Justin
The best person to talk to about the identity of the mysterious girl was Armani, but we'd worn out our welcome with him. Not that he wouldn't talk to us for the right price, but Jhondie would have probably kicked the crap out of him before he could give us anything useful. Maybe she should just stay home. She was way too violent right now. Well, maybe not.
I'd done some research on the Night Posse. Four years before, the current leader had taken over the gang. He'd remodeled it the way he wanted to, mostly by threats and a few bodies being found. He was Asian, and made it into a pseudo-Chinese gang. You know all the bad stereotypes of the Oriental criminal you read in badly written stories? Deadly yet honorable, that kind of thing. What I thought about it didn't matter. What mattered is that the leader was following through on all of those lousy stereotypes.
I knew where their headquarters were. Leader was there recovering from a gunshot. Maybe it was time for the direct approach.
"Jhondie," I said. "I have an idea, but you have to go along with it exactly." She raised one eyebrow in question. "We're going to talk to the Night Posse," I said. "I'm going to demand information. We'll probably be attacked, but I can't move a muscle. You take them down, and then come back and stand a pace behind me. You can't say anything though."
"You expect me to be your genetically enhanced fighting dog?" She sounded pissed.
"All they're going to know is that you can take out all of them, but you'll do as I say without question," I explained. "They'll be thinking I'm some big behind the scenes player somewhere. You know, one of their bosses. It's all for the show, I promise you." I smiled as charmingly as I could. "Besides, you get to kick all of the butt. I won't take any from you."
It semi-worked. She didn't smile or laugh, but she nodded. I drove off towards our destination before she could change her mind.
Jhondie surveyed the area from a distance before we moved in. There were two guards standing at the front door, each armed with automatic rifles. "Stay back," she ordered. What was funny was that sometimes she would start to make a hand gesture, and then stop herself and verbally give an order. I figured she had been trained in non-verbal communications at Manticore. I guess old habits die hard.
The guards didn't have a chance. She was on them before they could react. Neither of them had a chance to get off a warning shot before they were both unconscious. She waved me to come on. I opened the door dramatically and strolled into the room. There were maybe a dozen people in there, and I suddenly had about ten guns pointed at me. No fear, I told myself. A guy in such a high position like me wouldn't be the slightest bit afraid of street punks. Jhondie came in behind me, perfectly serene.
On one side of the room there was an Asian male, maybe mid-twenties, with a big bandage on his forehead, his arm in a sling, and a pair of crutches by his side. A younger girl was sitting beside him. He looked amused at my entrance. With some luck he wouldn't order us killed immediately.
"Pardon the intrusion," I said coolly, "but I was unable to set up an appointment in advance."
I had his interest. "You killed my associates outside?"
I looked at Jhondie who shook her head. "They're still breathing. They'll just have headaches later."
"So why don't I kill you right now?"
This was it. "I represent someone that would not like that to happen," I said. Now I had his interest for real.
"And who would that be?" he said suavely, but I could see the slightest hint of wariness. There was someone he worried about.
"I'm not at liberty to say his name, but you do know who I'm talking about," I said, as though I would be shocked if he said he didn't. It would have to be reported that the leader had shown very bad manners, and that was something he obviously didn't want to happen. "Our mutual associate would like to know more about the death of a doctor," I continued.
He smirked. "You mean the one the Wave killed?"
"I wasn't aware a Blood Wave killed a doctor," I replied. "My associate is interested in the Blood Wave's friend. The real gunman." From the way his eyes narrowed, I had taken a wild shot, and hit a bull's-eye. For some reason I couldn't see Spanky as a killer. He was a rich-boy on a wild ride, not a cold-blooded killer.
"Throw them out," he ordered to one of his men. A very big guy near us started to approach. I knew she would kill me later, but I snapped my fingers anyways. Jhondie came around me like a streak of lightning. The guy went to take a swing at her, but she dodged him easily, and planted a kick into his mid-section. She whipped around, her leg making contact with his face. The others around us were still had their guns drawn, but were more interested in gawking at Jhondie than shooting her.
Jhondie's opponent flew back and landed on the ground. She held her ground while he got back up. He wasn't nearly as dazed as he'd seemed and got back up, eyeing her carefully. Jhondie in full action was a sight to behold, and I was just glad I wasn't the one on the receiving end. Sometimes she looked so feline it wasn't funny. I could almost see a tail twitching in anticipation of pouncing. She suddenly leaped into the air, flipping over him, and before he could spin around, she kicked him in the back, throwing him onto his face.
He looked bewildered at being taken down a second time by a girl. None of his friends would shame him by pitching in. His rep would be permanently in the toilet if it became known that he had to have help with a woman. With a sudden vicious move, he did a leg sweep on Jhondie, knocking her backwards, but she did an easy back flip and landed on her feet. He was already on her, and she ducked fast around him, her elbow slamming into his kidneys. Even I had to wince. He turned gray. She whipped around again, her foot smashing his already bloodied face. He fell to the ground.
