Chapter 16 Gun
SIXTEEN
GUN
I’ve heard a lot of crazy shit in my life. This one? It might just take the cake.
It takes a couple seconds for the shock to wear off and for me to even react to the bombshell Elise has just dropped.
What do you say when someone accuses your father of murder? And not just of anyone—her father.
It’s not like my father has clean hands. He’s a Four Horn Lieutenant in the Cheongryong syndicate. He didn’t rise up the ranks for his kumbaya persona. But I’ve never heard of any conflict he might’ve had with an American man by the last name of Quinn.
I shake my head, pressing the soaked paper towels to my shoulder. “That’s one hell of an accusation to drop on a man who just took a bullet for you, Goyangi. You know, most women just say thank you when I save their lives.”
Elise’s dark-eyed glare hardens. “This is the furthest thing from a joke, Rhee. Your father killed mine, and I won’t rest until he and the rest of your gang go down. Believe it. Don’t believe it. I don’t give a fuck.”
“But why?” I probe. “And when? And who was your father?”
“Jamie Quinn. Ring any bells?”
…actually no.
I’ve never heard my father mention a Jamie Quinn, and I’ve never known of the Cheongryong of targeting Americans.
When I told Father that Black Silk was a woman, I gave him the name Jamie, Elise’s alias. It was all I could bring myself to say, even after she had stormed out of my apartment. But he acted like the name meant nothing to him.
Now Elise is saying her alias name is her father’s name? The same man she believes Father killed?
“Are you sure it was the Blue Dragon? There’s the Dokkaebi Pa that has a presence in Seoul—and if he was in other cities, then it could’ve been one of the other strongholds like the Baekho or Jujakhoe—”
“It was the Cheongryong!” she snaps, teeth gritted. “I know exactly who did it, Rhee. And I know your father was doing business with mine and decided to betray him.”
“My father isn’t some saint. But usually when things go bad it’s for a reason. He’s not one to go back on deals—”
“I can’t believe this. You badger me into telling you, and then you tell me I’m wrong. I’ve heard enough. I don’t care what you have to say in defense of your father. It’s not going to stop me from doing what I have to do.”
She turns to open the bathroom door. I rush to stop her, holding down the door to keep it from opening.
“Will you just calm the hell down? I’m not saying you’re wrong,” I say. “I’m saying maybe there’s another explan—”
I drop off as my phone starts buzzing in my pocket. It chimes a second later to signal I’ve received a voice message. Then it’s buzzing again as another call comes through.
Both me and Elise go still, staring at my pocket. I fish it out with my good arm and check the Caller ID to see it’s Lieutenant Ko.
I’ve received several texts too—group messages alerting other syndicate members to the Black Silk sighting.
Black Silk sighted at Noir Norae
Currently on the loose
All Cheongryong in the area respond
The voicemail is similar. Ko’s stern voice comes on over the recording, “Yongsa Rhee, report immediately. There’s been a Black Silk sighting. She was spotted with a masked man before they escaped. You and your crew are needed to help scour the area.”
The message beeps in my ear.
“Shit,” I mutter under my breath.
Elise’s brows draw close. “What is it?”
“It’s Lieutenant Ko. They’re calling for all hands on deck,” I answer, pocketing my phone. “That means they’re not giving up anytime soon. They know you’re in the area. It’s going to take a miracle for us to make it out unseen.”
“Then don’t worry about me. I’ll go by myself. You can return to your precious syndicate and play innocent. Sound like a plan?”
She steps forward to draw the door open again, but I grab her by the wrist. Her gaze snaps to mine, and I glare back at her, no longer entertaining any hostility.
“We’re in this together, feline,” I grit out. “Whether you like it or not, we got into this situation together so that’s how it goes from here on out. We find a solution together. Got it?”
I can tell a number of different emotions pass through Elise in these few seconds. She’s half tempted to wrench her arm away and tell me to fuck off. Part of her is still pissed I questioned her motive for revenge.
But the part of her that wins out is the one telling her I’m right.
We are in this together, which means we need to get out as a team.
“Fine,” she mutters. “Then what do you suggest we do?”
“We’ve got to sneak out of this shopping mall and find a car to steal.”
She releases a solitary laugh. “Steal a car. That sounds real discreet.”
“It’s the best chance we’ve got, feline. We’ve gotten this far. Let’s see how far we can push it, yeah?” I cock a grin at her, to which her eyelashes flutter and she almost seems tempted to grin back.
