"Senor Ronnie, I am glad that we have found common ground. I was slightly worried that you might decide to pull out of the agreement," Garcia shook the Italian mobster's hand.
Ronnie gave a bit of a grin, "I might have considered, but you stayed in Roanapur despite it being under assault. I have to admire the courage that takes. I await the grand opening."
As Ronnie walked out he was met with a stern but approving look from Ethan. The mercenary turned his gaze back over the table that the boy sat at. They had to move the negotiations to a hotel slightly outside of Roanapur, but in the end, things got done, and they got done to everyone's satisfaction.
"So, Kid, still no apprehension of working with a bunch of criminals," he said as he pushed himself off the wall with one foot.
"How could I not have, Senor Coffey. I wonder what my father would think of this deal," Garcia stood up from his seat.
Ethan shrugged, "Diego wasn't an idiot. He might have been a little naive, like most rich people are, but I think he would have understood that you are trying to make sure there is something to keep your family strong. He probably would have preferred it was anywhere else but this hellhole, but I think he would have understood. You ready to head back?"
"Si. I am. Roberta and Fabiola must be worried to death that something has happened to me without one of them being here."
"I don't think Roberta is going to be the problem there. That little chica, though, I swear she has to have a spring and key hidden in her skirt, cause she seems to be way too tightly wound. You did good though. A shame Rock couldn't be here either, he was a little evasive on what he had going on though," Ethan patted the boy on the back as they walked out of the hotel conference room.
Ronnie had been the last to leave the meeting, but it appeared he was the first one to leave the building. Chang and Balalaika were standing just outside with dissatisfied looks on their faces. Ethan had a feeling it was going to be over the state of the harbor.
"Sofiya, you looking like a bunch of soured grapes, that can't mean anything good," he said as they reached them.
"Indeed. Apparently the harbor is a complete loss. They knew what they were doing when they lit the fires," the Russian said.
Chang nodded, "Low estimates for rebuilding it are around thirty million. It would be lower but apparently there is also disposal of hazardous materials needed due to the thermite they were using to the destroy everything they could, just in case any of it decides to reignite. That isn't good for the city."
"It already isn't good given that a lot of the food is fish caught by locals. I already know that both of you have had issues given the Lagoon being out of commission. I can't imagine what it is looking like for your businesses when no one can move product by water," Ethan may not have been a master when it came to logistics, but he had worked enough jobs to know what the score was for criminal groups.
"You have that right. Even just having enough going on to tie a boat up is going to take time. Luckily the ware houses weren't down on the harbor side. We didn't hear how bad Lagoon Company came out of it," the Chinese man pulled a cigarette out, and started looking for a lighter.
"Thankfully I was anal about getting the fire suppressant system back up to snuff. The equipment that was in the boat house is gone, but most of what we had inside is salvageable. The Fucking Cannon is safe at least, and the ammo didn't cook off. That could have been bad," Ethan said as Balalaika rolled her eyes and offered Chang her lighter.
It was a somewhat unique situation. They had restricted the meeting to just the three crime bosses, Garcia, and Ethan as security. They figured the smaller group would be safer given that they usually had fairly sizable entourages.
"At least there was some luck, Mag. I do have concerns that we may see people from the National Intelligence Agency come sniffing around. They usually stay out of Roanapur, mostly so the government can say they have no clue what is going on, and have some plausible deniability. This is a hard one to ignore though," she took the lighter back and lit her own cigar.
"I'm sorry I brought this on Roanapur. I really don't understand why this asshole wants my head so bad. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me," Ethan grimaced as he looked off to the side.
"Mag, I looked into his service record. While highly decorated, he isn't necessarily very stable. He was noted as being almost a zealot in his belief that a soldier should act with the highest standard of honor and honesty. He is also the last confirmed member of his family. His wife was killed during a riot in Kazakhstan in 92. You know about his brother, sister in law, and daughter first hand. His parents both died in the 70s, though there isn't much on what they died of."
Garcia finally spoke up, "That sounds horrible. To be left the last person in..."
"Hey don't worry about it. It isn't worth worrying yourself over it, you still have a life ahead of you. His is going to last until someone has his head in cross hair. Shit like he just did, that doesn't go unpunished. You, are going to be long gone before he tries anything else. Sofiya, it might be best to finish this discussion in private later. My truck doesn't get going quite as well as y'alls cars do, so it takes a little longer to get back. You have a good one," Ethan said as he led the boy out.
