Chapter 12 Blades and Butterflies
June 27th 2010 0900 Hours
Alexandria Comforts, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Koko had checked her watch wondering where Valmet and Damien were.
"Where are those two? It's after breakfast and they still haven't come back from their exercise."
"I just checked both their rooms and nothings missing. Valmet did say she was gonna be up early but she never left the building."
"Thanks R. Did you try their cells?"
"I got them both right here." He held up two smart phones that highlighted missed calls.
"Ugh! We gotta be at DIESA by one and with the soccer games going on we gotta leave an hour early! What are they doing!?" She shouted as she was messing up her hair.
Suddenly Lutz burst open the door.
"Guys! The roof! Damien's fighting Valmet!" He said hysterically.
As everyone literally dropped what they were doing and bolted out of Koko's suite in a scramble to follow Lutz only Lehm and Koko remained but Lehm had a wide grin on his face.
"I didn't say who was gonna start it, I just said it was gonna happen eventually. Five bucks, pay up."
Koko pulled out a five dollar bill from her pocket and handed it to Lehm.
"Just make sure they stop whatever the hell they're doing and not give the rest of the guys the fight of the century. We do have to meet with Dr. Miami."
After lighting his next cigarette, Lehm slowly made his way to the roof, the rest of the crew looking in awe ducked down behind the vent shafts. Damien and Valmet had lost the rubber knives and were going full contact. Their clothes were torn, they were both covered in scrapes and bruises, and were both utterly exhausted. Neither had wanted to back down.
Damien then took a swing but Valmet looped her left arm around his and followed up with a knee to his gut. But Damien caught her leg and lifted her over his head in a suplex. Valmet let her grip go and stuck her landing. Damien then attempted a down strike stomp but missed. Valmet then came forward with a series of a combination of hooks, elbow strikes and uppercuts finishing up with a reverse summersault kick that caught Damien in the chest. Regaining his stance Damien then moved forward with jabs and a forward step kick finishing up with a palm strike that caught Valmet in the nose. The rest of the crew looked on baffled and whispered.
"How long have they been doing this?" R.
"I'm guessing a while." Lutz.
"I feel like I'm watching a fight from Mortal Kombat." Ugo.
Getting back in defensive stances Damien raised his arm as if he was about to hammer a nail but his right leg was leaning back as if he was about to sprint. With a dash he sprung towards Valmet bringing his knee up and his elbow down and the same time. The knee connected but Valmet caught his arm, using the moment when he was only standing on one leg she knocked him off his feet and placed him in arm bar.
"I've had enough of this Damien! You decided to hit harder! Now I got no choice!"
"URRGH! Me!? You're the one who decided to stomp on my foot and head butt me! I've had enough!"
Using his size and strength to his advantage Damien managed to slide his leg into a position as if he was on one knee. Grabbing Valmet's leg's with his free arm and a monstrous bellow leaned up and gained the momentum he needed to get on his feet while holding Valmet in the air above his shoulders and brought her down on to the roof in a move similar to a power bomb in wrestling. Naturally Valmet let go but Damien backed away too slow and caught a knee to the head. Both got some distance between them and were going to try again.
"Felt that from over here." Wiley.
"Brutal." Mao.
"Lehm, I think we ought to stop this." Tojo.
"Just a few more moves. Neither one of them is about to last much longer anyway."
Both Damien and Valmet were breathing heavily and trying not to buckle under their own weight. It looked like neither of them wanted to admit that they looked weak in front of the other. Both of them had their eye's locked on each other. There wasn't anything else in their world right now other than the two of them.
Both of them bared their teeth and growled and held out there arms as if they were going to grapple but they both locked arms. Muscles tightened, vein's popped out, and teeth gritted but neither of them moved. Suddenly then both of them connected heads with a thud and splat from the sweat and blood. Both still held their ground and the rest of the crew looked on holding their breath.
"Ok this is getting boring." Lehm let out a puff of his cigarette and walked forward. "Ok you two! Enough's enough! Koko needs you two downstairs now."
They both looked over to him as if they both came out of a trance. Their heads and hands still connected. It then dawned on both of them that they were being watched and that they had been on the roof longer than they thought.
