Chapter 10: Martial Law

With Biu Yuen waiting in the car near the road, Chang stood by the edge of the dockyard and lit a cigarette as he watched the waves of the ocean move in and out. The day had turned quite miserable and it had started to rain, forcing Chang to employ the use of an umbrella just so he could enjoy the tobacco product in his hand. He took a slow drag of it, savouring every second that the smoke billowed into his lungs, before exhaling and letting the wind carry it away, out to sea. These days, it felt like a piece of himself was carried off with it.

The noise from the road told him that Balalaika had arrived. She exited the car currently being driven by Boris with her own umbrella in hand before making her way over to Chang. There was a cigar between her fingers as she spoke.

"Miss Balalaika," he greeted her. "All's well, I hope?"

"As well as can be, considering," she told him, coming to a stop to his left and setting her own eyes on the water below. "It hasn't been long since we had a one-on-one like this, Chang. I'm beginning to think you just missed me."

"If only things were so simple," he told her. "But I do hope your mind has been set at ease since then."

"Oh, indeed. I heard quite the tale several weeks back about the Lovelace maid. It's a miracle she survived. Nothing is ever going to kill her, is it?"

"At least she's out of the city, now," Chang assured her. "If she has any sense, she'll stay in Venezuela, this time."

"Oh, I'm not worried," Balalaika told him, surprisingly. "Rosarita Cisneros may have caused us quite the bit of trouble in her time, but she is a shell of her former self. And I hear we have her to thank for taking Hawke out of the equation. His people have been sent running, scattered and frightened. The bounty placed on her head by the cartel, too, has mysteriously disappeared. Four hundred thousand dollars, the last I heard, but I guess they figured she was no longer worth the trouble. As far as I'm concerned, she's earned her freedom."

"I'm shocked," Chang told her bluntly. Though Balalaika had initially been content to let Roberta live back when she first came to the city looking for Garcia, the maid's subsequent return visits to the city were a different matter. As well as that, the string of conflict that had plagued the city since the arrival of Wolf Pack two years ago had turned Balalaika into a paranoid, domineering overseer with an iron grip on the city. Her attitude had become relaxed since the death of Hunter Woods, but Chang assumed she would still hold onto her reservations about allowing the maid to live. She had turned a blind eye before, but Balalaika did not often do so repeatedly.

"Times change," she told him simply. "As do we. Besides, it is always wise to look at the bigger picture. There are other problems that demand our attention."

"Indeed," Chang concurred, dropping his cigarette and allowing the rain to extinguish the ember inside. "I didn't arrange this meeting to talk about the maid, after all."

"I'm well aware. There are strangers in our midst."

"So, you do know."

"Of course I know," she told him, the notion that she wouldn't ridiculous to her. "Task Force 216, if I recall. This isn't good."

"You're well informed. They were spotted at the police station shortly before that incident at the Yellowflag. We both know what that means." Indeed, it was a tricky situation. It was one thing to respond to a violent invader to the city, a fellow criminal or gangster who needed to be eradicated. That was something they had all become uncomfortably familiar with in recent times. But it was quite another to make a move against an enemy who had the backing of the authorities and external organisations who would be watching the situation unfold with prying eyes. They couldn't simply send a show of force and muscle the Task Force out of Roanapur, nor could they wipe them out. If the team disappeared in this city, their employers would be sending others in future to find out what happened, and the next team might not come alone. And if 216 were sent packing, the result would be much the same and Roanapur would be overrun with government agents and armed response units in days. They needed to be smart about this, or it would cost them everything.

"Events are already in motion, or haven't you been paying attention?"

"The police have always had a presence in Roanapur," Chang reminded her. "But they know their place. They keep the peace unless it steps on our toes."

"You're right in that they've always had a presence," Balalaika began, poising herself for a rebuttal. "But never like this. They come when needed, and only then. Now, police cars patrol the streets during the day and there's an officer at almost every hotspot in the city. I'd think we weren't paying Watsup enough, with how things have been. It's like he's forgotten who lines his pockets."

"The cartels must be afraid to sneeze," joked Chang. "Do we have a plan for dealing with them?" For the first time since Chang had known her, Balalaika became embarrassed. Clearly, she was just as uncertain about how to proceed as he was.

