Additional note: Qun is pronounced, approximately, "Chueen", and Hung would be "Hoong". I just like these spellings because they underline the fact that the characters have different accents and backgrounds.
Sheathing the Gun, an Epilogue
They came across each other again three years later, in the dinginess of a district known for its crime and murder rate. Hung had been looking for clues to a major mobster's movements.
Chapter 1
The alley Hung is wading through smells of last month's garbage and yesterday's blood, thrown haphazardly together like corpses after a battle.
She picks her way over a pile of crumpled rags, ducks a young man on a bicycle, then narrowly evades a sewage grate, catching a glimpse of a small figure in front of her. This person is petite, wrapped up in a heavy coat, face covered by a flowing scarf betokening deliberate anonymity. But a pair of black eyes shines clear over the fabric, eyes that appear to be trained on Hung.
A series of images instantly blazes over her mind: snapshots of database profiles, the faces of criminals she has seen in person. One face in particular stands out in clear detail, accompanied by emotions she has not felt for a long while. Bright, lively eyes held an expressiveness that had riveted her to the spot. Hung remembers the cheeky glint in them when she had allowed herself to return the half-smile they had in common. It is a memory whose outlines match the figure in front of her.
The woman steps closer, letting her scarf slip, and Hung observes that dark circles shade her intent gaze, and her walk appears firmer, heavier than before. They thread their way towards each other, stopping farther apart than they might have. Hung can sense the wariness still between them. Police and thief, after all. She chuckles and dangles one hand in the air, towards Ai Qun. "Not afraid of me, are you?"
Qun breaks into a smile, and magically, the tiredness bowing her shoulders backs away a little, leaving Hung wondering where she has been and the circumstances that wiped that smile away. "Never was. How is it, wearing the new badge?"
Hung pauses in surprise, then rallies, grinning right back. "Not bad. Your news is pretty up-to-date huh? I get promoted for a week, not used to the new duties yet, and you already know."
"Of course." Smug, teasing, really. "I might have left the business, but I still have my contacts."
Hung raises an eyebrow. "Is that what brings you here?"
"My contacts?" Qun looks down, swept a hank of hair behind an ear. The gesture looks as girlish as it used to. "You aren't here to check up on me, are you?"
Hung crosses her arms in mock exasperation. So wary. Yet there it is, the banter, and something within her eases. "If I were, you wouldn't have seen me. I'm investigating the Duxton Chan case and heard there might be leads in this area." She spreads one hand, palm open, eyebrows meaningfully raised, and Qun laughs with a quick flash of pretty teeth.
"Okay then. I'm looking for a flat. Just been to see one."
"Was it any good?"
"Nope. It wasn't what I wanted."
"And what's that?"
Bemused. "Huge bay windows, branded furniture, beautiful garden. Guess I won't find something like the old place, eh?"
Hung remembers 'the old place' only because she checked up on the sisters after the incident. It had been atonement, of a sort. It should have been just another case, just another bandit struck down in action, but Ai Lin's death hadn't sat well with her for some reason or other.
"You sold it?"
"Rented it to someone." The weight of memories lingers, almost palpable, in the sigh she heaves. "It was my family's house, I couldn't sell it. But living in such a huge place...." She shrugs.
Alone. Hung bites her lip. Glancing at the chaotic destruction around them, she asks, "how about a drink? For old times' sake."
"I'm really not in the business anymore, you know," Qun suddenly says, looking up. A grin fleets across her face.
"Well, that wasn't what I meant."
"What was it you meant?"
"My meaning was--"
As they pace off side by side, Hung fancies she can spy a glint in Ai Qun's eyes again.