They are ready. I am going to tell you what to say in English first and then you repeat it in Mandarin.
“Follow my lead,” Roen whispered as he walked to the table and bowed. The four maintained bored expressions as he presented a stack of half million Taiwanese dollars as a gift. Roen bowed again and took a step backward next to Hutch.
One would think they would be happy being presented free money.
“No kidding, right?”
The old man on the right picked his nose and then spoke in a clear voice. “It has been a long time since the Prophus has come to us. Our island has not seen your kind for many years. We thought with the Genjix’s great power on the mainland, that you all were dead. After all, why have you not appeared to fight them?”
“Our enemy is your enemy, big man,” Roen struggled with the broken Mandarin, “and we still fight to this day.”
“A poor job then,” the lazy-eyed man on the left said. “These Genjix have no sense of business. They are unwilling to negotiate, moving like locusts across our operations and listening neither to reason nor overtures. Beasts like them cannot be tamed, only put down.”
They do not understand the way of the people.
Roen repeated the message.
“And it seems neither do the Prophus,” the one with his back to them said. Roen decided to call him Bug Eyes because of his tremendously large glasses that covered half his face. Bug Eyes shook a finger at him. “The Prophus claim to be friends, yet when their enemies come and take our livelihood, they are nowhere to be found. Friends do not abandon friends.”
Roen bowed again. “The Prophus beg forgiveness. The fight has gone poorly, but we assure you we still fight to the last.”
Catfish Face, the one in the far back, waved the other three off. “Friends know friends are busy. The Prophus have been family for hundreds of years. You come with a request. What do you wish?”
At least one of the four amigos was on his side. Booger Picker and Bug Eyes seemed irritated while Lazy Eyes and Catfish Face were far more receptive. Roen first asked if any of the divisions had seen Dylan, describing his friend physically in less than flattering detail.
The syndicates should be Dylan’s first contact for supplies. Guns were illegal on the island and the few safe houses here were not equipped with weapons, another victim of Prophus budget cuts. In the end, he received little actionable information, just like every other lead the team had pursued over the past two weeks. There were scattered rumors of a “burned snowman” that could only refer to Dylan, but there weren’t leads behind those rumors. All the Bamboo Union bosses would acknowledge were sightings, be it two weeks or five days ago, at the illegal casino or market or docks, but nothing more. They almost seemed intentionally vague.
Roen knew the bosses were wary of dealing with the Prophus because they did not want to incur the wrath of the Genjix. The triads must have been hit really hard. All they wanted now was to lie low and wait things out. Little did they realize that if things continued this way, there would be nothing to wait out.
“We are seeking information regarding Genjix trade operations. Your noble organizations control much of the labor that works the trade in the airports and ports. Surely there is information you might share with friends,” Roen pleaded.
“We have an arrangement with the Genjix,” Bug Eyes remarked. “They made it perfectly clear what they want on this island. As long as we are invisible and do not affect their dock operations, we are left alone.”
“Abandon markets the Genjix have an interest in and they leave you alone?” Roen muttered in English. “Doesn’t sound like much of an arrangement to me. More like a full capitulation.”
The four bosses’ face darkened. Roen bit his lip and mentally rapped himself on the side of the head. Of course these guys understood English. They were forcing Roen to speak their tongue as a sign of deference.
That or they enjoy listening to you butcher their language. He did just give away information on the Genjix operation. There are a dozen major ports in Taiwan though.
“You speak without knowledge,” Booger Picker growled. “What else do you wish to waste our time about? Otherwise, be on your way.” He was openly scowling and went as far as to nod toward someone off to the side. He heard the snap of several safeties going off and Hutch’s quick intake of breath.
You just do not know when to not improvise, do you?
Roen bowed again hastily. “I just mean that it is wrong of the Genjix to take what is yours without offering fair value. It is an injustice the Prophus will remedy soon.”
He spent the next several seconds apologizing profusely, bowing so many times his back ached. Roen snuck a peek up at the group. Booger Picker was still scowling but Catfish Face nodded ever so slightly. At least he was getting through to someone. It was quick, barely an exchange of glances. Of course, they were hiding something. Something they didn’t want him to know. The clues were slight and barely noticeable: a quick aversion of the eyes or a little hesitation in their voice. And then just like that, it was gone. Booger Picker abruptly ended the meeting with a dismissive tone, telling him any further questions would be a waste of their time. Bug Eyes even went as far as to admonish him for meddling in syndicate affairs and warned him to stay out of the southern part of the island, which he claimed was his jurisdiction.
Roen was tempted to swipe the half million Taiwanese dollars off the table and make a break for it. At the end of the day, Tao and approximately twenty automatic rifles talked him down from his brazen stupidity.
That is the difference between Edward and you. I admit that once you dedicated yourself, you were a fast learner and now could be Edward good. However, he was never foolhardy. Your old sense of self-preservation was one of your redeeming qualities. Now, I feel like I am always talking you off the ledge. You are not a comic book hero after all.
“If I were, I’d be Batman.”
No, you would be Manikin.
“Ooh, obscure yet fitting reference. Bonus points for that. Are you the primeval goo or the ape-man?”
In this relationship, you would be the goo.
Roen and Hutch left the meeting pretty much empty-handed. If they weren’t at a dead end now, they would be soon. The Bamboo Union had the widest network out of the gangs, so Roen had hoped they could provide a lead. Earlier this week, Faust and Jim had approached the two other large gangs, the Celestial Way and Four Seas, and had both came back empty-handed as well.
Roen stewed as they were ushered out by the henchmen. These guys basically just took his money and ignored him. He could see this kind of crap from the Russians or the Italians, but not from the triads. It was inappropriate for an Asian syndicate to act this dishonorably.
Calm down. It is what it is. Seventeen thousand will not break the bank.
“Tao, I lived on fifty bucks a week for food for the past eight months. Don’t tell me I couldn’t find a better use for that dough than give it to a bunch of millionaire gangsters.”
As they turned the corner, one of the gangsters sauntered up next to them. Roen guessed by his suit that he was some sort of higher-up. The gangster leaned in and passed him a white envelope.
“Han Da-Ge offers a gift and asks your fathers to simply remember the Dragon division in the future in a preferable light,” he nodded before veering off back into the shadows.
In case you are wondering, Da Ge Han was the one in the far back: Catfish Face.
Roen ripped the envelope and took out a crinkled piece of paper hastily folded. Tao translated the words. It was a standing order for all Bamboo Union members to avoid the large Genjix port operation in Kaohsiung harbor.