Chapter Five

So much for getting a good night’s sleep. Thanks to Augustine, we needed to jump into damage control mode immediately.

In the back of a limousine, I sat with my hands balled into fists on my lap, the soft fabric of a fresh designer suit rubbing against my skin. Today it was one of my favorite ensembles from Aaron Wormak—clean dark grey tweed, broadly patterned blue striped tie, light blue pinstriped shirt, and a checkered pocket kerchief. Hair on point, mirrored sunglasses on my face. All business.

“How the hell did this happen?” I said.

“Beats me,” Royce said. “All I know is that you shouldn’t be awake right now. This is asking for trouble.”

I glared at him. “That’s not what I meant. I was talking to Gavin.”

Royce rubbed his eyes. “I feel like ass.”

“Take it you were otherwise occupied last night,” I said.

“Yeah. Looking up ways I might be able to save your life. You’re welcome.”

“Didn’t say you had to come with us. You could have stayed back at the tower and slept.” I noticed blood on his collar. “Are you still wearing the same clothes from yesterday?”

He looked down and picked at the stains. “It’s possible. Who cares? I spent that time tracking down experimental procedures that might let me yank out that mesh without killing you.”

I shook my head. “Come on, we’ve got express same hour drycleaning right on your floor. I’m going to need to start dressing you if you’re going to follow me everywhere.”

“Unless your buddy over there is trained in neuroregenerative medicine, you’re going to want me around, even if I’m naked.”

“He’s got a point,” Gavin said. “That kind of thing is out of my pay grade.” He eyed Royce. “And I wouldn’t mind seeing you naked.”

Gavin was decked out in black leather—tight pants, fitted motorcycle jacket, more chains, and his blond hair was swept forward into a faux hawk. Ready for some back alley fun.

Royce just laughed. “Come hang out at the gym with me some time.” He flexed one of his oversized biceps. “I never wear a shirt.”

Didn’t surprise me. If I ever convinced Royce to wear some nice clothes, I’d have to get them all drastically altered—his shoulder width wouldn’t fit any of the major designers. I imagined his biceps bursting out of an expensive suit, like a cartoon wrestler, and cringed. Thinking of wasting fabric like that was upsetting.

Gavin raised an eyebrow. “I may take you up on that sometime.” He looked at me. “Jin likes to make sure I stay in shape. You should come to the Taekwondo studio with me.”

“Get a room,” I said.

Gavin turned to Royce. “Think you’re right—she needs more sleep.”

Royce laughed and I resisted the urge to throw coffee in his face.

“Laugh it up. I’m faster than either of you.”

“Not for long if you don’t let me treat you. After this, you’re definitely coming in for a full scan.”

“Drink your coffee,” Gavin said. “You need to go in there and be sharp. The next twenty-four hours are going to be crucial. This may be our only chance to turn things around.”

“While I’m in there, I want you to dig up all the paperwork on this deal. Find the holes. Flush out the rats,” I said. “I’ll see if I can juice any extra info out of Augustine.”

Through tinted windows, Santa Monica boulevard crawled by outside. No mandatory autonomous vehicle regulations in this area—there was enough money in Beverly Hills to protest those laws. I had mixed feelings on the issue myself. I hated traffic, but damn did I ever love cruising in my sports cars. Except now, this traffic was burning up valuable time.

I hadn’t actually visited Augustine’s new hotel yet, and there was a reason for that. For one, it was obnoxious the way he bulldozed a classic hotel. The Royal Beverly had been a fixture on the boulevard, and somehow he’d weaseled around city planning laws, snuck past community protest organizations, and thrown up the new monstrosity of a hotel in a matter of weeks.

I’d seen the building sketches of the place, but nothing prepared me for the unbelievably tacky structure. Shaped like a gigantic wind sail, the blue and chrome building sailed into the air and towered over all the other buildings on the boulevard. Disgusting. I swallowed a mouthful of coffee and tried not lose my cool.

“Damn, that is ugly,” Royce said.

“Oh, so you do have some taste after all. There’s hope for you yet,” I said.

“He’s right. It’s hideous. How did this ever get past the city boards?” Gavin said.

“That’s what you’re going to find out. Whatever happened is going down again. Right in the middle of Koreatown.”

“I’m obviously not sentimental about the place like you guys are, but I have to agree with you. That’s just messed up. You can’t bounce into someone’s hood and start tearing things down,” Royce said.