"Koko wants you both downstairs and get ready to go. We're leaving for DIESA in an hour."
As Lehm turned around everyone sprinted from the cover of the vents and headed back down stairs. Damien and Valmet got out of their lock and both looked at each other with embarrassed looks on their faces.
"Let's just pretend this never happened." He winced in pain. "Oh God everything sounds like an echo."
"Agreed. I'm actually looking at three of you right now. One is bad enough."
Knowing they were both in a lot of pain, they both agreed that today nobody won.
"We will have to make ourselves look presentable for the day though. And I got a feeling we'll be late cause we'll be patching ourselves up."
"Yeah. Let's hit the showers."
It was unknown whether she had head trauma or not she set the bait and naturally even in great pain Damien took it.
"Uhh…I don't think that's a good idea. That will be the easiest way you'll try to kill me."
Realizing what she just set herself up for she just let the annoyance sink in.
"Just shut up and get cleaned up."
1100 Hours
DIESA Weapons Expo
After cleaning up and doing my best to cover up that I had been in a two hour brawl with a one eyed Wonder Woman we arrived at the weapons convention. I saw Koko acting a little disappointed as if she forgot something but that didn't irk me. I guess it was because after she gave me and Valmet a good screaming she couldn't afford to blow off any more energy. She then checked her watch.
"What's wrong?" Lehm asked.
"I'm not sure. I know it's not our time for the meeting yet but I got a feeling she's not going to show up."
"Another five bucks says she won't."
As I overheard that Lehm had probably placed a bet on both me and Valmet I then overheard a car park and an African woman in a brown overcoat called out Koko's name.
"Miss Hekmatyar! I don't know what to say. I'm terribly sorry."
"Hey Malin it's been a while."
"I came to deliver a message from the Doctor."
"Don't bother. If you're here then that means she's off on one of her butterfly hunts again isn't she?"
"It is but we also have an unrelated matter to discuss."
As we headed inside the expo we all took our positions to look like we weren't body guards. I was rather amazed at some of the hardware that they had. From tanks, to self-propelled guns, to APC's and even unmanned drones. This convention seemed like it was rather legit, granted there were defense contractors in the world that operated within legal parameters.
"A Chinese man?" Koko asked.
"Yes an older man with a cane and his younger female assistant. While they both paid frequent visits to the doctor the woman had a very piercing gaze and was rather beautiful. They take her out to eat frequently along with Mokoena but she doesn't say what they talked about. She texted me the GPS coordinates on where she was gonna be at. Somewhere near Cathedral Peak."
That far north east? Whoever this Chinese guy was he had to be bad news.
After I was done glancing over an M198 Howitzer we headed inside their were kiosks everywhere. There were too many companies to even name.
"These guys showing off all their latest prototypes?" I asked.
"Not really. Just upgrade packages for different types of weapons, but not before long that's gonna change."
From an economic standpoint it made sense. Unless there was a full scale war going on and one side had to get the technological advantage over their enemy it made no sense to spend piles of money on the next generation weapon. Perfect example was the US Air Force spending several billion dollars on the F22 and F35 fighters. There was no need for them since there was no other air force, other than our allies and other nuclear powers, that could match us. Why spend so much when you could just get better upgraded versions of F15's or F18's.
As we continued to look around I felt another squeezing hug from behind and a head rubbing against my spine. I did my best not to react from the pain of the injuries I still had from earlier when Valmet punched me in the back three times.
"Ugh. What now Koko?"
"Sorry love. But I'm not your boss. Hey what happened to your ponytail?"
I recognized the voice instantly and confirmed it when I looked behind me. Mildo.
Oh God. What is she doing here?
"And your face? What happened to you?"
"Long morning. Don't ask." I said with frustration.
I then heard another familiar voice call out. "Well well if it isn't Koko Hekmatyar, what a coincidence."
Koko then turned around. "President Currie."
Oh God. Please do let this be a repeat of the Caucuses where only this time an actual gunfight takes place.
But strangely enough that didn't happen he acted like he didn't even care that we ditched his crew to get shot at by a Georgian PMC.
