Smoke and Shadow (16 page)

“
What
’
s up
bitches?
”

“
Did this guy
really stop to buy fruit on his way over here?
”
Trent stepped up to Chu and the two
men fell into an embrace reserved for family and fierce friends.
Chu took a moment to enjoy the reunion, but he still shot a quick
glance over at Baker to try and figure out what was on his
mind.

“
You
know,
”
Baker said
stealing a peak at his phone while the two men parted
“
if you guys really
missed each other so much, you could have met up. You
don
’
t need me to
play match maker.
”

Chu answered
Baker
’
s question
by talking to Trent.
“
I thought you were still recovering from your shit show
uptown. How are you feeling?
”

“
Better than the
last time you saw me.
”

“
The last time I
saw you, your leg was broken and you were bleeding all over my
car.
”

“
So this is an
improvement, right?
”

Chu
laughed.
“
Not much. You
’
re still pretty fucking ugly.
”

The collective
chuckle from Chu
’
s
jibe hadn
’
t died
away before he turned to Baker and got down to business.
“
You
didn
’
t tell me you
were getting the band back together. Is Silence gonna join us
too?
”

“
No.
I
’
ve got him
working on another assignment down in Miami. I need you two to help
me with something else.
”
=

“
How much are
you paying?
”
Chu
tried to sound like he was joking, even though he
wasn
’
t.

“
So
predictable
…”
Baker sighed as he leaned back against the washing machines
to take pressure off his leg.
“
I
’
ll cover your per diem, expenses,
equipment and training. You don
’
t have to worry about any of
that.
”

“
Training? Since
when do we need training?
”
Trent
’
s question echoed the one forming in Chu
’
s head and probably showed on his
face.

“
I know you boys
think you
’
re hot
shit, but you haven
’
t done tactical maneuvers together in more than a year.
You
’
re gonna need
to shake the rust off for this one.
”

“
What
’
s the
job?
”
Chu heard
the doubt in his own voice. The rumblings in his stomach on the way
here began again with a more insistent rhythm.

Baker shrugged
his shoulders to make his words feel trivial.
“
It
’
s trash removal.
We
’
ve got a two
week window for prep and execution.
”

“
You
’
ve got a
roster full of operators at RSVP. Why can
’
t you send one of your teams to do
it?
”

“
This
isn
’
t an official
op. We can
’
t have
it on the books even as a discretionary line
item.
”

Chu knew the
answer before he asked the question, but he wanted all the cards
out on the table.
“
Who
’
s the
target?
”

“
It
’
s a group
of snakeheads in a Chinatown tenement. There running a brothel full
of sex slaves with sixteen to twenty five prisoners in total aged
between twelve and twenty. All lesser attempts at removing the
opposition and safely extracting the women trapped inside have
failed. I need the building infiltrated, the opposition removed and
extraction from the site with a minimum amount of public
disturbance.
”

Trent
’
s grim
chuckle gave bass to the long treble of Chu
’
s sigh.
“
So you need this off the
books because the potential blowback could be monumental if this
thing goes sideways?
”

“
Correct.
”

“
There
’
s a
lot of ways something could go wrong, Ghost.
”
Again Trent gave voice to
Chu
’
s
unease.
“
Innocents
in the line of fire, uncertainty of the terrain, the likely police
response
…
plus we
’
re
sure to wind up on surveillance cameras and God knows how many
iPhones. There
’
s a
lot of moving parts.
”

“
Maybe,
”
Baker had no doubt in his voice.
“
But you just pulled off a similar
job uptown by yourself...
”

“
And it was a
shit show. Trent got himself shot and broke his leg. The cops
showed up, the whole thing turned into a blood bath and he was only
after one target.
”
Chu shook his head and tossed his fruit onto a dryer.
“
You
’
re talking about going into a denser
neighborhood to take out more targets and only adding one more
operator. Forget a lot of moving parts. This is just fucking
stupid.
”