“Absolutely awful,” I said. “Okay. You boys stay here and work some magic while I grease this weasel.”

“I’m coming with you,” Royce said.

“Not looking like that, you’re not. Augustine will never take us seriously. Stay here and play with Gavin. You’ve still got my biokey, right? Have Gavin come scoop me up if anything looks amiss.”

Royce rolled his eyes, but kept quiet. “Good thing Gavin’s got the keys to your bank accounts too. At this rate, I’ll need to pick up my fees from your estate.”

“Have faith, Royce. Great minds triumph against great adversity.”

I stepped out of the car and did my best to believe my own words. Wasn’t sure if it was the lack of sleep, or a side effect of the injection yesterday, but my stomach was not feeling great. Maybe I just needed to eat something. Skipping breakfast is against my typical rules of conduct. A great day needs to start with a great breakfast. Either way, this was more important than some empty stomach jitters.

I marched right through the doors into the lobby of the new hotel, and ugly or not, I knew money when I saw it, and that place smelled expensive. Expensive and new. New carpeting, fresh metal, fresh paint. Only open for a few weeks, the place was quiet. Good. Maybe local protests would help sink the place. Some other millionaire could buyout the property and bulldoze the place again. Heh. Might be a nice little investment piece for me. I didn’t have any commercial properties in Beverly Hills. Yet.

I hadn’t warned Augustine that I was coming his direction, but he knew. He knew as soon I’d show up on his doorstep and raise some hell. That was his plan. So the question was, what did he want out of me? Why even give me this heads up? It told me how arrogant he was—he didn’t think I could stop him, that it was already too late.

He didn’t know who he was dealing with. What Hyojin Song wants, Hyojin Song gets, one way or another. Straight up.

“Well well, so nice of you to join me this afternoon.”

Augustine stepped out from a side room in the lobby, clad in a suit nice enough to rival one from my collection. Okay, so he had no taste in buildings, but his sense of fashion was better. With tight grey pinstripes that matched the perfectly manicured grey streaks in his hair, Augustine would fit in at any of the fine establishments that I liked to frequent. I looked closely at his hair—bet that wasn’t naturally done. He had his hair altered to fit that sort of style. My color wasn’t natural either, but somehow his was just smarmy.

And his accent bothered the hell out of me. Don’t get me wrong, I love French everything—especially French pastries, but his accent was so obviously played up and exaggerated, I couldn’t stand it. Fake, just like the rest of him.

“Nice is not the word I would choose,” I said.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Jinny.”

“Don’t call me Jinny, Auggie. We’ve been over this before.” One person finds out you don’t like nicknames, and suddenly it’s all over town.

“Oh yes, my mistake. Well then, what shall I call you?”

“Jin. Just Jin to you.”

“In that case I’ll ask that you call me Augustine, as a matter of courtesy.”

“You wouldn’t prefer Mr. LaDouche?”

He cleared his throat. “LaRouche. Why do we not just stick with first names, yes?”

Well, he was already winning in a sense since he’d goaded me into being rude first. I should have saved that honor for him, but it was inevitable that our interaction would end up like this at some point. May as well be first to the plate.

I composed myself, smoothed down my jacket and adjusted the handkerchief before responding. “Indeed,” I said. “Would you care to tell me why you asked me here this morning?”

Augustine smiled. “You mean my invitation? I am afraid you are a few weeks early for the opening, but you are of course still invited to the event.”

So we were going to play it this way. Why did I think he would be anything but difficult? “Since I’m here so early, why don’t you illuminate me? What makes you think you’ll get away with building and illegal casino in the middle of Koreatown?”

“Illegal? I think you’re mistaken. The permits went through yesterday morning. It’s all perfectly legal. Demolition began yesterday evening, and construction should already be underway this morning. I like to get early starts.”

Last night? I leave town for one day, and everything falls apart. This is why I didn’t go on vacation very often. Just as soon as you let your guard down, the other sharks start swimming by, looking for blood. But Augustine didn’t look like a shark to me. More like an eel.

“You mean you slipped some permits through the backdoor and got started with construction immediately so that I wouldn’t interfere?”

He laughed. “Why do you think so little of me? In truth, I did hope you might stop by today for a chat. I have some ideas that I think you may be interested in. Would you care for a drink? I’m sorry, it is rude of me to keep a guest standing in the hallway.”