Balalaika frowned, "I wish I didn't know how the kid feels. I'm all that is left of my family as well. Have you heard from your superiors yet?"
"Yeah, they are half tempted to cut their losses given that the port was the major reason they kept a presence in Roanapur. Thankfully they are invested enough that they can't afford to pull out. That suits me well enough, I hate moving. It's always a pain in the ass. Plus you get somewhere and you don't know anyone. I can't stand it," Chang said as he took a drag.
"I agree. Thankfully for me, the Thieves in Law are a little more lenient in how they handle where we operate. I have enough facilities that there isn't a horrible hit to my business, but I am going to have to make a trip to Vladivostok soon to meet with the people above me. I'm, not particularly looking forward to it," Balalaika let the smoke roll from her lips as she spoke.
"I hope everything goes well for you Fry Face, I really don't want to have to get used to a new pain in the ass. I've gotten a little to used to dealing with you," the smirk on his face was a little mischievous.
"Oh, Baby, it is nice to know that you care. I don't think that I have much to worry about from them. I'm more worried that they managed to withdraw. I didn't get to finish, but I have a fear that Bugakov has enough pull to refill his ranks. I don't think it will be fast, but I am worried that we may see him do this again withing a year or two if we don't deal with the problem."
Chang tilted his head back and groaned, "Yeah, that, really isn't something that I wanted to hear. Honestly, it scares the shit out of me, because he knows where he fucked up before, and we wont have Mr. Coffey's men the next time. We need to figure out where we went, and where he is holed up before he has time to replenish. Otherwise, it may be more than the harbor next time, if Roanapur can last that long."
"You're afraid of the same thing I am."
"Bugakov is dangerous, but not as dangerous as the people that live there when they are angered."
The old Chevrolet bounced hard on the road. Thailand wasn't that well known for superior road maintenance. Which, when the country was typically ten minutes from the next coup or constitution, they really didn't have that much time to dedicate to it. It could have also been the fact that Ethan was being too cheap to put new new shocks on the vehicle.
"Senor Coffey," Garcia said from the passenger seat.
"Yeah, Kid," Ethan slowed down to go around a rickshaw that had lost a wheel in the middle of the road.
"I haven't thanked you for keeping Roberta safe. You can't understand how much it means to me that she is, alive," the boy looked over.
Ethan had to keep his eyes on the road, which he was thankful for. Otherwise the boy might have noticed a certain glint in his eyes. Roberta and him hadn't exactly decided what they wanted to call what they had, but he wasn't sure how Garcia would take it with how close he was to the woman.
"She watched my back, as much as I watched hers. Situations like that are always a team effort. If either of us had died, both of us would have. I heard stories about her when I was working in that part of the world. Got back and forth a few times, and even heard about her disappearing. A lot of people hoped that she had crawled off somewhere and died. I'm glad she didn't. I doubt I would have gotten the chance to meet you, and have a chance to help repay your old man for helping me," he decided that it might be better to leave out that she was the reason that he even met Diego.
"Senor Coffey, when the hotel opens, would you be opposed to taking a position in security there?"
"Garcia, I really like you, but I would rather shoot myself than take another exclusive security job. The last one led to the whole brouhaha that we saw a few days ago. I appreciate the offer, but I would rather stay a freelancer until I know what is going to happen with the Lagoon. Seems a lot safer that way."
Garcia sat there for a moment, "I believe I see your point. What happened while you missing? Something seems to have changed in Roberta. She seems, happier. I'm happy for her, but, I don't want to see her hurt. That would make me, angry."
Ethan sighed. This might get awkward. How did he explain to this kid that he fell in love with the woman, and then fucked her stupid after he nearly choked her to death. Honestly, he would have a hell of a time understanding it in the same situation.
"We, got close. We kept each other safe, and we kept each other alive. We, did some bad things that you don't need to know about so you don't have trouble sleeping at night. I don't know what else to tell you."
"Did you sleep with her during it," the question at least gave him an out.
"I didn't screw her during all of that. When the fuck would we have had the time? Have you ever been hunted by half a fucking regiment of post commie assholes? It doesn't give you much time for things like that," complete and total honest, "Neither of us were really in the condition for it anyways."
"Did you want to?"
