Chapter 8: Smackie Brown
Heading to the pool area, Sunny wears a new pair of aviator sunglasses.
Things have been going well for her over the last few weeks; she's got a girlfriend, she's made some good money with Park, her relationship with her sister was still sour but that was something that she was planning to fix on her own. Overall, life is still good and she can finally relax. Sunny lies on one of the lawn chairs near the pool, she puts on her headphones of her MP3 player, Peter Gabriel's 'Big Time' plays.
I've had enough, I'm getting out
To the city, the big big city
I'll be a big noise with all the big boys
There's sp much stuff I will own
And I will pray to a big god
As I kneel in the big church
Big time
I'm on my way-I'm making it
Big time Big time
I've got to make it show yeah
Big time Big time
So much larger than life
Big time
I'm going to watch it growing
Big time
She peer's through the dark lenses of her sunglasses, the sun is quite bright. A familiar face unexpectedly shows up; a red haired woman wearing a yellow bandanna that covers that hair of her's, she waves her hand at her. The bounty hunter from before. She just sternly looks at her for a bit. "What the fuck do you want?" Sunny asked as she tried to enjoy herself before she did something crazy "I just came by to see if you had a job for me?" she wondered; Sunny scoffs in amazement "What? Seriously?" she gently got up from the seat. The bounty hunter take's a seat next to her. "Aren't you mad that I crashed that car of your's through that office?" "Nah, I wanted to quit anyways" she smirked, they look at each other. The two were probably one in the same. "You got a job or not?" she repeated herself, "You shouldn't do the work that I do, it's bad for your health" Sunny sarcastically quipped, the bounty hunter raised her eyebrow "What do you mean?" "That stuff that you see on t.v., mafia shit, it might make good money but the guys who take the risk are the ones who do the actual grunt work. You might make some money here and there, but my advice, give the shit up" the bounty hunter looked at her in surprise.
"Their are plenty of way's to make money without getting your hands dirty" she said "What do you mean?" the bounty hunter questioned "Like screwing with the stock market, selling fake medications, even doing fake dating sites make's money", the bounty hunter laughs and shakes her head "You sound like you've been around the block" "You could say that" she said.
"Besides, it beat's the shit out of chasing someone just because they missed court", they both smile at each other "Yeah, you're probably right about that". Sunny looks at the bounty hunter "You look like you're in need of some serious money," the bounty hunter looked on "maybe I can teach you something"; the bounty hunter extend's her hand towards Sunny. "Geraldine" she smirks, Sunny shakes her hand "Sunny, but you already knew that" she smiled.
"I'll take you to a bar not far from here," Sunny get's up from the lawn chair "it's pretty decent" Geraldine herself get's up.
Sunny's phone starts to vibrate; a text from Joo Kwan, she reads it to herself. "Look's like we're going to have too cancel" Sunny looks at Geraldine "Maybe, hmm..." "What?" she asked "I'm gonna have to take a chance with you, come on".
The Tailgater speeds past the traffic. "So how'd someone like you find me?" Sunny asked, Geraldine looked at her "I remembered your ink and I asked around for you, believe me, you weren't that hard to find", Sunny exhales sharply "Let me guess, people spoke about the tattoo on my back, right?", Geraldine say's nothing "I fucking knew it". "They didn't say anything but, you know, when I mentioned your ink, people just acted funny" she said "They act like that because they know who I'm with" "Which is who exactly?" she wondered, Sunny became very tight lipped. "Look, if you won't say anything then that's fine". With a quick sigh Sunny carefully mends her words "This thing..." she struggles to finish her sentence "it saved my life and it saved my family's life...just leave at that, okay?". She focuses her attention on the road as much as possible. "Whatever you say".
