Tales from Roanapur
Chapter 22
Of course, with everything else going on business continued as usual.
Or as usual as it GOT for the Lagoon Company.
"SON OF A BITCH!" Revy yelled as the boat took fire.
"Eeep," Rock ducked.
This was SUPPOSED to be a regular pick up and transport job. Instead some bastard tried to intercept them on the way back, possibly gunning for their passenger.
"Keep down, we'll try to out run them," Dutch said from the bridge.
The white-blonde passenger beamed as she asked the two of them, "Do you think they're after me? How exciting!"
"Miss Hekmatyar! Stay down bellow," Rock tried to order her.
"Miss Koko won't do that," the tall, black haired bodyguard noted. Valmet had been shadowing Koko closely through the entire trip.
The boat rocked as Dutch wrenched the boat into a hard turn, sending Koko falling into Valmet.
Koko seized the chance to cop a feel, "Nice!"
"Miss Koko!" Valmet gasped.
"Da fuq?" Revy grunted.
"Err...," Rock looked unconfortable.
"It's just skinship between women," Koko justified herself as Vamet blushed.
"DUTCH!" Revy yelled, "They're getting closer!"
"Shit," Dutch cursed as they fired on them again.
Rock ducked, bullets whizzing by.
"Hold us steady," Revy yelled as she pulled out a rifle.
"Oh ho," Koko murmured as she saw Revy casually take up an almost perfect firing stance, while bracing herself on the railing.
"These people look like they know what they're doing," Valmet softly agreed as Revy fired into the pursuing boat.
The bullets punched through the front windscreen, which was not armoured. There was also a visible flash of red, indicating she'd hit SOMEONE. The chasing boat swerved uncontrollably, even as Dutch accelerated away.
"Everyone okay?" Benny yelled from bellow.
"Looks like it," Rock agreed, glad to see Revy and their two passengers were fine.
"Let's get to Roanapur before anything else happens," Dutch growled.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Thank you for seeing me!" Koko bowed.
"Tea? Coffee?" Eda asked flatly as Koko say, Valmet by her side.
"Thank you, but no," Koko said warmly.
After taking a sip of her tea, Sister Yolanda gave her a flat look, "Tell me why we shouldn't kill you where you stand."
Valmet tensed, but Koko put a calming hand on her arm.
"I completely understand you being concerned with H & C Logistics Inc moving into this region, but our business model is the exact opposite of yours," Koko explained.
"Oh?" Yolanda drawled.
Koko leaned forward, "HCLI deals in volume, unlike your operation. We almost certainly will not be in competition, and we would be willing to work with you as a middleman."
"I STILL want to shoot them," Eda noted.
Koko still smiled cheerfully as she met Yolanda's eyes.
"If I had you shot, your brother Kaspar and your family would move against us, I expect?" Yolanda noted.
"Probably not my brother, but otherwise yes," Koko admitted cheerfully. "It'd get messy."
"Hmph," Yolanda nodded. "Very well. I would advise you to keep your activities covert.. there are players around this region who might be unhappy having you around."
"Like the Thai government," Koko agreed, "I'm aware. And we'll be careful."
"Well, I can't say it's been a pleasure," Yolanda sighed.
"Thank you for your time," Koko beamed as they left the church.
The two women headed out to the waiting car as Valmet asked, "Where to next, Miss Koko?"
Koko got in the passenger side "Miss Balalaika."
"Right," Valmet nodded.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"THAT WAS TERRIFYING."
"I know!"
Tanya Degurechaff looked up as Visha escorted the two women inside. "Koko, I see you made it," she smiled wryly.
"Tanya! You didn't tell me the city was run by such a scary woman!" Koko said cheerfully.
"You saw Balalaika?" Visha noted. "Yes, she's terrifying."
"But hot," Koko added.
Everyone just stopped and looked at her.
"What?" Koko said. "She IS. She could grab me by the throat and make me call her 'Mommy'."
"I did NOT need that mental image," Tanya groaned.
Valmet also looked disturbed.
"Where's Erya?" Koko asked warmly.
"She'll be here soon," Tanya noted, "she's digging into who tried to frame us for the death of a local crime boss."
"I see," Koko said. "Well, Rerugen sent me with some info, along with my other errands."
HCLI was not directly affiliated with the German mod, but she and her brother knew people, and Rerugen himself was a friend of the family. So when he heard she was coming out there, he asked her for a favor...
"What does he know?" Visha asked eagerly.
"We know who's behind the attacks," Koko started.
"El Tiger," Erya noted as she walked in.
"You know?" Koko actually pouted.
"We only found out recently ourselves," Erya admitted.
"Do you know why, too?" Koko asked, still pouting.
Visha looked amused, "Please, tell us."
Koko nodded wryly, "Both Rerugen and my family's contacts have verified it's a mid level official in the Thai government. Playuth Thraskin, officially a trade deligate, unofficially the guy overseeing semi-legal trade for his bosses."
"We pay him off, I think," Tanya scowled. "Does he want a bigger slice of the pie?"
"Or the whole pie, via intimidation and force," Valmet offered.
"He thinks he can intimidate Hotel Moscow?" Tanya asked wryly.
"Never said he was bright," Koko noted. She added, "But as he's a government official, it complicates things."
Tanya and Visha exchanged a glance. "Not... really," Visha mused.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Playuth Thraskin scowled as the older man stomped into his Bombay office two days later.
'They actually dared accuse ME?!\ he thought indignantly.
The companies associated with Hotel Moscow and the Gderman faction had publically accused him of robbery, assault and other crimes. As did HCLI , who were a powerful enough company that certain people took notice.
'Damn them!' Thraskin thought angrily.
He was PROBABLY safe, his superiors were fully behind him, but this would be bad politically. The opposition party was certain to seize upon it, and it might hit the news too.
Thraskin scowled. 'They'll pay for this,' he decided. They would keep intercepting smuggled shipments until they gave up!
"Your tea, sir," his secretary entered.
"Thank you," Thraskin nodded. "Take a memo. WE need to order the military to increase patrols, we need to stop smuggling overland."
"Yes sir. I..." she started.
Thraskin saw a glint of something outside. From the rooftop?
BOOM!
The bullet punched through the window and splattered his brains all over the wall, then a second shot took him in the chest. The secretary ran from the office, screaming.
No one found the sniper, nor did anyone claimn responsibility, but the Thai government got the message loud and clear. Fuck with Roanapur, get a bullet.
To be continued...
Notes: Yes that's Koko Hekmatyar and Valmet from Jormungand. I've always liked the series... the timelines don't exactly line up, so I'm MOSTLY ignoring that.