Because usually he was just so damned polite. “Drinking in the daytime, eh?” I said.

“You are opposed? It is quite normal where I come from. I did not think you would be concerned on little societal rules such as this.”

Even though my stomach hurt, I was going to need a drink if I wanted to get through this conversation without actually setting this stupid sailboat of a building on fire.

I forced a smile. “I would love a drink. Gin and tonic.”

“Gin preference?”

I grinned. “The best you have.”

“Only the finest in my hotels, I assure you. I shall return in a moment. Have a seat, please.”

Sitting sounded good. Conserving energy was the way to go. Probably should have asked for an Irish coffee, or maybe vodka and Energy Pop. Something with caffeine. I plopped down on the couch and almost stood up again when the cushion sloshed underneath me. You’ve got to be kidding—a water filled couch. Made sense. Just being around Augustine made me feel seasick.

He returned a moment later carrying the drinks and another tray of something. See, he didn’t bother to train or reward his staff correctly. There should have been someone there already, pouring us drinks. Didn’t matter which if us had more money—I had more class, more experience. Augustine was nothing but a hack.

“Here you are,” he said as he handed me the cold beverage. “Would you care for some pastries? I brought this new chef back with me from Europe on my last journey. She is simply fantastic, you must try.”

I should have refused, but my stomach growled, and like I said, I had a weakness for French pastries. Maybe some food would settle my insides. I took one little croissant, took a bite, and tried to hide my reaction. Nope, definitely not hiding that. It was so good, I wanted to run back there and steal that chef. I crammed the rest of the croissant in my mouth and nearly had to slap my own hand to keep from taking something else.

“Delicious, is it not?”

I gave him a wry smile and set my drink down on a crystal table that sat between the two couches. Augustine took a seat on the opposite couch, balancing like an expert, not spilling a drop of his drink. Wouldn’t surprise me if he spent a lot of time on boats. Wonder what my first clue was? Good thing for him too—looked like he was drinking dark, aged port, and I would hate to see him stain his suit. Even though I hated him, I never like to see innocent fabrics tortured.

I swallowed the last bite of croissant and chased it down with a swig of Gin. Damn, it was smooth. How fast could I kidnap the pastry chef and the liquor cabinet at the same time?

“I’ve got places to be today. What do you want? Were you just hoping to gloat about how you’re better at breaking the rules than I am?”

“A little bit of both, I do believe. You see, I’m hoping to expand my businesses inland, and I need a consultant. Security is such a concern these days, and since I think you know so much about the cheating, I thought perhaps I could hire you as an assistant.”

I almost spat out my drink. Not sure what I was more pissed about—the fact that he wanted me to be his assistant, or the fact that he was accusing me of cheating. No, he couldn’t know about the mesh. Only Gavin and Royce knew about that disaster. He was probably just giving me a hard time because I had a reputation for winning so frequently.

“I’m no one’s assistant. Ever,” I said.

“I am sorry to hear this. I do not know if you have heard, but I was also hoping you might give me some advice on our newest part of the business. We have also gotten the approvals for racing. The greyhound racing, it is most popular in other counties. We can make much money this way. You are familiar with the greyhounds, yes?”

No. Oh no. We’d lobbied long and hard to outlaw all the Greyhound tracks in the county. I thought of my adorable little buddy Lucky waiting for me back at Jin Tower and remembered what he looked like when I found him on top of a crate full of other Greyhounds that were already dead. Not on my watch.

My fingers dug into the highball glass, and I didn’t even dare move, let alone speak, my mind filled with dead Greyhounds and soon to be dead Frenchmen.

“So you are not the interested? This is a good opportunity, I think you are wasting it. Soon, we shall open another location in the beach. Venice beach. This is a favorite place of yours, is it not?”

No. He had to be bluffing. Last time we checked, there wouldn’t any movement on the beach zoning laws for at least another year, after another election cycle.

“You wouldn’t dare. Who are you bribing?” I said.

“Do not worry, I have done you a favor. You see, for such early access, it is quite expensive for the permits, yes? I do not think you have the money for this, and so it is best if I am the one to start this process. If you agree, you can simply work for me and still obtain a profit. This is fair, yes?”

He was bribing someone. Hopefully, by the time I got back to the car, Gavin would have figured out who, when, and probably most importantly, how much. Money doesn't just talk in this business; it would also throw in a pole dance as a bonus.

