Epilogue: Lessons Learned and Forgotten

"Are you ready?" asked Rock.

Revy nodded.

Rock paused at the door, "Revy... last night... you were dreaming again. It wasn't good. Do you need to talk?"

Revy interrupted him sharply, "A person don't change just because you find out more about them. All static baby. Forget it."

Revy stormed down the hallway dismissing any rejoinder with a flick of the wrist. Rock and his talk. She never was sure whether she wanted to either fuck his brains out, or shoot him. Whether she would cry afterwards was anyone's call.

Her hand slipped into her pocket and found the pills...

--

"Where's the money?" asked Niken. She had been waiting at the entrance of Hat Yai hospital for several hours. Parang moved slowly, underneath the shirt his midsection was heavily bandaged.

Parang sized up the girl warily. The red scar with the stitches across the cheek gave Niken a hard, nasty look.

"I gave almost all of it to the shelter," he said. "It's what Gaavrila wanted. The younger kids will be taken care of and a whole lot more."

"That was stupid," she snapped and lit up a cigarette. He stared. "Good thing I lifted some for myself when I had the chance. And we were stupid running about doing the cripple's business. Fuck, we almost got killed."

Parang looked away. "I'm leaving. Going home, catching a ferry out of here. I've had enough of Thailand."

A sly look crept across Niken's face. "Not me. Roanapur's where I belong, I'm going back tomorrow, told some trucker I'd keep him happy if he drives me back up. And look what I got now."

From the new purse dangling at her hip she proudly gave him a glimpse of the concealed pistol.

"Merciful Buddha," Parang shook his head. There was nothing else to say. He limped down the front steps.

--

It was early morning. The coffin was borne on the shoulders of hard faced men. Boris and Yevgeny in the lead position, moving with a slow military precision towards the open grave. The Russians had shown up en masse and stood in ordered ranks in the small foreigner's cemetery. The crew of the Black Lagoon had been ordered in no uncertain terms to make an appearance and to dress appropriately. Dutch stood by Balalaika's side looking as if he always wore a suit and tie.

"I told Kazakhova long ago at her father's funeral that she would find this city to be unforgiving and merciless," said Balalaika. "She was told to go home. And now, we put her in foreign mud beside the father. He was a comrade of ours, so here we stand."

"Not all of the men are satisfied," continued Balalaika "Some feel that Two-hands is responsible for the death of the girl. It is strange; in life they would cross the street or turned back in a panic – men who've been tried and tested in the hell of the Panjshir - anything to avoid Kazakhova if they saw her on the street spouting her silly gibberish – in death, she has become something untouchable and pure. Now they will do anything to avenge her. There are rumors and bad feelings that cannot be dispelled by the passage of time and the fading of memory."

Dutch nodded, his eyes shielded behind the sunglasses. "Our presence here is necessary. I understand."

"But I'm very satisfied," said Balalaika with a note of triumph. "One of my men found Kazakhova's diary in the warehouse, undetected by the police. Do you know what that little cripple was up to all this time? She was using her private army of street kids to spy on us all. She was planning to give up all her notes to some American journalist. Rip this city wide open. Bozhe moi!"

Dutch sighed.

Balalaika blinked slowly. "How many partners have you had over the years, Dutchie?"

A pause. "A few," said Dutch, his voice dropping as he considered the implication of the question.

Balalaika glanced over at the crew of the Black Lagoon, they stood to the side and separate of the ordered ranks, out of earshot. Benny, miserable and already perspiring in a too heavy plaid sports jacket. Rock, looking earnestly about. Two-hands: she stood between the two men. Dressed in black with white gloves with a bored expression held at bay.

"The leash on that dog needs to be kept tight, very tight," said Balalaika. "I found her attitude in Japan very troubling – she forgets her place. She is a hired gun, nothing more. Two-hands is fortunate I didn't order my men to shoot to kill during the affair with the Bloodhound. She's become a topic of discussion between Chang and I, mostly as to whether she's outlived her usefulness. She attracts trouble like some women attract men, always the wrong type. If not for Chang's insistence, her time would have been up long ago."

"I disagree," said Dutch heatedly in a rare display of emotion. "I am responsible for my people."

"If you had said anything else," said Balalaika. "our debt to you would have been no more. I do not compromise, Dutchie. If not for the current political situation in Bangkok, we would not have been able to cover up this massacre. A price must be paid in blood. It will not be Two-hands... this time. I have Chang's word the matter will be taken care of"

Gaavrila's coffin was lowered into the grave.

"A saint sent off by sinners," Dutch adjusted the frames of his glasses. "Ironic isn't it?"

"Nothing but a dead fool," snapped Balalaika. "She trusted in God. He was not there."

"But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them." - Wisdom 2.22 - 3.5,9

--

Lee Kwan walked briskly through the floor level of the building with a scowl. He was leaving Roanapur. Several days after the hunt for the children and the Cleaner, Boss Chang had given him a call out of the blue. The conversation was short and direct. Chang was going to come back to his helm in the city and Lee Kwan would be politely escorted back to Hong Kong. The Red Poles were dead, that idiotic foreigner vanished into thin air, and the 100K missing. A trifle of an amount, but he had lost face.