"Now that's enough now Mildo. Let go of Mr. Andrushko."
As Mildo let me go, Koko approached Currie.
"Convention going well for you this year?"
"Honestly this was a waste of my time. I'm going to pull out of South and East Africa in the foreseeable future." He then checked his watch. "I'm sorry but our time is going to be rather short, I have to go now."
I then felt Mildo's hand on my chest.
"Ta Love! Be careful." She whispered.
As soon as she said that most of the patrons were clearing away. Naturally that meant some bigshot was coming in next. Koko and I then turned to the entrance where we saw an older man with a cane and a Chinese accent, bodyguard in tow but not a woman.
"Good afternoon Miss Hekmatyar. You are her?"
"I am."
"I'm Guoming Chan of the Tashinhai Trading Company in Hong Kong."
He reached out his hand for a handshake but her reaction said it better. I didn't need to figure it out, this was the guy that wanted to get to Dr. Miami. She kept up her professional attitude but I had recognized long before that when she started acting a little too polite that she definitely didn't want it go any further than that.
"I hate to impose upon your schedule but I was wondering if you could schedule a meeting with me later tonight? Perhaps over dinner?"
Koko then acted like a excited child who wanted to go to Disney Land.
"Make it high end Chinese and you got a deal!"
He then chuckled. "You're a fascinating young woman. I'm sorry but that's all I wanted to see you for. As you can see I have problems standing for long periods. Does 8 o'clock sound good?"
"Perfect! I'll see you then."
As we left the convention not long after Chan did. Lehm went to talk to Koko and she handed him a piece of paper. I walked over after she left with Ugo.
"What's the plan old man?"
"I suggest dressing warm."
1830 Hours
Highway N5 En Route to Cathedral Peak, South Africa
The road trip to get Dr. Amada was for lack of a better word, shitty. Even though I was trained in airborne ops I had not made a real jump in two years but what I did not miss was being crammed in a plane with no damn place to stretch. It was even worse when you had to make a seven hour road trip with eight people, in one friggin car! We actually argued more than we planned the whole way up there. At least Lutz agreed with me but unlike me his whining was getting on my nerves.
"Seriously. Who's bright idea was it to send eight people up to the mountains in one SUV? I mean with Damien it's like putting another person in here so it's like nine."
"I can make it eight again by tying your scrawny ass to the roof you deutschebag."
"WHY YOU!"
As Lutz pulled my hair and I was pulling at his face, Lehm got the groups attention.
"Alright you two clowns enough! We're about an hour from where were going. So this is the woman were going to go get out of danger."
He then held up a photo of a Japanese woman with glasses and light brown chestnut hair.
"And if anyone tries to get in our way well then…we eliminate them."
Why did the inside of the car just get cold?
2000 Hours Near
Cathedral Peak
After we had changed into our snow slash woodland gear we moved out to find the doctor. I was actually surprised that there was some light snow on the ground for this time of year. But given the fact we were a few thousand meters above sea level and it was already dark it was naturally gonna be colder. That didn't stop Lutz's bitching however.
"Come on. I'd like to find this doctor before my balls freeze off."
"Oh for God's sake. I remember the winter's in New York state that were abysmally colder than this. Come on Valmet back me up! Doesn't Finland on average get like below freezing in the winters every year?"
"I have to agree with him Lutz, I'm not feeling anything."
Lutz gave up and we kept on moving. The valley around the mountain was rather open with wood lines everywhere and trees growing around the landscape rather sporadically. There were a lot of places to hide, being naturally prepared for anything I hooked on my NVG's and scanned around us, nothing. Snipers could hit us a mile away. They could be hidden under the snow waiting for us around the next bend. Or they could have placed a claymore behind a shrub and then lit us up. My soldiers sixth sense was picking up again, we were being followed but where I didn't know.
"What do you think Damien? You see anyone out there?"
"Yeah I put the number around ten. But you shouldn't be asking me that, it's better to figure that out on your own."
Lutz's face then soured and I heard Valmet laugh. It was the first time I heard her laugh at any of my sarcasm.