"Can I ask you something?" she quickly asked "Yeah?" Geraldine looks back at Sunny "Did you do anything that's, you know, not so legal?" Sunny said with a quick glance. Geraldine sighs hard "Yeah, my girl Reggie...took somethin' from...someone and she's tryin' to get rid of it" Sunny chuckles a bit "She basically stole it from somebody, is that it?" Sunny inquisitively wondered "It's a bit more complicated than that, okay?", Sunny burst out laughing. "Look, me and Reggie go back a long ass time, like since we were kids" Geraldine frowns "But man, some of the shit that she drag's me into, it's just crazy sometimes" "I understand; she's your friend, she's just trying to help you out", she exhales sharply "If you ever met Reggie, believe me, she'll drag you into whatever shit she involves herself in".
They stop at the intersection "Hey, I know this ain't nothin' serious," Sunny's eyes turn slightly towards Geraldine "your last name is Rhee, right?" "Yeah, what about my last name?" she looks strangely at her "You wouldn't happen to know a cop named Linda Rhee?", the light turned green; Sunny takes a right. "Jesus fucking Christ" she cursed "What? You guy's cousins or what?" Geraldine curiously wondered "No, we're not cousins..." she clenches her teeth "we're sisters". Geraldine seemed flabbergastic "Sisters?" she almost laughed "Your sister's one tough-ass cop!" Geraldine boasted "She's like one of the toughest cops in all of L.S.! You guy's don't get along?" Geraldine seemed to admire Linda "We get along," Sunny lied "but we're...not...speaking to each other at the moment" she fake coughs "If you say so".
They finally arrive at Park's office. As they take the elevator up Sunny turns her attention towards Geraldine "So listen," she whispered "when you go in keep your mouth shut and don't say a thing" Geraldine raises her brow "Seriously?" "Yeah seriously; these people don't know you and they're very traditional, do or say the wrong thing and they'll find you and your friend chopped up in some dirty alley" Sunny grimly says "I get it, okay, let's just go in".
Geraldine enters the office along with Sunny; what she see's truly amazes her. The sleekness of the office seemed to give her of the best impression she's probably ever had in her whole life "Goddamn..." she whispered "Joo Kwan, annyeonghaseyo (hello)" Sunny greeted with a smile "Annyeonghaseyo dangsin-ege (Hello to you)" she responded back with a of her own smile "Nuga dangsin-ui chingu? (Who's your friend?)" she questioned Sunny about Geraldine "Geunyeoneun nae jeja ibnida (She's my apprentice)", the secretary studies Geraldine; trying to get a read about the red haired bounty hunter. "Dang yeonhaji (Of course)" she smirked. "Museun munjega doel geos gatda? (What seems to be the problem?)" Sunny asked "Ulineun bimillie iyagi hal su? (Can we talk in secret?)", she sighs heavily and turns back to Geraldine "You're going to have too stay out here for a while, this is a private matter" "Why can't I go with you?" she wondered; Sunny gave her a rather obvious look. "Because you're a stranger, nobody knows you and you could get yourself killed, need I go on?" Sunny tilts her head "Fine, I'll take a seat then" Geraldine goes to a near by seat, Sunny and Joo Kwan disappear into Park's office.
As Geraldine sits down her phone vibrates, Reggie sent her a text 'Where you at?' it read 'Somewhere in Little Seoul, why?' she texted back 'I found someone who could buy a couple of them bags, I'll see you at your place tomorrow, okay?' Geraldine annoyingly sighed 'Fine, whatever, see you tomorrow'.
As she finishes her text, an annoying-obnoxious-loud mouthed voice suddenly came into the office. "Grandfather! Grandfather, are you here?" a Korean man burst through the door; Geraldine get's a good look at the guy and automatically didn't like him. He see's Geraldine sitting down in her seat.
"Who the fuck are you?" he rudely asked "Geraldine, I'm working with Sunny" when she mentioned that name his mood quickly changed "You're working with that bitch?" his anger flared "Yeah, she's helping me out, why? You two know each other?", he suck's on his teeth "I just plain hate that fucking bitch". He slowly walk towards Geraldine "You see, I'm going to be the boss one day and I don't need some smart mouthed whore, like her, barking orders at me" "Oh really?" Geraldine sarcastically quipped "You look like a smart person, maybe I can find you a job in my organization?" he stops in front of Geraldine, the red haired bounty hunter slowly get's up "I think I've seen guys just like you before, the rich ones with the smell of asshole entitlement on them, just 'cause you're related too someone here" Geraldine says as she stands up to him. Her hand grabs the area between his legs very hard, he gasps painfully; before he could call for help, her one free hand quickly covers his mouth.