He slammed the doors open and his scowl transformed into a cocky smirk as he walked away from the building. Well, at least Mr. Chang hadn't caught wind of the hunt he had organized. That was evident from the black stretch limousine that had been provided for his exit out of the city. There was a man dressed in a chauffeur's uniform waiting by the limousine.

"Greetings, Boss Lee Kwan," the male said coolly, slightly tilting the tip of his hat downwards, "I shall be your chauffeur this evening."

The Wo Triad boss curled his lip upon taking a closer look at the man. Silver hair, multiple piercings in both ears, rings on his fingers, and he was wearing sunglasses at night no less. This gigolo was going to be his chauffeur? Lee Kwan scoffed. It seemed all the stories he had heard about Mr. Chang's odd sense of humor were true.

"Mr. Chang wished to inform you that you'll be accompanied by two women. He hopes you will... enjoy their company." He opened the car door and gestured for Lee Kwan to get in. "They are waiting for you."

With a smug look, Lee Kwan got into the limo. The silver haired man shut the door and walked around the long vehicle. He swiftly, fluidly got into the driver's seat, fastening his seatbelt and adjusting the mirror. The privacy divider was up.

"A wretched brute who would dare to attack helpless waifs and cause a pale maiden such misery," Rotton said to no one in particular, turning the key in the ignition and putting the limo in drive, "The price for concocting such a revolting event will be paid with your blood."

As the limo began to cruise through the streets, Lee Kwan reclined and grinned. The neon lights from the clubs and bars barely illuminated the interior of the vehicle, all he could make out in the darkness were the outlines of two feminine figures sitting a considerable distance across from him in the stretch limo. He curled his finger in a come hither motion.

"Come here, don't be so shy," he barked.

"Cannot help if we not come over so quickly," said a high-pitched voice in a broken pattern, "Better to know you first, yes? I hear you boss of Wo Triad. Must have been hard to get to such high position..." Lee Kwan's grin grew. He wouldn't mind a little conversation beforehand if the women were going to stroke his ego.

"It wasn't very difficult. It took nothing more than killing those who stood in my path."

"You kill anyone you think stand in your way to get to top?" The words sounded more like a statement than a question. "You wanted to be leader that badly?" She stretched out her long legs closer to the center of the limousine, an area with slightly better lighting. He could see the flawless skin in the dim light through the tinted windows.

"Only the strongest survive in this world," boasted Lee Kwan, stretching his arms out on either side of him and resting them on the top of the leather seat, "But I rarely ever need to get my hands dirty anymore. I can dispatch underlings at will if I need something done." That should impress the woman.

"Ah, I see. You want to kill someone, all you do is snap fingers and they go out and work. To do such thing in city like this, must be so powerful..." The woman's voice was smooth, seductive. Lee Kwan licked his lips, thinking the woman and her silent companion were finally going to come over and show more than a simple outline of their bodies.

"...or very stupid." The sultry tone had left and was replaced with venom. The legs were pulled back out of Lee Kwan's view. Two khukri blades flew out of the darkness, skewering his hands and pinning them to the seat. His scream of pain was stillborn as the flash of red, gold and white rushed towards him out of the shadows on the other side of the limo. Lee Kwan now realized the woman was one of the freelancers, Shenhua. Her eyes staring into his, Shenhua gripped the handles of her khukri knives and dug them deeper into his hands.

"Send out men to kill street kids in this city, and think can get away with it. Yes, you stupid. Very stupid." She pressed the blades with a disgusted frown.

"Was out of town working on other job. When I come back, I find out what happen. Chang da ge know all about what you did too."

Lee Kwan's eyes bulged. What? This bitch and Boss Chang knew? How in the hell did they find out?

"Motherfucker who murder children for money, I have no problem following order to kill you. I normally make death quick, but knowing you also go after friend..." She twisted the twin khukri. Lee Kwan cried out, a blotch of urine emerging on the front of his pants. "It personal." Shenhua left her khukri in Lee Kwan's hands and moved away. She turned with a smile and made a gesture with her head.

The smaller woman that was still sitting on the other side of the limousine rose from her seat, a dull shine coming from a slim bar of metal edged with small metallic teeth. Lee Kwan's heart skipped a beat and his breathing became erratic when a ghastly white face came into the dim light. The area around the left eye was a deep purple, her lip was still healing, but what stood out was the insidious smile and the cold, piercing sapphire eyes.

"Lee Kwan..."Sawyer said lyrically,"I'll show you... where the bodies are." The chainsaw roared.

As blood stained the leather interior and splattered on the tinted windows. Passersby on the outside laughed when they saw the vehicle bounce back and forth as it cruised through the streets, completely unaware that the limousine was rocking for all the wrong reasons.

The End.