Chapter 10 - Elise
TEN
ELISE
Shit.
So much for keeping a low profile. My ribs throb more in protest as I try to push myself up. The asshole who’s accosted me looks vaguely familiar the more I peer up at him—thick brows, crew cut, naturally pinched face like he’s been sucking on a lemon.
Big and bulky.
He was there the other night at the Cheongryong dinner when I tried to take out Lieutenant Im. As a Jeokpa himself, he likely watched one of his comrades go down in his place.
…and he decided he wasn’t about to let that fly.
He was going to track down the elusive Black Silk himself.
But as I glare up at him and he glares down at me, one thing is clear: his intentions are unmistakably sinister.
This is no cat-and-mouse play like what me and Gun have engaged in. This is violent and lethal on a whole new level.
This man wants me dead. He wants to tear me apart limb from limb.
I’m not exactly in the best shape to defend myself. Not after the fight I’ve just come off of with Gun.
But what other choice do I have?
I rack my brain for potential strategies, landing on one of the most basic ones there is—keep him talking.
“Wow, you really thought I was a man this whole time? No wonder I’ve been running circles around you idiots,” I grunt, rising up on a knee. “Maybe next time I’ll wear more pink.”
His brow furrows as if confused, then he says, “You talk a big game. But you’ve let a Jeokpa track you down. Only a feeble woman doing a man’s job would make that kind of blunder. Get up and let me knock you down again. On the ground where you belong.”
“You did just ambush me. Do you usually need a head start when picking on women, or am I just special?”
He bares more of his teeth and then pulls his fist back to swing. I’ve barely struggled to my feet when I’m forced to act quick and duck his flying fist.
I follow up with a forceful kick to his side, my boot connecting with the solid wall of his ribs. He stumbles back a couple steps with a grunt of surprise.
But it only stalls him for a second before he’s recovered and rushing at me.
The fight becomes a deadly routine of ducking and weaving as he throws punch after devastating punch, each one carrying enough force to cave in my skull if it connects.
I duck and dive around his swings, just trying to stay out of reach, but my body feels slower the longer the fight drags on.
Every muscle in my body aches from my earlier encounter with Gun. No part of me worse than my tender ribs that throb so intensely, it’s almost too much.
Even for me.
He swings again, a haymaker that would have taken my head off if I hadn’t spun out of the way at the last possible moment.
His fist crashes into the brick wall behind me with a sickening crunch—knuckles splitting open, blood spraying across the grimy surface—but he doesn’t seem to register the pain.
I use his momentary distraction to grab a knife from my belt and whip it at his center mass. He manages to twist away and dodge the blade.
It clatters to the wet alley floor, too far away to be of any more use.
The Jeokpa asshole charges at me like a bull rushing a matador.
This time when I try to dodge, my body betrays me. My legs are too slow, my reflexes sluggish from exhaustion and pain.
He scoops me up in his brawny arms like I weigh five pounds and hurls me to the pavement.
The impact drives what little air I have left from my lungs. Before I can even attempt to roll away, his boot connects with my ribs once, twice, three times in rapid succession. Then he moves onto my head, dealing me a harsh blow to the back of it.
Each kick sends shockwaves of agony rippling through me until I’m gasping for air, vision blurring and consciousness suddenly slipping away.
Through the haze of pain, I manage to fumble with my watch, fingers shaking as I try to activate the emergency button that’ll alert KD.
I’ve never been so desperate. I’ve never called for help before, but if I want to see another day… I have to.
For once in my life, I have to rely on somebody else—
“Look at you now, you silly little bitch,” he snarls with a cruel laugh. He stands over me like it gives him great pleasure to see me floundering on the ground, then his hand tangles in my braids. His grip is rough, designed to inflict more pain.
This time on my scalp.
He flips me over onto my back. I don’t even have a chance to hold up my arms in defense. His bloodied fist rains down, and I’m out like a light.
My head pounds like a jackhammer as I slowly come to.
Everything hurts—ribs, skull, even my legs ache—and when I try to move forward, metal bites into my wrists. The fog in my vision gradually clears, revealing rusted chains binding me to a wooden chair in what looks like an abandoned warehouse, all dust and shadows and the smell of mold.
“Finally awake, are we?”
The meathead Jeokpa steps into view. The mere sight of him makes my skin crawl.
His grin reveals teeth stained by years of cigarette usage, though he doesn’t seem to care. He seems to take pride in his nasty, yellow-toothed grin, malice rolling off him in waves.
“I was starting to think I hit you too hard,” he jokes darkly. “I’m a boxer, and my fists are lethal. You still don’t know me? Nam Gi-tae.”
I glare at him like I don’t give a fuck—and I don’t.
My brain processes thoughts slower than usual, but I’m already plotting what angle I can work to get myself out of this situation.
“I was there when you shot my friend. Remember? The Jeokpa who got in your way when you were trying to kill Lieutenant Im?” He hefts a rusted pipe off the floor, testing its weight in his other hand.
“Now I’m going to kill you myself and take all the glory for bringing down Black Silk.
I’m going to make this pure hell for you. ”
I open my mouth to speak but taste only blood. I spit it onto the concrete floor and force my racing heartbeat to ease up. I need to be calm if I’m going to talk my way out of this.
“It was an accident,” I say hoarsely. “I didn’t mean to kill him. He got in the way of my target.”
“I don’t give a fuck!” Gi-tae screams, his face twisting with rage. He beats the pipe against his opposite palm, making his intention clear. “What’s done is done, and now you’re going to pay for it.”
“You’re wrong if you think you’ll get glory for this,” I say hurriedly. “Your bosses will want me alive. They won’t like that you killed me—and besides, how will you prove I’m Black Silk if I’m already dead? You think they’ll take your word for it that Black Silk is really a woman?”
His brow furrows as he processes this, confusion flickering across his brutish features.
“I’m worth more alive,” I press. “Take me to the Cheongryong. Reclaim your glory that way.”
For a moment he seems to consider it. Hope flickers in my heart that maybe I can find a way to escape during transport. I’ll wait ’til he’s distracted and then do my best to make an escape.
But then he chuckles like the oaf he is.
“Do you think I’m stupid?”
“You really don’t want my honest opinion.”
He growls and raises the rusted pipe like he’s about to cave my skull in. I turn my head to brace for the blow, readying myself to have my head bashed in.
His rage fades slightly for the sickening grin that returns to his face. “Actually, I know exactly how I can get my revenge for my friend and keep you alive for my bosses.”
I tug at the chains binding me, the calm front I’ve put up vanishing by the second.
He steps toward me and roughly grabs my face. His dirty thumb drags across my bottom lip as he peers down at me with an amusement that tells me I’m not in on the joke.
I am the joke.
“Even bloodied and bruised, you’re a sexy lady. I know how to make a woman like you cry, even when she acts so tough.”
Dread spreads through me as I meet his dark eyes and realize he’s not going to be talked out of this. I’m not going to magically maneuver my way out of these chains.
His oafish hand drifts from my face to my throat, then lower to fist the nylon fabric of my shirt like he’s about to tear it open.
“I want to see you beg me, Black Silk,” he says with a callous laugh. “I want to make sure you know your place—”
“I wouldn’t touch her if I were you,” comes a familiar cool voice out of nowhere.