"If I could and I would, I could cut these things off; so I don't think you wanna push me, got it?" she whispered, Geraldine let's go and he falls back against the secretary's desk. Sunny and Joo Kwan exit from Park's office. "What's going on here?" Sunny looked at Geraldine "Nothin', me and him was just talking, ain't that right?", Sunny and Joo Kwan look at Jin Tae, he seemed like he was in a lot of pain. He looks at Joo Kwan "Where's my grandfather?" he asked "He's out of town on business...I don't when he's going to come back" she politely responded "He can't keep dodging me" he complained "When he comes back, you can take up whatever grievances you have with him, until then though, you need to leave" he stares blankly at the women. "You have your assignment, you two can go now". Geraldine and Sunny leave quietly, Jin Tae still leans against the desk fuming at what just happened to him.
...
"Who the fuck was that?" Geraldine wondered as she and Sunny head to the Tailgater "That was my boss's grandson, Jin Tae Park, and before you ask, no you're not in trouble; everybody in the whole group hates that fucker" Sunny pulls out her keys and turns off the alarm. As they enter the Tailgater, Geraldine can't help but compare that guy to Frank; cocky, arrogant, and above all else a gigantic ego the size of Texas. "How come everybody else hates him?" Sunny looks over at her "I asked around and they told me that a while back some money went missing, he was the obvious suspect. They grabbed him and beat the hell out of him, they would have killed him if his father didn't intervene", Geraldine looked at Sunny; freaked out about what she just heard. "What about the money? Did they at least find that?" "No, it was never found, but that didn't stop everybody from being suspicious of him; that's not why he's here though" Sunny puts the key into the ignition and starts the car.
Geraldine couldn't help but be curious about the prick "Why's he here then?" a small but visible smile appears on Sunny's face "How would you feel if you caught him fucking somebody else's girlfriend?" Geraldine starts to laugh "Oh man! Seriously? Fuck".
They pull out of the underground lot and back into the street "So we're heading to Alta, we're looking for some Vietnamese guy by the name of Brady Ngo, better known as Smackie to anybody who know's him" she said as they take a left "What'd this guy do?" "He's been selling brown heroine in Alta and in some part's of Park's territory, we gotta find this fucker and shut him down as quick as possible". Geraldine looks over at Sunny, she can't help but imagine about the thing's this girl had been involved in. The life she that lived must have been an exciting one. "You're staring, something wrong?" she looked over at her "It's just, you know, the people that you work with they're a bunch of bad-ass looking motherfuckers. I wish I could be you" Sunny's attitude gloomed slightly "Trust me...you don't want to be me".
Geraldine stared blankly at her "Why? Come on, you got everything", they stop at a red light "My mother came here with my sister, about a month pregnant and $300 in her pocket; when I was born, we had nothing but shit in our lives. My mother worked two jobs and still didn't make enough, she had to make a choice: find a way to make enough money too care of me and my sister or let us starve to death. She decided to work with a certain group of people and it paid off, we had money, a nice house on the beach and a good life. Something bad happened to us that turned everything too shit...that's all you need to know right now..." Sunny looks at her, giving her this look to back off and not ask anymore questions about herself. The light turns green and they drive through the intersection.
They approach Alta. Finding this guy shouldn't be that hard.
"So how do we do this?" Geraldine looked at Sunny for an idea "The guy has a street dealer by the name of Phan, as soon as we find him we gotta follow him back to Smackie and we have too shut down his whole operation, make enough sense?" Sunny looked back at Geraldine. Sunny parks the car around Alta street, both wait patiently for Phan to show up.
After a while a phantom grey Baller appears. Sunny get's a good look at the driver. It was a skinny Vietnamese with a slight mustache and spiky hair, he looked like some elf with a growth spurt from a distance "That must be Phan" Sunny quietly said as she saw him handing off the package to someone "That must be the shit that he's dealing, right?" Geraldine herself looks on, the person hands him the money. The window rolls back up and the Baller drives off, Sunny put's the Tailgater into drive and they carefully follow the dealer back.