"He got you there Lutz! I think you might wanna stop challenging Damien on who's the better smart ass cause you losing badly."
"Aw shut up. And since when are you two friends all of a sudden? This morning you were ready to kill each other."
"Keep your voices down." Lehm spoke up. "This ain't no goddamn field trip."
We kept going towards the coordinates we were given by Koko. But I still couldn't shake the feeling we were being followed. What's worse we could have led them right to Professor Amada and she would be caught in the crossfire.
Ahh fuck it. I gotta know for sure. Next time I bring my thermal scope. The snow can help me see better at night so at least I can pick out where they're firing from.
"Hey Tojo."
"Yeah?"
"I just wanna be 100% positive. Professor Amada's nickname is Dr. Miami right?"
"Yes why?"
I switched my 416 to full auto and started shouting.
"DOCTOR! DOCTOR MIAMI!"
"Everyone take cover!" Lehm shouted.
"DOCTOR! DOCTOR! DOCTOR MIAMI!"
I then opened fire on the hillside in short bursts at separate locations. Recon by fire was not normally a tactic you used in the field since you would give yourself away first. But if your enemy already knew you were there all you had to do was make a gamble and if you were lucky then your enemy would pop and make an easy target. My gamble paid off tonight, fire then erupted from the tree line.
"Ya'll are very much welcome."
"Not the way I would have wanted it but whatever ambush they were planning failed."
Lehm checked to see if his M40A5 was loaded and our little fire fight opened up. There was no cover between where we were at and the tree line so we hunkered down where we were at until we had to move. About two minutes into the fight I heard a something drop behind me. I saw a weapon on the ground, it was Valmet's Styer AUG. But what I saw next brought back the memories I was not too fond of, the look on her face. It was full of utter blood lust there was nothing in her eye the intention to kill. I knew because it was the same face I made two years ago.
"Valmet? Talk to me."
She didn't answer and she sprinted off running to the enemies left flank.
"FUCK! Guy's cover me! I'm gonna get Valmet!"
"What the hell's she doing!?" R shouted on the radio as I ran after her.
"I don't know. I'll drag her ass back and you can ask her yourself!"
She was moving faster than I could keep up. But whatever it was it was personal. And I unknowingly just got involved in it.
2010 Hours
Golden Horn Chinese Restaurant, Port Elizabeth
While the team was focusing on rescuing the doctor. Koko was eating with Chan, but they also had some unexpected guests. Scarecrow was actually good at his job in finding dirty money. When he saw that Koko was in South Africa as well, he saw it as a bonus.
"This eggroll is delicious! I've never had one like this before!"
"The shrimp that they use are caught in Cape St. Francis and always use fresh vegetables. This place wants to make a superior stand in how it presents its cuisine." Chan added while lighting a cigar.
"The spring rolls are great as well! Crispy yet chewy at the same time. Ugo! Think we should bring the whole crew here next time?"
"Sure boss why not."
With one of Chan's men sitting across from him, Ugo was trying his best to keep a straight face. He knew he was by himself with Koko. The whole crew was out to get Dr. Miami and Chan probably had a whole army with him.
"I wish Damien was here with us. He's missing out."
Ugo then turned to a waiter presenting a bottle of wine and he stood up.
"Wait no! Please Miss Hekmatyar does not care for wine tonight."
Not that I'd ever admit it to her face but she's a very nasty drunk.
"Quite admirable that your men place a good value on your health. You mentioned the name Damien. Was he that rather large fellow with the long brown hair I met with you this afternoon?"
"He is. He's the newest member to my crew but he's proven to be one of my best employees."
In the adjacent room. Two CIA agents were listening in on their conversation. Scarecrow and his new partner, a young woman name Schokolade with a rather healthy appetite.
"Aw come on. Booze and food. Borrring. Schokolade can't you help me out? We need something juicy."
"What do you want me to do about it I can't make them magically say what you want them to."
Scarecrow's newest partner was a woman in her late twenties with blonde hair, blue eyes, and seductive figure. She fit the physical profile of a femme fatale but personality wise she was more like an eager college grad wanting to see the world.
