Last Mission

The driver squinted as he drove up the hill. The sun was in his eyes when he spotted the lone skinny silhouette. He wondered where Fatty was.

"Where's the fat boy?" He asked in Mandarin, looking down and avoiding the sun.

The reply was in accented Mandarin and in a female voice. "He and Skinny are both dead. Follow my instructions carefully or you join them. I will bury you myself."

"I'm just an independent contractor. I'm not a Green Dragon employee. Please spare my life. I have five kids and a lovely wife." The words galloped up of his mouth in record speed.

"Where were you planning to take Fatty and Skinny?"

"To Johnny's best nightclub, where he is celebrating with an American."

"Do you know where I can get some club wear at this hour?"

"Yes, I have a friend who is the supervisor of a garment factory. The factory runs 24 hours. I will call him now."

"Put him on speakerphone so I can hear everything." Susan ordered.

Considering the sudden change, the driver adapted quickly to the new environment and operated so smoothly Susan would usually make a mental note to use him the next time. But this was a last mission and she would be retired or dead in a few hours.

*****

"What's taking Fatty and Skinny so long to join us?" Johnny wondered aloud to Paul. They had been drinking the entire night and expected the two bodyguards to join them in the morning.

"She's an attractive woman. They're probably fucking her brains out before burying her." Paul hoped Johnny did not detect that his voice was unnatural and filled with a tad of regret.

"I don't think so. I gave them strict instructions to stick to the job. As you know, Chinese men are more disciplined that you Americans. They wouldn't dare to screw around with my instructions, no pun intended."

"Yes, I'm sure you're right about that." Paul was surrounded by two of Johnny's best girls, one a Russian brunette and the other a tall Chinese girl from the northern province of Liaoning.

Johnny himself sat alone. He did not have any interest in his own products. "You know, Paul, I would be honored if you would be my partner in Green Dragon. After losing Don in New York, we're weak and the other gangs have moved into our turf. I know you have the smarts to not only run New York, but eventually the entire USA as well."

Paul was genuinely surprised the supreme leader thought so highly of him. "I'm flattered, Johnny," Paul stopped caressing the Russian and looked Johnny in the eye. "Make me an offer I would find impossible to refuse."

Johnny leaned forward, "That's what I like about you, the no nonsense approach."

"No point beating around the bush. Might as well name the number and let the negotiations begin." Paul's hands were no longer touching either woman. His arms folded across his hairy chest as he switched to business mode.

"You're one heck of an impatient man. Let me go to the restroom and then we'll talk specifics." Johnny got up to leave the large room with thick carpets.

Johnny was barely two steps out of the room when Paul hurriedly fished out his phone. He punched in a four letters into his phone—"soon."

The entrance to the men's room was angled in an L-shape way, so there was no need for a door to separate it from the rest of the nightclub. Upon entering, a patron would see a row of urinals on his left and another row of cubicles on his right.

Johnny went to the urinals. He took a deep breath and rehearsed aloud his opening offer to Paul. It was his usual way of getting ready. Since law school, Johnny had used the same bathroom routine to calm down for a big moment. He thought of every important speech as if it was an opening statement in a criminal trial.

"Paul, I do not want to insult your intelligence," Johnny rehearsed. "How about starting with a base salary of one million, with incentive payments based on the cash flows you generate in New York?"

Unnoticed by Johnny, a woman tiptoed out of one of the cubicles. They could not see each other because of the wall separating the urinals from the cubicles. She wore a black tube top, denim skinny jeans, and converse shoes. Her blonde hair was in a ponytail.

Johnny was holding his dick with one hand and his pants with another. She was barely one step from him before he caught her reflection off the shiny metal of the urinal. Instantly, he recognized Susan, but it was too late. By the time he reacted, she was behind him pulling hard at the wires around his neck.

Johnny tried to elbow Susan, but did not connect. His next move was more successful. He kicked back against Susan until they both crashed into the mirrored wall. Broken glass penetrated her bare shoulders, but she held on firmly to the wire. She tripped his legs and he fell headlong. She was on top of him, with her knee between his shoulder blades.

Johnny knew he had to buy time until someone in the club started to look for him. Choking through the wire, he hollered, "Susan, tell me who paid you to do this?"

Susan relaxed her grip just enough to let him breathe, prolonging the agony. "Johnny, this one is personal. Nobody paid me." Then she tightened the noose again.

"But I've never done anything against you." Johnny declared in his dying breath.

Johnny's face was turning blue. She eased the pressure a little to let some color come back to his face. It was important for her to seek closure.

"Do you remember what you did the summer before your law school?"

Flashes of memory shot through Johnny's dying brain. "I was back in Shenzhen, carrying out my first kill with my father."

"That's right. Even though you're his son, you have to make the bones like everyone else in Green Dragon." Susan tightened the noose again. She enjoyed seeing the changing colors on his face. "Remember who you killed?"

"A missionary couple. What's that got to do with you?"

"They're my parents."

Paul left the nightclub after texting Susan. It was their agreement that they would never see each other again. He went back to the States and killed all the remaining chiefs of the Green Dragon. Then he sent word that the foot soldiers could either join him, or join their previous bosses. Most of them opted to join Paul.

The Chinese side of the gang became extinct. Without Johnny Chan at the helm, the gang quickly lost its credibility and disintegrated. Other gangs moved in and continued the lucrative business of human trafficking and the sex trade.

Without the Chinese connection, Paul deftly transformed Green Dragon into a loansharking operation. With the weak economy, his timing could not have been better. Business boomed and made Paul one of the most feared criminal entrepreneurs in the underground economy. He no longer had to kill, because he had hundreds of men willing to do it for him.

Susan retired to an upscale suburb in Australia. She invested in rental properties along the vacation beach fronts in Queensland. Aussie dudes found the Yankee gal tough in business, yet generous in bed. Nobody asked the gorgeous brunette about her past, which was exactly the way she wanted it.

THE END