The dealer drives around, he doesn't notice the Tailgater following his vehicle. "What happens when we find this motherfucker?" Geraldine asked as her eyes focuses on the Baller driving through traffic "We get rid of him and his crew, and if we want, we'll take his money; I don't think he'll be needing that it anymore" Sunny grimly said. He turns from one part of the road to the next, after fifteen minutes or so a building finally appears in sight. Sunny park's her car around the corner and she turns off the engine. "Alright, here's the plan," Sunny reaches into the glove compartment and pulls out her .45 "we sneak in and smoke Brady along with his crew; easy enough?" she questioned as Geraldine pulls out her Beretta "Yeah, let's go get our money" she said with a smile on her face.
The two women carefully approach the entrance of the building, Geraldine see's two men standing guard at the entrance. They're both armed, this should be easy.
"Ho la ai? (Who are they?)" the one guard asked "Nguoi nao? (Who?)" the other one looked over at the guard "Hai tren do (Those two over there)" he points to the two women coming in there direction, "Stop" the first guard ordered; he got a look at the two, both women, one Asian and the other one was African American. "We're looking for Brady, do you know where he is?" the Asian woman asked "No, there no Brady here. You go now!" he demanded; Geraldine couldn't help but laugh at their accents. "What so funny?" the other guard asked "Nothin', just that we got the drop on you two fools" the guards look at each other rather confused, suddenly two rather hard fists hit there faces and both are out cold "Easy, right?" Sunny quips "Yeah, now comes the hard part" Geraldine pats one man and pulls out a Mac-10 along with some clips, Sunny does the same and pulls out the same weapon. They stuff the ammunition clips into their pockets and open the door.
Both enter quietly, their weapons at the ready. They hear people speaking Vietnamese and somebody was listening to Vietnamese rap; they were in the shadows, the element of surprise was on their side. A loud burst of gunfire strikes one of the men, his body does a sort of crazy dance as the rounds tear into his body; two more men run towards the gunfire, a second burst of bullets rip them them apart. The two women step out of their cover "Time to go up" Sunny said "Yeah, let's take the stairs" Geraldine looked up at the three separate floors, they seemed too go on forever.
They climbed up the first floor; the gunshots from before must have alerted the other at had happened to their compatriots. They're all armed and ready to kill their attackers.
The two take cover as the Vietnamese gangsters open fire, a mixture of handgun and semi-automatic fire. They shout at them in their native tonuge, Sunny gets a quick glance over at their covering postions; they're taking cover behind the metalic barriers covering the rails. "You take the right and I'll take the left" she ordered "I feel ya!" Geraldine goes to the right while Sunny goes to the left. They keep firing not knowing that they're about to be outsmarted.
From the left a burst of gunfire rips apart several of the shooters, they're caught off guard and some don't get a chance to shoot back. From the right, another burst of gunfire decimates the rest, the area where they stood is now running red with their blood.
The second level erupts with the sound of semi-automatic, more of them with the same angry attitude. Sunny and Geraldine quickly take cover as best they can "Goddamn! They're pissed!" "Well, we just killed quite a lot of them! And we're trying to kill their boss!" Sunny yelled back "Man, let's just smoke this fool and take his money!". Both women run towards the stairs, a couple of Vietnamese thugs run down the stairs; they spray the Mac's at them and they're torn to pieces. Crouching down the gunfire get's more intense, bullets hit the wall behind them; they really are determined to stop them.
The barrage briefly ceases, both of the women looked around "Who the fuck are you?!" a new voice demanded "That's gotta be our boy?" Geraldine herself wondered "We work for Old Man Park and guess what Brady? Time to close up shop!" Sunny peered out and got a look at the intened target, a thin looking man with cropped hair and a bad looking goatee "Man fuck you! That guy's time is over!" he screamed "Kill them!" he ordered, the firefight resumes; some spray the place with bullets while some others load fresh magazines into their weapons.
