27.
Streetlights are sporadic enough near this intersection to conceal ample misdeeds in the shadows, but no one is on the street. Milly exits the taxicab. Heoh’s waiting just inside the door of an old fitness center.
🎵 “Vector Dream” - Waveshaper 🎵
Milly enters.
“Welcome.” Heoh extends his arm. “I can take your jacket.”
“I’d rather not.”
“Phone off, please.”
She complies. Milly strolls in with Heoh. Across a large, padded floor stand Turtle and Bingo.
A stern, well-built man in his forties approaches them.
Heoh nods. “This is her, Sarge.”
Another man, perhaps sixty, emerges from the shadows. His tailored white suit complements his thin frame.
Sarge and Heoh step aside. “Boss.”
“You make quite the first impression,” the Boss addresses Milly.
She offers a standoffish sigh.
“Milly, you owe my organization a great deal of money, yet have not been making timely payments for reasons that elude me. Do you think the rules don’t apply to you? You’re not special.”
“But I am special.” She tilts her head. “Isn’t that why I’m here?”
Heoh smiles with amusement.
With a side eye to Heoh, the Boss says: “You didn’t answer my question.” He refocuses on Milly.
“Money is just a number.”
“What a luxurious perspective!” The Boss laughs. “In my business, I cannot afford to think that way. I must salvage every single dollar.”
She stares.
The Boss sniffs with irritation. “Anyway, I understand you and Turtle had a disagreement yesterday?”
“A misunderstanding.”
“Of what?”
“Power. But we reached an agreement.”
“That concluded with you on the ground?” he counters with skepticism.
“Yes, but there were three of us,” Milly says.
“Four, I heard.”
“I’d never met that guy before.”
Heoh squints and then nods at the Boss. “She is telling the truth.”
“Hmph.” The Boss rubs his chin. “And yet here you are, relatively unscathed, still with your special bracelet. I will ponder your strategy.”
Milly shrugs.
“I’ve only heard rumor of such jewelry,” the Boss says. “I’ll restrain my curiosity regarding how you came to possess it. Just keep it on your wrist at all times tonight, agreed?”
Bingo pulls back his coat, revealing his holstered pistol.
Milly nods in agreement.
The Boss turns away, gazing around the gym. “Do you know all that we do, Milly?”
“I’m pretty sure I’m not your toughest customer.”
The men laugh, except for Sarge.
The Boss turns back. “Witty.” He smiles. “But there’s more to it. This is a rematch. Show me what you’ve got.”
Turtle takes off his jacket and approaches her across the padded mat, flexing his hands, then stops.
Pivoting slowly, Milly asks, “What are the rules?”
All eyes fix on the Boss, who replies, “Well, you—”
She spins with a kick.
Turtle drops, groaning loudly, holding his knee.
Bingo rushes in, crouching to his aid.
Milly paces back and forth a few meters away, each leg swinging across the other like a pendulum, balanced on the balls of her feet, nostrils flaring with each breath like a caged lioness, eyes flitting between Turtle and Bingo, steady hand poised above her bracelet.
The Boss smiles, then chirps with delight. “I’ve seen enough!” He leans over, whispering to Heoh: “Bring her in.”