"As a matter of fact, I was hoping to ask you the same thing. We've been backed into a corner. If we fight back, we lose. If we do nothing, we lose. I really hate it when you're fighting an enemy that you can't lay a finger on. This would be so much simpler on the battlefield."

"We're not in Afghanistan anymore, Toto," Chang quipped. Balalaika, suffice it to say, did not respond. "In any case, you're right. We've been backed into a corner with this one, as you so elegantly put it, and I'm sorry to say there doesn't appear to be any easy way out of it."

The relationship between the two was usually described as amicable, mutually respectful, and at times flirtatious. But it was like the mood had died when the sun disappeared and it began to rain. They kept their cool, but they were unmistakably in a state of mild panic at the notion that they could do very little to deal with the threat of 216.

"You've never been one for resignation, Chang. Acceptance in the face of defeat. It's not like you."

"I'm simply stating the facts," Chang corrected her. "I'm not going to roll over like a sick puppy so I can be put to sleep. But we're in the eye of a real shitstorm, Balalaika. I don't fancy going toe-to-toe with Interpol." Balalaika looked at the cigar in her hand. She had barely smoked half of it, but she tossed the rest into the ocean anyway and folded her arms, the handle of the umbrella nestled in the crook of her elbow and resting against her shoulder to keep it upright.

"What about Rock?" she asked. It really was a desperate situation if she was suggesting that. Rock was incredibly clever and had gotten the city out of more than one sticky situation before, but it was unlike Balalaika to actively encourage consulting him. But they were undoubtedly out of options and ideas.

"What about him?" Chang asked, playing coy for now.

"That one has the mind of a war strategist, and the nerve of a soldier. His insight would be invaluable now, wouldn't you agree?"

"Perhaps you haven't heard," Chang began slowly. "Rock has no interest in the game anymore. He'd rather shut himself away from the world and watch the rest of us move our chess pieces into place than get involved." Balalaika seemed genuinely surprised by that.

"That's…unfortunate," she said carefully. The disappointment in her voice was masked by her level-headedness, but Chang saw through it. "I remember a time when that boy could have razed us all to the ground and built a new city from the ashes if he wished. He had so much potential."

"We're going to have to figure this one out ourselves, I think."

"Wonderful," Balalaika groaned.

She became forlorn all of a sudden, and the palpable tension that had been there moments ago seemed to fade away.

"I remember a time when the biggest problem we had was divvying up the territory between Hotel Moscow and your Triad."

"After I shot you, you mean?" Chang said, taking the opportunity to poke fun at her while the atmosphere was considerably more relaxed than it had been before now. "I never thought I'd consider those the good old days, but here we are."

"Simpler times, babe," she said solemnly. "Difficult to imagine us at odds with one another after everything, but there was a time where I had you in my sights…and you had me in yours." Back when Hotel Moscow first arrived in the city, it was the Hong Kong Triad who ruled here over the various smaller gangs. When Balalaika made herself known, the two crime bosses ended up in a shootout with one another, resulting in Balalaika's near defeat. It was Dutch who came along and saved her, affording her a second chance that she used to agree to peace with the Triad. Since then, both criminal organisations ruled together, though the balance of power had not always been so harmonious.

"If we hadn't made peace, I fear we'd both be at the bottom of the ocean and Roanapur would be in the hands of some gun-toting vagabond."

"The city would not have survived without us," Balalaika told him. "You know that. The only reason it still stand is because of our alliance."

"I'll be sure to thank Dutch the next time I see him. He may be the only reason we didn't destroy ourselves in a fruitless power struggle."

The leader of the Triad turned as if to leave, but he remained on the spot for a moment.

"I'll see what I can come up with. Odds are the answer is staring us right in the face and we just can't see it. But I'll keep you posted either way."

"I admire your optimism," Balalaika responded. "Even if it is born from desperation."

"Now, now, there's no need for that. A little cooperation in between the usual business, that's how we do things, right?"

"Right," she conceded, her stern persona falling for a moment. "If you can figure this out, I'll owe you one, that's for sure." Chang grinned at her and started back towards the car.

"Call it a favour. I'll just be happy to get out of this with all my internal organs in the right places." He sat into the car and Biu Yuen pulled away from the dockyard, leaving Balalaika alone by the water.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so that's gonna be the last chapter for maybe a week or so because I didn't get as much writing done in the last two weeks as I'd hoped. But I'll be back uploading again hopefully on Friday or Saturday. Until then, ta-ta.