Their aim is somewhat good but rather pathetic. The gunfire is erratic and frenzied, the women open fire at their targets across from there postions; some go down and die rather quick, others are wounded or cry out that they're pain. Sunny and Geraldine run towards them, they put fresh magazines into the Macs and finish the wounded ones off. They reach the stair too the final floor.
Some rounds nearly hit Sunny's head. They decide to crawl on their stomachs, all they hear is cursing and gunfire. The both unleash a fury of bullets to the point of emptying the clips, they put another set of clips. The bullet storm continued afterwards. The rattle of the Macs are the only things that fill the air.
Left and right, the thugs are all dead or dying. The stench of blood and gunsmoke is the only thing that fills the air.
Sunny and Geraldine take opposite sides of the entrance way. Sunny signals her at the count of three, with her fingers they count "One...Two...Three!", the door get's kicked down, Brady and Phan have two Glocks in their hands with extended clips. "Fuck you bitches!" Brady screamed, both him and his dealer sprayed the handguns at them, the two women separately run for cover.
The boss and his dealer keep on firing, they don't know it but they left themselves vulnerable. Sunny aims at Phan, Geraldine aims Brady; both simultaneously squeeze the triggers. Phan get's hit in the abdomen, sternum, chest and face. He's going to need more than plastic surgery to fix that. Brady is hit in the thigh, stomach, his right forearm, along with his elbow and shoulder. Geraldine pants, it was over for them. Sunny carefully walks towards Brady, he's wounded rather badly; he won't die immeditaly but their's no need to tell him that. She points the Mac at his chest, he breathes quite rapidly "You-You don't who you're fucking with! He'll kill you and your friend!" he painfully babled "Who?" Sunny demanded an answer "The old man's time is done! His group is going to destroy Park's crew, you'll-!" before he finishes a rapid fire tear into his chest, finally he shuts up. Sunny looks at the bullet ridden body, she wonders what did he mean by 'his group'?
Park did mention that another group was trying to disrupt the peace that he built up and he did that his no good, douche bag, asswipe grandson is somehow playing a role in it. Whatever it was it didn't matter to her or her new partner, there was a bloody mess on they're hands. "Man, you fucked him up" Geraldine complemented her, Sunny simply smiles "Let's see how much money he had on him and let's leave". They searched around his office, Geraldine notices a breeze coming from behind a cheesy painting. She removes it and pulls out four large and heavy gym bags, they look at each other with a glimmer of hope in their eyes. Geraldine carefully unzips one bag, her eyes widen, a smile and a small laugh appear on her face. The bag contained cash-correction, a large amount of cash. She opens the second one; Sunny does the same for the other two, they all contained the same large amount cash that filled the bag to the top. "Woo!" Geraldine cheered and hugged Sunny. "Come on, let's get the fuck out of here" Geraldine said as she grabs the two bags and Sunny grabbed the other two.
...
"Man! I can't fucking believe it!" Geraldine excitidly hollered "There's gotta be like a hundred stack in these bags" she estimated, Sunny's never seen anybody this excited before, Geraldine looked like a kid who got a shiny new prize. "Tell me we don't have to give these bags too your boss?" she asked "No, we don't. They're ours to keep, two for you and two for me" Sunny quickly theorizied; life just got a whole sweeter.
"Drop me off at my place in Davis" Geraldine asked, between the shootout and finding these bags of money she wanted not only to count it but she wanted to savor this perculiar moment. "So how'd I do?" she wondered "Better than I expected, trust me though, you got a long way to go" Sunny said as she took a right "As soon as I get home, I'm gonna count this and then I'm gonna hide this; Reggie's my home girl and all, but she'll probably take it and spend it all" Geraldine quickly chuckles. The smile never faded from her face. "Listen, you got some skills, shit I never seen anyone like you" Geraldine quickly complements her new partner and teacher "Right back at ya, you're pretty handy with a gun and you know how to stay cool" Sunny smiles back at Geraldine.
"If you're going to hide those bags, find a place where your friend won't ever look", Geraldine shakes her head as she knows where to hide her new found reward.