What the fuck was this kid? Ethan was hoping that the blood wasn't draining from his face. Diego may have been a bit naive, but he was really smart, and it looked like the apple just dropped down the trunk on this one. The question was how to answer it, without an obvious outright lie that wasn't going to sound convincing, because what guy could have looked at that body, and not want to.
"Uh, I really wasn't given a lot of chances to think about it. People were shooting at us," he answered, hoping that he was able to keep his face straight.
Garcia didn't say much for a few miles. It was making Ethan uncomfortable. This was worse than the time that he got stuck in the minefield in Chechnya. At least then, he knew what the consequence of stepping on a mine was.
"Did it happen after you were rescued," the kid was way too smart for his own good.
"Look, Kid, what does it matter if it did, or it didn't? What business would it be of yours," he tried not to sound irritated, so that he didn't give anything away.
"Because Roberta means a lot to me. She has been close to me since I was a toddler. Even when my family was at its lowest point, she never wavered in her devotion to us. She was willing to kill for us. I am not the same as you two are, I am not a natural born killer, but I would take a life for her if I had to. I would visit the darkest hell upon anyone that hurt her. I, love her. I just don't understand how," the boy turned his head to look out the window.
Silence filled the cab of the truck again. Ethan was really impressed with Garcia again. He hadn't been around than many kids his age, except for the time before he had ran away from home back in 1980. God it had been that long? Would he have said the same thing in his place back then.
"You know, you must have a hard time sitting down for long," Ethan chuckled.
"Senor Coffey," Garcia looked over.
"I mean you must."
The boy was still confused," What do you mean?"
"As big as your balls are, it has to be painful. I," he tried to think of anything else to say, but fuck it, the kid deserved the truth, "yeah, we did."
"You, did," Ethan couldn't catch the emotion in the boys words.
"You know about her past. Back in 82, I was running Médecins sans Frontières convoys with an older merc named Manuel Escoberas . The man was like a father to me. Taught me enough that I made it for sixteen years as a mercenary. It had to be early days for her with FARC, she was part of an ambush that knocked him out, left me injured and fleeing, and killed the frogs and other mercs," Garcia interrupted him.
"Frogs," was the boys question.
Ethan rolled his eyes, "Right, the doctors and other volunteers were French. I wouldn't recommend calling a Frenchman that to his face. Anyways, She shot Manuel twice in the chest with some shit Chinese cartridges. I saw him drop, and thought he was dead. I took a few rounds, and I ran. Ended up on your estate. I didn't realize who she was with the glasses on, but, I wanted to kill her for almost twenty years. She, had a picture of her, and Manuel, with the year he died on it, four years after that day. Look, if you want the whole thing, past that, ask her. I, don't want to color your view you have her with what I think."
"So, you did sleep with her?"
Ethan had to pull over at that one, "After all of that, your only question, was if I fucked your maid? Kid, if you are wanting details of that, not happening. I have a lot of faults. I mean I am a motherfucking mercenary. I kill people for money. I don't tend to discriminate who I kill as long as the money is good. I don't kiss and tell. I have to have some kind of line I wont cross."
"That seems like a very strange line to not cross given everything else you just said," Garcia kept a straight face as he spoke.
"Ok, Kid. I am not sure if I like you as much as I thought. Why does it matter so much to you? It is her life."
"I don't want to lose her."
Ethan shifted the truck into park, "I don't either. I haven't truly known her for very long, but she feels like a part of me that I have been missing. I don't know exactly how to explain it, and I might be totally fucking wrong, and my dick is doing all my thinking. We already talked about it though. I don't belong in the world outside of Roanapur, and she belongs with you. I wish it was different, but our worlds, they are too different."
He watched as Garcia's face seemed to drop some. He couldn't figure out what was going on behind the boys eyes, but he felt that there had to be some conflict mixed in there. He guessed that he would be in much the same place if he was confronted with the same things. He didn't know how hard it was going to be on the kid if something changed, and Roberta did decide that it was time for her to leave him.
"Senor Co-," Garcia started.
"Caleb. Call me Caleb. I don't allow a lot of people to do that. I don't really feel like that is who I am, but it was the name my mother gave me, despite what I think of her," Ethan said.
"Then, why do you want me to call you that? Who do you see yourself as?"
"You just asked a really good question. You know something, you are a pain in the fucking ass. I think you are going to make it pretty well doing business in Roanapur after all," Ethan reached over and ruffled the boys hair.