“Who. Who is it? Give me the name of your collaborator,” I said.

“I am afraid that would be in poor taste. Perhaps you shall find out in time, in the natural way, but I cannot share that with you today.”

“Of all places. You had to put a casino in Koreatown. My home. My people. Is this a direct attack on me? You want to extort me?”

He looked around the empty lobby. “No no, of course not, do not be ridiculous, you accuse me of such crazy things. Americans think of such amazing fairytales.”

“I’m not an American. I don’t need a slimy Frenchman telling me about my ethnicity.”

“I see. My mistake, but you are also mistaken. I am not a Frenchman, I am from Switzerland. It is a beautiful country. If you would like to become my assistant, we can travel there together, so I hope you will consider my offer. My door, you know it is always open, especially for ladies so lovely as you. We can have more croissant, and perhaps other things as well.”

In a business meeting, whenever someone calls you a “lady,” that almost always means they’re not respecting you as a person. To them, you are simply another skirt for them to roll over. Not on my watch. Skirts may be fashionable, but today I was wearing the pants.

I stood up and sidestepped the coffee table, moving too fast, but I was so pissed, I couldn’t help myself. Whatever, Augustine couldn’t prove anything, and it was totally worth the look of shock on his face when I “magically” appeared in front of him, drink in hand.

He opened his mouth, but I had just about enough. I dumped the rest of my drink right in his lap. At least gin was clear—Augustine punished, fabric saved.

He smirked, unflinching. “I’ve always dreamed of having Jin in my crotch.”

“Enjoy it, because this is as close as you’ll ever get, buddy.”

I licked the edge of my glass, getting the last taste of gin, and jabbed a finger in his smug face. “I’m coming for you. K-town is mine.”

I marched out, hiding my flushed face, moving too quickly again. In seconds I was at the limousine, but I didn’t open the door.

Rage. Surprising, unfamiliar rage washing over me. From my toes to my fingertips, blood pounding, filling me with heat. I grabbed my chest, panting, not getting enough air. Tingling in my hands. Not now, not with so much to lose.

Gavin flung open the door, and Royce grabbed me around the waist.

“What the hell are you doing? Get in here,” Royce said.

I landed on Royce’s lap, and the door swung shut behind me.

Gavin pounded on the window to the driver’s compartment. “Go go go.”

The car started and something jabbed me in the thigh as we lurched forward.

“Ouch.” I tried to sit up, but Royce held me down.

“Stay down. I don’t want you to pass out,” he said. With my legs elevated over Royce’s lap and my head lower on the seat, it was a good position for shock prevention.

“What the hell was that? My leg’s on fire.”

Royce didn’t give me a chance to respond. “It’s a steroid. A fucking good one. Can’t give you another jolt of that other stuff yet—not unless you want your vertebrae melting, so this dose better work.”

“Where did you get it?” I said.

“Don’t worry about it.”

I tried to sit up again, but one of his big hands on my shoulder kept me down. “What do you mean, don’t worry about it? I’m pretty sure that’s totally my business.”

“Just relax,” he said.

Relax? Sounded great, but nothing about this morning was relaxing. Mystery drugs, neural failure, infuriating Frenchmen—not my cup of tea. Although, that croissant had been pretty good. I resolved to find a way to steal his kitchen staff. After I figured out how to get K-town back, and you know, stopped trying to die.

Gavin kneeled down and touched my hair. “What happened in there?”

“I lost my cool,” I said.

I tried to rub my thigh, but Royce slapped me away.

“Let it sink in. Don’t touch,” he said.

“You sure she’s going to be okay?” Gavin said.

“Nope. Cross your fingers.”

I took a deep breath, collected myself. “Don’t be so melodramatic. I just let Augustine get to me, is all. Let me up.”

“Just a second—now we can rub it.” He grabbed my thigh again and viciously squeezed the muscle. “Need to distribute the steroid into the bloodstream, slowly.”

I groaned. “You’re an absolute sadist. Gavin, help me or something.”

I heard Gavin start to move, but Royce stopped him. “Hey, you want her paralyzed for life? No? Then sit tight for a minute.”

“Sorry Jin, not my call,” Gavin said.

I gritted my teeth while he mauled my sore thigh. “Fine.”