Sunny finally pulls up to Geraldine's house, Geraldine get's out; Sunny pushes the button for the trunk. Geraldine grabs both of her bag's "Hey, it was great hangin' out with you; I managed to make actual money, I couldn't even imagined gettin' this much money" she gives this big smile, she's never been this happy before. "Let me know if their's anything else I can do" Sunny smiled back at her "Enjoy your money, partner" Geraldine puts up her fist, Sunny does the same; they bump their fist against they're knuckles, a toast of sorts to a new friendship.
The Tailgater drives off and disappears around the corner. Geraldine quickly rushes to her porch, the tabby cat from before was there again, it must have been waiting for her to come back home. She quickly get's her keys and opens the door. The cat enters first and settles down on the couch, she put's the bags down on the floor of the kitchen. Geraldine unzips both bag's; she make's that curtains are closed, the last thing she want's is someone looking to steal her new found money. Piece by piece she empties both bags, she count's it carefully. After fifteen too twenty minutes, she's finally done counting. $250,000 in one bag and $500,000 in the other; Geraldine grabs a calculator and rounds it up. $750,000 in total. Geraldine puts it all back in the bags, she looks at a shed in the back yard; remembering that the bottom was all dirt and that the top was covered with concrete tiles.
Geraldine removes the tiles first, one by one the tiles are lifted. She remove's her bandanna and proceeds to dig. Geraldine digs and digs, she makes the hole big enough for both bags; she rushes back to the kitchen and grabs the bags. Gently Geraldine lowers them in the hole, she picks up the shovel and pours the dirt on the spot. The dirt now covers the area, she places the concrete tiles on top of the spot. It's now covered, this is her just-in-case-of-emergancy money. Her clothes are now covered in sweat and dirt, she closes the shed and goes back inside.
The cat is still sleeping on her couch, Geraldine decides to rest next too her new roommate "Look's like you found a new home" she scratches the cat's behind it's ear. It just purrs and cuddles next to her. Her dreams of starting an investigation firm of her own is slowly starting too come true.
Back in Little Seoul
"Brady Ngo is gone, he's offically been put out of order" Sunny said she stuffed the bags under her bed "Good, Mr. Park will be pleased too hear that" Joo Kwan complemented her. "Listen, what's really going on? Brady mentioned the other group that Park mentioned" Sunny patiently waited for an answer "Mr. Park believed that Ngo may had some information regarding the other group; did he say anything before he was terminated?" Joo Kwan wondered "He only mentioned that it was someone but didn't give a name, and something about Park's group being finished. Other than that, nothing" she hear's the secretary sighs over the line "Well, whoever it is, Mr. Park will take care of it" "I sure hope he does, let me know if their's anything else I can do. Bye".
Sunny hang's up; she sits on the edge of her bed. She starts too wonder about this group, Park said it was threatening to shatter the peace that he had built around the whole neighborhood. Sunny pull's out the .45 from her waistband, the thought of another group just as or more stronger than Park make's her feel on edge. What if this group could squash the whole lot of them? Could they, in a essence, snuff out Park in one fell swoop?
These were questions that she didn't the answers too.
Sunny looks the sunset through her balcony, she start's to think about this supposed new threat. Could she herself be in danger? What if they went after, not only her but worse, what if they went after Roberta? Or would they go after Linda? What would she do if they went if they went after them? Sunny quickly put's those thoughts out of her head That won't happen, I'll make sure it doesn't she told herself.
She wonder's if that egotistical grandson of Park's could involved. He did say once that his grandson may somehow be playing a role; whatever he's up to it'll eventually come to light.
This new enemy of sorts, whoever they may be, will eventually show itself and maybe they can destroy it while they still can. For now though Sunny rest's her body on the mattress. Tired from heaving these bags full of money Sunny simply want's to rest, she's made a new friend and also a new apprentice; she thought maybe they could make more money together. Sunny has the brains and Geraldine was always cool under fire, together they could do some serious work together. Things have just gotten a whole lot better.
Chapter 9 is coming soon. Rate and Review