"Enough!" I said firmly. I was so grateful that she didn't show the slightest bit of anger at being given an order. I was probably going to get my butt kicked later. She very calmly walked back to me, and then in a move that surprised me, knelt beside me, her eyes lowered, hands on her thighs.
Leader looked impressed. "What do you want for her?" he asked. "I really must have her come work for me."
I looked a little bored. "It's up to her. She could obviously leave if she wanted to." I addressed Jhondie. "Do you want to work for him, pet?"
"No, sir," she replied serenely. I was a dead man.
"So," I said at the leader, "are you ready to negotiate?"
Jhondie
You know, at Manticore, I learned lots of ways to kill a man. There's slow painful ways, and then the quick ones. The second Justin referred to me as "pet" I started leaning towards very slow and painful. Maybe roasting him alive would be a good place to start. Or maybe we'd go for a nice long drive in the desert, and I would take him out, and coat him with honey and stake him down for ants to devour. Maybe it would just take a surgeon to remove my foot from his butt. It would have to wait until later though.
The girl beside the leader caught my attention. She had paled when Justin mentioned the real gunman. I had a feeling she was the one who saw Man Bai Lee get shot. She was staring at intently when I knelt down. I looked so submissive nobody noticed me covertly eyeing her. Justin again demanded information, and she looked absolutely miserable. She was covering it well, but I could use my enhanced vision to look across the long room and see her face clearly.
"Why exactly does your master wish for this information?" the leader asked Justin. He seemed extremely wary now. I guess Justin had been right about my display. I was obviously a very lethal weapon, and he had me under complete control. Control my foot. The only thing controlling me was my desire to find the truth overriding my desire to break a valuable part of Justin's body.
"My master is in the same position of debt to the doctor that you are in," Justin said smoothly. "The doctor saved my master's life once, as yours was saved. Justice to the doctor's family must be done to repay the debt, or so my master has decided." He was getting into this smooth Oriental stereotype thing.
"Should we hear more information, it will be passed onto you," the leader said in a dismissive tone. Justin took the hint. He smiled slightly.
"I shall tell my master of your words," he replied. "Good day to you all." He turned to leave, and then snapped his fingers again. I jumped to my feet, and noticed the girl had slipped out the back. I followed Justin a pace behind him, looking like Mary's innocent little lamb.
We had parked several blocks away. I could tell we were being followed, but Justin didn't seem concerned in the slightest. I wanted to find out who it was, but if it was the gang, we'd better keep up appearances. I supposed being the servant I should be the driver. Servant. He was dead. I stepped around him, and slipped his keys out of his pocket without him noticing. I opened the passenger door, and bowed my head. He smiled patronizingly, and got in.
I went to the driver's side, and noticed the small card peeping from under the handle. Back alley, it said, nine tonight. It then listed the address for Dr. Lee's shop. I put it in my pocket covertly and got in the car. We drove out of that neighborhood with no particular direction in mind.
Justin
"Pet?" she said. If a cobra could talk that would have been the exact tone it would speak in. Dangerous and fascinating all at the same time.
"Jhondie, you know I had to," I said quickly. I was so lucky she was driving. Wait a sec, she could break me with one hand. "I don't really think that, you know that. OUCH!" I yelled when she punched my arm. I ended up having a huge bruise on it for a week.
"If I didn't still need you capable of walking, there'd be a lot more coming," she snapped. She really was pissed. "I am nobody's servant or slave," she snarled.
Damn, forgot, raw nerve with her. She's real touchy about the concept of being owned. I don't blame her in the slightest, except that my arm really hurt.
"Jhon?" She didn't answer. "I'm sorry if I went overboard. I didn't mean to remind you of anything." She thawed a little.
"I'm not sorry I hit you," she said, but there was a little hint of a smile in her voice.
"Are we even?" Now she smiled a little.
"We will be after tonight."
Oh God, not again, was the first thing that went through my mind. Yeah, yeah, typical male I know. If she acted tonight like she did last night, sorry guys, but the chivalry streak does have an end point to it. I used up about 90% of my willpower then, and there wasn't much left if she was even close to the way she was last night.
She pulled a little card out of her pocket and handed it to me. "Where'd you get this?" I asked quickly after reading it.
"It was on the car door. Did you notice the girl with the leader?" Uh, was that a trick question?
"Yeah," I said. "She was sitting there with him until you got into that fight."
"But did you actually look at her?" I felt like I was blindfolded and going through a minefield. Granted, we were only friends, but who knows what will set a woman off. My shoulder hurt too much to upset her again.
"Not really," I said carefully. She gave me a disgusted look. "I was busy trying to get information, remember?"
She rolled her eyes. "The witness was a female. I think it was her." That made sense.
"So you think she wants to talk, or kill us?"
She grinned devilishly. "It's either I kill you, or you risk it with me. That's why we'll be even after tonight."
I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.