“What’s your status?” he said after my leg felt like a flattened chicken cutlet. “Can you feel your hands?”

I wiggled my fingers, couldn’t help but sigh with relief. “Yeah. I can.”

Royce put his hand on my forehead, his rough, stubby fingers plowing through my eyebrows. “You’re still a little hot.”

“Why, thank you. Flattery will get you everywhere.”

Royce scoffed and Gavin laughed.

“Feel okay to sit up?” Royce said.

“Yeah, let me go you epic beast.”

“That’s no way to talk about your rescuer.”

“Rescuer, torturer, seems like a fine line with your type of medicine, Royce.” I propped myself up on my elbows, the soft leather brushing against my skin.

“Slowly. I don’t want you to trigger anything,” Royce said.

When I was upright again I exhaled, rubbed my face, shook out my fingers, tried to ignore the throbbing in my leg.

“Well, that was exciting.” I pulled a bottle of sparkling water out of a bucket of chilled beverages and took a sip. Lemon flavored, refreshing just like I needed.

“She’s got quite the definition of exciting, doesn’t she,” Royce said to Gavin.

Gavin laughed. “She’s the most stubborn person I know. Don’t stand in her way.”

“See, Gavin knows what he’s talking about,” I said. I cleared my throat. “Okay, that was a small misstep on my part. We need to regroup and get back to damage control.”

Gavin looked at Royce, as if to ask if I should even be talking. Royce just rolled his eyes and threw up his hands. “Well, she’s alive, sure, go for it, do what you want, what do I know? Not like I’m the region’s foremost implant rejections specialist or something like that.”

“Modesty is a virtue, you know,” I said.

He just stared at me. “I’m not even going to dignify that with a response. You’re the least modest person I’ve ever seen.”

“Guess you haven’t met Augustine.”

“Sounds like a real piece of work,” he said.

“I don’t care if you want to argue with Royce, but I need details,” Gavin said.

“Not my finest moment, I’ll admit to that. He pissed me off, I dropped gin in his lap. He has no intention of playing fair. Asked me to be a servant, hinted that he might know about my implant situation, and claims that he’s legalizing Greyhound races again.”

“Did you give him any reason to believe he might be right?” Gavin said.

I hesitated. “I lost control a bit. Wasn’t feeling well, you know?”

Gavin sighed. “Not good. We’ll need to keep an eye on that.”

“I don’t like it either, but I don’t see what he could do anyway. No standard scanners can pick up the mesh. I’m in the clear.”

It was true. The stupid stuff was impossible to get rid of, and it was slowly killing me, but none of the common tests had been able to pick it up, thus far. I walked through most scans, without an issue. Royce had to shoot me up with a bunch of dyes and play around with his fancy equipment to even figure out where it was along my neural track, so most standard gaming scans would never identify something dirty on me.

“What else?” Gavin said.

“He got into K-town yesterday evening, already razed a building and started putting up the casino, according to his him. And, he says Venice is already in his pocket, just waiting for the next building permits to go through. Asked me if I wanted to come on board as a consultant. Tell me he’s making this up.”

Gavin closed his eyes, swallowing his temper. Crap. He opened his eyes again, looking under control, but a pissed off Gavin was not something to mess with.

“No, he’s telling the truth, mostly. I figured out who he bribed. Here’s the problem. The original cash, we could have afforded, no problem. Now that they know there’s a bidding war? Well. Putting an injunction on the K-town construction and delaying the Beach decision?” He pulled out a tablet and tapped the screen, then held it up for me.

I swallowed.

“That’s the number?” I said. Way too many zeroes.

“Yeah,” he said. “That’s going to hurt.”

“What’s our situation?” I said. Gavin wasn’t our primary accountant, but he kept an eye on the books, made sure I was abreast of any financial movements.

“We can do it. But we shouldn’t. Bottom line’s been hurting since you’ve been out of the competition circuit, and spending so much on experimental treatments,” he said.

Extra burn. I’d let Augustine get the drop on us, and since the neural mesh had been draining my cash reserves, we couldn’t even afford revenge.

We stared in each other’s eyes, the mutual anger sparking between us, all those years of history, the outrage of someone trying to usurp our rightful territory right under our noses.

He nodded.

I nodded.

“Do it,” I said. “Whatever it takes. Make it happen.”

Royce leaned over. “Hey, does this mean I’m not going to get paid again?”