"You didn't think they'd be given special treatment here? God why can't Langley send me a useful assistant. Now I got stuck with a gluttonies bimbo."
True to his personality Schokolade responded by throwing a water chestnut at his face.
"I ain't no damn bimbo. It took a little bit of skill to get in that room and bug it so shut the hell up. And by the way everyone back at the Company was right, you are a tremendous dick."
Scarecrow was doing his best not to lose his temper. He needed information on both Koko and Chan but the eavesdrop was going nowhere.
"I also have to agree with Koko. The spring rolls are excellent!"
2030 Hours
Goddamnit! What the fuck is she doing?!
As Valmet was trading fire with whoever the hell that woman was darting between the trees I was busy trying not to get killed by holding off the enemy on their flank. I managed to keep moving by using the multiple trees as cover and firing in different places. My NVG's gave me a clear picture of them but they couldn't see me. If these were Chan's men, they were totally unprepared.
"Lehm it's me! You copy?"
"I hear you Damien. The hell is Valmet doing?"
I then put a burst through one that got a little too close. That was one down but a lot more were still out there.
"She's fighting who I think is their leader. I tried getting her attention but I got a problem holding off their flank. I think you guys can move in closer, they don't seem to have night vision, but they're armed with Chinese T81 Rifles. They're Chan's men!"
"Roger. You heard the man, move up!"
2040 Hours
Koko had ignored Ugo's plea not to drink and she was already starting to show signs. Ugo then shrank in his seat on not being more insistent.
"You know I would love to share a bottle with your brother sometime."
She then let out a laugh. "That wouldn't be too wise. My brother always guzzles his drinks rather than savoring them. Doesn't matter whether it has alcohol in it or not. He also has a poor appetite and hardly eats anything but junk food, not that I don't enjoy a greasy burger every now and then."
"I've not had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Hekmatyar in person. But some of my associates in Asia have had the opportunity.
It the opposite room, Scarecrow breathed a sigh of relief.
"Bout time. Now that they've got some drinks in them we're getting somewhere."
"Don't you think that this is a little too convenient?"
She asked but he was staring off as if not paying attention.
"Hello? Scarecrow? You in there?"
"What?"
"Chan claims to be a legit businessman but he just admitted to being involved with the arms trade. And it seems that he has more than one connection."
"That's the reason why we bugged him in the first place. Just let me listen and don't freak out. But still this guy is fronting an honest business and running guns at the same time. I need to find out how."
Back in the VIP section, Chan and Koko continued in their conversation.
"I know that you and your brother operate in very different ways. I first figured that out when I had those meetings with Dr. Amada. If I may be so bold what is laying beyond the horizon for HCLI as well as yourself since you've had frequent meetings with her?"
"That's a secret." She said bluntly.
"I can't help but think we're after the exact same thing. I was thinking we'd both work together in that goal."
"I'm afraid I'll have to pass."
"Well let me say this. If someone has tied your hands in this matter I can help you break free."
She didn't answer. Instead she finished her glass.
2055 Hours
The fighting was going on for almost an hour now. But it wasn't as hectic as it first started, we suffered no casualties and had already taken three of them out. The crew had managed to move in closer and take the pressure off of me and I gave up on trying to get to Valmet. I did manage to get a quick quip from her saying that the enemy leader had reminded her of the fighting style that decimated her group when she was deployed. I couldn't get to her even if I wanted to since there was no cover between us and them and we were still under fire. They were in the middle of a snow field. I was hunkered down near R and Lutz, R was keeping an eye on both of them.
"I knew she was good but damn. I couldn't fight like that in a million years."
"If she can hold her ground against me for two hours with her bare hands she can take out that gun fu bitch no problem."