Then she catches herself and instead gestures to my gunshot wound. “And your shoulder?”
“I’ll be able to hang on for now. Maybe we can steal the paper towel dispenser for the road.”
“Because they’re already doing such a great job of stopping the bleeding.” Her response is thick with sarcasm but also a thread of humor a guy like me can appreciate.
It dawns on me that’s Elise’s small way of agreeing we’re on the same team. It’s her way of indulging me if only for a second.
My grin spreads. “What can I say? Desperate times, Goyangi. But let’s get going. The longer we wait, the more opportunity we give them to narrow our location down.”
She nods and then eases the door to the family bathroom open, peeking out at the brightly lit shopping mall.
“Coast seems clear.”
We slip out of the bathroom and into the bright fluorescent glow of the shopping mall.
At first we’re trying to appear inconspicuous—or as inconspicuous as you can be when you’re soaked in blood wearing a ski mask. We don’t exactly blend in at an establishment with designer boutiques and overpriced cafés catering to Gangnam’s elite.
Two Jeokpa come up the escalator with their heads on a swivel, eyes scanning the sparse crowd. Recognition dawns on their faces as the one on the right points in our direction and scream at the top of his lungs.
“BLACK SUIT! BLACK SUIT!”
We take off running in the opposite direction. My shoulder burns with hot pain from the gunshot, but it doesn’t hinder me from sprinting toward the department store up ahead.
Behind us, gunfire cracks the air. Shoppers scream and dive for cover.
We burst through the department store entrance as more bullets target us.
The Jeokpa are right on our heels, their heavy footsteps pounding against the polished floors. We weave between perfume displays and leap over makeup counters in a desperate scramble. Expensive cosmetics fly in every direction as the soldiers fire more shots.
The sales ladies cower in tears, glass bottles of foundation exploding.
“Split up!” I shout to Elise, veering left while she goes right.
It’s a risky move, but it’ll force our pursuers to choose who to follow.
The guy who comes after me is determined and agile. He closes the gap as he chases me down to the jewelry section, his weapon trained on me.
I dive behind a counter displaying diamond necklaces just as he pulls the trigger. Instead of the expected bang, there’s only a hollow click.
Click. Click. Click.
He squeezes the trigger several times trying to figure out what’s gone wrong.
Then panic flashes across his face as he realizes he’s out of ammunition.
I surge upward from behind the counter and drive my fist into his jaw with enough force to rattle his teeth.
He staggers backward, dazed but still on his feet, so I wrap my arms around his thick neck and twist until the satisfying crack of vertebrae separating.
He drops to the ground, rendered immobile.
I’m back on the move, weaving through the rest of the department store while sales associates scream for the police.
When I reach the exit that leads back onto the street, Elise is waiting for me. Fresh blood is splattered across her once clean uniform shirt like abstract art.
I raise an eyebrow. “Looks like you had fun.”
“The guy was asking for it. Let’s go!”
We spill out onto the street where Seoul’s neon-lit nightlife shines bright even as the night grows late. I point out the taxi parked against the curb up ahead. The driver seems to be on break, probably having a smoke or grabbing a bite to eat.
“There,” I say, nodding toward the vehicle. “That’s our ride out of here. If the driver turns up, we can take his key.”
“No need,” Elise says, dashing ahead. She crosses over onto the driver side and then uses the butt of her pistol—the same one she’d almost used to kill Appa—to smash open the window.
Other pedestrians on the street freeze, taking notice of the carjacking happening before their eyes.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I ask. “We’re supposed to be discreet, remember?”
“This is discreet! Give me thirty seconds. I’ll have this car hotwired and ready to go.”
Elise keeps true to her word.
As I stand guard over the taxi, she slips into the driver’s seat and proceeds to hotwire the car with impressive skill.
It’d turn me on if we were not running for our lives and being hunted by the Cheongryong.
“C’mon!” she calls as the engine bumbles to life. “Get in!”
I wrench open the passenger door at the same time the driver finally returns and starts running toward us with his fist in the air. He shrinks into the background once Elise guns it and the taxi surges forward into traffic.
A couple times we pass an SUV going the opposite way, and though it’s hard to tell from the tinted windows, if I had to guess, I’d say it’s more Jeokpa’s searching for us.
“I should’ve known you could do that,” I say from the passenger seat.
Elise glances at me, hands on the wheel. “What, hotwire cars? You don’t know half of what I can do, Rhee.”
“Why don’t you show me, feline? We can turn it into foreplay.”
She merely scowls in answer to my flirtation.