Baker shook his
head like a disappointed school teacher.
“
Gentlemen, we have snatched high
value targets from nests of insurgents with an
hour
’
s prep time
in broad daylight. We have taken out terrorist cells in crowded
bazaars with zero civilian casualties. This job is not easy, but it
is not beyond your skill set or above your pay grade. Our client
needs a surgical solution to this problem and we can provide
it.
”

Chu rubbed his
eyes and continued to shake his head.
“
You
can
’
t just blow
smoke up our ass and expect us to do something that
can
’
t be done. We
can
’
t just run in
some spot and kill a group of shooters
”

Baker
shrugged.
“
It
’
s hard to
know what can
’
t be
done, isn
’
t it. I
mean, who knew you could kill two dudes in an airport parking lot
and get away without anyone seeing you?
”

“
That was in
spontaneous defense of a principal. This is premeditated
murder.
”

“
And who knew you could cripple a
potential asset right under the nose of his surveillance team on a
heavily populated Brooklyn street?

“
That was
different
…”

“
Really? Tell me
how it was different, Smoke.
”

“
Shit.
”
Chu
focused so much on his objections to this mission he confirmed
suspicions Baker already had about his deception in the Erich Maas
job. He decided to stop talking before he got himself into any more
trouble.

Trent still had
the ability to push back.
“
Is this kind of trash removal
necessary? Can
’
t
we just expose them to the police or the press and let the system
take care of these guys?
”

Baker pursed his
lips as if the question insulted him.
“
Unfortunately, this particular group
of slavers has enough political influence to keep the police and DA
off the case. Exposure in the press will only force them to change
location. It won
’
t solve the real problem. If we don
’
t go in then nobody goes in and
women will remain there to be raped until they die and replaced
with other victims.
”

Trent gave a
single dismissive nod.
“
I figured you
’
d say something like that. OK. I
’
m in.
”

Baker returned
Trent
’
s
affirmation like he expected nothing less. He turned to Chu with a
similar confidence in his eye.
“
Answer the call Smoke. Are you in or
out?
”

Chu thought back
to the choice of neighborhood, the references to Nightwatch and the
overall flow of the conversation. Baker had answers for every
opposing viewpoint and strategies to cover any resistance. He knew
exactly how this would go. Chu knew he could refuse, but he knew
Trent would go in alone. He
’
d just recovered from a similar job.
Chu couldn
’
t let
him go into this alone and Baker knew it. The outcome of this
meeting was never in doubt. All Chu could do now was offer some
token resistance to preserve the illusion of
independence.

“
We have to do
some initial recon before we agree. We need to know what
we
’
re getting
into.
”

Baker raised his
free hand in affirmation.
“
I expect nothing less.
We
’
ve got two
weeks to make this happen. You can spend the next seventy two hours
getting familiar with the target.
”

“
And we get our per diem plus?
”

“
You get your
per diem, plus expenses, equipment and training; all top of the
line and state of the art. No worries there.
”

“
And we
’
ll
get full RSVP support?
”

“
I
’
ll provide
logistics, plus necessary medical and legal, although
we
’
ll have to work
under the cover of a legitimate op.
”

“
Whatever. I
just want to make sure we
’
re covered.
”

“
You
’
re
covered. No worries.
”

Trent clapped his
hands and rubbed them together.
“
Well all righty then.
Let
’
s
get started
…”

Baker began
laying out the details of the target building. Chu tossed his
pomegranates into the trash. He knew he wouldn
’
t be relaxing at home any time
soon.

Target analysis started with a
thoughtful historical review and ended with Chu throwing
things.

Chu and Trent
spent the first couple of days reviewing Baker
’
s files on the target group so they
could understand the origins of the shetou, or snakeheads, in New
York. They read about the rise of an immigrant named Sister Ping
who rose from a little old lady with a knick knack store on Hester
Street to the head of an international smuggling operation making
nearly forty million dollars. They found out about her on again off
again conflict with the upstart Ah Kay of the Fuk Ching gang and
her eventual imprisonment in connection with the sinking of the
Golden Venture. By the time they turned their attention to the Fuk
Ching as successors to Sister Ping, they had a good grasp of the
background and the players of New York
’
s snakehead
community.