When I had got a good look at the woman and what she was using I immediately though she was just wanting to look cool in a fight but combat is not supposed to be pretty. Bayonet's had completely lost their influence on the battlefield since the First World War. Even though they were used frequently in the Second World War and were still being taught to some extent after that, there was no use for them anymore. Since most weapons nowadays could kill you from 500 meters out you had to want to die if you used bayonet charges. Pistol bayonets to me was just some stupid redneck concept of wanting to look badass while you were shooting. Even if you used those in real life you would have to sneak up extra close to your enemy and take him completely by surprise. Even if you wanted to slit his throat you would have to be doubly sure you didn't accidentally fire and alert everyone else or shoot yourself, if that happened they'd be dead weight. The scary part of any of that though was that woman was proving me wrong. What was even scarier was that Valmet was dodging her shots, she was moving even faster than our little scuffle on the roof this morning. Even though the practice got out of hand I did my best not to go full force. I wondered how much potential she had. But I to worry about the fight in front of me and that included Lutz's little game he decided to play with me as the crew's biggest smart ass.
"You were bruised up and bleeding more than she was. I don't think that qualifies as her holding her ground she was kicking your ass-AW SHIT!"
R and I both looked to Lutz and where he was gripping and I often wondered even in the current predicament my life turned out to be if life just handed me things to be comedic with.
"And yours just got shot."
I then noticed that the shooting died down considerably I then poked my head slightly above the brush with my NVG's. One of the bastards did the stupid idea of standing up and moving. I then made my way over to Lehm.
"Guy's stay down and don't shoot back I got an idea. Keep an eye on Valmet too."
"Got it." R said.
As I made my way over to Lehm I saw him reloading his sniper rifle.
"Hey Lehm, I think the random gunfire is starting to get to them you see?"
"Combat fatigue is probably wearing them down. And you're right they're breaking cover."
"I got a sneaking suspicion that none of these guys had ever done any type of field ops other than keeping VIP's safe. Big difference between fighting in nature rather than an urban environment."
"You have an idea?"
"Yeah." I then got on the radio. "Guys it's me. I got a plan, hold your fire and play dead. Lehm and I are gonna play sniper. Solid?"
"Got it."
"Copy."
"I hear ya."
"Nice."
"Aw damn! Ugh…yeah."
I then pulled out my binoculars. "I spot you, you shoot?"
Lehm's grin was all I needed. I took my binos and scanned the brush line near the trees.
"Target. Center of the brush line."
Bang
"Hit. Target. Exiting the tree line on our left flank."
Bang
"Hit. Target. Moving along the brush line towards the left."
Bang
"Hit. Target. Running towards our right flank."
Lehm let out a sigh. "One moment of weakness and your dead. But that's combat for ya, cruel and ugly."
Bang
2110 Hours
"Hekmatyar's going to the bathroom now. She's probably gonna use this chance to call her people. Better follow her."
Schokolade got up and headed off to the women's room and closed herself in a stall and waited.
"Ugh this sucks. Why do I always get the crappy jobs."
Then her stall door started rattling obsessedly.
"Ahh! Hey! Someone's in here!"
She then looked up and saw who was above her stall door.
"Schokolade correct?"
"Koko!? Wait how do you even know who I am?"
"I made it a reason to check into Scarecrows known associates since my run in with him in Dubai." She said as she leaped over the door.
"Hey I'm on the can here! What do you want!?"
"Calm down I just have a message you should give your boss."
2115
Bang
"Ok that's the last one, just gotta-DAMIEN WAIT!"
I didn't give Lehm a chance to answer as I sprinted over to where Valmet and Chan's team leader were fighting. They were still going at it. I decided to end the fight, but not in a way that Valmet would kick my ass for later. Switching my carbine to single shot, I placed two shots behind the woman with the bayonet pistols. Seizing the moment, Valmet moved in and slashed her underarm. Then kicked the other pistol out of her hand and cut her left thigh. She screamed in pain as Valmet landed a kick in her gut.
"You make a lot of noise. If you've got the strength to scream then you got the strength to talk and you can start by telling me your name."
She didn't even see where those shots came from. That's it I'm ending this, looks like I'm about do what Lehm did to me.
I wasn't exactly quiet when I was walking to her but she continued to shout at the woman on the ground.
"I haven't cut your throat yet! Can you hear me!? You just plain weak! WEAK! WE-AUGH!"
"And you're clueless!" I shouted with a straight kick to her back as I turned to the other woman. "You move. You die!"
