and says "Want to put money on this?" Ippolito replies "I know who you picking so I'm going to need 75 to 1 odds for this." Dutch drives his right fist in Rock's face again, breaking his nose in multiple places, yelling "THIRTY ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY FUCKING DOLLARS! YOU PISSED THAT ALL AWAY ON ACCOUNT OF YOUR EMOTIONAL BULLSHIT!" He starts wailing at Rock's cheeks, causing them to swell up. "ALL THAT FUCKING MONEY GONE! ALL THAT HARD WORK! THE BUNKER! BURNING THE FUCKER! SETTING UP THE AMBUSH! ALL THAT PISSED AWAY OVER SOME END ZONE CELEBRATION! YOU SENTIMENTAL PUNK MOTHERFUCKER!"

As Dutch continues to wail away on Rock, Revy tensely and unsurely asks "Boss?" He pauses from giving Rock the beating of his life by coldly yelling "What?!" Grimacing, and carefully choosing her words, Revy says "We…don't know if Hiếu Văn Phạm is going to take a dirt nap or shit. We will find out in a couple of days, tops." Dutch heaves a deep sigh and yells "I know, this is nothing! This is…" he strikes Rock's face again "is for getting into one of his philosophical…" once more "fucking pontifications while on the…" once more "fucking job!" He gives Rock one last punch and lets go, letting Rock crumble onto the van floor, dazed, his face looking like he went 15 rounds with Sonny Liston. His left eye socket swells into a reddish purple hue as his nostrils bleed steadily and as he wonders how he didn't lose any teeth.

Dutch returns to his seat and stews in silence. Revy grimaces slightly, occasionally stealing glances at Rock's face. As Rock hazily looks at the roof of the van, feeling the bumps along the highway, he watches Ulagammal's head tower over him like God playing a joke. She says "You don't look too good." After a few seconds, she moves her head back to a more comfortable position, staring at Rock throughout the ride.

Rock cracks a weak, beaten smile. His entire face aches. He tries to open his mouth, and then widens his smile, relieved to know that his jaw is not broken. Rock trails his thoughts away to Balalaika putting a gun to his head in a Tokyo parking lot, to Fabiola firing a fake bullet that left him sidelined with broken ribs, to Luca Cavalcanti carving his chest, to the new Roanapur chief of police driving him and Revy. To thoughts of old Tokyo, and the South China Sea, and the Gulf of Thailand, and his dreams, and his nightmares. To Roanapur. To the torpedo boat.

His thoughts drift to his meeting with Chang by the piers. To him tossing the duffel bag full of American $20 notes as payment for his work in getting Roberta out of Roanapur. To the slight, salty breeze, the harsh stench of Chang's cigarettes, the rough feel of the wooden ledge he and Rock leaned against.

"But if you want to understand the difference between good and evil…you will have to think long and hard about it, Rock."

Rock places his hands on his chests, sticking them under his black and white plaid dress shirt. He rubs his finger tips against the medical tape wrapped around his abdomen. Nodding at no one in particular, he blurts out, quietly enough that only he himself could hear it, albeit barely.

"I finally won."