"Urggh…DAMIEN!" She looked up to me even more pissed off.
"Don't even start. You remember you told me how stupid it was to charge into a fight like that what do you think you just did!? That kick could have been one of her men! You didn't even check to see where those shots came from! You could have gotten killed! Don't you remember that this team doesn't do fights to the death!?"
Valmet just stared at me in anger but she knew I was right. Her forehead bleeding from her fight she stood up tightening her grip on her knife and my finger not off my carbine's trigger. But then Lehm spoke up, same thing as this morning.
"That's enough you two. We still got a mission to complete." He said rather calmly. "And you should be thanking Damien, it was his quick thinking that allowed us to take out her team."
"So let's go." I then turned to the woman on the ground. "You run along home to your master and tell him to back off."
She then looked at me with skepticism but I decided to put her mind at ease.
"Relax, you won't have to look over your shoulder. I'm not a murderer."
Anymore.
"No hold on. She knows something about my past."
Lehm then lit a cigarette. "So what you gonna take her with us and torture her until she talks. That's not how we operate."
Frustrated she put her hand over her missing eye. I took out a field dressing and placed it on her head.
"I've heard this speech from him already and I don't wanna hear it again. Your better than this, you proved that when you were kicking my ass this morning."
I managed to get another smile out of her and she then looked to the woman on the ground.
"Sucks doesn't it? Right now you're in the same position I was in. Let that one soak in."
As we backed away from her she spoke up.
"Karen Low, that's my name. I'm a Lieutenant in the People's Liberation Army. That's the name of the woman who will kill you."
Valmet went to answer but I stood in front of her.
"Your gonna have to go through me, and the rest of us first, you red commie bitch."
As I turned around I winked my eye at Valmet, she rolled hers.
2122 Hours
Scarecrow was furious that Koko had gotten the drop on Shokolade.
"You bimbo! What kind of bullshit did Hekmatyar put in your head? My job is to take the money that those crooks worked to get and ensure that justice is served swiftly. Not give it back to them. Now I know Chan is a dangerous man he's probably got more people killed than I can count. But I got things under control we're leaving Port Elizabeth alive."
"Terrific so this guys a killing machine? Wouldn't it be safer to throw in our lot with Koko?"
"What?"
"Think about this for a second. If Chan kills Hekmatyar you won't get a cent out of her. We are out of time here!"
Scarecrow had no idea what to say and he knew she was right.
It the opposite room, Koko's phone rang.
"Sorry do you mind. This might be important. Koko here."
"Not to worry I have a call coming in anyway."
They both answered their sat-phones, listened to their conversations and both hung up at the same time. While Koko's face was calm, despite blushing from the wine, Chan's eye's squinted in anger but he kept his face straight.
"I think it's time we called it a night. I thank you for the dinner it was great."
Chan then stood up with his cane supporting his weight.
"It was my pleasure. I thank you again for taking time out of your schedule to meet with me. I do hope we can do this again in the future. You'll understand if I don't walk you out."
"Of course. Come on Ugo!"
As Koko and Ugo left Chan nodded to his bodyguard
"Si ge mubiao. Koko, ta de baobiao he liang ge meiguo ren."
(Four targets. Koko, her bodyguard, and the two Americans.)
Unable to hide his anger from his lieutenants report of their failure Chan screamed in anger and fell to the floor. Koko heard it in the hallway.
"Looks like he couldn't wait till we got out of the building."
"Something happen?" Ugo asked.
"Don't worry. The crew came out on top and I've even procured us a ride out of here."
As they exited the restaurant, Scarecrow and Schokolade waiting outside as the wind began to pick up.
"Koko! Over here!"
"Move your lily white ass!"
Scarecrow was not too pleased. But Koko kept her calm and just walked outside like business as usual as a UH-60 Blackhawk just touched down.
"See that? Thank you Scarecrow I didn't know you cared!"
"Shut the hell up and get on board before I change my mind."
Back inside Chan's bodyguard told his boss what happened.
"Tamen zai zhishengji shang xiaoshilie."
(They got a way in a helicopter.)
"Gaisi di nage nuren!"
(Damn that woman!)